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They are absolutely impossible. Impossible to shut up, impossible to focus, impossible to

get them to listen to each other. And that is just the researchers and the producers who

are impersonating the politicians I've got to chair in Friday's election debate. That's

how my week has been filled with I'm not on air. Practicing for seven leading political

figures to stand on a stage in Cardiff. And practicing for me means trying to find a way

they can all be heard that there's fairness to all of them. And that's actually an interesting

lesson rather than an endless repetition of sound bites.

Seven political parties, seven leading figures debate the right way forward for the country.

The issues and the choices you face as you decide who to vote for in the general election

just two weeks time. BBC News hosts the BBC election debate this Friday at 7pm live on BBC

iPlayer. Now I'm not the only one practicing for a big night. One of my guests on the podcast

this week is Professor Sir John Curtis, the doyen of Sephology, the master of the exit poll.

A producers don't report with BBC Scotland said, I know there isn't going to be an election

because you haven't had a haircut. And ever since whenever I walk into the BBC Glasgow building

and I've just had a haircut they go hang on whoopsies days, we're going to release an election coming.

Standby for thus sharing some reminiscences about the exit polls. I assumed he got horribly wrong

and he turned out to be so spectacularly right. Just a brief word about how I am trying to get

it right in this most divisive of all elections and whether it's actually harder than it used to be.

Common market membership devalues and downgrades the vote because it prevents people using the

ballot box to adopt policies, change policies, change policies. It's become quite fashionable to

share on social media an extraordinary video of Tony Ben debating with Roy Jenkins in the panorama

...