Grade was always less convinced of the need or wisdom of the move to Manchester and made little secret of his view that it would be the first casualty of a low licence fee settlement.
In Scotland (where the history and devolution settlement are, of course, very different) the nationalists have become the dominant party.
But what does it all mean as Europe gently frazzles and David Goodhart, ex-editor of Prospect, now director of the Demos thinktank, pens an ambitious FT article (paywall) promoting a new settlement for British politics, what he calls "post-liberalism"?
Purnell said the BBC had been forced to cut back on the range of services it offers following the 2010 funding settlement, which froze the licence fee at £145.50 until 2017, including axing original daytime programmes on BBC2, and the decision, yet to be formally submitted to the BBC Trust, to axe the BBC3 TV channel.
Just before Easter, News Corp Australia reached a confidential settlement with the human rights lawyer George Newhouse over an allegedly defamatory article by its star columnist and host of Ten's The Bolt Report, Andrew Bolt.
But, of course, ultimately the solution lies in a political settlement.
A military source said the shooting took place around the Damboa road near the small settlement of Mule, about six miles (10km) from Maiduguri, a city of 2 million people.
She expressed her regret that some parties in the Assembly remained opposed to the NCA operating with its full range of powers in Northern Ireland but said that the "UK government completely accepts the crucial importance of ensuring that NCA's operations in Northern Ireland are fully consistent with the devolution settlement.
A collaboration between the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the British and American Red Cross, Missing Maps aims to use remote mapping to develop free, open-source maps for every settlement on Earth – particularly those areas prone to disaster and diseases such as Ebola.
But with the current licence fee settlement due to come under review in the next parliament, the broadcaster has come under fire from Conservatives who accuse it of a liberal bias.
Asked about domestic opposition to the deal, the White House said it was not opposed to Congress providing oversight over the final settlement, but was vehemently opposed to legislation that would either empower the legislature to approve the deal or otherwise prevent officials from finalising the detail.
