John Humphrys’s self-parodying is also on the increase. If he is not careful
he will be in danger of going the way of David Frost, who was barely
coherent in his Frostness towards the end of Breakfast with Frost. This week
Humphrys crudely implied that the Labour leader wasn’t attractive enough to
be successful. That’s the bottom of the barrel, John.
Who can we look to for balance and reason? Charlie Sheen? Jeremy Paxman? I’m
concerned that real people with real feelings and principles are becoming
rare; super-charged media personalities take their place and fill our heads
with increasingly polarised nonsense in a bid for our attention.
Perhaps it’s a nervous desire to keep delivering. These people have made their
names by having a certain quality, behaving in a certain way, and it’s
possible that they’re afraid of losing their touch. They become an enhanced,
double-strength version of themselves. But in doing so, they risk losing
that reassuring third dimension and ultimately, our respect.