Today Evan Davis was 'interviewing' George Osborne. You will notice that I have placed 'interviewing' within quotation marks and if the definition of interviewing is talking over/interrupting/patronising/condescending, or any combination of the aforesaid, then that is undoubtedly what he was doing.
Accepting that a politician actually giving a straight answer to a question is rarer than a barbecue summer in Britain, most people, I think, would nevertheless expect to hear some attempt at answering a question posed by the interviewer, if only to wriggle out of it and, whilst I am no fan of George Osborne, I was almost beginning to feel sorry for him.
At every attempt to speak, he was accused by Davis of refusing to answer the question, even to the point of being told, "Well, I know you're not going to give us an answer on that." At one point, it even led to Osborne actually begging to be allowed the answer the question! When he did manage to get a few words in edgeways, he was repeatedly cut off mid sentence by Davis.
I have to say that, by the end of this farce, I was quite impressed by Osborne's calm, polite response in spite of being repeatedly goaded. I can only assume that Davis is intent on making his mark as a 'cutting edge' interviewer with a reputation for cutting to the chase, but the result this morning was nothing short of loutish, ill-mannered rudeness and he should be ashamed.