I watched “The secret Life of 4-year-olds” last night. God know why. Mainly because the remote was out of reach and I couldn’t be bothered to get it. It’s supposed to be at once amusing and entertaining, but with a psychological edge. Info-tainment, I think they call it.
In fact it’s voyeuristic, pseudo scientific and pretty sadistic. Two psychologists secretly observe the children's reactions to a series of cruel stunts they’ve dreamt up, then they (the experts) make simplistic and patronising observations about, e.g., a child’s inability to deal with disappointment. The kind of disappointment that no four year old would normally face, like being on a losing team. What fun.
I’m only writing this because it reminds me of the way team “politicians” and team ”journalists” have been behaving.
61-year-old Theresa arguably means well, but she has completely messed up. She has woven a tangled web. No-one wants to play with her. Several team members have been very naughty, and won’t do as they’re told. It’s a shambles.
Most of the journalists are from the reception class. They don’t mean well, and haven’t learned to share yet, as they are still in a world of their own. They egg each other on with malicious gossip, and their immaturity means they are sometimes cruel and tribal.
Which brings me to last night’s Newsnight and the Priti Patel / Boris experiment. Can the BBC bring down the tories?
Nick Watt, the ‘expert’ has all but abandoned his role as psychological analyst. He has been sucked in to the action and his eyes gleam with joyful malice as he talks with Evan.
Evan Davis got quite emotional. Nadhim Zahawi had to step in quickly to remind Evan that Israel was not an enemy state before poor Evan completely blew his top, but Evan is adamant. He thinks the issue is not necessarily about ministerial protocols, but about “misleading” the public, (oh, the irony) and he’s putting the blame for this squarely on Priti Patel.
But here’s something revelatory that Evan should read. Breaking News:
First, long before James Landale’s scoop, the editor of the Jewish Chronicle was tipped off that there would soon be an announcement of cooperation between the UK and Israel over aid in Africa - that we would divert some of our aid money to the Israelis to fund some of their aid work there.
"It is a truism that with most scandals, the real fallout comes from the cover up."
Number Ten Knew About The Meetings! Investigate that, James Landale.
The secret life of the FCO, anyone?
