Viewing 26 posts - 41 through 66 (of 66 total)
  • John Humphrys – senile old twit
  • edlong
    Free Member

    I don’t hate him as much as some of you lot seem to, but he’s definitely showing signs of being from a different era – I remember a few years ago when that whole Pussy Riot shenanigan was occurring in Russia he was interviewing a gay woman from Moscow and asked her how “normal people” reacted when she held hands with her partner.

    Incredibly the interviewee (to be fair, being interviewed in a foreign language) let that one go rather than the rather obvious “it depends if they are gay or not, or do you mean that gay people aren’t normal?” that I would have preferred to hear.

    Once you become aware of it, you then start hearing it in many of his interviews – never explicitly homophobic, sexist, racist etc. but it’s definitely there in the language he uses.

    DrJ
    Full Member

    This morning he asked if the ukip manifesto was a suicide mission. Sensitive, eh?

    DrJ
    Full Member

    Slightly OT but just listened to Eddy Mair destroy a UKIP candidate on PM. Worth listening to on catchup – about 17.25

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    cynic-al
    Free Member

    I agree with OP.

    Argumentative twunt

    TiRed
    Full Member

    He’s old fashioned, but thankfully deferential would not be a term to describe him. I rather enjoy his interviews, personally.

    If he’s unpopular with those he interviews, he’s probably doing something right.

    CHB
    Full Member

    Wow, guess I am alone in liking the Humph! I have listened to him on Today R4 for 20 years and his style compliments the more “conciliatory” interviewers well. They do need another interviewer on the morning though that can go for the hard question. Eddie Mair is brilliant generally but occasionally can labour a tiny irrelevant point just to score a small win over the interviewee.

    igm
    Full Member

    DrJ – that was the Nutter in chief he destroyed I think, was it not?

    codybrennan
    Free Member

    DrJ – Member – Block User – Quote
    This morning he asked if the ukip manifesto was a suicide mission. Sensitive, eh?

    I heard that too. Cringed a bit.

    tomd
    Free Member

    Absolutely can’t stand him. I find myself turning it over when he’s doing interviews.

    Sometimes the confrontation style can be justified, but it’s just so abrasive and gets no where.

    juanghia
    Free Member

    This thread requires a picture of Jon Luc Picard

    MrSalmon
    Free Member

    MrsSalmon used to listen to him in the mornings a few years ago and I’d often be shouting “What is this supposed to be?!” at the radio. Unedifying and often not at all enlightening. (JH, not me shouting!)

    DrJ
    Full Member

    DrJ – that was the Nutter in chief he destroyed I think, was it not?

    Apparently it was deputy nutter Peter Whittle

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/26/ukip-would-ban-balaclavas-in-public?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

    Pook
    Full Member

    Humphrys and Montague are by far the worst Today pairing.

    flanagaj
    Free Member

    I’d rather listen to him than that biased ***** Nick Robinson

    I think they should make Stephen Sackur a Today presenter. He is very good on ‘HARDTalk’

    igm
    Full Member

    Agreed (which is unusual), Nick Robinson can be a little bit too overtly right of centre for my tastes.

    rone
    Full Member

    Agreed

    He sounds like an after delivering bad lines from a script.

    kennyp
    Free Member

    100% agree re the Eddie Mair comments. He is superb. Very dry wit that has me laughing a lot. “You can post you comments online at bcc.co.uk……or don’t bother, to be honest we don’t actually read them”.

    nickc
    Full Member

    Nick Robinson can be a little bit too overtly right of centre like Kuenessberg, a mouthpiece for the Tories for my tastes

    fixed it for you etc etc….

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    Do you think the use of ‘senile’ in such a derogatory and pejorative way is appropriate? For example, would using the word ‘retarded’ or ‘mental’ in a similar way be acceptable? It’s a word indelibly associated with age and the impact that aging has on cognitive function. And while cantankerous and opinionated (he winds me up as well sometimes), John Humphreys is clearly not senile or suffering from any form of dementia, so let’s not use that as the basis for a derisory comment eh.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    I like him, he’s deliberately confrontational but it works, 30s in and it exposes those that have the “strong and stable” script infront of them but aren’t prepared to actually talk as idiots.

    your mum is typical of the ageism and sexism seen on this forum

    [img]https://i.giphy.com/b9aScKLxdv0Y0.webp[/img]

    jimfrandisco
    Free Member

    My issue with John Humphreys isn’t the confrontation, in fact the opposite. It’s the fact that any piece about science or the environment is treated as an amusing side show novelty as if it’s a nice article on kittens.
    I don’t think he’s doing it deliberately really, just treated with a jocular brevity that completely undermines it.

    ransos
    Free Member

    Do you think the use of ‘senile’ in such a derogatory and pejorative way is appropriate?

    Agree. I don’t like Humphrys but don’t think it’s appropriate to be labelling him with a pernicious medical condition.

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    I’ve forwarded this link to R4, in a world of open Social Media that the BBC support (cough) it ought to be at least ignored at best.

    gerti
    Free Member

    I don’t think he’s senile or a twit…have you ever tried to conduct an interview live on the radio? Asking questions, recalling facts, reading bits of paper shoved under your nose, engaging with the interviewee, all while a producer shouts in your ear? I doubt somebody senile and ‘a twit’ could manage that.

    I’ll admit he can be a bit irritating in his questioning at times, but he should stay, mainly because I would miss Eddie Mair at 5pm if he left PM and went to Today.

    mt
    Free Member

    It’s ok going on about Humphry’s and other mail colleagues but who was that women yesterday asking the nurse from Stepping Hill hospital what it was like caring for the injured from Monday’s bomb blast. Did we really need to hear her ask what shrapnel actually does to the human body? R4 is fast becoming the Sun/Mirror/Mail (& others) gutter press.

    globalti
    Free Member

    Eddie Mair is great but he has a proper radio face, as ugly as Philippe Gilbert.

    * In all science interviews JH basically said “you’re making it all up, aren’t you”. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns out to be a climate sceptic.

    I thought most scientific publication was made up? It always seems to fit with what the sponsor wants to prove.

Viewing 26 posts - 41 through 66 (of 66 total)

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