Thursday 30 May 2013

Question Time: No time for a holiday edition.

On the panel in London are Conservative health minister Anna 'mini majority' Soubry MP.
 Labour's former home secretary Alan ' people say I would have made a good PM..but never offer any evidence for this' Johnson MP.
 UKIP prospective candidate for European Parliament Diane 'waiting for Portsmouth' James.
 Political undertaker director of the Huffington Post Mehdi Hasan,
 and Julian Fellowes, the writer and creator of Downton Abbey.
{which has gone downhill like a Spanish economy..Sort it out Julian! And stop killing off the characters during weddings and births..its not supposed to be like Eastenders..}

Dimbletie - Blue and red

BQ thinks
1. Terror and snooping. Should we all put our IT bids in for tender? Its never ever going to work.But we could clean up for ten years before its scrapped.
2. Outside shot for the EHIC to make an appearance..but i can't think of much this week.
3. UK court decision over migrant benefits. {are the EU trying to actually force us to leave the club?}
4. Syria and arms supplies. Don't do it Billy. 
5. PM on holiday. So what? I mean really..so what? What would he be doing here? going on raids with MI5 and the Met? Shows just how much support Dave has lost as the SUN was the most angry at his holiday.

 This tournament is sponsored by 

Timbo 614
  
Week 18

DtP 135
Measured 123
 BQ(MP) 118
Timbo614 117

  ND 106
GSD 100
 
 Budgie 96 
 Hopper 91

Malcolm Tucker 83
Blue Eyes 70
 kynon 66
 Botogol 65

Taff -56
CU 50
Idle 48

Sackerson - 11
 Andrew -13

James Higham - 7 
EK -6
anon - 3
 Phil5 - 2

23 comments:

DtP said...

Whey hey hey

Dimbletie - a green affair.

1) A&E crisis - I only went in with a poorly finger and now i'm dead - whoops.

2) Is the government right to restrict certain benefits to certain EU migrants or is it all hideously unfair?

3) Should we arm the Syrians as they're such good eggs and aren't mad bastard fruitcakes at all, oh no, perish the thought.

4) How can the Prevent strategy work?

5) How can Dave possibly leave us leaderless, rudderless, yearning for his cool and reasoned patronage at a time when bugger all's going on, really?

Toughie this week.

Good luck folks.

Blue Eyes said...

DAMN AND BLAST IT!

Tie: Downton Brown.

1) SHOULD BRITAIN ARM THE SYRIAN REBELS? / WILL BRITAIN NEVER LEARN?

2) With the polls showing that there are now four minor political parties in the UK, is it time for red-blooded PR in Britain?

3) Is Clegg a worse man to have with his finger on the nuclear button than John Prescott was?

4) EU migrants and benefits. Should the UK roll over or tell Brussels to shove it?

5) No fifth question.

Congratulations to DtP for getting in first.

gsd said...

Hi all.

1) EU taking legal action over UK's migrant benefit tests.

2) Uk & France wanting to arm Syrian al-Qaeda linked rebels. (Really? After last week's murder? - way to go Dave...). Now that the Russian missiles have arrived, are Cameron & Hollande left looking strong or really, really stupid?

3) Proposed Salford chip ban - sensible or too nanny-state?

4) Emergency care crisis - how's this going to end then? And Labour are stirring the pot with some figures saying ambulance turn-aways have increased by 24%.

5) The (government backed) Mary Portas initiative appears to have hit troubled waters - is there any hope left for the high-street?

Dibbletie = pink.

CityUnslicker said...

1. Arming Al Qaeda is Syria, I have seen this film, it has a nasty ending.

2. End of the high street.

3. Ed is less popular than Gordon (but still not a TORY)

4. the bbc is biased, what are we going to do about it (OK this ia bit of a hopeful entry, but it would be fund would'nt it?)

Taff said...

Think there will be 5 tonight with a wide range of thought-provoking topics from the metropolitan elite to show off their intellectual superiority to the unwashed in the provinces.


1. Does our foreign policy exacerbate the threat from extremists? Does Willie know what he is doing or is he just a useful idiot.

2. With Eurozone youth unemployment at record levels , is the PM's holiday good for the Spanish Economy. Should he do more and stay there?

3. Would the current cabinet make it as characters in Downtown Abbey or are they not posh enough?

4. Is it OK to route HS2 through the Green Belt?

5. UKIP failed in Eastleigh. Is this a portent to the future? Are they doomed only to make progress in AV elections such as EU 2014?

Tie: Black with purple motif.

Oh, just remembered it is half-term so no elite tonight.

Taff

Nick Drew said...

Dimbletie - pinko

1) Should bail-wallahs and Afghans be charged a bit more expeditiously?
2) Should all surgery be done on Mondays?
3) Any sign of proper strategy for Syria? (I think we know the answer...)
4) The benefits-test thingy
5) Any real doubts that some people are actually evil?

measured said...

Evenin' all.

1. Child porn on the net which may widen onto "should we let them snoop".

2. Well, you can get benefits in other European countries if you could understand the language. The EU just wants to raise some cash; fine 'em.

3. NHS, other department cuts and back door privatisation. We haven't said that. Yes, you have. No, we haven't. Back to dodgy statistics.

4. Extremists in Syria and sending in arms. What could possibly go wrong?

5. Class. Does it matter? Only when the lower classes with a little bit of authority, like British Airways staff, start picking on you, BQ.


Tie: A Bailey's burgundy and cream.

Timbo614 said...

Evenin' A slow news week that's for sure.

1) Austerity U-Turn by the Troika, Is keynes to be vindicated again? Should we vote in Millipede to spend, spend spend!

2) Immigrant benefits E.U. Says Yes, The populace says No! Shall we let the courts(it'll take years) or UKIP decide?

3) Payday Loan companies are out of control shall we ban them, like now!

4) Selling off the courts system - how do we ensure impartiality in scheduling etc. Who is going to take the Court owners to court for bad service?

5) Arms and Syria, not sure exactly what the question will be. Do we let the ruskies have all the profits or join in?

Timbo614 said...

ooh - the Tie - Kaleidoscope colour, a tie of many colours!

Budgie said...

1. Coldest spring for 50 years - is this due to global warming? Where are the warm, wet winters and hot dry summers predicted by the CAGWites? Is Thatcher to blame?

2. EU Commission takes UK to court (hmmm, the Commission - how democratic is that? Not very says Diane). Migrants of the EU, unite - you have only your benefits to lose. Spain in the same (nearly) boat. Who runs Britain? O'barmy?

3. How soon will Call-me-Dave embroil us in Syria? Ans: very soon if he could get away with it. Will we end up fighting the Russians as well as the Syrians, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, the Afghans, the Argies (who they?), the Iraqis, Uncle Tom Cobbleigh, the EU Commission, the catastrophic global warming deniers, and Mrs Thatcher's zombie? And why leave out the French, Dave?

4. Mary Rose off the sea bed. A modern (in 1511) cutting edge weapon of war built in one year only. Was King Henry 8's MoD rather better than our own?

5. Lee Rigby's murder suspect charged. Could he have been stopped? Will Boy Cameron use it as an excuse to snoop on us all?

Malcolm Tucker said...

Aww - nuts!

Bill Quango MP said...

First Q in advance - After slaughter of Lee Rigby, should UK adopt "Big Brother" approach to surveillance of all communication forms?

Q2: Would we see fewer terrorist attacks in UK if we didn't invade or support the invasion other countries?

Q3: Is arming the Syrian rebels in our national interest? {same question really ..waste}

Q4: Does the fact that patients are more likely to die on weekends portray NHS’s gradual deterioration?

Q5: Does EU Commission’s position on UK benefits policy mean it’s finally time to get out of the EU?

So.. a fairly good crop

Dimbytie was red and blue

Bill Quango MP said...

Scores : and no Dave on hols question. Odd they left that out.

Dtp - 10 + 1 for first = 11

BE - 6

gsd - 9 {just come from another Portas meet tonight. They are getting ever more pointless. And its not really her fault.}

CU - 3 {is the BBC biased? What were you thinking!}

Taff - 3 + 1 for the 'stay there'.
Private eye had a superb parody piece called Downturn Abbey. Just brilliant.

ND - 6

Measured - 11

Timbo614 - 6

Budgie - 8
{I only very, very recently discovered that the Mary Rose was sunk in battle. I thought it just tipped over. Turns out some of the most revealing treasures were among the common sailor's possessions. They were wealthier than we had ever thought. And they were the poorest. }

Malcolm Tucker - one point for showing up -1

BQ 9 + a 100% Dimbytie = 14

Winner is ..me
Yeah!

Assurance info said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
assurance auto said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Taff said...

@Bill

Re: Mary Rose. You may be thinking of the Vasa in Stockholm. Sank on launch having travelled only a mile.

One of the reasons given was too many design changes - which links to "Great software disasters" earlier this week

http://www.modelships.de/Wasa/VASA_eng.htm

DtP said...

Hurray! Bravo!

Kynon said...

There was a QT this week? Oh well...

Bill Quango MP said...

kynon! What are you like.
its a long-long season.

If you remind i'll award you the 'just checkin' in like' extra point next week.

Taff - No ..It was the Henry VIII Mary Rose.
Its still a bit of a mystery why it sank with almost all hands.. Certainly a poor design.
But it does seem at least possible that a canon ball at almost extreme range struck the steering ropes or breached the hull and caused an out of control lurch and then the falling over and rapid flooding.
King Henry VIII was on the shore watching the whole thing, along with all the court.

The French had already invaded and were ashore on the IOW and Sussex coast.

The whole battle is a bit strange. The french fleet, having just sunk the English flag ship, and having secured footholds on the isle of wight and in Sussex with their invasion fleet, then buggered off.

What I find remarkable is every schoolchild does 'the Tudors.'
I did them myself.
Yet we still are taught no army has landed on our shores since 1066.
The battle of the Solent is never mentioned.
I had never heard of it until i read it in a historical fiction novel and found out it was true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Solent

Bill Quango MP said...

And on the Wiki page they do mention a scale model link.
And the Vasa { your link} seems to have had almost identical faults to the Mary rose.

1. Too many design changes during building were made. The VASA was probably laid down as a "small" ship and completed as a "large" ship, with two gun decks instead of only one as originally planned.
2. The shipbuilding master Henrik Hybertsson became serously ill and died a year before the ship was completed. During his illness he had to delegate the supervision of the project to his assistant Hein Jacobsson. As a result the leadership on the shipbuilding side was very weak. Jacobsson had not even been informed that a stability test carried out in Admiral Klas Fleming’s presence hat indicated that the VASA was unstable.
3. By far too little ballast (only about half of the weight needed, as turned out when investigating the wreckage) had been put into the ship. That was ordered by Admiral Fleming, who resented more ballast, as this would have brought the lower line of gun ports too close to the water, and the military usability of the ship would have been hampered.

I think the real reason for both ships sinking is as you suppose.

It seems Tudor era naval architects suddenly found themselves involved with royal court appointed project managers. A group of finance directors from the Medici Usury sector. The Hanseatic League's demands to ensure multi use platforms.
And the Swiss Mercenaries desire for tougher security protocols.

oh..and harsh, unnecessary coalition budget cuts.

Blue Eyes said...

Brilliant!

James Higham said...

Going to have to get off that 7 soon.

Agence communication said...

""" On the panel in London are Conservative health minister Anna 'mini majority' Soubry MP.
Labour's former home secretary Alan ' people say I would have made a good PM..but never offer any evidence for this' Johnson MP.
UKIP prospective candidate for European Parliament Diane 'waiting for Portsmouth' James.
Political undertaker director of the Huffington Post Mehdi Hasan,
and Julian Fellowes, the writer and creator of Downton Abbey.
{which has gone downhill like a Spanish economy..Sort it out Julian! And stop killing off the characters during weddings and births..its not supposed to be like Eastenders..}

Dimbletie - Blue and red """