Jeremy Paxman would’ve been bursting at home, smashing his coffee mug into the TV screen and shouting “stop him, stop him!”
I honestly don’t think the Prime Minister had ever spoken so long uninterrupted during an interview.
Sky have just finished showing Brown talking with a CNN reporter in front of a room of journalists at the World Economic Forum.
Back home the PM would’ve been sneered at from the start, blamed and challenged – or ‘held accountable’ as they say.
But this interviewer was an American and more of a cat rubbing herself on the PM’s ankles than an attack dog.
She gave him as much time to answer as he wanted – let him roam.
He started by saying how the world economic crisis reminded him of a story about Titian.
Moments later he was discussing the Latin root of the word credit.
Then there was a little anecdote about a meeting of European economists back in the thirties.
I must admit missing the end of the story because I was too busy trying to dodge the PM’s head, now expanding out of the television.
People actually clapped his answers – at a press conference.
And when they did a little sparkle in his eye revealed his thought – “I really did save the world.”
The art of moderation
9 years ago
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American interviewers do not usually go for attack. They let the viewers make up their own minds, as we have all done about Moses.
People actually clapped his answers – at a press conference.
If anyone actually believed this wanker then we are all doomed.
Thank goodness I didn't see this. I couldn't have kept my lunch down.
Borrower Brown is insane. Blair was insane and Thatcher too. Insanity appears to be a qualification for PM How mad is that?
Hubristic old queer. That's being nice!
Aye - they're circling the wagons at Davros.
Anybody got a link to this?
Please please post a link to this if it is on YouTube, or even the site of the broadcaster, as it sounds as if Brown was given enough rope to tangle his testicles in and castrate himself.
It sounds like a very civilised interview. You say that:
'Back home the PM would’ve been sneered at from the start, blamed and challenged ...'
But that sort of interviewing actually achieves very little, it just descends into an incoherent sparring match.
Whether you agree or not with Brown, he should be allowed his say.
Seems like the interview is available here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/davos/7862451.stm
hat tip: Events Dear Boy; Events.
(incidently a first rate new blog)
Just listened to this interview. The man's in another world, certainly not the one in which I live.
The problem with US interviewers is that they don't know how badly Brown has screwed the UK economy. Also, the UK journo establishment know that you have to nail Brown early or he will just lie his way through the whole interview.
Events dear boy: Good job on finding that interview. I agree - first rate new blog.
Thanks for that. I enjoy yours as well.
It's fascinating to observe how Gordon Brown's interview with the CNN reporter starkly contrasts with his usual encounters with the UK media. Unlike the relentless questioning often seen in British interviews, where a Jeremy Paxman might demand accountability and challenge at every turn, this American interviewer allowed Brown to speak at length and delve into tangents, from historical anecdotes to linguistic explorations.
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