BBC Four had an excellent debate with first class speakers on Sunday night. Even Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly wasn’t as obnoxious as usual.
Then there was last night’s Newsnight featuring a Greg Palast report on dodgy goings on in Florida. Is it just me, or does the US really need consistent rules and regulations across the whole country? And should a private investigator really be allowed to park up outside a polling station and take photos of everyone going in? Palast can be kind of bombastic, but he’s opened a can of worms that you can tell nobody really wants to hear about. An African American who was wrongly denied the vote last time around seems only to have got his vote cast this time because he happened to be accompanied by a camera crew. It’s tough out in those trenches. Maybe it really is time for international observers at US Elections… (And seeing Gavin Esler attempt to interview The Fall’s Mark E Smith about John Peel’s death was fascinating viewing too!)