Bye bye Paxo

It's Jeremy Paxman's last Newsnight tonight. 

In all my years of blogging about BBC bias, even when I was at my fiercest, I never thought of Paxo in a bad way. Whether presenting Newsnight and The Day Today, or reading out questions on University Challenge, or fronting history documentaries, he's always been a class act. He didn't just give Michael Howard a grilling, he gave all and sundry a grilling (when needs demanded) - including, at times, his own BBC colleagues (Paul Mason and Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan spring to mind). 

His boredom with Newsnight has been pretty obvious recently though. He once got so bored that he grew a beard live on air.

Imagine being him now, being free, no longer having to 'be Paxo' every night from Monday to Wednesday, never again having to interview Dizzee Rascal or Russell Brand, never again having to refuse to interview the Cookie Monster or do a zombie dance. 

Ah, freedom! Who wouldn't envy him?

Update: And talking of departures, the Telegraph has also "amicably" dispatched blog favourite Damian Thompson, and Benedict Brogan.

It's 'good nights' all round tonight. So good night.