I long ago stopped accepting the excuse of “gaff”, “cock-up” or “unwitting” to explain when political interviewers on live television or radio take advantage of their position of trust. Therefore the Andrew Marr interview with Gordon Brown on BBC Sunday morning, where he prefaced a question on the Prime Ministers mental health on rumours blogged on the internet by right wing bloggers, went beyond the pale and was bang out of order.
The words, “contrived”, conspired” and “plotted” could be a more accurate description of the motive that lead to this disturbing behaviour of one of the BBC’s top paid live broadcasters. It was another Jonathan Ross moment for the BBC that further brings into question the direction of the current senior executives at the BBC.
Conference
Not being at Brighton this week was never going to be easy for me especially when I’ve attended Labour conferences over 30 years or more. I’ll miss the debating and occasional rows that are part and parcel of the conference week. But this year’s conference is all about preparing the Labour Government for the General Election. My enforced rest for the last two weeks has allowed me to relax more and catch up with some reading and writing. The next two will hopefully see me up and ready for the fray when Parliament returns from summer recess.
“Marred” / Conference
28 September, 2009.
“Marred”
I long ago stopped accepting the excuse of “gaff”, “cock-up” or “unwitting” to explain when political interviewers on live television or radio take advantage of their position of trust. Therefore the Andrew Marr interview with Gordon Brown on BBC Sunday morning, where he prefaced a question on the Prime Ministers mental health on rumours blogged on the internet by right wing bloggers, went beyond the pale and was bang out of order.
The words, “contrived”, conspired” and “plotted” could be a more accurate description of the motive that lead to this disturbing behaviour of one of the BBC’s top paid live broadcasters. It was another Jonathan Ross moment for the BBC that further brings into question the direction of the current senior executives at the BBC.
Conference
Not being at Brighton this week was never going to be easy for me especially when I’ve attended Labour conferences over 30 years or more. I’ll miss the debating and occasional rows that are part and parcel of the conference week. But this year’s conference is all about preparing the Labour Government for the General Election. My enforced rest for the last two weeks has allowed me to relax more and catch up with some reading and writing. The next two will hopefully see me up and ready for the fray when Parliament returns from summer recess.