Your views on Question Time on Thursday 25 March

Do you have a "spellchecker" (panelare)?

About time we crushed the RMT like Margerat Thatcher finally crushed the out of control miners union in the eighties. Come on Bob Crow Every time I see a so called work gang on the tracks we have one guy working and about 5 standing around doing nothing......
I would love to see the passengers and businesses get together in a class action lawsuit to sue one of these unions with a few to financially destroying them!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't it a strange coincidence that so many companies are hell bent on provoking confrontation with the unions in the run up to the election,Mr Walsh at BA and his counterpart at British Gas seem to believe that Gene Hunt is the perfect model for the modern management style.Could it be that these leaders of industry are determined not only to bully their workers but to ease the way for the Tories by creating a "spring of discontent?"

As a Scottish person i'm particularly interested in Mr Salmonds performance tonight. I have never voted SNP before, although I have came to admire his patriotism and the way he promotes Scottish interests politically in a way I haven't seen before.

Why is this topic live before the program even starts?

Oh I see so the BBC propaganda machine wants to 'set up' the discussion to focus on the Unions and industrial unrest? Very clever to set the agenda 2 hours BEFORE the program goes out with four comments primed and ready to go! Mmmm

How strange!

Yes, it's the BBC's plan to promote propoganda, outcry, outrage, stampedes and riots in the streets as 1984 sweeps over the nation.


*sigh*


Anyway, my hope for the show is that the Jamie Bulger killer isn't brought up for the 3rd week in a row. I think all points on this matter have been exhausted, and it will probably help the family if this matter was laid to rest.

4. Emma
"...the way he promotes Scottish interests politically in a way I haven't seen before."

You wouldn't. Given that the British Labour Party has dominated Scottish politics for the last 50 years. The interests of Scotland and its people are not even on their radar. The country, courtesy of the SNP, has been given a glimpse of what it is like to have a Scottish government. They are not likely to go back now.

I wish someone would make th point that we are supporting our forces in the Middle East who are trying to bring some sort of democracy to the and yet we have one person one vote but a majority can't be bothered to vote even the it was gained by many others dying to get it at the beginning of the last century. How would they feel if they lost thi right.

Very true John Galt, but I would'nt accuse the BBC of cleverness, blatant political bias yes, but cleverness?. Six or seven posts is'nt going to give Dimbles much authority to quiz the panel on the peoples behalf.

In the lead up to the election.I just can't get over the feeling that lots of little deals have been done.
The tv program The debate live
The bbc licence fee.
The next bosses of these companies that are provoking the trouble.
The banks that will need new bosses.

But the one question on everyones lips is how long before the papers out the conservites doing deals for cash?.
I cant see how they wouldn't be in on this little scam!.

Good to see the censors didn't let my last post through. It was outrageous of me to accuse the BBC of political bias, we all know it's not true, the Beeb is totaly impartial especialy if you happen to be a Labour voter.

Liam Byrne is telling the Glasgow audience that they'll protect, the NHS, Schools and Policing - all devolved

Good man Sorrell - put Byrne back in his box.

disgraceful

Why shouldn't we ask the banks to pay the redundancy payments for any public sector worker who loses their job as a result of the cuts? They cuts have been caused by the banks, let them pay from their profits - before bonuses - so that they might just appreciate the impact of what they have done.

It is easy to save money. Pull out of EU. Stop all Foreign Aid. Stop giving free social housing to people and let them remain unemployed for life. Stop letting immigrants live in luxury homes and get £100,000 a year in welfare. Stop Alcoholics and drug users getting Incapacity benefit. Reduce taxes on company's that manufacture so they can employ more people.

Trident is not ours. We pay for it but it needs the OK from the Americans before we can launch it.

David Dimbleby is sooo conservative

Let's change the name of this programme to the David Dimbleby Show. He is the chairman and as such should keep in the background, let the panel members have their say and keep out of the discussion
He is constantly putting his point of view, he can't keep out of the discussion even coming to the debate armed with quotes to support his involvement.
Please let's have a chairman not Dimbleby on the panel every week

Really disappointed in Baroness Warsi, her early comments on the panel were so poorly communicated. I've always been conservative but I so respect Vince Cable. He seems to be the only politician with integrity coupled with intelligence and understanding and such gravitas.

Do the unions and the striking members not realise that this country needs help and not more events that will compound the current situation

Liam Burns said that if unemployment goes down he will have an extra £14 billion, as the 2 million unemployed cost the government £12 billion in all benefit payments including council tax, does he intend to get the full 2 million employed and then have another a few hundred thousand paying the government in order to to achieve this target.

Interesting that when one member of the audience suggested cutting public sector pensions, it was greeted in silence. Obviously an audience made up of public sector workers then.

David the red button works but the text screen covers half of the TV screen and we cannot see the panelists

If, as was stated, we need to save/raise £78 billion by making 'painful' decisions, and if it costs £100 billion to have Trident, then it doesn't take a genius to work out what to do! Is it not posible, in this so called democracy, for us to force this goverment to give up Trident? Why is this so difficult?

when i was young and 18 i got the vote. it thought the world was ideal, so i voted liberal. that was the 60's. in the 70's i got married and had children, i voted conservative for a free common market. in the 80's i voted Tory because I had become responsible, and bought my council house, in the 90's I spent my time working 5 jobs to stop my house being reposssed...... now I am 57 and I am absolutely tired, and I am paying for MP's to do up their homes and their gardens, and keep their families in work. I was so supposed to retire in a few years.... I can't stop laughing... my husband works 12 hours a day, I now work at Heathrow, if I can retire when I am seventy that would be good, I always thought it would be 62.... but I understand that the MP's and their families come first

Fascinating, no matter who wins the General Election the Electorate will lose. They will have to pay for the massive hole Labour have dug over the last 13 years, and the electorate will have to bail them out - again.

Just as we did following the last debacle left by a Labour Government, though this time the situation today is/will be 10 times worse.

True to say things have been exacerbated by the Global down turn at the same time our Financial Service Industry was allowed to run wild.

One has to wonder why the monitoring of the Industry was removed from the BOE and placed in the hands of the FSA. which either failed to do the job through total incompetence or was told not to interfere.

As for Cuts, the Public Sector has got to be slashed drastically, all the silly jobs invented should be the first to go, the Public Sector Pensions should be frozen and future ones reduced. Yes there is a long list, a very long list where cuts can be made without affecting the much touted front line services.
Overseas Aid should be put on hold until this country and it's people are free from debt!

The quicker everyone gets to grips with the fact the country is broke, pink lint, pot-less the better.

For them with a profession or trade/talent - emigrate for the sake of your kids because yes, they will have to cough up for the last 13 years of failure!

Why does everyone think only the Tories or Labour are in the election running, if it is a two horse race we really are in trouble.

M.P's get free holidays for asking questions, every M.P took £400 food expenses a month, 230 flipped their homes, many have outside interests. Is this why when I watch the House of Commons hardly anyone is debating the Bills?

Why is it that it is always the Working Age person that pays for everything? People who are 60+ are not poor, in fact they have pensions that far exceed our salaries, have no mortgages - increasing numbers of working age people cannot afford to own their own homes. Residents Parking is paid by those under 60 including Visitors Permits, these are free to those over 60 who use them to have free Residents Parking, and free Bus travel, a poll tax on the working age, we cannot afford to use buses now, and have to reliably arrive at work on time, either or not both. Free TV, come on make a contribution, and stop protesting against windmills and other sustainable power generation (other than tidal barrarges and nuclear power stations) Children are so spoiled now they only have drugs left to get high on and stop us workers sleeping at night with their late night boozing. We have to pay for prescriptions, the NHS is not free at the point of use for us. And with our generation we have constant waves of competition which mean we do not have the right to a weekend, a right our parents had, or a proper pension ... it's our turn by now, surely, come on.

How long does it take for the moderation - it seems to take forever to see others' comments

Hoone, Byers, Hewitt etc. Companies cannot buy what's not for sale - our Politicians have made it clear they are sale to the highest bidder £3 - £5k seems to be the asking price.

No mention of Tony Blair and his financial returns on the backs of our dead and maimed soldiers.

Why not?

Blair has a mastery of making money, Hoon, Byers and Hewitt were all Blairites and he taught them unfortunately they don't have his teflon coating.

I couldn't watch it because Alex Salmon and Martin Sorrell are on.

You have great programme and I am always immpressed by the questions and the common sense of the audience. I wish that your audiences were a typical cross section of the population. If they were we would have nothing to worry about because they would have power and their elected representatives would be their role models.

It is the panelists who let the show down. Please let the audience choose the panelists. They would choose role models who have the right education, training and experience to comment on the questions.

Martin Sorrell should run his ad agency rather than milk it and pretend to be omniscient. Alex Salmon should help run Scotland without the help of 100 uncosted promises, many of which were dropped immediately after the election, start being full-time and stop sitting in the House of Commons and lay off the bids for more money from the English. He has brought politics into disrepute.

Please give those excellent members of the audience a panel of experts rather than celebrities. We, the viewers at home, would then get more out of it and move closer to the caliber of your audiences.

You are much better at recruiting an audience than at recruiting panellists. Some of the latter don't have a clue about the topic and their opinion is just that when it could have been "objective knowledge" from an expert.

why is baroness warsi on the panel???? waste of a seat!!!

Can someone please walk Warsi out of the room.. How arrogant can a person be.. On the one hand aggressively questioning Liam and then pretending she didn't even hear the comments from Julia about the lobbying vote..

Even my 2 year old daughter knows not to interrupt when someone in talking.. Warsi learn some manners.. Is this what the Tories about about, load, obnoxious and arrogant !!!

The Leader of the SNP cannot be serious about being part of the big UK debate as there is no chance that he can come anywhere near becoming UK Prime Minister. Scotland has its local debate just like Wales, NI, and all regional parts of England.

Sir Martin Sorrell refers to "absolute power corrupting absolutely". Is it time for more adequate checks and balances to be brought in for Britain such as an elected second chamber, a separation of the legislature and the executive and fixed length parliaments.

she spoke no sense the last time she was on the panel!! waste of tax payer's money i think...people like her feed and survive off the ignorance of the masses by just saying what the people whant to hear.
Leaders should be innovative and brave!! She hasn't got a clue, there is not an ounce of originality in her!!!

How two faced is Alex Salmond!? Moaning about things not being British while at the same time going on about Scotish independance!

all we do is talk and talk and talk about politicians being crooks without morals......the mp should be kicked out, prosecuted and treated as the ordinary person, which they are, in the street....if you commit crime, break rules, behave despicably you should be accountable and get your just punishment! but that does not happen and that is why the public doesnt trust any of them!they keep getting away with living the high life on public money while telling us to do what they dont want to do!

The inclusion of the SNP or the Welsh Nats in the Prime Ministerial Debate is a nonsense.

There is no way will the leader of the either become Prime Minister of the UK.

The Parliament and Assemblies in Wales and Scotland have a big degree of Independence on many matters, unlike the English who have not been afforded such a luxury.
Scotland has 2.5 million tax payer, Wales 1.3 million and England the rest.
Also both Scotland and Wales would simply want to talk about increasing the Barnett Formula and increase other subsidies from the English!

So it would be silly to even contemplate including them.

Note: I am a Scot who lives in England.

I work in the NHS in a "front line " service and we are already experiencing cuts there is a job freeze on so where job vacancies occur they are not being filled meaning remaining staff have to try and pick up more and more with less and less resources and services are going, Dont belelieve this care closer to home rubbish its all about saving money not what is best for the patient, sometimes its is best to be at home no doubt about it but sometimes you need that extra day or so in hospital to recover but pressure on beds means you go home and there are no extra resources going into the community to provide that "care closer to home". The "back room" though is flourishing with "transforming community services" the amount of extra admin and management needed is mushrooming along with the "consultants". Our PCT has gone through 6 major changes in the last 10 years creating incrediable amount of administration e.g going from 1 HR dept to 2 back to 1 then to 2 back to 1 then to 2 we have had 5 name changes. So when the parties say they are going to protect "front line services" ask them how and why are they closing more beds. ?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Israel killed a Hamas terrorist who was responsible for a lot of the missile attacks on Israel. What should they do just let this man carry on with his evil business?

Why doesn't anyone talk about the petrol prices? People like myself and my family are going to pay more than our mortgage in fuel payments just to go to work?

Surely they should be cutting tax on fuel duty? They say at least 72p spent on fuel is tax?

Why has this never been raised?

I used to work in the rail industry, and I know what the management can be like there.

The whole point of the Unions is to ensure the workers (who are the people who pay part of their salary each time to keep the union running)have a say and ensure their rights as employees are protected.

Whilst some (clearly Tory) people will attempt to convice everyone who'll listen that the union leaders are all trying to turn the country into a communist state it does not change the fact that it's the workers who authorise the strikes and not the union leaders, so if it's got to the point that they feel they must forfeit several day's pay, face discrimination from politicians and management(and Joe Public) and even risk losing their job altogether, then clearly their management are doing something wrong!

The sad truth is the Labour government we got turned out to be more Tory than Thatcher's Tories ever were (and I'm certainly not looking forward to seeing them in power any time soon either) and have failed to protect UK workers in laws and legislation, and as a result , the managers of large companies (like the government) have lately been adopting the "Steamroller" style policy which is designed to spark off a confrontation, - it's just a method by which they are trying to get their own way without damaging their image. The fact that BA were quick to turn their dispute into a full blown political argument demonstrates this.

The only way to sort this out is for companies (and perhaps unions) to be penalised if it is proved that they are deliberately allowing a dispute to get out of hand to the point a strike is called, and for MANDATORY independant mediation to be imposed once a strike ballot is called.

As Paxman said the other night on Newsnight, this mess with the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat is a bit like sitting Israel on the naughty step. But what more could we do?

Sorry, forgot to add, Scotland is just a drain on England's (in particular, the South East of England) money!!

Shut up Dimbleby!!! He won't let anyone finish a sentence! Its really getting annoying.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

39 & 42

Scotland doesn't have its own seperate issues to discuss at the election that mean it needs its own show.

On the contrary, England is the area that needs its own seperate show, where they can discuss health, education and policing policies which don't apply to the rest of us and we'll be voting on next year.

44.
Scotland has 2.5 million tax payer, Wales 1.3 million and England the rest.

No tax payers in Northern Ireland eh?

Israel - Hamas:

For me to believe that Israel/Mossad was responsible for taking out a know terrorist is easy.

However, the fact that some 20+ operatives were involved and all evidence led straight back to Israel is where my imagination is stretched into the realms of fantasy.

Mossad are probably the best operatives in the world, for them to do the above is crazy, and crazy they are not.

Didn't a van load of blank passports go missing in the North of England sometime ago - yes they did.

Hasn't over the last several years 100's of 1,000's peoples data gone missing - yes is the answer to that also.

I also wonder what the problem is that anyone should have a problem with a terrorist meeting the fate he pursued for others - no mourning here!

Of course it's ironic that the show should come from Scotland tonight, any news on the well being of another terrorist/Killer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi?

As for any suggestion that Israel is a Terrorist State is ridiculous.

We don`t have control over Trident. We just pay for it.The Americans have control.

Israel should not be classed as a terrorist state and appropriate sanctions put in place against it.

I wonder why so many comments concerning Israeli clonned British passports are so narrow. I listen with frustration at the simplistict and holier-than-though comments. Surely governments and agencies operate in many ways to achieve their objectives. M16 and Mossad are no different.
Has no one considered that there was colaboration between the Britsh and Israeli agencies. What the Foreign Secretary has done is just a diplomatic smoke screen. He has simply expeled ONE Israeli diplomat- Wow.
But then Ming Campbel will tell us assasination is illegal. So are many things but countries have interests and not friends and we all do what we know must be done. Lets face it all this only came to light because the country concerned has recently acquired some very up-to-date survellience equipment. This same place allows all sorts of other activities and is a known meeting point for many nationals and for many reasons. It makes for a great film script but the real script may not be known for many years to come.

I think sending an Israeli diplomat home was a fair response to the passport affair. Israel seems to have got caught, and will have to take it on the chin. However, as for taking out a murderous Hamas terrorist, no one is really complaining about that. Many lives have been saved as a result. With Afghan and Pakistani terrorists being eliminated on a daily basis, many by silent drones, it would be the height of hypocrisy for the US or UK to criticise Israel. It is the same war on Islamist terror.

Being from Glasgow, I think that Question Time from my home city is usually a good one, given your average Glaswegian's political awareness. Tonights programme was at best average.
Whats going on? Was it a careful selection of the audience, or was the BBC taking no chances with the questions allowed? It all seemed to be lacking a bit of passion. Speaking personally, I could have done with a few more Scots on the panel. There are plenty of Scottish unionists around - ie Liam Fox for the Tories, any number of Scottish Labour MPs & MSPs and good old Ming Campbell or Charlie Kennedy for the LibDems.
I know it is a UK programme, but it all seemed a wee bit insipid

If you look back at Labour problems where THEY have been the number one story on all news media, something major happens to take them off the number one slot, usually it is a terror alert, tanks at heathrow or AS on 20th January this year Labour's Ed Balls was No 1 headline for refusing to publish Edlington services torture case, we suddenly had Alan Johson raising the terror alert level for the Boxing Day plot which had happened nearly a month earlier, guess which story became hit No1 and wheres that story now.

This week we have seen the number one story was Labour's Ex-Minister sleaze, suddenly up came the Israeli expulsion to replace the number one slot and what do we hear, the other countries affected by forged passports have'nt finished their investigations but our government has so we will announce it, how many times have Labour avoided answers by saying wait until all the investigations are completed. UNLESS IT SUITS THEM

In full agreement with the other few posts criticising David Dimbleby. He is supposed to be moderating this programmme, not constantly interrupting the guests and diverging from the audience members' questions with his own. Time for a change.

What I often find so irritating about question time is the way David Dimbleby will insist on taking up a huge amount of the programme time repeating each question, explaining at length what it is about, interrupting repeatedly with his own comments and supplementary questions, and then at the end having the hypocritical effrontery to apologise for not being able to take more questions from the audience.

Why was this Hamas leader wasting money on buying weapons when his people need basic supplies ? I suppose he wanted more rockets to goad Israel with. Why did Israel pull out of Gaza ? More trouble than it's been worth. Why aren't the British passport holders coming home ?

Israel should pull out of the Golan Heights - it would make a wonderful site to launch more rocket attacks on Israel. i.e. give us back our land so we can attack you from it.

44. Mentor
"There is no way will the leader of the either become Prime Minister of the UK."

There is no way Clegg will be PM of the UK. So your rationalisation for the blatant bias of these Party Election Broadcasts falls before it even reaches the first hurdle.

The broadcasters, in collusion with the Tory/BLP alliance, have squirmed and wriggled on this. Make no mistake. The Tory/BLP party managers only agreed to these debates on condition that they in no way challenged their hegemony. The disgrace is that the BBC, our public service broadcaster, went along with this.

There is no election for PM of the UK. Therefore, there can be no candidates. Therefore, there can be no candidates debates. These are Party Election Broadcasts (PEB). And what is proposed is that there should be a series of PEBs in Scotland which exclude the party of government and a "major party" in terms of the relevant legislation.

It is the equivalent of having PEBs in England which exclude the British Labour Party.

It cannot possibly be legal. And the SNP and PC have a clear moral duty to challenge this political chicanery in court. I am extremely disappointed that Alex Salmond seems to be signalling a willingness to let this blatant manipulation slide in return for some additional air-time elsewhere in the schedule. This is simply not satisfactory. The "debates" broadcasts as proposed are wrong and an affront to democracy. Only the inclusion of the major parties in Scotland and Wales can make this right. However politically expedient it may be, Salmond should not allow himself to be bought off.

1. Liam Byrne is vacuous.
2. Wales is a principality - not a country.
3. 5/6ths of the population of the United Kingdom of GB and NI live in England.
4. The major parties are not putting out candidates in Northern Ireland.
5. With Russian nuclear bombers flying over Britain recently - are those prepared to give up Trident also prepared to have all 18-21 year olds carry out National Service? Are they even more prepared for us to become a complete dependency of either the US or EU?
6. Israel is not a terrorist state.
7. To believe that other nations do not engage in covert deviant methods to kill terrorists is naive.
8. The man was a terrorist on the 'other side' in a war of Islam versus the West.
9. Pensions are a drain because people have less kids.
10. We have to accept that we can't have everything. If we want high quality health care, education, policing and defence - then the welfare state has to go or we introduced enforced labour on public works for the unemployed to 'earn' the welfare (at a pittance).
11. People who strike in public services at this dark hour of recession are traitors.
12. The main three parties are all bent. Let's really shake things up, by giving a lot more power to minority parties - it is our best chance in ages.
13. The public sector and welfare state need severe reductions in spending.

To John Gault: Thank you for your interest. Pashalify came from Basutoland. He was conscripted into the British army in Africa, in the days of the great British Empire. He should have received an award for gallantry but instead die by the hangman’s rope in 1904 at the age of 26. There were many like him in the great days of the empire, what has changed in certain quarters?

56. Mentor
"
As for any suggestion that Israel is a Terrorist State is ridiculous."

Any state the employs murder as an instrument of policy is, by definition, a terrorist state. Israel doesn't even try to deny that it uses murder as an instrument of policy.

I see we had a plant in the audience for the Israel question.

The frothing-at-the-mouth nature of the anti-Israel rant by a member of the audience, sadly showed how much the likes of the BBC with its media war against Israel has affected people's thinking and rationale. How Israel is held to a moral double standard not expected from any other nation.

Martin Sorrell was very close to naming names, but bottled it.

If Israel is a "terrorist state", then one must label the UK as a terrorist state. After all, the British had hit squads in N.I. (14 company and the SAS) not to mention the coalition and their drones firing hellfire missiles every other week.

Scottish soldiers involved in finding and assassinating Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and Iraq - is Scotland a terrorist state?.

Do we ever hear of Russia being a terrorist state? not only do they also kill Islamic terrorists in Dubai (Chechan militant) but they kill their own journalists, lawyers and human rights activists.

What about the coalition in Iraq during the invasion bombing a restaurant because they believed Saddam or his sons were in there dining. A calculated strike knowing that civilians will be killed - terrorist state?

Are you seriously telling me that British intelligence have never used foreign passports to get about?

This sick and racist double standard, de-legitimising campaign against Israel fronted by the left and their Islamic bedfellows using their media giant (the BBC)to peddle their bile, is one of the most abhorrent, morally bankrupt acts being committed today.

55. At 11:49pm on 25 Mar 2010, FatherMacKenzie wrote:
44.
Scotland has 2.5 million tax payer, Wales 1.3 million and England the rest.

No tax payers in Northern Ireland eh?
----------

As I understand it there are 721,000 tax payers in NI. I am not aware that anyone in NI has suggested a rep at the debates. If they have then I missed it!

66. At 00:36am on 26 Mar 2010, Electric Hermit:

If you want a debate - take it to a forum for such a purpose!!

67. At 00:42am on 26 Mar 2010, Kingstheman wrote:

Nice one!

Baroness Warsi,how in heavens name did she ever become a Baroness,I thought they were supposed to have brains?

66. At 00:36am on 26 Mar 2010, Electric Hermit wrote:
44. Mentor
"There is no way will the leader of the either become Prime Minister of the UK."

There is no way Clegg will be PM of the UK. So your rationalisation for the blatant bias of these Party Election Broadcasts falls before it even reaches the first hurdle.
-----------------

Clegg happens to be leaders of a UK representative Party just as Brown and Cameron are.

The SNP and PC are not parties that have any representation within England and have less chance of forming a UK Government.

But it seems you think differently - oh well.

67.


11. People who strike in public services at this dark hour of recession are traitors.

Wouldn't the people trying to exploit the situation by altering their working conditions be the traitors?

70. SystemF
"The frothing-at-the-mouth nature of the anti-Israel rant by a member of the audience..."

Not quite what I saw. But I don't share your prejudice.

And I note that you are unable to argue that Israel is not a terrorist state. Only that it may be one among many. Quite how this might justify state terrorism remains a mystery.

71.

Northern Ireland is instead going to have a debate involving the leader's of the parties standing in Northern Ireland.

Which is the position that the SNP and Plaid are putting forward.

Even if it was televised in NI it wouldn't affect the outcome of the vote as these aren't the principal parties there. It would be like picking up debates between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

75. Clegg happens to be leaders of a UK representative Party just as Brown and Cameron are.

Actually Clegg is the leader of the English Liberal Democrats, the Welsh and Scottish LDs are seperate parties, so technically Clegg's party isn't fielding candidates across the Kingdom either. All three sit together in the House of Commons, just like SNP and Plaid, and the English & Welsh Greens and English Democrats have agreed to join that grouping if they ever get any seats.

71. Mentor
"I am not aware that anyone in NI has suggested a rep at the debates. If they have then I missed it!"

I am not aware that numbers of taxpayers was ever suggested as a basis for participation in these rigged Party Election Broadcasts.

72. Mentor
"If you want a debate - take it to a forum for such a purpose!! "

What do you think the "Respond" link is for?

75. Mentor
"Clegg happens to be leaders of a UK representative Party just as Brown and Cameron are."

But they're no longer calling it a "leaders" debate. Not since they realised that Ieuan Wyn Jones and Alex Salmond are leaders of qualifying parties.

I find it most annoying when members of the panel all talk at the same time. It's impossible to hear any of the comments clearly. Recently however I have noticed that David Dimbleby is the biggest offender. Can someone tell him to please 'Shut Up' and let the panelists answer the questions.

Labour are pretty awful, but then you look at George Osborne and David Cameron and you think.......Nah!

Question time is an anachronism because all it does is to give people who are already very influential a load more time to tell us what we already know.

I'd like a panel of smart people (not only doctors and professors and business people) who have something to say either because of their life skills, or their technical skills or because of their inner feelings and sensibilities. This is not a tree hugger's charter either. I don't want any of those self selecting people from this charity and that charity either: they're already establishment tree huggers by definition too.

I'd like someone who can tell G Brown and D Cameron et all not to waste their time with their empty rhetoric and pathetic party politicking. We don't need that any more.

Duncan

whilst I enjoyed last night's programme, I feel that David Dimbleby seemed more interested in the opinions of the panelists to his right than Alex Salmon and the Conservative woman to his left.

At 8:32pm on 25 Mar 2010, paul wrote:
Mr Walsh at BA and his counterpart at British Gas seem to believe that Gene Hunt is the perfect model for the modern management style.

Well he is certainly a perfect model for a modern style of community policing.

I don't know why Baroness Warsi bothered to attend.She was cut out of most of the discussion and on one question she did not get the chance to speak once.

What really amazes me about the SNP and their supports is that they want independence from the UK, but the want to give away that independence by joining the EU! Funny or what!!!

I love question time, it's nearly always entertaining and it's very interesting to hear what the public (at least the selected audience segment) thinks.
I have noticed that Martin Sorrell is making the rounds on Telly at the moment - he was on This Week (last Thursday). Does memory fail me or is that not the same Martin Sorrell who moved WPPs headquarters to Ireland for tax purposes? Now, I don't want to deny him his right to comment, but surely this decision colours any pronouncements on the current state of both economic and political affairs he has to make....and ought to be pointed out. It certainly was not mentioned on "This Week" and I don't think it was on Questiontime either. Did I miss it?

@ 21
"Really disappointed in Baroness Warsi, her early comments on the panel were so poorly communicated. I've always been conservative but I so respect Vince Cable. He seems to be the only politician with integrity coupled with intelligence and understanding and such gravitas."

Couldn't agree more. I thought great an Asian woman who has made it (even though she is in a party I am weary of), but she was hopeless. Why wouldn't she let Liam Byrne answer the question? It was only when Liam threatened her with a legal point she finally shut up. It was like being in a playground. Has she been taking lessons from Voderman?

4 weeks in a row, the Tories have fielded numpties on the panel which makes the show less lively and I still have no idea what the Tories stand for.

The audience member was right about Alex Salmon and his ego.

The Liberal politican was lively enough but lacked punch.

Liam Byrne, cool as cucumber and came accross well.

Sorrel looked reassured then really uncomfortable, although he had a stone face throughout.

Overall score.

-Alex Salmon 7/10
- Liam Byrne 7/10
- Lib Dem woman 5/10
- Sorrel 5/10
- Warsi 1/10 (would give minus if I could)

Two observations:

1. On the difficult questions, Labour always has the last word. The Tories only ever get the last word on the less contentious questions towards the end of the programme. This is true week in, week out.

2. David told Baroness Varsi towards the end of the programme that he didn't want to hear her (Tory) 'propaganda' turning to the Labour representative with a large smile.

Facts speak for themselves!

I'd like to hear, here in England, what Alec Salmond has to say in his televised debate. It's important to the English as well, and the SNP have as much right in Scotland as any other party.

Liam Byrne is currently Labours best front man and it was disappointing that David Cameron made an insulting dig at him during his otherwise excellent budget reply.

It was a good panel last night with opinionated but not over combative exchanges.

This programme typified my view that Question Time is sadly deteriorating... David Dimbleby needs a re-think...too many interuptions from him...it is becoming boring and predictable.

Let's get the daft stuff out of the way first, shall we?

35. David Lilley
Clearly you're not too fond of Mr.Salmond, for your own reasons. For the record, if you have issue with Scots 'stealing' money from the English, then I would direct your ire - however misguided - to those Scottish unionist parties who insist on voting on English concerns. Something the SNP categorically do not. I would have thought you may respect such action, clearly not.

42. Richard Fisher
Alex Salmond is 'two faced' because of the points he made with respect the 'UK' and the election debates? You must have been watching a different programme Mr. Fisher.

The one I watched had Mr.Salmond, a man who believes in an independent Scotland, highlight the fact that - if the model of the 'UK' is to be considered, then the election debates are little more than a stitch-up and an affront to democracy, which they are. He *did not* extort the virtues of the UK over his central belief. Not hard to grasp, huh?

Mr. Salmond, as politicians in Edinburgh and Westminster acknowledge, is probably one of the keenest political debaters on these islands. Compare his engaging manner with that of Gordon Brown, and weep that the only response from the British Press is - as ever - a thoroughly negative one.

Since the SNP came to power the gutter press in Scotland, even the broadsheets, have themselves purposefully created a persona of 'smugness' against Mr. Salmond.

Excitement at a Scottish politician of substance? Nah. Relief at the quality of debate this man can engender? Nooooo. If you are to find, on occasion, a good piece of journalism on the man - look to England.

In Scotland, he's 'smug'. That's it. One thinks back to Wendy Alexander and her absolutely cringe worthy attack on Mr.Salmond's 'overly large breakfast'. This is all an indication of the depths by which British media in Scotland can meaningfully engage with a man British politicians
themselves seem unable to handle. You couldn't make it up.

Right on queue, last night, in the middle of *actual* reasoned debate, we had some Daily Record reading goon stand-up and suggest that the 'fuss' was obviously down to Mr.Salmond's 'ego'.

That is, as opposed to a breathtaking assault on common sense and democratic principle.

Staggering.

4. Emma, in all honesty, in the years I have followed Alec Salmond and the SNP the thing that really stands out is the quality of the man's engagement, and the manner is always based in achieving a positive/ideologically sanguine goal for Scotland. Not two-dime sound bites from an office in Westminster marked 'Scotland'.

Think our First Minster missed one point last night, a really obvious one with respect the election debate stitch-up. Though time was short.

The Westminster parties claim that it's simply not an issue for debate, as Mr.Salmond cannot be a 'UK Prime Minister'. This is an utter red herring. The simple fact is this.

The unionist parties, two of whom are fringe parties in Scotland, are enjoying a free 4.5 hours, prime time, party political broadcast, beamed directly into homes in Scotland, Wales and N-Ireland. The SNP, whom many will consider as a voting candidate in this election, have apparently
no recourse whatsoever.

We're paying licenses, to boot - right? That is unacceptable, and only an unreasonable or otherwise ill-informed person could suggest otherwise.

The response, corralling our First Minister into a room with Labour, Tory and Libdem 2nd raters, is laughable. I'm sure Mr.Salmond would have something to day, on behalf of the people of Scotland who voted him on, on Trident - for example. Or, is Scotland and Wales to remain comfortably mute?

I think that Alistair Darling's comment concerning the cuts to come was ill advised.

He indicated that he was prepared to run the economy of the UK in a way designed to appease currency speculators, regardless of the needs of the real economy and the disastrous effect of deep cuts on the prospects of the less well off, especially young people leaving school or college.

It is time that the floating exchange rate experiment ended. Exchange rates should be determined by agreement between central banks, with a crawling peg mechanism to allow changes to be made in a planned way.

The Chancellor was cheered by his back benchers, and many voters throughout the country, when he raised the stamp duty on the sale of expensive property and when he indicated that at last some steps were being taken to prevent the use of tax havens such as Belize.

This is the way forward. Extra taxes on those who profited from the bubbles is the fair way to deal with the deficit, not cuts in services which will throw people out of work and will not significantly reduce the deficit anyway, because they will deepen the recession.

Electric Hermit wrote:

70. SystemF
"The frothing-at-the-mouth nature of the anti-Israel rant by a member of the audience..."

Not quite what I saw. But I don't share your prejudice.

And I note that you are unable to argue that Israel is not a terrorist state. Only that it may be one among many. Quite how this might justify state terrorism remains a mystery.


==========

Ah, yes. One nation singled out to answer a charge which all are guilty of.

Reminds me of the story about a Harvard professor back in the more openly anti-semitic days (instead of the hide-behind-Israel anti-semitism we see today) who wanted to keep Jews out of Harvard. So in order to do this, he issued a statement saying that Jewish students had cheated in exams. When he was challenged on this and was told that Christian students had also cheated, he said "ah, you're changing the subject, we're talking about Jewish students"

When is Gordon going to agree with Alistair as to whether Labour will continue spending, as if money is going out of fashion, or whether the cuts will be deeper than Maggies'? Surely printing of money or "Quantatitive Easing" has to end sometime. Presumably, once the election is out of the way?

The prime philosophy of Labour and the Trades Unions, in my view is one of jealousy - they hate to see people who have more than they do, and on the grounds of equality try to take it from those people. However, they are not so keen to give up their own 'extras.' Their philosophy, I suggest is 'what's your's is mine, but what's mine is my own.' I am not affiliated to any political party but, the only one I will NEVER vote for is Labour, in whatever guise it appears - I simply cannot trust them.

Regarding the issue with the diplomat being expelled, it should send a message that if we are going to have a relationship with a country, we will not happily put up with government agencies who are quite happy to implicate british passport holders and drop the british in it while they carry out their 'black ops'.

I don't watch it anymore after you (Q.T) Stiched-up Nick Griffin, though what a bullseye he did on Jack Straw. Wow that was a fab right cross, the aunt beeb did'nt like it... Hurting uncle Libour... But i did.