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The dying seconds of the Today programme are a dangerous time.
Not only do you have to ensure guests make their point and
finish neatly in time for the sign-off, but sometimes you have
to watch your co-presenter for any signs of an ambush. On
Friday we came out of our last report with 30 seconds to spare.
There are plenty of things that Ed Stourton could have said to
fill the time, but he chose instead to settle an argument we
had been bickering about through the morning: which one of us
would write this newsletter. He, quite slowly - and gleefully –
announced that Sarah’s newsletter would appear on the web page
within the next 24 hours.
Not that it is not an honour and a privilege to be asked to
reflect on the week, it is just that when you are already
squeezing every second out of the day, it can be hard to find
the time. So, on what must be the hottest day of the year, I am
at my desk from where I can see into a row of London gardens
and hear the sound of laughter and - yes, just - that little
tinkling noise that comes from what I sense must be very good,
cold, wine being poured. And somewhere else in London I can
just picture Ed pulling the cork on another bottle. Go on Ed,
enjoy yourself and while you’re at it, why not have one for me.
As if in mitigation, as we left the studio, Ed told me how John
had once tried to land him in it by asking him in the final 20
seconds on air, “When was the last time you smoked a joint?” He
avoided answering. Perhaps Ed, you could tell us in next week’s
newsletter.
So to the week’s events…
And the first thing that springs to mind is that my daughter
used the potty for the first time this week. No, Sarah, not
appropriate for a review of the week’s news, even if it is the
first week of August.
But as any parent of toddlers knows, this is a watershed moment
and I thought of how absurdly important it had been to me as I
spoke to Justine Durkin on Saturday morning. She missed nearly
every significant event in the first ten years of her
daughter’s life because of accusations made against her by
Professor David Southall.
The General Medical Council found him guilty of serious
professional misconduct, but did not strike him off the medical
register. Justine, who is only now rebuilding her relationship
with her 13 year old daughter, must wait until January for the
GMC to deal with her complaint against Professor Southall.
Justine had wanted the doctors to intervene to help her
daughter; their intervention ruined her life. A few days
earlier, we heard from someone who had to fight to ensure
doctors intervened to help him and not to end his life.
Lesley Burke went to the High Court to get a ruling that
ultimately it is down to the patient not the doctor to decide
when life becomes “intolerable”. It was an unusual case in that
over the years there have been news stories about patients who
want the right to die – not live. In our coverage, John
Humphrys spoke to Jane Campbell, a disability rights campaigner
who is on a ventilator. She told us that on two occasions
senior consultants had told her husband that if she went into
respiratory failure they would not resuscitate her. She gave an
extremely moving account of how her husband on hearing that,
ran home to get her graduation picture and showing it to the
doctors said, “THIS is my wife not what you THINK you see in the bed”.
All week we’ve been trying to make sense of the different
terrorism stories. Are they linked? If so, how? What was
targeted? When? Does anybody know what is going on? Oh for some
plain speaking.
We certainly got that from David T Hardy. The title of his
latest book is “Michael Moore is a big fat stupid white man”.
Obviously I didn’t need to ask him what he thought of the
documentary maker. We tried for a slightly more sophisticated
discussion about satire and accuracy. I don’t know if we
achieved it. I do know both he and George Monbiot of the
Guardian came up with some great one–liners. (This from George
Monbiot: "If George Bush’s eyes were any closer together he’d
be in a zoo").
One week to go and I’m on holiday. I raised the question of what I should take to read at the end of one of our 9am programme debriefs. It woke everyone up. It’s amazing how evangelical people can get when they enjoy a book. Come to think of it, it’s amazing how much free time Today programme producers must have. Top of the list so far: "A Terrible Beauty - A History of the People and Ideas That Shaped the Modern Mind" by Peter Watson. Each time I log on to my computer there’s another message as someone else wants to put in their nomination. Richard and Judy eat your heart out. Although with the potty training, God knows when I’ll find the time.
I’m sure it was an oversight that no one mentioned the Today programme’s very own African Mystery. It’s been a sort of literary, pass the parcel, with an amazingly distinguished set of authors playing the game.
It’s still as hot as an African summer outside and I can resist the pull no longer. Is there a glass left for me?
Sarah
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