To culture secretary Jeremy Hunt's Christmas drinks last night at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in London. Top topic of conversation was undoubtedly Jim Naughtie's unfortunate slip-of-the-tongue when introducing Hunt live on air on the Today programme last week. Jeremy said he found the incident "hilarious". Monkey was amused to see in reception that an energy company called Hunting plc now has offices in the DCMS building. No relation to Jeremy apparently. Despite being in the greyest room Monkey has ever seen, Hunt's party was a lively event. There was speculation that the secretary of state might be on the move to another department, though it was roundly denied by his team. But Hunt did raise the spectre again of replacing the BBC Trust with a new kind of watchdog after 2016, saying it was what licence fee payers wanted. Meanwhile Monkey was most intrigued to learn from the ever-jocular minister for the three Cs (culture, communication and creative industries), Ed Vaizey, that the DCMS has a choir. Sadly he is not a member though he admitted has had one singing lesson "from some bloke in Streatham". Was that to ensure you all sing from the same hymn sheet, Ed?
