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Humphrys at it again

Monday, 18th February 2008

There are many different reasons why I prefer Nicky Campbell in the morning to the Today programme, but the main one is John Humphrys.

He excelled himself today. Alastair Darling deserves to be, and can quite easily be, rilpped to shreds over his handling of Northen Rock. But Humphrys' performance was simply shameful, wilfully distorting Darling's position and words, as Andy McSmith makes clear:

A word on the exchange between John Humphrys and Alistair Darling on this morning's Today programme, in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer was accused of having either said or agreed that nationalisation would be 'lingering death' for Northern Rock. It seemed odd that Darling would ever say anything so interesting, having built his career on never expressing a controversial opinion. The record shows that, much as we all admire the great Humphrys, on this occasion he was being unfair.
He was referring to an exchange in the House of Commons on 19 November, in which the Labour MP Jim Cousins, said: "The whole House will have noted that the Liberal Democrats have as much regard for the 5,500 employees of Northern Rock in the north-east—and the 6,500 nationally—as they had for the job of their former leader. Two or three faces in public, 10 in private—that is the policy of the Liberal Democrats."
Cousins added: "Does my right hon. Friend accept that the policy of nationalisation would lead to a slow lingering death for the jobs of the Northern Rock workers, its assets and Britain's reputation as a major financial services centre, with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor cast in the role of undertaker—and that only by finding a successor business to grow on those jobs, assets and reputations can we offer any real prospect of the taxpayers getting their money back?"
Darling replied: "I agree with my hon. Friend. It is regrettable and surprising that the Liberal Democrats never seemed to support our earlier proposals to keep Northern Rock open. It would also, however, be a mistake to shut off all other options and simply go for one at this stage; that does not seem to me to make any sense at all."
In context, it is clear that Darling was agreeing with Cousins's attack on the Liberal Democrats and not, as Humphrys inferred, with his warning about nationalisation.

Quite. When is Humphrys going to be put out to grass? There must be some hope that when Evan Davis arrives Today might be worth bothering with again. But for the moment, I'll stick with Nicky Campbell, who seems to realise that an interview can be tough without resorting to Humphrys-style contradiction and showboating.

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David Duff

February 18th, 2008 10:38pm

I made the switch years ago because I couldn't afford to keep buying new radios having flung a succession of them against the wall in rage at Humphries 'et al'. I liked Radio 5-Live, until Nicky Campbell arrived and his smart-Alec tone began to grate. Then, I discovered TalkSport and now the admirable Alan Brazil starts my day, when he manages to get into the studio on time, with four hours of yadda-yadda about 'footie', a game I know little of (although I am now beginning to learn) and care even less. It is such a pleasure to hear the sound of unremitting fury and rage and the realise that it emanates from some maddened 'footie' fan and not from me! Try it, too much politics is bad for you!

Kevyn Bodman

February 19th, 2008 1:51am

I'm an expat and on visits to the UK I usually land at Heathrow at about 6.30 am. The first thing I do when picking up the hire car shortly after 7.00am is to re-tune the radio to Radio 4 for the Today programme. It's varied, lively and stimulating. In a slight dig at SKYNEWS and their former presenter Julie Etchingham I would say it really is 'agenda-setting analysis.' Compared to the drivel on other talk-based radio, and compared to any TV programme at all, the Today show is very good. Of corse it has flaws and there are some segments that can cause anger but I would suggest to Mr. Pollard that if he wants to hear opinions and comments that he can always be in agreement with he can buy a mirror, stand 2 or 3 feet in front of it and talk.

James Forsyth

February 19th, 2008 1:28pm

To be fair, Humphrys did acknowledge the mistake this morning and the fault for the mis-quote appears to lie with Hansard nort Humphrys. Though, the tone is Humphrys' alone

Ian C

February 19th, 2008 4:46pm

Agreed. Nicky Campbell and the ever giggly, but nonetheless professional, Sheila Fogarty make a day easily started. Humphries makes you want to hide your head under the pillow for fear of getting it chewed off!