Radio 4: Now Radio 5

The 8.10 on Today this morning was nicely set up: Alistair Darling and Michael Fallon on the removal of Sir Fred's knighthood. Darling was against it, mostly on the principled grounds that it seemed arbitrary and without due process, but really because his government had approved it. Fallon was in favour of it, on the grounds of accountability, public opinion and common sense, but really because the other lot had approved it. So far, so dull.

But the whole thing was deliciously derailed by the caller on line 2, in the new exciting 6-0-6 style Today programme: Sir Jackie Stewart, memorably described by Max Mosley as a certified half-wit who goes round dressed up as a 1930s music hall man. To which, of course, one might reply that it's better to be thought a '30s entertainer than actually being a '30s fascist, but we can't blame a man for his parents. On the grounds that he's Scottish and has a knighthood --- the same might be said of Sean Connery or, were he not dead, Harry Lauder --- Sir Jackie was allowed to witter on about his views on the banking crisis, the actions of the FSA (or, as he aptly put it, the SFA) and the nature of honours in a modern society. At length. It had all the insight you might expect from a man who drives cars quickly, and was what one can only describe as a car crash.

Tomorrow on Today: Iain Duncan Smith on mid-corner oversteer and why Labour failed to fit softer roll bars.

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