Brillo’s trailer for his much anticipated Sunday Politics show, launching next week, reveals that the man about town wears the classic night time attire favoured by playboys from Hugh Hefner to Frank Sinatra. Black silk pyjamas…

It’s amazing what turns up on a DVD that you find down the back of a sofa at Annabel’s:

Brillo and Co. are launching the new Daily Politics and Sunday show next week, which is said to have a Newsnight style politically balanced pundit panel. They are keeping the pundits under wraps…

Guido notes with some interest that Osborne’s biographer and Economist hack Janan Ganesh has just started tweeting, as has the Sunday Times’ Political Editor Isabel Oakshott. The Labour Party councillor and Guardian writer Rowenna Davis  has also upped her twitter game recently. Could they be preparing for some regular debate?

He has two Christmas DVDs out. Publicity you can’t buy…

After advocating an Augusto Pinochet style industrial relations policy: “Frankly, I would have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families.” Jeremy Clarkson appears to have performed a policy u-turn.

Mind you, Guido can’t actually locate the statement of apology, has he really apologised or has the BBC apologised on his behalf?

UPDATE: The exact form of words he used was “I didn’t for a moment intend these remarks to be taken seriously – as I believe is clear if they’re seen in context. If the BBC and I have caused any offence, I’m quite happy to apologise for it alongside them.” Looks a little mealy-mouthed…

Adam Boulton tweets that the new Political Editor of Newsnight is set to be announced imminently:

#Newsnight Political Editor due to be announced rumour has it runners include @JPonpolitics, Anne McElvoy, NickWatt, Allegra Stratton…—
adamboulton (@adamboultonSKY) November 21, 2011

Jon Pienaar would keep things internal, with a return to the screens from Radio 5. Boulton’s other tips Anne McElvoy and Nick Watt have been popping up a lot on camera recently, on the Daily Politics and particularly This Week. A bit of screen testing? 

The Guardian’s Allegra Stratton worked at the BBC before and is wired in more than most, especially to the left, which would make a change from her would-be predecessor Michael Crick who had them running to the hills rather than dripping tips in his ears. Beeboids suggest that the fact that the show isn’t doing so well will make it hard to pull a big new name for the gig, making it more likely to be someone with some clout in the building already. Guido would put a readies on Pienaar if there was a book open…

Ed Balls has popped up for a Five Live phone in. What’s the worst that could have happened? Well step forward Lee, a real life voter:

“It would be better for Labour and the country if you weren’t there… You were there in Treasury…you are the problem. When I hear you I just want to switch off because you have no credibility in what you say… the Labour Party would be better served, even if the message was the same, if it wasn’t coming from you, more people would listen. If you’re trying to get your message across it’s not working because you are tainted with what went before.” *

Victoria Derbyshire summed it up nicely “What Lee is saying is you, Ed Balls, are toxic”.

Radio gold…

*Guido was typing while listening and laughing.

UPDATE: It kept on going:

Caller to Balls: "You may have a credible voice now, but why didn't you use it when Gordon Brown was spending all the money?"—
Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) November 17, 2011

Nothing like a global exclusive for an idle Thursday morning. The Daily Politics mug is a much coveted prize. It’s nearly impossible to win one, so much so that Guido had to steal his old ones. With the rebranding of the show, comes a new mug:

Guido is rather chuffed to have got hold of one of the first new ones…

An investigation by the Indy has caught the BBC red-handed selling airtime for millions of pounds. They are trying to spin it as “nominal fees”, but a look at the numbers and content involved is pretty shocking:

“FBC produced programmes for the BBC about Malaysia without declaring that it had been allocated £17m by the Malaysian government to carry out a global strategic communications campaign. The BBC also found that FBC had breached programme guidelines on a programme it made on the subject of Egypt this March during the Arab Spring uprisings. The Independent has established that FBC has worked for the regime of the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.”

Perhaps most damning is the fact that a BBC World documentary about climate change was sponsored by green crusaders Envirotrade. And of course “Envirotrade was featured in a positive light in the programme but viewers were unaware that there was a funding arrangement in place.” The BBC have ruled “that commercial, financial or other interests may have influenced the editorial judgments in these programmes.”

So remember that next time you swallow the Beeb’s “the debate is over” climate change line…

See also: Green Flatlining, CRU Boss Stands Aside, Queens University Blocking Data FOI, Time to Defund CRU’s Global Cooling Deniers, Climate Change Alarmism is Snow Joke

It’s hard being Nick Robinson. Instead of queueing with the rest of the  media for Murdoch’s 11am appearance in front of the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, he had a proxy waiting outside the committee room. It seems your licence money is now paying for Soviet Union style proxy queuers.

Cut…