Former BBC presenter Nick Ross has predicted the licence fee is “doomed” and that an alternative model of funding for the corporation needs to be developed over the next decade.

IF Charlie McCreevy wants to save us all money — now that we’re back in the land of cutbacks — he could do worse than take the advice of one Ulster Unionist Party official who believes investment in the family is the way to keep society intact, while saving the taxpayer a fortune into the bargain.