QT sees Cable tongue tied as Hislop shows benefits of freedom of speech

It was Birmingham for this week’s Question Time with a fairly high profile panel, (certainly compared to last week) with the likes of Vince Cable and Harriet Harman accompanying Dimbleby. For much of the programme, we were ‘treated’ to continuous bickering back and forth between Harman and Cable, over the issue of the economy and growth, after figures from the past week showed a decline. The discussion was spiced up however, when the contentious topic of capital punishment was raised. It was here where Ian Hislop (like him or loathe him) impressed with a clear understanding and knowledge of the matter, as well as maintaining his witty charm. Celebrating his 25 years at the top of Private Eye, he focused on the issue of ensuring that accused murderers are sentenced correctly. He backed this up with evidence of incorrect sentences he had investigated as editor of the magazine. Of all the panellists Hislop shone with an uncanny knack of cutting straight through to the core of the issues raised. In fact, David Dimbleby rounded off the programme by saying there have been a lot of comments along the lines of ‘I agree with Ian’.

It's at times like this, as a First Time Voter I rather wish that some of the most talented non politicians we see on Question Time were the ones in Parliament. That said, Hislop is probably able to do a much more effective job as a journalist, not least because he is free of the constrictions of Parliament and not needing to toe a party line.

This is all too evident when you look at poor old Vince Cable, whose reputation has slid further and further on a downward spiral since he joined the government. During the banking crisis he was the much admired ‘must have’ commentator and many were seeing him as a much better candidate for chancellor. His final downfall and demotion came earlier this year when he was caught making inappropriate remarks about ‘declaring war’ on Rupert Murdoch, to undercover journalists. Murdoch has since been found out in a much bigger way than we could have ever imagined, but nobody has said that perhaps Cable was right all along!

Miliband shines in QT 9/11 Special

I was looking forward to the return of Question time on Thursday night with the 9/11 special. As a First Time Voter, I was only 7 years of age at the time, so it’s a very distant memory and I have always looked for further clarification on some of the issues involved.

It got off to a slow start with every panellist seeming to be agreeing with each other - exactly what you don’t want on this type of show - until Tariq Ali at last introduced a dissenting voice, as you would expect from an anti war campaigner.

The programme could have remained rather muted and unenlightening to a First Time Voter, were it not for one panellist David Miliband, the former foreign secretary. In comparison with the rest of the panel he was energetic, charismatic, authoritative, and showed a real in-depth knowledge to the subject matter. He was strong and clear with messages such as ‘the words War on Terror should have never been muttered’ as it ‘unified people under Bin Laden and made it look like East vs the West’. In short he came across to anybody watching, particularly a First Time Voter, as somebody who could be leading this country. His storming performance was underlined by batting away valiant attempts by Dimbleby to put him on the spot, with answers such as ‘No David I was junior education secretary at the time’.

This is just another indication that Labour may have picked the wrong brother and it was brought into sharp focus the next time I saw David Miliband on television at the weekend. No, it wasn’t the Andrew Marr show, it was Match of the Day! Sitting in the executive box at Sunderland FC in his role as the non-executive vice chairman. I just hope not all of our most impressive politicians end up in football!