We Escaped The Last Big Bursting Of

Being Funny, It Turns Out, Is Like Being A Bank. It's A Confidence Trick. As Long As Everyone Believes In You, You Are Fine.

Historically, The British Have Always Been Rather Wary Of Grand Engineering Projects - Perhaps Understandably, Given That Many Of Them Have Been Delivered Late And Over Budget.

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 Rarely Come Away From Presenting The 'today' Programme Without Some Sense Of Regret. There Is Always Some Question That I Should Have Asked, Or Some Point That I Should Have Made. This Is Annoying But Not Surprising. Perfection Is Hard To Achieve In A Three-hour Live Programme.

Personally, I'd Like Us To Have A Few More Women On The 'today' Programme.