VIGNETTES FROM TODAY'S 'TODAY'

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This morning's Today featured a classic heated debate among liberal-left types over national pay rates. It pitted Professor Alison Wolf of the liberal think-tank Centre Forum (also a presenter of Radio 4's Analysis and a writer for Prospect and The Guardian) against left-winger Sarah Veale of the T.U.C. They went at each other hammer and tongs!
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The only right-winger on the entire programme was Michael Gove, though his thoughts on inequality sounded distinctly left-wing to my mind. He was interviewed with Professor Richard G. Wilkinson of the left-wing Equality Trust, whose views Mr Gove avowedly admires. Justin Webb used Professor Wilkinson to get at Michael Gove, though in fairness Justin did ask some pertinent questions to the professor about the successful, enterprising spirit of 'unequal' America (which he declined to answer, using that classic academic ploy, the 'it's not my specialist area' manoeuvre). For an American take on this encounter, please have a read of David Preiser's commentary at 15:51:40 (the one with Haydn's face after it!) on the Biased BBC website: http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/2010/01/open-thread_30.html#comments.
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Elsewhere they was Nick Clegg and Andy Burnham (neither of whom had to share their interviews with a third party), yet another report on Israeli 'wickedness' in Gaza and a bit on tower blocks with the head of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Lynsey Hanley of The Guardian.
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