THE WEEKLY DAILY POLITICS

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The Daily Politics is, as pointed out previously, the fairest of the BBC's leading current affairs programmes by some way, but it is not totally beyond reproach. Here's a short overview of the week.
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Monday featured Lord (Tim) Bell (Conservative) as its main guest (I.C. of 0.7 for Andrew Neil and Boris Johnson was given time to plead for more money for London (I.C. of 0.6 for Andrew Neil). Alex Salmond was interviewed (without interruption) for over 5 minutes by Anita Anand (I.C. of 0). Lib Dem tax policy was discussed with Lib Dem spokesman Jeremy Browne (I.C. of 1.3 for Andrew Neil) and Alex Henderson of Price Waters Henderson (who was critical).
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The main guest on Tuesday's programme was Sir Menzies Campbell. As ever, and even Andrew Neil is not immune from this, this partisan Liberal Democrat politician was treated with a degree of respect that is rare on the BBC, treated as if he is an 'independent' foreign affairs expert. His I.C.s were 0.2 for Andrew Neil (very low for this interviewer!) and 0 for the fair Anita, who said "We are very lucky to have Sir Ming Campbell with us in the studio." Would she say that about William Hague? Sir Ming was treated with respect not just during discussion of the war in Afghanistan but also during the interview with the newly-elected UKIP leader, Lord Pearson. Lord Pearson was not accorded the same respect, earning Andrew Neil an I.C. of 1.6. Andrew queried his 12,000-acre estate and his tax allowances and said "We haven't got much time" after far too short a time. (Well, create time then!) Andrew Neil may be a lovable rogue but he can be really chippy about 'privilege' sometimes. Lord Pearson remained cheerful throughout. Sir Ming was also accorded the maximum respect while mischief-making over David Cameron's plan for a Sovereignty Act during an interview with Conservative Mark Francois (I.C. of 0.8 for Andrew Neil). The last topic, on which Sir Ming talked unusual good sense, was what Anita Anand calls (putting on a funny voice) "elf and safety", and here Quentin Letts of The Daily Mail was the other guest (and as good value as ever). A Brownie-point there!
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Wednesday was Prime Minister's Questions day & this very often seems the worst day for any centre-right viewer to watch on the programme (perhaps because the producers load it that way, it being the most watched edition of the week). Still, even here both John Hutton (one of the most likable of the Labour crowd) and Andrew Lansley were interrupted at the same rate by both Andrew and Anita. However, the soon-to-be-installed first minister of Wales Carwyn Jones was accorded a free ride and there was a remarkable film from leftie actor Brian Cox, a man who was not keen on old Etonians or Tories ("There's a risk, a very serious risk, that we might have a Tory government next year, a government that comprises a bunch of old public school boys.") Coxie himself declared "I'm a Labour supporter" - and it showed! He'd also, in the past, produced a party political broadcast for the Labour Party. This was another!! Cox, chippy Andrew Neil, Anita and an amused John Hutton then ganged up on public-school educated Tory Andrew Lansley. What fun!
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Left-wing (but beautiful) Jo Coburn joined Andrew on Thursday to give Lib Dem economic spokesman Lord Oakeshott a free ride on bankers' pay, annoying Orla Guerin came on to talk about Pakistan and a chap she called "Obama bin Laden" (Ha ha ha!), and the main guest was interesting former chief government advisor Sir David King (interesting but left-wing, as he banged on about "rampant consumerism and greed" and "how important it is we examine Al-Queda's popularity among Islamic people in the region") Andrew Neil disapproves of the Afghan War, and takes no pains to hide the fact. This was made very clear again during his interview with anti-war Labour MP Kim Howells. This love-in scored an I.C. of 0, and Andrew ended it by saying "I have a feeling we're going to see you again quite soon." So do I!! Professor King then went head-to-head with 'sceptical environmentalist' Bjorn Lomberg on climate change.
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Yesterday, when Anita was home alone, entertaining ex-Conservative minister Gyles Brandreth (very funny on Mandelson and Brown) was on with joint-main-guest Bonnie Greer, a lady of the Left but an interesting one. Anita alone usually means bias and, though she wasn't particularly aggressive today, it is notable that her only significant interruption during the discussion on Labour's class-war tactics between sleazy Labour practitioner Steve McCabe and cute Conservative Justine Greening was against Justine, resulting in an I.C of 0.4 against McCabe and an I.C. of 0.8 against Justine. When the topic turned to drugs, specifically 'legal highs', the guests were Steve Rolles, Guardian-friendly head of drugs think-tank Transform and Lib Dem Chris Huhne. Mr Rolles was in favour, broadly-speaking, of the legalisation of all drugs (an idea that needs thinking about in my view) whereas I've still no idea where Mr Huhne stands (that's Lib Dems for you!). Bonnie was 'liberal' on the subject, and so (interestingly) was Gyles. So that was four people taking a 'liberal' stand on drugs. Hardly balanced is it? (And I say that while being 'liberal' myself on the subject). At least Anita (to her credit) essayed a little devil's advocacy in some of her questions. Naughty though was Beeboid Giles Dilnot' s sneer at "Lord Pearson of I-Own-Half-Of-Scotland". The BBC's disrespect for UKIP continues.
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