[SteveRW]

With regards to re-using previous X-Mas idents its worth noting that the BBC is currently fighting to get an increase on the licence fee. The BBC reportedly wanting a '12 month average' inflation equating to about £15, whilst the government is considering just using September's inflation equating to nearer £10.

With this in mind it makes sense not to be having lots of new X-Mas idents.  After all, that would play perfectly into the narrative of "the BBC clearly still has plenty of money to spend, so doesn't need a large increase to the licence fee". 

(As a side note, had it not been frozen in 2010 at £145.50 and increased with inflation it would now be £214.04 rather than £159.  Similarly if not frozen in April 2021 with inflation it would now be £188.15 according to the Bank of England's inflation calculator.)

Which suggests that they should have created a set of Christmas idents with the Lens effect when launching the current regular ident package. That way they would have instant Christmas idents and could just add a new one every other year to keep them fresh and relevant. I'm of the mindset that decent regular Christmas idents are better than half-arsed efforts of doing stuff for the sake of it, particularly as it seems that BBC1 can't even be bothered to create Christmas on BBC1 trails anymore. That is something that is definitely missed when it comes to BBC1 Christmas pres.