Over to you, Michael

Below, a copy of a letter to The Guardian...

This may be the director general's "duck house" moment (Report, 9 January). To blithely compare his own worth to that of a county council chief executive, whose average pay is much less, is crass and insensitive. He is right that the BBC is not a county council: it does not provide key social services and schools that affect millions of lives every day. Is he seriously suggesting the BBC's director of audio and music deserves to be paid more than double the salary of my local council chief executive? The BBC needs to be led by a man with a firmer grip on the current economic reality, with rising unemployment and pay freezes. Perhaps Mr Thompson has provided a public service by highlighting the issue again; maybe he will follow some of his colleagues to the higher salaries and job security of ITV.

G Routledge
Tickhill, South Yorkshire

It's worth noting here previous career of Sir Michael Lyons, chair of the BBC Trust, and the man who believes, as audience champion, he keeps Thommo on the straight and narrow. Let's hope, as a previous chief executive of Wolverhampton Borough Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, and Birmingham City Council, someone gets his views soon on comparative pay levels in public service...