TWELVE MINUTES OF BALLS (OR WAS IT AN HOUR?)

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This week's Question Time, which gave every impression of drawing a sizable chunk of its audience from the Labour Society at Birmingham University, produced the following Dimbledata:
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Ed Balls (Lab) - 11 minutes 56 seconds
2. Vince Cable (LD) - 10 minutes 45 seconds
3. Liam Fox (Con) - 9 minutes 13 seconds
4. Janet Street-Porter (woman) - 7 minutes 23 seconds
5. Alex Salmond (SNP) - 7 minutes 15 seconds
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. Vince Cable - 8
2. Liam Fox - 7
3. Ed Balls - 5
4. Alex Salmond - 2
4. Janet Street-Porter - 2
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Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
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1. Liam Fox- 0.8
1. Vince Cable- 0.8
2. Ed Balls - 0.4
3. Alex Salmond - 0.3
3. Janet Street-Porter - 0.3
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Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
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1. Vince Cable - 11
2. Liam Fox - 9
3. Ed Balls - 5
4. Janet Street-Porter - 3
5. Alex Salmond - 1
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Do you know, I really can't stand this programme!!

A GRAND NIGHT OUT...FOR MRS BALLS

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There was an early exchange between David Dimbleby and William Hague on last night's Question Time that seemed to show characteristic Dimbleby bias:
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Dimbleby: Last week he did 26% to Clegg's 43% in terms of winning
Hague: Well the figures are much better for him this week
Dimbleby: Yes, he did 30% to Clegg's 33%
Hague: Or 36 to 32, depending on the survey
Dimbleby: He hasn't overtaken Clegg. It's still Nick Clegg as the most honest, Nick Clegg as the person most people would vote for.
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Having either been caught out, or having made an honest mistake (and what looked like dawning realisation on his face that William Hague had been right suggests that the latter possibility should at least be considered), Dimbleby then 'fessed up, initially somewhat grudgingly: "The poll I was quoted was Comres. There was also a poll for The Sun by YouGov which had David Cameron admittedly ahead of Nick Clegg, 36, you're quite right (pointing to Hague), Nick Clegg on 32, down from 51" and then covered up his embarrassment by suddenly growing very animated and saying "the people who decide of course are you, the audience" before invitating an audience member to speak. Bias, caught out and unwillingly corrected? Or am honest mistake, (eventually) willingly corrected? You decide.
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This next point, however, cannot be so easily excused. After badgering Mr Hague, he turned to Yvette Cooper and asked: "Yvette Cooper, why do you think Clegg gets top marks for honesty of all three, way ahead, 43%?" There was no follow up question, asking "Why did Gordon Brown lose out to Nick Clegg again, 33% to 30%?". Nor, after his 'clarification' did he return to her to ask "Why has Gordon Brown come third again, 29% to David Cameron's 36%?" Why not?
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Later in the programme David Dimbleby sent a swarm of questions/interruptions flying at William Hague, but he also launched several surprisingly stinging forays against Sir Ming Campbell. Only Labour's fragrant Yvette Cooper ('Yvette' to David Dimbleby) escaped almost entirely unharmed. This, as you know, is far from unusual with David Dimbleby. Far too many Labour politicians come away pretty much unscathed from Question Time.
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Yvette Cooper - 11 minutes 46 seconds
2. Sir Ming Campbell - 10 minutes 41 seconds
3. William Hague - 10 minutes 20 seconds
4. Ann Leslie - 7 minutes 10 seconds
5. Elfyn Llwyd - 6 minutes 3 seconds
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. William Hague - 10
2. Sir Ming Campbell - 8
3. Ann Leslie - 4
4. Elfyn Llwyd - 3
5. Yvette Cooper - 3
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Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
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1. William Hague - 1.2
2. Sir Ming Campbell - 0.8
3. Ann Leslie - 0.6
4. Elfyn Llwyd - 0.5
5. Yvette Cooper - 0.3
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Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
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1. William Hague - 14
2. Sir Ming Campbell - 10
3. Ann Leslie - 5
4. Yvette Cooper - 4
5. Elfyn Llwyd - 3
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In less than a week's time David Dimbleby will host the final prime ministerial debate.

QUESTIONABLE TIME 2

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It was another of those editions of Question Time when the audience seemed to have been bussed in by the Labour Party, with a substantial minority of Lib Dem supporters for balance. There could have been perhaps as many as four Conservative supporters but there didn't sound to be any UKIP supporters! Well, at least that's how it seemed! The left-sided comments from the audience and the matching applause would suggests that, if they are a fair cross-section of the voting public - as the programme keeps saying they are, then the Conservatives will be lucky to hang on many of the seats they aleady hold never mind win any more! All this, of course, is nothing new for Question Time.
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With the audience and the rest of the panel against him, and the debate again and again turning on the Tories, David Dimbleby didn't even need to have a much of go at Michael Gove (though he twice told him to come to order. I've pointed out before that this almost always happens only to the right-of-centre guests on the show). Instead, he could concentrate on stopping Nigel Farage from speaking.
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Michael Gove (Con) - 9 minutes 53 seconds
2. David Laws (LD) - 8 minutes 43 seconds
3. Ed Miliband (Lab) - 8 minutes 52 seconds
4. Shami Chakrabati (Liberty boss)- 5 minutes 13 seconds
5. John Sergeant (pro-Labour journalist) - 4 minutes 41 seconds
6. Nigel Farage (UKIP) - 4 minutes 28 seconds
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This was a ridiculously short amount of time for Mr Farage. Not only did David Dimbleby keep him out of the action for most of the programme, he also kept saying 'OK' - meaning 'OK, that's enough' and talking over the ends of his answers.
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. Ed Miliband - 7
2. Nigel Farage - 5
3. John Sergeant - 4
4. Michael Gove - 4
5. David Laws - 3
6. Shami Chakrabati - 2
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Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
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1. Nigel Farage - 1.17
2. John Sergeant - 0.91
3. Ed Miliband - 0.85
4. Michael Gove - 0.42
5. Shami Chakrabati - 0.39
6. David Laws - 0.36
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Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
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1. Ed Miliband - 8
2. David Laws - 5
3. John Sergeant - 5
4. Michael Gove - 4
5. Nigel Farage - 3
6. Shami Chakrabati - 2

QUESTIONABLE TIME

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Have to go to work shortly (for a full day, damn it!), so I will have to watch Question Time tonight. I've just watched the first five minutes though, and the first question was "So who won the debate tonight?"
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The initial polls and the BBC/Mori's 'wriggling worm' survey confirmed my sense that Nick Clegg 'won' by putting in an impressive performance and just outperforming David Cameron, who did pretty well. Brown was the clear loser. His unconvincing smile alone must have put off many viewers. His clunking, repetitive attacks on the Conservatives and his constant interruptions of David Cameron contrasted badly with Mr Cameron's coolness and Mr Clegg's relaxed reasonableness. His killer lines fell flat and his over-obvious wooing of Nick Clegg annoyed even Nick Clegg and made me chuckle.
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David Dimbleby immediately turned to John Sargeant and said "John Sargeant, as an independent observer, who won?" The dancing ex-BBC/ITV political editor said Clegg won on performance, but on substance it was Brown who won. "The person who did not do as well as he should have done was David Cameron." He then elaborated on each point, running down Mr Cameron - even saying that his one-liners fell flat. Well, what debate was he watching? It was Brown's heavily-rehearsed one-liners that saw most of the tumbleweed rolling by. Clearly, unequivocally. Mr Sargeant used to rile me with his biased reporting during the days of Mrs Thatcher, and the honesty and independence of his reporting then carries through to today! The comments on the Biased BBC blog attest to widespread disbelief at the distance of John's verdicts from Planet Reality.
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Still he's entitled to his (skewed) view.
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What's not on though was Dimbleby's endorsement of them: "We've got incidentally polls that have come through, taken immediately after the debate. They rather endorse what John Sergeant was saying". No they didn't!!!! "ITV's poll has Clegg on 43% as the winner, Cameron on 26%, Brown on 20% and The Sun, who also did an immediate poll, had Clegg on 51%, way ahead, Cameron on 29%, Gordon Brown on 19%." In what way do these figures back up Sargeant's spin that Brown convincingly beat Cameron, who was poor? In no way do they do any such thing! Dimbleby then turned to the Conservative on the panel, and asked "Michael Gove, did something go wrong?"
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You may doubtless have already seen whether Dimbleby, the future moderator of the third prime ministerial debate, got any better after such a bad and biased start. I'll have to wait until tonight to see the other 55 minutes of this programme. I am turning off just after the first Labour plant in the audience says that Brown did brilliantly, was funny and personable. No he wasn't! Nigel Farage is to speak next. I can't wait to hear his take on things, but I'll have to wait...!

LATE DIMBLEDATA

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Apologies for the lateness of this week's Dimbledata. The programme was on a day earlier, but that's not my excuse. Question Time is the one programme I review that I still feel a certain reluctance to watch. Still, armed with a glass of wine and the 'Biased BBC' commentary as ever in the bottom corner of my screen (loved the stopwatch comment, David P!), I bit the bullet tonight. So this is Morecambe calling. Here are the results of the Icelandic jury:
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Sir Ming Campbell (LD) - 11 minutes 20 seconds
2. David Miliband (Lab) - 11 minutes 17 seconds
3. Theresa May (Con) - 9 minutes 52 seconds
4. Simon Schama (arm-waving historian) - 8 minutes 38 seconds
5. Janet Daley (fabulous journalist) - 5 minutes 50 seconds (a disappointingly short time, given that she was the best of the guests)
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. Theresa May - 9
2. Janet Daley - 4
3. Simon Schama - 4
4. David Miliband- 3
5. Sir Ming Campbell - 3
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Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
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1. Theresa May - 0.9
2. Janet Daley - 0.7
3. Simon Schama - 0.5
4. David Miliband - 0.3
5. Sir Ming Campbell - 0.3
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Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
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1. Theresa May - 10
2. David Miliband - 8
3. Janet Daley - 6
4. Sir Ming Campbell - 5
5. Simon Schama - 4
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Like much of the BBC's election coverage, Question Time seemed to be mostly concerned with attacking the Tories, whether it be over NI, Chris Grayling (whose ears would have been burning again throughout the 13 minutes the programme devoted to him) or class.
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David Dimbleby was at his most biased, butting into Theresa May's answers far more than he did to anyone elses and asking her the toughest questions, then repeatedly challenging Janet Daley over her nuanced defence of Chris Grayling's comments. During the Chris Grayling question, when all manner of smears were slung at Mr Grayling, the Conservatives and their European allies, it never seemed to occur to Dimbleby that he ought, as an allegedly impartial chairman, to act as devil's advocate to all his guests. He challenged only the ladies of the centre-right on this subject, repeatedly. The smears went unchallenged. And to think that this man is going to be hosting the final prime-ministerial debate!
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I did approve though of Dimbleby's swift puncturing of Simon Schama's attempted pretence that he too was a floating voter (presumably so that when he swung behind Labour later in the programme he would appear to do so merely as a independent-minded TV historian rather than as an active partisan), pointing out that Schama is a well-known, long-term Labour supporter - as everything he said subsequently made crystal clear. That was not the last time Mr Schama, who has written some very fine books, made a fool of himself.
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CODA: On the subject of David Dimbleby, here's a great post from Not a sheep - and it features a notorious clip of Dimbleby at his very worst (hint: Harriet Harman, puppet strings, smirks). If you've never seen it before, prepare your jaw in advance, as it will be about to drop!:
http://notasheepmaybeagoat.blogspot.com/2009/09/is-question-time-audience-biased.html

DIMBLEDATA FOR APRIL FOOL'S DAY

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This week's edition of Question Time was much more enjoyable than last week's programme, with Ken Clarke on fine form and the much-abused Richard Littlejohn shining too. The lovely Victoria Coren (whose quiz Only Connect is one of the few BBC programmes I watch for fun) was amajor disappointment, revealing herself to be a typical BBC left-winger and talking a lot of absolute drivel about pretty much everything. Alan Johnson was a grumpier version of his usual self and wouldn't have won many votes on the strength of that performance (and to think he was being strongly touted as Labour's saviour a couple of years ago). Lib Dem Sarah Teather spent a lot of her time and energy doing what the Lib Dems usually do these days - strongly attacking the Tories and saying the odd nice thing about Labour. (The Lib-Lab pact has been up and running for months now.
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After that long preamble, here's this week's Dimbledata:
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Ken Clarke (Con) - 13 minutes 35 seconds
2. Alan Johnson (Lab) - 12 minutes 52 seconds
3. Richard Littlejohn - 7 minutes 31 seconds
4. Victoria Coren - 6 minutes 12 seconds
5. Sarah Teather (LD) - 4 minutes 55 seconds (I know! That surprised me too - given how often she interrupted, but she was interrupted in turn.)
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. Ken Clarke - 16
2. Alan Johnson - 8
3. Richard Littlejohn - 6
4. Sarah Teather - 5
5. Victoria Coren - 1
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Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
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1. Ken Clarke - 1.2
2. Sarah Teather - 1.1
3. Richard Littlejohn - 0.8
4. Alan Johnson - 0.6
5. Victoria Coren - 0.2
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Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
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1. Ken Clarke - 17
2. Alan Johnson - 9
3. Richard Littlejohn - 7
4. Sarah Teather - 5
5. Victoria Coren - 1
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The general trend for the Labour politician to receive an easier ride than the Conservative on Question Time continues. After a somewhat rough start for Mr Johnson, things eased off considerably for him after the first question - which was when David Dimbleby's usual Tory-hunting began in earnest and continued, on and off, throughout.
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DIMBLEDATA FROM GLASGOW

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This week's dull-as-ditchwater edition of Question Time from Glasgow produced the following rather more interesting set of Dimbledata:
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Liam Byrne (Lab) - 13 minutes 8 seconds
2. Martin Sorrell (businessman) - 11 minutes 55 seconds
3. Alex Salmond (SNP) - 8 minutes 12 seconds
4. Julia Goldsworthy (Lib Dem) - 6 minutes 51 seconds
5. Baroness Warsi (Con) - 5 minutes 53 seconds
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. Liam Byrne - 14
2. Martin Sorrell - 7
3. Baroness Warsi - 6
4. Julia Goldsworthy - 4
5. Alex Salmond - 1
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Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
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1. Baroness Warsi - 1.1
2. Liam Byrne - 1.1
3. Julia Goldsworthy - 0.6
4. Martin Sorrell - 0.6
5. Alex Salmond - 0.1
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Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
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1. Liam Byrne - 17
2. Martin Sorrell - 11
3. Baroness Warsi - 5
4. Julia Goldworthy - 5
5. Alex Salmond - 2
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THIS WEEK'S DIMBLEDATA

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Time for some Dimbledata, in the wake of Thursday's Question Time from here in the North West:
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Margaret Beckett (Lab) - 10 minutes 26 seconds
2. Andrew Lansley (Con) - 9 minutes 38 seconds
3. Charles Kennedy (LD) - 9 minutes 14 seconds
4. Caroline Lucas (Green) - 8 minutes 23 seconds
5. David Starkey (historian) - 7 minutes 35 seconds
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. Andrew Lansley (Con) - 5
2. Caroline Lucas (Green) - 4
3. David Starkey - 2
4. Margaret Beckett (Lab) - 2
5. Charles Kennedy (LD) - 1
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Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
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1. Andrew Lansley (Con) - 0.5
2. Caroline Lucas (Green) - 0.5
3. David Starkey - 0.3
4. Margaret Beckett (Lab) - 0.2
5. Charles Kennedy (LD) - 0.1
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Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
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1. Margaret Beckett (Lab) - 7
2. Caroline Lucas - 6
3. Andrew Lansley - 4
4. David Starkey - 2
5. Charles Kennedy - 1
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Commentators in the Biased BBC blogsite's running commentary were amazed in the early stages of the programme at David Dimbleby's hot pursuit of Mrs Beckett over her own links to Unite, wondering if DD had been replaced by a double! He didn't trouble her much again thereafter, turning more of his attention (also surprisingly) towards Caroline Lucas. Andrew Lansley fared as badly. Charles Kennedy was left at ease. David Starkey is more than a match for any presenter and was on sparkling form (as ever).

LADIES' NIGHT WITH DAVID DIMBLEBY

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Late on parade, here comes this week's Dimbledata:
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Caroline Flint (Lab) - 13 minutes 49 seconds
2. Kelvin MacKenzie (journalist) - 8 minutes 39 seconds
3. Jo Swinson (LD) - 6 minutes 46 seconds
4. Justine Greening (Con) - 5 minutes 51 seconds
5. Monty Don (gardener) - 4 minutes 32 seconds (yes I know, it felt like longer!!)
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. Caroline Flint (Lab) - 10
2. Kelvin MacKenzie (journalist) - 6
3. Jo Swinson (LD) - 6
4. Monty Don (gardener) - 4
5. Justine Greening (Con) - 1 (who would have thought it!!!)
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Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
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1. Monty Don (gardener) - 0.9
2. Jo Swinson (LD) - 0.9
3. Caroline Flint (Lab) - 0.7
4. Kelvin Mackenzie - 0.7
5. Justine Greening (Con) - 0.2
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Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
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1. Caroline Flint (Lab) - 11
2. Kelvin MacKenzie - 8
3. Jo Swinson (LD) - 5
4. Monty Don - 3
5. Justine Greening (Con) - 1
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This was an untypical programme in many ways. It had an all-women audience and, more importantly, a wider range of opinion in the audience - quite a bit of it sensible! - and few obvious Labour plants. You don't expect any of that from the usual run of Question Time audiences!
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After taking against Kelvin MacKenzie over the Venables story, Dimbleby redeemed himself by taking against Caroline Flint over defence. She can't have enjoyed the experience. In contrast Justine Greening came off unscathed. I wasn't expecting that at all!! Justine's only grounds for complaint were that Caroline Flint got well over double the amount of time that she got. Indeed, it was The Caroline Flint Show at times!

'I DON'T HAVE MY SAY AT ALL. I'M JUST CHAIRING THIS.'

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Returning to Dimbleby the Elder (after that unplanned detour onto Dimbleby the Younger), the interruption coefficients contained in the Dimbledata below don't quite to justice to the scale of Dave's bias.
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Boris Johnson was swiftly questioned over Lord Ashcroft, "Have you taken Ashcroft money yourself?" His answer was soon interrupted, Dimbleby contradicting him with "Well no, it doesn't show that. It shows he didn't run YOUR show. He appears to be running the show for large numbers of marginal constituencies where the Conservative candidates hope to win and he's been putting money in and is in charge of a unit to do that." When Boris began his answer "You know...", Dimbleby butted in and said with all his usual smug malice, "Don't say 'you know'! What's the answer?" The questions kept on coming (as you can see from the Dimbledata). Next was "and were they and were the Conservative Party leadership naive to trust what Lord Ashcroft said about permanent residence when it turned out for ten years he hadn't been a permanent resident. Were they right to trust him?" Boris's answer was soon interrupted again, "I was asking whether the party leadership was naive in trusting him, Hague and Cameron, in your view?" and within seconds of his answer beginning again came a further interruption, "Well that's not the answer to the question" followed with seconds by another interruption, "All right, Shirley Williams"? Boris, being Boris, didn't take it lying down and said lightly, "There's an answer contained in there". Dimbleby replied "no there isn't", like a kid trying to get the last word, but Boris was playing the same game and said "yes there is!" Dimbleby, being both the chairman and the bigger kid, got the last word after all, saying "Well that's what your leader says as well, but that doesn't answer the question about naivety but maybe we'll come back to it. Shirley Williams?" Mr Impartiality (sic) strikes again!!
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The other centre-right guest, Carol Vorderman, attacked Lord Mandelson (and quite right too!), which provoked a typical intervention from Dimbleby, "Well come back to the question, Christopher...". She ignored him and talked on regardless.
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Now, in fairness to Dimbleby, he did probe Lord Adonis over helicopters.
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Also in fairness to Dimbleby, he then kept trying to stop Boris from responding to attacks from the (Labour plants in the) audience on Conservative spending plans. This resulted in another amusing exchange between the two:
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Dimblebias: "You're mayor of London and you like to have your say, but I think you've had enough of it for the moment"
Boris: "So do you!"
Dimblebias: "I don't have my say at all, I'm just chairing this" (yeah, right!!!)
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Carol got told off again later. "You're diverting", said Dimbleby. (She certainly is!) "Just on Venables, what do you want the public to be told about Venables?"
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Dimbleby was soon back interrupting Boris. He had asked "Are you in favour of them?" (televised leader debates) and when Boris began his reply with "Of course!" Dimbleby leaped in with a curt "Why 'of course'? Boris, who's a canny guy, got in a sly dig at Dimbleby shortly after, "You were incredible! You interrupted me a lot in the run up to the one I did in the run-up to the mayoralty..."
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Dimbleby never allows himself to be bettered, and always liking to have his say, launched into this 44-second-long question, battled all the way by Boris: "You accused..you said of the Labour Party that they were sticking the dagger in the back of their leader, there are others who think that you are inimical to your own par.." (Boris, interrupting, "That is complete codswallop"). "Can I just finish the point, that you're inimical, and they cite various examples where you do things that seem to undermine your leader." (Boris interrupts "What were they?") "...You asked for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, when he said he didn't want one.." (Boris, "Hang on I asked for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty because...") "...you asked for an airport in the estuary when he said it's not Tory policy..you say that 50% tax is bonkers when he says he won't alter it..and you say that the word 'broken society' is piffle..well I won't..there are four examples where you appear to be just undercutting or undermining what your leader's saying." You would imagine that, in the spirit of fair chairmanship, Dimbleby would have allowed Boris some space to respond to such a long and detailed question. Dimbleby doesn't do fair however. After exactly thirty seconds, he tried to stop him, saying "All right, Shirley, Shirley" but Boris ploughed on, and asked what the other thing was again, to which Dimbleley answered "Lisbon Treaty?' before denying Boris the chance to answer on the point and ploughing on himself with a firm "Shirley Williams", telling Boris "Restrain yourself!"
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And to think that this man is going to be in charge of one of the televised leader debates during the general election!

THIS WEEK'S DIMBLEDATA

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Here comes this week's Dimbledata:
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Boris Johnson (Con) - 12 minutes 37 seconds
2. Shirley Williams (LD) - 9 minutes 17 seconds
3. Andrew Adonis (Lab) - 8 minutes 5 seconds
4. Will Self - 7 minutes 38 seconds
5. Carol Vorderman - 5 minutes 28 seconds
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. Boris Johnson (Con) - 13
2. Andrew Adonis (Lab) - 8
3. Shirley Williams (LD) - 4
4. Carol Vorderman - 2
5. Will Self - 2
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Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
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1. Boris Johnson (C0n) - 1.1
2. Andrew Adonis (Lab) - 1.0
3. Carol Vorderman - 0.4
4. Shirley Williams - 0.4
5. Will Self - 0.3
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Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
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1. Boris Johnson (Con) - 20
2. Andrew Adonis (Lab) - 10
3. Shirley Williams - 6
4. Carol Vorderman - 3
5. Will Self - 2
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WATCHING THE 'QUESTION TIME' AUDIENCE

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Well, what a shocker last night's Question Time turned out to be!
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Like many of the commentators on the Biased BBC blogsite I was growing red in the face at various stages of the programme and would have liked to punch David Dimbleby's smug face on the computer screen - but as I've just bought the laptop I don't want to do anything to damage it quite yet!
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I'll break my review of this programme into three separate posts, so as to (hopefully) make them easier on the eye.
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I want to start with the audience which (judging by the applause) contained just a couple of Conservatives and seemed about as much a fair cross-section of public opinion as a meeting of the Hampstead and Highgate Labour Party (which is probably where most of them had just come straight from). If a significant proportion of that audience weren't Labour Party activists I'll eat my hat!
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On the subject of the audience, can't the Conservatives and UKIP call on all their respective activists to watch the Question Time audience each week and point out all the Labour activists and parliamentary candidates they recognise? Some have already been spotted of course, but surely vast numbers of them troop across the country to attend the programme, pretending as if they are locals and just members of the public.
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I've been trying to see if the Daniel De'Ath who asked that extremely rude question of Nigel Farage on last week's anti-UKIP edition of the programme was the same Daniel De'Ath who twice stood (and lost) for Labour in Nuneaton's local elections, but unfortunately not one of the local Conservatives I e-mailed (who might have known about that Mr De'ath, or asked people who did) has yet bothered to reply. (They might be busy, of course, with the coming election and replies may come). The evidence that they are one and the same is far from overwhelming but a Midlands newspaper carries a picture of the chap from the Cardiff-based edition of Question Time (which suggests, if nothing else, that the guy came to Cardiff from the Midlands to ask Mr Farage that hostile question). There's no picture of 'the other' Daniel De'Ath. So are they the same man, or not? I would love to know.
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A FLY IN THE OINTMENT

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I've only had time this morning to watch the first twenty minutes of Question Time (the rest will be a 'treat' for after I get in from work tonight!), but have just witnessed Boris Johnson brilliantly brushing off that particularly irritating (and large) fly, David Dimbleby, who was buzzing around him with a vengeance, interrupting him 5 times during his answer to the inevitable first question about Lord Ashcroft.
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The 'famously impartial' Dimbleby (according to the Radio Times that is) questioned Boris closely, though he also questioned Shirley Williams about crooked Lib Dem donor Michael Brown and also, for some strange reason, about Labour's Lord Paul (without going into any detail about Lord Paul, of course.)
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Who wasn't questioned on the subject by David Dimblebias? Labour's Lord Adonis (not pictured). Why didn't Dimbleby ask him about any of Labour's myriad questionable donors? Or put to him the wonderful Carol Vorderman's point that it's an irony (to put it mildly) that Lord Mandelson is leading Labour's charge over this? No, Dimblebias let Lord Adonis have his say uninterrupted then moved on without a supplementary question. Can you imagine Eddie Mair doing that? Or Andrew Neil?
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It's time to put Dimbleby out to pasture (or, to avoid mixing metaphors, buy a very large piece of fly paper).
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DIMBLEDATA: THE 'GET NIGEL!!' EDITION

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Here is this week's Dimbledata for Thursday's shockingly bad Question Time:

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25th February 2010
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Who got most time to speak?
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1. Peter Hain (Lab) - 8 minutes 38 seconds
2. Liam Fox (Con) - 8 minutes 27 seconds
3. Janet Street Porter - 8 minutes 25 seconds
4. Nigel Farage (UKIP) - 7 minutes 1 second
5. Elfyn Llwyd (PC) - 6 minutes 19 seconds
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Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
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1. Nigel Farage (UKIP) - 6
2. Liam Fox (Con) - 5
3. Peter Hain (Lab) - 3
4. Janet Street Porter - 2
5. Elfyn Llwyd (PC) - 0
*
**
Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
*
1. Nigel Farage (UKIP) - 0.9
2. Liam Fox (Con) - 0.6
3. Peter Hain (Lab) - 0.4
4. Janet Street Porter - 0.2
5. Elfyn Llwyd (PC) - 0
*
*
Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
*
1. Peter Hain (Lab) - 7
2. Nigel Farage (Con) - 6
3. Liam Fox (Con) - 6
4. Janet Street Porter - 3
5. Elfyn Llwyd (PC) - 1
*
*
The audience - and I think I'm being very fair here - were nothing more than a braying mob of imbeciles and/or Labour supporters. I'd love to know just who was in this audience. How many were Labour Party activists? (It really sounded like most of them!! And given the show's past record that's not completely beyond the realms of possibity!)
*
Mr Fox went unclapped until the final question. Tumbleweed blew around almost all his contributions, except for that moment when some madman in the audience screamed at him. That one decent clap (over some stupid question about John Terry and Wayne Bridge) was clearly not something Dimblebias was going to allow him to enjoy - even at this very late stage in the show -, as he asked him a supplementary question designed to prick his bubble.
*
Liam Fox, however, faced nothing like what faced Nigel Farage.
*
The mob were after his blood. They booed and jeered and shouted and groaned, and there were HUGE cheers for all his critics (except Liam Fox). Dimblebias allowed audience member after audience member to slag the man off, often abusively, repeatedly stopping him from responding and telling him to "take it on the chin". He did the same on several occasions when Mr Farage tried to respond to attacks from the panel.There were plenty of hostile questions from Dimblebias too, delivered with all his usual self-satisfied malice. The third question from the audience itself was "Are Nigel Farage's rude and attention-seeking remarks about the president of the European council not conclusive proof that UKIP and he have become nothing more than a boorish national embarrassment?" Nigel stood unshaken and unbowed throughout. What a man!
*
I couldn't bear to watch this programme live. I need a pause button and the Biased BBC blog commentary in the bottom right hand corner of my screen to make it even half bearable!
http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/2010/02/thrown-to-lions.html

THIS WEEK'S DIMBLEDATA

*
Here is this week's Dimbledata for Thursday's Question Time:

**
18th February 2010
*
*
Who got most time to speak?
*
1. Roy Hattersley (Lab) - 10 minutes 30 seconds
2. Rory Stewart (Con) - 7 minutes 35 seconds
3. Ruth Lea (economist)- 7 minutes 20 seconds
4. Lynne Featherstone (LD) - 5 minutes 51 seconds
5. Tom Conti (actor) - 5 minutes 51 seconds
6. A trade unionist in the audience - 2 minutes 52 seconds
*
*
Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
*
1. Lynne Featherstone (LD) - 3
2. Ruth Lea (economist) - 3
3. Roy Hattersley (Lab) - 2
4. Tom Conti (actor) - 1
5. Rory Stewart (Con) - 0
*
**
Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
*
1. Lynne Featherstone (LD) - 0.5
2. Ruth Lea (economist) - 0.4
3. Tom Conti (actor) - 0.2
4. Roy Hattersley (Lab) - 0.2
5. Rory Stewart (Con) - 0.0
*
*
Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
*
1. Ruth Lea (economist) - 7
2. Rory Stewart (Con) - 6
3. Lynne Featherstone (LD) - 5
4. Roy Hattersley (Lab) - 5
5. Tom Conti (actor) - 0
*
*
It's not every week that the Tory scores the lowest I.C.! Note though that this was one of Dimbleby's most restrained performances, with no-one scoring a high I.C., and that the two right-of-centre guests, Ruth Lea and Rory Stewart (with Ruth closer to the right and Rory much closer to the centre!) were the most closely questioned by Dimbleby.
*

DIMBLEDATA FROM NORTHERN IRELAND

*
This week's Question Time came from Northern Ireland - though that didn't make the audience any less weird or skewed!
*
Here is the Dimbledata for the programme:
*
*
11th February 2010
*
*
Who got most time to speak?
*
1. Shaun Woodward (Labour) - 11 minutes 20 seconds
2. Sammy Wilson (DUP) - 9 minutes 1 second
3. David Trimble (Conservative and Unionist) - 7 minutes 2 seconds
4. Gerry Kelly (Sinn Fein) - 6 minutes 55 seconds
5. Jim Allister (TUV) - 6 minutes 38 seconds
6. Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) - 5 minutes 26 seconds
*
*
Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
*
1. Jim Allister (TUV) - 9
2. Sammy Wilson (DUP) - 9
3. Shaun Woodward (Labour) - 7
4. Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) - 5
5. David Trimble (Conservatie and Unionist) - 5
6. Gerry Kelly (Sinn Fein) - 3
*
**
Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
*
1. Jim Allister (TUV) - 1.4
2. Sammy Wilson (DUP) - 1
3. Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) - 1
4. David Trimble (Conservative and Unionist) - 0.7
5. Shaun Woodward (Labour) - 0.6
6. Gerry Kelly (Sinn Fein) - 0.5
*
*
Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
*
1. Sammy Wilson (DUP) - 8
2. Shaun Woodward (Labour) - 8
3. Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) - 6
4. David Trimble (Conservative and Unionist) - 6
5. Jim Allister (TUV) - 2
6. Gerry Kelly (Sinn Fein) - 2
*
A tough night out for Mr Allister, a comfortable night out for Mr Woodward and an easy ride for Mr Kelly of the IRA.
*

THIS WEEK'S DIMBLEDATA

*
A little late but here come the stats for Thursday's Question Time:
*
*
4th February 2010
*
*
Who got most time to speak?

1. Melanie Phillips - 10 minutes 57 seconds
2. Lord Falconer - 10 minutes 29 seconds
3. Clare Short - 9 minutes 47 seconds
4. George Galloway - 9 minutes 39 seconds
5. Theresa May - 6 minutes 49 seconds
*
*
Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
*
1. Lord Falconer - 8
2. Theresa May - 7
3. Clare Short - 6
4. Melanie Phillips - 4
5. George Galloway - 2
*
**
Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
*
1. Theresa May - 1.1
2. Lord Falconer - 0.8
3. Clare Short - 0.6
4. Melanie Phillips - 0.4
5. George Galloway - 0.2
*
*
Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
*
1. Lord Falconer - 12
2. Theresa May - 8
3. Clare Short - 5
4. Melanie Phillips - 3
5. George Galloway - 1
*

MORE DIMBLEDATA

*
Last night's Question Time was an unusual one indeed. It featured three right-of-centre panelists - Lord Lawson, Douglas Murray of the Centre for Social Cohesion and Jane Moore of the Sun. (When did this last happen? Has it ever happened before?) All three, moreover, were excellent (especially Jane). Even the audience contained a decent number of non-nutters for once! The main lesson I took away from watching it was that the Lib Dems hold opinions I find even less to my taste than Labour's. I can't think of a single thing I agreed with Baroness Tonge over (and much the same can be said of Sarah Teather last week). Our liberals are so left-wing.
*
Quantifying last night's Question Time reveals the following stats:
*
Who got most time to speak?
1. Nigel Lawson - 12 minutes 51 seconds
2. Jenny Tonge - 8 minutes 46 seconds
3. Douglas Murray - 8 minutes 25 seconds
4. Ben Bradshaw - 8 minutes 4 seconds
5. Jane Moore - 6 minutes 19 seconds
*
Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
1. Nigel Lawson - 10
2. Jenny Tonge - 7
3. Douglas Murray - 6
4. Jane Moore - 5
5. Ben Bradshaw - 4
*
Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
1. Jenny Tonge - 0.8
1. Jane Moore - 0.8
1. Nigel Lawson - 0.8
4. Douglas Murray-0.7
5. Ben Bradshaw - 0.5
*
Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
1. Jenny Tonge - 10
2. Nigel Lawson - 8
3. Ben Bradshaw - 7
4. Jane Moore - 2
5. Douglas Murray - 2
*
Yet again it was the Labour politician who had the easiest ride from the 'famously impartial' David Dimbleby!

THEY'RE 'AVING A LARF, AREN'T THEY?

*
Here's something to make you laugh. Go to page 3, the Contents page, of the newest edition of The Radio Times (30 Jan-5 Feb) and you'll see this gem:

David Dimbleby p18
The famously impartial presenter climbs off the fence to talk art, politics, money and society.

DIMBLEDATA

*
Quantifying last night's Question Time reveals the following stats:
*
Who got most time to speak?
1. Liam Byrne - 11 minutes 7 seconds
2. Richard Madeley - 8 minutes 34 seconds
3. Sarah Teather - 8 minutes 25 seconds
4. Caroline Spelman - 8 minutes 7 seconds
5. Andrew Roberts - 7 minutes 30 seconds
*
Who received the most interruptions from David Dimbleby?
1. Caroline Spelman - 15
2. Sarah Teather - 11
3. Liam Byrne - 7
4. Andrew Roberts - 3
5. Richard Madeley - 1
*
Who scored the highest interruption coefficient?
1. Caroline Spelman - 1.9
2. Sarah Teather - 1.3
3. Liam Byrne - 0.6
4. Andrew Roberts -0.3
5. Richard Madeley - 0.1
*
Who was asked the most supplementary questions by David Dimbleby?
1. Caroline Spelman - 17
2. Sarah Teather - 9
3. Liam Byrne - 6
4. Andrew Roberts - 4
5. Richard Madeley - 1
*
Not a bad night out for oily Liam Byrne and the Labour Party was it?