Captain Moonlight's Notebook

NEVER MIND about the future of Martyn Lewis. Personally I'd welcome his departure from the Nine O'Clock News to somewhere suitable like the Swansea breakfast-show studio or a new series featuring Squirrel Nutkin. What does worry me is the future of Newsnight's Francine Stock. Next week - I think I can exclusively reveal - the BBC will announce that Kirsty Wark is to join Newsnight's presenting team. No problems there: Miss Wark is terrific. But who will she replace? Not Paxman or Snow, surely, or the bright and breezy Sue Cameron. The finger points to Francine, whose shyness and diffident interviewing technique always suggest that she may have an altogether too human approach to her job, ie that appearing on television for a living is an unnatural activity. This (not to mention her Bloomsbury beauty) makes her worth watching. She must stay.