WHERE DOES ANITA STAND?

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The Daily Politics ran a short piece about Conservative Barnet council's new funding experiment - so called 'easy councils', where essential services will be paid for out of council tax but that a whole range of other services (also currently paid for through council tax) will be offered only if wanted and if people are willing for pay for them. The analogy, of course, is with the no-thrills airline Easy Jet.
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This was followed by a studio discussion, hosted by Anita Anand. What was Anita's view? Were she unbiased we would, of course, never know, as she would simply ask devil's advocate questions from a stance of opposition to supporters of the scheme and ask devil's advocate questions from a supportive position to opponents of the scheme.
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She certainly started by asking questions from a stance of opposition to a qualified supporter of the scheme - the ever-excellent Susie Squire of the Taxpayers' Alliance. First came "So, he said it was popular but is it right? Is it morally right? And is it what we really want in our society?". Next she asked, "So how do you then police against the example that was given...'I don't walk that street. I'm not paying anything for the cleaning of that street. That's up to them.'?"
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Next she turned to Kate Green of the Child Poverty Action Group, an outright opponent of the scheme. Yes, Anita's first question was put from a stance of support, in true devil's advocate fashion: "Oh well Kate Green, you protect what's important and those things that are a matter of choice, a memorial bench, you could survive without that, you know, pay extra if that's what you want?" But then, with her second question, she gave up devil's advocacy and switched to asking a question (or making a statement) from a stance of opposition to an opponent of the scheme: "There are those who also fear the complexity of a system like this." Kate Green, unsurprisingly, shared this concern. (Who are "those" people, by the way?). Then she turned to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown of The Independent (oh yes, her!) and asked this doyenne of the Left, "You know I started off asking Susie is this good for society. It sounded like a lofty question, but the thing is shouldn't we actually care about everyone who lives in our area? Shouldn't we think actually it's up to me to pay for that as well?". Yasmin, unsurprisingly, shared Anita's concern. She then asked Sarah Sands of The Evening Standard a general question about whether she welcomed the scheme, then turning back to Susie Squire opined that "altruism will be trumped by economy-saving measures."
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So out of the first 7 questions, one was general, one was asked from a stance supportive of the scheme, and five were asked from a position opposed to the scheme. All the passion was in the latter. Can you guess, therefore, where Anita Anand stands on the issue?
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Now the final question raised the total of 'supportive' questions to two, but it was loaded with praise for her very-left-wing guest: "Would you be more comfortable, Kate Green, if there were good people like yourself on this council of the wise, who would decide, look, this is indispensable, this is important but, you know, these are things you could pay for and here's a price list?"
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