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"Jeremy Paxman has defended the BBC World Service following news of 650 job losses. Writing in The Guardian, the Newsnight presenter compared the broadcaster to &amp;quot;an ageing uncle who&amp;#039;s seen it all&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;I have never, ever, anywhere in the world, heard anyone say a bad word about the World Service,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;How many millions listen to the World Service in some form? A mere 241 million people, they say - the figures are so vast as not to mean very much. &amp;quot;But it must be many more than will ever clap eyes on William Hague, listen to an ambassadorial speech or attend a Foreign Office leadership conference.&amp;quot; The Foreign &amp;amp; Commonwealth Office has cut the funding that it awards to the BBC World Service by 16%. Responsibility for funding the World Service will be met exclusively by the BBC from 2015. Last week, the National Union of Journalists said that the cuts were &amp;quot;a brutal attack on a valued and vital national service&amp;quot;. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a301004/paxman-defends-bbc-world-service/>