1. The BBC

The international icon of British life and culture, is about to enter its own age of austerity. Like every other government funded entity in Britain it has known for months that it would receive less money over the next five years.

The Licence Fee, the tax every household pays to fund the BBC, has been frozen until 2017 at £145.50 ($223.84). That gives the BBC around £3.5 billion ($5.4 billion) this year to spend ... but with inflation running at more than 4 percent and with the organization taking over funding of the World Service - what public radio listeners in America listen to every day - the Corporation needs to find 20 percent savings.

What to cut has been the subject of planning and discussion for months - a program know in the best tradition of management-speak as "Delivering Quality First."

Today, the results of the DQF study were announced. 2,000 jobs will go over the next five years as the Beeb tries to save £700 million. ($1.1 billion). That's around 8 percent of the work force ... although it is hard to get an accurate count of the numbers of BBC staff because so many are already casualized or freelance.