He's just a breath of fresh air for me. Someone of the left that's not tainted by the 'bloody politicians' tag.
I suppose he's a few steps up from the succession of clowns we've seen in recent times, such as Russell Brand, Mick Hucknall, David Starkey and Hugh Grant.
Missed the programme but can't say I'm a fan. Leaving aside his socialist mansion in Dorset his massacre of the Internationale was unforgivable. Best rewriting of the Interazionale was Franco Fortini's performed by Ivan Della Mea, brings a tear to my eye to hear it every time.
I can't watch Question Time. Usually the most concentrated collection of idiots around at any one time, audience included. Soundbite politics for the attention challenged public. We get exactly what we deserve. There was a documentary yesterday (though it didn't attempt to be objective) about the impact of the welfare cap on some families who were forced to leave their rented homes as a result. I didn't see the whole thing, but I think it was meant to make us angry that people were being so inconvenienced by being asked to cover at least some of their own expenses. I don't doubt that there are some cases which are genuinely unfair, and undoubtedly the system has something of a catch 22 about it, but I'm afraid the couple I saw did nothing to create sympathy with me. All were supported in finding new places to live, most moaned about it (yes, they were being asked to move town, sometimes a long way, rather than stay in glorious Brent, and I can understand the reluctance to do this), a couple made no attempt to supplement their benefits by, say, working. Absent fathers a depressingly regular characteristic of these families. I'm a staunch supporter of a managed, transparent, welfare system, which enables people to live with dignity, without stigma, but also without removing any incentive to support themselves. Poverty, particularly when it impacts on kids, becomes a self fulfilling negative prophecy which damages us all for generations. But some people FFS........what's happened to the obligations part of rights and obligations? This is exactly the kind of thing which can't be properly discussed on crap like Question Time.
I can see your point about soundbite politics, Stan, which is why I find it refreshing to see someone like Bragg on the programme. The politicians are usually the least interesting. I don't agree, though, that issues like welfare can't be properly discussed on QT. The format seems reasonable to me if there is a balanced panel of intelligent people.
Perhaps if they spent the entire programme on one subject it might be marginally more interesting, but I can't see the value of giving someone a minute to discuss something very complicated, especially when they have clearly been told to get the words 'cost of living crisis' into their response as many times as possible and spend more time attacking others than building an argument. And now for our final question, does the panel think baby Prince George is cute enough to be King? Bragg is ok, but the only one I have made an effort to watch in recent times was when John Lydon was on. He was great.
Spot on. It is not as if there are no jobs. Go into any retailer or restaurant in London and you will inevitably be served by a Pole or some East European. Are these jobs too demeaning for some of our benefits claimants ?
Some of the claiments didnt help themselves on Panorama, people with 7 kids complaining about their new taxpayer funded house being in Luton or Birmingham - saying the disruption of the move was a disgrace (while a caption said they'd uprooted their family from Ethiopia or Palestine in the first place) - is only going to get a negative reaction. Not sure what point the editors were hoping to make, but their sample of claiments weren't the best to convince viewers the cap was wrong
One of the best bits on that Panorama documentary last night was a quote from one of the single mums "They cant make me and the kids leave this area! How will they ever get to know their Dads!"
A number of his thoughts and observations are reasonable, but he delivers them in such a way as to dissuade the persuadable.
