When I was a politician, I used to feast on Sunday morning political television programs. There were more of them then. The best was Channel 9’s Sunday program, which included the political interview of the day by Laurie Oakes. Since I’ve left politics, my interest in these programs has waned. After all, Sunday is God’s day, not Laurie Oakes’ or Barry Cassidy‘s.

A bit over a week ago, I decided, nevertheless, to have a look at the Insiders program on the ABC. With Barry Cassidy‘s retirement and David Speers' transfer from Sky to this show, I thought the ABC might have taken the opportunity to improve what has become a very tired and dreary format.