Like a breath of fresh air Martha Kearney has arrived on Radio 4’s Today programme, taking over from Sarah Montague (who will now host the lunchtime news programme formerly presided over by Kearney). Her presenting style is just so different, less confrontational, more investigative, perhaps developed by her because at lunchtime the mood is different, less rushed, more ambulant. The tone on the World At One was always much more reflective than reactive, Kearney pondering events rather than racing through to the next interview, butting in, hustling, flustering her guests.
On Monday morning’s Today, she interviewed the author of a book on ‘elastic thinking’. Leonard Mlodinow, a theoretical physicist who has also written scripts for Star Trek, argues that we need to think more flexibly if we want to cope with the avalanche of information that now threatens to engulf us. ‘Elastic thinking,’ he said, ‘is Mary Shelley, Stephen Hawking…’
‘Explain that?’ Kearney interrupted, with a rising tone to the question, the eagerness of someone really wanting to know.
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