This going OTT thing is contagious. Last week Left-wingers queued up to compare perfectly reasonable housing benefit reforms to the "final solution".
This week John Simpson, the BBC's World Affairs Editor, has compared the licence fee freeze to "waterboarding".
It wasn't an off-the-cuff remark but was contained in a letter submitted to and accepted by Ariel, the BBC's own in-house newsmagazine.
According to Mr Simpson, only "far-right idealogues" and the "Murdoch empire" think the BBC should share the pain being endured by the rest of the public sector.
He writes:
"Our income will shrink year on year for seven long years, by amounts that are unknown because we can't tell how high inflation will be over that period of time. It'll be like waterboarding. As our head is pulled out of the bath, we'll be so desperate that we can't be certain what compromises and deals we might be tempted to make. We will be at the government's mercy."
We didn't really need proof that some BBC journalists were given to inappropriate exaggeration but it's good to have it in a such clear form.
A licence freeze isn't waterboarding, Mr Simpson, it's called "living in the real world".
