P.M. FOR THE P.M.

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Though I approve (on the whole) of Eddie Mair, that does not mean that his show PM is not biased towards the Left - at least if today's edition is anything to go by. See if you agree. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qskw
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Terry Stiasny' s report on the hostels for teenage mothers proposed by Gordon Brown in his speech at the Labour Party conference, taking shape in the form of foyers run by local housing associations, could have been scripted by a Labour spin doctor. She talked to a young mum who thought it was a great idea in that it made life a lot easier for her. The sociological jargon spouted by its director, who thought his foyer was a 'great example' for the prime minister, tells you something about the mindset behind such doubtless well-intentioned projects - as does the fact that rehearsals were going on for a play for Black History Week. (Of course, he wanted more funds from the taxpayer.)
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A lively debate within a narrow ideological circle followed with a discussion on the importance of a treaty at the forthcoming Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, with enviromental campaigner Kim Carstensen of the WWWF Global Climate Initiative talking the matter over with Andrew Pendleton of one of the Beeb's favourite think-tanks, the centre-left Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). Both supported strong action to 'save the world', they only disagreed about just when a binding treaty should be signed.
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The privatised rail companies came under sustained attack from Nick Cosgrove in the Upshares Downshares business spot, with Ashwin Kumar of the pressure group Passenger Focus piling on the criticism.
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Even Nils Blythe's report from Malawi on food security praised the government intervention policies of the government of that country, talking to "one of the beneficiaries of a Malawian government programme to provide heavily subsidized seeds and fertilizers to poor farmers". We heard twice that this had "made a huge difference" (as it may well have done). We also heard praise for our Labour government role in the 'Malawi Miracle', with Gwen Hines of the Department for International Development stressing the importance of 'financial engineering.' We also heard of campaigns against wicked artificial fertilizers, which were not (Blythe said) felt to be "sustainable in the long term."
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