Speeches by Hinds.

“I did not suggest that at all.”

“On the pros and cons, can you mention more of the cons?”

“I love the idea that there is a tranche of elderly people who have been waiting for voice control to use digital television—maybe it is true.”

“I think that is probably a given; we would expect the BBC, Channel 4 and ITN to be included. My question is: what do you expect to be included with them?”

“Sooner or later?”

“Sorry, my facial expression was not saying that I thought that was impossible. Most people are online, including old people.”

“This House ended the licensing of the press on 3 May 1695, when it declined to renew the relevant legislation. That makes the definition of news sources difficult. Perhaps that is why the Green Paper talks about prominence for public service media and “potentially” for local and national news sources. Does the Secretar…”

“Like everyone who has spoken, I support the principle of the lifelong learning entitlement. I welcomed it in Sir Philip Augar’s review, which reported while I was at the Department for Education. I was pleased that it was brought in by my erstwhile right hon. Friends for Chichester and Harlow. It is true that higher ed…”

“We all knew that!”

“To be fair, they also were not what I asked about. I don’t think people would put religious programming in the same bracket as lifestyle programming, or gameshows or quizzes.”

“Yes, but I was specifically not talking about the things at that end of the spectrum. However, I am done. Thank you”

“You say that you have never been a snob, and I certainly will not accuse you of being a snob, but that is about what counts within public service broadcast content. There is another question about whether something else on Pinterest, or any other platform that one might think of, has an equal call on people’s time and …”

“I think this may call for a short reprise.”

“Are you at liberty to give your own thoughts on what the end state looks like?”

“Finally from me, I said at the start that when it comes to prominence, some things are more controversial than others. Kids’ TV and news are at the very uncontroversial end; is that the extent of the ambition, or do people mean prominence for lifestyle content and lifestyle programmes on Pinterest?”

“What do you say, Helen?”

“During this inquiry, we keep hearing the new phrase, “public service algorithm.” It also appears in this morning’s hot-off-the-press publication, in which the Government say that they are “supportive of PSM providers developing algorithms in line with public service values, that strike the right balance between offerin…”

“Could you say that again? That sounded brilliant. There is a way to define the media without defining it. You should be drafting legislation. That is brilliant—if we can figure that out.”

“Indeed. Sorry, my memory is not perfect, but there were different stages in the passage of the Bill, and there were clauses that people anticipated were going to be in the final Online Safety Act that were not, in the end.”

“Yes. Media and whatever they called it—content of democratic importance—were always going to be exempt. The question is more what they were going to be exempt from. In the final version of the Online Safety Act—sorry, we are not here to discuss the Online Safety Act, but some of the clauses were not in the final Act. I…”