{"id":45712,"date":"2019-08-02T06:36:36","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T05:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=45712"},"modified":"2019-08-02T06:36:36","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T05:36:36","slug":"newsnight-a-footnote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2019\/08\/02\/newsnight-a-footnote\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsnight – a footnote"},"content":{"rendered":"

I feel I have to post this, and do so as explanation with a little reluctance.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday night, after being told no one was available to debate with me on Newsnight I posted this fact on Twitter because having previously tweeted that I would be on air I felt I had to explain why that would not be happening. The tweet got a lot of reaction - it has been retweeted thousands of times.<\/p>\n

This was Emily Maitlis' reaction:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This was my response to that:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rapidly followed by this<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

These last two points are very important. When I wrote about the cancellation<\/a> on\u00a0 Wednesday evening I said:<\/p>\n

[T]hey said Laffer had pulled out. No reason had been given.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

'They' does refer to the BBC. And I told the truth. By the time I wrote I had had two conversations on the issue with a producer and an email from her. No emergency was mentioned. And I admit I was rather led to believe something different. Maybe that was not true. But that is what I think I was led to believe.<\/p>\n

What is true is that I had no idea that there was a family emergency. I happen to have met Arthur Laffer. I do not agree with him on much, but it has not stopped me sharing his company, and I readily admit that if I had known that there was such an emergency I would not have commented as I did. I would have wished him well. I do so now. But I did not know that.<\/p>\n

In that case I greatly resent Emily Maitlis' tweet. She has accused me of distorting things when I did not. I had not been told information that she was in possession of. Her accusation was, then, wrong. There is no other way of putting it.<\/p>\n

It's annoying enough to be cancelled by the BBC when already waiting to go on. To then be abused after not being told why is not, I think acceptable. I have made that clear to the BBC.<\/p>\n

On a more lighthearted level, my blog<\/a> on what I might have said was read well over 10,000 times yesterday. And I passed 50,000 twitter followers as a result. There are always upsides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I feel I have to post this, and do so as explanation with a little reluctance. On Wednesday night, after being told no one was
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