The Christmas edition of The Spectator also features a Broadcaster's Notebook by Andrew Marr in which he admits that he didn't see the scale of Boris's majority coming and that he was "over-influenced by social media".
Now, it's all very well pointing the finger of blame at Twitter and Facebook but people choose who they follow on Twitter and Facebook, and usually do so by following their own biases and inclinations. So if their social media feed turns out to be an unrepresentative echo chamber which then gives back a false, misleading picture of public opinion as a whole then, frankly, such people (including Andrew) only have themselves to blame.
Anyhow, I believe that Andrew was more "over-influenced" by media closer to home - i.e. the broadcast media, especially his own BBC bubble. When he mocks "addicted Twitterati" for obsessing about election froth (such as Boris grabbing a reporter's phone or hiding in a fridge or refusing to be interviewed by Andrew Neil) and assuming that the nation is also transfixed by such 'game-changers', he ought to also be mocking the BBC, Sky, Channel 4, etc, as they went just as overboard on those stories.
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Andrew Marr also uses his Spectator column to comment on Boris 'coming after' the BBC and, possibly, decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee goes. "I hope he doesn't", says Andrew. Hmm.
He then speculates on Boris's motives and says, "I hope it’s not because I frequently interrupted him the last time he was interviewed on my show". He then goes on to defend that interview, blaming its lack of elegance on Boris.
And he also praises John McDonnell:
He then speculates on Boris's motives and says, "I hope it’s not because I frequently interrupted him the last time he was interviewed on my show". He then goes on to defend that interview, blaming its lack of elegance on Boris.
And he also praises John McDonnell:
But I take as I find. And I have always found him attentive, polite and prepared to answer hard questions in clear language.We have, of course, commented several times before on Andrew Marr's oddly good-natured interviews with the faux-cuddly shadow chancellor, including the strange fact that Mr Marr often takes his dishonest words at face value. Now we know why: because he respects him. (Unlike Boris).
Corbyn has to be first in line for this accolade, but from a purely objective point of view it is fascinating how the aftermath of this election has produced a raft of people trying to justify their pre-election positions. Andrew Marr should indeed look nearer to home and recognise the echo chamber he inhabits. Like so many, not just in the BBC, but in most of the liberal establishment there is such a thing as a highly intelligent fool.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure he is that intelligent if he takes his political insights from Twitter and Facebook.
DeleteI was probably being kind when I used the word “fool”. Marr clearly is an intelligent man as are the woke zealots who have infiltrated academia and even much of the judiciary - which makes their dishonesty even more reprehensible.
DeleteAnd he also praises John McDonnell
ReplyDeleteBirds of a feather....
Marr, Maoist turned Blarite turned Would-Be (but very unconvincing) Wokist is really a broken down old piece isn't he? He never was a very good interviewer (far too fond of himself) but now for sure he can't do the job.
ReplyDeleteHe has nothing original to say. He's simply trying to keep his job by endless re-positioning. His jealousy towards Andrew Neil, that led to the interview debacle, was another sign of just how pathetic he is.
If Marr can't see that his Boris interview was a disaster of his own (and his producers') making then there really is no hope for him.
ReplyDeleteI suspect he knows deep down that he made a fool of himself, but he still feels the need to blame others.
And yes, of course McDonnell gives clear answers to Marr's questions, because they're all softball questions. Nothing about the IRA, for example, in all Marr's interviews with Mr Cuddly Cardy Commie until the most recent one, AFTER the election. And even then Marr skipped over it very quickly as if embarrassed to have raised it.
You called it right there Ivan. Perhaps as an ex Far Leftist himself Marr feels sympathetic towards McDonnell. Yep, he didn't put McDonnell's exact words about IRA heroes and heroines back to him. Had it been a "Tory" or anyone else to the right of Ken Clarke they would get the full moral outrage treatment had they defended Ulster Loyalist terrorists. Of course the reality is that no Conservative, Brexit, UKIP or For Britain spokesperson would ever to do that. It is only Labour who defend or even laud Northern Ireland terrorism.
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