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
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To strongly dislike Amol Rajan as a presenter?

277 replies

rellies · 26/04/2023 09:10

He’s now a presenter of Today on Radio 4. I can’t stand him. He doesn’t talk clearly, he mumbles all the time. He often seems ill-prepared for interviews and conducts them in such a casual manner which I suspect is his way of dealing with his nerves/lack of preparation. In TV interviews he slouches in his seat which just looks so unprofessional. Now he’s got the University Challenge gig. Why do people keep hiring him ? I wish he would just go away.

OP posts:
WhoppingBigBackside · 20/07/2023 13:52

A certain TV personality was a newspaper (ahem!) editor at 29 and I'm sure he is very intelligent. It doesn't mean I like him.

Daphnis156 · 20/07/2023 14:12

I think he is smug, and has too many media jobs.
A little might go a long way.

onetwosteponmyshoe · 20/07/2023 14:45

I like him.

CurlewKate · 20/07/2023 15:42

Pretty sure most of the anti-Rajan sentiment is a mixture of racism and objection to his outspoken anti monarchist views.

onetwosteponmyshoe · 20/07/2023 15:44

CurlewKate · 20/07/2023 15:42

Pretty sure most of the anti-Rajan sentiment is a mixture of racism and objection to his outspoken anti monarchist views.

Firmly agree with this.

WeAreTheHeroes · 20/07/2023 16:23

I know nothing of his anti monarchist views and his race is not a factor as far as I'm concerned.

AgathaSpencerGregson · 20/07/2023 16:34

CurlewKate · 20/07/2023 15:42

Pretty sure most of the anti-Rajan sentiment is a mixture of racism and objection to his outspoken anti monarchist views.

Not that outspoken. First I’ve heard about them!

Dabralor · 20/07/2023 17:01

I'm afraid I find him massively hot.

DaffyDaydream · 20/07/2023 17:16

I was very disappointed with him on University Challenge. He spoke or rather mumbled so fast, that I couldn’t hear the questions, as a previous poster has said. I really looked forward to the programme, but won’t be watching again.

CurlewKate · 20/07/2023 17:24

I am puzzled by the "mumbling" thing.I'm old and have old lady hearing, but I don't find him at all hard to hear.

EffortlessDesmond · 20/07/2023 17:51

I found him a bit of a shock when he first arrived on Today, but I've warmed to him -- as I have most with most of the presenters I've heard since Jack de Manio! However, I still miss Eddie Mair, RIP, at 5 pm. Evan Davies is okay, though.

Loria · 20/07/2023 18:12

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 20/07/2023 06:21

Family string pulling, from a family of South Asian immigrants living in South London? Really?

Mummy worked at the FCO. Not all immigrants are poverty stricken and desperate.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 20/07/2023 19:01

Loria · 20/07/2023 18:12

Mummy worked at the FCO. Not all immigrants are poverty stricken and desperate.

Show quote history

I didn't say they were. You said Rajan only got there after a stint in the foreign office following a bit of family string pulling. Be interesting to know what his actual A Level results were. This reads to me as implying that his family pulled strings to get him into Cambridge, he may not have got there on academic merit, and your comparison was with Prince Charles. My incredulity was at the idea that Amol Rajan's parents were in that league a few years after arriving in the UK, and yet still live in Tooting, where he went to a state comprehensive. He worked at the FCO for a few months between A levels and Cambridge. Plenty of kids get part-time or temporary jobs through family connections.

Loria · 20/07/2023 20:13

Oh right.

Yes, you're correct. You did misunderstand what I said.

EffortlessDesmond · 20/07/2023 20:25

He might have done anything for a few months between school and university. Plenty of smart, willing and enthusiastic kids got picked out of the inter-office post service to move up just because they were smart and willing and likeable.

The saddest thing is that now you need a degree to get into the building. A friend, who was a recruiter for IBM in a big European city, told me once that unless you had a degree your CV was automatically shredded.

Willmafrockfit · 20/07/2023 21:10

EffortlessDesmond · 20/07/2023 17:51

I found him a bit of a shock when he first arrived on Today, but I've warmed to him -- as I have most with most of the presenters I've heard since Jack de Manio! However, I still miss Eddie Mair, RIP, at 5 pm. Evan Davies is okay, though.

eddie mair is not resting in peace though

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 20/07/2023 21:11

Indeed not. He's on some other radio station.

LlynTegid · 20/07/2023 21:20

Whilst I would have preferred another choice for University Challenge, I have no feelings of hate towards him.

EffortlessDesmond · 20/07/2023 21:26

Nooo... I am confusing him with a previous host of the Media Show. Okay, I am a dolt.

EffortlessDesmond · 20/07/2023 21:32

Apologies, I was thinking of Steve Hewlett. The recordings of his last days were brilliant and heart rending.

Bodybop · 20/07/2023 21:43

CurlewKate · 20/07/2023 15:42

Pretty sure most of the anti-Rajan sentiment is a mixture of racism and objection to his outspoken anti monarchist views.

This

WhatADrabCarpet · 20/07/2023 21:43

WhatWillIWear · 20/07/2023 13:35

Gosh - ill-concealed racism and blatant inverted intellectual snobbery in a single thread?

Hilarious!

Really???

WhatADrabCarpet · 20/07/2023 21:45

I rely on my hearing.
I can also read.
Where is the racism?

WhatADrabCarpet · 20/07/2023 21:47

I suspect that there are some folk on this thread where light bends round them.

CurlewKate · 20/07/2023 21:52

I wonder what family strings were pulled to make him editor of the Independent at 29...