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It is useful to think about examples of what Ofcom could be, and I am thinking about Canada. I think that it was Pierre Trudeau, Justin’s dad, who said that being in Canada is like being “in bed with an elephant”, because its southern neighbour is 10 times its size and the danger of complete cultural overspill is huge. Canada had quotas for the numbers of university lecturers who had to be Canadian. A dark secret from my past is that I was a radio DJ in Canada, which sounds a bit grand, but it was on Sunday night campus radio. I was obliged to play a certain number of Canadian songs during the course of that two-hour programme.

We can contrast that with what Ofcom is doing here. We have heard lots of talk about “nuance” and “guidance” and maybe increasing it and so on, but Ofcom agreed with the BBC last year when it decided to reduce news output in Scotland by, I think, half, from 250 hours to 125 hours. George Adam mentioned what has happened to radio in Scotland. It does not feel like local radio any more. I started campaigning in 2007 to have Scottish football matches free to air. It took a long time to get anywhere, and when it did we had the absolute fiasco of the Greek match, where the sound and the covers did not work because the BBC was so out of touch with doing that. Channel 4 has no target for Scotland and you seem to be content with that. I understand that Ofcom is a creature of the UK Parliament and if the UK Parliament decides that you will be toothless, as George Adam put it, that is what you have to be and work with.

Let me ask you this. You may have covered this and it may have been in the briefing, but I could not see it. What has the BBC’s record been like on the 8 per cent spend and hours quota that it is asked to deliver in Scotland? I heard your explanation about “The Traitors” earlier, but it is not Scottish in any meaningful way apart from the venue where it is filmed. What has the BBC’s track record on the 8 per cent requirement been over, say, the last five to 10 years?

What counts? I forget what the obligation is. Is it production based in Scotland?

Covering them across the UK is not the point. The issue is about covering them in Scotland. They involve a Government that is active in Scotland and is impacting on Scottish people. You do not cover those things. I can give you 100 examples of things you have not covered—reserved issues that impact directly on people.

In the context of all the life-saving and dangerous work that the agencies do, have you had time to assess any impact that there might be of the UK Government’s decision to slash international aid in future? Will that affect you, or is that still unknown?

I think that Frances Guy mentioned that the Arab League has proposals for reconstruction that are practical and realisable, unlike the proposal to create a Gaza strip like the Las Vegas strip and so on. If that is the case, will the people behind that organisation—I do not know enough about it—not also potentially have resources to provide aid to meet the immediate needs in the meantime? Will that help to replace the moneys that are being withdrawn through USAID and so on, or is that already factored in? Are they in a position to provide immediate aid, or are they already doing that?

Thank you.

My next question goes back to Mr Bibby’s question about readiness if the obstacles that are currently in the way of activity are lifted. I imagine that, to people outside, the incredible concentration on ensuring that every single vendor is vetted to the nth degree seems a wee bit absurd, compared to the gravity of the crisis, with 2 million people on the brink of starvation. I think that that would be very puzzling to many people.

We are talking about 2 million people, which is almost half the population of Scotland, so six or seven truck loads will not do a great deal in the meantime. I think that Mr Bibby was asking whether, if the restrictions are lifted, the trucks and warehouses outwith the area are fully ready to go. Is everything ready to go if eventually we get rid of the structural obstructions that are preventing aid from getting through? Is everything ready to go at the push of a button, or are you seeing depleted supply lines because of diminishing resources?

Going back to the question of diversity, I think that it is fantastic that you have managed to find a leading role for a Hibs fan in the cast as well. [Laughter.]

The discussion is centred very much on the BBC for obvious reasons, but the witnesses have made a point about the symbiotic relationship between what the BBC does and what “River City” does, and what Netflix, Amazon, Paramount or whoever else do. Is there not a case for looking at those organisations too? I know that it may be a bit of a fool’s errand, but can they not contribute in some way to what we want to see? I am thinking of something along the lines of the informal cultural college that “River City” has produced for different careers within the industry. Could they contribute as well, or would they just not consider that?

I am not sure that we should accept the context that Trump wants to set for us as a reason for not pursuing that, and it would be interesting if the committee were to get people from Netflix or Paramount in front of it to find out. You said that people benefit greatly from this, so let us try to monetise that bit.

It is very useful to have had the offer from Lynda Rooke to try to work together on this. It is difficult enough for us to influence BBC Scotland without trying to influence the rest of the BBC in the UK, to be honest, but I think that we should do that.

For full transparency, I am not from Dumbarton. I took the high road down to “Garnock Way” when I was younger. I am from Edinburgh.