The BBC;s love affair with Gordon Brown

Look at this BBC news story that:

"Brown makes light of bank worries - He might be facing the worst economic crisis for almost 80 years, but the prime minister has shown he can still manage a joke.

When Gordon Brown, hit by financial problems, heard a mobile phone ring during a speech, he quipped: "I don't know if another bank has fallen."

For good measure, he added: "You'll be pleased I'll not be giving financial information this evening."

The government has announced up to £400bn extra for the banking sector."

So the economy is collapsing, the government is using taxpayers money to part-nationalise much of the banking sector, many thousands of taxpayers are facing unemployment and penury, but the man most responsible for this country thinks it funny to crack a joke about the state of affairs. More to the point the State broadcaster thinks that this shows he is "more relaxed". Meanwhile the BBC's Labour lickspittle, Nick Robinson, says:

"As you ponder the half-a-trillion pound and counting - that's a five and 11 noughts, by the way - cost of the mother of all bank rescue plans, you may not be feeling that cheerful. Worry not.

The prime minister's maintaining the spirit of the trenches. On the evening after the long, long night before he delivered a speech to celebrate the publication of the Power List - a list of the most influential black men and women in the UK.

When someone's mobile phone interrupts his speech he joked "I don't know if another bank has fallen...", to guffaws of laughter before adding "you'll be pleased I'll not be giving financial information this evening".

Everyone at Westminster has noticed that he's grown in confidence and stature during this crisis. Could he even be enjoying it?"

Do you remember the BBC being quite so sanguine about Norman Lamont's "Je ne regrette rien" answer? I blogged about this last week and Nick Robinson's analysis that these were:

"words subsequently used by the then Labour opposition to suggest that a callous Tory party did not regret the economic mess the country was in and the personal cost of it in terms of repossessions, soaring interest rates and unemployment."

As always, at the BBC it's one rule for lovely Labour and one for the hated Conservatives.