Wossy Wetires

Jonathon was rather a precocious child who sometimes needed tough love to stop him going off the rails. Unfortunately his guardians and mentors failed to realise this; intimidated as they were by the size of his package. Now Jonathon is out in the cold looking for a new job. As the Telegraph points out today; the BBC always argued that they have to pay market rates to get talent. So clearly Jonathon will quickly get snapped up by the commercial competion and offered a nineteen million pound contract. We dont need to feel too sympathetic, do we?

The departure of one person will not be enough to change the institutuion. However the spin coming out today (see here) is that the BBC have told Jonathon they were not going to renew his contract. If so it is possible that the BBC really are starting to change. The question is why they did not get rid of him when they had the chance a year ago. Perhaps reality takes a while to sink in when the taxpayer underwrites your mistakes.