BBC director general Mark Thompson is to step down from his post after the Olympics this year, it was reported last night.

René Girard knew better than most what made Christianity Christian. Primitive societies, he argued, are overcome by "mimetic desire". Rivals within any group are driven by a fierce competitive instinct to do the other down, and own what he owns. The solution is to identify a potential victim, the vanquishing of whom temporarily restores peace and civility. In Roger Scruton's unbeatable analysis, "scapegoating is society's way of recreating 'difference' and so restoring itself. By uniting against the scapegoat, people are released from their rivalries and reconciled."

While scandal can bring down the powerful, others feel they have to make a stand

The former second-in-command at the BBC got a redundancy payment of around £950,000 when he left the corporation last month, according to reports.

"Nothing to add to evidence to inquiry. Dossier not case for war." (Alastair Campbell, Twitter, May 12 2011.) "Alastair Campbell said to the Inquiry that the purpose of the Dossier was "not to make a case for war". I had no doubt at the time that this was exactly its purpose...." (Major-General Michael Laurie's letter 0f 27.1.10 to the Chilcot enquiry, released on Thursday, 15 months later.)

He must be having a tough time?

Yes, the theft of personal data from 100 million users of Sony's PlayStation Network online gaming platform has been embarrassing and costly. Sony shares plunged yesterday, while Sir Howard made a public apology to those affected. Some think the affair may cost him his job.

The Monday Interview: As the new British Film Institute chairman, Greg Dyke tells Rob Sharp how he hopes to keep the industry in Oscar-winning form

A switch from the current first-past-the-post system to the alternative vote (AV) would give more power to the average voter, according to an independent study published today.

Voters keen to distance themselves from the far right are courted by advocates of voting reform

History

Campaigners against reforming Britain's voting system today refused to publish details of the multi-millionaire donors who are bankrolling them.

The British Film Institute (BFI) is to become the new champion for British film, inheriting the funding responsibilities of the UK Film Council and ending a period of uncertainty for the industry.

Tesco joins international phone call market

Supermarket giant Tesco moved into the international calls market today with the launch of low-cost Tesco International Calling Cards.

Two important statements from the diamond-encrusted gob of Kanye West yesterday: one about George W Bush, and one about his penis (Kanye's, not Dubya's). In his memoir Decision Points, which covers the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina and the global economic meltdown, Bush writes that the very lowest moment of his presidency came when West claimed, on live TV, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." This outburst occurred in the days following Katrina, when thousands of Louisiana's citizens were left dead or homeless by the disaster. Still, West claims, he understands the former president's pain – as it's very much like the backlash he himself suffered after interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at an awards ceremony. "The poetic justice that I feel, to have went through the same thing... now I really more connect with him on just a humanitarian level," West explained. Meanwhile, his penis has gone viral. No, not like that. West has confessed that an image doing the rounds online is, indeed, a real photo of him with his bits out. A self-portrait, he sent it to a young lady whom he hoped to woo via MySpace. Naturally.