Why is Rishi Persad so denigrated?

fair to say most of the rest know at least a little about hoses

Why would he need to know about hoses?

I often think it helps when you know what your talking about

But why would he need to know about hoses? Is it something to do with watering and being a clerk of the course? Do they ask him for advice?

true , they should ditch  Neville and just get Ainsley Harriet to analyse the football aswell

Nothing to do with race, it's his face, he seems to be permanently happy. Serious punters don't want to see a beaming smile on their screens after losing their dough.

It doesn't help that he seems to be a jack of all trades and master of none.

Because he wears tan coloured shoes with a black suit.

Nothing to do with race, it's his face 


then again the fact that he's useless and still gets employed might have something to do with his race.

He's useless and his race is only an issue to the extent that some perceive his position has been derived through tokenism.

Whether that's true or not I (nor most forumites I imagine) have no idea.

I just think he's ill prepared, knows next to nothing about the subject, asks the most thoughtless questions and does not listen to the response rather just carrying on with his pre prepared agenda.

it's because people are unwittingly racist...if you employed 10 Rishis, 9 of whom were white and the other non-white, the 9 may occasionally be called clueless or a mug on here but essentially would be ignored, whereas the non-white Rishi would be called 'token', 'only there to appease the tree-hugging, PC brigade', 'it's all the fault of the Liberal luvvie BBC', 'it's a World gone mad' etc etc...the people making these remarks would insist that they are not racist in any way.

on the upside,he"s very polite on the couple of occasions ive met him

richie is a legend.

this post reminds me of why a large wedge the English are so in favour of ukip....popular to be a national socialist nowadaze apparently.

Bit confused here, always thought that a "race" was a competition between runners, horses, vehicles, etc. to see which is the fastest in covering a set course?

terry mccann 30 Apr 14 09:38 Joined: 26 Jan 05 | Topic/replies: 4,139 | Blogger: terry mccann's blog
on the upside,he"s very polite on the couple of occasions ive met him


i dont blame him terry

large g and t please dave

My dislike of him stemmed from his appalling interview of sir henry a couple of years ago,the word crass could have been invented for him.not his finest hour may be he suffers from a form of autism

doesn't autism infer you might be good at something

maybe something you should look at outpost

Bit confused here, always thought that an autist was a a person who creates paintings or drawings as a profession or hobby.

yes your right irish,carry on

a piss autist?

Barrowboy i'm sure everyone who watched that interview was squirming in their seat.It was one of the most unprofessional pieces of broadcasting i've ever had the misfortune to see and the muppet interviewer should have been sacked on the spot. PERSAD is a disgrace.

@posy -- if you think that was bad, you must have missed Clangermole's interview with Noel Martin after the Jacqueline Quest/Special Duty 1,000 Guineas.

Bit confused here, always thought that "your right" was a just claim or title, whether legal, prescriptive, or moral ?

I accept that the Cecil interview was badly judged but are people judging Persad fairly in that many interviewers can make an absolute horlicks of an individual interview. He may know little about horse racing but when he's on Channel 4 he's there to ask questions which the occasional viewer may want answers to. It's no longer so much about the racing as such RUK is there for that. For example, Plunkett interviewed Ruby straight after the Supreme and her first question was to ask him if he'd ever gone from the front in the race before. Fair enough if he'd answered that he did so about a decade ago but the fact that she didn't remember Champagne Fever last year was rank bad journalism. I didn't see much comment about that. Persad does seem a generally well mannered man of cheerful disposition who doesn't go in for the faux bonhommie of someone like Thommo. He ain't that good but in a sea of mediocrity he isn't noticeably worse than some of the other dross floating around in my view.

Sadly, he has no personality, at least none that transmits itself onto the screen.

there are plenty of posts on here denigrating fitzgerald and (my own personal least favourite) thommo - so I think the OP is fishing.  all three are denigrated because they have irritating characteristics which you wouldn't expect of a professional journalist/presenter however thommo clearly has his supporters for the 'court jester' role, just a pity that many northern racecourses consider him the go-to guy

There was a discussion about Alice Plunkett's question to Ruby at the time, and plenty of people took the view she was striving for irony i.e. Ruby making the running to win the Supreme was becoming a habit.

Rishi often looks ill at ease - I don't think he's one of life's natural interviewers.  He has improved in terms of his preparation and research and there are times when he's previewing a race with, say, Jim McGrath that you could almost believe he knows what he's talking about.

Alice wouldn't know the meaning of irony

Richi comes across as a nice jovial guy but he is very poor with his knowledge of horse racing (and other sports he covers) - race is only an issue in so far as he seems to have a job as a result of positive discrimination - the same cannot be said of Fitzy et al who are mediocre in their own right

@Jezebel -- Rishi often looks ill at ease - I don't think he's one of life's natural interviewers.  He has improved in terms of his preparation and research and there are times when he's previewing a race with, say, Jim McGrath that you could almost believe he knows what he's talking about.

Exactly.

Rishi does seem prepared, and he is good at asking pundits the right questions. He'd be good in the Nick Luck/Lydia role chairing proceedings, for instance. Instead producers seem to want to use Rishi in the Tommo role of cheerful chappie vox pop interviewer -- which imo is not worth doing at all but it must be done, clearly Rishi is not the tool for the job.

Unfortunately most TV producers these days treat everyone in front of the camera as an interchangeable cog in a machine whose output they never bother to watch.

cyclops  • April 30, 2014 1:54 PM BST 


Sadly, he has no personality,


like to see some of these armchair forum experts do what he did recently on the back of a horse for charity

Who can be more useless ffs than Mapletoff/Thommo"Hannigan the man again" should get him effin jailed and the biggest a--e licker of them all Mike the Cattmole.

Again though, it's as Ramruma says - horses for courses.  Obviously there's never going to be consensus as we all like different traits (apparently there are even some people who like John McCririck *shudder* ) but the basic principle of putting together a good team is to allow them to play to their strengths.

I never minded Cattermole as a presenter / interviewer, because he could hold it together smoothly and put people at their ease.  Now my "smooth" would be another person's "smarmy", fair enough, but he at least had some inherent presenting skill.  Much better at that than as a commentator IMO.  Similarly, I don't personally have much time for the "class clown" segment but if it has to be included, you need a Thommo-type who comes across as jovial and who doesn't mind making himself look like an idiot on live TV.  Most of the current crop, with the possible exception of Alice Plunkett who at least does seem to be a good sport, are too stiff/serious for that and so it makes for uncomfortable viewing when the producers try to force a Rishi or a Mick Fitz to do it instead.

Always remember Francome and Oaksey in a match charity race, going so easy Francome leaned over and tickled the noble Lord's bowlucks a furlong out.  Classic!

Rishi certainly believes he belongs - several times after interviewing golfers after their rounds at The Masters he made it clear he was looking forward to doing the same next year!!

LoyalH

I think you will find that it was journalist/commentator Robin Gray's backside that felt itself being touched up by the ever cheeky JF in a race at Ascot. Priceless!

but he's excellent on Channel 4 News

i once has a p1ss next to lord oaksey at cheltenham races

I do remember the Noel Martin interview...that too was reprehensible. One of the classic interviews was Cattermole with the owners of The Gold Cheongsam when he mistook the Malaysian girl part owners for the man's harem. He forgot the rule that when you're in a hole stop digging.Remember his co presenter Mrs Spencer was not at all amused.