I have never really liked Marr's interviewing style. Like so many others it primarily consists of asking a person questions and then interrupting them. I'm a firm believer in asking a question and allowing the person to answer. It's a much politer way and also if the person being interviewed is an idiot they will show this through their response. In other words they will hang themselves.
Mind you I see nothing wrong with asking the same question more than once if the person being interviewed hasn't answered it (e.g it comes from a politician).
Facing the Media is a tough gig (as hip people say). For many years I had to appear on radio and television. Radio wasn't so bad because nobody saw me but television, well that was another matter. If it was recorded I avoided watching it. I hated the way I looked and hated the way I sounded but was always happy to do an interview. I know that is a contradiction but so much about human beings is a contradiction.
I still find myself analysing the performances of those in an official capacity who appear on television. It used to be part of my job. The one thing I hate is senior police officers facing the cameras and reading from a script/piece of paper or tablet. It looks so insincere. Very often it's a short message they are trying to convey and something they need to say with feeling and that doesn't come over of they are reading from a carefully prepared statement.
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My comments recently have been rather harsh towards the Prime Minister and I make no apology for that as, to my mind, he is a terrible leader, a lazy man with no moral scruples. But it wouldn't be fair to make those comments without having a go at one of the other parties following the North Shropshire by-election.
Why is it that the higher people get, the more childish they become? I was disgusted by the image of the winning Liberal Democrat candidate pushing what seemed like a giant knitting needle through a balloon that had "Boris' Bubble" written on it. I understand the comment being made as in "We are bursting Boris' Bubble." But it was sad and pathetic and the kind of thing you would expect from six year olds having a spat in the school playground.
I think it's this kind of childish behaviour that puts so many people off politics and politicians who so often act like immature children.