BBC update

So, Ariel arrived, and was largely a Byford tribute edition. The Thommo masterplan has yet to be revealed.  The Guardian, like me, thinks that Director of the North Peter Salmon will be stood down from the Executive Board, but at the moment we're on our own, with a firm "No Comment" from the BBC.

There are plenty of "good egg - he'll be missed" comments on Byford available from the BBC.  I take no side in this, but the doubters are less well publicised. Trevor Dann, a victim when GLR didn't fit the Birt/Byford world view, as enforced by Nigel Chapman, was inexplicably reminded of a a website apparently called  menwholooklikeoldlesbians when confronted with a photo of the DDG in this morning's Guardian.  Another Tweeter referenced King Ralph, the 1991comedy flop featuring John Goodman.

Old stories are brought up in conversation. One cites a visit to a meeting of World Service Newsroom editors just after Mark's appointment as Director at Bush House. In front of him, a group of senior journalists with a serious tally of experience in the job. Mark leaned forward and said "What you people have to understand, when you're putting together bulletins, is that most of the people who listen to them won't have English as their first language."   This searing insight was later married to the assertion of a senior foreign correspondent that Mark was slightly surprised to find that the World Service also broadcast in over 40 languages - let's hope that one's apocryphal.

From the rank and file, there are more concerns are about how long he'll stay for "the transition".  If Helen Boaden can cover in April, why not now ?  Is Mark leaving at the end of the financial year, or staying till summer ? Has that any connection with his birthday in June ?  Stay tuned.