All good points I must say and I would like to stress my opinion is just my own personal one.
I totally agree with the franchises, great way to get your company more exposure with less of the capital risk.
In terms of the smaller neighbouring bases I see the argument for getting in to prevent a competitor setting up on your doorstep but in my view if you have the better airport then just focus on creating that as an overwhelming force to be reckoned with. I am pretty sure many other airlines have created precedents where setting up a small base near by a larger one dilutes the overall yields of the larger base which means the overall operation i.e. ground service costs, number of based aircraft costs etc has to be reduced to fall in line. This inevitably leads to a large base becoming a medium one as the facilities a big base requires become unsustainable. Obviously this is just my opinion but BHX certainly seems to be reducing at an alarming rate?
Also I don't think BE have ever come across as a true low cost carrier, they are mainly about supply and demand.