Allegra poco a poco

Allegra Stratton is to be the new Political Editor of Newsnight, following the departure of Michael Crick to Channel 4.

Allegra is currently working for the Guardian - but her previous job was as a producer at the BBC where she worked on The Daily Politics, This Week, and yes, Newsnight. Prior to that there were stints with the foreign desk of The Times and writing for The Independent and Newstatesman.

She studied Archaelogy and Anthropology at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (in my day, a refuge subject for battered rugby players) and managed to get a piece in The Times about her field studies in Russia in 2000. Since joining the Guardian, she's churned it out - 1307 articles in four years.

To get a sense of her tv style, here's a video plug for her book, "Muhajababes" published in 2006. Spin to 0.48 and you'll find the word "re-interpretating", unspotted by the proof readers.