Language

I'm intrigued by the use of the phrase "dial down" by the BBC's Director of Editorial Policy and Standards, David Jordan.  He used it in the sense of "reducing the burden" of compliance procedures and form filling for BBC and independent producers, in evidence to the Lords' Communication Committee.

"Dial down" only seems to appear in American and slang dictionaries, and US websites, where it's used in the sense of "dialling down" the volume on music, lowering air conditioning, or reducing software specification.

Dapper Dave studied economics and politics at Bristol, taking a year out as Vice President of the Student Union.  Contemporaries included Will Hutton, Charles Clarke, Sue Slipman and Paul Boateng. He worked in research for Age Concern, the Low Pay Unit and the GMB union, before being asked to join ITV's Weekend World team in 1984 - at the height of the miners' strike - where David Aaronovitch was a producer.  The pair came to the BBC in 1988, where John Birt was running news, trying to correct "the bias against understanding".  They set up "On The Record".

David's life is just as exciting now.   Take his recent meeting with Thomas J. Muscatello-Delacroix Mills, Secretary General of the British Monarchist League.  Thomas' job seems to be running a "boutique estate agency" in South Carolina.  Perhaps he used the phrase "dial down" ?