In praise of....Lazza

Just spent my first week producing Laurence Reed's lunchtime talk show, which as everyone on Planet Earth knows runs 12 noon - 3pm every weekday on BBC Radio Cornwall.

The media world is full of luvvies who spend their lives blowing air kisses at each other and I am a very old-fashioned hack who has no intention of joining them. Nevertheless, indulge me for a moment while I say something nice about Laurence.

I've known Laurence for about 20 years but it's only since I washed ashore the gently sloping beaches of BBC Radio Cornwall in January that I have come to appreciate what a seriously heavyweight professional he is.

For a start, he has turned his nickname "Lazza" into an instantly recognisable brand. But more than that, he combines the manual dexterity of the disc jockey (his former profession, with the technical skills essential to keeping a studio on the air) with the instincts of an entertaining dinner party host whose primary aim is to keep his guests amused.

Earlier this year I got to produce a programme about Cornwall Council's spending cuts, recorded "as live" from County Hall. Laurence was an extremely competent presenter - he learned his brief (local government finance isn't always easy) and pursued his quarry with a determination that Paxman would have been proud of.

In April we embarked on an ambitious plan to repeat the trick with six more "as live" outside broadcasts from each of Cornwall's parliamentary constituencies, as part of our general election coverage. The aspiring politicians quickly learned that if they under-estimate Lazza, they do so at their peril.

On Thursday we tackled the complex business of councillors' expenses. It's a live programme and we often have no idea what's going to happen next. With less than 60 seconds' notice, Laurence had to interview Cornwall council leader Alec Robertson. This was followed immediately by an interview with council Opposition leader councillor Doris Ansari.

The interview with Doris is still on the BBC iPlayer and I do recommend you listen to it, particularly if you are not sure about Liberal Democrat policy and what it means to be a member of the LibDem group on Cornwall Council.

Then yesterday the breaking news of the day was the government plan to abolish the need for planning permission in rural areas and allow "affordable housing" projects, subject to a local referendum. From a standing start at 8am, we got the government minister, the Cornwall Council cabinet member responsible for planning, the Council for the Protection of Rural England (Cornwall), the Country Landowners' Association, a Cornish Member of Parliament and dozens of listeners on air to talk about it.

By any standards, this was high quality local current affairs and I'm grateful to have had the chance to work with the Great Man.

Enough.

(Laurence, just mail the cheque to the usual address.)