You have to love Jeremy Paxman. One of the most respected broadcasters in UK news television (and does a dab hand at looking down his nose at less than intelligent students on University Challange) and yet doesn’t seem to give a flying fig about convention and is never afraid to say that the Emperor has no clothes.

He gave the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival on Friday and laid into all and sundry. Knows his stuff and it’s well worth a read if you’re interested in the dumbing down of tv.

The full speech is HERE (yes, I know it is 45 pages, but they’re double spaced and you do claim to care about the dumbing down of the media!)

The Guardian even have a clip of it up on Youtube!

His reaction to Newsnight including weather forecasts is just legendary

And, just for old times sake, the Michael Howard question 🙂