Guests are: Shaun Woodward, Margaret Ritchie, Gerry Kelly, Sammy Wilson, Lord Trimble and Jim Allister. Should be good crack!! The live blog will be online from about 10 onwards…
Update: And we’ll keep it open for Hearts and Minds on which Martin McGuinness and Nelson McCausland do a great impression of two actors in radically different plays. Neither of them very funny.
Having somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the widely praised West Wing TV series I was delighted to discover the entire Box set in my Christmas stocking – and with enough spare time over the holidays to give it a good lash. But with 10 episodes of the first series under my [...] read our review »
This is article was first published in Fortnight magazine back in February 2003. Chris Farrington is now a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ in the School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin. Although the circumstances it describes has changed radically and [...] read our review »
They haven’t updated the BBC QT website yet with Margaret Ritchie’s addition yet. Wonder just how late she was added?
where did they find the other chair for margaret,i realy do not want to watch this as OUR political reps are a bunch of ars*ho***, but i probaly will, does anyone eles think jim allister is being set up as the next nick griffen as i dont think i could stick his sickly smile if he takes the NICK GRIFFEN DEFENCE.
They’ve had that number of panellists in NI before
What about Super-Injunction Donaldson? They should stick him on for a laugh!
Are u picking up from twitter? if so what do we need to do?
Allister is getting slapped around almost as badly as the BNP were… and I’m loving it.
I dont think Margaret Ritchie actually knew who the Foreign Secretary is.
Anyone know when this is on the iPlayer?
They def didn’t take to young jim at all…lol and i thought our Madge was way out of her depth… Sorry
Alistair did manage to get two points across to the GB audience – Gerry Kelly’s past as an IRA bomber and his present position; the fact that there is not a standard oppositional style of government in NI.
Ritchie – pretty good on the whole, was able to come across as a reasonable person; related well to the audience.
Wileon – excellent as always. Like his politics or not he is a great commuinicator. Clear on the economics question.
Trimble – now a Conservative. Generally on top of the issues but not as good a communicator as Wilson.
Woodward – impressive
Kelly – did poorly on the Greece question but generally an intelligent contributor.
Allister – wasn’t given a lot of time but did make some points quite clearly including Kelly’s background and the “mandatory” nature of the NI government.
Studio audience – generally impressive. Seemed to be ahead of the politicians, most exhorting people to move on, challenging Jim Allister, and generally quite interested in broader economic and social issues.
Atmosphere: Not the old type of tense atmosphere. The audience and most of the panel were pretty civil. Jim Allister participating. Thre was a time when DUP would not have participated along side SF. The thaw continues.
I’m greatly encouraged. Jim Allister got a hostile reception from the audience. David Thimble made no great impact on the debate.
All in all, a decent programme. Sammy, whatever you think of him, [and who doesn't] is great entertainment value. gerry kelly did alright. There’s hope for British democracy after all.
Frankie Howerd can sleep peacefully in his Pompeii neighbouirhood after this.
LabourNIman. Sunny Jim is impervious to incoming satire. He has rendered argument redundant, bless him. More power to his elbow as long as he can take votes from the duplicity party.
Margaret Ritchie did better than I expected and as well as I had hoped.
Gerry Kelly was ok but too defensive.
Sammy Wilson always goes for the entertainment value. Has no real gravitas.
David Tremble….was the opposite. Re-invented as “British” rather than “Ulster” he tried and failed to be more sophisticated than the rest of the panel.
Jim Allister…yes portrayed as BNP type. But slightly over-promoted. The TUV after all have no MEPs, MPs , MLAs and a hanful of local councillors. Much as I hate loathe and despise the Alliance Party, they were more deserving of a place on the panel than Allister.
Yet Allister will take votes off DUP and turn unionism into a three party philosophy, therefore his promotion is good for the Republican/Nationalist agenda.
I dont think that he really gets that neither SF-IRA and its supporters would be too surprised to learn of Gerry Kellys previous incarnation. That one wont work anymore.
Is any SF-IRA voter gonna wake up tomorrow and say “I was thinking about what Jim allister said and Ive decided to change my vote”.
In atual fact his concentration on the fact that Stormont is being part run by the IRA is music to the IRAs ears.
I thought it was a pretty well balanced programme and it was also noticeable that they all managed to behave. Probably because they didn’t want to look like the usual squabbling mouths that they usually are on regional programmes of this nature.
Jim Allister – Performed well for someone who was getting ganged up on. I think the Nick Griffin treatment will do him no harm in his heartland and with his potential voter type.
Margaret Ritchie – Was solid if unspectacular. She settled in well at the beginning and then seem to loose her nerve towards the end and started that irritation habit she has where she seems to trip over her words. Shes going to have to get comfortable with TV quickly. Over all though not a bad Dimbleby debut from her.
David Trimble – Why does a grown man with such experience take such obvious “redners” ? The gentlemans club reference from Dimbleby was an awkward moment for him. His constant references to being a Conservative won’t have helped in playing to the UU audience either. That’s the problem with schizophrenia.
Gerry Kelly – Still comes across as an arrogant self aware sod. He performed well enough and of course, as always, stayed on message. I know it’s not really a criticism of him but, as usual, the audience seemed to have been well infiltrated by the SF rent a mob. (Did Allister have one friend in the house?). The only thing I had with kellys performance tonight was that his Belfast accent is grating and almost unintillegable to anyone who’s not from Ardoyne.
Sammy Wilson – Performed well but he would need to learn to stop the finger pointing. Of course he also has good comedy value. Like when he forgot about one of the many jobs that he has. Showed up what he thought of being a Belfast City Councillor when he forgot that he was one. Maybe it’s also an indication of just how far up his own hole he has got.
Sean Woodward – In a word – impeccable.
Wabbits,
Gerry Kelly is from West Belfast, not Ardoyne.
If the audience was as balanced as the BBC tells us, then about 35% would not have been voters and about 25% of the remainder would have been SF-IRA voters.
So logically there would have been a large number of SF-IRA types there…which is obviously a good thing isnt it? Unless of course you have a problem with SF-IRA types being (presumably) represented in accordance with their strength.
As for Jim Allister not having any friends there…..well on the bright side…..HE WILL next time.
“The TUV after all have no MEPs, MPs , MLAs and a handful of local councillors” (FitzjamesHorse, #14).
Thanks for that important observation! The TUV is getting a frightful amount of attention for a party whose electoral score to date is a hat-trick of defeats.
Hope all you fans of TUV will enjoy our article in tonight’s Belfast Telegraph.
Loved the biased BBC audience – liveblogged elsewhere of course.
Surely, David Vance, the failure of the studio audience to respond positively to Jim Allister can be seen as a reflection of the wider electorate’s like failure and in that the sense the audience can be taken as representative of the views of the wider community.
It would appear from the reaction of the audience that they do not share Allister’s doom-laden negativity and rather wish he would go off into the wilderness gnashing his teeth (he does do a lot of teeth-gnashing, doesn’t he?) and stop trying to hinder progress. As is evident from the ballot box, this opinion of his views are widely held throughout the community as a whole.
Is your article in the Belfast Telegraph likely to reverse this perception?
I hae me doots.
Interesting to see the three unionists (Trimble is still a unionist, right?) taking pops at each other – SF and SDLP on the other hand looked rather cosy together. Is SF minus the IRA and abstentionism (UK that is, they rescinded Dail abstentionism some time ago) really the same as the SDLP (that party of civil rights and credit unions, community politics and a quest for equality)?
Just checked out the parallel live blog of Question Time over on Biased BBC. A parallel universe.
The question for Gerry when he said he opposed all torture was an easy one and Jim missed it because he isn’t as sharp as he thinks. It was: When did you change your mind?
I thought that Gerry Kelly got a good reception from the panel, and he made his point well that ,whatever his background he has a strong mandate. It’s no use Unionists telling nats who to vote for. They only succeed in making themselves look undemocratic, which basically most of them [in BOTH parties] are.
Alan in Belfast – just followed your link. Depressing stuff! Is that a BNP/Combat-18 funded website by any chance??
Most notable that when Jim Allister tried the old IRA card against Kelly – nobody clapped. People are moving on Jim Allister is not.
No, the depressing stuff was found on the Slugger QT liveblog. A parallel universe in which the Old Bailey bomber is the essence of reasonableness.
Scaramouch [25] That was Sunny Jim’s strongest line to take against SF and still it went down like a lead balloon. Just read over on Talkback MB that a poll in BT said SF now in lead. That should cheer gregory up no end. By the way, also read Kalista’s news about getting a new job. All the best and congrats, Kal. {yes, I’m over here, now.]
Alan in Belfast, tried the link and the following is a selection of quotes from a user named with the tag David Vance
My political colleague, Jim Allister, is the man to watch on this outing. The audience will be massively akin him. [before the show of Jim Allister]
This audience is LOADED folks!!
Yes, she is speaking Leprechaun [of Margaret Ritchie]
Sammy is an ex-Nudist. Dodgy moustache [of Sammy Wilson]
pROVO AUDIENCE
The audience is a disgrace. and as I said beforehand, a set up [10.57pm comment]
SDLP audience [10.58]
Dimbleby a disgrace [11.03]
Woodward is pondscum [11.13]
Yes, no Muslims in the audience…one upside
pro BBC pro Sinn Fein audience [11.32]
What inner beauty this person with the tag David Vance must have.
David Vance on Margaret Ritchie:
—
10:49 – David Vance: Yes, she is speaking Leprechaun.
—
I guess the TUV have rather short memories.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8346243.stm
Guess the TUV has a sense of humour, something a few here could learn to develop. Now, back to admiring the Old Bailey bomber
Hey Jaggers
Thanks for that. Nice to know you are a follower.
All – if you think in your wildest dreams that BBC audiences are in any way representative of the electorate then you just having been paying attention, have you?
“Nobody loves us, we don’t care” ?
Mick, if you get a moment any chance of asking Jim Allister for a comment on what appears to be a TUV “spokesman” David Vance saying on a Twitter-type of forum of Margaret Ritchie “Yes, she is speaking Leprechaun” [screendump preserved showing the quotation]
Yet it remains, DV, that this particular audience and the NI electorate share remarkably similar sentiments – both have shown that they simply cannot abide Allister, the TUV and all the revanchanist claptrap that they espouse – the audience in its hostile reponse to Allister last evening and the electorate through the ballot box at every opportunity.
> Guess the TUV has a sense of humour
David – more like a persecution complex and an intense dislike and lack of respect for anyone not in your club. Caricaturing your political opponents will win you a few cheap votes but no lasting credibility.
Stick to expressing what you’re for, and not what you’re against!
All – if you think in your wildest dreams that BBC audiences are in any way representative of the electorate then you just having been paying attention, have you?
What in your opinion is representative of the electorate? Your opinion perhaps? Or big Jim’s? Funny. You should try to bear in mind that ‘the elctorate’ includes us fenians you know, disgraceful and all though it is, giving votes to papes, but there you are. Somehow I don’t see any of my community supporting big Jim, and as for the Unionist community well, you’d want an election to guage your own popularity.
I forecast that this is the only time the TUV get to crow about how representative of the electorate they are, prior to having put themselves up for rejection. Enjoy it while it lasts, for it won’t be long until your party’s relegated to being a minor irritation for the other Unionist parties. For Nationalists the TUV and big Jim are heaven sent, splitting the vote and invigorating apathetic Nationalists to get to the polling booth. Thanks for that btw.
Wabbits,
Gerry Kelly is from West Belfast, not Ardoyne.
If the audience was as balanced as the BBC tells us, then about 35% would not have been voters and about 25% of the remainder would have been SF-IRA voters.
So logically there would have been a large number of SF-IRA types there…which is obviously a good thing isnt it? Unless of course you have a problem with SF-IRA types being (presumably) represented in accordance with their strength.
As for Jim Allister not having any friends there…..well on the bright side…..HE WILL next time.
Posted by FitzjamesHorse on Feb 12, 2010 @ 02:43 AM
Fitz, I couldn’t care less what part of Belfast GK is from and your pedantry obviously knows no bounds. His accent is still unintelligable and that does not make for great communication skills. It was on that basis that I critiqued it.
As someone who works in the media I might inform you that it is a well known fact that most audiences of this type on TV are not representative of the SF electoral strength but rather disproportionate to it. Usually because SF are well organised in getting their people to apply for seats and those same people don’t neccessarily answer questionaires honestly.
I don’t blame them for that I merely point it out lest people actually believe the guff that you posted above.
The TUV take a principled stand against the men of violence wha?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8393317.stm
A graphical representation of how representative the TUV is for a) Unionism and b) the elctorate as a whole, including us fenians.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/editorial/p1Images/20100212_p1_big.jpg
THANKS, Neil (#12). Might an outright condemnation have been a vote-loser? Or did it really seem like a trivial little thing?
Anyone who works to destroy the stability that we have now should take responsibility in advance for the consequences of any such instability as he may manage to create.
Here’s another thing. It is WITLESS for anyone to say, ‘In such-and-such a circumstance, Britain will have to…..’ Britain will not have to do anything. You can enjoy group fantasies when you live in a communal pram, but the real world outside will not minister to those fantasies.
“Yes, no Muslims in the audience…one upside”
Classy stuff from vance.
I would hope that it is not the message that people disagree with, but that it is the messenger that is the issue, regarding Allister, and the TUV.
Would people be more open to disagree with Sinn Fein/IRA being in Government if, say, David Ford and the Alliance Party where the ones in the TUVs position?
Sorry, River Lagan, while I take your point that Jim Allister may be…er…somewhat less than prepossessing, I’m afraid that it really is the message and it wouldn’t matter if Selma Hayek, clad only in a fetching tattered loincloth delivered it. The punters simply ain’t buying. The goods are shoddy and just sooo! yesterday.
>>No, the depressing stuff was found on the Slugger QT liveblog. A parallel universe in which the Old Bailey bomber is the essence of reasonableness.<<
Well compared to waspish bigots Mr Vance just about anybody seems reasonable.
Glad I plussed this as it wasn’t good fair for most parts. Dimbleby should have let Sammy and Allister tear each other apart as they seemed up for it. Gerry Kelly was uncomfortable at times especially in having to point out the obvious equality issue to Dimbleby. Woodward was highly capable and almost effortlessly dodged the questions over why someone like him should get mortgage interest. The crowd applauded Wilson. kelly and Ritchie simply because it came across loud and clear that they were finished with the past.
Talking of frauds, I cannot see David Trimble’s red arrogant face now without looking for his mask. The one he wore the night he accepted his peace prize. He should sport a permanent red neck to accompany his face.
I found Woodward to be condescending and patronising trying to pretend he’s nothing more than a referee for these frightful squabbling children.
Allister has a very disturbing habit of raising his upper lip like a horse does when he’s displeased.
Otherwise, a pretty dull affair.
The Sinn Fein publicity bureau should set up a Facebook site calling for Gerry “Mandela-Old Bailey Bomber” Kelly to be appointed Justice Minister. For, whilst there is no chance of this happening, the irony sure does resonate with one and all…
Masterful response from Woodward about his expenses, claiming his multi-millionaire in laws shouldn’t have to pay for his lavish lifestyle. And then a lecture on womens’ rights (ie his wife)and how she shouldn’t be expected to keep him. great stuff. You almost would have thought he was a Tory once.
Ah Wabbits,
you are so right. My pedantry knows no bounds.
But do I detect a little sneering at the Ardoyne community.
For someone who works in the media….I am guessing selling copies of the Belfast Telegraph to cars parked along the Wstlink……it is perhaps surprising that you may not be regarded as a more credible source on the Media than ……David Dimbleby.
Yes, no Muslims in the audience…one upside
Surely this biggoted shite isn’t what the TUV represents?
I wonder what Allister’s view of the above beaut from DV is….
RS
I dunno, plenty of provo supporters so I suppose it balances.
And on the Muslim issue, last time I checked there make up 0.2% of the NI population. Assuming, for one moment, that the BBC audience is representative of NI (I know, stop laughing, we know it never is) then there should be no Muslims present, right? Or do you feel that the BBC should discriminate in their favour?
If you want classy comments, stick to ATW.
The word “upside” is the one that’s most disturbing. One thing to notice the audience makeup, another to specifically celebrate it.