Monday 31 March 2008

Farewell to h2h

I've no real excuse (other than it's good to have a break now and then) but I've not been out on the bike today. However, that left some extra time to watch the last broadcast of Head to Head on BBCi. H2H is "a lively topical discussion programme, with two studio guests from opposite sides of the political debate going head to head over the week's big issues and controversies".

Or at least it was.

I'm sorry to see the end of this excellent programme, which has been head to head, and shoulder to shoulder, above the normal standard of political coverage on the television.

With one notable exception, all the participants were pretty high value, but I reckon that David Aaronovitch and Janet Daly have been the most thought-provoking and challenging pairing. They proved willing to listen to each other's views, they responded thoughtfully; and in the process we discovered a surprising amount of common ground.

Goodness knows why the BBC is bringing this programme to an end. My inner cynic wants to think that the standard of debate proved too embarassing for producers of other programmes with higher profiles, and bigger budgets. More likely the viewing figures were just too low. It's a shame.

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