Mark Dolan: My message to the BBC’s Nick Robinson, we ask the uncomfortable questions

The BBC journalist and presenter of the Radio 4 Today programme Nick Robinson has had a swipe at GB News.

He was interviewing the creator of a special online channel dedicated to streaming footage of planes trying to land during yesterday’s storms. A fantastic channel called Big Jet TV. Captured the moment brilliantly, really enjoyed it.

But Mr Robinson joked that the number of people watching was something that GB News could only dream of.

Wow. Now I’m a big fan of Nick Robinson, a huge talent, and we don't mind a bit of banter from our rivals. I like to think the one unique selling point of this place, is that we have a sense of humour, and we don't take ourselves too seriously.

But it's telling that Robinson, this BBC lifer, on a cool £270,000 a year, all paid for by you and me, should seek to have a bit of a dig at a smaller outfit, not even a year old, which seeks to provide you with a voice and provide a hopefully refreshing, balanced take on the day’s news.

This rather snooty remark about us, was picked up on, by the left-leaning Sunday Mirror – always a good read that paper.

It's my experience after two decades in broadcasting, that these pampered BBC stars and their management haven't got a clue about the real world and the very country in which they live.

This was proved most demonstrably during the Brexit referendum, and with things like the axing of Land of Hope and Glory, laughing at the Union flag on breakfast TV, the woke takeover of shows like Dr Who and most egregiously in my view, in their singular, one-note, unquestioning coverage of the pandemic and policies like lockdown and vaccine passports.

These characters can laugh at us all they like, but they don't have to worry about ratings, ad revenue and fulfilling the expectations of investors. Because they have a plum job for life, all financed and by a public tax - the license fee.

Hardly a level playing field is it?

Well my message to the BBC’s Nick Robinson is a clear one. Have I got news for you. We’re not Pointless and we are certainly not the Weakest Link. It’s Question Time every day on this channel, we even ask the uncomfortable ones.

So GB News is here to stay and our audience is growing by the day. I think it’s four billion views on digital now?

I am personally normally beating Sky News at around this time and last weekend this show recorded the highest ratings on a Sunday night since the channel started.

All thanks to you. So tell your friends, tell your family and let’s change the world together. And by the way, we haven’t even started yet.

In time, if we keep a laser-like focus on serving you, the whole of the great British public, the Beeb’s Nick Robinson will be laughing on the other side of his face.

And he'll probably be over here, asking for a gig. We will look at your CV Nick, of course we will. But you'll be joining a very long queue. This, is GB news.