Griffin On Question Time

[Ed Jewett]

I'm about 35 pages into Marvin Vining’s book “Jesus, the Wicked Priest: How Christianity Was Born of an Essense Schism”. He was the schism, rejecting the prevailing wisdom of his teachers. Thus far, a fascinating read...

[Paul Rigby]

Why did any one from any other political party agree to go on the BBC 'Question Time' with the BNP? Jack Straw wouldn't even speak with one of his constituents in his office because she wore a niqab but he is happy to be in the company of fascist Nick Griffin in front of millions? And the others on the panel?

Why did the head of the BBC, a man personally responsible for refusing to broadcast a community announcement appeal to raise money for the victims of Israeli destruction of Gaza, a decision he presumably does not consider to be censorship but permits the BNP a public platform which is against the BBC own standards? There is plenty of editorial control in the BBC for things they want controlled and for the head of the BBC to say that not to have the BNP on 'Question Time' is disingenuous. It amounts to promotion of fascism and racism on the public dime and time. Also antifascists have been meticulously vetted from the audience, while BNP members and supporters were in attendance.

The point wasn't Griffin, Maggie, but the new face of multi-racial Cameroonian Toryism: The anti-fascist was carefully excluded to enable this to happen.

If you get the chance, watch closely the performance of the young female Asian Tory panelist - whose performance the Tory press and "spontaneous" contributors to the comment sections on press websites has widely celebrated - and some of the audience figures picked out by that old establishment hood Dimbleby.

Someone should have a good look at who funds and backs the production company responsible for Question Time. It is almost certainly of relevance to recall how the spooks stacked Question Time audiences during the debate on British membership of the EEC in the early 1970s.

[Magda Hassan]

Someone should have a good look at who funds and backs the production company responsible for Question Time. It is almost certainly of relevance to recall how the spooks stacked Question Time audiences during the debate on British membership of the EEC in the early 1970s.

Ooohhh! I'd sure like to know more about that!

[Magda Hassan]

Question Time is owned by the Mentorn Group http://www.mentorn.tv/People/
which is part of the Tinopolis group http://www.tinopolis.com/WhoAreWe/Manage...id=2&id=33
Looking for more info. Any of these company directors look interesting?

[Paul Rigby]

I can’t stress enough how routine is the creation by “the other level of government” – in Peter Shore’s felicitous phrase – of straw men (and women – look at Palin), pseudo-oppositions etc. These projects range from the utterly catastrophic (Hitler) to the humorous (Noam Chomsky, who’s so painfully unconvincing as to invite laughter), from the creation of intellectual secret policemen (the latter) to fully fledged exterminatory monsters (the former). Only very occasionally do we get a glimpse in public prints of this process at work, both overseas and domestically. Here’s one such rare example:

Smallweed’s column, untitled, The Guardian, Saturday, 22 June 1996, p.24:

By way of contrast, morale has never been higher round at the offices of Conservative 2000, John Redwood’s mildly anti-European brains trust, although we detect the hand of the Foreign Office in the recent events that have helped buoy the Vulcans. All those ambassadors and emissaries lining up to pay their respects – Argentina has called, Australia and France are expected – look suspiciously like part of that classic FO shuffle known as building up a moderate, acceptable version of the enemy. There was the SDLP in Northern Ireland and there was, famously, Bishop Abel Muzorewa, PM of Rhodesia’s transitional government and Britain’s great black anti-Marxist hope. In News From Nowhere (Hamish Hamilton, 1986), David Caute’s hero Richard Stern covers the Zimbabwe elections in early 1980 for the Times. His bosses are assured that Stern’s despatches are off track, tipping Robert Mugabe as election favourite; “the bishop” is the main man. The Times resolves to sack Stern. At last glance, RM was still i/c in Zim, and the bishop, presumably, has returned to bishoping. Not an encouraging long-term career outlook for JR.

How prophetic and accurate this piece proved, though I can’t help observing that four days later, the FO succeeded in placing a long, characteristically childish piece from one John Redwood in the pages of …The Guardian (“The Crowning Glory,” 26 June 1996, p.19).

[Jan Klimkowski]

It is almost certainly of relevance to recall how the spooks stacked Question Time audiences during the debate on British membership of the EEC in the early 1970s.

Question Time as a TV programme didn't start until September 1979.

It was originally produced in-house by BBC News & Current Affairs. In the 1990s, the BBC signed up to a 25% "production quota" from outside production companies. At some time during this period, Question Time was moved to Mentorn, or its predecessor company - I can't remember.

[Danny Jarman]

Now that they have seats in European Parliment and over 1,000,000 voters, what do you all think about the prospect of using the BNP as a protest vote, to shake up the establishment a bit, to get their arses in gear and sort themselves out?

Saw a Nick Griffin video that popped up in YouTube's most viewed section, and he talked about the imminent withdrawal of troops, Tony Blair becoming the EU president without being elected etc etc. While he is a racist fascist idiot, i can see many more people voting BNP because of these issues and forgetting that he is a racist. Whether or not this is a good thing, remains to be seen.

Mabye i'm just talking rubbish but it is interesting anyway.

[David Guyatt]

The problem I think Danny, is using a completely discredited person/group (BNP) to even further discredit an already completely discredited political process (Parliament).

Personally, I would not waste my spit on the BNP.

[Paul Rigby]

Question Time is owned by the Mentorn Group http://www.mentorn.tv/People/
which is part of the Tinopolis group http://www.tinopolis.com/WhoAreWe/Manage...id=2&id=33
Looking for more info. Any of these company directors look interesting?

Panorama is always a good place to start, Maggie. It was, after all, founded by an "ex-" MI6 officer and disciple of Crowley's. Now there's a winning combination.

[Paul Rigby]

Question Time as a TV programme didn't start until September 1979.

It was originally produced in-house by BBC News & Current Affairs. In the 1990s, the BBC signed up to a 25% "production quota" from outside production companies. At some time during this period, Question Time was moved to Mentorn, or its predecessor company - I can't remember.

You're right, Jan, and I was wrong: Quite why the Beeb handed the programme to that obnoxious sex-pest Robin Day is unclear to me. His manner with the general public was as repulsive as that with women in private.

What I suspect I was thinking of was a series of BBC Question Time-like programmes which took place in 1975 in the run-up to the referendum on EEC membership. Harold Wilson gave us a vote, MI6 promptly rigged it, not least by planting officers and assets in studio audiences. The BBC was entirely complicit in the propaganda campaign. When I recall the source for MI6's efforts, I'll post it.