WE have not commented so far on the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand saga because we felt it was remote from our readership.

Now, after both were suspended by the BBC and Brand then resigned, it affects everyone who watches them on TV or listens to their radio output.

Our view is that the schoolboy antics of both so-called broadcasters were utterly offensive towards Andrew Sachs and his granddaughter and would probably attract charges of gross misconduct and subsequent dismissal if they were employed in normal businesses.

The BBC, however, is not normal.

It is a giant, unwieldy, poorly controlled organisation whose output often represents the highest and the lowest levels of achievement. The Ross/Brand affair represents the absolute nadir.

Many commentators have said that much of the fault for this situation lies with the editorial control of the BBC, plus senior management’s seeming inability to spot a problem and prevent it from getting out of control, which is what has happened here.

We concur.

But we also feel that this episode says a lot about society today.

Both Ross and Brand have millions of fans who are content to accept week-in week-out obscenities and bad taste from the pair. The BBC is willing to pay a fortune for their outpourings.

The question is, do we have boundaries and have these two crossed them?

Or will they simply endure a spell as temporary pariahs before creeping back into well-paid jobs and recapturing their places in the ratings?