Postal order arrives

A month into the new financial year, and the Foreign Office has finally agreed a figure for continued funding of additional BBC World Service efforts largely aimed at Africa and India. It's up £8m on the previous year, to a total of £94.4m.   Against this Government generosity, dear reader, do not forget that licence fee payers have been stumping up for the bulk of World Service operations since 2014, to the tune of £261m in the most recent year. 

In theory, the whole of World Service funding is on the table in the mid-Charter review, with talk about a new deal from 2022. One suspects this is just too hard for the present Foreign Office leadership to contemplate; the current cock-eyed arrangements, devoid of clarity and principle, will limp along, exhausting all those involved in now annual last-minute negotiations.