Okay, so who demolished whom? I’d say the blogosphere-cum-Twittersphere-cum-my-own-head-osphere has come down, say 60/40 on the side of Andrew Neil.
Whether you’ve watched the edited version, the full version, the YouTube version or the BBC version, the problem du jour is the BBC’s complacent reliance on the dull-witted, second-rate, unimaginative research on which their adversarial interviewing technique is habitually based.
Arguably, Andrew Neil won on points - well, one point - which is that he himself is not particularly known for his leftieness. It’s the BBC that’s known for that.
In which @afneil successfully takes on US conservative Ben Shapiro https://t.co/TnYQkMe8hx— Rupert Myers (@RupertMyers) May 10, 2019
However, Andrew Neil isn’t all he’s cracked up to be. When it comes to certain issues he’s as lefty as the next ‘Beeboid’. (viz his horrified reaction to perceived Islamophobia and related politically incorrect attitudes) He’s lazy on that.
The other thing that needs to be mentioned in this context is Ben Shapiro’s apology. Fulsome and unequivocal. Has Andrew Neil reciprocated? Or has he doubled down?
If neither of them had really ‘never heard of’ the other, then it’s surely very remiss of the BBC to have left Andrew Neil in the dark. Anyway, someone should be a bit sorry about that, if nothing else.
The theme of attacking the BBC for cherry-picking old and tired soundbites and using them as their primary demolition strategy seems to have caught on.
Nigel made mincemeat out of t’other Andy in that regard, I thought. Poor chap looked quite shell-shocked in the end; he went pale - and who wasn’t just a little concerned for his health?
Farage taken to task by Marr pic.twitter.com/ge2FrWyIyl— Rupert Myers (@RupertMyers) May 12, 2019
Anyway, the BBC should now take a leaf out of some rival broadcasting organisations. I can’t access Al Jazeera Eng any longer, but although they were who they were, they allowed their debates time to flow. I think I’ve heard more uninterrupted speech from Israeli politicians and spokespersons on Al Jaz than on any of our own MSMs.
And look at Russia Today? Who saw that debate with David Vance and Peter Tatchell the other day? Apart from some unforgettable smarmy bits, I thought it was quite good. In its own sweet way.
As for the spiteful ad homs and attacks on Ben Shapiro that have littered the blogosphere, well, shame. (Mind you there is a touch of the heliums in there, which does slightly ‘affect the overall’. )
