Change Afoot. Here's Andrew Marr on the Today Programme discussing the appointment of Michael Grade as Chairman of the BBC. Seems Andrew thinks the BBC has been 'wallowing round a bit' over the last few months. Mmmm.

I have to say I don't think they could have made a better choice in the circumstances. This will probably make the BBC a smoother operator, as it had to become in the light of some of its hamfisted errors. Hopefully it will be too smooth for the likes of Orla Guerin or Matt Frei- that would be an outright improvement. Grade would at least have the charisma to tackle some of the ideologues in the arenas of politics and foreign affairs, and if he has a firm ideology himself it's not terribly obvious (I stand to be corrected on that). See also this from the Guardian. PS- I'm not sure the first link is working. It worked on the test I did. I will investigate. PPS. Ok now, I think. PPPS 'Talking Hoarsely' has made the discovery that the audio link stays open only for a short time- can it be they don't want others to keep a record of important items? Apologies for those disappointed, but you live and learn. Here's a link to the Today Programme Website instead.