Letter: Paxman versus the politicians

Sir: The BBC Board of Governors' displeasure over some interviewers' manners (report, 29 July) is completely off the point. The two journalists cited in your article - Jeremy Paxman and John Humphrys - are not rude per se. They are simply tough enough, where necessary, to cut through the patronising manner in which far too many politicians take it upon themselves to decide what the rest of us need to know.

The best way for interviewees to avoid being attacked is simply (as Mr Paxman so often advocates) to go on and answer the question.

Yours faithfully,

JONATHAN DOYLE

Colchester,

Essex

29 July