Ace- you journos just never give up, do you...
Ole RD does have the ear of more than one director, I would trust him years before I would trust your second-hand hearsay, which I doubt very much comes from a sourcer any higher than a disgruntled BHD F/O.
As for dik dastardly, how low can you get... what a to@@er.
One thing I will say for RD, he went out of his way to sit on our (very uncomfortable) jumpseat and brief us on Kickstart the day after it happened. I wish more people in the company were as quick to pass on information.