Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Are you a Robert Peston fan?

28 replies

WineIsMyCarb · 07/10/2019 14:05

I am not. His style of delivery, for which he is famous of course, distracts from the content of what he is saying. When I do challenge myself to listen, I don't find that he is offering any greater insight than can be found in the first couple of paragraphs of a story on any of the new of the news websites or indeed was detailed in the news headlines 5 mins previously.

Does anyone rate him and can you advise me why please? He is obviously well-paid and does a number of BBC and independent gigs so must be considered a 'hot ticket' in senior boardrooms at the broadcasters... but his appeal is a total mystery to me.

Please enlighten me!

OP posts:
PennyNotSoWise · 07/10/2019 14:35

I really don't like him, for the same reasons as you! He taaaaaakes soooooooo looooooong to get to the pooooooint of what he's saaaaaaying with his drawn out words that I fucking forget what he was on about in the first place!

Really hate his delivery, I have to turn him off whenever he comes on.

ChicCroissant · 07/10/2019 14:39

I once saw his style of delivery compared to a dolphin with the squeaks.

When I've seen him on programmes that are not 'work' he seems a lovely bloke and he obviously knows his stuff work-wise but yes, the delivery is distracting.

Original poster
WineIsMyCarb · 07/10/2019 14:46

Ok glad a couple of you are with me on this one! I just don't see the insight or perspective he offers being sufficiently deep to overcome the terrible delivery.

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

News
anothernamejeeves · 07/10/2019 14:49

I find him insufferable tbh

ajandjjmum · 07/10/2019 15:02

I was interested to learn that he was advised not to discuss the link between himself and Charlotte Edwardes last week, just after I'd heard him say 'my partner, Charlotte Edwardes'.

There's another politics news presenter - can't remember his name - who seems to be copying the affectations too.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 07/10/2019 15:40

His delivery is so awful that I can’t focus on what he’s saying.

Frazzled2207 · 07/10/2019 15:51

I think he's a nice bloke with interesting things to say but his style is so grating.
I follow him in twitter.

Original poster
WineIsMyCarb · 07/10/2019 17:18

Is his Twitter content interesting @Frazzled2207?

That is interesting indeed @ajandjjmum - it's all a small world, politics and journalism, especially broadcast.

OP posts:
Clawdy · 07/10/2019 17:21

I rather like him, he is so quirky and different!

TildaKauskumholm · 07/10/2019 17:22

Can't bear him. When I used to have live TV if he came on the news I had to turn it off. Surely a big requirement of a job like that is to speak properly, clearly in a way that does not distract from the content? And he looks like a tramp too.

Original poster
WineIsMyCarb · 07/10/2019 17:22

Thinking about it @ajandjjmum, that is a peculiar way of phrasing it, even if there was a reason for it to be brought up that they were a couple. I have certainly never mentioned my DH using his full name (perhaps as 'BeerIsHisCarb'!!). Wonder if it was a power-play or a means of sending some sort of 'this is whose side I'm on' message. I can't see any journalists coming out as Boris fans, but in that phrase Peston must have made quite clear that he is in support of the airing of the leg grabbing allegations for political gain.

OP posts:
Original poster
WineIsMyCarb · 07/10/2019 17:26

Oh hi @Clawdy - glad to have found a Peston fan at last! In what sense different? Certainly he's from solid upper/ upper-middle class political stock so similar in many ways to a number of people working in journalism. Different in personal style, in that he's not formal?

OP posts:
Original poster
WineIsMyCarb · 07/10/2019 17:27

Ha @TildaKauskumholm! The phrase I used was 'less formal'!!

I also like a clear dispassionate delivery, hence not being a fan!

OP posts:
Clawdy · 07/10/2019 17:31

Well, he is certainly different from the usual boring, droning presenters. I also find him....curiously attractive Wink

BeforetheFlood · 07/10/2019 17:34

I believe his style of delivery is to get around a stammer, so try not to let that cloud my judgement, but I still find him insufferable. I read an article in which he complained about being 'objectified' by women. He might have a firm grasp on what goes on at Westminster, but he doesn't have a bloody clue about the real life issues faced by women.

The 'my partner Charlotte Edwardes' comment reinforced this. How dare he speak about a woman, who was in the news for having been the victim of a sexual assault, in terms of her relationship with him?

BeforetheFlood · 07/10/2019 17:36

I also find him....curiously attractive

Careful Clawdy - you're objectifying poor Peston. He finds it upsetting, you know...

HotChocolateLover · 07/10/2019 17:43

Who?

Justmuddlingalong · 07/10/2019 17:46

Life's too short to wait for him to finish a sentence, never mind a whole interview. I also agree he looks like a soap dodger.

ajandjjmum · 07/10/2019 17:46

BeforetheFlood
Especially as he was advised by his employer not to! Obviously making a point.

Alsohuman · 07/10/2019 17:54

How dare he? Because she is his partner. She was whinging in The Times yesterday about other women fangirling him in front of her.

I like his irreverence and incisiveness on Twitter. I also think he’s attractive. I would.

lljkk · 07/10/2019 18:14

I like Peston a lot, although I haven't figured out a way to listen to his current (ITV?) programme. If anyone can explain what to do, it's not on podcast websites! Do I need to find an ITv viewer...

I like his diction very much. It allows me to follow the complicated things he says. I could not understand if he spoke more quickly. Most presenters solve that problem by saying a lot less. Those other presenters don't tell you as much. Whereas Peston says lots of things that involve lateral thinking & many perspectives. It's very cool.

OrchidInTheSun · 07/10/2019 18:17

Given Edwardes wrote an article in this week's Sunday Times about how hard it is to be dating a public figure such as Peston, I rather think that particular cat is out the bag @ajandjjmum

MsTSwift · 07/10/2019 18:19

I like that he went to state school and had set up a scheme to get inspirational speakers into state school as they usually only went to the private schools. Also his wife died I think. These things make me warm to him

ajandjjmum · 07/10/2019 18:21

I wasn't suggesting that it was a secret in any way, just thought it was totally irrelevant to what was a main news story on that night. And imo a little unprofessional of him to mention it.

We saw them a while ago at the National Theatre - so it was no surprise here Grin

OrchidInTheSun · 07/10/2019 18:23

Oh I see! They're both clearly very excited about it Grin

Swipe left for the next trending thread