The trouble with Nick Robinson’s Thoughts for the Day

Thought for the Day appears every morning on BBC Radio 4. This preachy slot is hallowed by longevity, if not because of its content. But when Nick Robinson presents the accompanying Today programme, he often uses the moment after the hourly news and papers to contribute a political Thought for the Day of his own. Before he settles down to attack a government minister with his dentist’s drill, Nick likes to deliver his own wisdom about the foolishness of political leaders. ‘Making promises is easy,’ he told listeners on Tuesday. ‘Explaining how you’ll pay for them is rather harder, as the Chancellor and the Prime Minister are beginning to discover.’ What is the point of such remarks? Can there be a single listener who needs telling that promises are more easily made than fulfilled? Is it credible that the Chancellor and Prime Minister (‘beginning to discover’) have never thought of this before? The purpose – perhaps unconscious – of Nick’s Thoughts is to establish the superiority of interviewer over ministerial victim.