I Swing Both Ways. I Can See

Now I Can Broadcast To An Audience Of Several Million People On The 'today' Programme. I Can Talk About The Day's News. But On Radio, Believe It Or Not, We Have Notes And Scripts. And While We Might Ad Lib The Odd Wryly Amusing Asides, They Come At The Frequency Of A Suburban Bus. About One Every 90 Minutes.

I Swing Both Ways. I Can See Things From A Kind Of Conservative Point Of View And From A More Socially Liberal Or Left-wing Point Of View.

Once We Are Fed, Heated, Housed And Healthy, Our Extra Consumption Inevitably Has An Element Of Luxury About It. And Once Luxury Enters The Scene, The Practicalities Are In Trouble, As Women Who Wear Expensive Stiletto Heels Can Testify.

For Years, We've Grown Dependant On American Consumers As The World's Spenders Of Last Resort. They've Kept Europe Out Of Recession, Allowed China To Industrialise, And Prevented Global Deflation. But At The Same Time, They've Not Been Looking After Their Own Futures.

Although Being Economics Editor Sounds Impressive, It Does Not Mean I Actually Edit Anything. It Mainly Reflects Two Decades Of Title-inflation At The Bbc, Which Has Given Ever More Status To Senior Reporters, Presumably Because It Is Cheaper To Do That Than To Offer Higher Pay.