Discontent

“Rising costs mean we shall end this year with a deficit of around a million pounds,” says the BBC's Controller of Radio & Music Programmes, Graham Ellis, in the face of a decline in the "number and value of commissions" from his BBC Radio & Education paymasters.

There will be those in BBC finance very amused that Mr Ellis thinks he is allowed to run a deficit. There will be those in BBC finance planning who will be angry that Mr Ellis didn't apparently spot these rising costs until now. There will be those in HR who will sigh at Mr Ellis's invention of the new role of 'content producers'; where exactly will those 40 jobs stand in the BBC's fantastically-transparent Career Path Framework ?  A small bet says they'll be cheaper than any other form of 'Producer'. There will be those who note Mr Ellis' timing; his revelations might miss wider scrutiny, as News stands by to shake more jobs out.

Others will note Mr Ellis's salary, at £210k+.  His two most recent hotel bookings are for Rome, where he's both a toiler on behalf of Vatican's media operation, and a big cheese in the Prix Italia. He remains the BBC's Royal Liaison Officer, which probably makes him fireproof until a change in the monarchy.  He is chair of the EBU Radio Committee, and a member of the EBU Media Steering Group. Can anyone work harder ?