SIR - Because of a £2 billion funding shortfall, programmes commissioned by the BBC are to be cut by ten per cent, leading to more repeats (T&A, October 18).

Really? Well last Saturday, BBC2 televised between 6pm and 12.15am, five hours and 15 minutes of repeats (including an old film) leaving just one hour devoted to What the Papers Say (10 minutes) and The Culture Show (50 minutes - and that too was repeated later in the schedule).

Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said: "We are confident the plans we have approved will safeguard the core valves of the BBC."

But he should need no reminding that the core consists of the indigestible remains after the juicy parts have been removed.

David Rhodes, Croscombe Walk, Bradford