[Mike]

I assume the intention was for that to be used for different messages, but to be honest it's still to many different things as it is

I think it was, someone said it was a FCP template - which included the headlines sequence. 

There's nothing inherently bad about them but as you say, they're just bland and badly timed, a nifty idea they could be changed daily on the fly, but the music is quite lethargic. That's not to say I don't like the music, but the sting for bulletins and the closing titles sting are the strongest components of it.

The headline graphics are in my view too much, but the regions and nations had a habit of using awful headline graphics in this era (See Newsline and their various DVE effects, Midlands Today, and Look Newcastle although theirs wasn't quite as garish as LDN's).

It was a strange time across the regions though, many were adopting or had adopted the LDN template, with subtle colour differences to the original product and LDN decided they had to be different and this was born as a result.