Dimbleby's Leaving Question Time.

[661-Pete]

Slightly off-topic - or maybe not.

My mention of Speaker's Corner has jogged my memory. Back in my teenage years (1960s), I was charged with showing my cousins, over on a visit from Hungary, around the sights ot London. I remember the day fairly well.

One stop was the Houses of Parliament (it was during summer recess, so we were able to visit the Chamber). Another, which I remember making a special point of showing them, was Speakers' Corner. I think I must have said something like "Look! Democracy in Action! You won't find this in Moscow or Budapest..." My cousins were no doubt suitably impressed...

The irony, I think now with hindsight, is that there could very well have been a "Speakers Corner" in a cordoned-off corner of Red Square, and it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference - even if the KGB turned a blind eye! Just so long as the TV cameras were kept away, it would have had little or no impact...

Agree?

[661-Pete]

Is that what this is about? Replaying the Brexit debate?

I think you'll discover if you read the rest of your post, that you're doing that too!

As you are a Remainer, ponder this.

By all means feel free to attach to me whatever label you wish!

[pwa]

Is that what this is about? Replaying the Brexit debate?

I think you'll discover if you read the rest of your post, that you're doing that too!

As you are a Remainer, ponder this.

By all means feel free to attach to me whatever label you wish!

Did I misread you?

[pwa]

Dimbleby was, I think, good at the job, but there must be a few others who could do as good a job. I bet someone at the top of the BEEB is wondering if a woman might be the right choice. Kirsty Wark perhaps. She lets people speak but comes back with good supplementary questions.

[Tangled Metal]

Freedom of speech but only if nobody can hear you!

There used to be an old joke circulating (with care!) around the Eastern Bloc at the height of the Cold War:
"In the Soviet Union we have freedom of speech; In Britain you have freedom after speech..."

Screw that! Let the idiots spout their bile on QT. I am confident that I have enough wits about me to filter their comments out at those of racist idiots. If any viewer chooses to listen and agree with them then they're likely to be racist too.

I used to believe that too ... up until 23 June 2016, and again up until 8 November that same year. Then I became not so sure.

Aaah! You don't like the result of democracy. So you don't want to hear the views of those with pro Brexit views. Not all are racist.

I am a remainer but actually hold a few if the same views as the Brexit camp. I've also been staunchly anti - racist my whole life. I think immigration needs a degree of control over it and I don't think the EU has been working for some time. I personally think it moved on without bringing the less conforming British nation with it. A political failure in Brussels or is it Strasbourg, or Brussels or Strasbourg, or whichever city it is in.

I bet you want me to shut up now too!

[Tangled Metal]

Dimbleby was, I think, good at the job, but there must be a few others who could do as good a job. I bet someone at the top of the BEEB is wondering if a woman might be the right choice. Kirsty Wark perhaps. She lets people speak but comes back with good supplementary questions.

Is it time for a younger person? Someone who could last another 25 years in the job? Sorry if this is insensitive but how long would Kirsty Wark have in the job before she decides to retire?

[pwa]

Dimbleby was, I think, good at the job, but there must be a few others who could do as good a job. I bet someone at the top of the BEEB is wondering if a woman might be the right choice. Kirsty Wark perhaps. She lets people speak but comes back with good supplementary questions.

Is it time for a younger person? Someone who could last another 25 years in the job? Sorry if this is insensitive but how long would Kirsty Wark have in the job before she decides to retire?

Do we need the next person to last that long? Wouldn't five years be enough?

It could be a younger person in theory, though some of the attributes required are usually associated with some age. Calmness, serenity, broad experience, etc.

[Tangled Metal]

And those are not present in younger people? Bearing in mind Kirsty Warke is 63, there's a lot of years in people a lot younger than that. Twenty years younger = 43. At 43 you could have 20+ years of journalistic experience. If have thought you'd have skills enough to handle the job by then.

At that age (mid forties) in other professions you see people near the top of their game. Such as academia. Hawking was a FRS by age 32 for example.

Talent will out class experience alone in that role I would say. Let's get some new talent in there.

BTW I personally feel that KW would just be a female version if the same old style of doing it. Why not find someone different who could shake the format up a bit. Someone who's not afraid to call someone out over the party political BS that's handed out on QT. Someone who shuts down party animals or elicits personal views not party policies and spin.

It's time to offend party politics not pander to it. If not now when there's no quality on government and no quality of opposition, then when. When is the best time for a political / current affairs discussion programme to hold the powers to account on front of the general public? Oppose all sides if you like to expose them fully to the electorate as bankrupt!

[Ben@Forest]

And those are not present in younger people? Bearing in mind Kirsty Warke is 63, there's a lot of years in people a lot younger than that. Twenty years younger = 43. At 43 you could have 20+ years of journalistic experience. If have thought you'd have skills enough to handle the job by then.

Laura Kuenssberg is 42. She seemed ubiquitous during the 2015 GE and was impressive which is why she got the political editor job - but there you have the dilemma - that is a better, more hands-on, day-to-day job than hosting QT which would be at least a day out of each week. That sort of schedule favours an elder journalist who has already been through the other journalistic roles.

[pwa]

And those are not present in younger people? Bearing in mind Kirsty Warke is 63, there's a lot of years in people a lot younger than that. Twenty years younger = 43. At 43 you could have 20+ years of journalistic experience. If have thought you'd have skills enough to handle the job by then.

Laura Kuenssberg is 42. She seemed ubiquitous during the 2015 GE and was impressive which is why she got the political editor job - but there you have the dilemma - that is a better, more hands-on, day-to-day job than hosting QT which would be at least a day out of each week. That sort of schedule favours an elder journalist who has already been through the other journalistic roles.

She is impressive in what she does. I'm not quite seeing her as a chairperson yet, but maybe she would be good at it.

[PDQ Mobile]

I personally think it moved on without bringing the less conforming British nation with it. A political failure in Brussels or is it Strasbourg, or Brussels or Strasbourg, or whichever city it is in.

I bet you want me to shut up now too!

I don't think we are "less conforming" as a nation.
It is a deliberatly perpetrated Nationalistic myth!

In actual fact some of of the EU countries and peoples show it less as a trait!
And as far as conformity within the EU goes, well 28 culturally and linguisticslly diverse nations with rather different systems of governance could hardly be descibed so.
But I do not want to perpetuate the B debate here. There is another place for that!

Though specifically the role of the media and QT's role within that bracket are fair game and I shall return to it in due course when time permits.

[horizon]

I think good presenters must be as rare as hen's teeth. Having lost Robin Lustig and Nick Clarke on Radio 4, no-one has really come up to their standard. It could be due to the presenter having had a proper journalistic background and that doesn't necessarily make for a strong presenter with the right voice (sorry, but Martha Kearney's voice drives me potty and Justin Webb sounds weak).

I would say, good on you to any presenter who becomes a comfortable personality in their own right and different programmes (sorry, shows) will have a different flavour. You watch them if you like them.

PS Laura Kuenssberg is brilliant but she would be wasted on QT.

[pwa]

I personally think it moved on without bringing the less conforming British nation with it. A political failure in Brussels or is it Strasbourg, or Brussels or Strasbourg, or whichever city it is in.

I bet you want me to shut up now too!

I don't think we are "less conforming" as a nation.
It is a deliberatly perpetrated Nationalistic myth!

In actual fact some of of the EU countries and peoples show it less as a trait!
And as far as conformity within the EU goes, well 28 culturally and linguisticslly diverse nations with rather different systems of governance could hardly be descibed so.
But I do not want to perpetuate the B debate here. There is another place for that!

Though specifically the role of the media and QT's role within that bracket are fair game and I shall return to it in due course when time permits.

There is a bit of a conflict of arguments here. If someone argues that unintelligent Jeremy Kyle watchers were the ones who voted for Brexit, they are surely not the QT audience! If QT swung it for Brexit, they did so by influencing the sort of person who is interested in current affairs, because they are the QT audience. Personally, I think QT reflected rather than created unease about the EU. The interesting question for me is why people in authority were not listening. Like they thought it would just go away. If QT is not already compulsory viewing for MPs it should be, not so they can pander to every view, but so they can understand popular feeling and react to it in a positive way.

[Tangled Metal]

Could that QT job not be done as a post time by the likes of LK? Yes she has a hands on job but within the bbc. I'm sure it could be something that would allow an afternoon for the QT chair job (or whenever it is filmed).

What about trialling behind the scenes journalists? New talent? There's seriously little in the way of big name options. IMHO KW is too much of the old style even the gender change to the chairing role doesn't give much to the role.

I'd rather see it as an opportunity to shake up the format a bit. Why not put a young, thrusting journo without any anchor experience into the role? Change the format a bit so the politicians are no longer comfortable on the show. Turn it onto a political blood sport with the party line / party spin being the victim of the blood letting.

Sorry for the graphic imagery but I think we need a media outlet for confronting party politics and ideologies. Cutting through all their cr@p.

[Ben@Forest]

Could that QT job not be done as a post time by the likes of LK? Yes she has a hands on job but within the bbc. I'm sure it could be something that would allow an afternoon for the QT chair job (or whenever it is filmed).

It is or was filmed an hour immediately before transmission, so not quite live. But it's all over the UK so most times I guess Dimbleby or any host has/would have 3 hours + travelling there and then the same back (we know that his brother hosting Any Questions almost always travels by train to the locations - though it must sometimes be difficult to get the last train back).

Furthermore Dimbleby must be there a couple of hours beforehand to go through the running order, the questions and last minute updates about what's happening as well as having spent time cribbing on the backgrounds and views of the various panellists - another reason why an old head is good - because he may remember that X supported the miners' strike or Y was a lawyer who specialised in getting people off speeding fines.

I reckon taking everything into account plus prep for the next QT it's a day to a day and a half a week each time - too much for a full-time political editor.