Taking the questions
- 17 Oct 06, 04:49 PM
Talking , I had to face a few yesterday lunchtime from Michael Howard. I was the interviewee and he was the interviewer at a charity event called , in aid of .
He was pretty kind to me but did put me on the spot one or two times. He asked me whether journalists should allow themselves to be "used" by politicians. That's a kind of "when did you stop beating your wife" question. Naturally, I said that we should not be used but then guessed where this line of questioning was heading; my report about Gordon Brown's pledge - that he never actually delivered - to renew Trident (see blogs past).
The former Tory leader's point was that the chancellor had used me - and others - to issue a totally deniable pledge since he had never uttered the words in question. He suggested that I should have said to Gordon Brown - if that's what you think, come on television and say it. Mmmm. Interesting thought.
The night before I took questions on who sets the agenda - politicians or the media - with David Blunkett and Matthew Parris. The event was staged at the Cheltenham Literary Festival and Parris made another interesting, if alarming, point that journalists and politicians are in a sort of conspiracy to make political news more interesting than it actually is. No doubt a view that will be shared by some bloggers who accuse me of making rather than reporting the news. You will be able to listen to the discussion (though the link isn't there at time of writing...).
