I've long been an admirer of Julia Hartley-Brewer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Hartley-Brewer, the broadcaster and columnist. Occasionally I'm asked what my favourite media interview has been to date. It's probably this interview with Julia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khShsJaRVrY in March 2013 - only a month after J4MB was launched - when Julia was working for LBC Radio (she announced live on air three weeks ago that she was leaving the station). I was talking on my mobile, and I find the lack of face-to-face contact in such radio interviews frustrating, but her friendly tone was welcome. It became apparent she'd gone to the trouble of reading our consultation document - the precursor to our 2015 general election manifesto https://j4mb.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/141228-v6-general-election-manifesto.pdf - and after outlining some of the content, she uttered a line which made me laugh out loud: "I'm very surprised to say this, Mike, but I have an awful feeling you may have a point, scary as it is!" Julia had probably spent more time preparing for our short discussion than anyone who's interviewed me before or since, sometimes for much longer pieces, whether for TV or radio. She's a consummate professional. I was interested to watch her contribution to last Thursday's Question Time, in which a lady in the audience asked the following question: "After serving his sentence for rape, should footballer Ched Evans be given a chance to continue with his career?" To my mind, Julia's response was the only one from any of the five panelists which demonstrated intellect, fair-mindedness, and compassion. The responses from the first two of the other panelists (below) were predictably woeful, while the final two, both highly intelligent men, let themselves down: - Liz Kendall, Labour MP since 2010, Shadow Minister for Care and Older People, former Special Adviser to Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt; - Vince Cable, Lib Dem MP and Anti-Business Secretary, a prime mover behind the government's bullying of FTSE100 companies (FTSE350 companies are next in line) into appointing more women onto their boards despite the compelling evidence base https://c4mb.wordpress.com/improving-gender-diversity-on-boards-leads-to-a-decline-in-corporate-performance-the-evidence/ which Campaign for Merit in Business http://c4mb.wordpress.com presented to House of Commons and House of Lords inquiries, showing that one predictable consequence will be corporate financial decline. - David Davis, the Conservative MP who I've been saying since 2005 should have been elected party leader, rather than David Cameron. To be honest, I'd have opted for a houseplant rather than Dave; - Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia.

• published: 11 Jan 2015
• views: 103