There are many different reasons why I prefer Nicky Campbell in the morning to the Today programme, but the main one is John Humphrys.
He excelled himself today. Alastair Darling deserves to be, and can quite easily be, rilpped to shreds over his handling of Northen Rock. But Humphrys' performance was simply shameful, wilfully distorting Darling's position and words, as Andy McSmith makes clear: A word on the exchange between John Humphrys and Alistair Darling on this morning's Today programme, in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer was accused of having either said or agreed that nationalisation would be 'lingering death' for Northern Rock. It seemed odd that Darling would ever say anything so interesting, having built his career on never expressing a controversial opinion. The record shows that, much as we all admire the great Humphrys, on this occasion he was being unfair.
He was referring to an exchange in the House of Commons on 19 November, in which the Labour MP Jim Cousins, said: "The whole House will have noted that the Liberal Democrats have as much regard for the 5,500 employees of Northern Rock in the north-east