When I said: ‘I’ll finish my career here’…

“Having worked in ITV where the regulator was outside, the effectiveness of the governors over what we do and don’t do is much greater than the [Independent Television Commission’s] ever was over commercial television.”

British Airways’ business class passengers demand up-to-the-minute information on topical matters. It’s a good job, then, they have the airline’s Business Life magazine to keep them posted – and what could be more pertinent, in the current news environment, than an interview with Greg Dyke?

The Diary can exclusively reveal that (Business Life exclusively reveals that) Dyke is determined not to compromise the BBC’s journalistic independence; that he’s given up playing football; and that “he is determined to see the BBC through its charter renewal in 2006”.

And the Diary is sure he stands by his comments about the governors, too.