Tag Archives: jeremy paxman

Book review – Jeremy Paxman: A Life in Questions

Santa kindly got me this book. I have just finished it – which for me counts as “speed reading”. (I once spent an entire year reading “To kill a mocking bird“).

Jeremy Paxman’s memoirs, “A Life in Questions” is an excellent read – it presents a journalist of great integrity, an interesting life story which is, in turns, fascinating, gripping and, sometimes, hilarious.

Posted in Books | Also tagged | 3 Comments

Opinion: Paxman, politics and pogonophobia

Bearded Nick Clegg

Oh what a fuss about a beard!

The media has gone mad over Jeremy Paxman’s beard, egged on a ‘Twitter storm’ last night. Even the BBC has got in on the act, declaring its presenter’s beard to be ‘notorious’.

What is it about beards that generate such interest, dislike, even fear? (This fear, the media tell us with glee, is properly called pogonophobia.)

Distrust of beards is nothing new. I grew mine the moment I escaped from sixth form. As an archaeologist, being hirsute was pretty much obligatory for men in those days. But when I led a dig for a county council, the head of personnel laughed out loud at the ‘odd habit’ of us diggers growing facial hair.

Posted in Humour and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 15 Comments

Norman Lamb, Newsnight and Jeremy Paxman’s bedpan

Liberal Democrat Health Minister Norman Lamb wrote about the Government’s response to the Francis Report for this site yesterday. Later he was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight. Paxman started by asking how long it would take before the NHS is fit for purpose.

Norman replied:

We have to recognise that a lot of fantastic work goes on in the NHS

Most people who work in health and care do so because they want to care for people

We shouldn’t denigrate NHS because of what’s happened in this one report, but anyone who cares passionately about the NHS has to face up the

Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments

LDVideo: Chloe Smith’s car-crash fuel duty Newsnight interview

Yesterday saw George Osborne execute his latest U-turn, postponing from August until January next year the 3p-a-litre rise in fuel duty. Here is that U-turn, by the way:

Last night, Conservative Treasury minister did a tour of the media studios to defend the decision. Unfortunately for her, that included facing Jeremy Paxman live on BBC2’s Newsnight. You can watch the fairly excruciating result below (from approx. 6m:15s in):

Posted in YouTube | Also tagged , , , and | 26 Comments

LDVideo: Danny Alexander on the Coalition’s economic record

Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander was grilled by BBC Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman on Wednesday night about the UK’s negative growth figures — here’s what Danny had to say about the Coalition’s economic strategy:

Posted in YouTube | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments

LDVideo: Paxman and Boulton slug it out

Here’s two rather different perspectives of our esteemed Fourth Estate in action. One shows a journalist who’s done his homework, and gets increasingly fed up with the refusal of a politician to deal in honest facts. The other shows a journalist who’s failed to do his homework, and gets increasingly frustrated with the persistence of a politician in exposing his laziness. See if you can work out which is which …

Adam Boulton takes on Lord Mandelson on spending cuts


(Also available on YouTube here).

Jeremy Paxman nailed by Plaid Cymru economist

Posted in General Election and YouTube | Also tagged | 5 Comments

3 reasons to be pleased with Nick Clegg’s Paxman interview

I’ve just finished watching Jeremy Paxman grill Nick Clegg live on BBC1 (presumably on iPlayer later). There are three reasons Lib Dems can be pleased with Nick’s performance:

1. Most importantly, Nick acquitted himself very well. In spite of some tough questions, combined with Paxman’s trademark habit of never allowing an interviewee to finish a sentence, Nick handled the detail well, but never forgot to paint the bigger picture. The impression left was a of a politician well in command of policy, and firm in his principles.

2. Then there’s the fact that Nick actually dared to take the Paxman challenge – …

Posted in General Election | Also tagged | 17 Comments

YouTube ‘cos we want to: bumper conference catch-up special edition

Welcome to this very special bumper conference edition of our occasional LDV feature, YouTube ‘cos we want to, featuring some of the most memorable moments from the past week. For those Lib Dems who’ve been isolated inside the ‘Bournemouth bubble’, missing out on all the media coverage I hope this selection of clips gives you a sense of what you missed while you were, erm, there.

From Nick’s leader’s speech to Vince’s dust-up with Paxman on Newsnight, Chris Davies’s rant to the Huhne ‘n’ Pickles show on Radio 4 – it’s all collected here for your viewing/listening pleasure. Enjoy …

Posted in Conference and YouTube | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | 2 Comments

YouTube ‘cos we want to: Tory leaders special

Welcome to this latest instalment of our new LDV feature rounding up some of the best/worst/most curious political videos doing the rounds.

How could I not start with David ‘Veer are yur papeers?’ Cameron’s indulgence in a bit of outdated xeno-stereotyping. I find it hard to get worked-up by it – and it certainly doesn’t qualify as racist. It’s just not very Prime Ministerial, is it?

Speaking of not very Prime Ministerial, let’s remind ourselves of one of the prime reasons the Tories are so relieved to have Mr Cameron as their leader: Iain Duncan Smith, here in full oratorical flow ‘turning up the volume’:

Posted in YouTube | Also tagged , , and | 10 Comments
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