Elections 2019

You don’t live in a That’s TV area then ?

If I may return to the topic slightly...



I have to say I'm not a fan of this type of setup. I've seen it before on Daily Politics and it just makes me feel a bit queasy. I think it's a mixture of not being able to see the cameras (so how are they being filmed?) but also there being no escape for the people. How do they get them on set exactly? By helicopter?

I get the idea, that it's better than looking at a plasma lost in a sea of tech, and that it's also better than breaking one's neck like on Breakfast. But I rather like being able to see the edge of the set, it makes everything a bit more real.

-1 however for the endless bUt WHy dOn'T ThEy uSe tHE neWSroOm comments. The newsroom is a newsroom, designed to look good through the window of the TV studio. It's not a TV studio with a newsroom built into it. There was a thing with Brexit interviews done from behind the glass of studio E a few weeks back and it was messy. It wasn't dynamic or exciting or anything, it just looked messy. It's been 6 years now. Stop trying to make it happen.

The desk descends into the floor as it did in Time Trumpet.

Lest we forget it was only 12 year's ago that we had the much-criticised horror of "Ming's Bling" on local election night. I think the more toned down approach we get now is rather preferable.

^ Still not as bad as Jeremy Vine putting on a cowboy outfit and speaking in a Texan accent the following year!

EDIT: Not as bad as either of them but reading the original thread I'd forgotten about 'Stalin to Mr Bean':

Suprised no-one has mentioned the BBC Election box logo, on the white clock face.

Love touches like that. I guess, every programme could have it's logo embedded on the clockface for no apparent reason, other than it looks nice - and for gallery geeks like me to spot!

Stuff like the VR examples above. I sometimes feel like they’re done as an excuse for designers to have a play about rather than for the benefit of the viewer. I mean, it’s fun to come up with silly stuff isn’t it? You presumably don’t get much opportunity on day-to-day news.

I think if you’re bothered enough to be watching the election coverage, you probably don’t need stuff explaining to you by Jeremy Vine in a Texan accent and all that associated VR nonsense.

Would have thought most people in Scotland and Wales would have been more interested in news from the rest of the UK than the rest of the world.

Who was Ming?

Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat MP and leader of the party between 2006-07.


Menzies is pronounced Ming.

It isn't - it's pronounced Mingis. Ming is a nickname.

It's one of those infuriating "inbred posh people" things. (Let's ignore what sounds certain letters of the English language are actually supposed to make, and pronounce this name in a way that is at odds with the letters that are actually sodding well there)

It's like when "St. John" is pronounced "Sin-Jun" (as if having a middle name that is prefixed with "St." isn't bizarre enough anyway, regardless of pronunciation!) "Sin-Jun's Ambulance", anyone?

I might start insisting that "David" is pronounced "Sebastian", or something...

Or calling the villain from Flash Gordon "Menzies* the Merciless"!!! (*pronounced how it actually looks!)