This is the BBC`s new logo.   Or it could be the old one.   They both look the same to me but that hasn`t stopped the Beeb squandering anything up to £2,000,000 of license fee payers` money on this contrived deception.  Now my up to date abacus tells me that, if the alleged £2million is to be believed, then that amounts to the equivalent of 12,579 licenses.

It seems that that the BBC have someone called Kerris Bright who has a salary of £360,000 a year as its `Chief Customer Officer` who unveiled the new logo in a blog on its website a few days ago.   She attempted to defend and legitimise this nonsense by saying, "It has been a long time since the Corporation updated the look and feel of the BBC which has not changed a lot in the last 20 years.   Our research tells us that audiences think some of our services look old fashioned and out of date.   They want a modern BBC that is easier to use and navigate to find the content they love and enjoy."

I got my abacus out again and discovered that for the £360,000 bunged to Ms. Bright you could buy 2,264 TV licences.   Now if their aim was to really modernise its `look and feel` - given that it might not have needed doing anyway - then surely a proper rebranding should have happened rather than this confection which is indistinguishable from its predecessor.

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While I`m on the subject of the BBC I have long complained about the attitude of their `interviewers` especially towards politicians appearing on BBC Breakfast .   The worst offenders are Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty who seem determined to find `gotcha` moments by asking pointed questions and then not allowing their `guests` to answer without being continually interrupted.  It is annoying not only for the viewer but also for the interviewee and I`m surprised that many of them, like Sir John Nott all those years ago during the Falklands crisis, haven`t walked out in despair.

But the other morning a smidgen of redemption happened in the form of Gillian Keegan who was grilled by Stayt in her capacity as  Minister of State for Care and Mental Health at the Department of Health and Social Care.   As ever, Stayt was up to the BBC`s usual ploy of attempting to trick a Government Minister into a `gotcha` by interrupting her considered answers.   She was having none of it.  Whatever you might think of the Government and its policies and practices, here was someone in full control of her brief after being in the ministerial job for less than a month and who demonstrated that she - not the BBC - was in charge of the interview on her terms.  Good for her.  Here`s the interview in question....look out for her impressive stance especially around the 5 minute mark.....

A refreshing change to see Charlie Stayt being talked over rather than the other way round - I got the feeling he just about gave up and accepted defeat.   Let`s hope we hear more from Gillian Keegan who could go high up the greasy pole.  Trouble is, I doubt the BBC will invite her back again.