The Review Show, BBC Two

I remember a while back when the New York Slimes announced, with great fanfare, that it had replaced Bill Kristol. Its only CONSERVATIVE opinion columnist; all round clever-dick; DC contacts up the Wazoo; and respected editor of the Weekly Standard. And the giant chosen to replace Bill was... "Ross Douhat." There was a a collective WTF on all the conservative blogs and talk radio as to: ROSS WHODAT???? NO one had ever heard of him. To steal a famous line: he rose without trace. Two years later and no one has still ever heard of him. Hence he would be the obvious choice by the BBC to represent American conservatism which is on the ascendency bigtime, FYI. None of those Palin loving, Tea Party/Town Hall attending, anti-Obama, anti-Big Government, anti-statist, socialist opposing conservatives for the BBC. Nah... it's Ross Whodat!

Utter, utter waste of licence payers money. Felt like we were intruding at a private party Kirsty Wark was giving to celebrate no longer having to commute to London. And we should pay for this, why?

I am an Oxord graduate, though certainly not a distinguished one. I feel that I am reasonably intelligent and reasonably cultured.I always found Newsnight Review depressing, as I could only rarely understand what was being said. I used to feel sorry for Martha K and other presenters having to pretend to be entertained and amused by the often baffling and witless contributions of the participants. The Review Show is no improvement. It is a pity that someone as good-looking as Sarah Churchwell is a rapid-fire,over-excitable, gesticulating purveyor of ambiguities! What on earth does Bonnie Greer mean by "viral" ? Is she using "virus" as a metaphor of some sort ?

Dear Kirsty, You must have been gobsmacked when the silvery American said, "How can you have a film about Iraq without Alcaida?!" Because as you and I and the then PM of Canada Jean Chretien know, in 2001 there WERE NO ALCAIDA in Iraq. Saddam Hussein made sure of it. We in Canada knew that Bush would have to hit someone after 9/11 - that Cheney et al were lusting after Iraqui oil and that chaos and Alcaida would follow an attack on Iraq, so we stayed out of it. Blair thought he could save the world, sigh. I hope you set the American straight afterward. And thanked him for proving that the arts matter - "The Green Zone" matters - and there is more news on the Review show than on the news shows. Excelsior!

It was refreshing to have a new chairman tonight and the discussion of the Man Booker shortlist was lively and interesting. Kirsty Wark tends to dominate all discussions as does Martha Kierney. This was much more enjoyable and such a change.