Thursday 8 April 2010

QT

Last night's programme was no cutie. Question Time is such horrible programming. I don't think that it was just my leanings that made it unwatchable, there seemed to be more placed lefties than normal. When an audience claps actions taken by Gordon Brown then you know something is not quite right. The panel didn't raise the likelihood of quality debate either; Schama the historian was like some mechanical toy activated by being asked a question. He was bouncing around in his seat and waving his arms about as if lack of motion by any part of his body would instantly entail its loss. I would normally find this endearing and the essence of an eccentric Englishman, but as he reeled off long sentences with no content, rambling and directionless, he was a bore. At least with Milliband, D you don't have any expectations, his abilities plainly being extremely limited, and on that front he didn't disappoint. He decided that the Tories not imposing a hike in NI was a 'tax cut' and that meant police officers and teachers will lose their jobs. Not only did he invent that whole scenario, he obviously arrived with the line and was bound to say it (probably more than once) whether it fitted into the debate or not. I appreciate that Labour, with spite in mind, generally cut front line services in a 'well if you wont pay more in tax what do you expect' kind of way, so perhaps that was going to be on their minds and seem reasonable to expect anyone else to do that too. From what I saw before getting too bored, Dimbleby decided the audience, sorry the Labour panellists didn't need his help this week.

Theresa May, well what can you say? I really want her to be a good, strong participant, but she isn't. Skewered by nothing sharper than a comfy chair, Theresa couldn't effectively handle why Chris Grayling had supported B&B owners who had been vilified for objecting to homosexual acts in their house. In acts of possibly deliberate ignorance, the lefts line was that when you set up a business, you don't get to choose and that the law was against them. Well, I think that you will find businesses make many choices (although changes in the current laws may force change) and that 'the law' isn't a manifest good. Unfortunately, as happens so often with PC, the stupid hypocrisy of vague laws causes them to repeatedly crash into each other. The law supporting homosexuality, whilst always given high status was here allowed to trump Human Rights in the form of religious freedom. One 'practising Christian' in the audience said that his faith had no problem with homosexuals, so presumably practising in his case referred to not being fully competent; another 'practising Christian' pointed out the Christian faith has always had a problem with it.

Campbell was an odd sort on this show. Usually dependable, he seemed confused and on at least a couple of occasions found himself spouting Labour rhetoric, until it was pointed out and he attempted to modify his stance. 1 out of ten for turning up I thought. Janet Daly was reliable. Though (for some reason) not asked to contribute that much, it was she who pointed out the clash of PC ideas, but the panel, Dimbleby and the audience it seemed, struggled to understand her point. 'Yes, but opposing homosexuality is against the law' she was told.

So, as expected, political 'debate' during an open election campaign is basically pointless.

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