It's the same old song

Not Tom Watson

By Thursday night's Newsnight  we were getting the following from Evan Davis:

For our European colleagues the British situation raises all sorts of questions - not always very welcome ones. And now they find themselves working with a foreign secretary who has, over the years, treated the EU with derision. 

A little earlier I spoke to the Lithuanian foreign secretary, Linas Linkevicius. What does he think of Boris Johnson's past indiscretions? And will they make it difficult to take him or British foreign policy seriously? 

It's the same question - and tone - as Gavin Esler and Chris Mason this morning.

More 'Newsnight'

That same (Wednesday) edition of Newsnight also had several discussions with non-BBC guests on Brexit-related matters. 

The first discussion was balanced 1:1 between a Leave supporter (Peter Lilley) and a Remain supporter (Heidi Allen).

The second discussion had a 2:1 imbalance in favour of Remain (with Rupert Harrison and  Mariana Mazzucato on the Remain side and Gerard Lyons on the Leave side).

The final discussion has a 3:1 imbalance in favour of Remain (with Polly Toynbee, Matthew Parris and Anne McElvoy on the Remain side and Charles Moore on the Leave side).

What happened when four 'Newsnight' editors gathered around Evan's cauldron...

Beginning to catch up with Wednesday's and Thursday's editions of Newsnight, I'd just say that if you want to sample BBC bias over Brexit in full flow you only need to watch the opening discussion between Evan Davis and the four Newsnight 'editors' on Wednesday night's programme...

This, of course, came on the day that Mrs May became PM, and it began with Evan Davis talking of the "disconcertingly turbulent" last three weeks and how the ritual of the handover of power might have proved "reassuring" and provided "some calm at last".

On Geoffrey Hill

Rutland Water

One of this week's passings - as marked by Radio 4's Last Word - was the famously-difficult-to-understand poet Sir Geoffrey Hill - long known, with good reason, as Britain's "most difficult poet". 

Last Word noted that GH was proud to call himself "English working class", and featured his widow Alice Goodman  - the librettist for John Adams's notoriously controversial, antisemitism-accused opera The Death of Klinghoffer. 

Sunday Morning Live

This morning's Sunday Morning Live was quite engaging and featured admirably well-balanced panels for its three main discussions. 

Its 'big questions' were typical ones for the BBC on a Sunday morning - 'Is America failing its black community?', 'Is Islamic extremism caused by religion of politics?' and 'Are transgender athletes playing fair?' - but, thankfully, there was none of the 'bear pit' atmosphere you usually find on The Big Questions. 

The central discussion - the one on Islamic extremism and the Iraq War - featured Douglas Murray, Lola Adesioye, Charlie Wolf and Remona Aly and there was more agreement between them than might have been expected, despite two being for the Iraq War and two being against it. Quality guests, quality discussion. (Take note, Nicky Campbell!)