SHOCK! Horror! A man has decided against moving to Glasgow, even though his high-level post is being transferred there.
Quite what The Guardian is insinuating is anybody’s guess, but today is is reporting that the editor of BBC discussion programme, Question Time, has declined the opportunity to move to Glasgow, as its production is transferred from London to Scotland as part of plans to spread the making of BBC network programmes around the UK.
Says The Guardian, while Ed Havard works for independent production company, Mentorn – the producers of Question Time – he reports to executives at BBC News. It adds that the the decision to move the show from Westminster to Glasgow was first suggested three years ago, as part of a plan to ensure 50 per cent of the money spent on BBC programmes is outside of London within five years’ times.
It’s not reported why Havard doesn’t want to move to Glasgow. But the paper does say that Question presenter, David Dimbleby, was ‘reportedly furious’ at the planned switch in where the programme was being made.
The Guardian does quote a BBC spokesperson, saying: “Ed Havard has decided he does not want to move to Scotland. Mentorn and the BBC are now in the process of recruiting a replacement.”
It is understood some Scots have, in the past, declined to move to London, including for family reasons.
allmediascotland understands an advert for an editor will appear in next week in The Guardian and also Broadcast magazine. The programme is to become part of BBC Scotland News and Current Affairs from September. BBC Scotland will second an assistant producer to Mentorn later in the year.
Atholl Duncan, head of News and Current Affairs at BBC Scotland, told allmediascotland: “Question Time is the most prestigious poliitical programme on the BBC. Managing and editing the programme from Glasgow is clearly an important development for Scottish broadcasting. It also a key moment in increasing the network news and current affairs work we do in Scotland which has been illustrated recently by the increasing number of Panorama programmes made by our investigations team out of Pacific Quay.”
Read The Guardian piece here.
