Evan Davis. He's everywhere

[bakedpotato]

and is he in the process of growing a goatee or has he always sported a barely-there one? i'd never noticed it before Monday night's news, when it made me laugh immoderately, but it seemed to have disappeared by Tuesday. however, it was there again last night on Dragons' Den. (which is great, no?)

[motherinferior]

Couldn't the makeup people assist with a spot of eyebrow pencil?

[OldieMum]

I'm not a fan of Evan's. I think he is a bit of a twerp, in fact. He can't seem to resist going for glib oversimplifications and cheap witticisms over real analysis. Even though I didn't have much time for his predecessor (Peter Jay), he did make much more of an effort to convey something of the complexities of the issues he spoke about. DH, who is an economist, can't stand him, either (switches him off, in fact).

[motherinferior]

Does he feel like that about other economics correspondents, OM? I mean is some of it the inevitable oversimplification a popular medium requires (as well as a general dislike, of course)?

[OldieMum]

I take your point, but DH seems to find Evan particularly prone to doing this. However, he doesn't think much of the economics correspondent on C4 news, either, but for the same reason - the glibness. He certainly didn't react like a scalded cat to economics correspondents in the past. For a model of how to explain econonomic issues to the lay person, see Andrew Dilnot. He used to to be the Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and is now Principal of St Hugh's. He is often on at Budget time and had a nice little series on economics in everyday life a year or so ago.

[motherinferior]

I fear I'd need someone to treat me as a reasonably bright but not exceptional pre-schooler

[OldieMum]

I agree that they need to explain things to people who don't know much about economics - the problem is when they mislead people in the way they attribute extremely simple motivations for economic behaviour, or use stupid, almost Thatcher-like analogies between national economies and household budgets. There must be a better way to popularise complex issues without doing this.

[Davros]

I like it when Paxo refers to him as the "resident pointy head", now he'll have a pointy chin too He is a bit love child of Andrew Marr & Peter Snow....