Thursday 8 July 2010

Question Time.


David Dimbleby is joined in Edinburgh by Lord Forsyth, Michael Moore MP, Douglas Alexander MP, Nicola Sturgeon MSP and Ed Byrne.

Usual rules.
Winner gets to choose James Corden's next comedy vehicle once his world cup show ends.


Q1. Gove schools apology.
Q2. Al Megrahi still alive
Q3. Raul Moat and the police response
Q4. Afghanistan troops 'withdrawl' not a retreat.
Q5. Graduates. 2:1 is the new 3rd.

Andy Murray if time...

13 comments:

Budgie said...

1. Will Scotland hand back what is now SE & SW Scotland stolen from England?
2. Mass murderers (well, citizen mass murderers, not TB)?
3. Compensation for torture/rendition?
4. To AV or not to AV?
5. Battle of the memoirs - Mandleslime vs Bliar?
6. Wicked Tory cuts and reduced redundancy pay?

Andrew B said...

gove schools

av

stop and search

why do mass murderers seem to grow in small market towns in rural areas

pensions - how dare they...

Miss CD said...

1. Gove and school buildings
2. Man hides in woods
3. Extradition treaty and terrorists
4. Stop and search
5. Iraq war enquiry
6. Pension changes.

Nick Drew said...

flushed with my unwonted triumph of a fortnight ago, and back from my week off enjoying the prize ...

1. should the police be armed at all times (if only to despatch Little Bercow on sight)
2a. is Wee Cleggie trying to gerrymander the Westminster constituencies in his nasty little AV bill; and 2b. would Wee Dougie care to opine on the West Lothian Questions ?
3. Tony Blair = War Criminal ?
4. Baron Prescott of Smack-in-the-Chops = hypocrite ?
5. civil service pensions, redundancy payments etc

bonus topic:
should teachers be allowed to remain anonymous while thrashing their little charges ? (and, since we are north of the border - bring back the tawse!)

Bill Quango MP said...

Q1. What mandate does the LibCon coalition have to make cuts? Only 17% voted Tory.

Not sure that that question would ever get through in England where Labour lost control of every county council in 2009, and had just 23% of the vote, in third place.
However.. Sturgeon blames Tory,Lib and Labour, and thinks axing Trident clears the debt and restores the countries finances. Moore blames Labour, Snp, Alexander blames Lib, Con and SNP and denies there is a problem. Ed Byrne is that rarest of rare things..a left wing comedian! Who'd a thought?
Michael Forsyth does well to make 'the debt' sound not an option but a problem. Reminds the nation of Iceland's problems and punches Alexander's fantasy that Labour reduced the debt.

Audience member highlights the issue for real people. Thats going to be the problem for the coalition. Labour eventually went spending mad partly because of negative polling from the public that "nothing is being done"
Another tries to skewer Forsyth, but he does well again. Michael Moore is greater trouble over joining up with the Tories.

Q2: Gove question.
EB thinks Trident axe will solve everything. MF asked about backbench revolt, he doesn't know. Dimbleby points out that education in Scotland is handled by the SNP and doesn't apply. NS does point out that the schools announcement was farcical, which it was.
DA is also right tat MPs were furious. MPs love school buildings and hate schools cuts. Gordon Brown spent almost his total PM life visiting schools for PR purposes.Children, mums,and lovely visible spending.. Dave won't be able to visit any schools for a long time.
Lib Dems in Scotland under attack again. No one likes cuts.. MM does OK'ish. In 6 months time coalition ministers are going to have real problems coming on this show.

Q3. Official enquiry into Al Megrahi. MF -yes. NS - no, predictably. {I always feel she maintains credibility as a politician. She manages to make the indefensible sound plausible.} Danny Alexander is far less believable with an easier to defend position. 'It was just a Scottish Nationalist decision.. not Labour's..' One of Gordon's worst Macavity moments. Led to him being abandoned by Obama.
EB thinks an enquiry is needed.

Q4. Is the British withdrawal a retreat. MF doesn't answer. Shame, he has done well up to now.
DA defends the old NewLabour's position of war as necessary. Expect Labour to U-turn on this with a new leader and become anti war. EB answers well.
MM says much the same, but less well. NS doesn't get sucked into a private conspiracy theory. Soldier says government should sent someone to Wooton Basset. Good point. LibCon could have done that day one. Easy PR, shows Labour as fearful of its citizens. But maybe its wiser not to. Playing politics with peoples grief.

Q5. AV vote at same time as local elections. {I thought this might come up but didn't add it as I don't understand the problem.}

NS explains the problem...which I still don't think is a problem.
MM.. says same ..
MF..look at all the alternatives to voting.4 different systems in place in Scotland. He's right of course.
EB.. practical answer, faily amusing too.
DA.. shouldn't happen.{he gets the applause..and I still don't get it? As Dimby says, in other countries it isn't an issue.}

Winners..
BQ - 3
Budgie - 3 {possibly another 1/2 for mass murderers. Is this a war question?}
Andrew B - 1. no pensions question. Odd that.
Miss CD -2
Nick Drew good guesses, but only 2.

Winner is Budgie who needs to find something for the Gavin and Stacey man to appear in. Its a tough job. So far all attempts to find a use for his 'talent' have failed really badly.

{Just seen Miliband on TW. Someone bought me a cheap Action Man once. GI Jim R+R figure. Came with a surfboard and open necked casual shirt. No gripping hands or moving eyes and painted on hair.

Looked exactly like Dave Miliband.}

Anonymous said...

And why is Ed Byrne on QT at all?

Would a right leaning English comedian find a welcome on an RTE version of QT?

True, EB lives in the UK, does that mean he now regards himself as British? I'll bet he doesnt.

Irish people often complain about the British appropriating Irish figures as their own, but funnily enough one never hears these complaints in cases such as Ed Byrnes and Dara Ó Briain*. On shows such as QT, Mock the Week and HIGNFY they get to insert themselves, albeit in a very minor way, into British political life.

I'll say it again, do British comedians of a conservative (or otherwise) bent get the same exposure politically orientated shows in Ireland. I suspect not.

*And dont get me started on the shameful deployment of Bonnie Greer on QT when Nick Griffin was on. Wtf? How dare the BBC pull such a cheap stunt. Bastards.

Nick Drew said...

ah well, back to last place, my comfort zone

you are right abt Banana-Boy, BQ

after Brillo's assault on Abbott, we should have had another quiz - what skewer is he going to insert in his next leadership-candidate interviewee ?

and wasn't Mili brazen ?! I would put money on him having been schooled for that interview specifically and at length by Mandy

Irish people often complain about the British appropriating Irish figures as their own - well maybe, anon, but it's the great trick of the Irish that they appropriate all the bits they want from the whole of the UK, all the time, in a very open & cosmopolitan manner - soccer, rugby, horse-racing, television as a whole (fair enough, who'd watch their rubbish TV?), jobs etc etc - when you're in Ireland (see RyanAir story below ...) they talk about events across the whole British Isles in everyday conversation as if they own the lot: I'll bet Mr Moat is getting as much coverage in Limerick as in London

makes the average UK pub conversation very parochial & ignorant

Budgie said...

What is "Gavin and Stacey"? Anyway I think I only got two - AV and 'cuts'. So I will magnanimously hand "Gavin and Stacey" on to BQ.

Bill Quango MP said...

Gavin and Stacey was the BBC's flagship show that they use to justify BBC 3. The reason for the shows success is that it appeals to a wide spectrum, so why it was on BBC3 in the first place is a mystery.

The show had an exceptionally strong cast, featuring James Corden, who has gone on to star in one terrible program after another, culminating in James Corden's world cup live, which must be in line for an award for the most ill conceived, ill produced television program ever made. And that list includes such powerful contenders as Triangle,Davina and Love Thy Neighbour.

Sometimes your eccentricity in not having a television seems like a real blessing Budgie.

I nominate JC to play the part of Peter Kay in a new C4 docudrama about life in Bolton.

hovis said...

O/T @Bill Quango: Not having a TV is sense rather than an eccentricity - I dont miss it - besides the internet is the new (interactive) idiot lantern.

Eugene said...

"Would a right leaning English comedian find a welcome on an RTE version of QT?

True, EB lives in the UK, does that mean he now regards himself as British? I'll bet he doesnt."

The RTE version of QT ( Questions and Answers) has non-Irish residents all the time. Most of these kind of shows do. One of Ireland's most famous comedians is an American now resident in ireland, who has citizenship now I think. Ambassadors show up all the time. As they do on QT. Grow a brain.

Ed Byrne presumably doesnt see himself as British. That is irrelevant to QT since he can vote in the UK.

rabble rabble rabble!!!

Anonymous said...

I see that RTE's Q & A is no longer.

Ed Byrne presumably doesnt see himself as British. That is irrelevant to QT since he can vote in the UK.

Either thats your opinion or it's part of the stated criteria for QT panelists.

That doesnt make it an ideal to live up to.

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