Bill Carmichael: Today is worse than yesterday

It set the day’s political agenda by tackling difficult issues and attracting big name interviewees. But over the years it lost its edge, characterised by the crass amateurism of its journalists during the Dr David Kelly controversy, and the programme’s subsequent emasculation as result of the Hutton report. On the odd occasion when I’ve tuned in recently, it appears to consist of little more than presenters reading out a few news stories from that morning’s Guardian, and I’ve quickly retuned to something livelier.

But this week I gave a lift to an avid Today fan, and out of politeness listened – or more accurately endured – a big chunk of the programme. First up was an overlong piece about the lack of female and ethnic minority Lib Dem councillors and MPs. This fell firmly into the worthy but dull category of news, definitely snooze button fodder, but it precisely dovetails with the left’s obsession with “diversity”.

But while presenter Justin Webb was wagging a censorious finger at the white, middle-aged, middle-class men who run the Lib Dems, no one dared point out that the Today newsroom is also notoriously white, middle-aged, middle-class and male!

In fact, the programme’s editor, Ceri Thomas, landed himself in hot water with the sisterhood last year when he suggested that women journalists weren’t tough enough to work for Today.

A few minutes later, we were treated to a rant on the evils of capitalism by millionaire musician Ry Cooder, while he plugged his latest album (available for £8.93 on Amazon!) If he hates capitalism so much, why doesn’t he give his music away free? Needless to say this question wasn’t asked.

Next up was Thought for the Day featuring writer Rhidian Brook, who argued that higher taxes are morally good and should be used to teach selfish people to share the money that they earn.

This is a perfectly respectable viewpoint, of course. But try to imagine the BBC airing a similar piece from someone who believes that lower taxes are morally good, because they promote growth, create jobs and therefore help the poor. Not in a month of Sundays. The next item was an interview with a former EU Commissioner Peter Sutherland, who was allowed to make the utterly preposterous statement, without challenge, that the euro is doing “extremely well”. Sutherland went on to argue, again without challenge, that the catastrophe caused by European integration could only be cured by even tighter European integration.

This sort of stuff is only spouted these days by Euro-fanatics on the fringes of the debate. Even the Lib Dems now accept the euro has been an unmitigated disaster. But to presenter, Evan Davies, these statements were so mainstream as to be unremarkable.

The centrepiece of the show was an interview with Nick Clegg, during which Webb relentlessly interrupted and badgered the Lib Dem leader with questions from a left wing perspective.

Webb seemed to be arguing that because our debt is not as bad as Italy’s or Greece’s, austerity measures are not needed, and therefore we can go on borrowing and spending as before. If Clegg could have got a word in edgeways, I am sure he would have pointed out that the reason our debt is not as bad as basket-case Eurozone countries, is precisely because we’ve reined in spending before the economy collapsed.

The last item I heard was Webb and über-liberal New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, guffawing over the stupidity of ordinary Americans because they oppose increased state spending. The partiality was glaring. Not one item was tackled from anything other than a leftish perspective. No “diversity” here. But I doubt this is intentional; it’s more a prime example of what Andrew Marr has described as the “innate liberal bias inside the BBC”.