A sweet Newsnight moment
Newsnight on Friday had an illuminating moment that indicates why and how the BBC loves the minutiae of British politics, but cannot cope with global financial crises.
Kirsty Wark, who had been on the road with Nick Clegg, was perfectly comfortable interviewing Michael Crick, Michale Portillo, Tim Montgomery, as well as the three-person political committee. And she was interested. It was of course perfectly reasonable for an hour and five minutes of a 70-minute show to be focused on the UK election - not because it was fantastcially relevant, but because it was immediate.
First there was an interview with economics editor Paul Mason - a BBC man. Mason gave a timescale on UK gilts, providing a "narrative", claiming that the movement of the gilts market on Friday was linked to Clegg's and Brown's statements. This implied, once again, one thing that the BBC still needs to believe - that the UK is important on the international stage.
In fact the UK is very much a side player.
Hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry of Eclectica Asset Management then came on.
I reproduce this interview in full:
Wark: So, Hugh Hendry, your view. Good news, bad news, possible talks? What does this do to the markets?
Hendry: The markets have decided that it's bad news. It was an indulgent outcome. It was an outcome which was steadfast in refusing to acknowledge the need to take very difficult political decisions.
Wark: So do you think the public got what it wanted, got what it deserves, I should say?
Hendry: That's not for me to determine but certainly I think there is a precedent, if I could remove myself from the politics, there is the precedent that one of the parties suggested rather vigorously that there would have to be cuts in government spending and it did so during the conference season last year, and after doing so its opinion polls were obliterated and it stopped taliking about cuts.
Wark: So the parties should have been talking austerity austerity austerity all the way from the conference all the way through the election campaign?
Hendry: What I'm saying is that the electorate again were rather indulgent and they believe in the notion, we're hearing the new lexicon, a lexicon of disbelief. We're hearing the notion of progressive taxation. We believe we can suspend our difficulties by notions such as Robin Hood fairytales. This is a fairytale election.
Wark: So, it may be a fairytale election but actually, the sting in the tale is that there has to be some kind of government at the end of it which can hold together. Will the markets…
Hendry: It can't hold together. It can't hold together.
Wark: That's a political judgement.
Hendry: No no. That is an economic judgement. Because, as the Bank of England Governor reputedly said, that to take the cost out of government spending that is necessary to control the deficit, would mean that whatever party endorsed it would be out of office for 20 years, right?
Wark: So it's a poisoned chalice.
Hendry: You could get away with that if you had a very strong endorsement with a very high majority. Without that it's not going to happen.
Wark: We're in a situation where we've got two or three days perhaps on this deal. If this deal doesn't work, and perhaps there's another period of negotiation, could we, maybe a week, 10 days, how long will the markets accept thole (sic) this indecision?
Hendry: You will have a coalition government with the clock ticking. It will expire. It will probably expire within a year. International events are overwhelming. This is a very parochial concern. I'm afraid post-fantasy - that silly chart with the gilt yield going up and down - that is fantasy. That is reflecting the economic crisis at the heart of Europe and the economic crisis that has emerged in the banking sector. I'm afraid, again, like in 2008, the banking sector is becoming insolvent.
Wark: Hugh Hendry, thank you very much indeed.
Note how Wark is very uncomfortable with all of this attitude which effectively states that (a) there is no solution and (b) we are a very small island that doesn't really matter very much, so why are we getting so excited when in a year's time the shit is going to hit the fan no matter what?
The point is, politics is a game. It's a game in which Paxman, Wark, Naughtie, Humphreys et al, are not observers, but major players. Hendry had implied, rather bluntly, that "your game is silly and irrelevant", and Wark kept trying to bring back its relevance - a point which, with admirable calmness, as if talking to a rather slow child, Hendry would not accept.
Marvellous.
Kirsty Wark, who had been on the road with Nick Clegg, was perfectly comfortable interviewing Michael Crick, Michale Portillo, Tim Montgomery, as well as the three-person political committee. And she was interested. It was of course perfectly reasonable for an hour and five minutes of a 70-minute show to be focused on the UK election - not because it was fantastcially relevant, but because it was immediate.
First there was an interview with economics editor Paul Mason - a BBC man. Mason gave a timescale on UK gilts, providing a "narrative", claiming that the movement of the gilts market on Friday was linked to Clegg's and Brown's statements. This implied, once again, one thing that the BBC still needs to believe - that the UK is important on the international stage.
In fact the UK is very much a side player.
Hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry of Eclectica Asset Management then came on.
I reproduce this interview in full:
Wark: So, Hugh Hendry, your view. Good news, bad news, possible talks? What does this do to the markets?
Hendry: The markets have decided that it's bad news. It was an indulgent outcome. It was an outcome which was steadfast in refusing to acknowledge the need to take very difficult political decisions.
Wark: So do you think the public got what it wanted, got what it deserves, I should say?
Hendry: That's not for me to determine but certainly I think there is a precedent, if I could remove myself from the politics, there is the precedent that one of the parties suggested rather vigorously that there would have to be cuts in government spending and it did so during the conference season last year, and after doing so its opinion polls were obliterated and it stopped taliking about cuts.
Wark: So the parties should have been talking austerity austerity austerity all the way from the conference all the way through the election campaign?
Hendry: What I'm saying is that the electorate again were rather indulgent and they believe in the notion, we're hearing the new lexicon, a lexicon of disbelief. We're hearing the notion of progressive taxation. We believe we can suspend our difficulties by notions such as Robin Hood fairytales. This is a fairytale election.
Wark: So, it may be a fairytale election but actually, the sting in the tale is that there has to be some kind of government at the end of it which can hold together. Will the markets…
Hendry: It can't hold together. It can't hold together.
Wark: That's a political judgement.
Hendry: No no. That is an economic judgement. Because, as the Bank of England Governor reputedly said, that to take the cost out of government spending that is necessary to control the deficit, would mean that whatever party endorsed it would be out of office for 20 years, right?
Wark: So it's a poisoned chalice.
Hendry: You could get away with that if you had a very strong endorsement with a very high majority. Without that it's not going to happen.
Wark: We're in a situation where we've got two or three days perhaps on this deal. If this deal doesn't work, and perhaps there's another period of negotiation, could we, maybe a week, 10 days, how long will the markets accept thole (sic) this indecision?
Hendry: You will have a coalition government with the clock ticking. It will expire. It will probably expire within a year. International events are overwhelming. This is a very parochial concern. I'm afraid post-fantasy - that silly chart with the gilt yield going up and down - that is fantasy. That is reflecting the economic crisis at the heart of Europe and the economic crisis that has emerged in the banking sector. I'm afraid, again, like in 2008, the banking sector is becoming insolvent.
Wark: Hugh Hendry, thank you very much indeed.
Note how Wark is very uncomfortable with all of this attitude which effectively states that (a) there is no solution and (b) we are a very small island that doesn't really matter very much, so why are we getting so excited when in a year's time the shit is going to hit the fan no matter what?
The point is, politics is a game. It's a game in which Paxman, Wark, Naughtie, Humphreys et al, are not observers, but major players. Hendry had implied, rather bluntly, that "your game is silly and irrelevant", and Wark kept trying to bring back its relevance - a point which, with admirable calmness, as if talking to a rather slow child, Hendry would not accept.
Marvellous.