[Abernathy]

You know what ? I think Newsnight has actually improved since the Beeb reduced it to 30 minutes long. It means that it is now really just a discussion programme, but it usually has a couple of interesting guests, and Victoria Derbyshire is doing a superb job, as is Nick Watt. The focus is all politics, which suits me fine. Not bad at all, at all.

[Abernathy]

Watching Kuenssberg interviewing the Chancellor of the Exchequer this morning, Kuenssberg’s approach was to try to cloak her own hostility towards a Labour Chancellor as merely being representative of the concerns of the viewers of her Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show. There was a great deal of “viewers want to know” type formulations, and, to be fair, she had a couple of vox pop type video clips to play, one of a farmer woman with a gripe about the closing of the IHT concession. But she spent an awful lot of time trying to get Rachel Reeves to concede that Labour’s manifesto pledge not to increase employees’ NI contributions was a lie, given the increase in employers’ NI contributions (aka “a tax on jobs”.). She was never going to get Reeves to concede any such thing, of course, but boy, did she stick at it.

The “viewers want to know” approach is a bit disingenuous, I feel, and not that dissimilar to the Trumpian “people are telling me”. I can see how it leads people to accuse Kuenssberg of Tory bias, but she - sort of - took a similar approach to her subsequent interview with Bad Enoch.

[Abernathy]

Watching Newsnight.. Is Tim Montgomerie having a stroke ?

[Oboogie]

Watching Newsnight.. Is Tim Montgomerie having a stroke ?

Just come on here to say the exact same thing Abers. He's developed some peculiar neck and mouth movements which I've never noticed before. He also seems to have lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw him - which I guess was around the time of the election. He really doesn't look at all well.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Watching Newsnight.. Is Tim Montgomerie having a stroke ?

Just come on here to say the exact same thing Abers. He's developed some peculiar neck and mouth movements which I've never noticed before. He also seems to have lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw him - which I guess was around the time of the election. He really doesn't look at all well.

I've seen that mentioned several times on social media. Almost as though he is recovering from a stroke.