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I often switch on Radio 4 around 10am…

…and six days a week, I have to switch it straight off again. During the week, it’s Woman’s Hour – a horribly dated programme which somehow manages to patronise both women and men. And on Sunday, it’s the Archers Omnibus which, if anything, is even worse. A lame soap opera which follows the contrived tribulations of unconvincing country folk. The men always sound weary, the women insufferably wry and each have their share of interchangeable stereotypes affecting an all-purpose “country bumpkin” accent. The BBC really ought to put it out to grass but are probably too terrified of looking “Londoncentric”. But surely they could dispense with the omnibus, especially as all the week’s episodes are on iPlayer. From now on at 10am on a Sunday, they could just play this as nod to The Archers and follow it with something worth listening to.

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