Re: Scrape away
arrbee,
Yup. 'Did you threaten to overrule him?' x 10. To be fair, Howerd was dodging, and should have just given a straight answer. So he deserved to be made to look silly.
Today lasts for 3 hours, so they've got no excuse for always cutting people short. The World at One, and The World Tonight are far better. Today have plenty of air-time to give politicians time to make their points, and then grill them afterwards.
Instead they ask them leading questions, and then try to cut them off if they fail to give yes/no answers on complex issues. When I could still bear to listen to it, without shouting at the radio, was when Rodd Liddell was in charge: their stated aim was 'to set the news agenda'. So they'd ask a question like 'why is your policy designed to disadvantage old people'. So minister tries to say that all policies have winners and losers, gets hurried up and interrupted, then says something like 'yes this policy is worse for pensioners, but better for families.'.
Then the BBC news bulletins all lead with 'Minister says his policy is designed to hurt the old'. What was noticeable was that this would always change at about the 10 o'clock bulletin. When a different shift would take over, and correct what was obviously a glaring distortion of the interview. This was when I worked from home, so had the radio on most of the day. And I'm a Conservative supporter, so it isn't my love of Labour's ministers that led me to this conclusion.
I don't get to listen as much now, but whenever I tune into Today, it's still the same hectoring, headline seeking, fundamentally un-serious pile of arse that it's been for over a decade.