Prime time ... A Samsung plasma televison very similar to Gordon's
I'm already slightly more excited about Gordon Brown taking over than is explicable. As I write, I'm staring at what appears to be fixed camera footage of a removal van in Downing Street on BBC News 24. A couple of men in black are struggling with some white goods. It's riveting.
Fortunately for the men in black, they are not having to struggle with the 50in telly which was delivered to number 10 yesterday. Cunningly, the Browns must have thought they'd slide the new AV equipment in while the press were distracted, not realising that the Times has photographers everywhere and the Samsung PDP (I can't make out the model, but they seem to range from £1000 to £2000) is on full display. As televisions appear to be the last remaining goods in Europe to be sold by imperial measurement (and some of our younger readers might not be able to grasp the concept of 50 inches), I've done the maths. That's a 127cm screen. Or, in terms most of us can understand, it's that or the cooker.
Now I'm not here to judge. I applaud spending a load of money on the world's finest TV. If you've got young children, you're going to be spending a lot of time with it and it may as well be a good one. It's a fine investment, particularly if the kids might otherwise be interfering with sensitive paperwork. Not if In the Night Garden is appearing in 50in high-definition, surround sound and up to 68.7bn colours they won't be.
This one has technology to spare. Sensibly, the Browns have opted for a set with a built in digital receiver, what with switchover just round the corner and the catastrophic environmental impact of additional set-top boxes. Hard to say whether Gordon will be a Sky or a Virgin cable customer. You can't help but think he'd like to snub both Branson and Murdoch and stick with Freeview. Except, of course, for the sport. That's where Rupert always gets them in the end.
Plus, when the footy's on in the daytime there'll be no need to draw the curtains, because with "Samsung's FilterBright technology, you can view black or dark clearly whether in a dark environment, a bright room or even in direct daylight ... No more squinting eyes!"
I wish I'd known that Gordon has a weakness for a really big telly last week when the opinion poll people rang. I'd have been able to answer with much greater conviction had I known that Brownism will acknowledge the importance of a very big screen as fundamental to our sense of self and society. I'm surprised, actually, that Andrew Rawnsley's otherwise exemplary The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair didn't mention it. You'd think he'd have understood the significance.
I'm sure Newsnight will pick up the slack. There's a thought. You wouldn't want to watch Newsnight on it. Paxman? In high-definition? On a 50in screen? Viewers of a sensitive disposition may wish to look away.
