Here are the media results of the End of Year Awards poll which 2,300 of you took part in last week.
COLUMNIST/COMMENTATOR OF 2007
1. Matthew Parris 34%
2. Fraser Nelson 11%
3. Andrew Rawnsley 7%
4. Michael Portillo 7%
5. Danny Finkelstein 6%
6. Peter Oborne 6%
7. Polly Toynbee 5%
8. Matthew D'Ancona 5%
9. Simon Heffer 4%
10. Peter Hitchens 4%
Others 10%
BEST POLITICAL TV PROGRAMME OF 2007
1. Question Time 41%
2. Daily Politics 18%
3. Politics Show 16%
4. Sunday AM 6.%
5. Sunday with Adam Boulton 5%
6. GMTV Sunday 1%
Apologies for missing THIS WEEK out of the poll.
BEST POLITICAL RADIO PROGRAMME OF 2007
1. Today 23%
2. Any Questions 18%
3. Westminster Hour 10%
4. Today in Parliament 8%
5. Week in Westminster 7%
6. Five Live Drive 7%
7. PM 6%
Others 21%
BROADCAST JOURNALIST OF 2007
1. Andrew Neil 23%
2. Nick Robinson 22%
3. Jeremy Paxman 18%
4. Adam Boulton 13%
5. Michael Crick 8%
Others 16%
POLITICAL PRINT JOURNALIST OF 2007
1. Andrew Gilligan 33%
2. BenBrogan 21%
3. Andrew Pierce 6%
4. Patrick Hennessy 5%
5. Patrick Wintour 5%
6. Julia Hartley-Brewer 5%
7. Sam Coates 4%
Others 21%
POLITICAL HUMORIST OF 2007
1. Ian Hislop 33%
2. Quentin Letts 18%
3. Rory Bremner 18%
4. Simon Hoggart 12%
5. Steve Bell 6%
6. Ann Treneman 5%
7. Tamzin Lightwater 4%
Others 4%
15 comments:
I was surprised THIS WEEK wasn't an option...
Why did Julia Hartley-Brewer not get a higher vote!?! Madness! It's good to see Old Brillo Pad getting 'commentator of the year'! If Alex Salmond does not get the 'politician of the year' award something is seriously wrong!
Iain,
West Ham's best result for a long time over the hated rags and you haven't crowed about it yet. Come on, its whats bloggings about.
I was totally uninspired by the humorist category (is there definitely no second "u" in humo(u)rist?). I may or may not have voted for Ian Hislop - I cannot remember - but it was a kind of default choice. I cannot think that anyone has particularly stood out, sadly.
Ian Hislop deserves to be #1 and he can also turn out serious broadcasting worth watching, it's a shame that when the political columnists stray into comedy territory it's usually unintentional.
I think that Andrew Neil “edged it” through sheer effort. The Daily Politics each week day and “This Week” as well every Thursday. Also a wry sense of humour, which wears very well late at night and mid morning.
Nick Robinson is probably ideally placed for the developing political scene. A former left wing Tory should understand David Cameron.
I was so incensed by Simon Heffer’s Daily Telegraph column yesterday, that I abandoned plans for a nap, after my long morning walk and wrote a scathing contribution on line, which was unpublished, as usual. Heffer becomes more like Peter Hitchens each day but, at least, Peter Hitchens displays some humanity. I thought his piece on the plight of a bullied prisoner (a very unpopular cause) was outstanding. Heffer, on the other hand, hasn’t even apologised for supporting Gordon Brown vociferously earlier in the year. Nor has he apologised for consistently denigrating David Cameron. Yesterday his column carried a long attack on Brown, a 180 degree turn from a few months back. This incorporated a snide attack upon David Cameron. He then, once again, praised Sarkozy. A ridiculous popinjay who raised his own salary whilst telling the French to tighten their belts and who is actively discriminating against British residents of France, by denying those who have been resident over 2 years and who are not pensioners free medical treatment. After that he wrote that President Putin is the most dangerous man in the world and compared him to Adolf Hitler. Total and utter rot. Putin got where he is today because people like Heffer turned a blind eye to the wholesale theft of Russian State assets by a gang of oligarchs who couldn’t be bothered to pay their taxes. That is why the Russian male life expectancy dropped to 53. Now Putin is in power the ordinary Russian is tasting a little prosperity. He then implored us to leave Kate Middleton in peace. Which he could do by not mentioning her in his column.
Peter Oborne is a little hard done by, I think. He clearly thinks about things and writes very cogently.
Forgot to mention "The Hammers". Yu must be on "cloud 9" Iain. rather like my own mother-in-law, a Berbatov supporter.
By the way if the tories win remember the poor will be forced to eat their own liver. As the welfare state will be removed.
Colombo - If you haven't read Quentin Letts in The Mail or Anne Trenneman in The Times, you have missed two very funny sketchwriters.
Iain, thank you for the time you put into running these surveys for us. They're great fun and I'm sure everyone who participates would second my 'thank you' proposal.
M. Hristov wrote some very good stuff, including: "Peter Oborne is a little hard done by, I think. He clearly thinks about things and writes very cogently."
I tend to agree. While none of them (nor none of us, for that matter) will ever be certain to write material that will be acceptable to all -- or even just to all who have bothered to think things through more that the average person tends to do -- it is mainly their underlying motivation, and knowledge, that should determine their position in the public's eye.
Of course, in the Real World(TM), such matters will fade into the background, and no sample will be truly representative anyway; but I for one find Oborne's writing always worthy of the time taken to read, which I wouldn't say was the case for Polly Toynbee.
Thus this result is an anomaly, but that is not uncommon with surveys, and should be accepted at that level, nothing more.
Hardly surprising to see Question Time at number one. I assume part of the reason is because its the one point in the week when politicians are seen to be venturing outside the Westminster village and face real concerns from real people. And it's good for the odd gaffe too.
m. hristov - you think Peter Hitchens has humanity for getting paid to write what his editor approves of (it wouldn't get published if he didn't) yet his blog didn't choose to publish a simple 'happy xmas' message from a five year old child.
Yeah, some humanity!
Columnists are in the business of selling newspapers, period.
Philippa wrote: "Columnists are in the business of selling newspapers, period."
Actually, newspapers and their employees are primarily in the business of selling advertising. The cover price of newspapers is almost incidental to this aim -- hence all the freebie newspapers that are produced exclusively to provide a convincing distribution for the purpose of, yes, selling advertising.
That really is the bottom line of their agenda, and everything else bar none is subservient to that goal. It is worth being aware of this, as it clearly explains a lot of things, once one thinks about it awhile...
DES! Not seen you for ages. Care to justify your stupid and pathetic comment about the welfare state? Still a dipshit I see. Happy New Year to you! Every posting of yours reminds me of the stupidity of the enemy.
Verity, thanks for the suggestions. I'll check them out. Happy New Year everyone!
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