I have to say from reading the comments from Grant & Co. at Biased BBC today I guessed (before catching up with it) that Theresa May had experienced quite a grilling from Andrew Marr this morning.
With one exception (a newbie who wrote that "Andrew Marr was excellent in interviewing Theresa May") no-one talked about Andrew Marr or BBC bias, simply about how poorly Theresa May had done.
That was my clue.
That was my clue.
Andrew Marr's first question - "If we stay in the EU will immigration go up or down?" - was the sort of question 'people like us' wanted asking, and he asked her it. And he then pressed her on the 3 million immigrants missing from George Osborne's dodgy dossier - and other immigration-related matters relevant to the EU referendum.
He struck me as being surprisingly tenacious about it. He even asked her about the couple from Wolverhampton bludgeoned to death by migrants.
He struck me as being surprisingly tenacious about it. He even asked her about the couple from Wolverhampton bludgeoned to death by migrants.
What more could 'we' ask from him? (I want the moon on a stick.)
When he eventually moved off immigration, he even asked her this (which made me laugh):
Don’t you think though if you were a Leave or a Brexit voter and you looked at today’s papers and there are the Obamas and the Royal family and Prince George, and there’s President Obama playing golf in the golf buggie with David Cameron, and there’s President Obama being interviewed by Huw Edwards on the BBC, you would say this is an absolute establishment classic stitch-up. This is the big people ganging together to try and bully voters into reclaiming their country – against reclaiming their country.
Fancy him linking Huw Edwards of the BBC with "an absolute establishment classic stitch-up"!
Marr used the "establishment classic stitch-up" line during the paper review as well. He offers it up sarcastically so his guest can explain how it isn't. Even the unlikeable Toby Young wouldn't say it was, and only said that people could get that impression. Marr may ask tough questions of guests, but there is a marked difference in how he asks them and follows up. May did poorly because she is poor and her positions are indefensible, not because Marr was particularly tough on her. He wasn't trying to help her give the right answer like he does with left-wing guests, but it was all "people will say you can't control immigration," etc., not calling her out for telling fibs and dodging and saying Cameron has clearly lied about being able to control borders, Tory policies are crap, and she's incompetent, which would be a proper challenge.
ReplyDeleteGood points. "People will say" is often how left-liberal journos signal they don't believe or approve of the point themselves. When they DO believe it, they just present it with no frills: "But we have a moral duty to these refugees..."
DeleteApologies for being OT, but Tim Donovan basically kicked Sadiq Khan's ass all around the studio and practically out the door. I don't despise Khan as others do, but some of his policies are half-assed, and none of it is going to get done if he has to actually reduce public sector union power and jobs, and the housing fantasy is getting really tiresome from all sides. Donovan knocked Khan down on almost every point. He didn't even get to the Muslim extremism issue until the end, and he really needn't have bothered. Khan already looked all hat and no cattle, but if Donovan didn't bring it up, there would be complaints.
ReplyDeleteDragging this comment back on topic, I laughed when Andrew Neil turned to his panel (who will replace Nick Watt?) and said Theresa May had "trouble giving a clear-cut answer" on the immigration/Brexit issue. They didn't even show her worst moment. Interesting that Neil said polls show that the immigration issue doesn't change anybody's mind, and maybe drives votes away. I'd say the same thing about Obama, but the BBC doesn't.
And of course leave it to Andrew Neil to be the only one to point out that there is no deal between the EU and the US, so Obama's threats are bogus. Dunn tried to make it as He misspoke, but that's not reality.
People may not admit to pollsters that immigration is a major issue to affect their vote but it appears at the top or near the top of every poll on "Issues of concern" more generally. So I think it is a big influence - it's something one hears talked about every day and I can assure you there are plenty of left-leaning types who are concerned about mass immigration and followers of Islam in particular. It's just something that they won't express publicly. People aren't entirely stupid! They walk around many parts of London and don't hear any English spoken at all. They find out their kids can't afford to leave home and buy somewhere - or even rent somehwere - or they find their sons and daughters experiencing precarious periods of employment rather than a steady job. They see how crowded it is on the tube at all times; they observe what the situtation is in hospital waiting rooms; they know how difficult it is to get the school place they want for their child. The Leave campaign needs to make the linkage clear if it is going persuade people to give up on teh EU in the privacy of the ballot booth.
DeleteAs for Khan, it is a matter of public record that he campaigned vigorously for a man (Babar Ahmad) who later pleased guilty to terror-related offences. He used to be plugged into his local (extremist) Mosque like he had three pins on him. Following on from when it became clear he was of interest to the security services he gradually began to distance himself but his record is there for all to see and we have no idea what the man believes as he has given so many evasive answers over the years. I think he has been getting a bit of stick from our MSM because he has cosied up to Jeremy Corbyn (the left-liberal media tend to dislike Corbyn, not so much for his views as such, as for his perceived unelectability which they feel will derail the project or risk something like a UKIP advance).
I assumed Neil meant that undecideds aren't going to be swayed by the immigration issue. After all, if it was important to them, they wouldn't still be on the fence.
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