On the BBC News Website you can find this transcript of BBC Radio 5’s interview with the BBC’s new political editor Nick Robinson. Put out of your mind this dizzying circularity to marvel at the content of the discussion. Robinson is particularly strong on the attributes that mark out a great political journalist:
“Yes, John Cole on the BBC with that extraordinary Northern Ireland accent that people mocked at first but came to love. The herringbone coat, as you say. And then his rival at ITN, Mike Brunson, who was an incredibly successful political editor. The big glasses, the drawl, the wry observation. They made people want to listen, they made people want to know.
…
[Y]ou’re right John Cole was one of the first characters – he was certainly for me, one of the people that made me think that’s a great job, that’s someone doing something that matters and looks fun as well.”
Why does this kind of guff immediately make me think of The Fast Show‘s Ron Manager?
Good to see Robinson replacing Marr. Robinson’s the only political journalist on TV worth paying much attention to, and he at least seems to be scrupulously impartial, while Marr was just a bit of a tosser. It’s either a big turning-point for the BBC or a huge mistake for Robinson.