Legendary

Therese Coffey MP virtually read out the rota at BBC Radio Suffolk this morning, at the start of her debate attempting to warn the BBC off cutting local radio budgets.  There followed a cascade of name-checks for "local broadcasting legends" and warm baths for each speaker's nearest station, and the revelation of more than a few MPs with previous BBC employment or relatives in the business.  The turn-out was reasonable, for the last day of term at the Commons.

Roger Gale (ex BBC Radio London and Newsbeat) described the current BBC management as "craven, metro-centric and television-based", and was one of few to pick up on the possible damage to 5Live in any form of integration, describing the network as "very special indeed".   One MP noted that the BBC's Democracy Live channel wasn't showing their debate, but covering something in the European Parliament. How dare they ?

In reply, Culture Minister Ed Vaizey stated that BBC Radio Oxford was clearly the best of the bunch, and, not to be outdone, name-checked Malcolm Boyden and Bill Heine.   More seriously, he ruminated on the fact that only a few years ago, the BBC apparently wanted to pump money into hyper-local tv services; this apparent proposal seemed an odd reversal.  He said he hadn't been briefed by the BBC ahead of the debate, but enigmatically said the decisions about local radio might be more editorial than financial. And he pledged that local tv proposals from the Coalition would make a difference from next year.

With or without the intervention of Mr Vaizey or the BBC Trust, a major cut in the £137m spend on English local radio stations looks increasingly unlikely - this was a timely flag to DG Thommo.