Wondered if you came across this televisual delight from the State Broadcaster? It’s the “Intelligence Squared Debate” and as balanced as you would expect…
“An Elected House of Lords Will Be Bad For British Democracy”. Nik Gowing chairs, with speakers Vernon Bogdanor, Shami Chakrabarti, Sir Simon Jenkins, Lord Adonis and Polly Toynbee and Billy Bragg.
Oh joy. Thanks to the brave B-BBC reader who valiantly watched at least some of this leftist tripe.
I’m not going to watch anything with Polly in it. My blood pressure is too high as it is.
And Billy Bragg’s qualifications to comment on this are? Other than being on BBC speed dial, that is.
Please spare a thought for the good folks of Edinburgh who are to be treated to his dulcet tones as part of their Hogmanay celebrations.
Look on the bright side, at least the stupid twat isn’t down here upsetting the locals !
The ones in Barking and Dagenham that he fled from as soon as he could afford to?
Mr Vance
You are unkind to the BBC.
Impartiality is in their genes.
Be fair – just look at what a balanced and informative panel the line-up those balance BBC producers have selected. They would not dream of swerving to the left – their genes would stop them.
That was the line-up? haha, that’s hilarious…
Yes, it really was! I had to flick the iPlayer on for a minute or two as I thought it must be a wind up as well!
This is what BBC-NUJ thinks ‘democracy’ is: rigging a panel with leftist propagandists; an old ‘Question Time’ practice
‘Today’ practices the same pretence with its ‘democratic’ choice of leftist guest presenters.
Bragg is typical of certain class of the Left, who are absolutely and unequivocally certain of what thay are against (Tories, facists, cuts, the usual suspects) and never happier when fighting against them. But if you try to fathom what he is for, it becomes all woolly and nebulous vacuum. In his simplistic world, if you get rid of the bad people and things, by definition what you are left with is automatically the good. Simples.
It is clear he thinks of himself as a hero, but in his heart he is Pol Pot without the courage of his convictions.
I heard his mother speak once and she came across as a nice, middle class lady without much of an accent. It proved that Bragg’s accent is as fake and false as his “working class” roots.
Would that be Sir (nudge-nudge – know what I mean?) Billy “Lord Leftiebullshit of a-nice-mansion-on-the-Thames-somewhere-expensive-whilst-speaking-out-for-the-poor-downtrodden-common-man” Bragg? And would that be Polly “lick-my-leftie-Jimmy-Choos” Toynbee?
Billy Bragg. I can’t believe I even know who this nonentity dangleberry is. But I do, and more’s the pity.
Yo Billy. The sixth form is on the line. They want their politics back.
Not a single “elected by the people” person on the panel. The BBC just doesn’t get the irony.
It’s amazing, isn’t it? I hope somebody has lodged a formal complaint.
Intelligence Squared 29 Oct 2009
The panel debate the motion that free-market capitalism is so 20th century.
Arguing in favour of the motion are Paul Mason, Ian Bremmer and Jean Pisani-Ferry. Paul Mason begins by explaining his definition of free-market capitalism. He focuses on the ideology itself rather than the actual system of capitalism as, surprisingly; true free-market capitalism has never been put into practice. He states that actual free-market states are ‘rigged and un-free’, and believes that capitalism has been empirically proven wrong, due to its failure to warn of impending crisis.