'Question Time'

How many Cutting Edge boarders watched QT last night?   If you missed it because of being fed up with watching QT or because of work commitments you missed a great programme. Who made it great? I am sorry to say it was not the Labour MP (Mary Creagh) but Mr Russell Brand. he took on Farage of Ukip and Penny Mordaunt (Tory). Russell told the people in the audience and those watching on TV the TRUTH about what the Tories and Ukip really stand for.

It was good to see Farage and Mordaunt squirming in their seats. If you did miss it, do not despair because it is repeated on Sunday on the Parliament channel at 6.00pm. I will be watching it again on Sunday, I wouldn't miss a second chance to see it.

I stopped watching ‘Question Time’ about two years ago. I loathe the smug Bullingdon boy David Dimbleby, and the way he invariably interrupts or cuts off left-wingers and usually allows a Tory to have the last word. The panel is often loaded against the left, and even the journalists are more likely to come from Tory tabloids than more serious newspapers. Business people invited on to the panel far outnumber representatives of the 6.5 million trade unionists in the UK.

Having said that, I often follow the comments made on Twitter as the programme progresses. I gather that last night there was trouble in the audience, most of which was off-camera. The phrase which Russell Brand used to describe Farage – “a pound shop Enoch Powell” – was brilliant and could well stick. Farage and his fellow loonies are more likely to worry about a puddle caused by ‘gay weather’ than any ‘rivers of blood’.  

There's an article about last night's programme here, and it includes six snippets which you can watch:-

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/12/what-happened-when-nigel-farage-and-russell-brand-were-question-time-together

And then there's this:-

Question Time: Russell Brand's angry challenger is UKIP MEP's brother

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/question-time-russell-brands-angry-4798872

New Statesman article is very good, and thanks for posting it - also the Daily Mirror article showing the 'angry challenger' is in fact the brother of an MEP - was obvious that his intervention was staged - nice to have the corroboration.

I find myself increasingly in sympathy with Russell Brand, who I've always rather regarded as an airhead - but the 'don't vote' thing is very dangerous

Hi IVAN I know how you feel I have been becoming more like putting my foot through my TV while watching QT so I do understand why you have stopped watching it.   But I knew that Farage & Brand would cause sparks,

I heard about Russell Brand being asked why did he not stand for Parliament but it was not until I watched the paper review that I discovered he was the brother of a Ukip MEP.   I also learned about Russell calling Farage a pound shop Enoch Powell. Here is something you and the rest of boarders might not know about twenty years ago that Farage had approached Enoch Powell to DEFECT to Ukip, little did Russell know what he said was very true.

I will be re-watching again on Sunday I hope you do too Ivan I would like to know your opinion but I now know why Farage was squirming in his seat.

Redflag. Yes, Farage asked Enoch Powell in 1994 to endorse UKIP, presumably to give the party (which had only been formed by Alan Sked a year before) some credibility with the racists and bigots who admired him. Powell, who was 82 at the time, refused. On two subsequent occasions, UKIP asked Powell to stand as a candidate, but both requests were denied. Powell died in 1998.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/13/nigel-farage-enoch-powell-endorsement-russell-brand

Apparently Brand and Farage continued to trade insults after the programme. Farage said that Brand was “a messiah with a feet of clay” and the “sometime comedian turned banker-basher”. Brand has called Farage an "an end of the pier, end of the road, end of days politician". He said Farage was "worse than stagnant, he is a tribute act, he is a nostalgic spasm for a Britain that never was; an infinite cricket green with no-one from the colonies to raise the game, grammar schools on every corner and shamed women breastfeeding under giant parasols".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30450281

I’ve watched the six ‘New Statesman’ snippets from the programme, but I won’t watch all of it. And by the way, you never have to wait until Sunday to see the repeat of ‘Question Time’, you can watch previous episodes here:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t1q9

Mother who voted for the Tories after they promised not to cut tax credits now feels angry!  

The BBC had this video removed on the grounds of 'copyright infringement':-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9NPF1iXBjw

It would be easy to say "serves her right for voting Tory", or "how could anyone be so naïve as to believe anything Cameron says, with his track record of lies and broken promises since 2010?". However, that's not the right response. Firstly, we must remember all those people who didn't vote Tory but who are also losing their tax credits. And secondly, instead of castigating disillusioned Tory voters, we ought to be engaging with them and offering them a better alternative. Perhaps we should say: "Sorry the Tories treated you like that, we won't".

I did feel for her - and really hope next time she votes she will remember what the party actually stands for.

Sadly, most people will not think about politics until disadvantaged in this way - we vote in line with our basic beliefs and assume the party we are voting for shares all of them

Many, many people are taken in by the Tories' claim to be the party standing up for working people as against 'people on welfare' - not realising that we nearly all, except the super-rich, depend on some form of 'welfare' to live our lives.

That poor lady has just realised that she belongs in the large and increasing group of people that our masters in government despise - and the realisation has been painful for her.

Hopefully not to be forgotten in 4½ years time.

Job 4:8 , “As I have observed, those who plough evil and those who sow trouble reap it.”

Last nights Question Time..........

BBC Question Time Audience Member Accuses The Sun's Stig Abell Of Hypocrisy Over Jeremy Corbyn

A BBC Question Time audience member has torn apart the managing editor of The Sun's over the tabloid's coverage of Jeremy Corbyn's bow on Remembrance Sunday, accusing the newspaper of gross hypocrisy.

In a segment discussing The Sun's reporting of the incident, a lady in red compared the respect shown by the Labour leader and the respect shown by the paper for "scantily clad dressed women".

She began by addressing her question to Sun man Stig Abell...

She then went on to highlight what was opposite The Sun's coverage admonishing Corbyn for not showing enough respect for Britain's war dead.

Her comments drew an enthusiastic round of applause from the audience and kudos from people watching at home.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/12/bbc-question-time-audienc_0_n_8549018.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Yet another example of BBC 'impartiality'.........  


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYnvbEVWcAEFFfY.png

She has a point

Why audience manipulation on BBC 'Question Time' is an assault on truth and journalism

From an article by Mike Small:-

"In a year of momentous fakery – from a Brexit campaign built on lies and half-truths to Nigel Farage’s race-hate immigration poster and Donald Trump’s post-truth US presidential election victory – this week saw new levels of distortion in the British media.

The latest twist came when it emerged that the audience producer – a job-title with more than a whiff of Orwell about it – for the BBC’s 'Question Time' had been sharing posts by far-right groups and had in the past claimed responsibility for putting a loud-mouthed unionist in the crowd during an edition of the show on the issue of Scottish independence. The concern is that Alison Fuller Pedley was allowing her political beliefs to influence her professional life. The issue kicked-off when it was noticed that Fuller Pedley was sharing Britain First posts on social media. She also liked a page called British Patriotic Front. Both Facebook pages carry extreme racist and ultra-British nationalist content.

In a year when Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered; in a year when Gina Miller was threatened and abused for bringing the legal case against Brexit to the courts; and in a year when the judges hearing that same case were vilified and MPs labelled traitors for voting against leaving Europe, to have someone in a such a high-profile position influencing the nation’s view of itself is extremely serious. The political debate has never been more toxic and the existence of fake news has shifted from the corners of conspiracy theory to the front page. In light of all that, the conduct of the BBC in this instance is frankly disgraceful."

http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14959179.Why_audience_manipulation_on_BBC_Question_Time_is_an_assault_on_truth_and_journalism/

'Question Time' is quickly losing all credibility - except, that is, with the right-leaning elements of the audience

Someone else noticed. Four years ago.

(You may want to look up the Dictionary definition of "sacralised", as I did.)

http://www.newstatesman.com/broadcast/2012/11/there-bias-bbc-question-time

Nigel Farage is not ‘controversial’ – he is toxic. Why do we keep giving him airtime?

From an article by Nesrine Malik:-

"It is sinister how ever-present Farage has become in the public domain. His constant appearances are uncorrelated to incident or relevance. Impervious to plane crashes, seven failed attempts at election to Parliament, and even his own resignations, Farage bellows from every medium about how Britain is intolerant of his views and how he receives so little airtime compared with mainstream politicians who are constantly muzzling him and muscling him off his podium.

Over the past decade, Farage has appeared on ‘Question Time’ 31 times. His most recent appearance was a testament to how Farage is now television’s default resident troll. The EU referendum is concluded, his party has elected a new leader, and his MEP role, never one he took that seriously in the first place, is now reduced to trolling Brussels with British flag gimmicks, metaphorically sticking two fingers up to the Parliament, and securing about £85,000 a year for the privilege.

In his grand capacity as ex-UKIP leader and current MEP, Farage appeared on ‘Question Time’ under a new guise, Trumpsplainer to the British. Just when we thought Farage had reached the end of the line, Trump gets elected and Nigel, as the panel of relevance swings shut, wedges his foot behind the door and forces it wide open, basking in the golden light of the Trump Tower lift. Opportunism abhors a vacuum and Farage will fill it. And the media will not only indulge him, they will confect and contort to position him in the spotlight. From the BBC to LBC, the future is Farage for ever, irrespective of his achievements or tangible relation to events."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/11/nigel-farage-not-controversial-toxic-why-give-airtime-question-time

Of course QT is rigged. Can you see someone like Dimbleby ever advocating Socialism? It is his show, for a company which is part of the official Establishment.

As we can't take our business elsewhere, the only moral course is to ignore it, allowing them to continue preaching to the converted. I well remember being invited to a local inaugurating branch meeting of the CCPR (now UK Sport) to find the "top table" already stuffed with local councillors, in no mood to allow any actual sportsmen to intervene.

Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's.