Review: BBC Question Time, 26th November 2009

Was it just this blogger's imagination, or was this one of those episodes of Question Time in which the studio audience seemed to be comprised disproportionately of those backing left-wing politics..? Just a thought.

Charlie 'Lord' Falconer (ZaNuLiebour) drew a negative reaction from the audience when he accused Nicola Sturgeon of talking "complete rubbish" over a dodgy premise for war in Iraq. Claimed the House of Commons had all the evidence. Said every intelligence service was misled about Iraq's WMD's... by Saddam. Said he feels strongly that the decision to invade Iraq was the right one and that he also felt strongly that Britain had not been misled. Said we can debate the science of climate change forever but he is strongly of the view that politicians should act now. Spoke strongly against banks and they way they have imposed unfair charges against members of the public.
Our Rating: He has a cute presence about him - a bit like Toady of Toad Hall. Difficult to equate this character with the truly wicked party that he represents. That said, we agreed with next to nothing that he said and his attempts to justify the decisions surrounding the invasion of Iraq led to much slow shaking of the head here. 1/12

David Davis (Conservative) made the point that some of the decisions that took us to war were based on evidence obtained under torture. Said he was worried by claims that Alistair Campbell, Blair's press secretary, had helped compile the "dodgy dossier". Pointed out his science background before talking about ClimateGate and said he is "agnostic" on the issue of man made global warming. Expressed discomfort at those who claim the science is settled and urged that further caution is needed in any decisions relating to the issue. Called for sensible rather than virulent discussion - and hinted that he might not endorse official Conservative policy on global warming. Said that the OFT case against bank charges threw up an interesting point on the idea of 'free banking', stating that the British retail banking system was twice as profitable as other banking systems. Made an interesting point on the original decision to not give the Scottish Parliament fiscal autonomy.
Our Rating: We like David Davis. Maybe not his strongest performance. Maybe he was gauging the studio audience and pitching some of his arguments accordingly. However, there were hints here and there of his independence of mind and we do support that. 7/12

Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) said we know all about the dodgy premise for war in Iraq already, but wanted to remind the public that Gordon Brown was equally responsible as Tony Blair. Said it was a "national scandal" that Tony Blair has not yet been held to account for the Iraq war. Used the "deny" word against those who question the man made global warming hypothesis and said that recent floods proved to those living in those areas that something was wrong with the climate. Said the public have got fed-up of paying for the "free lunches" of bankers "over the last wee while" and "it's got to stop". Unsurprisingly urged for a referendum on Scottish independence after stating she believes in full fiscal autonomy and for Scotland to make her own decisions for it's own economy.
Our Rating: She seemed quite strong when talking about Iraq, but lost it for us on her responses to the question on ClimateGate. 5/12

Melanie Phillips (writer and columnist) bravely made a case as to why the invasion of Iraq was justified and said that she had supported the war - but did not support the re-writing of history since. Got to answer a beautifully worded question on ClimateGate. Melanie writes often about the questionable science being used to promote the hypothesis of global warming. Hit out directly at the BBC for not being straightforward with the public but was interrupted sharply by Dumblebee in her attempts to do so. Was later told she could ponder a further point to answer on the climate but she was never returned to in that context. Called for incentives for people running their bank accounts with prudence and said that it might be reasonable that they be treated preferably to those living beyond their means. Said if the Scots want more autonomy, then the Barnet formula must cease - something which Nicola Sturgeon said she supports.
Our Rating: The problem for someone who likes to make a coherent argument on a show where punchy pleasing one-liners win over an audience was clear to see. It was very discomforting to see Dumblebee as Chairperson of the show hindering her ability to express her opinion on ClimateGate. 7/12

Marcus Brigstocke (comedian and broadcaster) said the timetable for invading Iraq was "fixed" and this was agreed "possibly years before" - unsurprisingly, he was highly critical of what we know of events surrounding Iraq. Rallied off a load of statistics which he claims prove that there is global warming and claimed ClimateGate is insignificant. We didn't quite understand what he was saying on a question about the banks - maybe we were momentarily distracted. Later used a question on minimum alcohol charging to be critical of any member of the public believing they have a "right" to "cheap flight" and "cheap meat" - that latter one raised an eyebrow with this blogger...
Our Rating: No clues for guessing at which end of the political spectrum his politics fall at. We met lots of people who sounded exactly like him when we were at University. There's just something about people with left-wing opinions that makes us want to run into the arms of people on the right. Alas, Mr. Brigstocke had that effect on this blogger. 0/12

This blogger felt strong agreement with the gentleman in the audience who asked a question about man made global warming being a scam and who expressed his own opinion later on. His expressed opinions match those of this blogger almost entirely.

The web page for the official BBC Question Time show of this week is HERE.