Evan Davis Watch: Barking

It's 'Davis', dear.

General Election 2015: Pink Turning Red

I saw something very Brighton on Bank Holiday Monday. A woman putting bottles into a bottle bank noticed that one of them had a drop of wine left in it. She unscrewed the cap, downed it, and then dropped it in the bank. To combine recycling with alcoholism is about as Brighton as it gets...

Kemptown, in the east, has also seen a massive influx of Labour campaigners – and the dominance is shown in the number of Labour signs in windows. I spoke to a gay couple basking in the sun outside a café. One said: "Yeah, we’ll probably go with Labour… Ed’s not very impressive is he? But anything rather than Cameron.”

“Ed looks weird,” added his partner. “That mouth.”

I asked if the Tory embrace of gay marriage had made any difference to their voting intentions, and they said that it hadn’t. “I mean, we’ve not got married have we?” observed one with a raised eyebrow – suggesting that I’d opened a can of worms. “But Labour would’ve backed gay marriage anyway, so it doesn’t make any difference.” 

This is a view that might not be true, given national polling evidence that the Tories are now doing much better among gay voters * – although, not well enough to hold on to a constituency that could be described as the San Francisco of England. Then again, Kemptown has always been a very working-class kind of gay scene. There are a lot of middle-aged couples sporting tattoos that probably hail from the days of Margaret Thatcher...

Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph.

Fagburn is proud to announce he is voting Nancy on Thursday - I think this may well swing the election.

PS Radio 4's Today attends a gay hustings in Vauxhall to find out 'Where is the pink vote?'

* Fagburn on why the Pink News' readers poll is unrepresentative of gay voters. Today also cited it without question.

Mind you, this one could be the most unscientific gay election survey of all time; Most Grindr Readers Back The SNP!

Evan Davis: Can You Imagine!!?

Then there are the inevitable comparisons with his predecessor. If Paxman was an attack dog, then Davis is more of a wolf in sheep’s clothing – or, as some tabloids point out, the kind of clothing that you might find down your local bar on a Saturday night (the subtext being that Davis is – shock horror! – gay). He has been photographed in low-slung jeans and skin-tight T-shirts that show a flash of tattoo and hint at rumoured intimate piercings.

But while this is all great fun – can you imagine John Humphrys wearing trousers so low they showed off his boxer shorts? – I am not quite sure what it’s got to do with his ability to grill a politician. It’s not as if he’s going to front his first show in a pair of leather chaps with a riding crop. Today, Davis is wearing a cardigan and jeans – he looks like a cool, metrosexual geography teacher, if such a thing exists.

“I’m just not Jeremy Paxman,” he says, “and it would be worse if I was trying to be Jeremy Paxman. I’m so not Jeremy Paxman.”

Telegraph.

Question Of The Week: Evan Davis

The arrival of Evan Davis on BBC2’s Newsnight on September 29 is anxiously awaited. Why the anxiety? Because Newsnight, once a BBC powerhouse of political influence, is in a state of worrying decline. It has a small nightly audience, around 600,000. That wouldn’t matter if the audience were special and the guests the best. But top politicians and serious experts often scorn Newsnight now. Will the arrival of Davis be the start of a relaunch?

Ian Katz, Newsnight’s latest editor, arrived from the Guardian last year. Jeremy Paxman, roost ruler for 25 years, soon announced he would be leaving the programme, was persuaded to stay until this June. In August the BBC announced the new “lead anchor” would be Evan Davis, team member of Radio 4’s Today for the past six years...

Daily Telegraph.

I do hope so - anything will be better than bloody Paxman.

Tinsel Tits makes her Newsnight debut on Monday.

PS Fagburn sees 'Paxo' will be hosting Channel 4's general election coverage, Sadly, I appear to be washing my hair that night.

Evan Davis: So Tough

Well done Evan.
x

PS Fagburn, friend of the stars!

@Fagburn I'll miss you commenting on me on Today.
— Evan Davis (@EvanHD) July 21, 2014

David Cameron: I've Been Waiting For You

“There will be young boys in schools today who are gay, who are worried about being bullied, who are worried about what society thinks of them, who can see that the highest Parliament in the land has said that their love is worth the same as anyone else’s love and that we believe in equality. And I think they’ll stand that bit taller today and I’m proud of the fact that has happened."

David Cameron, Today programme, May 22nd, 2013.

Almost hate to say it, but this did move me this morning.
Really.
But that's having speechwriters like Julian Glover feeding your lines to you.
You've come a long way, dude.
Wished you could have been there when it mattered. 

"The Blair government continues to be obsessed with their fringe agenda, including deeply unpopular moves like repealing Section 28 and allowing the promotion of homosexuality in schools".

David Cameron, electioneering in 2000.

Back to the class war...

Chris Moyles: 2004-2012

Goodbye.
Good riddance.
Good luck Grimmy.
(Even though I'm old and boring and listen to Today).

Thought For The Day: Evan Davis

'Davis's homosexuality – he is one of the few prominent gay journalists [sic] – often makes headlines' claims The Independent.
'How does he deal with the exposure?
"How long have we got?" he sighs. "You accept you have to give a bit of your personality. I don't keep it secret that I live with my partner Gio. I'm very proud of my gayness. But there is lots I wouldn't want the press to write about me... it is a matter of regret that being gay is the most interesting thing about me."'

Well, that and the fact you've got your tits pierced, Eva.

Lesbians Kissing: This Is History!

This photo made it to the front page of both The Independent and The Guardian.
And was given much prominence inside almost every other UK newspaper.*
"Lesbians, kiss, iconic, historic, repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, some women in the armed forces are lesbots? Who knew?!! etc etc"
The Times wrote a leader column on it; "The picture of that kiss already has the look of a photographic classic.** And perhaps its most interesting aspect is that the bystanders in the background do not seem to be taking any special notice. Some things change for the better."
That's nice, dear.
But why did the UK papers give it so much special notice, then?
Perhaps a clue was given by Evan Davis on Radio 4's Today programme?
After an excited-sounding John Humphrys read out his favourite lines from The Times, Evan added drily; "Some girl-on-girl action there..."

* I can't find it on the Daily Express's online version - or far more surprisingly The Daily Star's - will check print copies later.
** Probably because it looks like an homage to Alfred Eisenstaedt's VJ Day In Times Square, one of the most famous photographs of all time. Duh.

Evan Davis: The Gay Today

Thrilling news for lovers of popular TV economics programmes!
Evan Davis - one of Fagburn's most favourite people - has two new TV series coming up on BBC2; Business Nightmares and Made In Britain.
The Observer used this as an excuse to run a Q&A with the Today presenter.
Mr Davis makes some quite fascinating points about the decline of the UK's manufacturing industries and Japanese/US exchange rates, but Fagburn would be lying like a Lib Dem manifesto if he didn't say he was really interested in the last two questions and answers.

Does it annoy you when you're called a gay presenter?
It doesn't annoy me but I think of myself as a presenter who is gay, rather than a gay presenter. It's a subtle distinction, but that's how I view it. I don't think I'm hugely camp on air. Private Eye did do a funny spoof of me interviewing Peter Mandelson in which it was all, 'Ooh get her…' [laughs]. I'm quite proud to be gay; I'm not hiding it.

What about when you were photographed in jeans with a biker chain…
I was papped! Apparently, I was breaking some hidden Daily Mail sartorial rule that meant I had to dress in a suit to go across the road to get milk. I think the headline was "Please Mr Davis, Won't You Dress Your Age?". That phrase – "Please Mr Davis" – is used in our household quite a lot by my partner. "Pleeeease Mr Davis, won't you do the washing up…"

Shame The Observer thought the banal truism - "I'm a presenter who is gay rather than a gay presenter" - was worthy of being used as a headline.
As a tribute to Tinsel Tits Evan Davis, Fagburn has reprinted one of the paparazzi shots above.
Eat your heart out, Britney!

Evan Davis: Tits & Ass

Regular readers may know that Fagburn is quite the fan of Evan Davis - or "Tinsel Tits" as we understand his BBC colleagues call him.
We know not why...
Anyway, we like the way Evans's queeny giggling manner counters John Humphry's curt grumpiness on Radio 4's Today programme.
"Did it sound gay?" Evan asked The Times last year. "I don’t know what a gay Today programme would sound like. I hope it doesn’t sound gay. But does it sound not gay? I hope not. I mean, there is maybe the odd silly, slightly frivolous, campy sort of moment, and they more likely to come from me than perhaps from John.”
Mr Davis is such a big star in Radio 4 Land he's got his own show, too.
He must mean a lot to the BBC TV bods as well, as it's also broadcast on the BBC TV News channel.
Fagburn has just been listening in to the first in the new series.
It was Evan Davis asking people about economics and grown-up stuff, so to be honest Fagburn only understood bits of it.
But surely the name of the show is someone having a little giggle at Evan's expense?
The Bottom Line.