I Used To Love BBC Question Time – But Not Anymore

Anyone who has followed me on Twitter for some time will have noticed that I've stopped watching BBC Question Time on a Thursday night; my tweets throughout the programme are now virtually nil. I’m sure some people miss my irreverent comments – but I don’t!

I've watched the programme since the 80s when Sir Robin Day was the host and must admit its decline has been very gradual but mirrors the changes in the political world from ‘real’ politicians who actually had their own opinions to today’s career politicians who constantly trot out the party line and nothing else. It was always a good, fairly honest political debate. Nowadays if you think Question Time is excellent then I’d say you've got pretty low standards.

I stopped watching Question Time a while ago when I realised one depressing night that I was only really watching it for entertainment and tweeting purposes having once believed that I was watching a bit of political debate and maybe actually being informed. To be fair, I did always look on Question Time as a bit of a luvvie-lefty kangaroo court where anyone who doesn't go along with the twee view of the world the BBC embraces is set up to be booed and jeered, and generally presented as ‘Beyond The Pale’ before being summarily dismissed.

When Did It Start Going Wrong?

For me there are a number of things that has lead to its decline, Dimbleby being one, five panel members instead of four, comedians and journo’s on the panel, that audience, I could go on – and will.

The problem with Dimbleby is his hijacking the format to put endless sub-questions of his own which he thinks are smarter than the ones asked by the audience. He hasn’t got it into his head that it’s about the audience’s questions and the panel’s answers – not his.

I always used to find myself shouting at the telly when I watched Question Time, more often than not at the audience than the panel. There is no way on earth the audience is representative of people in the UK, nobody I talk to about politics has the same views as these people. It makes Question Time unwatchable because rational arguments by the panel are drowned out by indignant, reason-free protests on behalf of this or that disadvantaged group.

The quality of politicians has gone down too. During the Robin Day years senior politicians and cabinet members often appeared on the panel. Party leaders, Home Secretary, Chancellor, they all appeared regularly, not anymore though. Labour still put up the odd senior politician like Mr and Mrs Balls or the odious Harriet Harmen but the most senior Tory you see is Grant Shapps who’s only the party chairman. So you end up listening to junior ministers who just trot out the party line and seem incapable of holding an opinion of their own.

Another thing I've noticed is the number of questions taken from the audience which now appear to be ridiculously low, it’s not unusual for only 3 or 4 questions to be answered – it used to be a lot more and made for better viewing.

I think the biggest indictment of today’s Question Time is that you can get far more insightful political commentary from watching Have I Got News For You, despite there being near total overlap in the guests on each show.

That Audience

Today’s Question Time audience is mostly quite mad, a law unto itself! I'm pretty sure that if the Question Time audience was representative of the UK electorate then Neil Kinnock would currently be serving his sixth term as Prime Minister! The modern day audience seems to be entirely composed of weirdos and party activists posing as disinterested voters.

I applied a few years ago when the programme was coming from Warrington and didn't get a look in. I often wonder what qualifications are required to be in the audience of Question Time. Apart from having undergone a full frontal lobotomy, eating your chips out of The Daily Worker or have completed twenty uninterrupted years on benefits.

One thing is certain: if you find yourself disagreeing with the yelping, hooting, maniacally applauding audience, you are probably an astute intellectual who long ago left behind the unrealistic, mushy, pious world of sixth form enthusiasm.

Panel

A good honest debating chamber is how Question Time has been billed. In fact it’s an unseemly gold-rush for applause. The panellists these days are a set of needy egos with semi-fictionalised hairdos. You get political activist in the audience asking leary questions to clueless panellists who then use the old staple of having a go at bankers to rousing applause as they have nothing better to say.

Unfortunately Question Time is based too much on politicians who toe the party line and usually contribute little in terms of information value or novel perspective to the debate. The same can be said for newspaper editors and journalists who also toe the party line determined by their owners. Scientists and representatives of charities often enrich the debate by their ability to be honest.

And as for those politicians, most are lightweight and carry no weight in Parliament, they never answer the question that’s being asked, choosing instead to answer the question that they wanted to be asked. Most are proven liars who cannot speak directly or honestly with integrity, so it stands to reason that most of them shouldn't be given such a prominent position on our national broadcasters flagship debating show.

Question Time is, in short, a pretty miserable failure when it comes to informed debate. The bulk of panellists are drawn from the same upper-middle-class, upper-middle-aged pot of journalists, lawyers and politicians, and are often profoundly ignorant on topics outside of that narrow culture. Science, sex, the internet … attempts to tackle anything outside their world result in bewildering exchanges that confuse more often than they inform. 

Back To Basics

Question-Time probably still has much to offer in its current format, but only if you are not expecting politicians to be held to account. None will hold their hands up, most know little about the public's feeling and few will have a sleepless night after their stint on the panel. The added-value guests, even if you think it dumbs down the content are the meat and potatoes of the show, chunkier even than the audience who seem to have something slipped in their pre-recording drinks. It may not be your idea of democracy in action, but at least having over-privileged, over-exposed rent-a-gobs on the show leads to some squirming on the seats of the political panellists, and that alone can be worth the price of admission.

There is, I think, a simple test for evaluating any platform for debate: has anyone ever changed their mind on a serious issue? The purpose of a genuine discussion ought to be to utilise facts and evidence to reach some mutually agreed upon rational conclusion, and though it may take months rather than hours, this should involve people altering their opinions. Question Time, on the contrary, is a megaphone for publicising party political views and uninformed ideology. It has the potential to achieve a lot more, but it consistently aims low.

So when was Question Time an honest debating chamber? I think you have to go back to Robin Day's time, don't you? And that’s where it needs to go back to now. Take it back to four panellists, stop vetting the audience, get audience members to ask more questions, insist that if political parties want to be represented they need to put up senior politicians who have some gravitas. Sack David Dimbleby - After sixteen years chairing the panel Dimbleby has become past his prime in both the political and fashion stakes (have you seen those ties?)

Why not have people on the panel who actually know about things? With the current range of guests it doesn't make any sense, it's pointless watching really. You can read who's on the panel and pretty much predict what they will all say. I never learn anything interesting or worthwhile anymore.

A couple of minor things too, Dimbleby’s chair - there seems no need for it to be larger than the other chairs position close to the panel desk? Lastly the constant reiteration of the twitter address - we know the show is on twitter, it stains the shows delicate fabric when it’s constantly uttered every week.

So there we have it, refresh the show and maybe just maybe the telly audience may start to grow.

100 Random Things That Just Annoy Me

1. People who wait to turn on their indicators until they are actually turning their steering wheels. I can tell you're going round the bend now, mate - thanks for nothing!
2. The position of CAPS lock on your keyboard, it should be out of the way of your fingers, better still lose it altogether!
3. The BBC - who take no notice of their viewers and listeners.
4. Slow drivers doing 40 in a 60 zone who suddenly find the accelerator pedal when you are overtaking (twats! They should be banned for dangerous driving).
5. People shopping with their children who have assumed that having children give them special privileges, like no manners and right of way.
6. People whose voice rises in pitch at the end of every sentence? Making everything they say sound like a question?
7. The British legal system - Police having to catch the same scumbags twice, once for the crime and again when they let them go and they fail to appear in court or skip bail (now there’s a surprise - who would have thought they were not to be trusted?)
8. Jamie Oliver.
9. Americans that think all British people are just people that eat biscuits/drink tea and constantly talk like Mary Poppins which as you know we don’t, at least we can say police without saying po - lice as if they have some sort of speech impediment.
10. 12 a.m. and 12 p.m.
11. The arrogance of the cycling Spandex Set.
12. Book borrowers who will not return your book, even when asked.
13. Muzak - particularly in restaurants.
14. Shops that say "We don't get much call for that. . ."
15. Litter - ie cans, bottles, chewing gum, fast food cartons, dog ends and cig packets.
16. People who urinate in car parks and subways .
17. Knobs who shout down their mobile.
18. Not using bus lanes out of hours.
19. All road humps, bumps, chicanes
20. Lefties
21. Noticing someone not washing their hands as they exit the toilets after they have obviously just taken a dump – dirty gits!
22. Dogs that won't stop yapping.
23. People that talk too much, especially when what they have to say is nonsensical and pointless.
24.  People who refuse to learn how anything technological works.
25.  Junk mail, both physical and electronic.
26. Chavs – nuff said
27. People who talk on their mobiles while paying for something
28. People who ring you up and then start eating while talking to you
29. Snobs
30. Political correctness
31. The EU
32. Old people who think they are better than everyone and therefore have priority over everything.
33. People at Starbucks who order the most complicated drink you’ve ever heard when all you want is a plain filter coffee.
34. Finding dog shit in my garden – I haven’t got a dog
35. People that listen to their music really loud when wearing headphones
36. Stupid people, especially the ones who are so stupid, they don't even know they're stupid
37. People who say "like" many times in each sentence as if they’re a young American girl.
38. People who pronounce the letter "h" as haitch
39. “H” from Steps
40. Obese people who use disability scooters because they've eaten too much and won't carry their own body weight on perfectly usable legs.
41. People who are over 18 and use text speak
42. Drivers who can’t be arsed indicating.
43. Career politicians
44. Chavs who wear their pants tucked in their socks and walk round with their hands down the front cupping their balls.
45. Foreign call centres and their rude, nosy staff
46. Automated phone systems 
47. Fat women dressing like they are a size 8 and letting it all hang out – yuk
48. People who drive round the outside of roundabouts so you think they are coming out at your exit - but then shoot across your front bumper.
49. Roadwork’s that cone off miles of road with no sign of any work occurring
50. Cyclists. They seem to be above the law. They ride up one way streets the wrong way, on pavements, without lights at night. They also wear silly clothing and daft hats
51. People who answer a mobile phonel when they are in the middle of a conversation with you!
52. Bubble wrapped goods that are almost impossible to open and wasteful of resources.
53. Sticky price labels on DIY items which can only be removed with special solvents and 10 minutes of scrubbing.
54. Arrogant able bodied idiots who use disabled parking spaces
55. Ed Balls
56. Use of the word 'need' instead of 'must' or 'should'.
57. Overpaid public sector employees
58. Ambulance chasers – we don’t all want to make a claim mate !
59. People who ram pasties and pies into their fat mouths whilst walking in shopping malls.
60. Fat people and anyone over 25 in replica soccer kits.
61. White people who talk as if they are Jamaican
62. People who come up and press the button on the pedestrian crossing when it is quite obvious you have been standing there for ages, and you have already pressed the button. The light is already on, it doesn't make the lights change any quicker
63. People (mostly ladies I'm afraid) who block the aisles of supermarkets chatting
64. Premiership footballers wages and some of the truly stupid footballers like Balotelli.
65. Cyclists riding on the pavement.
66. Shop assistants who talk to their colleagues whilst serving you
67. Online pictures of cats
68. Cash machine slowcoaches, what are they keying in? Their life story? And why do they stare at the cash that's come out for at least a minute before taking it?
69. Inconsiderate parkers who take up two parking spaces.
70. When people chuck their rubbish out of the car window.
71. When people start boarding the train before everyone has gotten off.
72. Motorcyclists weaving in and out of the traffic.
73. PPI calls.
74. Noisy eaters.
75. People walking along the street with their faces glued to a smart phone screen then looking incredulously at you when they crash into you.
76. Mothers pushing their huge prams with a tiny kid inside along the middle of the pavement and not moving out of the way when you try to get past.
77. Traffic lights on roundabouts. Ridiculous, we've driven the roads for years and years without them, they hold you up again and again, your light goes green, you get 20yds another red light, it goes green and another 20yds another red light. The intention of a roundabout is to keep the flow of traffic going, traffic lights don’t.
78. Fat people about three of them, taking up the whole pavement walking very slow
79. Mothers that let their little shits run around supermarkets causing havoc
80. In a restaurant after your first mouthful, then you hear “is everything alright with your meal?”
81. Jehovah's Witnesses
82. Tony Bliar
83. People who complain how fat they are when they're so obviously skinny.
84. Singers who mime because they can’t actually sing, eg Cheryl Cole.
85. People that don’t laugh and only say “LOL”.
86. Having to pay to use public lavatories.
87. Indecisive people at Starbucks.
88. When the driver in front of you continuously brakes for absolutely no reason.
89. Showing up to an appointment early or on time only to be kept waiting for over 30 minutes
90. Consultants
91. People who don't accelerate on the motorway on-slip road.
92. When mothers with pushchairs take up the whole pavement then act annoyed when other people need to get through.
93. When people leave their shopping trolleys in the middle of parking spaces.
94. When you purposely hold the door for someone and they don’t acknowledge it.
95. When cyclists don’t stop for red lights or obey signs on the road.
96. When people get off of an escalator and just stop.
97. When I'm in the six person deep checkout line at the supermarket, and the last person in line quickly jumps over into the just opened till before everyone else who has been waiting longer. This person is an arsehole. Don't be this arsehole.
98. When there is a lane closure up ahead, and instead of merging with ample warning, the people who speeds up to where the lane is closing and then expects to be let in ahead of everyone else. I hate these knobs with a burning passion and I never let them in.
99. Celebrity fitness DVDs
100. Endless furniture sale ads