Can there be anything in any language to match the poetry of the shipping forecast? I doubt it. The aesthetic effect has three elements: first there is you, awake in the dark at 00.48, your day over, now lulled by the swooping sentimentalities of Sailing By, the masterwork of Ronald Binge, that great composer of neglected Mantovani-style classics.

Then comes the voice of the announcer (of which more below), the voice of God, all-knowing, untroubled, not one of those crazy Greek divinities squabbling on Mount Olympus, but the voice of pure knowledge, precise, calmed, aware of past and future, generous, loving even, concerned to protect you from the violence of the world.

The third element is the sea itself, vast stretches of brutal, storm-ravaged ocean, surveyed as if from high above, entire worlds summoned out of the dark as you lie there imagining their horror: "Rockall, Hebrides. Southwest gale 8 to storm 10, backing southerly, severe gale 9 to violent storm 11. Rain, then squally showers. Moderate, becoming poor." You only need to have been out in a big storm at night once to know the realities that those simple words describe, the thrashing of everything in your sodden, fragile environment, the fear of the big sea breaking behind you, the unspeakable longing for harbour and quiet. "Faeroes, Southeast Iceland. North 7 to severe gale 9, occasionally storm 10 later. Heavy snow showers." That is the poetry: vastness and violence described in tranquility.

For this daily dose of the beautiful to work, nothing is more important than the god who administers it. None has been more perfect in the last few years than Peter Jefferson, the voice of perfect modulation, the near-equal of the incomparable Charlotte Green, neither thin nor fruity, effortlessly clear, understanding that the beauty of the moment depends on restraint and the absence of any hint of doubt.

But now, it turns out, the BBC has sacked him, "to provide more opportunities to newcomers". The fact that he muttered "fuck" on the radio last month, having fluffed a line, is apparently nothing to do with it. This is all about new blood and "operational changes". But do they understand nothing? Nearly no one at sea now relies on the shipping forecast for their weather info. Any number of text messaging services, INMARSAT, SafetyNET or international NAVTEX data feeds are piped into bridges and nav stations with immediate and up-to-date satellite imagery. The shipping forecast nowadays is almost entirely listened to by people at home dreaming of past adventures. And for us, we don't want innovation. We want Charlotte Green and Peter Jefferson to continue until they die. God does not speak with the voice of a newcomer.