Form book 6

Only two national bookmakers - Stan James and Paddy Power - are now offering odds on the 2012 DG Stakes; William Hill, who had Caroline Thomson as favourite at 5/2, and were offering Helen Boaden at a tempting 5/1, have closed their online page.  Have they been reading ?

There's not much form stuff in the Sundays.  Janet Street-Porter, in The Independent, casually sideswipes at Alan Yentob and Helen Boaden as "lifers"; but says Mark Thompson's external experience at C4 was very short. "The BBC cossets, insulates and ultimately castrates those who stay there too long".  But there's no tip from Janet - except, perhaps, herself.

Meanwhile The Independent also chooses to celebrate Quentin Letts' spoof candidacy.  His manifesto would include "the sale of Radios 1 and 5 Live; closure of the Asian Network; a cut to the BBC website by half; trimming Newsnight by 20 minutes, starting Today 30 minutes later (Sarah Montague sounds as if she needs more sleep); sacking Jeremy Clarkson (or at least a sale of Top Gear); doubling the World Service budget; dumping much of daytime TV; ending all-night telly; closure of Salford; and the restoration of Play for Today."

Could the battle for the next DG be fought out on the Today running order ?  The current statistics-led gender frenzy amuses Libby Purves in The Daily Mail, but I think you'll find an improving list of female contributors, reporters, weather forecasters, etc over the next three months.  It's on Helen Boaden's patch, after all.

Meanwhile, we note that Mark Thompson was spotted at Prince Andrew's trade reception in Davos; Mark's last chance to network there as DG.