Paxman

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
Anyone else enjoying Paxman's roasting of the mighty ones?
No wonder politicians avoid him unless there's an election.

Paxo's facial expressions are priceless and asking Tone if he would discuss condoms
with the "ex-Jugend(did not inhale)"-Pope was classic.

For someone not from these shores (but from further north and only working and living in the UK thanks to EU law, and finding British politics refreshingly interesting) I look forward to seeing Howard
getting a bit of Paxman's toxic tongue tomorrow on immigration.

Paxman is a British treasure, and to the fools who have asked him to use a more "relaxed"
interview technique - I say "bollox" - if you can't handle Paxo, you are not fit to be a leader
of the nation (mind, Blair did OK and almost managed to turn the Iraq war into
a plus).


The Guardian is envious though
 
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Woebot

Well-known member
I just can't stand Paxman. I'm really dreading he gets enrolled into the Brian Sewell/Tim Westwood so awful they're great club.

Paxman always strikes me as someone who is the perfect product of the Public School system (meaning Private School US friends, but you knew that by now...) and Oxbridge. He's appears to be someone who has never made any choices, has never examined himself. Of course I'm projecting my own prejudices onto him but I just find people like that really despicable :-(

Don't get me wrong Ness, I'm intrigued (amazed even) that you rate him, and as someone outside the UK (Norway isn't it?) you may be a more objective critic but.......
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
I really like him. Sure he's a quite evidently a snob (check him on University Challenge every time Oxbridge takes on the red-brick institutions) but his sense of entitlement actually works in hs favour when faced with someone like Michael Howard, Blair or whoever. He doesn't care about his status because he's so damned used to it that he takes it as a given, making him the sort of interviewer that doesn't take nonsense from anyone at all and you really need people like that in the media. Sure, people like John Pilger, and to a lesser degree even the likes of Michael Moore and Mark Thomas can bring it to politicians, but Paxman is so far on the inside, part of the establisment that he doesn't have to grandstand like the latter two and can cut through the bullshit really effectively. I might well think he was a tosser if I were to meet him, but from a professional standpoint, I have a lot of time for him. A lot of women fancy him, too.
 
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jenks

thread death
infinite thought said:
I think every woman in Britain is legally obliged to have at least one 'sexy' dream about him per lifetime.
i shall warn the wife then.

as for his style i cannot bear it - he becomes the news, the sneer, the grand facial getsures. like humphreys on Radio 4 he does not get anywhere. i have been impressed with victoria derbyshire on radio 5 who seems to get somewhere through a disarming style. too often i feel the aggression of paxman et al leads to a kind of stalemate where nothing gets said other than what was prepared in advance. also there are times when paxman asks impossible questions, whilst not a fan of margeret beckett i did like the fact that she replied to paxman on saturday (interrupting the snooker no less!!) by saying 'i don't carry that kind of figure in my head'.
 

egg

Dumpy's Rusty Nut
finding myself challenged by woebot's anti-ness

WOEBOT said:
Paxman always strikes me as someone who is the perfect product of the Public School system (meaning Private School US friends, but you knew that by now...) and Oxbridge. He's appears to be someone who has never made any choices, has never examined himself. Of course I'm projecting my own prejudices onto him but I just find people like that really despicable :-(

hmmm, don't know whether it's possible to say whether he's ever examined himself or indeed whether he's despicable. although i'm not sure whether sometimes he's nasty to people. but

stelfox said:
Sure he's a quite evidently a snob (check him on University Challenge every time Oxbridge takes on the red-brick institutions) but his sense of entitlement actually works in hs favour when faced with someone like Michael Howard, Blair or whoever. He doesn't care about his status because he's so damned used to it that he takes it as a given, making him the sort of interviewer that doesn't take nonsense from anyone at all and you really need people like that in the media.

was quite swaying me, until i thought really he's just part of the whole 'house of commons and government is really important' self-perpetuating bollocks, and I'm guessing that's what Matt finds unacceptable, and that's the point that sways me. As well as being 'quite self-evidently a snob' which again perpetuates the self-importance and mock-'how dare you' stance of most politicians being interviewed.

which I think is the crappest thing about politics here at present. being told all the time what is important instead of being asked. fuck off!

so I am swayed. he is a negative force. interesting!
 

henrymiller

Well-known member
i cd have sworn he went to lancaster. maybe he's from lancaster. or maybe i meant jon snow. hmm. anyway, the house of commons (or more accuratelyt downing street) *is* important, if only in a negative sense. where else do you think decisions about eg imprisonment without charge are made?
 

Wrong

Well-known member
jenks said:
too often i feel the aggression of paxman et al leads to a kind of stalemate where nothing gets said other than what was prepared in advance.

Arguably, though, this is a good thing. Pretending that you're going to get a useful discussion with politicians is a damaging illusion, IMO. Better to make it obvious that it's a load of wankers shouting at each other (see also Prime Minister's Questions and Michael Howard's hilarious 6th form debating society style).
 
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