To have been howling with laughter at...

[NicholasTeakozy]

... Jeremy Paxmans evisceration of the Treasury Minister Chloe Smith on Newsnight. She admitted to u-turns, made non answers and was soooooooo out of her depth it was ridiculous. Fuck, it was hilarious seeing her get turned over. I almost thought 'poor woman' but hey, she's a tory and she deserves it. :o

Yes, it was amazing. I had to watch it through my fingers though. He ripped her to shreds.

It was both excruciating and brilliant watching Paxman have Tory for supper!

But I did feel a little sorry for her, having been thrown to the lion to provide a buffer for Osbourne.

I did feel a tiny bit sorry for her too. Very tiny bit.

I was watching through my fingers by the end, it was so painful. I nearly had to leave the room. And the "do you admit you are incompetent" at the end was sooooo cruel!!

One of my laughing fits ended just as he asked 'do you admit you're incompetent?'. The next one started there and I'll have to watch the rest of the show on iplayer as I spent the next ten minutes crying.

Thank you Paxo, thank you. I haven't laughed so much in ages.

I watched it then played it back so my partner could watch it. He is pretty cruel, isn't he? Quite a bully. I was thinking of them all at Tory HQ shouting 'put the water down'. They really threw her to the lions, bastards. But she did it, more fool her on so many levels.

Oh, I forgot I could watch it again on iplayer. Happy days.

Paxman is hilarious. You couldn't make him up.

I didn't see this particular one, as I don't watch him anymore, as I don't see anything funny in somebody setting out to bully people and make them look ridiculous.
Jeremy Paxman used to be a really good political interviewer, but now he seems to think he's an entertainer. An entertainer of pretty low standards, IMO.

I have to agree with BackforGood, notwithstanding my dislike of the Tories. He is rude, unnecessarily unpleasant (often personally so) and a misogynist.

Had she actually answered his questions without bluster and evasion she'd have got off lightly. The only time Paxo overstepped the mark was with his final question. It may have been harsh but it was at least an accurate summation of her performance.

I'm with Eldritch. I don't like Tories, and I don't like Paxman. I just don't think it's necessary to be that nasty to people. I know I'd have crumpled under that kind of questioning. She was of course in the unfortunate position of having to pretend black is white, which is the sort of thing you can do if you've been in politics 20 years but is hard otherwise.

Give me Eddie Mair any day, though. Is completely polite and gentle while asking the absolutely lethal question. How could anyone forget the time he asked Francis Maude (promoting the Big Society at the moment) what volunteer work he did?

Cameron gets cosy chats with Daily Mail to set out his ideas, Osborne gets a spot on Andrew Marr for a very gentle questioning... I would so much rather have seen one of them being mauled by Paxman. She was poorly briefed and I doubt she had any choice about whether she went on if she wanted to keep her job.

I hate watching a mauling, whoever it is. I can't bear it and have to switch the TV off

I really went off Paxman a few years ago when he presented Start the Week. One of his guests was a palaeontologist who had just published a book and had clearly never been on radio before. Paxman ripped him to shreds because he didn't (or couldn't) give a straight answer about the kinds of timescales he was talking about. The guy was just left stammering and flustered. The poor man probably spent most of his time in a study surrounded by books and never interacting with human beings. Paxman seemed to forget that this was an academic he was talking to, not a cabinet minister.

Here's the lovely Eddie with Francis Maude. Hear him flounder:

So yes, she was thrown to the wolves but no-one forced her into politics and she (presumably) was not a bumbling academic, so as an intelligent young women should have been able to hold her own.
Too bad she could not.

6 words, "Did you threaten to overrule him?". I love Paxman and have every book he ever wrote including Through the Volcanoes about travelling around Central America. Also, I have a signed photo but don't tell anyone.

This U-turn isn't anything to do with the fact that an increase in Fuel Duty would push up the RPI for the September quarter, on which Pension increases would be based? Is it?

Paxman is a telly God.

I used to live just a couple of miles outside her constituency when she was elected in 2009. I am hopeful now that her appalling show of ineptitude means she won't be re-elected and the Tories will lose that seat.

"I am hopeful now that her appalling show of ineptitude means she won't be re-elected and the Tories will lose that seat."

Yes, but on that basis, all the Tories should lose their seats:-)

I'm glad I didn't see it. I think the way Paxman bullies people is appalling.

I'm quite partial to seeing a minister from any party squirm but I think it can be done without purposely making the interviewee so uncomfortable on a personal level, as Paxman tends to do.

Having said that, Newsnight is slightly more palatable than Left Wing Question Time, with its hand-picked audience of socialists every week.

Smithy is that peculiar type of spod that the Tory Party seems to go in for. William Hague was one in his younger days.

One of my issues with Paxo is that he seems to forget the point of the interview is not that Paxo should win, but that we should be informed. And he is often hideously rude to guests, especially foreign guests, when there is no need to be. Even foreign heads of state.

Watch Stephen Sacker on Hard Talk on BBC News Channel for how to really really grill someone without turning it into a bullying ego trip. His interview with Hugo Chavez was compelling. I think he understood to give Chavez enough rope to hang himself without feeling he had to be seen to get the better of him all the time.