Question Time 17th October 2024
The Panel:
Douglas Alexander (Labour)
Damian Green (Conservative)
Steve Rigby (Businessman)
Konstantin Kisin (Podcast Host and Author)
Ash Sarkar (Political Commentator)
Venue: Rotherham
We can vote them out but we can’t get rid of them. Although no longer an MP, grammar school boy (Reading School) Damian Green, a PPE graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, appears on tonight’s QT representing the Conservative Party.
A parliamentary expenses scandal thief with a taxpayer-subsidised property in Acton despite his constituency being only 45 minutes from Parliament, Mr Green worked in journalism at the BBC, Channel Four and The Times before becoming MP for Ashford in 1997.
Besides ‘expenses’, the 68-year-old also took part in the Westminster sewer’s MeToo scandal. A Miss Kate Maltby, daughter of friends of the former MP, complained The Right Honourable Green sent her an unsolicited message admiring her corset and inviting her for a drink. Subsequently, ‘allies’ of Mr Green tried to smear her via fake text messages passed to a newspaper.
In a similar vein, thousands of pornographic photographs were found on his parliamentary computer during an investigation into leaked documents. Having lied about the presence of the images, he was sacked from Mrs May’s Cabinet. At the July general election, Mr Green’s share of the vote dropped by 30% with Kerala-born Sojan Joseph taking the seat with a 9% swing to Labour.
Douglas Alexander has been on Question Time a whopping 23 times and made his first appearance in 2003. However, his most recent gig was in 2015 when his fellow panellists included Liz Truss and Vince Cable. In a measure of how stale the programme has become, the other two guests were current QT regulars, Caroline Lucas and Tim Stanley.
A rising star in the Blair and Brown administrations, the reason for Douglas’s decade-long pause from Question Time is because of the loss of his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat in the SNP landslide of 2015. Now returned to parliament as the Labour MP for Lothian East, while away from Westminster and Question Time, Mr Douglas pursued a career in academia and with BBC Radio.
The son of a doctor and a Church of Scotland minister, the 56-year-old is a graduate in politics and modern history from the University of Edinburgh. Furthermore, he is the great-nephew of ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ hymnwriter Cecil Frances Alexander.
Another expenses thief, during the parliamentary scandal, the Daily Telegraph shone a bright light on Douglas and revealed he spent over £30,000 of your beautiful money renovating his constituency home. A carefully worded retraction, when forced to pay back £12,600, might suggest to a cynic the said property was then rented out.
Not to worry, what we can say with certainty is following a fire, Mr Alexander claimed £2,000 from the taxpayer for ‘being under-insured.’ Douglas also charged you for adverts to publicise his election campaign – monies that should have come from Labour Party funds. All together, the present Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security ‘quietly repaid’ more than £50,000 in over-claimed expenses.
As proof the apple seldom falls far from its sister, sibling ‘wise and wonderful’ Wendy Alexander quit as Leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament after failing to declare £8,000 of donations. Some of these were ruled illegal by the Holyrood Standards Commissioner as they originated from a tax haven-based businessman.
On his website, Steve Rigby suggests himself a ‘philanthropist’. He also suggests himself a ‘sir’ by prefacing his name with his initials separated by a grey line. *cringe*. Fortunately for Steve, philanthropy begins at home with both himself and his brother being directors of his father’s family company, Rigby Group.
A proper knight of the realm, Sir Peter Rigby founded the company in 1975 following a career in big computing. Besides Sir Peter, ‘Sir’ Steve and brother James, according to Companies House but not to the company’s annual report, mother Patricia is also on the board of Rigby Group, as well as 22 other associated family companies.
Puffins will be pleased to read that in the 2023 financial year, the directors paid themselves £2.5 million and declared a dividend of £11.7 million. It being a family business, the £11.7 million also goes to the Rigbys. According to the financial services website Pomanda, the two biggest shareholders are Sir Peter and Steve who each hold 29% of the stock.
Man of the people Steve was educated privately at Wylde Green College for Boys which closed in 2001. An interview with Luxury London reveals that, not being academic, he went straight from school to the family firm. Steve divides his time between the Cotswolds and Mayfair’s Dover Street where a modest flat will set you back £2.5million. A father of three, hobbies include racing cars and playing polo, with a son representing England at the sport.
Last week we donned stab vests to look around Philadelphia on Street View, this time we tiptoe along the narrow pavements of Dover Street taking care not to be squashed by a stretched Bentley or a two-ton BMW runabout.
Grammar girl and Puffin’s favourite Ash ‘the tasche’ Sarkar was educated at Latymer School, Edmonton, North London, and holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in English literature from Univesity College London. A metropolitan champaign Communist, Bangladeshi Ms Sarkar is a Mohammedan of an Islamic inclination and a ‘senior editor’ with Novara Media. Hmm.
Reference to today’s Novara front page suggests Ms Sarkar has a bit more editing to do. Under the headline ‘Gary and Jack Lubner Apology’ Ms Sarkar’s organ retracts ‘The TRUTH About Labour’s Pro-Israel Mega-Donor.’ Hmmm.
According to the publication Ms Sarkar seniorly edits, a Novaro video, ‘claimed without any evidence that Gary Lubner was an apartheid profiteer and falsely alleged that Gary and Jack Lubner have close ties to and are supportive of the Israeli Government. We wish to make clear that the allegations within the video against Gary and Jack Lubner were false and based upon a single unreliable article. We failed in our duties in publishing these false allegations.’
Hahahahahahahahahaha.
The gushing apology is embarrassing even by libel lawyers have ’em by the testicles standards. It informs the reader, contrary to what they might have been previously told, the Lubners are not lobbyists for the Israeli government. Also, they are philanthropists, acquaintances of the late Nelson Mandela and contribute to numerous human rights organisations.
In conclusion, ‘We once again apologise to the Lubner family for publishing these defamatory allegations and, in recognition of this, we have made a sizeable charitable donation to World Central Kitchen and Community Security Trust in their name.’
Why should we believe a word Ms Sarkar says?
Konstantin Kisin is a Russian comedian and podcaster who sprung to prominence after being invited to sign a loony woke contract before being allowed to perform his comedy act at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
Having refused to put pen to paper, the subsequent cancelling and no-platforming launched his career as a stand-up comedian, panellist and pundit.
Born on Christmas Day 1982, his self-defined biography doesn’t make sense. A previous QT Review HQ inquiry into the ‘horrors of his childhood in the Soviet Union’ can be read here.
What we can say with certainty is Mr Konstantin’s previous employment was as a law, finance and business translator. Clients included the oligarchs at Mines to Mines and more oligarchs at scandal-hit oil and gas company YUKOS (and their oligarch litigants).
His advertised services included Russian ‘banking reports, statements, loan agreements, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development documentation, World Bank reports, contracts and deals, news and financial analysis, business-to-business correspondence, insurance, investment banking, tender documentation, risk management, macro-economic reports and analysis.’
***
The first question was about the budget, especially regarding the amount of money the government intends to spend and how they will raise it. Douglas laid the ‘black hole’ and the ‘Liz Truss trashed the economy’ cards. Reports of disagreements within the Cabinet are a ‘non-story’.
Damian said the government are making up the budget deficit black hole numbers and will raise taxes simply because that’s what Labour governments do. Growth will not be promoted by talking down the economy and raising taxes!
A loon in the audience said taxing us to death is ‘progressive’. Another loon clapped him.
Steve put the budget deficit at £87 billion, so taxes should be raised while the mix of tax and spend is adjusted. La Bruce asked him about workers’ rights, which he thought were sensible apart from abolishing probation. About 20% of new employees fail their probation, often because of non-attendance.
Another nut in the audience, a member of the youth parliament no less, said he was only 16 so he doesn’t pay any tax. Well, yes you do, son, amongst other things on everything you buy that isn’t zero-rated for VAT.
Ash the Tache was in favour of taxing wealth rather than income. You first, love. La Bruce was unimpressed, it hasn’t worked anywhere else. £30,000 an hour Fiona seemed to know a lot about the tax system in Switzerland – can u blame her? Tache is an optimist and thought her wealth tax would work.
Konstin saw tax as a disincentive. For instance, we deliberately tax alcohol and cigarettes to discourage their use. Therefore, what will happen when you tax income and/or wealth? You discourage economic activity, the opposite of what the country requires.
Steve felt sorry for small businesses and was generous about larger businesses like his own being able to pay more employee national insurance. However, of his 9,000 employees, half are abroad, making it easier for him to dodge tax increases here.
The second question was about weight loss and employment. We should do a study, suggested Konstantin, rather than jabbing people or sending them to the gym. There will be other things beyond size getting in the way of unemployed people.
It’s about health care, not the Department of Work and Pensions, began Ash. It’s a decision for individuals and their doctors. She blamed fourteen years of … yawn.
Douglas wanted to use every tool in the tool kit which includes breakfast clubs and banning junk food adverts. He wouldn’t limit himself to a single answer when trying to cut the NHS’s £11 billion obesity bill. A large woman spoke. She works with the mentally ill and said the NHS is at ‘boiling point.’ Breaking point, darling. She began to rant. Her brother died two years ago. Because she was tinged, La Bruce allowed her to continue.
A junior doctor spoke. Also tinged, she was wearing a life expectancy-lowering Palestinian scarf. The NHS is short of staff – despite being one of the biggest employers there is.
Steve focused on prevention. Healthcare is 8% of GDP and that is set to rise to 15%. He expressed faith in new technology and new medicines. Damian looked at what we eat and took credit for reformulated foods thanks to the Tory sugar tax.
Question three, has Israel gone beyond defending itself?
We left the parameters of self-defence a long time ago, began Ash. 40,000 have been killed in Gaza including 16,000 children. She mentioned genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing. The reaction to October 7th was an opportunity for Israel to redraw the regional map.
Konstantin said you can’t negotiate with Hamas. The option for Hamas is to withdraw threats, hand over terrorists and hand over the hostages, then the Israelis must negotiate. He pinned Ash down over whether Hamas should hand over terrorists and hostages. Ash refused to play.
What’s important is how Israel defends itself, said Douglas. Export licences have been withdrawn and the Labour government have demanded an immediate ceasefire – that no one has taken any notice of.
A lady with a Palestinian flag wrapped around her spoke. Her English wasn’t good. Gaza has been under siege for many years. Places like the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem are under occupation – according to international law. There have been 30 years of negotiations during which the Palestinians have conceded more land in, for instance, the West Bank. She was sat next to the doctor with the Palestinian flag. What, if any, is their connection with Rotherham?
Damian spoke in defence of Israel. Governments aren’t protecting their populations, said Steve, the role of the United States is key.
The final question was about euthanasia, billed as ‘assisted dying’. How long will it be before people are coerced?
Ash pointed out present deficiencies in palliative and end-of-life care. She lost a parent recently and was on the side of assisted dying ‘but with very strong protection.’ There was surprisingly sparse applause from the carefully chosen BBC audience. Douglas claimed this would be a free vote, a conscience vote. No, it won’t be, it will be a wall of fake news, fake polling, lies and gas-lighting.
Puffin Jim Walshe pointed out earlier in the week that the ‘never-debated’ issue has been raised in parliament fifteen times in twenty-one years, often by Blair collaborator Lord Falconer. You can read his revealing piece here.
QT Review’s own investigation, at the end of 14th March’s Question Time from Liverpool, revealed a particular type of organisation and individual behind the recent lobbying.
Douglas was ‘wrestling with it’, code for waiting to see which way the Westminster herd would move. Konstantin would like to decide for himself regarding his own passing, but did see a slippery slope, particularly regarding mental ill health. The (fake) opinion polls support it, said La Bruce. Killing vulnerable people can be popular, responded Konstantin. I’m not saying that, shot back La Bruce. No, I’m saying that, returned Konstantin, who went on to suggest incredibly strong safeguards. Damian would vote against but he’s no longer an MP. Steve was noncommittal.
Religion should be kept out of this, said an audience member, religion and politics don’t mix. Good point. Since this is an important moral issue regarding life and death, surely it’s the politicians and lobbyists who should be excluded.
© Always Worth Saying 2024
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