Dyke signals a loss of direction

I wonder if Greg Dyke’s recent appointment to the director general of the BBC will provide the impetus for the following entry in the Oxford English Dictionary’s 2010 edition?

“Dykeing-down”:

1. An insidious form of “dumbing-down” (ibid.) which became (more) pervasive within the British Broadcasting Corporation following the appointment of Gregory “Greg” Dyke (b. 1949) as director general in 1999. Dyke built his “reputation” in broadcasting by introducing a puppet called Roland Rat to the embryonic breakfast TV in the UK during the early Eighties.

2. This [highly scurrilous] term is now used to denote the final phase in the demise of an organisation (particularly one formerly known for quality products and services) when the board of directors lose direction, become devoid of an appropriate long-term strategy, and admit that they have “Thrown in the towel” (ibid.)

Thomas Downey

Newry

County Down

Ireland