Private Passions

[LMcD]

I didn’t see much odd about them - Pastoral, Emperor, Swan Lake, Elgar Cello. Apart from a couple of pop / soul things all very mainstream.
I don’t care whether he’s boring . What matters is whether he’s any good at being PM and being entertaining isn’t a criterion.

[Ein Heldenleben]

He is a decent chap in some ways but a frightful bore.

The musical choices were odd.

I didn’t see much odd about them - Pastoral, Emperor, Swan Lake, Elgar Cello. Apart from a couple of pop / soul things all very mainstream.
I don’t care whether he’s boring . What matters is whether he’s any good at being PM and being entertaining isn’t a criterion.

[LMcD]

He is a decent chap in some ways but a frightful bore.

Caution personified, but arguably a welcome contrast to a relatively recent occupant of No. 10?

[french frank]

The musical choices were odd.

They weren't the oddest that have ever been chosen. I think these suited his unpretentious background. Ordinariness seems boring to some, derisory to others, endearing to yet others. A 'boring' person who becomes Prime Minister is still a subject of interest, surely? A bit like Attlee.

[Prommer]

He is a decent chap in some ways but a frightful bore.

The musical choices were odd.

[french frank]

but if the format itself is already a problem then, understandably, extra time simply increases the antipathy.

It's a problem for me like FNIMN (et al ad nauseam) - yet another expansion of musical snippet time.

What surprised me was to hear how his whole life - and programme choices - seemed to revolve round memories of his family: mother, father, wife, children, brother. And almost a mirror image of the wastrel Johnson who was given everything on a plate. In 'boring v worthy', I give the prize to 'worthy'. Entertaining and worthy seem almost polar opposites: people are seldom both.

[oddoneout]

Verdict: I didn't find the music content particularly interesting (parts of single movements now? ) but I did find the PM's remarks interesting because I'm interested in politics. In the past I found the guests at best uninteresting, at worst excruciating - so the PM was a definite improvement. The two popular pieces I gave a few seconds' hearing and then slid forward to the next section. Starmer always seems contained to the point of mysterious so to hear him opening up about what has been important to him was surprising. He seems quite confident that he'll deliver on his manifesto promises. Is he quietly competent or quietly bungling? Jury's out.

Not sure PPs needs that extra 30 mins for more snippetty programming. Don't think I'll listen again as I find the format a problem: but others appreciate it.

I agree about the music choices, but unlike you I also found the talk content less than satisfying. Quite how I don't know, but I must have manged to absorb more Keir info than I was aware of as for the most part nothing seemed particularly unexpected to me, although I was intrigued by the animation that suddenly appeared when he talked about his experience of starting at Uni. Where did all that energy and enthusiasm go and would he be making a better fist of being PM if it hadn't been lost along the way as seems to be the case? I had the rather sad thought that pleasing his parents wasn't perhaps the best outcome for him as a person. But I accept that is all conjecture.
As regards the extra 30 minutes I think I am not alone in appreciating that particular change, but if the format itself is already a problem then, understandably, extra time simply increases the antipathy.

[gurnemanz]

A doom loop.
The decline of languages is even more alarming.

Depressing. I'm happy to have just about squeezed in a full career of language teaching before the decline became terminal. In my last year teaching A Level German at our local comp (1991-2) there were 20 students in the group - seems amazing in retrospect. In FE I had just viable daytime and evening A Level German groups which gradually dwindled and died .... with my job. Luckily I was at retirement age so cut and ran.

[french frank]

Verdict: I didn't find the music content particularly interesting (parts of single movements now? ) but I did find the PM's remarks interesting because I'm interested in politics. In the past I found the guests at best uninteresting, at worst excruciating - so the PM was a definite improvement. The two popular pieces I gave a few seconds' hearing and then slid forward to the next section. Starmer always seems contained to the point of mysterious so to hear him opening up about what has been important to him was surprising. He seems quite confident that he'll deliver on his manifesto promises. Is he quietly competent or quietly bungling? Jury's out.

Not sure PPs needs that extra 30 mins for more snippetty programming. Don't think I'll listen again as I find the format a problem: but others appreciate it.

[oddoneout]

Isn’t the slow movement of the Emperor a strange choice for his and Victoria’s wedding music? A bit slow tor the Bridal Entrance surely ?
Mine was the Mastersingers March obviously , with Wacht Auf for the signing and Crown Imperial for the exit,

Yes I agree. I wonder why it was chosen and how much standing around had to happen if they chose to play the whole movement. Wonder if things speeded up later on.

[Ein Heldenleben]

As I have never heard more than the odd sentence from him(what a lot I miss by not engaging with TV or radio news...) I found it a useful listen, but he was certainly not the most animated or engaging guest. How much of that is inevitable, given his position and lawyer caution, and how much just how he is I don't know. What I did notice was the, to me, rather obvious and clunky change of gear from Sir Keir Starmer the person to SKS the Prime Minister. It conjured up an image of someone shrugging on, reluctantly, an uncomfortable heavy jacket and adopting a different voice, to play a role demanded of him.
His account of his first encounter with his now wife puzzled me somewhat given the events of the past year and a bit. He demanded confirmation that the information she had provided was absolutely correct, which had me muttering loudly 'pity you've stopped doing that now'.

Isn’t the slow movement of the Emperor a strange choice for his and Victoria’s wedding music? A bit slow tor the Bridal Entrance surely ?
Mine was the Mastersingers March obviously , with Wacht Auf for the signing and Crown Imperial for the exit,

[french frank]

I found it a useful listen, but he was certainly not the most animated or engaging guest.

Some people may not be surprised to find that that piqued my interest in listening - haven't tuned in to R3 in years.

[Serial_Apologist]

As I have never heard more than the odd sentence from him(what a lot I miss by not engaging with TV or radio news...) I found it a useful listen, but he was certainly not the most animated or engaging guest. How much of that is inevitable, given his position and lawyer caution, and how much just how he is I don't know. What I did notice was the, to me, rather obvious and clunky change of gear from Sir Keir Starmer the person to SKS the Prime Minister. It conjured up an image of someone shrugging on, reluctantly, an uncomfortable heavy jacket and adopting a different voice, to play a role demanded of him.
His account of his first encounter with his now wife puzzled me somewhat given the events of the past year and a bit. He demanded confirmation that the information she had provided was absolutely correct, which had me muttering loudly 'pity you've stopped doing that now'.

I think Starmer would qualify for the descriptive term "nerd", or "negatron" - a term invented by a school friend of mine which I always thought deserved to catch on. Marcuse's "one-dimensional man" also fits, politically correctly in his case.

[oddoneout]

I listened to the first hour but found him rather boring, despite having interesting musical experiences to recount. Although I'm pleased to learn that he is - has been - a musician.

As I have never heard more than the odd sentence from him(what a lot I miss by not engaging with TV or radio news...) I found it a useful listen, but he was certainly not the most animated or engaging guest. How much of that is inevitable, given his position and lawyer caution, and how much just how he is I don't know. What I did notice was the, to me, rather obvious and clunky change of gear from Sir Keir Starmer the person to SKS the Prime Minister. It conjured up an image of someone shrugging on, reluctantly, an uncomfortable heavy jacket and adopting a different voice, to play a role demanded of him.
His account of his first encounter with his now wife puzzled me somewhat given the events of the past year and a bit. He demanded confirmation that the information she had provided was absolutely correct, which had me muttering loudly 'pity you've stopped doing that now'.

[LMcD]

A doom loop.
The decline of languages is even more alarming.

It's hard to believe now, but at the age of 13 I became one of a 4-strong set specializing in German, which we were taught for 8 periods a week. The downside was that by the time came to do my 'O' levels the maximum number of subjects I could take was 7, as I'd had to give up History, Geography, Art, Music, Physics and Chemistry.
I was fortunate enough to spend most of my working life making good use of my languages, to the extent that I did better than I'd dared hope when I became a freelance linguist.