Doing the decent thing in wake of big losses has gone out of fashion

Current Account noted with great interest some recent comments from BCC director-general Greg Dyke, the man who rescued TVam…

Current Account noted with great interest some recent comments from BCC director-general Greg Dyke, the man who rescued TVam from oblivion many years ago by introducing viewers to the joys of Roland Rat.In 1994 Dyke was ousted as chief executive of London Weekend Television after its takeover by Granada.

Speaking at an advertisers lunch in London this week, Dyke had some interesting comments on Granada's debacle with the now-collapsed ITV Digital.

Greg said that in the good old days if advertisers lost a lot of shareholders' money, they usually did the decent thing and fell on their swords. According to Dyke: "These days it's much more common for the generals to award themselves more share options while thrusting their swords into trusted lieutenants."