Co-operation ?

Things may be less slightly traumatic than anticipated for Lord Hall when he faces MPs on Wednesday on equal pay. The BBC Women were in more conciliatory mood late last night.

Over at the Radio Times, Ben Dowell has been briefed that what BBC management wants now is "co-operation" and "good sense".

There is, however, a knitting bag full of loose ends. How about back-pay for Sarah Montague, woefully undervalued for 15 years on Today ? How about a little more for the men and women who fill in when Huw Edwards and Fiona Bruce can't do the Ten ?  Why not put the outstanding NUJ/Mishcon de Reya cases to swift independent arbitration ? Where do key BBC figures part-paid through indies, like David Dimbleby and Andrew Neil, stand in all this ?  Why was the BBC, immensely proud of its allegedly rigorous market comparisons, so slow in noticing that no-one (that's NO-ONE) in commercial radio gets over half-a-million to front a daily show ? Can you write down, on one page of A4, Bob Shennan's pay policy on Radio 2 ?  If these market comparisons were off the mark for so long, are you sure Valerie Hughes D'Aeth is worth £310k a year ? And how about those promises from HR not to use confidentiality clauses/nda's/gagging clauses when sorting out exits ?