Why aren't you asking the obvious question?

Every now and then, during an interview on the radio or TV, I'll find myself yelling at the interviewer, 'Why aren't you asking the obvious question?' It seems to me that there is such a killer point to make, yet they fail to do so.

I had such a frustrating moment this morning, during an interview with Michael Gove (pictured), the Conservative spokesman on children, schools and families. Now admittedly Michael Gove is one of those individuals who single handedly makes me not want to vote Conservative, even if I was in complete agreement with all their policies, but even so he was begging to be asked that killer question.

Gove was telling us that we need to get better teachers - can't disagree with that - and the way to do it is to increase the standing of the profession. I can't disagree with that either, as long as it's not the only measure. However, when asked about paying teachers more, Gove said that no, no, this wasn't the answer, you don't get better people by paying more.

On the whole he was allowed to get away with this - but I was dying for him to be asked 'What about the banks?' When all those bankers claim that the only way they can get the best people is paying oodles of cash, surely we ought to be saying 'No, not at all. You need to increase the standing of the profession (and let's face it, the only way is up).' Let's limit all bankers' pay to the same level as teachers (oh and do the same for civil servants and MPs too, I hope), and put a lot of effort into talking up the job. Because, after all, paying more isn't the way to get the best people. Michael Gove said so.

Comments

Why I hate opera

If I'm honest, the title of this post is an exaggeration to make a point. I don't really hate opera. There are a couple of operas - notably Monteverdi's Incoranazione di Poppea and Purcell's Dido & Aeneas - that I quite like. But what I do find truly sickening is the reverence with which opera is treated, as if it were some particularly great art form. Nowhere was this more obvious than in ITV's 2010 gut-wrenchingly awful series Pop Star to Opera Star , where the likes of Alan Tichmarsh treated the real opera singers as if they were fragile pieces on Antiques Roadshow, and the music as if it were a gift of the gods. In my opinion - and I know not everyone agrees - opera is: Mediocre music Melodramatic plots Amateurishly hammy acting A forced and unpleasant singing style Ridiculously over-supported by public funds I won't even bother to go into any detail on the plots and the acting - this is just self-evident. But the other aspects need some exp...

Murder by Candlelight - Ed. Cecily Gayford ***

Nothing seems to suit Christmas reading better than either ghost stories or Christmas-set novels. For some this means a fluffy romance in the snow, but for those of us with darker preferences, it's hard to beat a good Christmas murder. An annual event for me over the last few years has been getting the excellent series of classic murderous Christmas short stories pulled together by Cecily Gayford, starting with the 2016 Murder under the Christmas Tree . This featured seasonal output from the likes of Margery Allingham, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ellis Peters and Dorothy L. Sayers, laced with a few more modern authors such as Ian Rankin and Val McDermid, in some shiny Christmassy twisty tales. I actually thought while purchasing this year's addition 'Surely she is going to run out of classic stories soon' - and sadly, to a degree, Gayford has. The first half of Murder by Candlelight is up to the usual standard with some good seasonal tales from the likes of Catherine Aird, Car...

Why backgammon is a better game than chess

I freely admit that chess, for those who enjoy it, is a wonderful game, but I honestly believe that as a game , backgammon is better (and this isn't just because I'm a lot better at playing backgammon than chess). Having relatively recently written a book on game theory, I have given quite a lot of thought to the nature of games, and from that I'd say that chess has two significant weaknesses compared with backgammon. One is the lack of randomness. Because backgammon includes the roll of the dice, it introduces a random factor into the play. Of course, a game that is totally random provides very little enjoyment. Tossing a coin isn't at all entertaining. But the clever thing about backgammon is that the randomness is contributory without dominating - there is still plenty of room for skill (apart from very flukey dice throws, I can always be beaten by a really good backgammon player), but the introduction of a random factor makes it more life-like, with more of a sense...

Search This Blog