Form book 5

Three bookmakers are so far offering odds on the 2012 DG Stakes - and each is currently showing a different favourite.

Stan James gives the shortest odds overall, to Helen Boaden, at 6/4. If you, like me, think she's the leading contender, head quickly to a branch of William Hill, where you can get 5/1.  William Hill make Caroline Thomson their favourite, at 5/2. It's all a bit sloppy at Hill Online, with spelling mistakes for "Helen Boarden" and "Tim Davey". At Paddy Power, George Entwistle is installed as favourite, at 7/4 - again, if he's your favourite, get to Hill's sharpish for 4/1.

Meanwhile, out on the hustings, Helen Boaden has been woo-ing East Anglia, launching a new MA in Journalism course at University Campus Suffolk, based in Ispwich. The "former Ipswich schoolgirl" mentioned the vibrancy of the local papers - and duly got a write-up from the East Anglian Daily Times. Helen's message "High-quality training that is relevant, timely and engaging is ... a key contributor to the high-quality of journalism to which we all aspire as we seek to serve our audiences in the new digital age.”  Pretty safe stuff. Helen's candidacy is endorsed by former BBC2 Controller Jane Root in The Guardian, who also rules herself out of the race.

Of course, much depends on who you talk to.  A previous Guardian assessment of the field pointed out that Helen is a BBC "lifer" (not quite true - she had short spells with Radio Tees and Radio Aire) who has no "shiny floor" experience.  "Lifer" is clearly a bad thing; "Shiny Floor" means no experience of entertainment, and is therefore only a concern in BBC Vision, which may point to a source/sources.

Meanwhile, in extensive Guardian coverage, George Entwistle gets faint praise from Dan Sabbagh as "low-key but cerebral".  The "shiny floor" element of George's CV is, I think, limited to very recent experience; and in his working life outside the BBC, he rose to correspondent on sound systems for "Hi Fi Answers".

George's problem over the months ahead may be a combination of "shiny floors" and Simon Cowell. Simon is already crying foul over plans to schedule BBC One's new Saturday blockbuster, The Voice, against his own Britain's Got Talent on ITV. I wonder who estimated that The Voice is costing £22m ?  I wonder who leaked news that Controller BBC One Danny Cohen was considering paying Kylie Minoque £1m to be a judge ? If The Voice turns turtle with Middle Britain, it'll take more than re-commissioning Call The Midwife to hold off the broadsheets from both Entwistle and Cohen's necks.