WELCOME aboard the Speculation Express, calling at Hypothetical Central and Conjecture Parkway, due to arrive at Super Saturday in five days’ time. Hot and cold “ifs” are available from the buffet car, and don’t forget our two for one deal on “let me be clear”, favourite snack of obfuscating politicians everywhere … Those looking for straightforward answers as to what lies ahead on Brexit
this week found themselves instead on the Sunday show equivalent of a replacement bus service, going nowhere fast.
Even though Peston has moved to midweek, leaving two Sunday television shows instead of three, the marketplace remains crowded, with radio, newspapers, and websites also vying for guests and news lines.
READ MORE: Sturgeon refuses to rule out hard border
Ridge on Sunday, once again seeing the A-listers going to The Andrew Marr Show, was its usual inventive self. Much in the way Strictly Come Dancing has its movies week and its Blackpool week, Sky News promised “leader’s week”, with Jeremy Corbyn on a pre-record from Hastings; Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the Commons, live from what looked like his constituency home in Somerset (pink sofa, antique photo frames and art deco vase in background); Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson in the studio; and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford at the party’s conference in Aberdeen.
The Rees-Mogg interview was hit by technical problems, requiring Ridge to talk over footage of PM Boris Johnson meeting his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar, while someone tried to sort out the gremlins.
As luck would have it, there was help at hand. Instead of asking Ridge to carry on winging it, the director cut to Jo Swinson in the studio. “Thanks very much for whizzing up into the gallery at short notice there,” said Ridge.
No mention was made of the East Dunbartonshire MP breaking any sprint records to go with Eliud Kipchoge’s historic marathon run of under two hours, but one imagines that, given the chance to upstage Rees Mogg, she went at a fair old lick. Think of the scene in Broadcast News where the production assistant races to get a tape on air, ducking open filing cabinet drawers and hurdling a toddler as she goes. Bit like that was it, Ms S?
Rees Mogg was back soon enough, laughing off the technical difficulties as if to say, “What else should one expect dealing with this new fangled electricity?”
READ MORE: Indy support rises to 50%
When asked if the Government should not mind its language, such as labelling the Benn legislation the “Surrender Act”, the Minister said this was all part of the cut and thrust, and “the socialists” had done the same thing when dubbing the community charge the poll tax. It was not to be confused with the kind of unacceptable language and threats being sent on social media, particularly to “lady broadcasters”. Is there a club for such ladies, and if not I wonder how fast Kay Burley can set it up?
Then again, looking at the line-up on Marr, perhaps such an institution is not needed to advance the cause of women on television. Too often on programmes with outside contributors the viewer is left asking the question, “Where are all the women?” On Marr it was more like, “What happened to the men?”
The newspaper review panel was all female, and the interviews were with Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister, Priti Patel, Home Secretary, and Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Shadow Business Secretary. For the record, the sky did not fall in.
Sunday Politics Scotland opted for strict equality in guests, featuring interviews with Kirsty Blackman, the SNP’s deputy leader at Westminster, and Lesley Laird, Shadow Scottish Secretary, and a male duo on the review of the week.
READ MORE: Split on policy avoided
Blackman had an uncomfortable time of it, appearing to be caught on the hop over whether the SNP, if an amendment was tabled next Saturday on a referendum, would support it. After making several attempts at getting a yes or no, presenter Gordon Brewer said: “That’s all very interesting but it’s the answer to a different question from the one I asked you.” So it went on, with Ms Blackman finally reduced to arguing that Brewer didn’t understand the “collegiate” way the SNP took decisions.
In the paper review, Marr made much of the Scottish papers taking different lines from their equivalents in England, but he only showed a few front pages. No Sunday National, no Scotland on Sunday, The Herald on Sunday, Sunday Post, etc. Whoever went for the Scottish papers that morning had come back almost empty-handed.
The subject of most speculation across all the shows was what would happen next Saturday, with Labour and the SNP almost negotiating over the airwaves as to what might be the price of any co-operation between the two. Nicola Sturgeon set down her red line: “If you don’t accept Scotland’s right to choose our own future, at the time of our own choosing, don’t even bother picking up the phone to me.”
If you had ever wondered what the political equivalent of the phrase “talk to the hand cos the face ain’t listening” might sound like, Ms Sturgeon had just demonstrated. Don’t know about lady broadcasters, but the women on telly club had enjoyed a good day.
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