• Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 32

Topic: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

I have been quite shocked recently at the treatment of guests on Question Time. I know that the appearance of Nick Griffin was very controversial but after all this is supposed to be a democracy and anyone should have a voice.Dimbleby was very bullying towards him and he scarcely got a word in edgeways.Nigel Farage was on a week or so before NG I think and he was actually called a racist by a member of the audience which was ridiculous. I thought that the panel was pretty unpleasant to him . Last week they had Kilroy Silk on who was treated in much the same way.
What is going on? How come some people are picked out by the establishment for bullying even though everything is so pc and "feelings" seem to be of paramount importance.Talk about witch hunts. It scares me!

  • From: Gloucester, England
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 1,911

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

Well I already aired my views on this subject at TGC but I'll repeat them for sake of discussion. smile

While I do think that the panel, audience and questions were all very unfairly stacked against Nick Griffin that was to be expected because in actuality he has little support and his invitation to QT was a major news story that week so was bound to be discussed on QT itself. As for the treatment he received from the audience, he deserved every bit of it in my opinion. The glee the other panellists had in attacking him and his obvious discomfort was despicable and slightly ironically it was only Sayeeda Warsi and Bonnie Greer that stuck to factual arguments rather than emotional ones.

In my view a lot of evil karma caught up with Nick Griffin that night and regardless of the situation he found himself in, he accepted the invitation with considerable pleasure at having made it big enough to become a panellist and failed to make his points. All that said, he was brave to face such obvious hostility but showed a lack of conviction in his own beliefs.

Alex McKee's Website

  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 32

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

I can't stop going on about it - it really fascinates me.Did you get the impression at all that Nick Griffin did not expect to get on QT?Would that have been more advantageous to him? The UAF were definitely out to stop him (or were they?).
But it also interests me that the treatment received by Nigel Farage and Kilroy Silk was almost equally uncomfortable. They both went on there expecting to be treated like one of the establishment and there was the witch-finder general looking for warts to suckle incubi.
Andrew Neil seems to have neatly side-stepped his biscuit problem!

  • From: Gloucester, England
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 1,911

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

grannynuts wrote:

Andrew Neil seems to have neatly side-stepped his biscuit problem!

Hehe, yes. Did you see what he said on HIGNFY?

Alex McKee's Website

  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 32

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

No I missed that! Was it when he was hosting the programme? What did he say?

  • From: Gloucester, England
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 1,911

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

grannynuts wrote:

No I missed that! Was it when he was hosting the programme? What did he say?

No, he wasn't the guest host but he was a panellist and got quizzed about "biscuit-gate" [video].

Alex McKee's Website

  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 32

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

Drat! The video doesn't play when I press the button. What a shame.

  • From: Gloucester, England
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 1,911

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

That's odd, worked for me last night OK but it isn't working now.

Alex McKee's Website

  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 32

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

Good - at least it wasn't my lack of computer know-how!

  • From: Gloucester, England
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 1,911

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

It's working again.

Alex McKee's Website

  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 32

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

And did you see QT last night. Melanie Phillips was treated very rudely. Mind you I think she writes much better than she speaks.
Oh yes and fantastic Nigel Farage in the EU parlt.Very scarey though. he was just putting forward a view (imo true) about non-elected representation and he was actually upbraided by the (chairman?). Needless to say Nigel gave much better than he got.There's a video of it on UKIP site.
I have now seen the Andrew Niel video. he got out of that quite neatly. Hope it makes him think about just how far things have gone. It's worked out ok for him but that sort of rubbish has destroyed other people.

  • From: Gloucester, England
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 1,911

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

grannynuts wrote:

I have now seen the Andrew Neil video. He got out of that quite neatly. Hope it makes him think about just how far things have gone. It's worked out OK for him but that sort of rubbish has destroyed other people.

Yes, it was surprising how seriously some elements of the media and public took his original biscuit joke, he always introduces them in a fairly daring manner. I suspect it was more a case of a small number of people out to get a skin than any real complaints. Certainly Diane Abbott didn't seem at all phased by it.

Alex McKee's Website

  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 32

Re: Treatment of guests on Question Time.

No she didn't seem upset but I think she should have made it totally clear that she thought it was all a load of nonsense. She kept very quiet though.