RIFTS IN THE CON-LIB CONTINUUM

*
The BBC's intention to focus relentlessly on potential rifts within the new coalition has already become bleedingly obvious.
*
Not a sheep has tweeted that the Politics Show has been rift-hunting today on the issue of Europe. Here's a further example on exactly the same subject from Shirin Wheeler on this week's The Record Europe, where she explored the question posed in her introduction: "But will the differences in their policies over Europe prove to be the fatal faultline in the alliance?"

HOBBY-HORSES FOR COURSES

*
How has The Record Europe been going on in my (semi-continuing) absence?
*
Going back to 2nd May (prior to the election), we find the programme plugging the BBC line on Greece. Not 'why should Greece be bailed out by European taxpayers for its years of reckless spending, creative accounting, tax evasion and public sector profligacy?' but "We'll be asking how Europe's politicians can wrestle control back from the markets and save Europe's single currency." Maybe Greece doesn't deserve to be saved from the markets and maybe Europe's single currency doesn't deserve saving either. That, however, was something Shirin Wheeler and co. were unwilling even to entertain.
*
Shirin's introduction went on: "Also on the programme, Europe's consumer groups plead with the EU institutions to stand firm against airlines in upholding passenger rights in the wake of the disruption caused by the volcanic dust cloud from Iceland".
*
The BBC has been berating the poor Germans (and, yes, I do feel for them over this) over their reluctance to fork out their hard-worked-for money to bail out the feckless Greeks. Shirin slammed the Northern Europeans for "dithering" over the rescue of prodigal Greece and said that the German tabloids have "been screaming in protest" - hardly a neutral way of putting it! The sensible Angela Merkel, not keen on the bailout - like the majority of her countrymen - was presented as playing party politics over the issue: "What's not helping (helping who exactly Shirin? The feckless Greeks? The Europhiles cause?) is a critical election in the German state of Nordrhein Westphalia..." German cold feet (bad!) were contrasted with EU commission resolve (good!): "Europe's monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn attempted to calm and reassure."
*
No UK politicians (all home no doubt, campaigning for the general election) were involved in the following discussion between a German liberal, a Portuguese socialist, a member of what Shirin called "the centre-right Fine Gael" (though centrist would be a far more accurate description) and a Belgian member of the Dedecker List (aligned to our Conservatives, so - in Shirin's eyes - an out and out "boo!").
*
As I've noted before German liberals (the FDP) are not like our left-leaning liberals, being emphatically pro-business. (Will our liberals change, now that they are in power?) They have been the party most hostile to the idea of bailing out our feckless Greek friends. So Shirin interrupted the German liberal (Wolf Klinz) and took him to task over the issue, accusing him (and his party and coalition government) of "foot-dragging". The German liberals are, however, clearly not wholly united on the issue and this German liberal - a German MEP with a plum job as chairman on a EU committee (CRIS) - had clearly "gone native", as so many Eurocrats seem to do, and was somewhat critical of his own Conservative-Liberal government's position on the issue. This established, Shirin went a bit easier on him. Only a bit though. After Herr Klinz (who seems like a pleasant enough chap) accused his own country's media of failing to "calm down the situation", which got a firm "Yes!" from the supposedly impartial presenter, Shirin, with yet more breathtaking bias, assumed a haughty air, interrupted him again and said "Your own colleagues don't really help, talking about exit from the Euro, do they?" And having slung that barb at him, she did what she usually does to UK Conservatives or UKIP spokesfolk and - without giving them the right to reply - moved on to another guest. Such behaviour could not be less improper from a supposedly impartial presenter. (When he returned later there was another question critical of the German government and another heckle from Shirin!).
**
Go the German Free Democrats!
*
Guy Mitchell from the highly pro-European Fine Gael, asked about the spead of the contagion, said that that it wasn't so much the markets (Shirin's point) as unscrupulous people "willing this to happen" and "out for the kill" but added that Greece's situation was largely the fault of the Greeks themselves. Fair points, I'd say. Fine Gael is (to its great credit) supporting Fine Fail's drastic recovery plan. As he was making that very point, Shirin cut him off and turned to the Portuguese socialist, Vital Moreira, in order to move the conversation away from such good sense and back to the more comfortable territory (for her) of market-bashing. She asked him about the credit rating agencies attitude to Portugal and said "this is the trouble, isn't it? It's not according to any rationality?"
*
Like Mr Mitchell, Mr Moreira bridled at the comparison between his country and Greece, making some valid points to back this up, but then said that his government had acted properly and that it was the speculators who are to blame for the current crisis.
*
At last she came to Derk Jan Eppink, the "Belgian Conservative". Within a matter of seconds Shirin was in on him, forcefully contradicting him. Why? Because Mr Eppink had immediately made clear that he understood the German public's concerns and said that Greece should have dropped out of the euro. Another "on the other hand" was not long in coming. Intriguingly, though, Mr Eppink declares himself to be "pro-Euro". (That declaration, made later in the discussion, didn't stop him being interrupted again as soon as his Eurosceptic side re-emerged).
*
When Mr Mitchell returned and had the temerity to say that the Greeks should obviously only be bailed out if they are taking strong and credible measures (like Ireland) to get their own house in order, Shirin plunged in passionately to defend the Greek (Socialist) government's actions so far.
*
When Mr Moreira complained of "schadenfreude" on the part of Eurosceptics (following some wise words from the Belgian Conservative), Shirin did not keep quiet and allow him to make his point. No she intervened to sympathise with him, saying "Well, there's some of that around certainly."
*
The left-wing/Europhile bias on this programme is often choking in its intensity.
*
*
If you still doubt that (and why would you?), the programme's second subject area - EU legislation to protect passengers' rights against the wicked airline companies - was discussed with... can you guess?
*
A representative of the airlines? A British Conservative?
*
No, a spokesman (David McCullough) from the Brussels-based lobby group that represents all the European consumer rights' organisation across Europe, which supports the legislation, and a Labour MEP (Brian Simpson) who helped draw up the legislation. Shirin was with them all the way, saying that "we've heard all the right words from the European institutions, Brian Simpson, but what can you, as chair of the Transport Committee, and the European commission, with whom you're working closely on this, do about this?" Head nodding throughout, Shirin did not interrupt either Mr Simpson nor Mr McCullough, nor did she play devil's advocate for the airline companies in her questions to Mr Simpson and Mr McCullough. Far from it. All her questions came from the 'take tough action' angle. All of them.

Mr McCullough and Mr Simpson (4 questions, 3.12, IC of 0) could both be right of course. As they agreed with each other, however, isn't it the duty of a neutral presenter to challenge them?: *
*
*
A week on (9/5) and what was Shirin Wheeler's opening question? Not "Is Europe asking too much from the European tax-payer in its steps to rescue Greece? Should Greece be asked to leave the euro?" but "Is Europe asking too much of Greece? Is the price for rescue too high?" The BBC is relentless once it has a narrative in place.
*
Who were Shirin's guests to discuss the issue? Stravros Lambrinidis, a Greek Socialist, Ioannis Tsoukalas from the Greek Centre-Right, Daniel Gros from the pro-European Centre for European Policy Studies ("one of Brussels's leading think tanks", according to Shirin) and Ronald Janssen from the European Trade Union Confederation.
*
Shirin questions Mr Lambrinidis gently but Mr Tsoukalas more toughly, accusing his party (New Democracy) of "political game-playing" by not backing the socialist government over its austerity measures. (I think she's right, but should she have said it?) She also pressed the trade union rep over the same issue, saying that surely they too should be supporting the socialist government's austerity measures, before returning to the BBC narrative and agreeing with Mr Janssen's final point - and quoting Labour's favourite Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz to back it up!! Stiglitz says the measures will weaken the Greek economy. So, having offered the Greek Socialist government her support, Shirin then moved on to attacking the demands for austerity placed on the Greek economy, as imposed upon Greece by the IMF and the Eurozone.

She was then back on her hobby horse again, asking Mr Gros "And what of Europe's own role in this? As bad actually. You know, the foot-dragging, the lack of responsibility?" This is an opinion. (Why is she giving us her opinion?) Has Europe's "foot-dragging" been a bad thing? When Shirin talks of Europe's "lack of responsibility" (doubtless meaning the Germans and us!), shouldn't the answer have come "'Europe' isn't mainly responsible. The Greeks are." She kept banging away at it, asking later: "And this is the point. In the absence of the fiscal architecture, which I think is what people call it, there has been a lack of solidarity as well. Surely it's about time that is demonstrated." Mr Gros is closer to the Germans on this. Hence Shirin's closer questioning of him.


Available on BBC World, the BBC News Channel and BBC Parliament, and always available on the BBC website's Europe page, the programme may have a limited reach but that's surely not an excuse for it to be so shamelessly biased week in and week out.

VIOLENCE AGAINST EUROSCEPTICS

*

Throughout the short history of this blog, I've chronicled the bias of Shirin Wheeler (pictured) of the BBC's Europhile flagship The Record Europe. (It's one of my unpopular hobby horses!) Woe betide any UKIP or Conservative spokesman who dares to speak out against Europhilia! Regulars may know that the leader of the Conservative MEPs, Timothy Kirkhope, in particular, keeps getting himself slapped down by Shirin. (I sometimes suspect masochistic tendencies on his part, as he always comes back for more!).

On today's edition Mr Kirkhope was interviewed alongside an Austrian Green (Eva Lichtenberger) and a Belgian Liberal (Dirk Sterckx again). The subject was European co-operation on transport in the wake on the volcanic ash fiasco. The Green lady and the Liberal-from-the-non-country both want much closer EU harmonisation. Mr Kirkhope doesn't. Shirin talked over the end of his first answer (not thinking it worth listening to) and then barged in, in classic Shirin Wheeler fashion (after exhanging knowing smiles with the Austrian Green), to contradict his second answer, saying "No, no, no, surely, are you saying it's up to the pilots? That's like saying it's up to the fishermen to decide...(indecipherable)...fish or not." The I.C. here was 1.3.

*

In contrast, Labour MEP Claude Moraes, speaking in favour of close EU harmonisation over legislation to protect women against violence, was allowed to speak at length, without contradiction and with only a supportive interruption (I.C. of 0.3). He was joined by a German liberal (Silvana Koch-Mehrin, pictured), who also supported close EU harmonisation over the controversial measures.

*

*

EUROPHILIA, TORYPHOBIA

*
One programme for Global Britain to monitor is The Record Europe, the BBC's most Europhile programme:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tt0f
*
As regular readers will know all too way, I have a file as long as my arms (probably longer) on this programme and its very biased presenter Shirin Wheeler.
*
This week's edition was an election special. The studio discussion featured five guests:
*
Timothy Kirkhope, Conservative
Claude Moraes, Labour
Sarah Ludford, Lib Dem
Lord Dartmouth, UKIP
Jean Lambert, Green
*
Amazingly Lord Dartmouth was only interrupted once. Shirin may have had a reason for that. Who, therefore, do you think was interrupted the most? That is what's known as a 'no-brainer'!:
*
Timothy Kirkhope - 5 interruptions (I.C. of 1.4)
Claude Moraes - 1 interruption (I.C. of 0.2)
Sarah Ludford - 1 interruption (I.C. of 0.5)
Lord Dartmouth - 1 interruption (I.C. of 0.4)
Jean Lambert - 0 interruptions (I.C. of 0)
*
This was another of those editions where the fire was nearly all trained on Timothy Kirkhope - and not just from the other politicians. Shirin fired plenty of questions at him too (much more than at anyone else).
*
Other parties did get a look in. Ian Hudghton of the SNP got 2 minutes 14 seconds, Jill Evans of Plaid Cymru got 1 minute 20 seconds, Nick Griffin of the BNP got 50 seconds and Diane Dodds of the DUP got 48 seconds. (The expression on Shirin's face as she introduced the clip of Nick Griffin can best be described as the sort of unhappy, stern, apologetic look a headteacher adopts when she's about to tell parents that a child is going to be suspended for some terrible misdemeanour! She still loved lovely though!) Incidentally, the person who got the longest time to speak, by almost two minutes, was the Labour MEP Mr Moraes.
*
I wish I had time to give this programme a proper fisking, but I must move on...I'm still stuck on Sunday!! So much bias, so little time!!

FISHY BEHAVIOUR

*
Another week, another display of rampant bias from Shirin Wheeler on The Record Europe.
*
At the risk of seeming like a broken record on this one (or one of those cds that sticks), guess who came out worst, and not just in terms of interruptions, from a discussion on the common fisheries policy out of this list of guests?
*
- Isabella Lovin, a Swedish Green
- Ian Hudghton, SNP
- John Bufton, UKIP
- Kriton Arsenis, a Greek Socialist
*
Yes, it was Mr Bufton.
*
Whenever Shirin interviews someone from UKIP, as regular readers will know, the interruptions come thick and fast. John Bufton was on the receiving end of 9 interruptions (I.C.of 2.2). That said, the score against Mr Hudghton was pretty high too. This is the first time anyone from the SNP has appeared on the programme since I started reviewing it last autumn. He was interrupted 3 times (I.C. of 1.2). Like Mr Bufton, he's no fan of the common fisheries policy.
The attractive Swedish Green was only interrupted once and the Greek Socialist wasn't interrupted at all. Par for the course with this interviewer.
*
With the interruptions comes rudeness. Shirin is, of course, often rude to Conservatives but she's even ruder towards UKIP. The first interruption - a contradiction - came 18 seconds into his first answer. The next - another contradiction - came 16 seconds later. Mr Bufton is very passionate about recreational sea-angling (as his blog makes clear) and tried to bring this into the discussion, but was cut off in full-flow so that Shirin could pass the conversation onto the Swedish Green. Mr Bufton quickly sneaked in another point during the hiatus, but was determined to return to and finish his point about recreational sea-angling. As soon as he intervened, Shirin crashed in with "Briefly. Don't go back to angling and spread-net fishing!!". He tried to do just that though, pointing out contradictions between what the new fisheries commissioner was saying to different audiences but had barely got going when Shirin descended like a very pretty ton of bricks on him, saying "OK , that's enough of that then John! Let me ask Isabella first of all though..." When he turned to the EU's morally questionable behaviour towards the fishing stocks of West Africa , speaking passionately again on a subject that clearly means a lot to him, Shirin squashed his flow again. He tried again, but was again interrupted with "You must presumably John, given that you represent fishing communities in Wales, now, you must be pleased as an elected representative, you now under the Lisbon Treaty have the power to actually represent those people in a meaningful way." (This rather misses the point of UKIP. UKIP wants to represent those people in a meaningful way by establishing full, independent UK control of our fisheries.) As soon as he began replying, "And I'll do that, of course I will", she interrupted again with "So you support that change under the Lisbon Treaty?" He began to make the point I was making (in parentheses) above but again was immediately interrupted with "But until you do (leave the EU), until you do, are you...?" He battled on to the end of his point before she could stop him again.
*
The respectful way Shirin Wheeler treats representatives of the parties of the Left (except, it seems, the SNP) contracts so sharply with often rather disrespectful treatment of representatives of the parties of the Right remains one of the clearest cases of BBC bias on offer.
*

FRIENDS OF BARONESS ASHTON

*
Only on The Record Europe!
*
Shirin Wheeler reviewed Baroness Ashton's performance at the European parliament last week before conducting a gentle interview with the lady herself.
*
That's OK.
*
Not so good, however, was the studio discussion that followed between a Polish MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski from the EPP-aligned Civic Platform and German Liberal Alexander Graf Lambsdorff. BOTH are members of a new group called 'Friends of the External Action Service', which aims to support Baroness Ashton and her new office. They want more help for her, for instance (4-6 deputy EU foreign ministers - doubtless on full pay!).
*
Who could have thought it sensible - or fair - to discuss such a controversial position with only its keenest supporters? Why no sceptic (Paul Nuttall, for example)? Why not even a cautious supporter?
*

THE HONEYBALL'S IN HER COURT

*
A turn up for the books on this week's The Record: Europe. Here are this week's interruption coefficients:
*
Mary Honeyball (Lab) -0.9
Charles Tannock (Con) - 0.8
Marina Yennakoudakis (Con) - 0.7
*
Never before (well not since I began surveying the programme) has any Labour MEP suffered so many interruptions from Shirin (0.5 was the previous highest I.C.).
*
The issue was the EU's new legislation on maternity leave/pay (seeking to extent both across the entire continent). Mrs Honeyball was hovering between her own personal approval for such legislation and her party's official wariness. Shirin sought clarification and, by the sounds of it, a declaration of open support for the EU position. She got both.
*s

THE EU'S TENTACLES SPREAD AGAIN

*
Back very briefly to this week's The Record Europe. The EU's latest intrusion into national policy concerns maternity and paternity pay, legislation long warned of by UKIP (see Derek's blog http://derekbennetteu-sceptic.blogspot.com/). The issue was briefly reported on by the programme, with just one 'talking head', Edita Estrela. She's a Portuguese socialist and she approves of the new legislation. The issue was mentioned only a few weeks ago, and there the only 'talking head' was a another socialist who supports the new legislation, Mary Honeyball of our own dear Labour Party.
*

IT'S ALL GREEK TO HER

8
The main topic on this week's The Record Europe was the EU's response to the crisis in Greece. Presenter Shirin Wheeler's various biases were to the fore.
*
Her introductory report (which, in passing, dismissed Nigel Farage's star turn as a mere "sideshow") talked of the wave of strikes hitting Greece, complete with the obligatory images of police beating demonstrators (anarchists actually), saying "Cutting pensions, raising taxes and the retirement age, the plans aren't going down at all". This ignores the fact that opinion polls in Greece show strong public support - a significant majority - for austerity measures. Shirin is not alone at the BBC in slanting the story in this way. Is it because the Left instinctively thinks all strikes just must be good? Or maybe because the BBC is 'institutionally biased' against public spending cuts and cannot but share the sentiments of the Greek protesters? Or is it because strong 'austerity' measures (as in their coverage of Ireland) are associated in their mind with the British Conservatives?
*
She continued, "As well as this, Greece is being investigated over reports that at the time of the launch of the euro back in 1999 those in charge cooked the books to make the grade for membership. The Greek prime minister George Papandreou and his socialist ministers, who only won power in the autumn, are already feeling beleaguered and unsupported". Here's the second layer of bias. Shirin's sympathy for the new socialist government (and she stressed the word 'socialist') also showed up in her later questioning. The previous conservative government is getting all the blame at the BBC. But who exactly was "in charge" when Greece "cooked the books to make the grade for membership" in 1999? It was the Socialists (in power from 1993-2004)! Did she not know that (surely unthinkable in a 'widely respected' BBC reporter!)? Or does the careful phrasing of 'those in charge' reveal that she did know that but just wasn't letting her viewers in on the fact (in the interests of socialist solidarity maybe?)? This inconvenient detail is a truth few at the BBC seem interested in pointing out, so Shirin is not alone in this.

And, of course, it's now all the speculators' fault: "The real drama lies in how the EU might help to stop speculators gambling on the fortunes of Greece and the rest of the Eurozone. The jobs and livelihoods of millions could depend on this." That the EU, including the UK, should be helping Greece out in this regard was the motivating principle of all Shirin's questions throughout the following studio discussion.
*
That studio discussion involved four guests:
*
- Vicky Ford, British Conservative
- Peter Skinner, British Labour
- Stavros Lambrinidis, Greek Socialist
- Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, German Liberal
*
Can you guess which one was interrupted the most? The answer to this fiendishly difficult question will follow this fine picture of Toledo by the Greek:
*

8
Yes, it was Vicky Ford, the British Tory. She was interrupted four times, resulting in an I.C. of 1.6. The British Labour MP, Mr Skinner, was not interrupted once (I.C. of 0). Vicky's first answer was interrupted after 19 seconds, then again after 19 more seconds, then after 27 more seconds and finally after just 6 more seconds. Mr Skinner's first answer lasted 52 seconds, without interruption. As they say in Brussels, plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
*
Shirin's final interruption of Vicky Ford was the most heartfelt: "But I mean you can't just stand...This is what the British politicians have been doing a little bit, which is sort-of standing on the sidelines saying 'it's nothing to do with me'". She also put that point about British politicians 'standing on the sidelines' to the Labour MEP and, for some reason, also to the German Liberal. Well Shirin, let the Greeks go to the IMF, was Vicky's answer (when she got a chance), which sounds like the right answer to me. Not to Shirin Wheeler though.

Now, in fairness to Shirin here was another discussion later in the show, out in the halls of the European parliament, with Timothy Kirkhope (Con) and Sarah Ludford (Lib Dem), where - in a turn up for the books - it was the Lib Dem who was interrupted rather than the Tory (I.C. of 0 for Mr Kirkhope, I.C. of 0.4 for Ms. Ludford).

NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING

*
The Record Europe's main topic this week was 'Climate Change', specifically how the EU could speak with a common voice on the issue in the wake of all the acrimony at Copenhagen.
*
Shirin Wheeler's introductory report (complete with icebergs, but thankfully no polar bears) featured just one 'talking head' - Sonja Meister of Friends of the Earth Europe. That's par for the course.
*
The studio discussion featured five guests, only one of them a sceptic - Roger Helmer.
*
Not unlike this post (!), things took a predictable path. Here are the stats:
*
Length of time each guest got to speak
*
Rebecca Harms (German Green) - 3 minutes 35 seconds
Dan Jorgensen (Danish Social Democrat) - 3 minutes 15 seconds
Sirpa Pletikainen (Finnish Centre Right) - 2 minutes 59 seconds
Chris Davies (British Lib Dem) - 2 minutes 28 seconds
Roger Helmer (British Conservative) - 2 minutes 20 seconds
*
Despite that the only uses of the command 'Briefly!' by Shirin were directly at the sceptical Tory (twice)! (That's as it always is on this programme!)
*
Interruption Coefficients
*
Roger Helmer - 0.9
Sirpa Pletkainen - 0.8
Dan Jorgensen - 0.3
Rebecca Harms - 0.3
Chris Davies - 0
*
So the centre-right comes of worse, yet again.
*
The only politician to be contradicted by Shirin was Mr Helmer.
*
When he argued that "everyone from the Maldives to China sees this as a way of getting money from the West", she interrupted to say "But I mean we've spoken to the prime minister of Tuvalu, who travelled all the way to Brussels to say that his island is drowning. And we've seen pictures of it! He's not making it up!" Her point is perhaps weakened by the fact that Tuvalu is a chain of islands, not a single island. Moreover, the rise in sea level around the nine islands is not, as she assumes, necessarily caused by 'global warming', even according to our old friend Wikipedia: "This concern is compounded by the effects of subsidence which causes the islands naturally to sink into the sea, and non-natural land use (such as farming) which causes soil compaction. And to further complicate matters, it has been difficult to accurately measure to what degree each of these causes is affecting the observed rise in sea level. Global warming may not be the primary cause for the rise in local measurements." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_Tuvalu. Mr Helmer was having none of it anyway, and discussed the case of the Maldives.
*
Behind the Green lady was a window and through the window snow-flakes fell.
*

HITTING THE BUFTONS

*
Much as I'd love to be sending Shirin Wheeler, presenter of The Record Europe, a Valentine's Day card today (and getting one back), I'm afraid I'm going to have to throw another brickbat at the lady instead. She was, yet again, on severely biased form again this week.
*
The first topic was the approval of the latest European Commission by the European Parliament. In Shirin's introductory report she played us back-to-back clips of the reactions of the leaders of the European Liberals, Socialists and the federalist EPP. Then her voice returned to lead us to the next clip from the parliamentary chamber, saying with a definite note of weariness, "In some quarters the opposition was predictable". Cue Nigel Farage (on fantastic form).
*
The usual studio discussion followed, with the usual results. I'll list the statistics first:
*
John Bufton (UKIP) - 3 interruptions, I.C. of 1.4
Timothy Kirkhope (Conservative) - 2 interruptions, I.C. of 0.9
Corlen Wortman Kool (EPP) - 0 interruptions, I.C. of 0
Alex Lambsdorf (German Liberal) - 0 interruptions, I.C. of 0
Stephen Hughes (Labour) - 0 interruptions, I.C. of 0
*
These results are pure Shirin Wheeler.
*
Stephen Hughes, like all her Labour guests, was not probed about Labour policy, was treated with friendly respect and was not interrupted.
*
Mr Kirkhope, who nearly always fares badly at the lovely hands of Shirin, was accused of 'sitting on the fence' and 'not standing up', was interrupted and contradicted over his support for President Barossa and later cut off again before he could finish his point.
*
Still, he fared a great deal better than John Bufton of UKIP, who got the full Shirin treatment.
*
Her first question to him was pretty extraordinary in itself, being laden with bias: "Now that for members of your party John (i.e. the idea of more 'leadership' from the Commission) is not going to come as great news. Mind you, nothing much does here. Nigel Farage, you know, had what some would say was a pretty extraordinary outburst about this. Do you agree with him?"
*
John's answer lasted just 19 seconds before the first interruption came. The interruption was the sort of interruption only Shirin's right-of-centre guests ever seem to be on the receiving end of - a telling-off: "But leave the labels aside and the, you know, emotive terms aside for a moment." Ouch! The question that followed was said v e r y s l o w l y , as if she were speaking to a dim child: "Isn't this about finding solutions to concrete problems that effect people's lives, like losing their jobs and things like that?"
*
In answer he complained that the people had not been consulted in a referendum, which brought Shirin crashing back in after just 13 seconds with her second interruption. This was a contradiction, delivered with a grin/grimace: "Well they do have a say because they elected you and that's fair enough!" 'Fair enough'? That's big of her! At least she doesn't want UKIP banned!!
*
John's answer to this was also interrupted (after 35 seconds) with another telling-off: "Oh let's not get bogged down by domestic politics!" she exclaimed.
*
In a later exchange between Mr Bufton and Mrs Worman Kool, where the former made the point that the European Commission are unelected and the latter started to quibble, Shirin intervened to disagree with him again, snapping "They went through a thorough hearing process as well. Let's hear from Alex now."
*
A classic Shirin Wheeler performance all round.
*
No set of interruption coefficients is more damning in its proof of left-wing bias than hers:
*
31/01/2010 Lord Dartmouth UKIP 2.4
21/09/2009 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 1.9
11/10/2009 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 1.5
06/12/2009 David Campbell-Bannerman UKIP 1.5
20/12/2009 Vicky Ford Conservative 1.5
14/02/2010 John Bufton UKIP 1.4
08/11/2009 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 1.2
15/11/2009 Martha Andreasen UKIP 1.2
11/10/2009 Nigel Farage UKIP 0.9
14/02/2010 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 0.9
01/11/2009 Paul Nuttall UKIP 0.7
08/11/2009 Charles Tannock Conservative 0.7
08/11/2009 Graham Watson Lib Dem 0.7
07/02/2010 Nirj Diva Conservative 0.7
08/11/2009 Derek Clarke UKIP 0.6
08/11/2009 Glenis Willmott Labour 0.5
06/12/2009 Lord Roper Lib Dem 0.4
17/01/2010 Glenis Willmott Labour 0.4
31/01/2010 Richard Howitt Labour 0.4
24/01/2010 Claude Moraes Labour 0.3
04/10/2009 Syed Kamall Conservative 0.3
06/12/2009 Richard Howitt Labour 0.3
20/12/2009 Arlene McCarthy Labour 0.3
17/01/2010 Geoffrey Van Orden Conservative 0.3
07/02/2010 Michael Cashman Labour 0.3
25/10/2009 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 0.2
18/10/2009 Caroline Lucas Green 0
31/01/2010 Mary Honeyball Labour 0
22/11/2009 Cathy Ashton Labour 0
17/01/2010 Jean Lambert Green 0
31/01/2010 Kay Swinburne Conservative 0
04/10/2009 Graham Watson Lib Dem 0
11/10/2009 Fiona Hall Lib Dem 0
11/10/2009 Richard Howitt Labour 0
25/10/2009 Stephen Hughes Labour 0
20/12/2009 Sharon Bowles Lib Dem 0
06/12/2009 Michael Connarty Labour 0
20/12/2009 Chris Davies Lib Dem 0
04/10/2009 Arlene McCarthy Labour 0
25/10/2009 Chris Davies Lib Dem 0
15/11/2009 Derek Vaughan Labour 0
24/01/2010 Andrew Duff Lib Dem 0
15/11/2009 Vicky Ford Conservative 0
01/11/2009 Jean Lambert Green 0
07/02/2010 Richard Corbett Labour 0
14/02/2010 Stephen Hughes Labour 0
*
Her averages say it all:
*
UKIP (7 interviews) - 1.24
Conservatives (12 interviews) - 0.77
Labour (16 interviews) - 0.16
Lib Dems (8 interviews) - 0.14
Greens (3 interviews) - 0.0
*
Pretty extraordinary, wouldn't you say?
*

NEVER MIND THE VOTERS...

*
If it's Sunday it must be The Record: Europe and more on lovely Shirin Wheeler's unfair interviewing. This week's example can't really compare to some of her most egregious performances, but it's still typical.
*
Her gathering of politicians this week consisted of a Labour MEP, a Dutch Green, a Fine Gael MEP and a British Conservative. Anyone watching would have surely noticed that the British Tory was being sidelined. Counting how long each guest got to shine shows the extent of the problem:
*
Gay Mitchell (Fine Gael) - 4 minutes 15 seconds
Michael Cashman (Labour) - 3 minutes 55 seconds
Judith Sargentini (Dutch Green) - 2 minutes 27 seconds
Nirj Deva (Conservative) - 1 minute 53 seconds
*
To compound this unfairness, Shirin twice stopped Mr Deva from interrupting (though he himself was interrupted every time he spoke!). His first failed attempt was met with "Let Michael finish and then..." and his second failed attempt was greeted by "Let Judith answer the question first." Then when all three other guests piled in on him, Shirin stopped them only to let one of them continue!
*
It's not easy being a right-of-centre politician on The Record: Europe.
*
*
Later on the programme Shirin talked to Bruno Waterfield of The Daily Telegraph (good man), Antonio Missiroli of the pro-European think tank The European Policy Centre and a man called Richard Corbett, styled as "advisor to the EU Council president" (ie. Rumpsy). Now, as all you keen Euroland-watchers will know, Mr Corbett was the NE Labour MEP (much admired by the Beeb's Mark Mardell) who lost his seat last year to the BNP, and who used to lead the Labour group in the European parliament. Now that's Euroland for you! You get booted out by the voters and yet within a matter of months you're flying high again, advising the never-elected President of the United States of Europe! Isn't the EU great?!
*

DO YOU WANT WAR, FAMINE AND PLAGUE LORD DARTMOUTH?

*

This week's Record: Europe with 'widely respected' Shirin Wheeler began by discussing further EU enlargement. As soon as I saw the panel she'd lined up - a Romanian Socialist, a British Labour MEP, a Slovenian Liberal and a member of UKIP - I thought straight off that the interruptions would soon be flying, and flying towards just one member of the panel. Can you guess which one?
*
Yes, it was the Romanian Socialist.



Only teasing.
*
It was of course the UKIP MEP, William Dartmouth. His interruption coefficient was a stonking 2.4 (with 5 interruptions), whereas that for the Labour MEP Richard Howitt was merely 0.4 (with 1 interruption). Shirin really does not like UKIP, and this showed up in more rude behaviour towards Lord Dartmouth.
*
Mr Howitt's only interruption came after an answer that had lasted without previous interruption for 59 seconds (his second answer lasted uninterrupted, with Shirin's protection from Lord Dartmouth, for 1 minute 14 seconds and turned into a highly rhetorical speech).
*
Compare that to her treatment of William Dartmouth. His first answer was interrupted and contradicted by Shirin after just 13 seconds. She interrupted him again 5 seconds later, then again 7 seconds later. His second answer was interrupted after just 2 seconds (joined by another later)!!! His second answer was not allowed to reach its final cadence without Shirin gesturing at Richard Howitt to begin speaking and saying "Well let's hear from Richard." When Richard immediately attacked UKIP and Lord Dartmouth responded, Shirin stopped him and said again, "Let's hear from Richard". When the Romanian Socialist (Adrian Severin) attacked UKIP (and the absent British Conservatives, like Mr Howitt before him) and Lord Dartmouth tried to respond, Shirin interrupted and said "You've had your say" and handed the discussion over to the Slovene Liberal (Telko Kacin).
*
But had William Dartmouth had his say? Not really, as he got least time to speak:
*
Telko Kacin (Liberal) - 2 minutes 59 seconds
Richard Howitt (Labour) - 2 minutes 49 seconds
Adrian Severin (Socialist) - 2 minutes 31 seconds
William Dartmouth (UKIP) - 2 minutes 12 seconds
*
What's more, Shirin's tone towards Lord Dartmouth was markedly more unfriendly, and she asked him this straw man question about the accession of Serbia: "Do you want to see stability and peace in the Western Balkans?". As soon as he said he did, she interrupted and asked "Do you not see this as the key to bringing that?"
*
Another of her interruptions/contradictions came when William Dartmouth warned of the risk of massive immigration from Serbia and Turkey should they accede to the EU. She simply interjected "or vice versa".
*
Shirin Wheeler is never nice to UKIP. She has to talk to them now, as they won a substantial number of seats in last year's European elections. She may want to ignore them, but UKIP can't be ignored.
*
Here are my other posts on Shirin's bias against and rudeness towards UKIP:

http://beebbiascraig.blogspot.com/2009/12/bias-with-brown-eyes.html
http://beebbiascraig.blogspot.com/2009/11/but-shirins-at-helm-actually.html
http://beebbiascraig.blogspot.com/2009/11/two-against-one-twice.html
*

A CONSENSUS ON GREATER EU POWERS

*
A short catch-up with this week's 'The Record Europe'.
*
The main feature this week was the forthcoming EU legislation on financial regulation. The European Commission is proposing new EU-wide powers to interfere in the affairs of London - legislation which no individual EU country (i.e. the UK) will be allowed to veto. Discussing the issue with Shirin Wheeler were 5 MEPs - all of whom (including the British Conservative) supported these moves. There were no opposing voices - e.g. no member of UKIP or their parliamentary grouping. Why?
*
The guests were a French socialist, a British Labour MEP, a German Liberal, a British Lib Dem and that British Conservative. Hardly a balanced panel.
*
That the British Conservative was broadly supportive of the legislation, though having some reservations - unlike any of the other guests -, might have secured her a lower I.C. than a centre-right panelist usually gets from Shirin. Not a bit of it. Here are the eerily typical I.C.s for the UK politicians on the panel:
*
Vicky Ford (Conservative) - 1.5 (5 interruptions)
Arlene McCarthy (Labour) - 0.3 (1 interruption)
Sharon Bowles (Lib Dem) - 0 (0 interruptions)
*
Shirin Wheeler just can't stop interrupting guests from the British centre-right (or, given the treatment Elmar Brok of the German CDU got later (0.9) as against Chris Davies of the Lib Dems (0), any country's centre-right!)
*

BIAS WITH BROWN EYES

*
Back (by request) is The Record: Europe with Shirin Wheeler.
*
This week's highly typical edition saw two panel discussions. The only UK politician featured in the first was Labour's Richard Howitt, who was interrupted once (I.C. of 0.3). Shirin Wheeler is not given to interrupting Labour politicians at all, so Mr Howitt was very unlucky!!
*
'Widely-respected' Shirin's second discussion featured the Labour chairman of the Commons EU Scrutiny Committee Michael Connarty, Lib Dem head of the Lords EU select committee Lord Roper and newly elected UKIP MEP David Campbell-Bannerman. I bet you can guess how this went. Mr Connarty was not interrupted at all, Lord Roper was interrupted once and Mr Campbell-Bannerman of UKIP was interrupted 3 times!! Their respective I.C.s are 0, 0.4 and 1.5. This sort of thing happens week in and week out.
*
Mr Connarty was also the first and the last to speak, having 4 bites of the cherry - as against
3 for Lord Roper and Mr Campbell-Bannerman. (The latter also spoke for the least time).
*
Here are brown-eyed Shirin Wheeler's full stats for the period in which my clipboard has been in action:
*
21/09 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 1.9
6/12 David Campbell-Bannerman UKIP 1.5
11/10 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 1.5
08/11 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 1.2
15/11 Martha Andreasen UKIP 1.2
11/10 Nigel Farage UKIP 0.9
01/11 Paul Nuttall UKIP 0.7
08/11 Charles Tannock Conservative 0.7
08/11 Graham Watson Lib Dem 0.7
08/11 Derek Clarke UKIP 0.6
08/11 Glenis Willmott Labour 0.5
6/12 Lord Roper Lib Dem 0.4
04/10 Syed Kamall Conservative 0.3
6/12 Richard Howitt Labour 0.3
25/10 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 0.2
04/10 Graham Watson Lib Dem 0
11/10 Fiona Hall Lib Dem 0
11/10 Richard Howitt Labour 0
25/10 Stephen Hughes Labour 0
04/10 Arlene McCarthy Labour 0
25/10 Chris Davies Lib Dem 0
18/10 Caroline Lucas Green 0
22/11 Cathy Ashton Labour 0
15/11 Derek Vaughan Labour 0
15/11 Vicky Ford Conservative 0
01/11 Jean Lambert Green 0
*
Her averages are some of the starkest I've recorded:

1. UKIP (5) - 0.98
2. Conservatives (7) - 0.83
3. Lib Dems (5) - 0.22
4. Labour (8) - 0.11
5. Greens (2) - 0.00
   

Couldn't be clearer evidence of left-wing bias, could it?
*
*
Here's some more.
*
Coming back to the three-way discussion between Connarty, Campbell-Bannerman and Roper,
the first question went to Mr Connarty, and it was one asked from a Lisbon-is-a-good-thing stance: "Michael, can I ask you first of all, you've got the Lisbon Treaty. It's in force. It's supporters promise a greater role in national parliaments in scrutinising new legislation. Do you think that's true?" (Michael Connarty is also a Lisbon supporter).
*
The second question went to Lord Roper. It too came from a pro-Lisbon position: "But I mean, Lord Roper, the treaty does say that if two-thirds of national parliaments want to club together and sent something back to the European Commission they can. Isn't that an advance?" (Lord Roper, also a Lisbon supporter, thought it was!)
*
To David Campbell-Bannerman came this question, also asked from a Lisbon-is-a-good-thing position: "What it doesn't do though it seems is it doesn't take away powers from national parliaments, does it, the treaty?" (David, not a Lisbon supporter, disagreed!)
*
Shirin, who's won an award for her programme from the European parliament, then asked Mr Connarty, "Michael Connarty, the European parliament does undoubtably gain a lot of power. It's the big winner from the Lisbon Treaty, isn't it? Is that indirectly good news for the House of Commons, House of Lords as well?"
*
Connarty turned this answer into an attack on UKIP and, taking up his words, Shirin Wheeler asked Mr Campbell-Bannerman, "You're not there to defend British interests?"
*
Bizarrely, after only 15 seconds of his answer to this joint attack, David C-B was interrupted and shut up by Shirin (before getting anywhere near making his point), "Oh let's talk about that sort of thing another time. Lord Roper, back to the issue of scrutinising EU legislation." Typical! "Now it's true what David Bannerman (sic) says. There is a transfer of power to the EU, to the parliament in a lot of areas (note the side-shift from what David Campbell-Bannerman said to what Shirin Wheeler wanted him to have said!). Doesn't this mean that the process of scrutiny has to be even better, particularly in areas like criminal justice, budget, that sort of thing, and are you (the House of Lords EU select commitee) up to the job?"
*
The next question went to the UKIP MEP: "This is the first meeting of the Lords and MPs you're taking part in as an MEP, isn't it David? How do you want to see that process continue? You've heard from Michael. Are you going to bring things back to this place?" (He wants to bring everything back to the British parliament Shirin, that's why he's a member of UKIP!).
*
This time only 11 seconds-worth of Mr Campbell-Bannerman's answer went free before Shirin butted in again, this time to defend the Labour MP: "But Michael's not saying he wants to decide on those things here but that the Lords and Commons should have a say in scrutinising."
*
He continued but before he could finish Shirin interrupted for a third time: "Well the two gentlemen to your left and right are shaking their heads, so - briefly - (to Lord Roper) you're not doing the job properly, says David?"
*
It was shortly after than Shirin intruded into someone other than Mr Campbell-Bannerman's answers, butting into Lord Roper to ask again about his House of Lords committee: "But are you actually doing the business though? You might have a lot of committees."
*
Her last question, to the Labour MP, was simply, "Michael?"
&
Soft on the Left, tough on the Right - that's Shirin Wheeler for you. Respect!
*

BUT SHIRIN'S AT THE HELM ACTUALLY

*
This week's The Record Europe saw the heat transfer from the Conservatives to UKIP, as Europhile presenter Shirin Wheeler hosted another of her infamous round table discussions. Indeed the Conservative guest, Vicky Ford, was - most unusually - not interrupted at all. Far less unusually, neither was the Labour guy, Derek Vaughan.
*
On the receiving end this time was that doughty campaigner against EU fraud Marta Andreasen (now, of course, a UKIP MEP). She was interrupted five times by Shirin, giving her an I.C. of 1.2. The whole interview began with a question to Marta asking her to agree that it was good news that for the second year running EU auditors had given a "clean opinion" of the EU's budget. Marta rejected the idea that it was a clean opinion, and persisted in doing so after Shirin had interrupted her to re-ask the question. Not getting the answer she wanted, Shirin then interrupted Marta for a second time, saying "Well...well, the court is saying it is a clean opinion" and passed the conversation on to Brian Gray, the current EU chief accountant.
*
Christofer Fjellner, a chap from the Swedish centre-right, also fell foul of left-wing Shirin when he made the mistake of saying something unhelpful to our Labour prime-minister. He said, "There's a lack of political leadership. To me this is not a Brussels problem. It's the member states who set the rules, spend the money and, therefore, I'd rather blame Brown than Barroso...". Shirin leapt in at this point, saying "Yeah, but Brown's not at the helm actually" and, in time-honoured-Shirin-Wheeler-fashion, passed the conversation on to someone else! (Even if Mr Fjellner was wrong, and I think he was, her contradiction was a complete non sequitur in terms of what he was actually arguing and was surely designed only to shut him up).
*
The final pair of interruptions were made against Marta Andreasen, just as she was (skilfully) facing down an onslaught from several of the other guests. Marta was complaining about the Commission's reluctance to stop payments to non-compliant countries when Shirin interrupted and contradicted her: "But they are doing that Marta, they are doing that!" and again shortly after: "But they did it last year, they did it with Britain."
*
Another week, and more bias at The Record Europe.

DISILLUSIONING STEFAN

*
Contradicting Stefan-at-the-BBC's naive belief that "all BBC interviewers are careful to abide by well-established interviewing guidelines that prescribe a scrupulously even-handed approach", Shirin Wheeler continues to treat her Conservative guests (usually poor Timothy Kirkhope) less kindly than she treats her other guests. Further to my earlier post (on 'Thatcherophobia'), the other studio discussion on The Record: Europe was yet another gang-up-on-the-Tory session, with Timothy Kirkhope being attacked by all three of the other guests - Graham Watson (Lib Dem), Derek Clarke (UKIP) and Glenis Willmott (Labour) - and, of course, Shirin Wheeler herself.
*
Unusually she did interrupt all of her other guests. This is the first time I've heard her interrupt a Labour or Lib Dem speaker. (Only UKIP and the Conservatives are usually interrupted.) But...she only interrupted the Labour and UKIP spokesman once, and Mr Watson of the Lib Dems twice - because he ignored her first interruption! In contrast, she interrupted Mr Kirkhope 4 times (I.C. of 1.3)!!
*
Timothy Kirkhope also received most questions, and all of the questions were specifically directed to Conservative strategy and challenging in nature. Only Mr Clarke for UKIP also received a question targeted at his own party, as both Mr Watson and Glenis Willmott (who looked uncannily like Lady Kinnock) were also asked about Conservative strategy but never about Labour or Lib Dem responsibilities.
*
And there's more...
*
I've pointed out before that Shirin has a habit of casting a contradictory or sarcastic comment at a (right-of-centre) guest then moving on to another (left-of-centre) guest without giving them a chance to reply. She did it again, first to Mr Kirkhope, saying drily "Well we heard a policy anyway at least. Graham Watson, do you agree, do you think..." (Yes, that really was the whole of her question to the Lib Dem! Challenging, eh???!!!). She later contadicted Mr Kirkhope when he attempted to rebutt an attack by the Labour spokeslady. Within 7 seconds of his beginning his answer she barged in, contradicted him and moved on to Graham Watson again ("She was talking about the new financial committee but let me just ask Graham this. Graham just let me ask you this point.") The only other guest she contradicted was Mr Clarke of UKIP ("Well, perhaps he does know what he's talking about" in response to Mr Clarke ending with "He doesn't know what he's talking about.")
*
Oh Stefan, sorry to shatter your happy illusions about BBC interviewers. Shirin was not abiding by the guidelines, nor being scrupulously even-handed today, nor last week, nor the week before...(etc).

THATCHEROPHOBIA

*
This week's The Record: Europe featured a section recalling the wonderful events of 1989. Presenter Shirin Wheeler began the section with a 'canter through the events' of that year, from Hungary in May to Romania in December. Ah, I remember it well. Happy, hopeful days!
*
The report was going swimmingly when this happened: "But there was caution from some unexpected quarters about what was happening in the East and where it would lead, worry about the reunification of Germany and changes to the world order - not least from the British prime minister of the time, Margaret Thatcher." After a short, context-free clip the earlier mood of celebration resumed. Now I do remember Mrs Thatcher's caution over German reunification, though I certainly don't recall her being anything other than delighted at the events in Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Baltic States. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tt0f
*
Anyhow, I was going to let that pass. Then the studio discussion began.
*
Again all was going well, with a question each to the three guests (a German Liberal Alexandra Thein, the British Conservative Charles Tannock and the Polish centre-right MP (for Civil Platform) Jacek Saryucz-Wolski (yes, 2 centre-right guests to one liberal - and a pro-business German Liberal at that!!). Then came question 4, asked to the attactive Alexandra: "And we assume everyone was delighted at this prospect, and yet the reality was sometimes a little different. I mean we heard Margaret Thatcher there sounding a little cautious. But even in Germany there were West Germans who were worried about the whole idea of suddenly taking in all these new people." Back to Mrs Thatcher! Oh, the strange workings of the left-wing mind!!
*
You would have thought that would have been the last mention of the hated Mrs T. - but no, the next question, put to Mr Tannock, was this: "I mean Margaret Thatcher there, Charles Tannock, when you hear that sort of sentiment, how do you feel?" Mr Tannock responded well, and talked of Mrs Thatcher "being at the forefront of rejoicing" (which I remember she was!). For this misdeed he got himself well and truly interrupted by the lovely Shirin: "But the real worry was about a unified Germany and an overdominant Germany." Please watch the programme on the BBC i-player (as linked to above) and see the icy look of disapproval on Shirin's face as Mr Tannock finishes his defence of Mrs Thatcher. It's a sight well worth seeing.
*
So three questions in a row fixated on Mrs Thatcher. Surely when she asked her eighth question, to Mr Saryucz-Wolski, there couldn't be another? Think again: "I mean, Mr Saryucz-Wolski, it's true, isn't it, it wasn't just Margaret Thatcher who was worried about an overdominant Germany? I mean Mitterand as well. You know, Helmut Kohl has a big job getting that past them." Of a grand total of 9 questions, 4 were fixated on Mrs Thatcher - 3 mentioning her by name. Isn't that extraordinary? Well, not really. The undying hatred of some on the Left for the Iron Lady is just a fact of life. As I say, it's just the strange workings of the left-wing mind!!

OCTOBER'S I.C.s - SHIRIN WHEELER

*
Viewable on the BBC News Channel and Parliament Channel and on the BBC i-player, The Record Europe is proving to be a particularly bias-prone corner of the Beeb's current affairs output. (See http://beebbiascraig.blogspot.com/search/label/Shirin%20Wheeler). Its host is Shirin Wheeler (daughter of Charles Wheeler).
*
Here are her figures for October, and (unlike her own figure) they are not a pleasant sight:
*
11/10 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 1.5
11/10 Nigel Farage UKIP 0.9
04/10 Syed Kamall Conservative 0.3
25/10 Timothy Kirkhope Conservative 0.2
04/10 Graham Watson Lib Dem 0
11/10 Fiona Hall Lib Dem 0
11/10 Richard Howitt Labour 0
25/10 Stephen Hughes Labour 0
04/10 Arlene McCarthy Labour 0
25/10 Chris Davies Lib Dem 0
18/10 Caroline Lucas Green 0
*
Only guests from centre-right parties received any interruptions at all. So these are Shirin's averages for October:
*
UKIP - 0.9
Conservatives - 0.67
Lib Dems - 0
Labour - 0
Greens - 0
*
Having only just begun to cover the programme when the Euro parliament's new term began, I have only one other interview from the relevant period: a whopping 1.9 scored against (guess who?) Timothy Kirkhope. Her super-averages remain as above except for the Conservative average, which leaps up to 0.98.

TWO AGAINST ONE - TWICE

*
This week's The Record: Europe was on biased form again.
*
There were two discussions.
*
The first was on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, another EU-built Trojan horse against national traditions. Or at least that's the view of one of presenter Shirin Wheeler's guests - Jan Zahradil of the Czech centre-right ODS. Against him were pitted two strong supporters of the Charter - the Green Jean Lambert and the German Social Democrat Joe Leinen. Quite why it was necessary to have two supporters of the Charter - and both of them from the Left - escapes me (and when one was speaking the other was nodding his/her head in agreement!)
*
Jean Lambert was asked the first question and given the last word (I.C. of 0). The lovely Shirin asked her such testing questions as "Why has the Parliament been such a champion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights" and "So what are we to make of this?"
*
Centre-right Jan was not so lucky. He was asked "And that is very explicit actually, isn't it, Jan Zahradil, there are no extra rights conferred by this? This is just a question of bringing things together. So why all the fuss in the Czech Republic and Britain?" (A fuss, eh?) Then when Socialist Joe complained about "forces" who are trying to "confuse the public", Shirin turned to Jan and (pointing her pencil at him) said, "Is that you?"
*
The second discussion turned to the new powers accrued to Europe by the Lisbon Treaty. Here we had two ardent Europhiles, an attractive Dutch liberal Sophie In't Veld and a Danish Social Democrat called Dan Jorgensen, pitted against our own Paul Nuttall of UKIP. You won't be surprised that the only one Shirin Wheeler interrupted was Mr Nuttall (I.C. of 0.7). She stopped his protest against the scandal of Ireland's try-better-this-time second referendum with the words "OK, but we're not talking about the referendum here, we're talking about actually the policy and trying to understand if it really is going to be as devastating as people say." She then passed the baton on to the pro-Lisbon Mr Jorgensen.
*
When Paul Nuttall came under fire from the lovely Sophie, Shirin did not intervene. Later, when Dan Joregensen came under fire from Paul, she did intervene: "Just finish your point Dan. I'll come back to you Paul." When Dan finished his point, we saw Paul Nuttall open his mouth and start of the first syllable of a reply when in crashed the 'Record: Europe' theme and graphics and...that was that!!
*