The news about the BBC job cuts reminded me of when I used to be a Corporate PR manager. It was the day the company's annual figures were announced and I got sent to one of our sites to look after any news crews that turned up.

ITN turn up presenter and steadycam man, they were in did the piece and out 15 minutes max.

BBC Lunchtime News turn up Rory Caitlin-Jones (nice fellow by the way) camera man and sound guy, take a bit longer but eventually they are off. Ring office

"Can I come back now?"
"No BBC News are coming"
"No I've just done them"
"Nah thats just lunchtime there is another crew coming for the six and ten o clock news programmes"

Well bugger me if when they turn up there is the presenter, camera man, sound man, outside broadcast van and driver, plus a bunch of three hangers on. they are there all afternoon in which time a bloody producer also bowls along for the event.

No wonder people think the BBC is overstaffed if they can send two different crews and about eleven staff to do the job ITN can do with two and then take about seven hours to cover something as boring as a set of annual results.

Did you know that whales, porpoises and sturgeons are royal fish. I guess this means that only the royal family can eat them and since we stopped whaling ages ago I don't see a sperm whale steak of porpoise sausage appearing on the menu at Buck House very often.

I don't know about sturgeons, I think they are kind of rare too, but its not so bleak, Swans are royal birds and there is plenty of meat on them. Must be like eating a very, very big duck.

Of course when she was a a busy working mum a roast swan on Sunday would be just the thing, with four growing children, and mum in the granny flat, especially if her sister and family popped round too. However now that the family have left home and the others are busy eating ambrosia in heaven, (hopefully it tastes like gin) they must have enough left over to keep them going for ages, cold swan with salad, swan sandwiches, swan and mash, swan curry. I bet by the time they have finished it it must be Sunday again! I think she must slip a few swan sarnies into Gordon Brown's rucksack when he pops round for his weekly visit, even though he is a commoner.

I wonder with his Greek heritage whether Prince Philip has ever thought about making tasty swan gyros though. Umm I can see it now the swan breasts cut into thin steaks and threaded onto the spit, the whole elephant's leg of swan steaks basting in its own fat as it turns round and round in front of the grill, the handsome Prince in his royal piny slicing off strips of swan with the sword of state and handing them to the Queen to stuff in the pitta on top of the salad

"My husband and I is having Chile sauce with that"