What's the BBC's Thompson doing at Downton Abbey?

The BBC's director-general, Mark Thompson , has more than his fair share of headaches just now. The corporation is beset by internal budget headaches, striking journalists, concerns by its trustees about output and an increasingly hostile press. The smash-hit success of ITV's series, Downton Abbey , couldn't have come at a worse moment. It's not too far-fetched to note similarities between Thompson and Downton's fictional proprietor, the Earl of Grantham. How so? Read my column in today's London Evening Standard to find out.