By good fortune I was listening to Radio 4 just before 8am this morning, heard that the flagship interview at 8.10am would be with Stephen Hester & so stayed to listen.
James Naughtie, sounding more like the leader of the Book Club than the Grand Inquisitor, was not inclined to be aggressive, but I thought that Hester showed the kind of quality that might really make it worth our while to pay him handsomely for defusing ‘the biggest time bomb in history’ when Naughtie circled round again in an effort to tempt him into saying something possibly unwise in answer to the question of why he should be paid so much more than, say, an expert surgeon.
The stiletto slipped in without warning: Were you to divulge your salary, Jim, people might debate what you get paid relative to a nurse.
I shall treasure the sound of Naughtie’s Ouf!
I don’t think football comparators came in to the discussion at all, but when I turned back to hear the end of the programme just before 9am it was clear that quite a lot of listeners had been in touch to ask why we should think £1m too much for a banker while letting £6m for the England football manager pass without comment.
At lunch time Radio 5 made it perfectly plain where it judged the nation’s priorities to lie. For what may be the first time since the station opened they did not go live to the House of Commons for Prime Ministers Questions. The commitment to breaking news demanded full coverage of Harry Redknapp, the manager of Tottenham Hotspur football club, & everybody’s favourite candidate to be the next manager of England (what do you mean how much is he worth?) being cleared of tax evasion.
A report on proceedings in Parliament, with sound bites, came later.
