Guido highly recommends the latest episode of the News Agents. Released last night, it features Emily Maitlis breaking the Guinness World Record for cognitive dissonance, as she opens the show by comparing Just Stop Oil to the suffragettes and Rosa Parks… and ends it by reading a Virgin Atlantic ad:
“It’s about the welcome you get, it’s about the customers, and it’s about people going… just an extra mile”.
That extra mile pumps out an average of 53 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere…
The news of Boris’s potential return to Downing Street is annoying all the right people. Stephen Fry has gone viral tweeting in his usual twee way, “No @BorisJohnson no no no no no NO! Under absolutely no circumstances. Ever. Ever ever ever, d’you hear?”
Guido’s sure Boris will have taken Stephen’s opinion on board…
Emily Maitlis meanwhile learnt the Boris news live on her News Agents podcast. You’ll never guess her reaction…
Shouldn’t hurt Boris’s chances…
Entries in the comments…
The BBC has announced that veteran presenter Victoria Derbyshire is taking over as lead presenter of Newsnight, after Emily Maitlis jumped ship to LBC earlier this year. Derbyshire will present the show along with existing Newsnight regular Kirsty Walk from September.
Announcing the move this morning, Derbyshire said:
“I am so delighted to be joining the legend that is Kirsty Wark and the talented Newsnight team under new and ambitious leadership. This is a special opportunity to take on one of the best jobs in British journalism and help shape the programme’s future. I can’t wait to champion more stories about people’s lives while holding those who represent them to account.”
There were rumours Derbyshire was in talks to join in the BBC’s brain drain and head to Channel 4, so it looks like she’s been thrown a bone here. Guido looks forward to seeing her pay rise in the next BBC annual audit…
Jon Sopel and Emily Maitlis are both leaving the BBC to start a new podcast with Global, it was announced today. They join Andrew Marr and, as Guido revealed, long-time BBC producer Rob Burley in signing up with the station. This afternoon Maitlis tweeted:
Nevertheless, it will be a wrench to leave the BBC after 20 phenomenal years. I am so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had there. More than anything I’m grateful to have worked with the most incredible people - many of whom are dear friends. I owe my BBC colleagues everything.
— emily m (@maitlis) February 22, 2022
Sopel had previously been a frontrunner for the BBC’s new Political Editor – presumably he wasn’t offered what he was expecting…
Following Guido’s story earlier today on Emily Maitlis’s apparent breach of BBC impartiality rules, Maitlis has now taken down the initial tweets and apologised for sharing them:
I have deleted my earlier retweet of the below and would like to apologise for the hurt I have caused. https://t.co/b0XqCO3t7C
— emily m (@maitlis) February 1, 2022
Still managing to share Stewart’s initial tweet in her apology. Probably a coincidence.
A furious government source gets in touch to say Maitlis “is sticking two fingers up at Davie’s promise to deal with impartiality”. Clearly the BBC’s ‘impartiality training‘ is going to good use…
