OK, so it was a very unusual election. But will somebody please tell us who paid for the big jolly on the Thames?   How much did the hire of the ship cost?  And those spectacular lighting effects on The Eye and County Hall?     And why was the un-d-electable Jana Bennett seen sipping cocktails with all those unnecessary and glib celebs alongside the – presumably – grossly overpaid Andrew Neil? Maybe she was buying the drinks? On her ex’s?
And was it really necessary to have helicopters following the three-car motorcade at Witney and in Edinburgh, not to mention cameras all over the party leaders’ front gardens? And did somebody spare a thought for all the residents being kept awake by the huge disturbance?
In other words, the BBC election programme did little to reflect the economic reality which the rest of the country faces.   If Mr Thompson wants to bring discredit on the organisation he  is going the right way about it.   Dumbing down the election broadcast with extravagance when everyone else is turning down the lights is not the way to win friends in parliament or elsewhere.  He doesn’t get my vote, at any rate.