The irritant in Downing Street

OK, so turns out it’s not quite like Nick Clegg. I won’t pretend I know what will happen next week. But if you hear anyone say “this is totally unprecendented” take a deep breath and listen to Dan Snow on the URGENT QUESTIONS podcast explaining why political chaos is norm not the exception. Good luck.

WE LEARNED… what sticks in the broadcasters’ throats: At teatime on Tuesday I realised I had something in common with Keir Starmer. I suddenly had a real pain in the neck.

It’s cause was not unrelated to the PM’s: I had spent 10 hours standing up in Downing Street, reporting into 5 Live, the BBC News Channel, YouTube and Radio 4’s PM, with a couple of hours on an uncomfortable folding plastic chair actually presenting my own show.

I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world. What a privelege. What a story. What a… lot of not very much happening actually.

Anyway, a couple of stretches and all was well with my back. More problematic was the back of the throat. If you’d noticed during rolling news coverage of *sweeping arm gesture* all of this that everyone seemed to have a cough, you’re not wrong. But it’s not because the political lobby have been snogging (as far as I know), it’s because of the trees.

Or one tree in particular. At the far end of Downing Street, directly opposite the gates, is a huge tree. 50 feet tall, or more probably. And it was under this tree that our makeshift studio was set up on Tuesday, and then again on Thursday. And every single person who came and joined me got the same. Watery eyes. Runny nose. Sudden urge to flip the headphone mic skywards and do a massive cough.

“Oh, it’s the tree,” everyone said. “It’'ll be the pollen.” Nobody was quite sure what sort of tree it was. So I posted a photo on Instagram.

Oh it’s definitely a London Plain tree, they said. Or a Lime. Or Beech. Or Hazel.

So on my show yesterday we got two experts to give us the definitive answer.

Dr. Fiona Symon, experimental officer of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, said: “Well, from what I could see in the picture, I was guessing that it was a lime tree.”

Kate Sheldon, chief executive of Trees for Cities, said: “I would say it’s a hazel, but I don’t think it’s what made you cough.”

Hang on, what? Kate thinks it is the London Plain trees elsewhere in London.

But wait, Fiona adds: “It may not be the pollen, because the plain trees pollen peaks at about the beginning of April, and it’s usually on its way out by the beginning of May. And I think it might be more likely that it’s the fine hairs that the plain trees shed from their leaves, and that’s causing an irritant and causing the coughing.”

Still no clarity though on what the tree in Downing Street was. Then Richard, a listener, texts in to 5 Live: “There is a great map of trees in London. There are a number identified around Downing Street. Should help answer your question.” He was right. So I logged on to London’s Tree Map.

Zoomed into Downing Street, clicked on the little green dot at the end of the street. And there it was.

Whitebeam. Sorbus. There it stands, 10m to 15m tall. And it’s standing this weekend, and will be next week, next year and on and on.

A reassuring symbol of stability in these stable times. *cough*

WE LEARNED… how to go viral: You can’t just do your job as a journalist these days. You have to be thinking about the socials. Snapping, filming, posting. I did a video from Downing Street which you can watch on the BBC News YouTube channel. And I took pictures, and made videos. Sometimes with all the edits and captions and the overlays it can take a while to get a reel right.

But then sometimes all you need is to post a video of Ed Miliband standing in the Commons watching Keir Starmer making that day’s speech of his life. And it will be watching 1.7million times, and counting…

WE LEARNED… the King of the North is coming: I don’t intend to add much to the millions of pixels spilt on writing about Andy Burnham already. But will add two things.

1. When I interviewed him six months ago I asked him why he wouldn’t just end all the speculation, which he loathed, and just say he doesn’t want to be PM. He replied that that you couldn’t predict the future:

   “Well I could ask you do you want to be a presenter on Newsnight, would you confirm that? You can always ask people, you know, what you are going to be doing next year, or in five years.”

   To be clear, I was already a presenter on Newsnight. And now here we are.

2. When asked the classic Mumsnet question to name his biscuit, Andy Burnham replied:

   “Chips and gravy.”

WE LEARNED… Wes Streeting has broken his New Year’s resolution: Back in January I interviewed the health secretary in a hospital, and asked if he would, like Boris Johnson once said, pick up the ball if it came loose from the scrum. Did he want one day to be leader?

“There is no answer to that question which is helpful to the prime minister who has a difficutl job. One of my new year’s resolutions is to make the life of the prime minister and our team easier by doing my job really well.”

Hmm. How’s that going?

WE LEARNED… 10-year-old me would be very excited: While in Downing Street I was asked to go on Newsround. I was in front of the camera quicker than you could say “John Craven”.

Catch up on the best of my 5 Live show on my URGENT QUESTIONS podcast - give it a listen on BBC Sounds, Apple Podcasts or Spotify and let me know what you think.

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