Question Time tonight comes from Cheltenham, birthplace of Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards and Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris. It has 3 councillors representing the “People Against Bureaucracy” Party.
On the panel tonight we have David Willetts MP, Tessa Jowell MP, Phil Willis, Sir Max Hastings and race-obsessed historian Dr Maria Misra who writes for the Guardian and the New Statesman about how nasty the Raj was. She has form on QT.
For those playing the Buzzword Bingo, we’ll be playing the Thatcher Rules which means that congratulations on her 85th birthday when combined with your Iron Lady joker are an immediate win. However normal points only will be scored if it is combined with decline of industry, cuts, sleaze, doom or misery. Biased-BBC is giving away a free blog mug and t-shirt for any references to Dennis MacShane being expelled from the Labour Party today for claiming office expenses of £125,000 for a shed.
The LiveBlog will also cover the entertainingly awful This Week, presented by Brillo and Michael Portillo. Rumours that the pie-crazed co-presenter Diane Abbott was history after her surreal elevation to a Shadow Spokesman job preaching against obesity seem to be wide of the mark and she’s still on the list.
David Vance, TheEye and David Mosque will be slashing the Quango State here from 10:30pm.
UPDATE: Nigel Farage was supposed to be on tonight. More details about the BBC cancelling him are in the comments.
Ah, Maria ”til the British came’ Misra.
She who states in the New Statesman (2001):
. “Other rulers were already combining tradition and modernity. In the south-west, the upstart Muslim dynast Tipu Sultan, inspired in part by revolutionary France, aimed to centralise and commercialise Mysore, while respecting indigenous cultural sensitivities.”
Respecting indigenous sensitivities in the following way:
Tipu ordered the destruction of 27 Catholic churches, all beautifully carved with statues depicting various saints. Among them included the Church of Nossa Senhora de Rosario Milagres at Mangalore, Fr Miranda’s Seminary at Monte Mariano, Church of Jesu Marie Jose at Omzoor, Chapel at Bolar, Church of Merces at Ullal, Imaculata Conceiciao at Mulki, San Jose at Perar, Nossa Senhora dos Remedios at Kirem, Sao Lawrence at Karkal, Rosario at Barkur, Immaculata Conceciao at Baidnur. All were razed to the ground, with the exception of The Church of Holy Cross at Hospet, owing to the friendly offices of the Chauta Raja of Moodbidri.
or,
The Archbishop of Goa wrote in 1800, “It is notoriously known in all Asia and all other parts of the globe of the oppression and sufferings experienced by the Christians in the Dominion of the King of Kanara, during the usurpation of that country by Tipu Sultan from an implacable hatred he had against them who professed Christianity.”
or,
Tipu sent a letter on January 19, 1790 to Budruz Zuman Khan. It says:
Don’t you know I have achieved a great victory recently in Malabar and over four lakh Hindus were converted to Islam? I am determined to march against that cursed Raman Nair very soon. Since I am overjoyed at the prospect of converting him and his subjects to Islam, I have happily abandoned the idea of going back to Srirangapatanam now.
or,
As a Muslim ruler in a largely Hindu domain, Tipu Sultan faced problems in establishing the legitimacy of his rule, and in reconciling his desire to be seen as a devout Islamic ruler with the need to be pragmatic to avoid antagonising the majority of his subjects. His religious legacy has become a source of considerable controversy in the subcontinent. Some groups proclaim him a great warrior for the faith or Ghazi, while others revile him as a bigot who massacred Hindus.
or, finally,
During the surrender of the Mangalore fort which was delivered in an armistice by the British and their subsequent withdrawal, all the Mestizos and remaining non-British foreigners were killed, together with 5,600 Mangalorean Catholics. Those condemned by Tipu Sultan for treachery were hanged instantly, the gibbets being weighed down by the number of bodies they carried. The Netravati River was so putrid with the stench of dying bodies, that the local residents were forced to leave their riverside homes.
You pays your money, and you takes your choice.
Thought for a minute you meant Maria Misra was fond of the ponies. No doubt that would be a better use of her time.
Of topic, but just been listening to Red Star Five Live and the Macshane news is reported as ” A former government minister is being investigated ” Not a Labour party MP. Oh no. Government you see. Just like the one we have now.
Then in a very quiet voice ” The Labour Party has suspended him ” As if he just accidentally belonged to the BBC’s friends, as if he might just as well have been suspended from the Dennis the Menace fan club.
From Iain Dale’s blog:
Some political parties really don’t know how to help themselves do they? Nigel Farage was invited to go on Question Time tonight and cancelled an important fund raising dinner to do so, figuring that an appearance on a programme with an audience of several million would do more for UKIP than a fundraising dinner.
But of course there’s a UKIP leadership election going on at the moment, so one of his rival candidates took it upon himself to complain to the producers of Question Time, who instantly caved in and withdrew Farage’s invitation to appear.
So in the week in which next year’s EU budget was approved, UKIP now won’t have any representation on Question Time tonight.
Rats in a sack. If they don’t elect Farage we’ll know they’ve lost what remaining marbles they have.
Question Time only let Nigel appear when they are hosting the program in a predominately lefty area with a suitably left wing audience. Bastards!!
The BBC Comrades bus the audience in from outreaching areas, all leftists, some even far left.
But hey ho, what do you expect from the Nations state broadcaster?
Has anybody from the political right of the blogosphere ever attempted to apply to appear on the show?
Two hopes………
Sorry about the expletive. :-[
I forgive you. We have all been sorely tried by the bastages
After last week’s debarcle/episode I won’t be watching tonight’s QT. I’ve decided that QT is the Jeremy Kyle of politics programs.
I’m just watching a science documentary on Channel 4 on dissecting a giant squid. The point I want to make is that this is treating the audience with a deal of respect and intelligence (unfortunately the squid doesnt get it). I’m learning something here. Compare this to BBC’s Horizon the other day (which is their flagship science program) – at the end of that I felt I’d had a frontal labotomy. I’m sure I’d feel the same about QT tonight…
Sorry for the off topic (but at least i didn’t swear!)…
Front of house full of lefties again, with no Conservative support and Dimbleby has become the 6th pannelist .
Nothing new there, then !