The Third Degree

In a very early episode of The Simpsons, Mr. Burns ran for Governor. As a PR exercise, he took dinner chez Simpson and answered some staged questions for the cameras. As best I can remember, this was an exchange :

Lisa [through gritted teeth] - Mr Burns, your campaign has the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular ?

Mr Burns - Ooh, tough question ! But a fair one !

Now, obviously The Simpsons exaggerates real life to (considerable) comic effect. No one would insult us with something so blatantly staged in reality, would they ? Hmmm. As reported by Football365 (via the Times), Steve McLaren sat in for a "webchat" on the official FA website. Here are a few of the pre-submitted questions that didn't make the cut :

"Did you ditch David Beckham as a PR stunt to distance yourself from the Eriksson era?"

"Is it time to accept Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard cannot play together?"

"By appointing Terry Venables you have undermined yourself. Discuss."

I especially like that last one. The first "question" that McLaren did answer began as follows :

"Firstly, I must congratulate you on the England job and for coping with the media pressure so well in recent months. I am a Man Utd fan and I remember what an excellent job you did for us and I feel you'll do the same for England."