Patten v. Thompson

[mangerton]

The various Trustees seem to be running away saying either "I wasn't there at the time' or 'Nobody asked me to approve it' or 'They told us it was within the contractual terms (and we believed them because we forgot we were the ones who were finally responsible for keeping the executive accountable).'

Ah. The excuse known by all teachers. "It wisnae me. A big boy done it and ran away."

Ironic they should be called a Trust when that appears to be the last thing we can do. "The Disgrace" might be more apt.

[Resurrection Man]

Really? Lord Patten has a blinding cv

He might have a blinding cv. He is still incompetent in this role.

[french frank]

Ah. The excuse known by all teachers. "It wisnae me. A big boy done it and ran away."

Ironic they should be called a Trust when that appears to be the last thing we can do. "The Disgrace" might be more apt.

There seems to be a technicality whereby the Trust is not required to 'approve' such payments. And Thompson was at the bottom of this in terms of 'pushing through' the payments. But what is the point of the Trust if they have no power to scrutinise possible overpayments amounting to millions of pounds? On which subject, we come back to the evidence that Patten was told that the infamous Digital Media Initiative - again Thompson's baby - was 'doomed to failure', yet he did nothing about it. It took Tony Hall to take the decisive action. Meanwhile, Radio 3 'can't afford' to commission concert interval talks and had to cut Discovering Music to save money.

[amateur51]

He might have a blinding cv. He is still incompetent in this role.

I'd gained the impression that you felt that a person's cv was paramount re a person's suitability for joining a committee such as the BBC Trust, that's all.

[eighthobstruction]

Just checking ......not posting....

[eighthobstruction]

Patten v Thompson....http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Pl...eetingId=13785

[Resurrection Man]

Thanks, eighth. I had to switch off as my iMac was cringing at my venom.

I have no issue with competent people getting paid a good wage if that is what is required to get the best people to fill a particular job. But listening to the likes of Lucy Adams and her colleagues' responses, the thought that these bumbling, devious and incompetent people get the vastly over-inflated salaries that they do is profoundly depressing.

[eighthobstruction]

Fundamentally dispiriting....goodness knows what would happen if they ever put the MOD under same scrutiny....

[french frank]

Fundamentally dispiriting....goodness knows what would happen if they ever put the MOD under same scrutiny....

Hodge enunciated The Word: incompetence. 'I hadn't arrived, I had left, it wasn't my job ...'

It really vindicates those of us who couldn't see the difference between the Trust (as a body) and the Board of Governors whom they replaced. They have absolutely no clue about 'holding management to account', Management are the heavyweights and the Trust doesn't venture to question anything. My personal experience. The inquest on the Digital Media Initiative, I gather, lies up ahead. Can't see Patten escaping that one.

[An_Inspector_Calls]

This goes beyond blaming the board of governors/the trust/the executive. The whole lot of them are over-paid and clueless. Those with private sector experience seem to have been swamped by a BBC management morass.

[french frank]

This goes beyond blaming the board of governors/the trust/the executive. The whole lot of them are over-paid and clueless. Those with private sector experience seem to have been swamped by a BBC management morass.

There was an unquestioned assumption that anyone really good at his/her job would necessarily want to earn as much as possible. Therefore comparable pay levels in the private sector had to be the BBC benchmark.

Mr Tommy Pearson had a memorable retort to Mark Thompson's claim that people would be attracted by the higher salaries elsewhere: "Well, tell them to bugger off then."

[An_Inspector_Calls]

Well said Tommy Pearson! Nicholas Kroll, director BBC trust, £238,000 - why?

[eighthobstruction]

I'd love a blow by blow break down of the standard of materialism these people enjoy....house/s, gites in Brittany, car/s, childrens school fees, garden landscaping, servant/hired help, jewelry/watches, kitchen design/utensiles , holidays etc etc etc....(as a person who finds it hard now even to buy a book or cd, after years of looking after my neighbourhoods mentally ill for small ££, i find what people seem to need to live their lives perplexing....not envy, but saddness)

[french frank]

Nicholas Kroll, director BBC trust, £238,000 - why?

Well, he was headhunted about 8 or 9 years ago from the private sector where ... um, no, he wasn't, was he? ... he came to the post from the home civil service.

Two years ago, the Head of the Civil Service (which Mr Kroll wasn't) left on a final salary of £230,000, after 32 years in the service. There are 453,000 civil servants, compared with 70 members of the Trust Unit.

Hope that helps?

[eighthobstruction]

Interesting content re the future for the Trust....Richard Eyre + others on Media Show R4 11min 30sec into programme....http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ers_BBC_Trust/