Lean

In the BBC's rhythmic calendar of management, the run-up to half term is when the divisions announce the scale of cuts that they'll have to implement in the next financial year. Because BBC cuts are usually about people, this gives HR time to do deals to get them out of the door before 5th April 2017.

The timetable means one of Helen Boaden's last acts running Radio won't be quite as celebratory as she'd have liked. For Charlotte Moore, running Content (aka TV and Sport), it'll be odd, as Mark Linsey has now taken the vast bulk of her staff off to form BBC Studios. For vast bulk, assume 'vast' is only temporary, and expect phrases like "We have to get into shape for our commercial future".

For James Harding, vulnerable to only the most extreme form of Bulford Kryptonite, it'll be a further test of his chutzpah. How will he fund the News Channel, the Scottish Six Solution, Newstream and more without making big cuts somewhere ? Dare he sniff round local radio and regional output in the current climate ? Who will scrutinise how he's using the new Foreign Office funding aimed at World Service ?

On the techie side, we ought to get some figures on how Project Mango has actually reduced headcount bringing three groups together. I mean, I presume it has ?