Question Time Live Chat

David Dimbleby presents this week’s show from Doncaster. On the panel are: Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, Dia Chakravarty of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, Green Party peer Baroness Jones, Labour MP Owen Smith and an irrelevant scotch person.

Kick off Thursday at 22.45

Chat here, register here if necessary.

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42 Responses to Question Time Live Chat

  1. Julio says:

    Please note that the chat host site has been shifted in order to make a couple of changes, bearing in mind some comments about how people sometimes logged into the wrong chat inadvertently. The image of the top of the chat box now specifically states ‘Question Time Live Chat’, and clicking on the image will not now navigate to any other chat page. If you somehow find yourself on a similar looking page, but it doesn’t have ‘Question Time Live Chat’ at the top of the chat box, you will now know that you are on the wrong page.

    If anyone feels like giving it a test, I’d be grateful. Just let me know of any problems.

       2 likes

  2. LDV says:

    “and an irrelevant scotch person.”

    How can you say that? It will be history in the making if a bottle of scotch turns up.
    top-scotch-brands.jpg

       17 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Capital comment.

         2 likes

    • Julio says:

      A ‘scotch person’ I clearly said, meaning a person from Scotland. Not a ‘bottle of scotch’, which would be an entirely different thing.

         5 likes

      • Mr.Golightly says:

        Julio, people from Scotland are not keen on being called Scotch these days, call them touchy or chippy if you like, but…..

        “Scotch” applied to people is widely considered pejorative in Scotland, reflecting old Anglo-Scottish antagonisms, but it is still occasionally used in England, though the usage is considered old-fashioned.”

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_(adjective)

           4 likes

        • Grant says:

          MrG, Well, as a non-chippy Scotchman , I prefer to be called Scottish or Scots. If someone calls me Scotch, I assume they are trying to wind me up or are just ignorant ! Either can be forgiven !

             4 likes

          • G.W.F. says:

            Although I am Welsh my Grandmother was born in Edinburgh and always described herself as Scotch. The local insurance collector came from Scotland and was referred to as the Scotch man. We were old fashioned. I have been rebuked on many occasion for using the word Scotch for a human and having it pointed out that the word refers to a drink. But identity has become so important and I no longer struggle to keep abreast of changes .
            However, I propose that all people claiming Scotch identity are referred to as
            ‘Persons of Scotland’.

            And when referring to Persons of Colour who have been born in Scotland we can refer to Persons of Colour and Scotland, possibly extending to Lesbian/Gay and Transgender Persons of Colour and Scotland. .

               11 likes

            • Grant says:

              LOL ! Persons of Scotland, I like it. Well, Dr. Johnson referred to “Scotchmen” and ,presumebly, Boswell didn’t rebuke him. I think there has been a change of usage with time, maybe so that the people are not confused with the drink. I don’t get too fashed about it. And that is another word that has gone out of fashion, so to speak !

                 2 likes

            • Steve Jones says:

              So a multi-ethnic Scotch person could be described as a Multi-colour Person of Scotland or, to be more concise, a ‘Tartan’.

                 8 likes

            • hadda says:

              “Lesbian/Gay and Transgender Persons of Colour and Scotland”

              Do they have a special rainbow tartan?

                 1 likes

  3. wronged says:

    Current score on QT EU bias is as follows

    Remain 30
    Leave 14
    Undecided 2

    Tonight I think it will be as follows

    Baroness Jones Leave
    Daniel Hannan Leave
    Dia Chakravarty Remain
    Owen Smith Remain
    Guest who will almost certainly be Remain.

    Running Total
    Remain 33
    Leave 16
    Undecided 2

       18 likes

    • Mr.Golightly says:

      Thanks wronged for keeping this running total. I am quite surprised that the bias ratio is only 2:1 in favour of remain. In BBC world this is as close to balance as we are going to get. With just over two months to the referendum there’s still plenty of time for a late surge by the BBC Remainiacs if public opinion needs to be swayed after more inconvenient and unwelcome events, such as more terrorism on the streets of the EU, more crises in the Great North Migration, more unwelcome advances to the women of the EU by men of a certain heritage, and if our own dodgy opinion polls show the Leavers gaining a clear advantage.

         20 likes

      • wronged says:

        Thank you Mr Golightly, I suspect the bias for Remain will increase nearer the referendum. However, a ratio of 2:1 is still disgraceful for a national broadcaster which claims to be balanced, and also receives money from the EU, but does not make this conflict of interest commonly known.
        I am trying to do my bit albeit small, in exposing bBBC bias.

        It strikes me that there is a distinct lack of monitoring on bBBC programmes. As I am sure you are aware the level of left wing political bias is enormous on other programmes as well. Words cannot convey how disappointed and ashamed I am of our national broadcaster. It has never been quite as bad as it is now.

           21 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Pretty sure Guest Who is Leave. 🙂

         3 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Hold all your chickens in a row there, to mix several metaphors!

        Like my MP, I am preserving my right to assess all arguments until the very end covertly in undignified ethical nudging and winking, and then do what I have been planning to do all along and alluded to with not very subtle ‘explanations’ to questions designed to steer folk in ways I favour.

        Oddly, he and I diverge a bit in desired outcome given his latest totally impartial open letter punt in the local rag.

        Which for him will be a deuced shame come next GE.

        Given he is chairing the DCMS committee on the BBC, not sure he was too thrilled with my last message regarding how I couldn’t rationalise colleague and predecessor Mr. Whittingdale’s words and actions with anything other than a slight case of dirty deeds done dirt cheap in back alleys.

        Seems I was closer to the bone (oh, er, Frankie) than I thought.

        🙂

           3 likes

        • Grant says:

          Guest, Is this what happens when you stop taking your medication ?

             2 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            There is but one medication I require after a hard day, a good day, a bad day… in fact any day…

               2 likes

            • Grant says:

              Guest, Thank you for contributing to my favourite industry. I hope that wasn’t a bottle of Grant’s !

                 1 likes

            • Mr.Golightly says:

              Now that really is a Scotch. Mine’s a treble landlord. Hic.

                 1 likes

    • Edward says:

      The Taxpayers’ Alliance has declared itself neutral on the EU Referendum, so I would expect Dia Chakravarty to also remain neutral. It’ll be interesting to hear what she has to say tonight. Obviously her call up to the programme is on the back of the offshore tax avoidance schemes furore.

         8 likes

      • Grant says:

        Edward, But she is bound to refer to Corbyn’s tax affairs, surely ? PS. Whenever I type Corbyn my spellcheck puts a red line under the name. How does it know ? But it also puts a line under the word spellcheck !

           6 likes

        • Edward says:

          My guess is she will defend offshore accounts. Simple. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.

             6 likes

      • Philip_2 says:

        Just got a link from Taxpayers alliance on who is on show…
        ‘Dia Chakravarty will be one of the panellists appearing on BBC1’s Question Time tonight. The programme airs at 10.45pm (or an hour later at 11.45pm in Northern Ireland) and she will be discussing the big topics of the week from Doncaster with Conservative MEP, Dan Hannan; Labour MP, Owen Smith; SNP MP, Angus Robertson; and Green peer, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb.’
        Should be a good slanging match tonight!
        Daniel Hannan is a pretty good speaker for Brexit and Dia Chkravarty is officially non-aligned but nobody who can count would pay to be a in a Club for eu elites (in Panama) paid for by common serfs (taxpayers). At least I hope he will make the case that the EU is bankrupt and makes no economic sense. We’ll also (hopefully) see how ‘balanced’ that is costing up daft Green policies immediatly adopted by the EU which no doubt will feature in the program.

           7 likes

    • wronged says:

      I am very pleased to write that there is, unusually, a 3:2 bias in favour of leave in tonights programme.

      Running Total
      Remain 32
      Leave 17
      Undecided 2

         7 likes

      • Emmanuel Goldstein says:

        The green baroness was a bit mixed up though. She said she would vote out but appeared to welcome more immigration.
        Hannah was good.

           1 likes

  4. Thatcherrevolutionary says:

    Scottish National Socialist MP will invariably be remain, as no single MP can deviate from the party line.

       30 likes

  5. Beltane says:

    What’s the betting the ISP will blame Gove and the Savage Tory Cuts for Scotch schools falling about their ears – despite the fact that all were built by Labour around 2007, some time before Gove’s ministry?

       20 likes

  6. Sluff says:

    I wonder if there will be any questions about Roma immigrants?
    My highly reliable local source advises several hundred have pitched up in the suburb of Hexthorpe (where the Flying Scotsman was built – and the Mallard – hello 60022). The council is putting on daily dustbin lorries and sweepers to clear up the filth in the streets, as the Roma community like to maintain their cultural norms by sharing their detritus with everyone (indigenous residents of course are prosecuted for doing the same). They live up to 10 and more in a house, with rooms made up like hostel dormitories and mattresses stacked up against the wall like dominos in the day time to create some floor space. Talking of floor, that’s what local house prices for established residents have gone through.
    Welcome to the reality of EU open door immigration, Al Beeb.

    Probably not. I’m sure the usual ‘impartially selected’ audience will be very keen on some other more politically correct or tory bashing topics. Not that I mind the Tory bashing, as long as it comes from the traditional white working class people that still just about make up the town, rather than the usual range of QT imported middle class public sector whingers who think the world owes them a living.

       36 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      They come here because our politically correct police “services” are as much use as a chocolate tea pot. Back where they come from, they get sorted out with PC Stick when they start invading the living space of ordinary people who do weird transgressive stuff like obey the law and pay taxes. We do that too, but the state does not keep its part of the social contract.

      In Britain we have soft police, easy to scam welfare, and rich pickings from crime. I can’t think of a single reason why Roma from Eastern Europe would not want to come here.

      Leave the EU now and send the buggers back!

         45 likes

    • Sluff says:

      For the future record, the above was later verified by one Janice Turner in The Times on Feb 27 2016.

         0 likes

  7. Al Shubtill says:

    Daniel Hannan – awesome.

       16 likes

  8. wronged says:

    I wonder what the audience think we should do about EU member Luxembourg’s low tax level, and how they could possibly change it. They seem to have a parochial view on global taxation.

       7 likes

  9. Sluff says:

    Its a really sad fact that the entitlements culture/politics of envy/world owes me a living mindset of so many residents of these old northern towns, as so amply demonstrated last night, especially by the fat loudmouth woman at the back spitting nails about ‘austerity’, is exactly the reason so many of them are in the state they are. Why would any business want to go there? They don’t, and so to ‘be fair’, governments then feel obliged to populate those areas with national centres of public services. Look at Durham or Newcastle. With these public institutions paying ‘national’ pay levels rather than the local going rate, the private sector is squeezed out and the result is that in the North East something like 60% of the local economy is public sector, and so of course they are affected by ‘cuts’ i.e. when other people’s money runs out. It’s a vicious circle and they just can’t see it. Tragic.
    Meanwhile, southern ‘working class Tory’ places like Basildon, Reading, Stevenage, with more personal responsibility, a bit of aspiration, and a can-do attitude just get on with it. The difference in outcomes is obvious.

       13 likes

  10. Loobyloo says:

    I nearly fell off my chair when Baroness Jones said she was voting out AND against inheritance tax – wow. Just as I was feeling good about that, and enjoying Daniel Hannan and Dia…..I was snuffed out by the young guy with a titanic chip on his shoulder who wants to do away with inheritance tax to even out the playing field….make us all equally poor, so that some don’t have a ‘better start in life’ (ie more money) than others. This attitude depresses me. It’s basically encouraging state theft, and removing incentive to do well in life and provide for your family.

       9 likes

    • Loobyloo says:

      Correction – I meant do away with inheritance (not it’s tax)

         2 likes

      • Sluff says:

        Loobyloo. Agree.
        Surely INEQUALITY is fundamentally a major driving force of societies.
        The desire to improve, to innovate, to do better. How many look for a promotion so they can ‘stay the same’. How many change jobs voluntarily to earn the same or less? We ALL strive to be unequal. The people who whinge are the bBBC marxist intelligentsia and the ‘entitlements’ lobby.
        And the amount of resources we then squander to redress perceptions of inequality is hugely wasteful and inefficient.
        The joke is that the UK is one of the most equal of societies. For true examples of inequality, check out Russia, China, or India.

           10 likes

  11. CranbrookPhil says:

    Just watched on iPlayer. Hannan is brilliant, why don’t intellectual minds like his rise up to be leaders of parties? His sharp incisive thinking & honesty contrasts with the flabby mediocrity running the Conservatives at the moment.

    Oh, & who on earth was the Corbynista on the panel, I thought at first it was Francoise Hollande speaking perfect English with a Welsh accent, his comments were as daft as the French leader as well!

       8 likes

    • Grant says:

      Yes, Hannan is a star. On Youtube watch his demolition of Gordon Brown in the European Parliament. Brown looks very uncomfortable !

         5 likes