BY GEORGE!

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I had a pleasant surprise while listening to today's The World at One, though the surprise didn't last very long. The rise of inflation to 3.5% prompted an interview with someone from a think-tank and, to my amazement, it wasn't someone from the centre-left Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) or Demos, it was George Trefgarne of the centre-right Centre for Policy Studies (pictured right). I haven't heard anyone from the CPS on the BBC for ages. I thought, "I'll have to blog about this and give credit where credit is due to The World at One." The interview ended and the topic changed to fuel poverty and - and I did have to laugh out loud about this! - who was invited on to comment? Lisa Harker of the IPPR(pictured left)!!! She had a report out on the subject. I've blogged many times now about the number of BBC stories based on reports from the IPPR. This was just the latest example. You just have to laugh! The BBC just couldn't bring itself to allow only someone from a centre-right think-tank onto one of its programmes. That would be unthinkable.

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