Manners

Last night I caught the second half of Gordon Brown's interview with Jeremy Paxman on BBC1. After only a few minutes I was tempted to switch off, not by Brown's evasions or untruths - in fact he seemed to by trying to respond to the questions relatively honestly - but by Paxman's constant interruptions and hectoring. Whilst I have long believed that it is the way politicians respond to each other with rudeness and contempt which turns people off the political process, it is increasingly clear that the media themselves contribute to this attitude.

The nadir of the interview came when Paxman asked Brown: "Why don't people like you?" My reaction was: How dare he? In a civilised society no one would ask that question of another except, perhaps, if the other were on a psychiatrist's couch. Chivying hesitant students on University Challenge is one thing: open rudeness to another human being on a public medium is quite unacceptable, especially when one is fully aware that the other must "take it on the chin" rather than respond in kind.

Mr Paxman's bullying technique does no service to our democracy. I hope he will receive a reprimand from whoever have replaced the BBC Governors - and perhaps a reduction in salary to the size of that of the prime minister.