Friday 12 December 2008

Unquestionable, Because Frank

Last night's Question Time came from Birkenhead, which has a very well-known and rather outspoken MP, a specialist in this week's most topical field (as it were) of domestic policy. Was he on the panel? No, of course not. Why not? Obviously, because he is a very well-known and rather outspoken MP, a specialist in this week's most topical field of domestic policy. And we can't let people like that on the air. Can we?

7 comments:

  1. It's a long-established QT convention that local MPs are not invited to appear when QT is filmed in their own constituency.

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  2. I bet you'd find plenty of "exceptions" if you looked for them.

    And even if this is true, why? Surely the opposite should be the case? They should get first refusal.

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  3. No, you don't. You can look on the BBC Question Time website.

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  4. I assume at least one reason is that local MP + local audience = high likelihood of the programme getting bogged down in decidedly parochial issues of little interest to the national viewer.

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  5. Quite unlike the BBC's political coverage generally, of course...

    Parochial? It depends which parish.

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  6. Nothing parochial about the Westminster Village.

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  7. Perish the thought.

    Actually, a bit more "parochial" and "provincial" discussion (and why else do they move it around, anyway?) would enable all parts of the country to see how very similar their problems were, and require national politicians and commentators to address those problems.

    All parts, that is, except the Westminster Village. So we can't have that.

    Still, at least they seem to have stopped picking fourth or fifth panellists at random out of David Dimbleby's high society address book. Esther Rantzen may recently have made a pillock of herself, but at least she is a proper journalist, as is Will Self.

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