On the minus side, the channel does have a stunning lack of Steven Seagal.

Having been pretty much entirely ignorant of politics for most of my life (with the minor exception of the fuss my secondary school made over the 1997 General Election, which only really caught my interest because it let me annoy one of my extremely conservative friends by making incendiary left-wing remarks), I've rather surprised myself by suddenly becoming extremely interested in BBC Parliament.

Our Freeview box was second-hand when we got it, and I live in a very poor digital TV reception area anyway. Rumour has it that the signal would be stronger, except that it would then interfere with the Belgian police's transmissions. Surely the only time in the history of the world that anyone has said "we can't do that, it'll annoy the Belgian police", but I digress. The practical effect is that we have very few channels available, so when I'm flicking through them late at night I generally have to choose between Five US (CSI, House and Num3ers on a constant loop), BBC FOUR (worthy but frequently rather dull), bid-tv (saps my will to live) and BBC Parliament.

Although that makes it sound like watching it is nothing more than making the best of a bad job, the channel is also bizarrely compelling. It's very refreshing to watch a channel that has no continuity announcers, no trailers, barely any credits, barely any presenters, and between programmes nothing but a card telling the viewers what's coming up next. It's very reminiscent of watching recorded educational shows from BBC 2 in primary school - anyone else remember the coloured "TWO" logo and the little digital clock counting down in the corner?

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If that wasn't enough, the content of the channel is also very good. It's surprising, really, as the viewing figures must be absolutely tiny. Nevertheless, the amount of information that the editors put together is fantastic - during debates, not only is the name, party and constituency of the current speaker put on screen, but useful facts that help the viewer to understand the current topic also appear. When you consider that getting assigned to work on BBC Parliament must surely be only one rung up the ladder from being assigned to Ceefax nowadays, that's impressive commitment.

Regardless of its content, the channel also scores highly with me because it's available as a free online stream. You can get it from the BBC website, or through the really rather good (although possibly questionably legal) wwiTV service (click here for the direct Windows Media stream). In today's environment, where surveillance is becoming ever more widespread, it is vital that politicians be kept accountable. Allowing anyone across the country to watch them at work is an excellent way of doing that, and also helps to give lie to the perception that they're all corrupt and in it for the money and power. Watching a small bunch of bedraggled politicians debating an issue late at night, clearly for no reason other than this should be discussed by Parliament, gives you a lot of hope for the future of the country.

I very much doubt that BBC Parliament is ever really going to take off in the way that TV channels usually do. However, that's one of the best things about the BBC. Regardless of viewing figures, regardless of economics, they produce this channel because it's a channel that should be produced. Even if it's not very entertaining (although it does frequently feature Boris Johnson), it's good stuff. I suspect I'll be filling in a few late-night minutes there for some time.