I am the 'Extra Guest' on BBC's Question Time tonight. That does not mean you will see me on the panel on televsion - it means I am given the BBC's twitter account for an hour. If you want to see what I have to say you have to follow @BBCExtraGuest on twitter.
The question I have now is what ius going to be on? It's wise to prepare oneself.
Immigration is inevitable - and yes I've read Yvette Cooper this morning.
Is Serco and the NHS privatisation likely?
What about Vince Cable u-turning?
There's always the EU - especially as it's coming from Dover.
And is Syria a cert given we're sending some old tanks?
Will the bedroom tax feature?
What about privatising RBS (unlikely, I think)?
It's been announced today that lone parent rates are up threefold in 40 years - could that be linked to social housing?
Suggestions welcome......
Oh, and anything anyone want to suggest about what I say about Melanie Phillips? Keep it polite please...this will be on the BBC.
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What was the real intent behind the hastily withdrawn Statutory Instrument 257, if not to force #NHS to choose private healthcare companies to which services would be outsourced?
Good one
Is the introduction of an appeals panel for every academy and ‘free’ school, not overseen by the DoE, the reintroduction of selection in state schools by accident or by stealth?
I’d say the bedroom tax is bound to feature, Richard, particularly given the heartbreaking documentary last night (on the BBC) about America’s poor kids. Given the impact the bedroom tax will have on families with kids we’re rapidly heading down a similar road.
Careful now Richard you must maintain your status as being outside the cosy mainstream consensus. We know that the questions for discussion are accepted within the boundaries and managable limits that preclude any serious challenge to the establishmnet – did you know that Corporation man par excellence David Dimbleby is a former Bullingdon Club member? Critical voices are seldom heard from the panel but when they are it makes Question Time much mote interesting, Will Self, Mark Seawotka and George Galloway are examples.
You’re right about the general trend of questions. Immigration is a certainly and localish issues, but not the trial of George Osborne. An outsider would be should we know the sex of expected children, given Kate Middleton’s almost gaff!
I would never have thought of the last
I’ll groan if it comes up
On Twitter
Loudly
alternatives to fractional reserve banking and creation of debt free money is not going to come up. Pity as it would an answer (similar to the new green deal)to those who claim that Cable is wrong and there is no alternative to austerity.
Following up on John Hully’s comment and potentially much more sinister is this research paper on the US/EU Free Trade Agreement from lindakaucher@hotmail.com .Some very serious implications for the NHS,despite the supposed climb down on 257.
The EU/US ‘free trade’ agreement is the omega of current efforts, we sign up to,an enabling legistion; that most pernicious form of bureacracy, in the form of the self modifying, protean document that is the lisbon treaty and they,the purveyors, sell it on to the lowest paying, most rent seeking entity.
One which has, militarily, financially and diplomaticaly the greatest bureaucracy in the world.
And all these these are in the hands of a decadent, insatatiable elite.
Totally agree .. if the TPP is a template. Hidden SOPA type legislation within the treaty would restrict internet freedom worryingly. Its just a corporates’ charter giving their tribunal supremacy over domestic legislation.
‘The worrying aspects of the leaked TPP documents concern the outsourcing of jobs, the outlawing of domestic legislation protecting workers, human rights, food safety and the environment. There is a particular focus working against generic medicines, on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies that rank amongst the most profitable US and UK firms — for example patents could be extended ensuring more expensive drug therapies. A version of SOPA could be introduced by the backdoor, limiting internet freedom and internet privacy rights. It would also shield foreign capital from domestic laws, essentially deregulating finance even further, at a point when there are calls for greater not less regulation.’
http://think-left.org/2013/02/20/are-we-already-in-the-post-democratic-era/
I must do more on this….
Not wishing to rain on your parade, but I suspect that the Queen’s hospital stay will feature to the exclusion of certain real issues.
To which the response might be “Why can’t the Head of State use the National Health Service?”
Why are we sending vehicles to the so-called rebels in Syria while they are holding UN personnel hostage?
One topic is bound to be about Chavez. Was he good, was he bad. Sid he cock a snook at theUSA for the benefit of all his people?
Answers will probably be wildly supportive of him. This being Lefties Question Time. But they will miss the point that he: funded terrorism in other countries, oversaw the largest rise in crime/murder in any country in the world, lavished money on pet projects like 29mln on his f1 driver, and saw the emigration of many of people to better lives elsewhere.
So who is supporting terrorism in Syria with armoured cars
Worse than that according to the associated press:
Chavez invested Venezuela’s oil wealth into social programs including state-run food markets, cash benefits for poor families, free health clinics and education programs. But those gains were meager compared with the spectacular construction projects that oil riches spurred in glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world’s tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi.
Obviously a terrible, terrible man who somehow fooled his country into voting him in 4 times.
“That does not mean you will see me on the panel on televsion — it means I am given the BBC’s twitter account for an hour”
Ahh….A face for radio then.
Oh, I’ve recorded for the BBC twice this week
Or perhaps,a far too articulate and principled face for today’s black and white television
Well done Richard .. a great addition to #bbcqt. You should be on every week. Thank goodness Melanie Phillips is not!
Thanks
Just read your timeline Richard.
Nice to see some very sensible observations there. Well done!
Congratulations for getting this exposure. But please keep it balanced, or you are going to get branded as a typical left wing academic.
What is wrong with being a left wing academic?