Furtive campaign to abolish "are"

I reckon there is a plot underway to get rid of the little English word "are".

It strikes me that it is now almost universally acceptable to replace "are" with "is" when applied to plurals.

Some typical recently uttered examples from radio and TV programmes:

"There's (contracted 'there is') two answers to that question."

"There is seventeen men at work."

"There is some high temperatures to come later this week."

Perhaps everyone is following the example of Estelle Morris who, when Education Minister, proudly insisted on the BBC Today programme that "There is more teachers."

Maybe she started the campaign.