Hadn't noticed it before (guess because I wasn't using it enough to notice), but add my voice to the ones wanting a background color other than pure white. I've always tried to avoid that because though contrast is necessary, a little less contrast is easier on my old eyes.
For those who have asked about using their own background color on the homepage like is done on the rest of the site, that's a no-can-do. A lot of the homepage content is actually delivered by the UK side, which has no idea what your selected background color is and no way of knowing.
But, Matt, could you give some thought to an off-white background we can use both locally and in the iframes?