Change of Scenery?

I do try to get up and about on Sunday morning in time for the Andy Marr Show. Sometimes, though, I have mixed feelings about the utility of so doing. Today was one of those times.

There were, unusually, three bodies on the Marr sofa this morning, perhaps because of the decision to dwell on the News of the World and its involvement in routine acts of criminality. This does not cause me a problem, and moreover the appearance of former Sun editor David Yelland was interesting: he never comes over as “loud” enough for the hot seat at the Super Soaraway Currant Bun, unlike the unrepentant and unreconstructed Kelvin McKenzie, but is more thoughtful and measured.

This is something that cannot be said of Amanda Platell, who appears on the Marr show far too often. Perhaps the Beeb is trying to be nice to the legendarily foul mouthed editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, by featuring one of his hacks. If so, it’s a pity that the paper can’t put up anyone better. If someone of mildly conservative persuasion is what they’re after, the BBC could do far better by asking Ms Kirsty Relocation or even Carole Vorderman. Or even Carol Thatcher, who as I noted the last time she appeared, is of delightfully independent mind.

It does seem strange for the BBC to give so much airtime to those whose editors’ devotion to rubbishing the Corporation is so well known, and so consuming. Jane Moore of the Sun is another, although more agreeable, regular.

And we know what view any Murdoch editor has of the Beeb.