Ed Vaizey: Government must will the means, as well as the ends, in supporting public service broadcasters

They do vital work that benefits the whole nation, but won’t be able to compete with the Big Tech giants unless ministers take action now.

Iain Dale: Biden seems to forget his Defense Secretary’s name, and the media says nothing. Imagine if it had happened to Trump.

Plus: Piers Morgan wasn’t ‘cancelled’. And: We need a conversation on women’s safety.

James Frayne: The BBC’s growing problem isn’t public hostility. It’s apathy. Fewer people see the point of it.

The trust factor is simply less relevant, because fewer people are accessing the Corporation’s output in the first place.

Iain Dale: Is Labour’s manifesto the longest suicide note yet?

And: the Conservatives hide their own manifesto away. The LibDems bungle theirs – which Prince Andrew wrecks anyway. Plus: election night line-ups.

“The forthcoming election”

Yesterday evening’s debate served mainly to remind viewers of how likely an autumn poll now is – as Johnson unintentionally signalled.

WATCH: Britain’s Next Prime Minister. Yesterday evening’s ITV debate.

The whole of the event – which saw Hunt and Johnson pitted against each other before a live studio audience.

The Commons renders the proposed television debate on Brexit utterly superfluous

It is hard to see how the different Brexit alternatives can be presented anything like as well on TV as they will be in Parliament.

WATCH: “You no longer decide Labour Party policy”, Watson tells Campbell

“I’m well are of that,” Blair’s former spin doctor replies, in (fairly) good humour.

WATCH: Lidington – “We are neither shutting our eyes nor holding our noses” to Assad’s other war crimes

As well as punishing the use of chemical weapons, “we are seeking to hold Assad to account at the UN Security Council…despite the fact that he is protected by Russia”.

WATCH: Hunt backs 10-year NHS budgets – “It takes seven years to train a doctor, you need…to plan for that”

The Health and Social Care Secretary tells Peston that better, longer-term planning would help to raise care standards.

WATCH: When Rayner called Labour’s economic strategy “s**t or bust”, she meant it would be “dramatic”, Corbyn claims

“What she was saying was we’re going to have an investment-led economy,” the Labour leader tells Peston, in an interesting redefinition of Rayner’s phrase.

WATCH: Wallace debates Labour’s cynical Brexit about-turn on Good Morning Britain

“A lot of voters know from experience they’ll have a new policy by Wednesday,” our Executive Editor argues.

WATCH: Davis – “a bigger majority means a stronger hand, and a better deal” from the EU

The Brexit Secretary was talking to Robert Peston.

WATCH: Watson asks what has become of Corbyn’s fair-weather friends like McCluskey

“They should be sticking with their leader in the bad times, not just in the good.”

Iain Dale: In memory of Jim Prior, who once told Thatcher that “you sound very sexy this morning”

Plus: A telling speech by George Osborne, the pleasing election of Philip Davies. Reading the Morning Star, just for a laugh. And: Andy Carroll walks on water.