BBC News 24

Gwenan Edwards

Worthy of note since the schedule changes:

Both Kate Silverton and Jane Hill now work on Fridays, meaning Liz Pike and Carrie Gracie have no shift. Carrie Gracie also hasn't done her Saturday morning slot in recent weeks...

And Peter Sissons has been absent for a good few weeks now...

This afternoon I'd imagine either Liz Pike or Tony Campion will be doing the 5-7

We need a new area for discussion.

Rota Forum.

There, the dullness of discussing staffing arrangements at length in any given place of employment is kept away from the more interesting things.

My goodness.

We agree on something.

It's what must have been the downfall of the ITV News Channel thread - constant musing over who was presenting and what they were presenting. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Amen to that, sister.

I'd like to add to that my saying "mmm-hmm!" and clicking my fingers.

This is surely enough to start a revolution.

Mods- watch out

Has anyone else seen the dreadful 'interview' with David Blaine that News 24 is currently running? They've been asking viewers to submit questions for him all day during his attention-seeking underwater stunt in New York.

The questions that reporter Jeremy Cooke put to him were positive, uncritical and for the most part sycophantic. I can only presume Blaine's 'people' vetted the questions beforehand and only allowed the nice ones. In which case surely the BBC shouldn't have agreed to an interview which was going to be so one-sided and lacking in any value.

Aside from all that, does the BBC really need to be massaging Blaine's ego any further by producing these low-value reports?

I thik that's probably because both have shorter shifts on screen than before and so work an extra day.

I noticed tonight that Emily Maitlis seems to be developing very well indeed as a "rolling news" newsreader. She no longer seems to be as timid and quiet as when she first started. I like how her voice is no longer the same tone and she uses facial expressions whilst reading the autocue - I'm thinking she's been getting some tips. Both her and Ben were very good dealing with the breaking news of the Tasmanian miners being found alive. I think they will develop into a good partnership, there are already signs of potential chemistry - News 24's new Matthew and Jane!

You're aware she's read the news before? I doubt she needs "tips" - Sky News, BBC London and Breakfast, plus Newsnight are more than enough to not require "tips".