[Stuart]

I am sure that Trevor Phillips is regarded by many as a competent broadcaster, but it's a shame he's permanently got the Sunday gig.

Sophy Ridge throws politicians an easy initial question, then when they answer she reels them in for the attack.  She doesn't let go without a frustrated barbed comment about "I see you really just don't want to answer, do you?" after about 10 minutes.  By this time, I assume they have a rather damp seat.

Political interviews should be like a painful interrogation. Metaphorically removing finger nails if necessary. Trevor treats people like he's having a nice chat over a cuppa.

[Lester]

Maryam Moshiri is Yalda's replacement, but they'll be looking for another swing presenter which was Maryam's role.

Don't they have 5 UK presenters currently on the payroll but not doing very much at all? Wouldn't be a good look if they brought someone new in, although based on the BBC's recent decisions I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

[Neil Jones]

I am sure that Trevor Phillips is regarded by many as a competent broadcaster, but it's a shame he's permanently got the Sunday gig.

Sophy Ridge throws politicians an easy initial question, then when they answer she reels them in for the attack.  She doesn't let go without a frustrated barbed comment about "I see you really just don't want to answer, do you?" after about 10 minutes.  By this time, I assume they have a rather damp seat.

Political interviews should be like a painful interrogation. Metaphorically removing finger nails if necessary. Trevor treats people like he's having a nice chat over a cuppa.

I don't think we're going to get back to the days of "Did you threaten to overrule him?", or even the days of Robin Day style interviews, because as I think was alluded to on a previous discussion place incarnation, the political interviews have deteriorated because the politicians themselves have deteriorated...

[Stuart]

I don't think we're going to get back to the days of "Did you threaten to overrule him?", or even the days of Robin Day style interviews, because as I think was alluded to on a previous discussion place incarnation, the political interviews have deteriorated because the politicians themselves have deteriorated...

I concur. Many politicians turn up with some cue cards stating the desired sound bites for the day.  It does become tiresome, but Sophy Ridge is rather good at getting past that and going for the kill which is not reputation-enhancing for the politicians.

Paxo was certainly good back in the day. However, it was later rumoured that the 14 requests of "did you threaten to overrule him?" was actually because the next VT or DTL wasn't ready, so he was spinning it out in a rather delicious way for the amusement of the audience. 

Rather like when Paxo was forced to read the weather forecast for a while and just turned it into a joke such as "it's raining somewhere tomorrow, take an umbrella".

Robin Day was a legend because he was respected by the politicians. They now view the media as a tool.

[Spencer]

Paxo was certainly good back in the day. However, it was later rumoured that the 14 requests of "did you threaten to overrule him?" was actually because the next VT or DTL wasn't ready, so he was spinning it out in a rather delicious way for the amusement of the audience. 

Rather like when Paxo was forced to read the weather forecast for a while and just turned it into a joke such as "it's raining somewhere tomorrow, take an umbrella".

I always thought Paxman was a tiresome, egotistical arse with an overinflated sense of his own importance and misplaced air of superiority.

[DTV]

I always thought Paxman was a tiresome, egotistical arse with an overinflated sense of his own importance and misplaced air of superiority.

I do find it interesting how the Howard interview is trotted out as a classic Paxman interview. He could be a good interviewer, but that's just not an example of it (as the saying goes, the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results). Even as filler, he should have been well-briefed enough to be able to move to another question. I guess some would say it's entertaining, but that only begs the question as to whether that kind of stuff should be entertainment?

The weather example is also a bit on the edge for me. Sure, it's very low stakes, the forecasts were pointlessly brief anyway and it was mildly amusing, but sometimes his 'I disagree with this feature, so won't do it properly' attitude was downright unprofessional and inexcusable - particuarly when he went through his phase of deliberately messing up the opt point for Newsnight Scotland because he didn't like it.

[TMD_24]

Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge is starting on the 4th September.

twitter.com 

[Jeff]

The press release about the new show noted that Sophy is Sky's Lead Politics Presenter which confirms something that's been evident but not made official for a while now.

www.skygroup.sky -

Sky Group
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[telleyhead]

"The Politics Hub" jeez Sky come up with some terrible show titles.

[matthieu1221]

"The Politics Hub" jeez Sky come up with some terrible show titles.

Am guessing the name was chosen to coincide with the branding of the same name for their politics coverage on their website.