Planes

A busy 2012 so far for Alan Yentob, as he awaits the arrival of a new DG. Top jobs have included approaching Sir Tom Jones on behalf of Danny Cohen, to be a judge on The Voice.

Then there was curating the film programme of the Marrakech Biennale at the end of February; a trip to New York to be the centrepiece of the New York School of Visual Arts/BBC Design festival at the end of March; a quiet April, but earlier this month a quick hop to Lucerne, to be on a panel for the Rose D'Or festival; and today, to Cannes, as Chairman of BBC Films.

Meanwhile Mail columnist Quentin Letts, who's applied for the DG vacancy, has given warning that, if successful, Mr Yentob's lunchtime activities are in his sights...

As BBC chief, I would stop executives going out to lunch with professional contacts. Let them meet them in an office with nothing more than tap water being served. 


The culture of ‘lunching’ has no place in a public organisation. In the light of the Leveson Inquiry and the Parliamentary expenses scandal, it is a relic of more corrupt, splashy times. Most Britons do not possess expense accounts. If they have business meetings, they do not expect to be fed and wined. The BBC could set an example to this country’s troughing political and media class and stop this decadent practice. Imagine the savings. Imagine the improper cosiness that could be averted. 


Imagine how much weight Alan Yentob would lose.