There's little in the way of anecdote, and it looks like he's reading it off an autocue.

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But Mr Jones kept going, the autocue came back to life and the messages started flowing pretty freely.

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The best the supporters can say is that - autocue screens apart - the chancellor has not made any clunking mistakes.

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They're great things when they work well - autocue paddles, not audiences - not so handy when they seize up mid speech.

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There was no lectern - just a couple of discreet glass paddles for the autocue between the first minister and his audience in Llandudno.

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There is duplication across the behind-the-scenes material, and an annoying corporate type reading blankly off an autocue in an effort to advertise the book spin-offs from the movie.

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The system handles production of all scripts for the programme, all administration associated with the programme and provides an electronic link to the autocue to enable last minute changes.

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The Labour leader delivered the 65-minute speech without an autocue and he told Radio 4's Today that the idea to do so had come to him soon after last year's conference address.

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That seems fitting enough, but we also get panel discussions in TV studios, video feeds, and a genuine British news anchor declaiming iambic pentameters as if from an autocue all a trifle forced, as if Fiennes were concerned that we might be embarrassed, or bored, by the spectacle of the bare play.

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