Just watched Michael Portillo on BBC2 and find myself increasingly annoyed by his habit of introducing himself ("Hallo, I'm Michael") to people he is interviewing on his travels as if either a) he has just run into them or b) he has never met them. We all know perfectly well that he has met them before and probably had a rehearsal, or at least a discussion about what they are going to say, just before filming. He's not the only one to do this - Gerald Durrell used to do it many years ago - but why do they do it? 
People eating and drinking on the go
Should women have equal pay and opportunities?
