Blimey, we’re top story on the BBC tonight! They decided to run our economic forecast as the top story, more because it suggests a UK recession than anything else I would suspect, but still pretty important. I don’t think I’ve ever seen EbS footage used by the BBC. Usually they insist on having their own shots done, and indeed won’t show on Tuesday anything they showed on Monday. I remember when I was covering trade during the summer of the “bra wars” a crew came every day, even when I made it very clear that I had nothing new to say compared to the day before. Strange… It was one of the fun things about doing the job I did in Brussels, and now: seeing how differently media operate across Europe. As I said, the British media needed fresh footage, if not fresh ideas; the swedes and French love their cutaways and you spend as long walking away from and towards the camera as you di giving the interview. A crew from pressTV the other day were very interested in filming my hands and they ended up in the final interview. Maybe I should have drawn a face on them like we did when we were kids and they could have given the interview instead!
I’ve also loved that the biggest global story of the day has been the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider. Science story? Yep. Showing the value of international collaboration? Yep. Risk of world ending? Hmmm… They even had a female scientist talking about it in the Beeb (though from the footage I saw of the control room, they must have had quite a time finding one).
Can’t get over the news about Lance Armstrong taking up cycling again. I mean, why? He’s already won the world’s biggest cycle race so many times, what does he have to prove? Still, I’m hoping the Tour will go past my house in France again soon, and it would be great to see him, even if they do pass in a blur and whirr of wheels. I love the thought of sitting up on my little hillside sipping G&Ts while they whizz past!
Talking about the EU 