Tuesday morning as parliament reconvened at Westminster after the new year break, I was asked to take part in an early morning breakfast debate with a Welsh Conservative about the nature of the political agenda for the next few months.
Not surprisingly, both of us were quite robust in comments about the difficulties we face as a nation and what is the best path to achieve economic recovery. At the end of the discussion, the interviewer reflected the debt. There could be five months or so of such debate. Will listeners be able to cope with such extended debates for several months, won't they get bored and switch off from politics before the General election, he asked.
It was at the end of the interview and He didn't give us a chance to reply - it was really just a rhetorical question, as he said goodbye to us. The trouble is that it deserves a serious answer
First either of us could have commented that you are, the journalist and broadcaster, you asked us to come here to present our case and to explain why are our own party's programme is a strong one. It is after all, the nature of news coverage for broadcasters to pit parliamentarians against each other
Second, as I have said to him earlier in the interview. It is to some extent the responsibility of people like you in the BBC to make politics interesting, and to create an atmosphere in which the plans and programmes of each party is explained and scrutinised objectively. So that the public, the voters can make up their own minds about the choices they make. That's what broadcasting in a democracy should be all about
Third is indeed hard to think that you can have an election without a debate about the key issues are the future and what each party is offering ? An election, shouldn't be a beauty contest. It isn't about voting someone out of the Big Brother house. It isn't even about who is the best performer or entertainer.