Bilious

Never prone to understatement, Nick Cohen (Altrincham Grammar and Hertford, Oxford) continues to lay into the current regime at BBC News, in a Spectator blog to follow a recent Standpoint article.

Hacks have always been dyspeptic, as my regular readers will have spotted, but the alarming headline, "A Putinesque world of cronyism and fear", has only one quoted, anonymous, source to back it up. A better judgement of morale will come if BBC News can move to the next financial year without a strike.

• Today is deadline day for those wishing to take a redundancy deal in the New York Times newsroom (CEO former BBC DG Mark Thompson). Current estimates suggest south of 40 volunteers for the package - short by 60 of the number sought. Compulsories - a problem for the BBC, too - look likely.