[Boiler]

Rats

Thoughts are now turning to an Internet radio connected to an AM modulator. Or a laptop and Radio Garden connected to same

[Kreuzberger]

It's a lovely, thoughtful listen, with wall-to-wall excellent journalists and profoundly knowledgeable guests, none of whom (to my knowledge) have ever run a pub, gutted fish, or persistently lied through every last gasp of twenty Rothman's.

To some, there might be an air of deference in the interviewing style and I suppose there is. The distinct difference is that the interviewees don't take advantage of the situation.

Experts, innit?

[Boiler]

Many years ago I found myself working on a programme called Skavlan, hosted by the journalist Fredrik Skavlan. It was easily the most civilised programme I have ever worked on, and the ease with which he switched between Swedish and English was truly amazing.

[Boiler]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52444823

Cleared over complaints from the Tory Faithful about how he treated two ministers: apparently 3,200 complaints were received over his treatment of Helen Whately.

[Snowflake]

PIERS MORGAN: Breathless bullsh*tter Boris can boast about his ‘successful' coronavirus war all he wants, but Britain’s horrendous death toll tells the real shameful story.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... story.html

Christ, what's actually going on here? Is Morgan now trying to repair his somewhat battered reputation and decided he wants to be taken seriously, is this the start of a Mail campaign to replace Johnson, or is he just still really pissed that Trump ghosted him?

[KevS]

Wowzers! I didn't realise that was the actual headline! And more to the point, Geordie Grieg or someone else at the Mail has said "Yep, that's fine. Run it."

*Looks outside just to make sure the world is the right way up*

[Bones McCoy]

Like Blue Peter's Petra, the real Piers has croaked from the lurgi, and they've installed a look-alike.

2 alternative theories:
* There's mileage in being the different journalist - "look at Meeee!!".
* He's possibly the shrewdist of the press pack and has seen the writing on the wall for the "business as usual" tabloid format.

[randomelement]

Could I add a third, that something has happened to him personally and he's actually been deep affected and is using his c*nty skills for good?

[Andy McDandy]

4. He's in a position where he can make headlines by himself. "Minister doesn't go on Today" doesn't generate interest. "Piers has diatribe at no-show minister on GMTV" does.

He's not beholden to the government for access, or for funding. He may not be the heavyweight interviewer that Andrew Neil or the like are, but he's the one with the biggest reach, into the population they can't reach. And yes, he has an instinct for what the public want.

[davidjay]

5. Clickbait. By going against the 'mood of the nation' he inspires fury.

[KevS]

But taking that into consideration with JSP's piece on "If Boris was a woman" etc following the birth earlier in the week, plus that they've managed to show up the Government by getting a plane load of PPE in relatively easily....

.... what's the Mail up to?

[Andy McDandy]

Critical friend, stress on friend. Nobody really thinks that the Mail would ever be actually in danger of undermining a Tory government, so if it runs the occasional piece that's less than flattering, they play the fair and balanced card when calling the Grauniad and Mirror out for being rotten lefties.

[Daley Mayle]

He's a professional contrarian but he does get it right from time to time. When he was editor at the Mirror his paper came out against the Iraq invasion, one of the very few that took this line. He did over egg it when he ran the fake photo of squaddies peeing on an Iraqi soldier.

[Watchman]

Still not convinced that Morgan has been on the road to Damascus, everything is still done in his hectoring, bullying, style.......he still uses a blunderbuss when a stiletto is required

[Andy McDandy]

Thing was, there had been incidents of squaddies abusing Iraqi prisoners and civilians - the Sun had run pics of Iraqis strung up on forklifts, with a strong "one bad apple" line. However, after Piers' little stunt (TBH I'm sure he believed the photos were genuine, he was just so desperate for them to be so that he stopped thinking critically), any allegation of abuse was tainted. So yeah, nice one.