You're right House, but I'm sure there were cases when Ben wasn't seen at all or seen at the desk doing a two-way like the clip above. I think the business story had to be in the main running order (which is highly probable most days anyway) and an update from Ben would be dropped in some hours. From November, the old-style bulletins were back. Glad to see they're extending right through the day too.
I think BBC News at Five would also benefit from a final business update for those coming home from work.
I'm not sure, I felt some of what Ben was reporting on was either of little importance in the context of the day's news, or unnecessarily duplicating already well-reported on story, which made me think the reports were on in part to meet the NC's business news targets. They certainly used him to cover breaking/developing stories at the desk, or to offer more context to a story if without a guest/ Peston. Equally, those reports didn't air at exact times IIRC (in the way sport and business updates are scheduled, even if they get knocked back), and were frequently dropped when other stories warranted it.
I didn't quite understand why the post-November updates stopped in the early afternoon when Ben's previous reports were certainly live as of the News at Five - maybe they felt there was only so long you could repeat the same interviews before they weren't current enough, and the budget only took them up to midday-ish? Not that there are as many interviews now, of course...
I too am glad the updates are back, and I'm glad there's a consistency to who presents them that was lacking in the last days of the
TVC era. I seem to recall pre-2008(ish) was fairly consistent, with Declan Curry at the Stock Exchange for Breakfast, Maryam Moshiri on the mornings and early afternoons and Julia Caesar handled afternoon and evening. When they extended Declan's (and then Simon Jack's) remit to lunchtime and moved Maryam to afternoons Julia seemed to disappear entirely (save for very occasional reports) - does anyone know where she landed next?
