Thursday, 13 October 2011

BBC Question Time - update

Some comments lost in the ether last week. Make your early guesses here. You can make any changes later, up until kick-off.

For those of us who missed out by there being no Foxy question last week, perhaps there will be one this week.

David Dimbleby is joined in London by
Andrew Lansley, {Health Sec. Driving the impossible reform,}
Ken Livingstone,{former mayor of London..sooon to be former, former mayor of London.}
Mark Littlewood,{director general of the IEA and a rarity in the Liberal Democrats..A realist,}
Phil Hammond { This must be the medical author and celeb Dr. Couldn't have two Tories on the show.}

and Sarah Sands{ The former Times editor and now Journo for the Independent.?}

BQ Thinks - A doctor's special edition.
1.Naughty Dr Fox- Should he stay or should he go. Lansley will back him, Ken will sack him {overlooking his own Lee Jasper affair.}
2. NHS is in crisis {when isn't it?} Should a extra hundred billion be spent or should 15% of nurses on £30k+ each be replaced by the more than capable care workers on £6.08 / hour who can feed and water and mop the elderly.
3. Unemployment. Should the government begin a US style stimulus? Why worry about our interest rates? Other countries look a much worse risk. As long as we're better than them we can blow a few billion on housebuilding etc.
4. Obesity question for the doctors. Why did the government decide obesity tackling is not their problem?
5. West Ham and the stadium. How can West ham afford the rent if they don't go back up within two years?{the odds of them going up are no better than 50/50}


Botogol - 19½
BQ - 17½

Timbo614 - 17
Nick Drew - 16½
Budgie - 16
Measured - 14½
Miss CD - 14½
Philipa - 14
Sebastian Weetabix - 14
Hopper - 13½
Hatfield Girl - 13
Malcolm Tucker - 13
Appointmetotheboard - 13
Dick the Prick -12½
GSD - 12
Mark Wadsworth - 12
Miss S-J -12
CU - 11½
Hovis - 11
Andrew - 10
Jan - 8
Woman on a raft - 4½
Alex - 1½
Anon {1} -1
Electro-Kevin - ½


Miss S-J said...

1 Dr Fox {and his dodgy aide}
2 Mr Lansley {and his dodgy reforms}
3 Mr Osborne and his dodgy recovery
4 London libraries are being boarded up already! Just hours after the decision to close them.
5 Was Boris right to bribe the London Underground workers with Dane Geld ahead of the Olympics. Is Bob Crow going to find a very vengeful government coming for this last fiefdom after 2012?

Nick Drew said...

1. Dr Fox / ministerial code, maybe expanding to press freedoms / privacy & the currently commission

2. Unemployment, do we need Ed & Ed's 'emergency budget' stimulus etc?

3. NHS, bad nursing of the elderly etc etc

4. Should the Pride of Old London Town (that's *ahem* the banks, in case you were wondering) be subject to that nasty Mr Barroso's new tax regime? (in fact, should anyone be subject to the unelected Mr B at all ?)

5. why is unemployment so dire in exactly the parts of London the Olympics was meant to tickle? eh, Ken ? never mind the bleed'n "Running-Track Legacy"

measured said...

1. Will the political medicine cure the NHS? 

2. Can the prescription of Q.E. alleviate the symptoms of 'inadequate' infrastructure and the unemployed?  

3. Wouldn't it be expedient just to let gangs get on with it and hurt each other? 

4. Why don't we let the Germans pay all the eurozone's medical  bills? 

5. A spoon full of sugar make for some lovely comfort eating. 

Get theme? What the doctor ordered. Trans fats (hydrogenated fat) is the most evil substance. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick... BQ, I must go and lie down. 

Budgie said...

1. Dire state of English sport - Rooney banned for 3 matches; England out of rugby world cup (or something). What does this say about our Olympic chances in 2012? Was it all Thatcher's fault for stealing the milk when they were just kids?

2. Wall St protests - could they happen here? Protests prove Obamessiah right and are a slap in the face for evil, mad Nadine Palin (is that right? Ed.). Evil Tory led Coalition and eviler Thatcher definitely to blame here. Plan B needed to avert civil catastrophe.

3. Should Dr Amanda Fox resign because Liam Werrity was found innocent in Italy, after a thorough investigation by his mate Camoron? Can we trust the Eyeties anyway? Or anyone from the Scotch fringes for that matter? Typical Tory sleaze, not like Labour or when I was Mayor moans Ken.

4. Now that the euro crisis is over, or soon will be with all those meetings at the end of this month by those frightfully clever eurozone finance ministers, is it time for Britain to join the euro? Thatcher to blame for us being left at the wrong end of the tunnel on the station, out in the cold and isolated.

5. Our NHS being decimated by heartless, evil Tories led by Thatcher. Doctors'n'nurses. Agingpopulation. Dedicated. PrideofBritain. LabourachievementinfaceofevilToryopposition. NeverrecoveredfromevilThatchercuts.

Mark Wadsworth said...

I really don't know, I think I'll stick with my early doors answers of yesterday, but part of me thinks that the whole "Get off the bus two stops earlier and eat less" meme pumped out by the government is exactly the sort of thing where audience and panel alike can really trot out their ill-founded prejudices.

If I had less faith in humanity and weren't prepared to imagine that they are not all self-preening morons, I'd cancel one of yesterday's Qs and stick in one about this "obesity epidemic".

But, naive as I am, I refuse to believe that anybody would be so repulsively stupid as to raise the issue :-(

appointmetotheboard said...

1. Fox. Weird old story, though *shrug* I can't be bothered about it enough to work myself into a lather about it. Bound to be first question then, as I'm so massively out of touch with the public.

2. Fat tax / nanny state. Bound to rile Littlewood. Someone in the audience certain to say "political correctness gone mad".

3. NHS / Lords vote / appalling treatment of the elderly. Hope the CQC are better at the day job than building websites.

4. Unemployment. Should we just give up, and train all kids on how to make the perfect latte or sell burberry to all the foreign millionaires living in London?

5. My wild-eyed trotskyite guess for the last question; how many panel members will be supporting #Occupy London Stock Exchange at the weekend?

PS - Forgive the impertinence, but I can I pursuade any of you to sign my e-petition, Call for a fairer economy?

Trying manfully to get to a 1,000 signatures. Thank you kindly.

Dick the Prick said...

Evening fellow cadavers rotting in the corner


2) Health

3) Health - / unemployment London, niggers, crime or some such crap. Fair play, I wanna listen to their stories usually.

4) Foxy - gotta be. Come on - the guy has to quit unless he's a toker.

5) Care homes and tertiary care - life expextancy is fast..

Timbo614 said...

Cooo I'm late...

1) Dr Foxy has to make at least a sly appearance. Should he stay or should he go?

2) NHS - Privatisation by back doors and and not looking after (some of us soon to be) old folks. Shame on them.

3) Unemployment has started to move up .. are we heading for 3 million again?

4) Does the world end when blackberry servers crash? My opinion (as a tech) they've had 10 years of near faultless running 5-10 hours! Sh*t, I mean this is not your PC which you just re-boot! Get a realistic people.

5) Throw-away: Do short skirts put girls at risk - sort of London Based and I need a left fielder to close the gap :)

CityUnslicker said...

Fox is cooked


Obesity is eating

Foxy knoxy free?

Philipa said...

Oh sod it, mine are on the early edition. Was rushing. Soz

Anonymous said...

"Fox in Docks" - Is that an obtuse onomatopoeic reference to "chicks with dicks" or am I betraying a warped sense of humour?

Bill Quango MP said...

Yes..It could be the really, really important issues this week. No more namby pamby government.

This time its a Tubbies charter..homosexual only churches,a new breast feeding in public law. No doubt next week this 'Iron Lady' coalition will look at inequality in domestic chores and a commission to discover if its necessary to tip the supermarket delivery person.

well lets see...

Q1.Is it appropriate for the Defence Secretary to bring a friend to work? - Lansley evades manfully. Ken, who is very good on panels BTW, asks about legitimacy. He says he had advisers on £120k. As long as its above board.Sands looks younger? New face cream? Audience man makes an assumption about payment that gets a big round of applause. The mood is anti Fox.
Hammond wants an independent to examine the Dr. More applause.
Mark Littlewood says its odd behaviour, but not unexplainable.
Fox needs to answer questions.

Tiny woman in front row with bright green jacket. Possibly an elf.

Q: Is it wise to persist with the NHS reforms when health professionals oppose them so strongly? This is why they booked PH and Al. gloves off. Hammond - its an unreadable document. He doesn't like competition. Cherry picking, and he has a good point. That always, always happens when opening up a market.
ML spoke quite well but most people didn't understand what he said. Very heavy medical audience tonight. There has also been a union protest outside the studio.
Ken says HMG are liars over reforms on NHS.
Anyway vast majority want a totally free NHS that is free to use for everyone with no profit at all. SS says we can't disguss NHS rationally. She is correct. That's why i'd have left it well alone. A fight that isn't worth having. No voter will thanks Lansley if he makes doctor's more efficient
Loads of Socialist Worker's party in the audience.Reading out a manifesto at one point. They've even burst in on the audience tea and cakes apparently. How rude. And what were the cakes like.

Q3 Unbelievably stupid question Should MPs be allowed to tweet.

Q4.Should we encourage our yoof to seek work abroad? Odd way to suggest unemployment went up.
SS thinks they should.
ML thinks GOv plan for growth is prayer. He's right, it is.
Al struggeled to remember which country he was in .."Dubai?" said all the panel.. quite funny.

Q5 Will over-regulating the press put democracy itself in peril as Paul Dacre asserted yesterday?

Another strange question. Something for Ken And Sarah. Ken doesn't want press controlled by individuals. Maybe unions? Hammond supports free press. Especially Private Eye. {it is very good at investigation journalism}.

That's it.Five questions asked.

Foxes-Hospitals-Tweets-emmigration/unemployment and free press.

Bill Quango MP said...

Mark Wadsworth - 2 + ½ for all the NHS union members who banged on about tax havens {at least 3 did so.} 2½

Hovis - Not bad. 3 bullseyes. - 3

Miss CD - hmmm ..lets say 3.

Elby the Beserk - Livingstone broadcasts on LBC on Saturday mornings. Catch him there!

Andrew - 2 ½ + an extra 1 for almost getting the Fox question and answers exactly right - 3½

GSD - 2 {and the London questions were both stupid. This series of QT is making me very suspicious.}
- 2

Hatfield Girl {welcome back} - 2 scores for you {and that airport guess is perfect for a London audience. But no ..tweeting!}

Hopper -Good guesses 3 hits from 4. - 3

Sebastian Weetabix - Good effort - 3 + extra 1 for envy of world. Unison staged a protest and got plenty of Docs and teachers and nurses inside.
On the subject of your relative i have heard this story repeated time and again, and have experienced it for myself on more than one occasion,. The solution doesn't seem that hard. Why doesn't Lansley fix this lamentable under-caring from paid professionals. it won't cost much. in fact, it will save money. -4

Malcolm Tucker - 3 ducks for you -3

Botogol - close - but just the 3.
Twitter..!!! what a crock

Jan - {I think QT is being fixed. In the 80's more LONDON council housing was bought than in the whole of Scotland and Wales and NI put together.Why was this not considered?} - 2

Philipa:- lucky you went for q5. - 3 {+ 1/2 for the Chanel earings tweet} - 3½

BQ - 3

Miss S-J - 3 for you too. Well done.

Nick Drew: - well, although it was technicaly 2 q's in one double points for the media question - 2+1+1+1 = FIVE!

Measured -2½ certainly was medical edition. Do you know which euro country has banned trans fats?

Budgie: 2 + 1 for Amanda Fox and assorted good jokes. =3

Appointmetotheboard: = 3 good ones
That wall st/stock exchange SHOULD hav been asked..I'm beginning to have an idea about what's going on here. Dimby has taken a bribe.

E-petition..i'll have a peep tomorrow.

Dick the Prick - 3 for you too. Nothing on the riots or London youth specifically. - 3

Timbo614 - 3 + ½ for the 'by the back door' line. Would have been a whole extra point if you'd used it on the Fox guess too.

CU - 2 for you.

Anon- fox in docks -- that is bad isn't it. Better to have had Fox is mocked on box..or maybe not.

Now, yet again 2 unlikely questions crop up on QT when there were, as demonstrated by the guesses on this blog, many more credible ones.
I think we can assume that there is a Pakistani/Dubai betting syndicate reading your comments and manipulating the C@W QTquiz for financial reward. I shall raise this question in the House at the earliest opportunity.

Bill Quango MP said...

Winner is Mr Drew with a staggering 'In the pipe, FIVE by Five.'

measured said...

It must be Denmark. Those easy going guys are joined by the Swiss. Another substance to avoid is artificial banana flavour.

James Higham said...

But, naive as I am, I refuse to believe that anybody would be so repulsively stupid ...

We are seeing this daily, Mark.

measured said...

That was a serious comment btw. Don't buy your kids artificial banana flavoured sweets.

Well Done, ND. That, and the gas discovery and the BP contract... Christmas!

appointmetotheboard said...

Thanks for taking a look at the e-petition BQ - I can't (and won't) ask for more than that!

Nick Drew said...

Christmas !

indeed, Measured - those nice gentlemen in Dubai have seen me right again, it's amazing what friends in the right places can do for a punter

e-petition: I had a look too, AMTTB - you'll get your 1,000 by the looks of things, and as you know I agree with you on boardroom pay when it has no visible link to success

but I'm afraid I shan't be signing - us *ahem* "Dubai-based businessmen" can't put our real names on govt docs ...

Bill Quango MP said...

Measured. Denmark it is. The Danes making an economy out exporting of wind energy and bacon.
Banana flavoured sweets.
UHoh-- Those are part of the new sweet suppliers range.Can't see anything unusual in the listed ingredients. Curcumin looks like the colouring, which is OK.
Where did you hear about banana colouring?

JH/MW -I would have thought obesity would have waddled up. But no ..twitter!

Bill Quango MP said...


You can't expect capitalists to want a permanent 50% tax rate. I would set it at 40% Including N.I!

However as CU has written before, and P.eye did again just in the last issue, board members and partnerships, footballers, doctors etc are paying LESS percentage rate tax than their employees.

Mark Wadsworth said...

The competition is much tougher this season. But fair play to Botogol and everybody else who is trouncing me (i.e. most of you).

Out of interest, apart from BQ, how many people actually watch this show? I certainly don't.

Bill Quango MP said...

2.5 million is the BBCs guess. Though they reckon the Nick Griifin episode had nearly 8 million.

Twitter goes mad when its on.

As for here, I too would be curious.

Nick Drew said...

I frequently try, but so often it drives me up the wall and I have to switch over to ... Newsnight ... which tells you something

where do they find these central-casting pig-ignorant trots and lard-arses for the audience? (central casting, I suppose)

Why do the politicos bother? Eisenhower once responded to the chivvying of an aide: "if the price of electoral victory is that I must wave both hands above my head, then it is a price I am not willing to pay". I think we can safely say he would have declined invitations to the QT panel.

measured said...

It is the flavouring that is the problem, not the colouring. Having spent five minutes looking it up, I see there are different artificial banana flavours out there. I do not know which one it is.

I read this years ago. The body doesn't excrete this chemical so its effect over a lifetime is cumulative. It is toxic to the liver. Perhaps the EU have banned it already.

Miss CD said...

I always watch it.
Even when its rubbish.