BBC Complaints: The link you need!

Monday 5 April 2010

LEYING INTO GEORGE OSBORNE

*
Shaun Ley on The World At One (or, more likely, his editors) laid a long line of trip-wires in front of George Osborne, prior to the programme's interview with the shadow chancellor.
*
Shaun gave us a clunking (and characteristically dishonest) clip from Gordon Brown attacking the Tories, followed by two clips of Alistair Darling attacking the Tories, then a clip of Nick Clegg attacking the Tories. Shaun then mentioned that "group of economists" who had defended the government in their letter to The Times (all four of them! And note, economists rather than top businessmen). He then interviewed one of them, the afore-mentioned Prof Richard Portes of the London Business School, who attacked "the Tories" and "the debt and deficit hysteria" out there and lauded Crash Gordon's "huge achievement" in saving us from "the Great Depression". Gordon The Saviour Of The World!
*
George Osborne himself rather ran rings round Shaun Ley. The man is getting more assured and more convincing by the week (phew!). He effectively batted aside Shaun's closing trio of questions on...you guessed it...Chris Grayling and gay boarders. The BBC are not going to let that go, just as Shaun wouldn't let it go today. They have the bit between their teeth on the subject. They'll gnaw on anything that they think will harm the Conservatives (whether it will or not).
*

2 comments:

  1. My goodness but doesn't Richard Portes have an extensive CV.
    One minor problem for this academic, he's never actually run a business.
    I'll lay money on him being one of the 300 economists who told Margaret Thatcher she was wrong and then suffered the humiliation of being proved wrong himself.
    Yep - he'll fit the bill for a BBC interview on the economy.

    Andy C

    ReplyDelete
  2. I see he's an advisor to the President of the European Commission. That can only add to his appeal for them.

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.