Easing in

Bryony Gordon's Telegraph piece, an interview with Evan Davis preparing to occupy the main Newsnight chair full-time, is unequivocal. "Ratings are down", she writes, presumably without challenge from the BBC side.

Evan testing
questions

So the rather high-risk strategy is to launch the new boy tonight with a David Cameron interview. Of course, you'd like to make headlines with it. Will Cameron surrender a news nugget of his own free will in joyful acknowledgment of/and congratulations for the Katz/Davis unilateral pact of non-aggressive political interviews ? Or will the soft cushion technique wrong foot Dave into a gaffe ?  (By the way, has Laura Kuenssberg signed the pact ?)

Either way, until the BBC shares some Newsnight viewing figures, we'll have to make our own minds up about success or failure. 5,900 10 to 14 year-olds was not enough to save the 4 O'Clock Show on Radio 4 Extra - is there a Bottom Line for investment in Newsnight ?

15.40 Update: All seems cosy, doesn't it ?

As @iankatz1000 and @EvanHD might Tweet: Coming down the Newsnight slipway, our #CPC14 with the PM at 2230 #CPC14 pic.twitter.com/kKKfGy29yY
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) September 29, 2014