Mike Paranoia Pays

by Graham Davies

Yesterday, Gordon Brown gave a Master Class in microphone-awareness. Or whatever the opposite of a Master Class is. Not realising that he was still wearing a live lapel mike, he described someone as a "bigoted woman"....when her views were merely different to his rather than bigoted.

It is always a disaster for a politician to be caught saying something in "private" that contradicts their public persona. It confirms the pre-conception that we all have of them being two-faced.

But all presenters can learn something from this: always assume that the mike is on.......and make sure that you get rid of the damn thing as soon as you have finished what you have finished doing what you put it on for.

There are a host of (probably apochryphal) stories about the sound of presenters' bodily functions being transmitted by mikes that were unexpectedly still switched on. This morning, I am certain that Gordon Brown wishes we had just heard him having a crap.