[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.