Cuckoo

So, at Tradingaswdr Towers, anticipation builds for the Public Accounts Committee hearing on the BBC's vainglorious Digital Media Initiative, cancelled by Lord Hall at a cost (at the very least) of £100m, but more importantly, cancelled after a range of people over the life of the project told the NAO and the PAC all was tickety-boo.

Ma Hodge is not having that, so has summoned former DG Mark Thompson, former CFO Zarin Patel, former COO Caroline Thomson, former Trustee Anthony Fry - whilst current Director of Operations, dapper Dominic Coles comes in for the cancellation team. Oddly, no-one with digital connections has been called so far - neither begetter Ashley Highfield, continuer Erik Huggers, minder Ralph Rivera, or the last Chief Technology Officer John Linwood.

In a sort of clear the decks move, ahead of the hearing at the start of February, the BBC has revealed that Linwood, suspended in May last year, actually left Auntie's employment in July - but neither side told us. There was "no pay-off", but eggs is eggs Mr Linwood will be looking for something. The Price Waterhouse Cooper report into what went wrong was anodyne, and dealt with process, structures and governance. The NAO's version ought to be a little more racy when it comes - who told half-truths to whom, when and why ? Mr Linwood's current Linkedin CV offers a litany of success stories at the BBC, which, when added up, saved the BBC much more cash in technology innovations than it lost on DMI - his lawyers may move for a tribunal after they've assessed the NAO report.

The hearing creates a busy week for Mark Thompson - February 3 in London, and February 6 back in New York for the fourth quarter and final year profit and loss figures for the New York Times.