The choice of Siobhain Butterworth to be the successor to Ian Mayes as readers' editor for The Guardian is inspired. She has always struck me as one of those newspaper lawyers who has a shrewd understanding of how journalists work, an essential requirement for an ombudsman.
Even when I've disagreed with her - and I've had rows with almost every office lawyer in my time - she has argued her case with great clarity and patience.
I thought Ian would be irreplacable - and, certainly, his sense of humour cannot possibly be replicated - but the Scott Trust have done well to appoint Butterworth. Her track record suggests that she will do the job well and I wholeheartedly agree with Liz Forgan, chair of the Scott Trust, when she talks Butterworth's "courageous and distinguished role" in upholding the Trust's values in her former role as legal director.
When she takes over in March, Ian will begin his next task, to write the third volume of The Guardian's official history. A history, no doubt, that will be leavened with yet more of that Mayes humour.
