We are heading towards 11,000 signatures for which I am very proud. We have achieved our minimum goal of 10,000 and are now heading towards a new goal of 15,000. We need to continue to push for all the signatures we can get so that the campaign carries more weight.

Many of the comments left on our ‘Stop the anti-Corbyn bias on the BBC’ petition have been posted onto our Facebook forum. They show your feelings of anger and frustration that you have for the BBC, and many are outstanding and very powerful.

I started this campaign with someone else who has now become a good online friend. We chatted about how we were fed up with the continual bias of the BBC. We thought it was undemocratic that a national broadcaster paid for by the public and with a charter of ‘impartiality’ was clearly being so one sided in the reporting it was doing. We decided to start this petition.

At first the petition was set up because it was obvious that a general election was coming. We wanted better awareness of BBC bias during an election campaign and hoped that it might make the BBC more accountable for what they are doing. We know this is a David v Goliath battle with the wealth, power and status of the BBC apparently making them untouchable, as well as their close connections with the government and with Downing Street.

Once the election started, I actually thought that the petition could get side lined against the other election discussion, and perhaps the BBC would become a lesser issue. However, as people have seen the behaviour of the BBC during this election campaign the opposite has been true and this campaign has touched a pulse with many which has attracted a large number of new people. People are getting more and more angry with what they see.

This week the BBC Question Time Leaders Special has caused much outrage. The questions by the audience were brutal and challenging to all of the leaders. Most fair-minded people who watched it thought that Corbyn and Sturgeon were clearly the best performers, while both Swinson and Johnson had complete car crashes. This could have been an election changer.

The BBC reported that the performances were very close between Corbyn and Johnson, and edited it for the BBC News in such a way that Johnson looked better and Corbyn looked worse. Since then we have seen the stories in the social media of plants in the audience which is selected by a Conservative backed company. ‘White shirt man’ has become infamous, after his four QT appearances. We have also seen the stories about how the BBC has edited not just the footage but also the sound, to mute out the boos for Johnson and replace them with clapping and cheers. This is not acceptable and breaks the rules of purdah set by Ofcom for fairness and impartiality during an election campaign. This is clear manipulation and is perhaps even election fraud.

Please keep up the support and the fight. Badges are still available at a non-profit price of £2.50.

John Han