Saturday, February 21, 2004
Rhodri vs Felicity
It seems that if the UK Government falls out with the BBC on one issue then we need to have our own mini-version in Wales. In this case it is a spat between First Minister Rhodri Morgan and the BBC's Good Morning Wales presenter, Felicity Evans. Rhodri was being interviewed about MP Kim Howells's two-and-a-half-month wait for a reply to a letter to Health Minister Jane Hutt. During the interview the First Minister accused Felicity of being rude and ill-mannered and even suggested that it was not for her to determine the subject on which he was being interviewed. As it happens I heard the discussion and I honestly believe that the First Minister did not have a leg to stand on. I thought that he was evasive, aggressive and rude whereas the interviewer was firm and courteous. She was perfectly within her rights to widen out the interview to include a discussion on the condition of the NHS in Wales and Jane Hutt's stewardship of it given the context of the news item on which it was based. I really thought that Rhodri had lost the plot. It is all very well standing up for Wales against the Paxman's of this World but that style does not cut it when he is supposed to be defending Welsh domestic policy on Welsh radio.
