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THOUGH Channel 4 News has reached middle age there is still something of the young punk about the programme. An attitude. Like the past, they do things differently there.
Take the time they held a climate change debate and replaced a no-show Boris Johnson with an ice sculpture. Downing Street is still making them sweat for that. And nothing says anarchy in the UK, after all, like Jon Snow’s multicoloured socks.
So one hoped for something out of the ordinary when the programme hosted the first Scottish leaders’ debate to be shown live across the UK. Yes, under Channel 4’s commitment to equality, everyone in the four nations was going to suffer 45 minutes of Scotland’s political leaders.
The venue was The Galvanizers in Glasgow, described on its website as “a versatile blank canvas”. Isn't that what head office used to say about Scottish Labour leaders?
It looked like the same place where STV held its leaders’ debate, but moodier, more like a nightclub. Turn the lights off and squint a little and it could have been Studio 54 in its heyday, sans the beautiful people and intoxicating atmosphere.
The intro package had a clip of Labour leader Anas Sarwar getting his funk on and Willie Rennie sitting in a giant deckchair. It was as good a primer on Scottish politics as UK viewers could have hoped for.
Host Krishnan Guru-Murthy opened proceedings by talking about, who else, the man who was not there. No, not Alex Salmond. Boris Johnson.
Douglas Ross, for the Scottish Conservatives, said he believed the Prime Minister when he said he did not say what people say he said. Or words to that effect.
On we ploughed, with Guru-Murthy telling Anas Sarwar if people wanted to save the Union they should vote “Scotland, er, the Conservatives”. One day immersed in Scottish politics and our host was already losing the plot.
The debate was sharper than on previous occasions, with Ross and Nicola Sturgeon more pugnacious.
Who knows what viewers in Barnes or Bolton got out of it. Probably the same as viewers in Ayr and Aberdeen: mild puzzlement with a hefty dose of boredom.
With 8pm approaching Guru-Murthy wrapped things up.
“I hope that was fascinating if you lived in England and useful if you lived here,” he said.
If you had just switched on expecting Bake Off, it must have been flat out baffling.
Ah, Bake Off. At least it puts hot air to good use.
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