Three wise people

Once again, an amusing panel has been constructed to whittle down candidates to be the next Chairman of the BBC Trust.

Last time, when we got Lord Patten, it was cross-bencher Lord Browne, formerly of BP; Stewart Purvis, formerly of ITN; and DCMS Permanent Secretary Jonathan Stephens who conducted the preliminary interviews, with the help of a unnamed independent assessor.

This time, (source: The Mail) the cross-bencher is Lord Kakkar, Professor of Surgery at UCL, and a specialist in work on deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms; the broadcasting eminence is Carolyn Fairbairn, formerly Director of Strategy at both the BBC and ITV; and then, shock horror, Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood. No room, apparently, for new-ish DCMS Permanent Secretary Sue Owen.

The Heywood name was last mentioned in connection with the BBC when Lord Hall invited a McKinsey team, lead by Mrs Suzanne Heyood, to examine ways of simplifying Auntie's internal structures. The outcome of this £600k investment was supposed to be "The Bonfire of the Boards", with almost half of these pompous groupings to be closed down. Any suggestion that they nearly all continue, but are now called "team meetings" would be mischievous.