GEORGE Entwistle was plainly a hard-working, valuable and loyal servant of the BBC for nearly a quarter of a century.
Yet, good man though he is, he was plainly unfit for the post of director-general, from which he resigned over the weekend.
That became painfully obvious during his recent unimpressive performance before the Commons Culture Select Committee, followed by his mauling interview on the Today programme by John Humphrys only a few hours before he quit.
But who selected him for this post? None other than Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC trustees, who stood alongside him as he made his painful resignation statement and said that Entwistle had acted with “honour and courage”.
So it is scarcely any wonder that there have been calls for the resignation as well of Lord Patten.
He had before him, when he made his choice, an array of people who would almost certainly have been more fitted for the post than the unfortunate Entwistle.
Never before can a BBC director-general have faced such an inferno, almost the moment he got his feet under the table.
n I am astonished that Ann Widdecombe has attacked the Tory authorities in the House of Commons for having suspended Nadine Dorries from the party.
Widdecombe has described those who took this step as “idiots”.
Let it not be forgotten that Dorries was elected to Parliament not on the strength of her own personality and brilliance, but, like nearly every other Member of Parliament, on the back of one of the major political parties.
Those who get elected to the Commons on the strength of their personal popularity could be counted on the fingers of one hand - and I suspect that Dorries is not among them.
That is why she has broken faith with the Conservative Party, to whom she owes her seat, by going on this hugely profitable jaunt without telling the whips - who would no doubt have put a stop to it.
So Sir George Young, the Government chief whip, was right to remove the party whip from her. And Dorries - and Widdecombe - were wrong.
Loyalty should still count for something. A point which her Mid-Bedfordshire constituency party will no doubt bear in mind when she returns.
n The European Union has long been a side issue in British politics. Now it is centre stage.
No wonder David Cameron is scared stiff to hold a referendum on whether Britain stays in or gets out - because the signs are that there would be a substantial majority of voters who want us to break away.
It seems unbelievable that they have the brass neck to try to secure £13.8 billion in extra funding from national governments for this year and next.
It is unbelievable because while taxpayers all over Europe are having to tighten their belts, the EU is demanding yet more.
Last month a band of so-called Tory rebels helped to inflict a humiliating Commons defeat on the Government over the question of EU finances. That vote was not binding on the Government. Why not? What is the point of voting at all if the outcome is meaningless?
The pressure on the Government to seek a radical reform of our relationship with the EU, or even our exit, is growing by the day.
n Three cheers for Maria Miller, who is Minister for Women as well as Culture Secretary. She has bluntly told the European Union that they are wrong to try to fix quotas of the numbers of women on the boards of the big companies.
It is refreshing - and rare - for a British minister to tell the Eurocrats effectively to mind their own business.
She has told them in so many words that the idea of quotas is demeaning to women who should be able to get to the top through their own merit, not as a result of some kind of social engineering.
But she did say that the Government would work to remove the barriers to women advancing in the world of business, but that was quite different from operating a system of quotas.
Miller’s firm line on this issue seems to be somewhat out of step with what David Cameron was saying only a short time ago.
He said he would not rule out using quotas as a way of getting more women into top executive jobs, a statement which gave rise to the suspicion that the Prime Minister was simply luring women to vote Conservative at future elections.
But it now looks as though Miller has successfully persuaded the Prime Minister to change his mind and for the Government to take a different direction.
Good for her.