I’m looking out the window to the street below. One of those annoying yappy dogs is dragging its owner on an exceptionally long leash. Everything about it bugs me, including its colouring (which, by the way, matches the oblivious owner’s hair). `That dog has a brown head and a black body,’ I hear a voice say. I jump and turn but see no one. But I know who is speaking.

The BBC is one of the most trusted of British institutions. ‘I heard it on the BBC,’ is a common claim as to the verity of a statement around the world. The implication is that it must be right because the BBC said it. People trust the organisation in the way they often do not trust statements made by their own governments, where the media outlets are all too often controlled by the very governments who want their statements taken on trust.