Taunting Taunton

Scott Taunton, the man who eased the dyspeptic Kelvin McKenzie from his prized toy, TalkSPORT, seems a little grouchy himself at the moment.   He wants John Myers' review of BBC production costs for Radio 1, 1Xtra, 2 and 6Music widened to include Radio 5Live.

He argues that "The growing popularity and success of TalkSport's own national offering suggests that 5 Live is spending far more than it needs to. Worse, 5 Live is using licence fee cash to duplicate a sports radio offering which can be provided by the commercial sector at no cost to licence fee payers." 

Scott is a computer programmer by training, who came to Belfast on holiday in 1995 and stayed. He set up his own internet company, which was eventually bought out by UTV.  Scott now runs the UTV division that includes TalkSPORT, 13 local stations in the UK and Sport magazine.  

Why might he be grumpy ? His most treasured possession is a piece of turf from Melbourne Cricket Ground. When asked to describe himself in three words, he offers "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie".   Who has the radio Ashes rights ?  Who's on course to win the Ashes ?

• Friday update: Scott's mood can't have been enhanced by have to pay "substantial damages" and legal costs to former FA boss Lord Triesman for a defamatory article in Sport magazine, also carried online.