Playing with jobs ?

May I commend Barbara Speed's excellent long read in The Guardian on BBC Charter renewal ?

It's clear that the process is no closer to a funding solution, and woefully short of a Big Idea, or at least one that can be given some sort of flesh. 

More than a few terrifying paragraphs from Barbara: try this... 

Throughout the summer, 15 formal meetings have taken place between DCMS and BBC officials, with more to come through the rest of the year and into 2027. These meetings are private. No public record is released. It’s here that the real work of drafting the charter is done.

More worrying - the BBC lead on the case: 

Over email, the deputy director general, Rhodri Talfan Davies, told me he has found meetings with DCMS over the summer “very constructive … It’s clear to me they understand the importance of this moment for the BBC.”

And downright outrageous:

Senior figures at DCMS seem to believe that current rounds of job cuts – which will eventually amount to one in 10 of the BBC’s workforce – can be spun in the BBC’s favour. Lisa Nandy would not speak to me for this article, but Ian Murray, the DCMS junior minister working on charter renewal, told me he hoped the news of the cuts would show the public “the consequences of an inadequately funded BBC. It’s a really good way of the public realising that the BBC is something that they quite value.”