BBC bias? Reform representation on Question Time.

Caroline Lucas was an MP from May 6, 2010, until she stood down on May 30, 2024

Between 2001 and 2024 she appeared on QT 30 times, nine of those before she was elected MP.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Question_Time_episodes

Farage has appeared 38 times, first in 2000, 37 times before he was elected MP, (six after the EU referendum was announced and before the 2024 GE and only once since then as he took umbrage at how he alleged he was treated in a pre-election debate with Adrian Ramsay from the Green Party.

Do we know whether Green MPs are being invited to take part and not accepting? It’s all a bit of a waste of time isn’t it? Maybe they think their time is better spent doing their jobs in Parliament and working in their constituencies.

This ten year old video from comedian Jake Yapp says it all about the futility:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAyiqtwFYWg

I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve also stopped watching since Fiona Bruce began presenting.

WithNobson, I totally agree.Zak Polanski looks and sounds awful.Not for me.

Reform PKA UKIP was invariably on BBCQT when they had no MPs, whereas the Green Party who have had at least one MP for at least 10 years were never invited. Cheers for that BBC!

Hear.hear.!!!

Question time is just one big yawn anyway. And has been for years. Same old tut every week.
It badly needs a revamp. Fiona Bruce has become very tiresome.

As for My Polanski. He looks like as though he has escaped from some all male, kind of manic Sixth Form debating society.

Very overactive manner. Poorly informed. He isn't doing the Greens any favours.

Whatever happened to the likes and calibre of Sarah Lucas and Jonathan Porritt?

I rest my case.

👎

Tuliptree

Peaseblossom

Doodledog I thought Fiona Bruce was a lefty!

You have really cheered me up / funniest post of the day.

Maybe you're thinking of Robert the Bruce, Peaseblossom. Or Lenny Bruce?

That is a very pertinent point Dreadwitch.

Dreadwitch

Wait until they really start on him and make things up to make him look bad. Anyone who could be a threat to the establishment will never get the top job, just look at what happened to Corbyn... None stop lies, exaggerations and half truths!
I'm not a fan of the green party regardless of their leader and they've never been any kind of actual competition, but now they have someone that people are paying attention to they won't be allowed to become popular.

I mean farage isn't your average every day bloke down the pub like he claims to be, he got popular because he seemed appealing to the far right and uneducated, and he had money to pump into it along with wealthy mates in high places.

Reform gets more airtime because they're for the establishment, not against it, plus they don't have the same amount of MPs... Greens have 4 and reform have 8 so that definitely one reason. Although 4 of them aren't elected as they're tory defectors so in essence there is only 4.

I don't actually understand how someone can be voted in as an MP or councillor for one party and keep the job when they defect to another party. If the MP I voted for defected then my vote is no longer valid because I did not vote for the party he defected to.

Last sentence … TOTALLY AGREE,

Romola

No-one has mentioned the Lib Dems who have 70 MPs. They're shamefully under-represented, both on QT and Any Questions.

I did 😀

No-one has mentioned the Lib Dems who have 70 MPs. They're shamefully under-represented, both on QT and Any Questions.

Peaseblossom

Doodledog I thought Fiona Bruce was a lefty!

You have really cheered me up / funniest post of the day.

Doodledog I thought Fiona Bruce was a lefty!

In the good old days I used to enjoy very much Panorama and Newsnight but they have both been butchered. The foreign correspondents I hear on the radio are generally impressive but I never watch BBC News - C4 all the way for me but I still miss Jon Snow and his ties.

Who in their right mind is interested in a party whose leader used to hypnotise women to make their breasts larger!!! Surely he can afford to get his hideous teeth done.

I rarely watch BBC News
We do watch BBC News once a day and there are some very good reporters, especially the foreign affairs journalists.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I rarely watch BBC News or current affairs programmes now. I prefer Channel 4. I emailed the BBC about their seeming preference for Reform and they replied at length, implying that although they have few MPs they are high in the polls! I'm not sure that is the way to go. I try to listen to the Rest is Politics podcasts with Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart, where I believe we get a more balanced view - although the pair of them despise trump.

I cannot understand why anyone would support Reform. Their main thing seems to be to get rid of immigrants, which probably suits a lot of people. But surely their views on the NHS, women etc., should be carefuly considered before anyone votes for them? Farage is a supporter of trump, which should tell us all we need to know.

I don't think the BBC is biased, but I do think that both Fiona Bruce and Laura Kuenssberg are poor presenters. LK was interviewing Bridget Phillipson this morning, and she (LK) kept talking over her - she always does. BP just kept going, but it must have been hard to concentrate with someone who was clearly not listening but trying to change the subject. Fiona Bruce is probably not responsible for which guests appear, but she is noticeably in favour of the right when they are there, IMO.

Tuliptree

Reform have 4 MPs so far as those of us who believe in democracy think.

Yes!

They need to have the courage of their convictions and have a by-election.

So, Lib Dems have 18 times as many - are their appearances commensurate with that?

Reform have 4 MPs so far as those of us who believe in democracy think.

The Green Party does not have the same number of MPs as Reform. The Greens have four MPs and Reform currently have eight.

The Lib Dems have nine times as many as Reform.
How many times have they appeared on QT, I wonder?

As we don't watch it any more I don't know how biased it has become but it's worrying if it is.

As far as ARS is concerned, I don't find Fiona Bruce smug or superior. Her presenting style is fine on there imo.

Geordiegirl1

I can’t even watch Antiques Roadshow now because of this smug, superior woman. I understand her husband is a bigwig in the BBC. Thé media in general is mischievous and it will be thanks to them if Reform becomes successful.

You understand wrong. There’s something called Google HTH

Fiona is married to businessman Nigel Sharrocks, who is the non-executive chairman of advertising company Digital Cinema Media, which supplies cinema advertisements to Cineworld, Odeon, and Vue cinema chains.

He previously served as Managing Director of Warner Bros Pictures UK in the 2000s.

changed not change

Luckygirl3

Farage and Reform are a product of the media's desperate desire for a story. Without this constant oxygen they would barely exist. So much for democracy!

I think you are right.

I think things change when news on TV went to 24 hours.

That was a huge amount of new time to fill.

I miss the days I used to be able to stay up to watch Question Time and get annoyed with Fiona Bruce