{"id":110125,"date":"2021-01-25T21:42:27","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T21:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=110125"},"modified":"2021-01-25T21:42:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T21:42:27","slug":"im-piers-morgan-and-this-is-good-fawning-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/im-piers-morgan-and-this-is-good-fawning-britain\/","title":{"rendered":"I'm Piers Morgan and this is Good Fawning Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASSUMING it was Ben Shephard\u2019s turn in the chair, I turned on ITV\u2019s Good Morning Britain at 6:30 on Thursday. Big mistake.<\/p>\n

It was Piers Morgan, pouring ten tons of syrup all over his new mate-in-waiting Joe Biden, whose Presidential inauguration address reminded him of \u201cNelson Mandela after he became the first black \u00adpresident of South Africa, in 1994.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At various other moments in the show \u2014 when he wasn\u2019t emailing his interview request to the White House, I assume \u2014 the speech was also \u201cvery powerful\u201d, \u201ceffective\u201d and simply \u201cgreat\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd at one point,\u201d a slightly \u00adoverwrought Piers also admitted, \u201cI actually choked up.\u201d<\/p>\n

As did I, after five minutes of this slather. Although, it would bring tears to your eyes too if you were performing the same political \u00adcontortions as Piers, who\u2019s been on quite the shape-shifting political journey these past ten months.<\/p>\n

Before March he was television\u2019s anti-woke warrior, standing apart from every other mainstream presenter and co-host Susanna Reid by slaying transgender rights extremists and everything else that was PC and risible.<\/p>\n

Then the pandemic arrived and a gob-smacking transformation occurred. Piers became Susanna\u2019s echo on everything except vegan sausage rolls.<\/p>\n

He was The Woke Avenger as well as Captain Lockdown, angrily and rightly denouncing all celebrity transgressions of Covid-related rules and regulations.<\/p>\n

It may be my imagination, but Piers seems to have toned down the outrage slightly, on that issue, at around about the same time as the Guido Fawkes website \u00addiscovered he\u2019d spent his Christmas \u00adholidays in Antigua.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only a minor inconvenience for Piers, though, as he\u2019s been taking out all of his frustrations on \u00administers ever since the Government lifted its idiotic ban on them appearing on the show, in \u00adNovember. \u201cHolding the powerful to account,\u201d Piers likes to call it.<\/p>\n

Tt looks uncomfortably like he\u2019s venting a personal, bullying grudge whenever he performs one of these \u201cGotcha\u201d-style interviews, which generally tell us absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n

A claim that would actually have merit if he regularly extended exactly the same \u201ccourtesy\u201d to the Welsh and Scottish administrations, NHS bureaucracy and Public Health England and aimed even greater amounts of \u00adrighteous anger, \u00adduring his opening rant, at the Chinese government, who have more questions to answer than anyone over the dreadful scourge of Covid.<\/p>\n

But he doesn\u2019t. So it looks uncomfortably like he\u2019s venting a personal, bullying grudge whenever he performs one of these \u201cGotcha\u201d-style interviews, which generally tell us absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n

On Thursday it was the turn of the hopeless Education Secretary Gavin \u00adWilliamson. An entirely fair and \u00addeserving target for Piers, who told him: \u201cOwn your mistakes.\u201d <\/p>\n

The crushing irony here, though, was that, minutes earlier, Piers had been \u00adfailing to own his own mistake when he told an incredulous former FT editor, Lionel Barber: \u201cOn Brexit and Trump, I was a 50\/50 guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah! The sort of 50\/50 guy who, almost on bended knee, presented his great mate Donald with an Arsenal shirt bearing the legend: \u201cTRUMP\u201d.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d seriously worry for Piers if he actually believed this \u00addelusion, as only two real possibilities exist here. He\u2019s either the worst judge of character in human history and was genuinely surprised by the Capitol Building incident.<\/p>\n

Or he thinks his viewers are stupid and haven\u2019t noticed the brazen reinvention game being played by someone who still clearly longs to rub shoulders with the rich and powerful.<\/p>\n

If, by some miracle, there are one or two who haven\u2019t been paying full attention, however, here\u2019s a timeline of quotes explaining where I think his unbreakable bond actually went wrong.<\/p>\n

Piers, Loose Women, January 2017: \u201cEveryone keeps screaming at me not to like Donald Trump and it\u2019s not going to work. He\u2019s a friend of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piers, November 2, 2020: \u201cI still \u00adconsider Donald Trump a friend. I\u2019ve known him a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

November 3. Donald Trump loses the US Presidential election and, lo, a \u00adrevelation is at hand.<\/p>\n

January 7, 2021, Piers: \u201cIn the past year Donald Trump has morphed into this monster I no longer recognise as someone I considered to be a friend and I thought I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

But hey, with friends like Piers, Joe Biden had better watch himself. Own it, Chunk.<\/p>\n

It's a sin and it's deadly<\/h2>\n

NEVER trust a drama with a lot of soundtrack. It\u2019s nearly always compensating for the lack of something else.<\/p>\n

In the case of Channel 4\u2019s Aids drama It\u2019s A Sin, all those pounding 1980s hits are trying to mask the fact it\u2019s not as good as writer Russell T Davies or his many media acolytes imagine.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How could it be? Davies is so convinced of the purity of his mission he wouldn\u2019t cast straight actors in any of the main roles because he claimed they\u2019d lack \u201cauthenticity\u201d.<\/p>\n

The results of that narrow-minded decision are as mixed as they deserve to be, although it\u2019s not entirely the actors\u2019 fault.<\/p>\n

The real problem with It\u2019s A Sin is that, like all the noisiest and most indignant fools these days, the writer isn\u2019t dramatising the past, he\u2019s judging it.<\/p>\n

With the result being, the series doesn\u2019t look or even sound anything like the early 1980s.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just another very preachy, contemporary drama where wise-after-the-event disapproval has drowned out almost everything else, including the characters.<\/p>\n

In fact, the only fully formed person here is the tailor, Henry Coltrane, played brilliantly by Neil Patrick Harris, who dies of Aids in the first episode.<\/p>\n

It means we\u2019re left with just a pair of OTT clones called Ritchie and Roscoe, who could\u2019ve been cut-and-pasted from any Noughties reality show and shy\/insipid Welshman Colin Morris-Jones, who is rather obviously Davies\u2019s very loving tribute to himself.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t have won him all the broadsheet adulation and award nominations that will inevitably follow, but maybe, just maybe, Davies should\u2019ve got off his high horse and considered some straight actors for the parts.<\/p>\n

This Morning\u2019s news review question-of-the-week<\/h3>\n

Alison Hammond: \u201cThe Dorset knob-throwing festival has been called off. Gyles \u00adBrandreth, what do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

I think he\u2019s an a*** but he\u2019ll be grateful for the year off.<\/p>\n

A funny bunny query <\/h2>\n

TV GOLD:<\/strong> Antiques expert Raj Bisram nearly garotting his mate Sean as they tried to recreate their magical shirt-removing trick on Friday\u2019s brilliant Would I Lie To You.<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019 new series of Cobra Kai referencing Tango & Cash. The weirdly touching sight of The Masked Singer\u2019s Viking singing Take On Me. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BBC1\u2019s Biden Inauguration host Katty Kay delaying a discussion about feminism and the glass ceiling, with former Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, to announce: \u201cMelania Trump has changed outfit!\u201d (go girl).<\/p>\n

BBC2\u2019s mesmerising Winterwatch introducing us to \u201cThe Transatlantic beaver stick\u201d, which may be the greatest Harry Potter film they never made.<\/p>\n

And This Morning honouring us with vet slot caption: \u201cYvette \u2013 is my rabbit a lesbian?\u201d Answer? No, she just doesn\u2019t want to Roger rabbit.<\/p>\n

Great Sporting Insights<\/h3>\n

(Compiled by Graham Wray)<\/p>\n

Clinton Morrison:<\/strong> \u201cMaximin is the one bright spark Newcastle have got. And they\u2019ve got a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robbie Savage: <\/strong>\u201cGilmour and Abraham single-handedly got Chelsea over the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee Hendrie:<\/strong> \u201cLiverpool have had a blimp in form.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Clinton Morrison:<\/strong> \u201cIf Cheltenham beat City, the only bigger upset would be Marine v Spurs and that didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

TV Quiz<\/h2>\n

On BBC2\u2019s excellent Winterwatch what did host Gillian Burke claim was: \u201cThe only creature using anal jet-propulsion to get around?\u201d<\/p>\n

A) <\/strong>Golden-ringed dragonfly larvae, in Cornwall?
B)<\/strong> Simon Cowell at the Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados?<\/p>\n

Absolute masterpiece<\/h3>\n

INCIDENTALLY, if one or two of you have three hours and ten minutes to spare, as I suspect you do, please watch BBC2\u2019s two-part documentary Lance, about the infamous Tour de France winner. <\/p>\n

Not a second of that time will be wasted. It\u2019s an absolute masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Random TV Irritations<\/h2>\n

BBC2\u2019s Newsnight flying Emily Maitlis to Washington DC, during a global pandemic, to conduct interviews via Zoom.<\/p>\n

ITV\u2019s Finding Alice setting all the early pace in the Worst Drama Of 2021 awards category.<\/p>\n

Katie Price, politician Tom Watson and Russell Kane featuring in the same episode of Steph\u2019s Packed Lunch.<\/p>\n

A Pooch Perfect contestant called Helen who thought viewers would be charmed to learn: \u201cI commute to work on a skateboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

And This Morning indulging some crystal-rubbing nutcake called Emma Lucy Knowles. \u2019Cos lumps of rock can no more \u201calign our energy to our natural state of being\u201d than they can fill in your tax returns and give you an a*** wedgie.<\/p>\n

Incoming…<\/h3>\n

MUST admit, I really wondered what the hell ITV was doing sending Mark \u201cThe Beast\u201d Labbett and his mates on The Chasers Road Trip: Trains, Brains And Automobiles.<\/p>\n

Then they pulled into Indianapolis Zoo: \u201cHome to a group of critically endangered orangutans, some of which have been rescued from the entertainment industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guys. Incoming\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.<\/p>\n

Lookalike of the Week<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

THIS week\u2019s winner is \u00adDancing On Ice\u2019s failed comedian\/failed politician Rufus Hound and Monterey Jack from Chip \u2019N\u2019 Dale: Rescue Rangers.<\/p>\n

Unexpected Morons in the Bagging Area<\/h2>\n

(With thanks to Stan Thackstone and Phil Thomas)<\/p>\n

Tipping Point, Ben Shephard: <\/strong>\u201cA Mars-quake is a violent shaking that takes place on the surface of which planet?\u201d
Paul:<\/strong> \u201cMoon.\u201d
Ben Shephard: <\/strong>\u201cThe three states that begin and end in the letter A are Alabama, Alaska and which other?\u201d
Joe<\/strong>: <\/strong>\u201cFlorida.\u201d
Ben Shephard: <\/strong>\u201cThe goldfinch belongs to which class of winged animal?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe<\/strong>: \u201cFish.\u201d
And Ben Shephard:<\/strong> \u201cWhen teasing or joking with somebody, which limb is said to be pulled?\u201d
Jackie:<\/strong> \u201cElbow.\u201d<\/p>\n

She can sleep anywhere<\/h3>\n

THE beginnings of a shock announcement from Katie Price on Steph\u2019s Packed Lunch, as she explains: \u201cMy friend said, \u2018Katie, you\u2019ve got a massive talent\u2019. I said, \u2018What\u2019s that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah, we\u2019re all ears\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018You can sleep anywhere\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true. She can sleep at Carl\u2019s, at Charlie\u2019s, at Kris\u2019s, at Kieran\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, even at her own house.<\/p>\n

GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL\u00a0exclusive@the-sun.co.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n