the next dg ..... we are spectacle

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

celebrity knockout site here

graun piece here

it will not be the pageant wot dun it but will it be the sun or the mail?

odds

[Lateralthinking1]

celebrity knockout site here

graun piece here

it will not be the pageant wot dun it but will it be the sun or the mail?

And here is our bookies' favourite..........

"Richards.......went up to the London School of Economics gaining a degree in Economics. [LT1 insert - Wow!] As a result some people have nicknamed him "two brains"". (Wikipedia)

"Richards was.......a Senior Policy Advisor (sic) to Prime Minister Tony Blair"

"He has also worked in consulting at London Economics Ltd and as an advisor (sic) to Gordon Brown".

He is clearly the most brilliant man in Britain. I am absolutely convinced that nothing turns to devastating unrepairable chaos wherever he is directly involved.

[french frank]

"Still, there is astonishment that the preferred candidate could be someone lacking editorial experience. [Ray] Snoddy speaks for many in the U.K. broadcasting community when he says that considering a BBC director general without a background in journalism or production is "insane." "

Ahem: like, in 2008, the preferred candidate for Director of Audio [Radio &c] and Music having no experience in broadcasting at all. Nor of the BBC, other than in overseeing its advertising and self-promotion ...

If you think Boris Johnson's 'The new D-G must be a Tory' call is alarming, sign the petition for BBC independence. This, of course, will set political hares running off in opposite directions, but the key qualities are broadcast experience and track record - not politics.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

but the key qualities are broadcast experience and track record - not politics.

er let us not forget gender ..... time for a woman methinks .... but they are both insiders and 'lefties' i suppose ...

[french frank]

er let us not forget gender ..... time for a woman methinks .... but they are both insiders and 'lefties' i suppose ...

I wouldn't place that above the other two, but I don't see any men who are obviously stronger candidates. I've only just caught up with the fact that the Beeb has had to raise its retirement age for staff to 65, which will benefit Thomson and Boaden. HB good as a broadcaster, CT on the 'political'/business/negotiating side.

On the other hand, news from 2 days ago - as one door closes? If Entwistle is in the contest, why not his predecessor?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i saw ms Bennett on tv discussing AUNT and was horrified at how well she spouted AUNT corpocat speak ...they all do i suppose

[Lateralthinking1]

i saw ms Bennett on tv discussing AUNT and was horrified at how well she spouted AUNT corpocat speak ...they all do i suppose

Yes truly dreadful. I'm very much against. Sadly I don't think any of the women candidates are credible. Or any of the candidates who are men. The Australian who had something about him - not quite sure what - has fallen by the wayside. As for New Labour Ed - funny how you wait several decades for certain things and then three come along - he looks like a Conservative to me.

[french frank]

i saw ms Bennett on tv discussing AUNT and was horrified at how well she spouted AUNT corpocat speak ...they all do i suppose

...if they want to get on.

I wasn't suggesting any enthusiasm for her (possible) candidature, but I hadn't noticed the recent news story until I started checking up on whether she was being considered. Too late for her to put in an application if she hadn't already done so!

I suppose I would go for Boaden in having nothing obvious against her - which most of the others do

Not sure if 'Ms Sensible' will be much of a recommendation to today's BBC hierarchy.

[Lateralthinking1]

I suppose I would go for Boaden in having nothing obvious against her - which most of the others do

Helen Boaden is probably the best of the serious candidates. That doesn't say much though.

Meanwhile Caroline Thomson is the daughter of Lord Thomson, a former Labour MP, and married to Lord Liddle, who was.....well, what do you reckon?........................

If you said "another adviser to Tony Blair", you have won a prize.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

she may well be well suited to the job tho lat, not pure bbc, not pure nulab etc and very experienced and probably not political still she will drive boris and the torygraf nuts no doubt

[amateur51]

she may well be well suited to the job tho lat, not pure bbc, not pure nulab etc and very experienced and probably not political still she will drive boris and the torygraf nuts no doubt

Sounds like my sort of DG

Do we know what her preferred listening station is at breakfast time?

[french frank]

Do we know what her preferred listening station is at breakfast time?

Has to be Today, since she's the former controller, and a news person ...

Meanwhile, Torin Douglas on the fall-out from the Jubilee coverage.

Bland's point is silly: "The idea that it should have any bearing on who should be the next director general is laughable. We are not talking about appointing a football manager. No single programme can ever decide who becomes the next director general."

It doesn't mean that the choice will be affected by a single programme, but about a single programme as revealing the predominating priority within the BBC that - no matter what the subject - everything must be entertaining and fun to as many people as possible (aka LCD).

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

LCD or the greatest happiness for the greatest number .... they do have that accursed utilitarian ethics on their side of the argument

[Lateralthinking1]

Has to be Today, since she's the former controller, and a news person ...

Meanwhile, Torin Douglas on the fall-out from the Jubilee coverage.

Bland's point is silly: "The idea that it should have any bearing on who should be the next director general is laughable. We are not talking about appointing a football manager. No single programme can ever decide who becomes the next director general."

It doesn't mean that the choice will be affected by a single programme, but about a single programme as revealing the predominating priority within the BBC that - no matter what the subject - everything must be entertaining and fun to as many people as possible (aka LCD).

In the early 1970s, there was behind the garden of colour produced from the radio speaker, one presence. It didn't speak, it didn't have any visual dimension and it didn't carry much of an ego. It was as dependable as Churchill at his best and the Great Bell in St Stephen's Tower. At the very least it could hold the country together when under bombs.

But the intensity of the bloom in the wireless was also linked to that dark grey aura. The latter may have been in the distant background but it was also at the heart of it all. No pious popes, no ridiculous expense accounts, no gimmicky seminars, no irrelevant networking and no fake populism. Quite simply, seeds were broadcast there for programme makers to cultivate.

1 Fincham 2 Scott 3 Boaden

Zero - All the others