* The loonies are taking over the corporation

Pete Clifton, Head of BBC News Interactive, was the guest speaker on Thursday.

He revealed that of the 500 or so videos that are put on the BBC News website every week - many of which are gleaned from user-generated content (or UGC) - only a few are watched by a significant number of people. And these tend to be the 'wacky' ones. As a result of their popularity, they appear in the day's 'Most Popular Stories' box - which is on the BBC News front page - prompting viewing figures to escalate further. All of which I find slightly perturbing.

As Mr Clifton himself asserted, "people expect a bit more from the BBC". Wacky, Jackass-style videos may generate more hits, but is this really the kind of the thing with which the world's most respected broadcasting corporation wants to be associated?

UGC has also started to feature more prominently on the BBC's football website, particularly in its 'Quotes of the Week' section. Each week online users are invited to submit their favourite 'Chants of the Week' and - as you can see from last week's selection - some of them are frankly obscene. I'm no prude - far from it, in fact - but if you wouldn't get away with this material on BBC radio or BBC TV, why does the fact it's user-generated make it OK to publish online?