John Humphrys and Theresa May on BBC Today: an Aesopian take

We've finally had enough of John Humphrys' interviews on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.

At his best he can be a thoughtful and knowledgeable journalist.

But as an interviewer: stop it, John.

His interview this morning of Theresa May is just the latest example of his counter-productive interviewing technique in action.

1. It's annoying to listen to. It should be the politicians who make us shout at our radios. But these days, more often than not, it's Humphrys.
2. It is poisonous to good, open political discussion because it makes interviewees determined to say nothing at all rather than say something that will later be paraded as a trumped-up "gaffe"*.

Remember Aesop's fable of the Sun and the Wind?

The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: "I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin." So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveller wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.

Let's translate this into the Today Programme:

John Humphrys and Evan Davis were disputing which was the stronger interviewer. Suddenly they saw a politician coming down the road, and the Davis said: "I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that politician to take off his cloak of lies shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin." So Davis retired behind a cloud, and Humphrys began to blow as hard as he could upon the politician. But the harder he blew the more closely did the politician wrap his cloak round him, till at last Humphrys had to give up in despair. Then Davis came out and shone in all his glory upon the politician, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.

Congratulations to Theresa May -- not a politician for whom we have an instinctive liking -- for standing up to Humphrys this morning.

 *Footnote: an Act of Parliament should be passed immediately, forbidding the use of the word "gaffe". Journalists would then be forced to think a little harder, and find a word or phrase which actually means something. They could choose from, for example:

• "honest mistake", 
• "change of mind", 
• "straight answer to a straight question", 
• "embarrassing faux pas that any of us could have made", 
• "slip of the tongue of no real consequence", 
• "an attempt at humour which, while perhaps not particularly amusing, could not have caused offence to anyone except the most determined professional offence-taker", 
• "outright duplicity", 
• "blatant deceit",

as appropriate.