The Sun-Herald, October 12, 1980, p. 69.

John Singleton has taken a fair old bucketing on this page over the past year.

But this week The Eye is giving him a spring posy for his Tuesday night show.

Sure it was pretty much a 90-minute plug for The Pools. But even that had its moments, such as sharing, via a filmclip, the stunned delight of people being told they’d won.

Sure, Singleton and his mate, cartoonist Larry Pickering, yet again a guest, were over-bitchy to the point of being bleeped in fact, about the private lives of our politicians.

But, admit it, it was fun, wasn’t it?

But the Eye’s posy is for Singleton’s interview with Ian Viner, Minister for Youth and Unemployment.

Oh, there was the usual waffle. But then Singo, mumbling more clearly than usual and with his disarmingly shy smile and a deadly glint in his eye, asked two VI (very important) questions.

“Have you ever personally been unemployed?” — “No.” “Do you personally know anyone who’s unemployed?” — “No.”

The questions were simple but the implication was clear: Too often our politicians live in ivory towers far removed from the uncertainties and problems facing the ordinary person.

They are also the kind of questions ordinary people would dearly love the chance to ask.

Singleton has the knack of knowing what those questions are.

It’s a pity the same doesn’t apply to some of our political reporters who, too often, seem more concerned about raising complex issues designed to show how clever they are.