What would you ask?

Montreal Wanderer · Post by **Montreal Wanderer** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:16 am

mummywhycantieatcrayons wrote:
blurred wrote:Following their tests on Tuesday, should we be prepared for a government report that claims North Korea could strike London with weapons of mass destruction within 30 minutes?
I might just steal this one!

Well, probably not, as it isn't the kind of thing likely to lead to much of a discussion.

I was thinking along similar lines with the 28 days one, though.

While suspension of habeas corpus is understandable there should surely be finitie time limits on such suspension otherwise you become a police state.

communistworkethic · Post by **communistworkethic** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 7:52 am

like the US?

Montreal Wanderer · Post by **Montreal Wanderer** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:56 pm

communistworkethic wrote:like the US?

While I would love to criticize our good neighbour to the south, they get round this by imprisonning people off-shore. In Canada, alas, we are holding people on 'security certificates' which is beginning to bother us. No one in the democratic anglophone west should throw stones, and none are without sin. However, I assume Mummy was required to talk about English affairs.

Kylofski · Post by **Kylofski** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:54 pm

If it has Julia Goldsworthy MP and Lord Seb Coe
Why are they people moaning that the 2012 will cost the tax payer an extra £1.5 billion.
When surely the games will bring in lots more tourism and maybe if its done correctly they may give us the World Cup!

laz · Post by **laz** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 3:10 pm

Kylofski wrote:If it has Julia Goldsworthy MP and Lord Seb Coe
Why are they people moaning that the 2012 will cost the tax payer an extra £1.5 billion.
When surely the games will bring in lots more tourism and maybe if its done correctly they may give us the World Cup!

Think France or Italy may not be too impressed if they just decide to give us the world cup

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 3:30 pm

Will there ever be a boy born who can outswim a shark?

communistworkethic · Post by **communistworkethic** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 3:42 pm

how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Gertie · Post by **Gertie** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:20 pm

Will I ever get my bathroom finished?

Little Green Man · Post by **Little Green Man** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:51 pm

So what did you ask in the end?

I've just a quick shuftie of the show in the BBC website and didn't hear a single question regarding bathroom plumbing, shark boys or sofa acreage. There were a number of panellists though that looked far too young for their real ages.

mummywhycantieatcrayons · Post by **mummywhycantieatcrayons** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:02 pm

Right, well...

In the end I didn't ask a question because I was in the off-camera "hospitality" audience, largely because there were a few people in our number who were too old for the strictly under-21 on-camera audience.

But, it was well-worth making the trip as I met some interesting people and gained an insight into a few things. It was nice to be told that I was fifth choice, behind the four who competed for the one panel position, but scant consolation when I saw the attention the four and especially the one got, and the opportunities that have now opened up for them. Monty will be particularly interested to learn that I was in Geraint from Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn in Carmarthenshire's top 2.

Random comments:

Richard Madeley and David Miliband are both exceptionally tall, and David Dimbleby is built like a brick shithouse. Up close, 'David D' doesn't look quite right - the combination of his oddly big head and body, and his stage makeup, made him look like an exhibition at Madame Toussaud's.

I asked Madeley Cowdrill's question - "Is it true that Alan Partridge is based on you?" and he admitted that he has heard he was part of the inspiration for the chracter, but was surprisingly reluctant to talk about it. He was nowhere near as pissed off as when I cracked a Liberal Democrat joke at Julia Goldsworthy, expecting her to be well used to it, but she pretty much stormed off to the drinks table (it is the Liberal Democrat way, after all!).

I thought Matt Pollard, the competition winner, was pretty good, pretty solid, but possibly a safe choice and not all that exciting. I was chatting in the bar til 2am with Gareth Davies, one of the final four, and for me he was the best candidate. It seems the students thought him too old-looking (though he was only 22) for what they wanted (which makes you wonder why the upper age limit was 25).

Also, I was surprised that there wasn't a lot more focus on directly 'young people's' issues.

So, did anyone watch it? Apparently my face appeared fleetingly on the six o'clock news, as part of their feature on the programme, but that's it.

Oh, I don't know if the Australian contingent know her, but I spoke for a while to the Aussie equivalent of Dimbleby - Jenny Brockie, the presenter of 'Insight' on what I think she said was 'SBS'.

50sQuiff · Post by **50sQuiff** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:59 pm

Mummy you owe me restitution for tricking me into suffering through Question Time

Let's call it one pint, as it wasn't a particularly bad episode. So, credit to the young people involved. Commiserations for coming so close but I'm sure the whole thing was an enjoyable experience.

I'm more of a This Week man.

Montreal Wanderer · Post by **Montreal Wanderer** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:08 pm

mummywhycantieatcrayons wrote: IOh, I don't know if the Australian contingent know her, but I spoke for a while to the Aussie equivalent of Dimbleby - Jenny Brockie, the presenter of 'Insight' on what I think she said was 'SBS'.

JENNY BROCKIE

Jenny is a multi-award winning journalist and documentary maker with more than 20 years experience in quality broadcasting.

She is a recipient of the prestigious Gold Walkley Award for excellence in journalism, for her highly acclaimed documentary 'Cop It Sweet' about Sydney's Redfern Police.

She has also received two AFI Awards, a Logie, a Human Rights Award, two Law Society Awards and another Walkley Award for her work in television journalism and documentary making.

Jenny's journalistic experience spans television, radio and print. She has presented her own interview series 'Speaking Personally' on ABC TV, hosted her own morning radio show on 702 ABC Sydney, and produced a variety of quality documentaries.
http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/content.php3?jenny=1

mummywhycantieatcrayons · Post by **mummywhycantieatcrayons** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 8:23 pm

Montreal Wanderer wrote:
mummywhycantieatcrayons wrote: IOh, I don't know if the Australian contingent know her, but I spoke for a while to the Aussie equivalent of Dimbleby - Jenny Brockie, the presenter of 'Insight' on what I think she said was 'SBS'.
JENNY BROCKIE

Jenny is a multi-award winning journalist and documentary maker with more than 20 years experience in quality broadcasting.

She is a recipient of the prestigious Gold Walkley Award for excellence in journalism, for her highly acclaimed documentary 'Cop It Sweet' about Sydney's Redfern Police.

She has also received two AFI Awards, a Logie, a Human Rights Award, two Law Society Awards and another Walkley Award for her work in television journalism and documentary making.

Jenny's journalistic experience spans television, radio and print. She has presented her own interview series 'Speaking Personally' on ABC TV, hosted her own morning radio show on 702 ABC Sydney, and produced a variety of quality documentaries.
http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/content.php3?jenny=1

Well, there you go then.

She was over here to talk to the BBC about when they took Question Time to China, as she is doing a similar thing with her programme in three weeks' time, and was just getting some info on the logistics of such an operation.

And Quiff, a thousand apologies. Had I just been at home, I doubt I would have thought it a particularly good Question Time. It was a shame we didn't have a 'proper' Conservative to add a bite of bite to the discussion, rather than the the ultra-conciliatory Seb Coe. I'm a big This Week fan too - I've said before that Portillo is perhaps my favourite political commentator since he stopped being an MP, and the chemistry bewteen him, Abott and Neil works well too.

Little Green Man · Post by **Little Green Man** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 10:56 pm

Well, as I said, I watched it - if a little belatedly. I agree about the thrust of the questioning - if it was a 'student-aged' special, the questions seemed a bit 'middle-aged'.

Don't particularly like the program myself - it just feels a bit too stage-managed. You get the feeling the lead off questions have been over-rehearsed and the supplementaries are often just brushed away.

Good to see the LibDem booze jibes are continuing. At last, I feel there's a party I can belong to. Sandals would have never suited me.

Hic!

mummywhycantieatcrayons · Post by **mummywhycantieatcrayons** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:12 pm

Little Green Man wrote:Don't particularly like the program myself - it just feels a bit too stage-managed. You get the feeling the lead off questions have been over-rehearsed and the supplementaries are often just brushed away.

To be honest, and I am confident I saw the whole process, I don't think you could be more wrong. The panel don't have a clue what actual questions are going to be asked (although they would, of course, have a fair idea of what might come up) and there is no element of rehearsal or editing at all, unless it's a tiny bit for legal/swearing reasons.

The way the questions are chosen is as follows:

1.) Every member of the audience writes their name and a question on two cards on their way into the venue. This happens, say, 45 mins before recording starts.
2.) The cards are then sorted into topic piles.
3.) The editors then decide what issues they want to come up in the programme, and choose their favourite from the relevant piles. (Obviously this is a last-minute, fairly frantic process.)
4.) They then announce their choices to the whole audience, and take the 8 questioners to one side.
5.) The questioners are then given a quick brief on what will happen with regard to their being announced by D.D. and microphones etc, and they have a quick practice of saying the question in front of the production team.
6.) Those people then join the audience with everyone else and the show starts.

Little Green Man · Post by **Little Green Man** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:22 pm

Good to have that info. As I said it 'feels' stage-managed. That's possibly because many people are media-savvy these days, so know how to ask a sound-bite question or perhaps the program editing gives it that feel. Which ever way, I don't often bother with it - unless there's the off-chance of a TW celebrity appearing on it.

mummywhycantieatcrayons · Post by **mummywhycantieatcrayons** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:34 pm

Little Green Man wrote:Good to have that info. As I said it 'feels' stage-managed. That's possibly because many people are media-savvy these days, so know how to ask a sound-bite question or perhaps the program editing gives it that feel. Which ever way, I don't often bother with it - unless there's the off-chance of a TW celebrity appearing on it.

Well, it goes without saying that they prefer and choose the pithy, sound-bitey type questions. Therefore, the audience often go in with the pithy, sound-bitey type questions they've been working on for a day or two!

Perfect example from last night:

"Should Tony Blair do as David Beckham has, and resign for failing to deliver the nation's dreams?"

Only seventeen words (the limit they impose is 30), topical, light hearted, potentially full of content and different opinions/party lines. It's not rocket science, but it got that person on TV for longer than I was yesterday!

Little Green Man · Post by **Little Green Man** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:40 pm

mummywhycantieatcrayons wrote: Only seventeen words (the limit they impose is 30), topical, light hearted, potentially full of content and different opinions/party lines. It's not rocket science, but it got that person on TV for longer than I was yesterday!

Well you never said that when you were asking for ideas. Commie's wood-chucker question 'wood' have been ideal!

mummywhycantieatcrayons · Post by **mummywhycantieatcrayons** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:58 pm

Little Green Man wrote:
mummywhycantieatcrayons wrote: Only seventeen words (the limit they impose is 30), topical, light hearted, potentially full of content and different opinions/party lines. It's not rocket science, but it got that person on TV for longer than I was yesterday!
Well you never said that when you were asking for ideas. Commie's wood-chucker question 'wood' have been ideal!

Well, I wasn't allowed to ask a question in the end anyway, as I had to choose between being in the regular audience (and having the chance to ask a question or speak ex tempore) or getting the star treatment beforehand with the canopés and important people!

Anyway, I'm going to give it all a better go next year, as the one bonus of not being in the final four is that I am eligible to enter again. This year I did my 60-second video on the deadline, just after my exams finished, on my mate's mobile, and only bothered with 2 takes.

One of the final four got his photogropher mate to do it on the move on a proper camera (but reduced the resolution to meet the regulations) and did a scripted video and took 30+ takes! He was a really nice guy, but I didn't stand a chance against that kind of preparation!

The link for the video is on the top right of this page:

http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/ ... .y=0&go=go

communistworkethic · Post by **communistworkethic** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 12:03 am

I'd ask.....

"when you get home after a hard day's work, do you like to relax with a nice long pooh?"

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