Raises the question, doesn't it, at the frenetic pace we go, of the necessity to more thoroughly research, check for typos and then check our links. This is not the first time the Beeb has been castigated for shoddy procedure.

"Castigated"? The post just imagined something the producer might possibly have thought.

That's as maybe, newshound but the point remains that it was ill thought out and ill-conceived. I admit I was referring to the online print media arm which had so many complaints late last year that the editor was forced to issue a statement on further editorial policy.

Now the vitriol has begun about control freaks et al. It all could have been avoided, as I state and restate elsewhere, if they'd only looked at how John Howard has done it with his uppity Peter Costello. Rule 1: You never telegraph your moves. Or does one actually want a media circus with Guardian and Independent Polls and the swift descent into the maelstrom?