Blethering Brian moves on

 

It's been a big day today for the BBC in Scotland - and not just for the reasons mentioned in the previous post. 

The Corporation's Political Editor north of the border, Brian Taylor, is leaving his job after 29 years.

That's a long time to be in just one BBC reporting post. 

To put the length of his career in context, he began the same year that the Soviet Union collapsed; Kim Il-sung, grandfather of Kim Jong-un, still had three years to live as supreme leader of North Korea; and the UK still had six years to wait for Tony Blair to become PM and for things to (allegedly) only get better. 

Magnus Linklater in The Times describes him as "a giant of Scottish broadcasting". 

I think that's a fair comment. He always struck me as a likeable man and a decent journalist. 

Two things strike me though, especially regarding what he's now leaving behind. 

The first is that he famously had a strong aversion to Twitter, so goodness knows what he makes of the shenanigans going on in the BBC's name on Twitter these days - though I think I can guess. 

Mr Linklater also notes that "his insistence on the objectivity of his role as a BBC journalist was legendary" and that "he never criticised the politicians he was reporting on, however egregious their behaviour". Goodness knows what he makes of the shenanigans going on in the BBC's name on the likes of, say, Newsnight these days - though I think I can guess that too. 

Wonder what he's going to do next? A writing career? An academic career? A political career?

Good luck to him whatever he chooses.