Dark glasses

First pictures are coming in of BBC DG Tony Hall seeking cosmic guidance, as he ponders the public service broadcasting future of Jeremy Clarkson.

Actually, he needs to look in The Mirror. Their hacks have been leading the way on the story, and they have a video of Clarkson apparently acknowledging the game's up.  So even if Lord Hall, whose instinct is for pragmatic compromise, wanted to override the likes of Danny Cohen on a suitable sanction for lamping a producer, he needn't now.

So the matter moves from BBC Agreed Procedures to a commercial settlement and rows over intellectual copyright. It's surely the end of the English version of Top Gear, which anchors a growing number of BBC Worldwide channels around the world (Tim Davie invested in a giant inflatable Stig to launch BBC Brit in Poland last month). Clarkson still owns 30% of the shares in Bedder 6, the Top Gear production vehicle bought back by the BBC in 2008.