Hello, Dad

Congratulations to the BBC's Steve Mawhinney, moving from the febrile atmosphere of Millbank to run the news side of things on Radio 5Live.  Strangely, he might now be more likely to bump into dad than he ever did at Westminster.

Steve's father, Brian, we think, has stopped mithering the BBC since having a pop at Anna Ford for being too tough on Ken Clarke (I don't that one was ever going to stick). But Lord Mawhinney is deputy Chairman of England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup, as well as Chairman of Technical Bid Panel, which will select the 16 English host city stadiums. As such he was out and about last week trying to sort out Bristol's bid to be one of them. He's Honorary President of the Football League, after stepping down as Chairman in March this year, leaving behind a £7m sponsorship deal with Npower.  He has strong views on the "weaknesses" of the FA. He's also a trustee of More Than Gold, a group with its roots in Billy Graham's evangelism, which seeks to use the 2012 Olympics as an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with prospective new church members.  In the summer, he took a role as an international adviser to the NFL.