http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx

Spare a thought for the BBC's newish Director of the World Service Peter Horrocks.

No sooner has he sat down in his seat in Bush House than his paymaster, the Foreign Office, announces an unprecedented cut of 20 per cent in its funding.

No sooner has Mr Horrocks announced the inevitable closures and loss of jobs that have resulted, after tortuous negotiations with the Board of Management, the BBC Trust and the Foreign Office, than his chief lieutenant Craig Oliver announces that he is going to work for the Prime Minister whose Government has just inflicted such pain.

Mr Oliver is the new Andy Coulson or Alastair Campbell, running the media operation at No 10 and perhaps even now preparing to complain about the way his former employers have reported the latest Downing St initiative.

He certainly knows who to ring.

Craig Oliver ran the BBC's election coverage and edited its main TV news programmes, so jaws didn't just drop in the newsroom when news of his political appointment flashed up on screen, they crashed to the floor.

Of course I knew none of this when I interviewed Peter Horrocks in Bush House on Tuesday evening. I thought he looked a little distracted, but put that down to boredom with my questions, which were hardly original, as opposed of course to those which you, dear listener, had sent me.

When I talked to Mr Horrocks I asked him about the statement which William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, had made in the House of Commons, that the BBC had originally proposed that up to 13 languages should go but that the Government had refused permission for such a large cull. Was that true?

Here at Feedback we are eagerly awaiting the appointment of a new Chair for the BBC Trust, the person who is supposed, above all, to protect your interests. As soon as we know who he is (and it most likely will be a he) - we'll try to get them on the programme. Let me know what you'd like to me to ask him.

Roger Bolton is presenter of Feedback

Listen again to this week's Feedback, produced by Karen Pirie, get in touch with Feedback, find out how to join the listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
Feedback is on Twitter. Follow @BBCR4Feedback.
Peter Horrocks wrote about the cuts on the BBC Editors blog last week.
Richard Sambrook, once a Director of Global News at the BBC, has some advice for Peter Horrocks in The Guardian. Neil Midgley in The Telegraph says that MPs are angry with the Foreign Secretary about the World Service cuts. Melanie McDonagh in The Evening Standard says that "life can carry on without the BBC World Service."
The picture shows BBC World Service staff protesting against the cuts outside Bush House. It's by Ben Sutherland. Some rights reserved.

Some big changes have been announced today by management at BBC Online. A cut amounting to 25% will affect the whole of the Corporation's online division (Future Media & Technology). 360 posts will close all together, including between 35 and 39 at BBC Audio & Music Interactive. Around 200 individual web sites ('TLD's) will be closed.

Outgoing boss of BBC FM&T Erik Huggers has written a detailed post for the About the BBC blog, based on his announcement to staff.

On the BBC Internet Blog, executive Ian Hunter has written two blog posts. The first, published this morning, is about the effect of the cuts on the BBC's social media, including the planned disposal of H2G2, the long-running online community and closure of the iPlayer messageboard. In his second post he writes about the mechanics of closing and archiving 200 BBC web sites.

On the Sports Editors blog, Ben Gallop explains that the 606 sports discussion web site will be closed, along with several other sport services.

On its web site, the BBC Trust confirms that it has approved the cuts as part of the BBC's new online strategy. There's a formal announcement on the BBC Press Office web site.

The news has produced a great deal of discussion in the media and on the social networks. 'BBC Online' has trended strongly on Twitter all day, as have several cuts-related hashtags. Many thousands of tweets and nearly 900 blogs mentioned the changes.

Media coverage included The FT, The Telegraph, The Guardian's Paid Content blog, Marketing Week and The Register.

More blog posts from BBC executives are due tomorrow.

Steve Bowbrick, blogs editor

BBC Radio Blog Feed

Peter Horrocks' somewhat smaller world

Big changes at BBC Online