Jeremy Paxman: “This is an ex-email”

BBC Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman has had fun signing off on the last ever Newsnight daily email.  Here is the text

Good morning. And good afternoon. Or possibly, good evening.

Welcome to positively the last Newsnight daily email. The time has come to put this exercise in fatuousness out of its misery.

It gives me no pleasure to say that it should have happened years ago. Actually, I lie. There is more joy in heaven, etc, etc.

The reason for killing it off is pretty straightforward. It’s crap.

Conscientious readers may have noticed that Monday’s email this week was actually promoting a programme which went out last week. A carrier pigeon would have been quicker.

The daily email was dreamed up – like so many other utterly brilliant initiatives (anyone recall the Newsnight podcast, for people who preferred their television without pictures?) – by visionary senior management at the BBC.

For a while we even sent out a morning email, as well, detailing the mental anguish of the editor on duty that day, and soliciting suggestions as to what people would like to see on air that evening. This, too, often arrived after the show had been broadcast.

Like a dodgy plumber skulking away from a flooded bathroom, those responsible are blaming the tools of their trade. In this case, they’re right. The piece of kit (the “gizmo”, to give it its technical name) which sends out the email is completely useless and we can’t afford to fix it.

But fear not. There are other, thrilling ways to make sure you’re not pleasurably surprised when the programme goes on air. The fascinating blog on the Newsnight website is updated every day, and we’re also on Twitter and Facebook.

Alternatively, you could just switch on your television to BBC Two at 10.30pm.

So, farewell daily email. And a Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Easter and Millennium Eve to all our viewers.

Jeremy Paxman

Pete Baker