Friday 8 February 2019

How could I have not realised?

I suppose one of us ought to gather together a word or two about Question Time. Fiona Bruce has had time to settle in. 
At first, I thought her interventions were pretty un-chairmanlike. She seemed to want to be a participant, rather than ringmaster. Perhaps it’s that she sees her role as a one-man adversary - as if she has to vanquish all five guests all by herself, like a black-clad Clint Eastwood strolling manfully into a bar and felling the whole bar-full, single-handedly.

Then again, some of her interventions were okay. I don’t think the chair should allow any of the guests to ramble on interminably or say something outrageous without being properly challenged. 

Last night’s edition didn’t seem at all promising. I wouldn’t have bothered to stay up for it, but I happened to be awake, and I did watch it, even though I knew it would be about Brexit, and worse still, Scottish Independence.  There was no-one on the panel to spark up much in the way of anticipation - mainly because none of them were household names, exactly. 

The audience were the ones who brought some excitement to it, and I have to say that Fiona’s schtick is to bring the audience in from the get-go, so that they’re full participants, so to speak. They certainly livened things up as far as critiquing the SNP is concerned. 

I Googled Q.T. this morning just to see what impression it had made on the blogosphere. Up came the Daily Express. Who reads the Daily Express? As far as I could see it’s mainly celebrity gossip about nothing and considerably dumber than the Daily Mail. But the Daily Express went to town on last night’s QT.


 Anyway, this caught my eye; the bit when Fiona got shirty.
Tory peer Baron Forsyth told the BBC audience in Motherwell in Scotland that the Irish border was not an issue due to there being no desire for a hard border by both the UK and the Republic of Ireland. BBC host Fiona Bruce asked why the Irish border was not mentioned during the Vote Leave campaign, to which Baron Forsyth replied and insisted it was not an issue. Lord Forsyth added: “It’s an issue by those people who are trying to reverse the result of the referendum.” 
“The BBC audience laughed at the Brexiteer’s claim as the BBC host added: “But what do you think about the response you get from the audience when you say that? People are laughing.” 
Baron Forsyth fired back: “I think it’s because they have been listening to the BBC who has made this an issue when it is not an issue.” 
Ms Bruce responded: “Oh, it’s our fault. How could I have not realised it is the BBC’s fault?” 
The Tory peer responded and said: “I can help you.” 
But in response, the BBC host chuckled and said: “I might pass on that if you don’t mind.”

The bit where she said:
“Oh, it’s our fault. How could I have not realised it is the BBC’s fault?” 
was indicative of the BBC’s arrogant attitude to criticism. Fiona kind of ‘acted it out’ in the way she does. Just the way she said it was priceless. Someone should make it into a gif, for posterity. 

14 comments:

  1. As the saying goes - Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit’.

    Fiona was quick off the mark to defend her beloved BBC. Full marks for mental agility but in reality sarcasm is just hostility disguised as humour.

    Deep down all beeboids know they can influence opinion and often do. They don’t like being reminded of it though and as we saw with Fiona they slap it down quickly.

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    1. It's odd isn't it? Advertisers pay tens of thousands of pounds to put an advert on national TV to influence consumers, but BBC presenters get all coy about their own influence.

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  2. Fiona's retort sounded vaguely familiar - the penny just dropped: substitute 'my' for 'our' and you have Basil Fawlty, discovering that O'Reilly has bricked up the door to the dining-room. To complete the allusion, Fiona should have stood up, said: "Ah well, if it's our fault, we must we punished then, mustn't we?" and slapped her own bottom. So, too derivative Fiona - and John Cleese was much funnier!

    Like Sue, I wasn't expecting much from the panel, but the audience more than made up for their shortcomings - who'd have expected such hostility towards Ms Sturgeon's party, from a Scottish audience? Entertaining stuff!

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  3. And the issue of how the UKIP audience member got in a good gotcha question
    ..but has somehow been in the show's audience twice before ?

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  4. Must be true. It was on the bbc.

    https://postimg.cc/WdH6MqJf

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    1. Peter - the link is live (and blue!), but when I select it, web search claims it doesn't match any documents - typo perhaps?

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. There is a lot of repressed rage building in me now. Let’s try once more...

      <a href="https://postimg.cc/WdH6MqJf“>Please be an image</a>

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    4. Noooooooooooooo! All I can suggest is copy and paste. I am off for a small sherry.

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    5. Thanks for trying Peter! It's more 'a large Scotch' at this end!

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  5. Oh so Fiona (smiling through my teeth) Bruce can hit back when she wants to...."Oh it's our fault." Well she chose to take on the QT role. This isn't The Antiques Show, It's Question Time where things will get heated.
    But I loved the Basil Fawlty analogy.

    Fiona, smirking through her teeth...again, informed us at the end of this now even more dumbed down show that next week's super dooper guest will be Jacob Rees-Mogg. So I wonder which other three pro E.U panelists he'll be up against.
    But I can't help thinking that Question Time no longer attracts any of Westminster's big hitters. I recall the days of Kinnock, Heseltine, Hattersly and Hain (now a Lord....traitor).
    Some weeks I barely recognize the panelists as they're often picked from Business or Heads of Diversity groups with a couple of barely known Politicians thrown in.

    John.....N. London.

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    1. Now you mention it, Anon., the lack of big hitters is exactly it. On the Brexit side, the Beeb doesn't want to give a platform to the likes of Boris, or Farage because they're very effective speakers. They probably think JR-M is safe because the working class voter finds him, and Nanny, toxic - I'm not totally sure they're right on that one. But on the Remain side, who have they got? - Grieve, Soubry, Morgan, Greening, Cooper - competent, but not in the same league as Boris & Farage, whose patriotic appeal has just been given an immense boost by the cretinous interventions of Tusk and Verhofstadt.

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    2. Sisyphus....... Of course Farage would be a lot more effective on Question Time, much more so than Rees-Mogg who's hardly a man of the people even though he's on my side and wanting to leave the E.U. But of course the BBC would be happy not to have an effective speaker that might persuade viewers that mistakenly voted to leave the E.U.

      Interestingly Rees-Mogg is well remembered as being the Tory candidate in the 1997 General Election fighting for the safe traditional Scottish Labour seat of Central Fife.
      While out and about campaigning and standing on his soap box spreading the Tory message, onlookers and people standing by just laughed. They thought he was an alien from another planet.
      A truly funny moment in British politics. The Tories were so out of touch with real people and nothing much has changed.
      John.....N.London.

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