"Romulus and Remus"

It started promisingly. Little and Large Lords Patten and Hall had their lines sorted before their first show as a double act at the Commons Culture Committee; Hall tossed out an early rip-snorter with news of a proposal to cap severance pay at the BBC at £150k, as in the Civil Service, likely to affect 250 staff.

We were told that James Purnell had hung up his political boots sometime ago. We learned that the BBC Management Board (despised by Thompson) now meets every Tuesday (from monthly previously), and that there's a new Red Flag system for controversial-programmes-in-the-making once a week on the Executive morning conference call. We learned that Lord Hall will be on the final interview panel for a new Newsnight editor, with an appointment expected in two weeks. We learned that James Harding is to be known as Director of News and Current Affairs. And we learned that Lord Hall's big changes for the future will come in September/October.

The committee slowly ramped things up. A fistful of questions about Pollard Punishments, or lack of them, particularly Lord Hall's move of Helen Boaden from News to Radio. Then a concerted pop at the Panorama on North Korea. Lord Hall revealed an offer to make all the students anonymous, and not mention the LSE at all in the programme; "sadly" he said, the LSE rejected the offer. And he also revealed the key role of the BBC's "High Risk" team - safety advisers, usually from an Army background. They advised against getting written consent from the students used as cover - in apparent contradiction of BBC editorial guidelines. And clearly made an assessment that discounted or fail to assess the risk to tour guides and the wider reputation of the LSE. This isn't going away.

Things got a little easier towards the end; Hall held out the prospect of reviewing budget cuts to Newsnight, once a new editor was in place, and made comforting noises about the balance of spend within News on local radio.

Then hackles rose slightly as it came to Philip Davies' turn. Lord Patten was patient, hoping not to add to his YouTube account. Lord Hall bristled slightly, pointing his spectacles at the Tory a little too much. Davies accused the pair of being Romulus and Remus. But there were no fisticuffs.

Mentioned in dispatches by the BBC side throughout: James Harding, Ceri Thomas, Ben Cooper, Stephanie Flanders, Hugh Pym, Jeremy Bowen, Ian Pannell, Blakeway Productions, Sam on Introducing from BBC Radio Bristol - and yes, "the brilliant" David Dimbleby.