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GBTV?

When during a recent coup Thai TV was switched off to be replaced by continuous archives of the the King, Thai friends found it made useful background music while they got on with their lives around the house.

Better than the risk of a jingoistic channel representing Gordon Brown would be a channel that featured many of the political leaders and issues.

I know we have the Parliamentary channel, but that can seem very cold for all but the most hardcore viewer - a Parliamentary Lite would be very interesting.

Maybe we could push all the electioneering onto there and get it off the mainstream channels.

And for those politicians who complain "but people would never watch it," well, therein lies a very important lesson for them.

Given the "does Gordon dither" debate as expressed in the stamp duty holiday/no holiday it will be interesting to see whether anything will get produced by GB for GBTV.

NEWSNIGHT'S soundbytes could never handle it,

but the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú needs to examine "human rights" from a cosmopolitan standpoint.

For example, do they really exist and are they universally accepted standards?

More controversially, are they applied by the USA?

Again, NEWSNIGHT'S soundbyters can't think of it, but the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú could.

I hope that soon the anthrax killer story will get some solid coverage on Newsnight.

"US anthrax victim Robert Stevens' widow has called it shocking that army scientist Bruce Ivins was allowed near anthrax when he was certifiable".

It does sound as though he had to be working alone.

Does it raise questions for us also about the vetting process, perhaps the MoD would comment etc?

Gurubear, like presenter June Sarpong's website mixing popular culture and politics, or more traditional and Newsnight-y?

GBTV / State TV. I thought that the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú (state broadcaster) already had this niche covered. How will Gordon Brown TV be any different? Will Gordon Brown TV be staffed by Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú/exÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú employees, I wonder?

Caroline should be in China: she could win a gold medal for filibustering.

THE GREAT GAME AND THE NEPOTISTIC PEOPLE'S PARTY

So (allegedly 'Islamo-fascist') President Musharraf isn't going to the games, but the Socialist International representatives for Pakistan (PPP co-chairmen 19 year old Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his dad) are going to help make the world a far better place by booting out axis-of-evil 'fascists' like Mr Musharraf whom Richard Armitage allegedly once advised "we'll bomb you to Stone Age" unless....

If that isn't an endorsement of the PPP and neocon/Socialist Internationalist cosmopolitans and their interests, what is?

Pakistan: low mean IQ, but fast growing workforce (lowish mean IQ means high TFR). Like Bangladesh and Nigeria, its population has tripled to over 150m whilst in the same period the UK has had to start importing labour from S. Asia and Africa because of the UK's low birth rate.

Now..... why is that?

Erik

Adding popular culture would be interesting - who would think of, say, mixing a political strand with an arts review programme?

But, maybe a better formula would be somewhere between a sports channel and a shopping channel.

The parties get their nice, meaty, political slots, but it is padded out with more independently minded panels and commentary. And perhaps the odd political video diary, fly on the wall stuff and face the public bits.

For instance, I would love to have been at the Shadow Cabinet meeting when it was decided that no member of the conservative party was allowed to say the words "Prime Minister" without using the word "Dithered"

It must have happened - some giggling school boy come PR consultant sat down and made that policy recommendation. If the public saw that, then their perceptions of how politics work may start to change.

But in the end, this sort of mix and match channel (with plenty of self produced party nonsense) would be the perfect TV equivalent of "Give them enough rope ...."

Housing Minister Caroline Flint's interview was a classic demonstration of why New Labour is so unlikeable and unelectable.

Her complacent, patronising, gobbledygook, doublespeak replies to Kirsty's serious questions about the government's policy on reviving the housing market, spoke volumes about the government's total inertia and panic on this front.

I was left with the impression Ms Flint thought she was being ever so canny in her rebuttal techique to the questions.

No Ms Flint, you came across as bombastic and clueless.

I agree with you restassured. I would add that it is assuring in a minister that they are confident and assertive but very unappealing when that is substituted for obtuse arggression.Tonight Caroline Flint even outdid her previous interviews on Newsnight which more than hinted what was to follow.
As further trouble mounts in the housing market i dread to think what is to come in any interview with this minister.Does she not realise the electorate is simply turned off by her manner and irrespective of the intellect of the listener her words merely become hot air even when there is merit in them.
Kirsty,Jeremy or whoever interviews her next time prepare yourselves.I am sure you will.

The problem is often the media training ministers get given.

Often run by the same journalists that end up interviewing them, the training spends far too much time on "Takign control of the agenda" rather than just answering competently.

However assured you are, being interviewed in the Newsnight studio is far from easy - and the politicians are often more worried about getting it right than getting the right information across.

I used to do media training with Peter Hobday - his training was far more about workign with the interview than against it, as is the current trend.

Better training and we might see better answers

Hardfaced or what!

Caroline Flint has as much charm as a cold bloodied Tesco till supervisor on a busy saturday. She's got looks but the minute she opens her mouth... J-e-s-u-s!!!
The coffins already built for labour; and Flint the housing minister has the hammer and nails.
Keep a firm grip Caroline... and Bang those nails in..

concerns stamp duty.
what baffles me is dat the min. of the ecq. can spend 24
billion pound on northen rock or buy for 3 billion pounds worthless nothon rock shares without so much as a parlementary debate but that for only 1,5 billion pounds goverment cost for suspending stamp duty on transaction until 250000 puonds a lot of discussion is neccesary?
Is it that the 24 and 3 billion pounds are virtual money and
1,5 billion pounds are real taxpayers money !
Or is this in a nutshell the
core of the problems
the 24 plus 3 are write offs
and the 1,5 billion pounds are real money with wich the salarys are to be paid!
i am dutch and sorry for my
poor inglish.

yes the national oath should be to defend the rights of freedoms of ALL the people not just one family of role gamers.