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• Date: 19 December 2020
• Author: Mick Heaney
• Published date: 19 December 2020

Drivetime

(RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) one could be forgiven for thinking it's Halloween rather than Christmas. And that's only in the Republic, where the mood is positively festive. Elsewhere, real horrors are unfolding.

Talking to Drivetime co-host Sarah McInerney on Wednesday, Dr David Nabarro of the World Health Organisation praises the efforts of Irish authorities in tackling Covid-19 as it surges across Europe, while musing on the Hobson's choice between risking increased infections by opening up or damaging public morale by closing down again. Either way, Nabarro suggests limiting family visits if possible and the wearing of face masks when socialising with relatives, "at the same time as having a good laugh". Nabarro sounds genuine in his latter wish, but so restricted is this vision of festivities that staying at home suddenly seems attractive. Which of course is probably his intention.

Even so, McInerney and her on-air partner Cormac Ó hEadhra can allow themselves a little celebration as an otherwise grim 2020 draws to a conclusion. After a year that saw Radio 1 undergo its biggest changes in a decade (triggered as much by Marian Finucane's still-shocking death and Sean O'Rourke's retirement as by strategy), the rejuvenated Drivetime has become the most compelling slot on the station's revamped schedule.

This is mainly down to the presenters, who are somehow more relaxed yet also more dogged than Mary Wilson, their earnestly methodical predecessor. McInerney, for instance, sounds personable and sympathetic as she pitches listeners' questions about airline refunds to travel journalist Rory Boland. But she shows her assertive side on Wednesday - "flying solo" in Ó hEadhra's absence - when she interviews Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Steve Aiken about the nightmare before Christmas that is the North's deteriorating Covid situation.

Asked what has gone wrong, Aiken says people aren't following regulations, which he ascribes to the bad example set by the crowds attending IRA member Bobby Storey's funeral in June. The atmosphere grows more prickly when he describes Dr Gabriel Scally as a "so-called public-health expert" for calling on Aiken's UUP colleague Robin Swann to resign as health minister. Meanwhile, McInerney sounds irked as she pushes back on her guest's assertions.

It's an arresting if dispiriting exchange. Indulging in such testy point-scoring amid an ongoing health disaster doesn't reflect too well on Aiken, but it's indicative of the...