In the early days of broadcast news, the announcer read from a carefully-typed piece of paper.

Soon, a telephone appeared on the newsdesk (for breaking news, I presume). Then came the autocue machine, so that it appeared as if the reader was speaking from memory.

Then, in case they forgot the script, the newscaster was given a hidden earpiece.

That should be sufficient for any normal presenter, but no - each BBC news studio has now been supplied with a £1,000 laptop computer (for each newsreader and which I have never yet seen used).

Oh, and the BBC has announced the licence fee is going up to £162.50.

-Mike Mitchell, Hove