Reminder

Middle East Eye has news of a conference about Qatar, held in the badlands of Grennwich back in September. Despite the event's title, 'Qatar Stability', MEE reckons it was more designed to rally opposition groups bent on regime change.

The world greatest living journalist John Simpson chaired a session in which he interviewed a former Al Jazeera journalist who had been jailed in Egypt. A BBC spokesman tells MEE "John was chairing the panel in [a] private capacity. We have reminded him of the BBC News guidelines."

John, 73, may also need to be reminded of the fee; he told MEE that he had been paid for his appearance, but he did not know how much as it had been arranged by his agent. John earns between £150k and £199,999 for his part-time contract with the BBC; more, of course, than Carrie Gracie, who was never part-time and nobody said anything like that.