Say no more

I’ve been a fan of Newsnight for a decade or more. As politics students it was essential viewing. Yes, at times, it’s overly opinionated, predictable, knowing, (un)intentionally funny – but I think it’s still one of Auntie’s best uses of the licence fee. And IMHO Newsnight Review will always beat Big Brother in the Friday night TV stakes…

I’ve been a fan of Newsnight for a decade or more. As politics students it was essential viewing. Yes, at times, it’s overly opinionated, predictable, knowing, (un)intentionally funny – but I think it’s still one of Auntie’s best uses of the licence fee. And IMHO Newsnight Review will always beat Big Brother in the Friday night TV stakes…

Last night’s programme showed an interview piece with Archbishop John Sentamu about his week living in York Minster, praying and fasting for peace in the Middle East. He was erudite, politically-aware and quietly outraged.

Then, cutting to the studio, Martha Kearney proceeded to question her two guests on the matter – John Gladwin, the Bishop of Chelmsford and chair of Christian Aid, and Jonathan Miller, a Jewish atheist theatre and opera director.

She began by suggesting that the clergy should steer clear of making political statements, and that it was only because this was the Holy Land that the Archbishop was making a stand in the first place. What about the people dying in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chechnya, she cried? She tried repeatedly to get a rise out of the Bishop with this sort of easy line. She also tried to goad Jonathan Miller into saying that religious people, esp. clergy, had no right to express political views. And thus for once, it was only Martha (and me at her) who was getting hot under the collar as she tried to pit the guests against each other and thankfully they declined to take the bait.