Question Time 13th May 2010

The first post-election Question Time comes London.
On the panel tonight are Lord Heseltine and Simon Hughes for the Liberals, Lord Falconer for Labour, Melanie Phillips for all those who mistakenly thought they were voting for a right-of-centre government last week, and Mehdi Hasan, who may or may not be an 83 year old ghazal singer from  Karachi.

For those playing the Buzzword Bingo, we’ll be invoking the “BBC Spoiling Agenda rules update of 2010” which means that all attempts to sow discord amongst the new allies win double points. Mentions of Europe are wild, I agree with Nick places you in Nidd for a turn and players who score PR, Inheritance Tax and Trident in a straight line win a ticket to one of Richard Black’s nosebleed-inducingly utterly fair and impartial conferences. Overall game winners receive two tickets and a complimentary sick-bucket.

TheEye and David Mosque are determined to ignore the opinions of their supporters and continue in a Moderating Coalition for a fixed term, which will begin at 10:30pm and finish when This Week ends – or when 55% of Parliament votes to dissolve the liveblog.

Bookmark the permalink.

21 Responses to Question Time 13th May 2010

  1. George R says:

    Or is it this MEDHI HASAN, of the ‘New Statesman’?:

    “Medhi Hasan exposed. Part 1 – Atheists and disbelievers are ‘cattle’ and ‘of no intelligence'”

    (‘Harry’s Place’)

    http://hurryupharry.org/2009/07/24/medhi-hasan-exposed-part-i-%E2%80%93-atheists-and-disbelievers-are-%E2%80%9Ccattle%E2%80%9D-and-%E2%80%9Cof-no-intelligence%E2%80%9D/

    “Medhi Husain Part 2, Muslims and Non-Muslims” is here:

    http://hurryupharry.org/2009/07/27/mehdi-hasan-part-ii-muslims-and-non-muslims/

       0 likes

    • All Seeing Eye says:

       

      I was really hoping it was my suggestion.

       

      Always expecting to be disappointed though… 

         0 likes

  2. Ross says:

    I was about to post the exact same link as George.

    If I were in the audience I’d start mooing whenever Hasan spoke.

       0 likes

  3. Swiss Bob says:

    Re Simon Hughes: Bloody hell, could the BBC have invited a worse senior LibDem onto QT?

       0 likes

  4. mark williams says:

    Wow, I’m fed up of the left ranting about not having enough ‘women or ethnic minorities’ Does anyone really worry about this? Call me odd but I’m interested in the best person for the job. Overwhelmingly left wing audience again!!!!!!!

       0 likes

  5. FunkyTeaPot says:

    Am I the only one that thought that lefty gobshite from the New Statesman was given far too much air time?

    Slightly off-topic, just watched This Week. Nearly fell off my chair that even Billy Bragg thought the coalition had more to offer than Labour!!!!

       0 likes

    • AndyUk06 says:

      No you are not. However, in allowing this windbag go and on, Dimbleby unwittingly did him a disservice: the whole nation now sees what an undisputed gobshite he is, who can shout and interrupt, but cannot debate. 

      Is it me or do a perceive a slight unease at the Beeb for the drastic cuts about to come?

         0 likes

  6. Julio says:

    mark w. there’s nothing special about ethnics or women to make me think they’d do a better job of running the country than white men.

       0 likes

  7. Guest Who says:

    I am sure other MSM are equally complicit, but as a stakeholder and co-funder in our national broadcaster i reserve more interest for their ‘professional’ activities.

    And it seems to me, having over-hired of late, there are a surfeit of lads and lasses who would presume to call themselves ‘political’ ‘reporters’.

    Now, in the more mundane aftermath of the election, they are scrabbling to find much to talk about of substance, especially to fill the demands of a 24/7 news cycle.

    So they seem to be running around like manic ferrets trying to see or hear anything, and I mean anything, that might count as ‘news’.

    Air time devoted to people going in doors, or out of them. And that is the substantial fare.

    What’s worse is when they are really stumped and, in the absence of any journalistic ability, or integrity, try and blow up a stirring (and not in the nice meaning of the word) press release from a hostile entity (usually accorded the undeserved heft of a ‘source’) into soemthing of their own making that they can then run with.

    It. IS. Pathetic.

    This morning on Breakfast Ne… Views some munchkin in a blue trench coat standing outside a building got to allude excitedly to ‘talk’ of ‘splits’ in the new cabinet already, based on… er.. whispers in the wind.

    And this is the same entity that got its knickers in a twist not so log ago on those ‘talking down’ the country?

    It’s almost as if they are willing every and any aspect of this coalition to fail. Maybe it will, who knows?

    But doing their darndest to make it happen, and proactively, using nothing but smoke and mirrors, at this stage, seems hardly their remit.

       0 likes

  8. John Stern says:

    Have a look at the updated wikipedia page for Hassan, what a hero.

       0 likes

  9. David Morris says:

    Maybe cynical but I rather suspect if the BBC’s utopian rainbow “progressive” alliance had come to pass we certainly wouldn’t have seen such a kangaroo court panel and loaded audience questions as with last evening’s shabby event.     Meanwhile in the real world just about everyone I’ve spoken with (of mixed political leanings) are rather positive about this new government.  Guess I must mix with the wrong sort of people.

       0 likes

  10. Lightf00t says:

    QT and This Week are both unbelievable.  I really wish that Diane Abbott’s morbid obesity would give her a coronary.  Then maybe they could replace her with someone with a brain, like Anne Widdecombe.

    The guy from The New Statesman was an absolute tosser, as was the lib-dem guy on the end who advocated positive discrimination.

       0 likes

  11. john smith says:

    Other gems include questioning the good Lady Warsi validity in the cabinet as she is unelected. Yet it was OK for Mandelson and Campbell to throw their weight about during the election……..

    And the idiot at the end who thought it unfair that the Tories should offer a referendum on electoral reform and campaign againt it. So asking the people and standing up for what you believe in is morally wrong. I am very tired of this line now.

    And the vote LibDem get Tory line is getting tired too. Adults working together despite their differences is wrong too. I voted Tory, but if Liebour had got their way I would have got Liebour, LibDem, PC, SNP, and a Green.

    Take comfort friends that the great unwashded probably don’t watch Al Beeb’s propoganda.

    I hope when this coalition starts to firm up perhaps in the next parliament somebody sets about the BBC.

       0 likes

  12. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Last night’s QT was heavily biased.  There were only two questions in total coming from probable Conservative points of view, and Dimbleby killed one of them because he wanted to stay on the Labour topic.

    Dimbleby deliberately chose questions to push the Labour agenda for the evening.  It was very clear, as he has the questions in front of him before he calls on them, and at two points obviously did so to feed the frenzy.  The only discussion of the Conservatives that was allowed to go on for more than two seconds was when various panelists were bashing them.

       0 likes

  13. Julio says:

    Labour might as well let Hasan take over, that’s where they’re headed and it would avoid a lot of unpleasantness.

    Anyone heard about the labour MP in East Ham getting stabbed, reportedly by an ‘asian’ woman?

       0 likes

    • George R says:

      Yes, MP Timms was stabbed twice by a MUSLIM woman (for information of BBC); local Muslim outfits ‘shocked’, etc.

      “Labour MP Stephen Timms stabbed ‘by woman’ as he held constituency  surgery”

      Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278459/Stephen-Timms-stabbed.html#ixzz0nvemxBBn

         0 likes

      • Jack Bauer says:

        Mmmm. We need to know why, oh why this happened.

        Clearly it wasn’t HER fault. Her religion is very peaceful. Almost self-effacing.

        So .. some possible an excusable causes:

        1. He’s Jewish and was asking for it

        2. She was having a BAD HALAL day.

        3. Someone in Denmark had insulted Mohammed.

        4. Err, that’s it.

           0 likes

  14. davejanfitz says:

    he prob asked her to remove her head scarf

       0 likes