BBC Question Time: open thread
Written by Stephen Tall on 1st May 2008 – 9:50 pmFormer Liberal Democrat leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown is one of the panellists on tonight’s Question Time (and is broadcast on BBC1 and online from 10.35 pm GMT).
The panel will include the Secretary of State for Defence (but for how much longer?) Des Browne, the shadow foreign secretary William Hague, the “writer and author” (according to the BBC website; not the epithet I’d use) Richard Littlejohn and the journalist Polly Toynbee.
If you’re not at an election count right now, and want to sound-off, please feel free to use the comments thread.
Posted in News
1st May 2008 at 10:36 pm
omg Polly T and Richard Littlejohn?? The world is going to end, surely?
1st May 2008 at 10:39 pm
RL surprisingly sane so far… Browne is stumbling already.
1st May 2008 at 10:40 pm
“mistakes were made” is such a vague phrase. Someone has to make them!
Browne is being slimy and awful on 10p.
1st May 2008 at 10:42 pm
I love Hague! He’s so cuddly!
Good to see someone saying “making mistakes and then changing is okay”.
Pwned by Ashdown on abstaining on the finance bill last year.
1st May 2008 at 10:44 pm
God I hate PT. Brown’s past record is utterly irrelevant on this balls-up.
Big applause for “tax the rich” though, unsurprisingly.
1st May 2008 at 10:44 pm
Get stuck in Mr Ashdown. Class.
1st May 2008 at 10:45 pm
Audience member: “it’s not just 2 mistakes” by Gordon Brown - damn straight.
1st May 2008 at 10:45 pm
Paddy’s great!
1st May 2008 at 10:46 pm
None of this talk is putting the finger on the problem that the switch is effectively taxing money from the slightly-less-poor to give to the poor.
1st May 2008 at 10:48 pm
What’s the point of Question time on Election night?? It’s not question time it’s Election time! The bbc used to start elecion programmes at 10pm but now they don’t. To contrast between tax channels vs impressive normal-funding channels - I’m sure sky news must have election stuff by now…(wouldn’t know - i don’t watch much tv)
1st May 2008 at 10:50 pm
“None of this talk is putting the finger on the problem that the switch is effectively taxing money from the slightly-less-poor to give to the poor”
Err No. Rich people got a tax break. It’s taking from the poor to give to the rich.
1st May 2008 at 10:53 pm
Funny how Polly got chers and boos for saying how Ken had done good for London, but Browne got only cheers for saying Boris would be a disaster… perhaps voters should be thinking about a third option…?
1st May 2008 at 10:55 pm
The arrogance of Labour and its supporters is staggering. Toynbee and Browne are coming across like they actually resent the electorate for, presumably, electing Johnson.
1st May 2008 at 10:56 pm
Ah, cliche alert: “rip off Britain” - RL will presumably go to town on that…
1st May 2008 at 10:59 pm
WH: “CAP adds to the price of food…?” Hnuh? I thought it was a subsidy??
1st May 2008 at 10:59 pm
Anyone else struggling to actually listen to the words coming out of Browne’s mouth? He just drones.
1st May 2008 at 11:05 pm
Huge applause for Ashdown on the rising price of food and energy - good stuff!
RL just said “so-called climate change” - urgh.
1st May 2008 at 11:06 pm
PT vs RL - here we go!
1st May 2008 at 11:06 pm
Poor Paddy looks thoroughly cheesed off!
1st May 2008 at 11:08 pm
WH: “biofuels must come from sustainable sources”… what????
1st May 2008 at 11:09 pm
Paddy has just nailed it re: the economy/environment.
Toynbee is a saint, especially in light of the odious Littlejohn, what an absolute oaf.
I’m glad we’re on the right side of the argument.
1st May 2008 at 11:10 pm
Why do only schoolkids get to make their own version of Question Time? *grumps*
1st May 2008 at 11:11 pm
Paddy is ace….i dont really like Toynbee at all in general it has to be said but shes doing well tonight…
1st May 2008 at 11:14 pm
Indeed, PT is not being as batshit crazy as one normally expects. Paddy lays the truth down again…
1st May 2008 at 11:15 pm
Browne waffling traditional government lies on 42 days again.
1st May 2008 at 11:15 pm
Well said Paddy on the public not always being right…
1st May 2008 at 11:17 pm
Wow, RL started sane on 42 days but reaaly turned into a raving mentalist! (quelle surprise)
1st May 2008 at 11:18 pm
Polly with a very good point: restricting our freedoms to keep us free is silly.
1st May 2008 at 11:22 pm
RL is a rent-a-quote demagogue
1st May 2008 at 11:24 pm
I can’t believe that they bother to get RL on the show - he’s hardly an insightful commentator, is he?
1st May 2008 at 11:25 pm
PA: “Results in education have not lived up to funding” - how about tasty vouchers? =)
1st May 2008 at 11:26 pm
He’s there to push peoples buttons…especially with PT on the panel…
1st May 2008 at 11:31 pm
Browne: “teaching is now a graduate profession” - yes, but David Beckham studies is now a degree!
1st May 2008 at 11:33 pm
PT “Brown doesn’t think about image” - absolute rubbish! What about 42 days and 10p tax rate???
1st May 2008 at 11:35 pm
This is why I dont like her…she should be working in his press office not for the Guardian lol
1st May 2008 at 11:39 pm
Browns greatest failures, in fact, have been through attempting to manipulate the media to his own advantage, none of which have really worked.
Anyway, goodnight!
2nd May 2008 at 10:43 am
Littlejohn was odious. My wife kept stroking my arm to calm me down after he spoke.