Amid election chaos, a cleric from Brecon brought clarity
Iwoke up early on Wednesday morning, crept downstairs in the dark so as not to wake the rest of the house, and put the radio on quietly, to find out whether the US presidential race had been decided yet. It hadn’t. But tuning in to the radio felt like tuning into the rest of the world. In the late-night-early-morning half-asleep dizziness of rolling election coverage, when politics is mostly bluster and shouty bravado and everything is much too intense to be clear, radio is by far the most sane way to follow the news.
Especially on election nights like this one, when there’s a pandemic on, and so nobody can host a fun allnighter election party with little flags or themed cocktails, and so we were all doomed to discover the future of politics alone in the dark. While social media beamed harsh blue light and fury into the eyeballs, and rolling TV news was frantic and unclear, the radio was calm and consistent.
On the BBC, America Decides (Radio 4) ran through the night until Today (Radio 4), which picked up the headlines with Justin Webb and Nick Robinson. The BBC has also been following the election with the fizzy podcast Americast, with Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Anthony Zurcher.
A lot of the BBC’S coverage of America is measured and informative, but some of it can be a bit like David Attenborough narrating a wildlife documentary: see these strange creatures in their natural habitat, unfamiliar and unknowable, yet somehow like ourselves. Sometimes the BBC finds it difficult to gauge how much listeners might already know about US politics, too. I could have done without the times I was urgently reminded that blue equals Democrat and red equals Republican; I mean, if you don’t already know that, you probably wouldn’t have bothered getting up at 5am to follow the latest county projections in rural Wisconsin.
Most bizarre of all on Radio 4 was that, sandwiched between the end of America Decides and the beginning of Today at 6am, there was Prayer for the Day. The programme happens every day on Radio 4, but at first it seemed utterly incongruous here, on this day of all days, among all the hectic bluster of the news.
It only took a minute or two to become the firm radio highlight of the morning, however. It was led by the Rev Dr Mark Clavier, who is residentiary canon of Brecon Cathedral in Wales. He is originally from South Carolina, with dual British and American citizenship, and in a bright, assured and informed tone he reflected on his homeland and its stark divisions, and how Republicans and Democrats vilify each other. He considered that healthy democracies endure through the consent of the losers, and ended with a prayer about working together without hatred or bitterness.
And then it was back to the live reports of unedifying political mud-slinging. But Dr Clavier’s words provided a far more insightful and considered philosophical moment than a month’s worth of Thought for the Day, and gave a welcome glimmer of clarity and humanity in the midst of the dreamlike political haze.
Speaking of dreamlike weirdness, but on a much more cheerful note, The Essay (Monday to Friday, Radio 3) this week is all about composers and their dogs. In a series of programmes by Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, each edition is themed around a breed of dog and the composers who love it.
Tuesday night was all about old English sheepdogs. In the 1960s, Paul Mccartney had one called Martha, who inspired the writing of Martha My Dear on the White Album (“Martha, my dear, you have always been my inspiration,” as the lyrics literally inform us). Dame Ethel Smyth, the first woman to have an Opera put on at the Met, had five old English sheepdogs and named them all Pan. Monday focused on Wagner’s beloved enormous Newfoundland named Robber, and Wednesday was all about poodles, a probable source of inspiration to Haydn, Chopin and Beethoven.
Fiona Stafford’s programmes are elliptical, heading down unexpected paths towards jewels of stories and unlikely, delightful trivia. She is matter-of-fact and measured when making her startling revelations about serious, eminent composers’ soppy devotions to their prized pooches, which makes them seem all the more adorable. I’m looking forward to Friday’s episode, which considers the story of Elton John’s cocker spaniel, Arthur, who was best man at his wedding. There’s joy and silliness in the world still.