MORE MARR-BASHING FROM CRAIG

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Another of Andrew Marr's guests today was Harriet Harman. (She has, famously, been a guest at his dinner-parties too.) Did this interview score an I.C. anywhere near the 2.1 scored against David Cameron? No, it was a rather small 0.6.
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There were some tricky questions about Jacqui Smith and Tony McNulty, but Marr didn't press her on them and much of the discussion revolved around the proposals of the Kelly Committee on MPs expenses and what this would mean for all those poor, oppressed MPs - and just how it would adversely effect MPs seemed to be Marr's main concern, for some reason. (It's not high up on my concerns.) There weren't many interruptions and a couple of those were questions seeking factual clarification rather than being those of the challenging kind. The interview closed with a light-hearted discussion about how great David Miliband is. (Marr 'mmm'ed supportively). That's Andrew Marr for you - soft on Labour, soft on the causes of Labour.
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The programme's paper review was, again, a little preoccupied with those Tories. It led off with the headlines, and the first to be held up by Marr was The Observer's 'Billionaire donor tipped for top Tory foreign job'. That donor was Beeb-Guardian-Labour-obsession Lord Ashcroft. When Joan Bakewell brought the story up and said of Ashcroft's bank accounts "We should be told", Marr gave a high-decibel "mmm" of agreement. "This is a very interesting story", he added. Really?
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Talking of those supportive "mmm"s, three more of them came when Joan discussed the story of a daughter gagged for speaking about about Alzheimer care ("Of course she should speak out", said the crumpet. "Mmm", "Mmm", "Mmm" said Marr.) I'd "mmm" too. The only other "mmm" came...can you guess when? When the excellent Fraser Nelson of The Spectator voiced a little criticism of the Conservatives: "Central Office has taken a really heavy hand actually". Marr first said "mmm", then "yes". He likes hearing criticism of those damned Tories.
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