A proper duel
That was a duel, a ‘political’ duel? Don’t make me laugh! Our leading politicians don’t know wha a ‘political duel’ is – they haven’t needed to ever since the EU liberated them from the onerous work of deciding policies for our country.
Yesterday’s “debate” between Johnson and Corbyn on ITV was a waste of time and resources. Worse, the MSM exacerbated this hour of utter inanity and boredom in today’s online papers, forcing everybody and their great-aunt Edna to write their ‘verdict’. So far, you’ll be glad to hear, no dead cats have been discovered on the nation’s tables.
As for Brexit … oh dear. Johnson used the B-word promoting his ‘deal’ while asking Corbyn about his plan. Thankfully someone counted and came up with the information that Corbyn dodged that question nine times … (link). Phew.
The rest of this encounter – you really couldn’t call it a ‘debate’, never mind ‘a duel’ – went according to script: for Corbyn, the NHS. He demeaned himself by talking about a friend of his who died in A&E. Against Johnson: ‘trust’ in politics. It ended with the hugely important political question of what they would give each other at Christmas! Corbyn would give Johnson a novel by Charles Dickens so he could see how dreadful ‘austerity’ is. Johnson would give Corbyn a pot of marmalade and the text of his ‘Deal’ … yes, that’ll decide floating voters to vote for one or the other!
Our beloved social media addicts were quick with their thumbs and came up with a ‘snap poll’, giving the verdict of 51 for Johnson v 49 for Corbyn (tweet). I don’t know what they were watching. Nigel Farage tweeted the clear winner was … Ms Etchingham, the moderator. Well, not really. The general opinion (‘embarrassing’) amongst the friends who watched was that the winners were those who hadn’t watched.
The first part finished on the most cringe-worthy scene I’ve seen on a TV “debate”. Not even Miliband’s stumble at the end of that debate in 2015 comes close. Ms Etchingham first asked them both for a pledge! To stop the ‘toxic’ debates and general atmosphere in the HoC! And then … omigawd! She forced them to shake hands, as if they were two naughty schoolboys and she was the head teacher. You can watch the video clip here, if you must.
And that brings me to my critique of the whole shebang. These TV ‘debates’ are no proper debates, they are a vehicle for our deluded MSM journalists to promote themselves as final arbiters of what we the voters should think.
The ‘format’ allows them to have something called ‘audience participation’: some mug is allowed to read their question from a little piece of paper – a question which has of course been preselected by the show producers, as has, of course, the audience. Nothing must be left to proper spontaneity. When the ‘referee’, in this case Ms Etchingham, tells the watching ‘public’ that the two contestants don’t know which questions have been selected, you know immediately that the thing has been rigged.
True politics aficionados have sussed this already, by watching the BBC’s ‘Question Time’ every week where this sort of thing has been going on for years. We also remember the ‘debate’ between the Tory leadership contestants where a discredited imam was wheeled out just so he could ask about ‘institutionalised islamophobia’ in the Tory Party.
Yesterday was no different. We had the obligatory question about anti-semitism in Labour and Corbyn was well-prepared for that, reeling off his answer that he hates racism in all its forms: surely a win for him?
Corbyn repeatedly went on about how he wants to ‘bring people together’ and how important it is ‘to listen to them’. One wag remarked that yes, it’s important and the answer by ‘the people’ will be binned after five seconds. Nobody asked – not that the producers would have let them – why Corbyn doesn’t listen to the wish of 17.4 million people … Here is a summary:
“It was meant to be the first big debate of this election campaign, it didn’t really feel like a debate at all. It simply never got going. In fact, it wasn’t allowed to. Throughout, the moderator, Julie Etchingham, kept butting in to cut the two leaders short (“Thank you, Mr Johnson! Thank you, Mr Corbyn!”), and so they rarely if ever got beyond the soundbites they’d come armed with. In the end, it felt like little more than a rushed, bullet-point digest of both sides’ slogans.” (paywalled link)
Just so – but that, I believe, is the aim of these TV set-ups. It’s not about getting answers to inconvenient questions, it’s about making the TV referee, a.k.a. presenter, look good. It’s about making us watching plebs feel that the politicians on those shows are nothing but bumbling idiots who need to be shown up at every opportunity.
The show producers hope we buy their fake scenes of ‘spontaneity’ and make us forget that the whole thing has been scripted. They surely know what ‘answer’ will come from the Johnsons and Corbyns on a given question! After all, we plebs do!
The show producers’ ultimate aim is to create ‘gotcha’ moments which they hope will make us benighted fools see the light and vote for the party they, the producers, prefer – which is either Labour or LibDem or Green, but never ever Tory, and in this election it’s most certainly not Boris Johnson!
Why do the politicians agree to go on these ‘shows’? Firstly, they all crave the limelight. Any TV exposure is better than none, even if they are made to look foolish: never mind, their spin doctors will correct that impression. None of them want a political debate. Thus it won’t be forthcoming. It’s simply another opportunity for them to peacock about.
Above all, these shows, these ‘debates’, elevate the TV presenters to stand at the pinnacle of politics in our country, or so they fondly believe. With every ‘debate’ show they document that they are ‘better’ than those politicians. See – they can even force them to shake hands because a forced handshake is a win – for the presenter.!
It is par for the course that the one important announcement from Johnson was treated as irrelevancy in this school-room production of how to make politicians ‘behave’ and get them to virtue-signal:
“In one surprising moment Mr Johnson said there would be a social care policy in the party’s manifesto and suggested it would ensure that no one had to sell their home to pay for residential care.” (link, paywalled)
Well – that is surely of interest to all of us! We have to see if it’s of the same ‘Deal’-quality as Johnson’s Brexit ‘Deal’ but it’s something.
I have bad news for you – there will be another such debate, this time on the BBC. It’s on the 6th of December, so you have time to think of something preventing you to watch it.
Fortunately, there’s no Ms Etchingham to tell me ‘Thank you … THANK YOU …. THANK YOU … We’re going to move on”. Indeed, let’s move on. Let’s disdain these fake ‘politics’ shows produced to make us forget what is important: the constant, enduring betrayal of us, the electorate, by the establishment. The MSM and politicians are in cahoots to make us forget. We won’t!
KBO!
Photo by Bosc d’Anjou 
I feared the worst but thought I better make the effort and watch. After five minutes I gave up as being a waste of my time.
In complete contrast was the 30minute BBC “Question Time” style programme with Nigel Farage later in the evening in which I think he showed a mastery of the situation and was worth listening to, and even if you did not agree with what he said you at least had something substantial with which to disagree.
Interestingly, no mention on the BBC today of their election programme yesterday.
Best bits, for me of the debate and not mentioned wer
a) Boris wriggling, uncomfortable, but essentially evading tetchyham failings of a personal capacity Boris did manage to sink a spear into Corby on anti-Semitism – long involved unconvincing denial – accusatory silence in the room and Boris away more or less scotfree.
b) Boris’s revaluation of Corby’s 4 day week in the middle of the NzHS debate, I’m not sure if it brought forth an outburst of laughter, but I don’t think the ludicrous impact was lost on this audience when one considers all the additional cost to the already on its uppers NaHS, never mind where they are going to find all the extra nurses.
A friend of mine was in the audience of “Question Time” He told me that everybody’s questions were checked out prior to the show begining.
More interestingly,the show is not broadcast live but 20 minutes later so that if there is an incident/”wrong” question, it can be edited out.
I missed this drivel. Joy o joy.
FOr gods sake don’t mention the war and they didn’t,, the audience didn’t and certainly Tetchyham didn’t ( notice the ham? Acting I mean)
The elephants not brought into the room are the original NEED for Brexit by the nation as a whole. I didn’t hear the word “sovereignty ” mentioned once never mind the appendage “complete” nor did I hear the aspect of the effects of mass immigration on almost a biblical scale already on a country which is FULL UP
Oh! COrby gave free reign to the dreadful effects of crisis in the NHS and all those poor deprived starving kids deprived of food and what’s worse; opportunity, but nobody stopped to point out to him that much of the damage had originated with his lot, had he forgotten there was not a nickel left in the treasury when the Con Chancellor opened the safe? Had he forgotten the reason A & Es were full to the brim, that schools were overrun, GPs were as short as hen’steeth and houses were……..well virtually non existent or priceless for those of little income.
HE moans about AUSTERITY why does nobody enlighten him that it begins with him and that stupid/crafty Mr Bliar with his divide and diversity policies and his saturation immigration disasters for which no adequate extra financial provision has ever been made.you can’t shuggle up forever without something giving and oh my! this country has stretched and bled copiously.
All these politicians and elite must be made to understand that the LEAVE vote in an overwhelmingly high turnout was a signal from the electorate that the penny had well and truly dropped that had suffered this malarkey for years and wouldn’t put up with it any more.
They recognised the EU was at the base of all, it was primarily a matter of Sovereiignty being lost and daily traduced and we just NEEDED desperately to be shot of an evil, unfriendly Empire, as the old song has it Britain never will or (should) never be slaves and until CLEAN Brexit is achieved, we will not be conned or assuaged.from just that position – slaves!
Just about spot on – except for your calling them ”elite”.
”Elite”??? That is: ”A select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities..” Do you REALLY think they’re ”elite”?
Thank you monitors
You say they don’t know how to debate, they haven’t needed to ever since the EU liberated them from the onerous work of deciding policies for our country. Oh, it’s far, far worse. They don’t know how to govern! They haven’t needed to, etc.
That’s why we now have a parliament of useless no-hopers who think their job, at our expense, is to fill their days bickering and student politicking, smearing anyone who disagrees with their rote-learned soundbites, and parroting fantasy policies they think will magically work if they say them loud enough and often enough and screw up their eyes and wish very hard.
And it might also partially explain why the poor dears don’t want to ‘take back control’; they’ll actually have to work for their remuneration and it will instantly show up the ocean of inadequacy that passes for our legislature. That’s why we must hope for a cohort, however small, of practical Brexit Party MPs, who will be impossible to ignore amongst the dross.
Viv this takes “I’m doing this so you don’t have to” to a whole new level! Thank you so much!
A pleasure – but I’m only able to watch this in the company of friends, else I’d have already been sent to the loony bin!
“…so you have time to think of something preventing you to watch it.”
Easy-peasy. I don’t have a television to watch.
I’ve been TV free and quids in, for seventeen years and my blood pressure is lower.
And here’s something else for Viv not to watch?
“Sky News hope John Bercow, who recently stepped down after a ten year stint in the role, will bring “authority and wit” to the broadcaster’s coverage on December 12. But the decision to bring Mr Bercow on board has infuriated the British public, with many threatening to boycott the broadcaster that night.”
Too right that’s something not to watch, although I have wondered if a) the SKY people will be able to stop Bercow from peacocking, and b) if he’ll shout ‘order-order’ at them when they try to stop him …
I’m sure viral video clips will emerge in due course …
Since being bought by Comcast, Sky has done something I had thought impossible; they now out-woke and out-bias the BBC, or perhaps it’s just less subtle as the haven’t had the BBC’s years of practice.
That’s me boycotting Sky then.
Spot on! We may see through their game but there are millions who do not I am afraid.
I must be out of the loop as I’ve never heard of Ms Etchingham , but neither had any of my friends, but that must be us. My personal poll of the power of BBC/SKY/ITN shows that most in our circle have stopped watching the news including the regional broadcasts which is interesting. As far as the printed media is concerned my barometer is unsold newspapers still on sale in the late afternoon it’s noticeable over the days since the ‘election’ was announced how many more copies are still on sale despite the large increase in people shopping in stores. Either people have turned to on-line sources or just switched off from politicians and the media in general, in my view it’s the latter.
I’m now so fed up with the lot of them that I no longer read the online Daily Telegraph (to which I have a subscription). And like Bernard from Bucks, I don’t have a television or BBC licence.
Xantilor Well done! Hit the buggers where it really hurts – their pockets. Nothing else hits the spot like it.