Daily Mail - 12.08.2019

Daily Mail, Monday, August 12, 2019 Page 
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By Claire Duffin

DEBATE raged when she took over the

Desert Island Discs presenting slot from

the much-loved Kirsty Young.

The criticism of Lauren Laverne reached

fever-pitch over the weekend when an

article in The Spectator accused the show

of ‘losing the plot’ – and described the 41-

year-old former pop star as one of ‘the

worst appointments Radio 4 has made’.

Following Melanie McDonagh’s piece,

celebrities including comedian Matt Lucas

rushed to Miss Laverne’s defence. Here, the

Mail’s Jan Moir gives her view...

JAN

MOIR

on an under-fire

Radio 4 institution

A TEENAGE boy has died two

days after his 14-year-old sister

after they got into difficulty in

the sea during a family day out

at the beach.

Haider Shamas, 18, died in hos-

pital on Saturday – 48 hours

after the tragedy which had

already claimed the life of his

younger sister Malika at Clac-

ton-on-Sea on Thursday.

Haider, the eldest of six sib-

lings, was taken to Colchester

General Hospital in a critical

condition with another sister,

aged 15. She was also in the sea

and is expected to recover.

It is believed the siblings had

travelled from Luton to the

Essex coast with their mother.

Lifeguards and paramedics

scrambled to help the teenag-

ers after they were spotted

struggling near Clacton pier at

about 1.40pm.

Becky Bryant, 40, a carer from

Wivenhoe, Essex, said: ‘It was so

distressing, everyone was try-

ing to do what they could – life-

guards, air ambulance, they

truly worked as a team.’

A neighbour said the siblings’

mother was ‘out of her mind’

with grief, adding: ‘She cannot

cope with losing two of her

children. She is not making any

sense at the moment. It’s too

heartbreaking.’ The double

tragedy comes just over a year

after 15-year-old Ben Quarter-

maine drowned near the pier.

By Inderdeep Bains

As stars rally round her after critic’s mauling...

Illness: Kirsty Young has left the show

Laverne’s greatest crime

on Desert Island

Discs? Being nice!

THERESA May beat

Winston Churchill

but trails Margaret

Thatcher – in sales

of Toby Jugs in

Parliament.

Mrs May, whose

jug is pictured,

did not dislodge

the Iron Lady in

the number of

ceramic souvenirs

bought by MPs,

peers and visitors in the last

three years.

A total of 77 Theresa May jugs

sold between 2016 and 2019 com-

pared to 91 for Mrs Thatcher,

who left the role of PM in 1990

after three terms.

Churchill was third with 73 in

the three-year period. The jugs

cost £29.95. Tory MP Peter Bone

said Mrs May’s sales had a

bounce as she was in power

during the sales period.

olate company with her

husband back in 1991.

Still the recent lacklustre

run of castaways is hardly

Miss Laverne’s fault and

soon we hit the sweet spot

• choccies!
  Lauren informed listeners
  that the idea of a luxury
  confectionery brand also being
  altruistic was a novel one
  back then, even though it
  wasn’t long before the couple
  sold up.
  Why? For how much? And
  did selling out mean that Jo
  had sold out, too? These were
  some of the searing questions
  Lauren typically did not ask.
  ‘You sold the company to
  Cadbury’s in 2005,’ was what
  she was wondering. ‘Now, back
  then Green & Black’s was
  credited as having made fair
  trade fashionable, but a couple
  of years ago they did launch a
  bar that wasn’t certified
  organic or fair trade.
  ‘Do you think that corpora-
  tions and consumers might be
  moving away from that kind of
  social responsibility?’
  Zzzzzzz.
  If Miss Laverne has a knack
  on Desert Island Discs, and
  many argue that she does not,
  it is for asking the dead-end
  question to which no one
  wants to know the answer.
  She has a fondness for the

airing of an achingly worthy

issue (see above) rather than

for unlocking some interesting

psychological insight into her

castaway’s character. At other

moments she just seems too

matey and too nice for a pro-

gramme and a format that

demands rigour and discipline

from its interlocutor in chief.

‘Did they give you any careers

advice?’ she asked Fairley.

‘School was quite tough for

you then,’ she noted. That was

about as deep as it got.

This meant Jo Fairley was

allowed to roam unchecked

across the airwaves for the

duration of this dreary Desert

Island Discs, embroidering her

own legend and reminding eve-

ryone who had never heard of

her just how marvellous she was

• it was just one big, double-
  dipped, chocolate-coated brag.
  I can’t imagine for one sec-
  ond that Kirsty Young would

have been so indulgent, nor

skimmed so placidly over

potentially rewarding subjects

such as Fairley’s relationship

with her largely absent father

nor her 20-year friendship with

the late Paula Yates.

The businesswoman did

reveal that yoga had helped

her get through the trauma of

discovering Paula’s body, but

there was so much more to be

said – and asked. If there had

been, Miss Fairley might have

come out of this encounter

rather better.

Perhaps the truth is that

Lauren Laverne is an accom-

plished broadcaster and cul-

tural presenter, but Desert

Island Discs plays to her weak-

nesses, not her strengths.

In her contentious Spectator

blog, Melanie McDonagh made

many valid points and she is

absolutely correct in asserting

that Laverne does not press her

advantage as an interviewer.

One feels she just wants to

read out her pre-baked ques-

tions and get to the end of the

show without incident.

A celebrity herself, she does

not want to make anyone feel

uncomfortable or to upset her

guests. Whereas any good

interviewer knows that your

job is to press upon the bruise,

not schmooze.

J

O Fairley was Lauren Laverne’s

guest on Desert Island discs this

week. Jo who? Many listeners

must have scratched their heads

at the inclusion of this journalist

and author turned entrepreneur, who

launched Green & Black’s organic choc-

1 in 4 parents bribe kids

to switch off their screens

TEARING children away from their phones

and iPads often requires patience... and a

little creativity.

So it perhaps comes as no surprise that

nearly a quarter of parents admit using

pocket money to ‘bribe’ children away

from their screens.

Some 23 per cent of parents of children

aged eight to 15 resort to giving them cash

to switch off, a survey by Halifax found.

It comes after the UN warned this year of

the dangers of too much ‘screen time’,

with experts suggesting children under

two should not be allowed any at all. They

claimed a minute a day in front of the TV

or a smartphone could expose young chil-

dren to a greater risk of obesity or affect

their early educational development.

Halifax also found one in five parents

have used pocket money to coax their

child to go to bed, while one in six used it

to get them to do their homework. Mean-

while nearly two-thirds of parents also

pay their children to do chores such as

tidying their bedroom, cleaning or wash-

ing up – even though more than half think

these should be done regardless.

Three in ten parents would be willing to

withhold payment if the tasks were not up

to scratch. Children now receive £7.71 a

week in pocket money – up from £7.01 in

2018, according to the survey of more than

500 parents. But almost half of parents let

their children spend the cash on phone

apps, or music or TV streaming services.

Around 40 per cent of children buy sweets

with their pocket money, 31 per cent use it

for gaming and 30 per cent buy toys.

Giles Martin, head of savings at Halifax,

said: ‘With 70 per cent of children still using

a piggy bank to save pennies, the summer

can be great for kids to see how much they

can earn, and it’s interesting to see so

many parents try to incentivise good

behaviour with pocket money, too.’

Theresa tops

Churchill in

Toby jug table

Schmooze

operator:

Lauren

Laverne

Pier tragedy:

Brother, 18,

dies two days

after sister, 14