Last night’s Newsnight Special with David Cameron

being interviewed four-to-one by Gavin Esler, Michael Crick, Stephanie Flanders and, who was the fourth one? Oh yes, Mark Urban, was an underwhelming experience all round.

Gavin Esler was typically tedious as he repeatedly tried to put the word ‘swamping’ into Cameron’s mouth when discussing the record high levels of immigration, legal and illegal, into the UK over the last ten years.

Stephanie Flanders was as seductively haughty and posh as usual, but Stephanie we’re really not interested in your domestic arrangements (or the contents of your drawers) – you might be an unmarried mother, but, leaving aside the rest of your domestic arrangements, which you omitted to mention, I doubt that on your tellytax-funded wedge you’d qualify as a typical family, the sort of family that would benefit noticeably from a) marriage; b) a £20-a-week tax break. Give us a break.

As for Michael Crick, sorry Michael, but you really ought to have stuck at doing the mocking coverage of by-elections and other political gaiety of the nation stories that you were pretty good at. You don’t seem to have found your feet as Political Editor (at least not yet, and it’s been a while now, hasn’t it?).

Who was the fourth guy again?

It’d be better to run these sorts of leader interviews, perhaps annually, using the Question Time format – real questions from real people (at least if they didn’t rig the audience that is), complete with questions being put to an empty chair if Gordon Brown refuses to grant the public an audience (as seems to be his wont).

I wonder if we’re yet to be treated to a ‘me too’ style Newsnight Cocoa with Ming Special, even if it is a bit late for the old boy to be up? That’ll be even more of a Snooznight Special than this one, especially since we no longer have Martha Kearney, who at least had the measure of the LibDims.

A couple of final thoughts: Since this was a Newsnight Special, why was it broadcast yesterday afternoon on News Twenty Bore in advance of Newsnight? And weren’t the cubs at BBC Views Online a hoot with their coverage of the Cameron interview headlined with Immigration ‘too high’ – Cameron! What a shocking notion!

You can watch the programme here or read more on the BBC’s Talk about Snooznight page.

Update: For an alternative (and somewhat harsher and possibly not-so-safe-for-work) review of the Snooznight Special you should see what Mr. Devil’s cooked up in Devil’s Kitchen. Messrs. Dale and Fawkes also have views on this too (is that how you spell messers? 🙂