From Green to White

The Charter renewal gavotte goes on. The BBC's 'offer' document "The Future of The BBC 2015", in the words of the Guardian's Jane Martinson, poses more questions than it answers. So next to take the dancefloor will be John "Tonioli" Whittingdale , with a White Paper rhumba.

There's a real chance now that this might be much more prescriptive than would normally have been the case, given the lack of a BBC detailed position on national and regional broadcasting, and the Government's need to "do something" about Scotland, and the parallel pressures of English devolution, the Northern Powerhouse, etc.

The BBC says only it will not cut licence fee spending in Scotland as much as it will elsewhere, as it hunts for 20% "savings" over the next five or six years. If the Government forces its hand over Scotland, something else will have to give.

• Given how careful Lord Hall and James Purnell are about not wishing to scare horses, there will be questions today about how much James Harding and his English regions boss David Holdsworth tested the water with the idea of 100 public service reporters. Balloons and lead come to mind.