Question Time and This Week

Dimbleby's tie!

Alex Salmond again very impressive and Hattersley was good too. Baroness Barmy did the Tories no favours at all if we're talking hysterical grandstanding.

Alex Salmond does a very good after dinner speech.

He'd be better value than Kenneth Clarke or Tom O'Connor, that's for sure.

Can I just say to Marcello that Neuk means Fuck in Dutch.

Thank you.

I couldn't possibly comment ;-)

Hehe. Yeah yeah yeah. I bet you can't. :-)

US election edition from DC now!

Not as good as four years when Michael Moore's contributions were thrilling.

No, they bloody weren't. I remember him saying something like, "When it comes to gay marriage, well we find you republicans pretty deviant, but when john kerry wins, he's still gonna let ya marry!" Gahhhhhhh!!!!

Last nights show was astonishing. Can't remember a show like it, not even the 9/11 edition or ones during the build up to the gulf war. If anyone had any doubt about the feelings in the country they'll be certain now.

I thought the audience came over as a bunch of twats, personally. Tories let off the hook, as usual.

If anyone had any doubt about the feelings in the country they'll be certain now.

I think you want CiF.

It was HYS made flesh

but everyone is saying the same thing...

That's what they said about Nazi Germany

what, "If I'd invaded Poland, I'd be in jail by now!"

Ha ha, like people who fiddle expenses, which happens everywhere and all the time, usually end up in jail

LOL DAILY MAIL

(the jail reference has been more in reply to the mortgage overclaimance)

Lynch mobs aren't usually too hot on legal niceties

Could be mistaken, but the anger and disgust goes beyond the usual HYS/Daily Mail crowd, e,g Mark Thomas planning to take Speaker Martin to court for a judicial review.

Quite simply, none of us one of us could get away it. When benefit cheats get caught working and signing on, they get punished. They don't form a committee made up of other benefit claimants to debate how they might make new rules to prevent themselves from doing it again. They certainly don't appear on BBC News barking that "they work extremely hard and made a simple mistake."

Nor can an exposed tax dodger offer to pay back money because they are "concerned about how it looks to the outside world", and then walk away with no repercussion.

It is unfair, unjust and profoundly undemocratic. Which is why lawyers acting on my behalf have served legal papers on Speaker Martin this morning. As the chair for the House of Commons Commission, he should take urgent steps to commence a review of the department's actions in dealing with MPs' applications for expenses. These should include an independent audit of expenses and the forced repayment of wrongly claimed expenses; and in cases of fraudulent claims, the police should be called in. Speaker Martin has 14 days to respond. If he does not, I will instigate a judicial review of Speaker Martin's decision, on the legal grounds that public law should be consistent. MPs should not be allowed to be above the law and what is good enough for us is good enough for them.

I'll keep you posted on how I get on.

Update (Thurs 17:20): Thanks ever so much for offers of support - at the moment I've made decision I should pay for legal costs incurred so far. But if we end up taking Speaker Martin to court for a judicial review then we will launch a campaign fund. I am in the process of setting up a not-for-profit company specifically to collect funds for this one issue: it will be administered independently from me - i will have no contact or involvement with any of the money. Thanks again for offers of help. If it gets to court you can be sure I'll be coming back to you. (P.S. The commission have confirmed they have received our legal papers.)

Could be mistaken, but the anger and disgust goes beyond the usual HYS/Daily Mail crowd

Well obviously, all I'm saying is there was whiff of the lynch mob about the Question Time audience and they're appeared rather a lot of mouthy twats in there too

Tell some people often enough that they ought to be outraged and they get all outraged. It's like a public Racist Bottle Opener thread where everybody gets to pile on.

(That said, all MPs are bent, venal scum, obv.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8321157.stm

these fuckin' hippies better not ruin Question Time. I'm really lookin' forward to it.

Protestors totally swarmed the police about 20 minutes ago - the police had them all lined up on the pavement and then the protestors just decided to bust through into Wood Lane. Traffic is stopped.

Anyone know why QT is in London this week? I'm wondering if it is actually in order to give the biggest platform for protestors..

its probably already been recorded.

also these fuckin hippies better not mess up my commute home, I need to use the White City station in about 45 minutes

pfunkboy no, it's not already been recorded.

Lukas Keudic, 20, a student at King's College London, was one of those who managed to get to the doors of the studio where the controversial debate is due to be held later.

He said: "We were in the main reception next to Piers Morgan when about 30 police officers turned up. There were about 10 to 20 of us and we were just standing there chanting in a peaceful protest.

LOL namedropper

the bbc have removed the bit where the guy says they started chanting "Ian Tomlinson"

There are also protests currently taking place outside BBC buildings in Glasgow and Belfast.

Well that'll do a lot of good

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46593000/jpg/_46593994_protest1_bbc_226.jpg

Nick Griffin is inside the building.

http://www.viciousriff.com/files/IMG_294.jpg

(xpost)

not gonna watch this

It will not be much fun

It's fucking Question Time, it's never fun.

Unless one of the guests is pissed.

these people are complete fucking morons

like seriously talk about giving floating potential bnp voters a liberal strawman to hate on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8319635.stm

The whole "no platform for Fascists" thing brings back a warm glow of nostalgia from being at Uni in the 1980s, but personally I figure if the Fascists are on a platform it makes them easier to throw bricks at.

i'm sure dimbleby has packed an extra brick or two

it's just a big fantasy for people romanticising protest eras...also comparing griffin to hitler is some fucking offensive have your say level shit.

Does anyone have a right to a job? Surely people have to stand on their own two feet? Isn't that the argument of all the mainstream parties - equipping people for the realities of the modern world?

Errrrrrrrrrrrr, is this the BBC talking here?