[interestednovice]

So what?  When Sabet Chowdhury hosted Points West (prior to his defection to ITV West Country), he never used to wear a tie.  

Personally I find everyday tie wearing is now passé; you only have to look at most sports presentation on TV in this country to see how it's evolved into a less formal look (major events, i.e. finals, excepted).

That goes with the territory with sport though. Most people would regard sport as much less formal than the news, even if it was a big final. Sportspeople are general not seen in ties, etc, and a lot of pundits are former sportspeople so to suddenly go to the extreme of very formal clothing would be a bit odd. I agree it’s possible to look smart without a tie, with sport as a classic example, but I don’t agree that ties in general are passé.

Matthew Amroliwala often wears a shirt which appears to be designed not to have a tie on the new BBC News channel, and even that looks a bit odd. Personally, I find the classic “not putting on a tie but wearing a shirt designed for one with an open neck” to be a bit scruffy. Especially for news.

Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, even though I’m not that old!