Question Time 21st November 2019
Panel:
Robert Jenrick (Tory)
Chukka Umunna (Labour/Change/Independent/Lib Dem)
Philippa Whitford (SNP)
Richard Burgon (Trotskyist/Marxist/Labour/Petomane)
Sherelle Jacobs (Journo)
Venue: Bolton
Bolton voted 58% leave. The only panellist that is remotely a Leaver is Sherelle Jacobs. Jenrick is pretty hot on anti-semitism, bringing up his three daughters in the faith so I suspect he has little or no respect for the Great Farter. This is a highly unbalanced panel being presented to an audience that should, one hopes, rip the lot of them a new one. We shall see.
It cannot just be my advancing years nor a cynicism engendered through decades of hopes dashed and relationships turned sour that I look at the panel paraded before us on QT this evening – or any evening for that matter – and ask myself this simple question.
Just what have we done to deserve these no-name, no-mark political puffballs that blow this way and that with whatever wind they deem advantageous, scattering their sterile liespeak as if they were golden seeds of wisdom for us, the taxable mulch cows, to gobble up unthinkingly?
These people have no advantage of intelligence over the average Joe or Jane Public, you, me, Aethelbert’s caged birds, Colliemum’s princess or that dog that greets us each morning with a shit in the hallway. The only thing they are good at is their ability to lie – and at the same time pocket £80k plus very generous expenses while doing it. How on earth this country is the 5th economic powerhouse in the world remains a mystery with such poltroons greasing the green upholstery of the House of Commons. I am firmly of the opinion – to change the well known adage just a little – that those who can are out in the real world creating wealth and those who can’t are in the public “service”.
Having now viewed this hour of Question Time I can look back on the previous paragraph and nod even more sagely at my perception of these politicians as purveyors of sound bites that signify nothing. I am also of the firm opinion that the producers of QT actively place agitators within the audience and these people are chosen by Bruce to “comment” – and in all cases chosen to attack Tories and/or Leavers. One only has to view the two Momentum young women at the Farage interview on Monday, sitting next to each other, being given plenty of time to bellow on and this evening we saw a very similar young woman asking a question about the “fake” Tory FactCheckUK twitter feed – an event that was so obscure that I would be surprised anyone in Bolton knew or cared about it. This was quickly followed by Bruce choosing a burka wearing woman to make a comment and Bingo! we got the “letterbox” accusation thrown into the mix. This one ranted on at length telling us that she teaches English in a primary school etc etc etc and…islamaphobia etc etc etc…racist etc etc etc. Bruce helpfully let her continue in this vein for far too long but, of course, no-one is going to tell the permanently offended to shut up are they?
We got some fire from Sherelle Jacobs who took all the politicians to task over Brexit but she suffered badly from losing the thread of her argument. Her eyes widened when she was halfway through a sentence as if her brain was desperately trying to form the words that she wanted to say but somehow got lost on the way down to her vocal chords. Perhaps this is only to be expected from someone who works in the print industry and is used to putting words down on paper (figuratively) and polishing them before publishing them to the world.
Burgon on the other hand has no trouble whatsoever in blurting out nonsense from whatever orifice is open at the time. That this buffoon could be sitting on the government benches in less than a month’s time only goes to highlight the absolute shite state of our representatives these days. In my youth I met Harold Macmillan, Barbara Castle, Manny Shinwell, Tony Benn among many others. These people had honesty and principles, integrity and vision. What is on view today makes me weep for the loss of all of those virtues from public life be it Salmond hauled up in court for alleged sexual offences, Neil Hamilton’s brown envelopes or Vaz’s shenanigans with rent boys and marching powder.
Jenrick was Tory Boy personified and was the convenient patsy for Bruce to vent her querulous agitations at. Why Whitford was there and not a BXP candidate I have no idea. Chucky got away too easily with his triple treason – electorate, Labour, Change – and it cannot be too soon for me to see him depart from the political scene. He was allowed to question Boris Johnson’s honesty without anyone pulling him up with a sharp jerk like a recalcitrant dog on a choke chain to explain himself.
There were other questions about Prince Andrew (zzzzzz) and Grenfell type fire at student block in Bolton (government’s fault of course). The hourglass dropped its sands through the final minutes and we and the audience could gratefully call it a day.
Bruce gleefully told us we could watch 2 hours more tomorrow with the four leaders being questioned by an audience in Sheffield. You’re on your own tomorrow, mateys.
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Le Petomane – Public Domain
© Roger Ackroyd 2019 – Roger’s book.
The Goodnight Vienna Audio file