Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

Rob

Have you been missing Rob Burley here on a Sunday? 

Well, here's the Editor of BBC Live Political Programmes in action again and engaging with some of the delightful denizens of Twitter following this morning's The Andrew Marr Show, where government minister Matt Hancock was asked if it's true that the Government might impose martial law after a No Deal Brexit (yes, really): 

Tim Poole: Hi Rob Burley - may I ask why the @BBCPolitics account hasn't tweeted a clip of Hancock talking about martial law? Seems fairly significant.

Rob Burley: I’m not sitting across the Twitter feed 7 days a week so don’t know. But it should be clipped I’d agree. I wouldn’t read anything into it.

Khaled Elawadi: Just the 6 days a week then Rob. ☺ Anyway, why should we read anything into the Brexit No Deal threat of food shortages, martial law and troops being deployed on our streets. It's a scare story, right?

Rob Burley: I’m saying I wouldn’t read anything into it being up or not on the feed. You can decide what you think about the thing itself.

Khaled Elawadi: I see, so it's a highly significant story and we should decide how significant it is for ourselves, but the fact it hasn't been clipped and shown to us in the first place is of little significance?

Rob Burley: Though I will add that, in the first place, it was broadcast by the BBC. How this fits the implication we are trying to suppress it in some way I don’t know.

Khaled Elawadi: Oh, so now you're suggesting the fact you didn't edit the significant comment out of the interview the first time is somehow proof that there's no cover up in not showing the significant comment later? Btw, do you do that on the BBC Rob..edit out certain comments in interviews?

Rob Burley: At this point I can’t work out if this is a parody account. Apparently we are suppressing Matt Hancock’s comments on martial law which came from a question we asked him about martial law which was broadcast live on television.

Tim Poole: My first thought was this must be a parody. It's annoying - because I can raise what I think you'd agree was a sensible and fair query about the martial law clip not being tweeted (it just seemed odd) - and then the thread becomes this sort of meme about crack pot conspiracies Corbyn supporters. It does, to be honest, make me wonder if some of these accounts making wild accusations are real or not - after all whose agenda does it actually benefit. Anyway, I notice the marital law clip is now up so all good from my point of view.

Khaled Elawadi: I never said that though did I Rob?! In fact, there's more evidence to suggest you're doing the complete opposite. You left the highly significant comment in made by the cabinet minister warning of Martial Law in the UK, then refused to clip it knowing there would be a backlash.

Rob Burley: This is what people actually think. It's bananas. For lots of reasons, not least because, as well as broadcasting it on TV, it is up on the BBC Twitter account. Honestly, if we are in the business of suppressing Matt Hancock's comments, we are doing a really bad job of it.

Khaled Elawadi: Actually, that's exactly how the BBC gets the establishment's propaganda out into the public domain. That is their job after all. Questions that they ask and the timing of those questions are specifically and deliberately designed to manipulate the consciousness of the audience.

Rob Burley: I'm confused, I thought we were doing something wrong by NOT putting Mr Hancock's comments on Twitter (which we did actually), but it turns out that we were doing something wrong by putting him on in the first place.

Malvachat (to Khaled): That’s right. But who writes the questions? That’s a better question.

Rob Burley: The producers on the programme and the presenter. Glad to clear that up for you.

Carole Hawkins: In other words the Murdoch Mafia write the questions.

And so on...

Khaled Elawadi: So you agree with me then Rob. ☺ Let's be clear the clip is now up only after we complained about there being no clip around 1pm in the afternoon. Btw, now that I've seen it, I find it totally shocking how blasé Andrew asks the question almost coaching the down played reply.

Rob Burley: A) you’ve no idea the process by which the clip went up. Even though you are clearly wiser than the rest of us, you aren’t THAT powerful. B) your suggestion Andrew wanted to make the answer less interesting is bananas 🍌  C) are you actually a performance art installation?

Khaled Elawadi: A) It takes seconds to make a clip, how else do we get live video playbacks. B) Andrew deliberately asked the question in an almost disinterested blasé way to encourage a quick yes or no down played answer. The reason for that is likely to become evident soon. C) Not recently.

Rob Burley: A) you suggested it went up because of you. B) "that is likely to become evident soon" ! So Andrew Marr, understanding this,was alarmed the minister was being too candid so quickly shut the question down. It's hard to work out why he asked it in the first place. C) You should.

Khaled Elawadi: A) Not quite, I stated it only went up after we complained. Then you tried to suggest it takes time to complete the process. B) The reason for Andrew asking the question in the way that he did to the minister in question eliciting such a reply will become clear soon enough. C)👍

Rob Burley: Just concentrating on B) do you think Andrew will tell me what’s going on if it ask him or is it just you he’s spilt the beans to?

And so on...