B.b.c Bias...

[Svejk]

All normal people have been aware of the BBC's left wing bias for a long time but even their staunchest defenders must admit they've gone too far this time.
It's premier news programme, Today@R4, has appealed to it's listeners for questions that Corbyn can ask Cameron at PMQ's today. 'And who knows' chuckled the presenter, 'the best one may get used by Corbyn later today'.
Perhaps if it's successful today, they'll make it a regular Wednesday morning feature. Perhaps they ran a similar scheme for the Tory opposition when Labour were in power. Anyone care to defend them this time?

[Baldric]

You cannot defend the indefensible!

[fiction-factory]

>even their staunchest defenders must admit they've gone too far this time.

I'm not one of their staunchest defenders (although I do like Radio 4) but I certainly don't feel they've gone too far here. I think it's just a bit of fun to involve listeners

[douglas9401]

They're just lending a hand to the new boy, making sure he settles in and knows where everything is.

[Svejk]

I can think of one ABer who'll have a darned good try, balders.
Or, more likely, just ignore this. ;-)

[Svejk]

A bit of fun, ff? (raises eyebrow)
They're not asking listeners to name Today's pet tortoise.

[fiction-factory]

I'm sure that after all these years of waiting, JC will be able to think of a enough questions of his own to ask the PM

[Svejk]

Seems not, ff. They 'presaged' the question by saying Corbyn would be trawling social media for question ideas.

[Svejk]

Not that Cameron doesn't trawl them for his 'convictions'. But he doesn't get a 'hand up' from the BBC.

[Hypognosis]

Another BBC bias thread to add to the collection, Svejk? (If not dedicated threads this it at least the third separate month, in which you've mentioned BBC left wing bias and I've spotted it).

What about the way Farage gets to appear on #BBCQT six to eight times a year (not to mention other programme appearances)? Why not complain about its pro-UKIP bias?

[Quizmonster]

What can conceivably be wrong with the leader of the Opposition asking the Prime Minister questions that the British public have actually stated they'd like to have answered?
More to the point, will it remain the case that Cameron - with the support of his braying backbenchers - refuses, as usual, to answer them?

[Togo]

I Know. Perhaps he can ask, when can we expect the Chilcott report?

[woofgang]

I read this as a joke as in "look at what the silly man is doing now" but on second thoughts, I reckon Quizmonster has a point!

[Svejk]

Is there any reason I shouldn't point out BBC bias, hypno?
Believe me, I could post 3 an hour, if I chose to.
I haven't got the figures to hand but if you compare the number of Liberal guests(2.5 million votes) to the number of UKIP guests(4 million votes) you'll find they're terribly under-represented. And the Greens(1.2 million votes) seem to have become a permanent fixture.

[Svejk]

There might be a case for addressing the concerns that people express on social media, in the same way Cameron runs the country via the consensus of the twitterati.
But the BBC has a charter that requires it to remain neutral. This is for very obvious reasons and if you can't see that, well, what can one say?

[weecalf]

The whole Corbyn thing is to get politics talked about again .who care what he asks .he won't get a straight answer anyway

[Hypognosis]

@Svenk

There are 4 million UKIP voters but they are too widely dispersed to win anything under the FPTP system.

If you want politicsl clout, you will need to do what minorities do: all move house to live in one borough, so as to get one of your own into parliament.

There are 3 million of them but mere handfuls of minoritu MPs and, even so, they follow existing political flags - because unafilliated independants so rarely win seats and no-one can be bothered to track their contribution when they do.

The Greens are, I admit, an anomaly, in terms of coverage versus popularity. But there's the rub: no coverage makes it impossible to glean new voters. Most of us are resistant to single-issue indrpendants & parties because they (seemingly) don't address our hundreds of other daily concerns.

As we know, the Greens have moved on from single-issue but, if squeezed hard enough by interviewers, what emerges is an underlying deep socialist streak, which might make Corbyn blanch. (Or perhaps they should merge with Corbynite Labour?)