Man in the white suit becomes man in the black mood

Former BBC foreign correspondent and erstwhile MP Martin Bell raised eyebrows when he described the media's fascination with stories involving young, pretty blonde girls such as Madeleine McCann as "necro-news", but he had assembled executives spluttering into their coffee when he went on to say the Six O'Clock News was being presented by the "auto-cutie on duty". He then turned his fire on the BBC's head of newsroom, Peter Horrocks, asking why the BBC news helicopter had been dispatched to follow Kate and Gerry McCann home from East Midlands airport on their return from Portugal. Horrocks gave a sober justification, saying it was an important development in the big story of the day, but Bell drew laughter when he replied: "It was a car driving along a road!" One insider described Bell's performance as "superbly curmudgeonly". Get the man a slot on Grumpy Old Men!