Page last updated at 18:13 GMT, Friday, 25 September 2009 19:13 UK

The Buzz: Paxman: 'I've never been black'

BBC's Siobhan Courtney
By Siobhan Courtney

Welcome to The Buzz, our weekly round up of how the stories Newsnight reports are being talked about in the blogosphere, twitterverse and other social media.

SPIKE LEE QUESTIONS PAXMAN'S BLACK CREDENTIALS

One interview which got people talking this week was Jeremy Paxman's interview with Spike Lee.

One exchange in particular exchange, in which the US film director asked Jeremy "How long have you been black?" and Jeremy replied "I've never been black" certainly got the internet buzzing.

Jeremy Paxman spoke to Spike Lee

tweetmeme , which monitors the hottest links on twitter, tracked the Lee/Paxman interview and shared and re-tweeted it across Twitter.

Shadow and Act's post, "Spike Lee Educates The UK On Racism In America And Obama" described how "candidly" Lee spoke to Paxman.

A comment poster on Shiraz Socialist said of the interview: "Lee’s not taking any prisoners if this clip sums it up."

One of the comments on reddit went further, saying: "I love how he goes around accusing white people of being racist while he deliberately acts racist towards them in nearly all of his movies and even interviews."

One post on Hexus.community discussion forums says: "In tonight's Newsnight, when film director Spike Lee was asked if the criticism was necessarily racially motivated, Lee's response was to ask how long Paxman has been black."

Before going on to say: "I have no doubt that some people don't like Obama because of his race, but it's just conceivable that some of them don't like him because they don't like his policies."

IS THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP NO LONGER SPECIAL?

Was Gordon Brown really "snubbed" by US President Barack Obama at the G20 summit?

Brown and Obama, April 2009

Mr Brown doesn't think so, telling reporters the special relationship between the US and Britain had never been stronger.

Solitary Conspiracy reckons the denials sound like typical British "stiff upper lip" stuff so as not to create further tension and to minimise Mr Brown’s domestic political embarrassment.

This quote from Curly's Corner Shop, the blog! caught my eye: "So Brown will return to Britain to face his party not with the sounds of a ringing endorsement from the rest of the world ringing in his ears, but the deadly scrape of knives being sharpened once again as party activists and fearful MPs get increasingly jittery over the coming general election."

And on the forums at West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield posters not only talk about the "snub", but Mr Brown's waning popularity, linking to the petition at No.10 urging him to go.

But Blatherskite writes that the real question is not whether the special relationship in ruins, but does anyone really care?

CAN CLEGG BE PM WHEN MANY DO NOT KNOW WHO HE IS?

So, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg wants to be PM, the only problem is Newsnight's political poll this month suggested that a third of voters do not actually know who he is.

Nick Clegg: 'I want to change our country for good'

In assessing Mr Clegg's chances of heading to Number 10, let's start with Michael Crick's take on this.

Buzzle.com said that Mr Clegg's address to party members at their conference in Bournemouth was a decent and assured performance, but it was not the speech of a prime minister in waiting.

Craig Murray responded to Mr Clegg saying he wanted to be PM with: "I am sure he does. I want to bat at No 3 for England."

The Appalling Strangeness rants "Clegg and his followers need to work a lot harder to explain why and how they plan to actually make the man who shares a surname (and dull personality) with the least interesting character from Last of the Summer Wine into a credible contender for Number 10".

Here are some of the best discussions from The Student Room who pose the question Nick Clegg: Pretender or Future PM?

Check out the views on Digital Spy and The Sun forums.

Oh, and on a slightly separate note, Sarah Brown is now the First Lady of Twitter. She has overtaken Stephen Fry with more than 774,000 followers, surpassing the comedian's 769,000.



SEE ALSO
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21 Jul 09 |  Newsnight
The Buzz: An obit for the Observer?
06 Aug 09 |  Newsnight
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11 Sep 09 |  Newsnight


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