Lynne Featherstone has a great account of the first transmission of Vox Politix last night HERE. Tonight's programme on 18DoughtyStreet at 9pm features Yasmin Alibhai Brown and Brian Micklethwait, former director of the Libertarian Alliance. Click HERE for the Vox Politix Blog with more details of the programme.The reaction to 18DoughtyStreet's first night has been rather encouraging I think. Even the criticism has been of a constructive rather than a destructive nature. If I get time I will link to some of the best posts from the blogs. Personally, I was hugely relieved to get to the end of the day without anything major going wrong. Yes of course there was the odd glitsch (what on earth was the claxon?!) but we expected that. The main thing was that the streaming worked for virtually everybody. We had a few sound issues at the beginning but I think they were sorted out fairly swiftly.
I really enjoyed the 11pm-midnight programme, THE END OF THE DAY. It's meant to be a bit of a free for all where we preview tomorrow's newspapers and discuss anything that takes our fancy. Absolutely no planning goes into it - we only decided I should host it shortly before it went on air. The great thing was the number of people who texted and emailed. We even had Dizzy on MSN. Indeed I have now added an MSN feature so anyone can get in touch through MSN live during the programme - just add studio@18doughtystreet.com to your MSN contacts.
Really grateful to everyone who wished us well yesterday either here or at the 18DoughtyStreet site. It means a lot. Just keep watching!
50 comments:
I'd like to ask Yasmin when she's going to leave the country.
Well done on the broadcast- there's quite a good post on comment is free now up about you guys- http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/frank_fisher/2006/10/post_496.html
though I'm not sure about all he says its another basically good comment.
On YAB why don't you ask her whether there is a difference between a multiracial and a multicultural society and what the limits on tolerations of subcultures within society ought to be.
great bit at the end of the day was one guy trying to talk about Korea an Nuclear defence strategy at the same time as you were commenting on Tim's new haircut, while Rena was quietly reading away in the corner, occasionally cooing at Poppy the dog. very funny and was a pleasure to wacth
I do wish you well Iain but unfortunately I can't watch it at the moment as we don't have broadband at home!
I'll desist, this is a family rated blog after all.
Lynda's question seconded.
If YAB's public utterances are any guide she dislikes and despises England to such an extent that she would clearly be far happier living elsewhere. she should understand that the feelings are largely mutual but that, the English being the English, tend to surface in in good natured ridicule rather than pompous hectoring. In other words, she is tolerated and really ought to try reciprocating. Life would be so much less stressful for her.
After the story about her in this week's "Private Eye", how about:"Do you fancy a shag?"
During the Ashes series Alibhai Brown stated "Yes, folks, there is white flight into Englishness, and it seems unstoppable. And if the Ashes are won, I reckon this purification and reclamation project will be boosted immeasurably." I wonder how boosted she thinks that "flight" now is, some time after England won the Ashes? I would like her to be asked if she considers the unfinished devolution settlement in Britain to be a threat to the Union and whether she thinks that this unfinished business is actually fueling nationalism across the Union . The idea of Britain and Britishness must, if it is to include anything at all, include equality. Does she think that the people of England have been treated fairly by New Labour given that their nation has no representation outside that of the UK parliament whereas all the people of all other nations have been given such representation?
Please encourage her not to think in terms of local services but rather in terms of real legaslative powers in policing, education, health etc. Local service autonomy can never deliver wide ranging benefits such as free prescriptions, eye tests, drugs, elderly care etc for all people on an equal footing across the nation.
What does British Citizenship mean when some citizens are legally entitled to various privilleges that other citizens are not entitled to?
Seeing as israel won't disappear voluntarily ask here what she would do to solve the mid-east problem.
She always criticises Western policy but her own is muddled and inconsistent. The Muslim countries are far form united with wide variety of views, from Iran to Jordan.
It would be nice to hear her try and make a cae with someone actually stopping her when she contradicts herself and reminding her of the fact!
YAB in the Indy 06 October 2006:
"I would never move to Easington in the north-east of England, the least diverse spot in Britain according to ONS figures. Kind though I am sure they are, the folk there would not, I guess, wish for such a move either."
Suppose some white person had written "I would never move to Leicester, an area with a large concentration of Asians, and I think I'd be unwelcome if I did (no offence, of course)".
Can YAB tell us how she would feel about that hypothetical comment - and does she think Geordies are especially racist?
People like Alibaba Brown or whatever she calls herself should be ignored.
I thought we were going to have a fresh approach by "18Doughty Street".
I think the following personalities would make more interesting viewing...
Nigel Farage
Alan Sugar
Maureen Lipman
The Chief Rabbi
Arsene Wenger
Just noticed that every picture of you shows you propping up your head.
Just like Tchaikovsky then?
Thinking your head might fall off?
Ask Yasmin:
a) Would she happier in another country?
b) Will she fly economy?
c) Will she promise not to return?
d) Can I help her with the fare?
Jeremy, you seem to be slightly missing the point. One of the reasons for the channle is to invite people like Yasmin on to challenge her views.
ask her
(a)what does she think her public perception is?
(b) why does the indie persist with those frontpages (occassionally it might be a useful tool, but not everyday)? Does she agree that they have lost their shock value?
p.s. can't view again from last night.
Having been to Easington, I have to say I'm with Yasmin on that one.
(1) Since Ms YAB desipses the country that gave her refuge so much, why does she still choose to live here?
(2) As one of the high priestesses of multiculturalism, how does she propose that this country recover from Nulab's disastrous social experiment in the same? Or was the destruction of a cohesive society her aim all along?
(3) When large swathes of our inner cities are no-go zones for White Europeans and are under de-facto Sharia law, will she consider that she has accomplished her mission?
I would put a different spin on the question that others have asked. Ask Yasmin what it is that she especially likes about the UK, what she thinks makes it special. It would make a refreshing change to hear her positive views about the UK, as opposed to her (sometimes entirely justified) complaints about British society.
I was shocked at YAB's inverted racism.
I would ask her whether, despite the tendency of Brent to "pulsate" she would want to live there, raise a family there, etc.?
I lived in Brent as a student a couple of years ago and the place is dismal. In such areas the different communities do not interact but live past each other. For those there by choice, such as myself and Alibhai-Brown if she was not just a visitor, there are bars etc. in which to closet yourself away and central London is never too far too travel but for the majority of those living in area it is a hive of social problems.
I would ask her what in Thatcher's politics was mean or Little England? A confident Britain in the international confrontation with Communism? A resurgent economy?
This is just the childish left-wing love of calling their enemies "Fascists" dressed up in the language of political correctness.
Ask her whether describing what is going on in Windsor as persecution of Muslims captures the reality of the situation:
http://sinclairsmusings.blogspot.com/2006/10/windsorstan.html
I would ask her whether talking about the high rates of intermarriage with Polish immigrants (she could have cited the same for black immigrants) ignores the genuine challenge posed by immigration these days in integrating predominantly Pakistani Muslims. Whether perhaps just calling for a critical engagement, as in After Multiculturalism, isn't enough if you then cast any criticism of Muslims as middle class racism.
"But this is still the only country in the world for most of us. Why do you think so many immigrants die (literally in many cases) to get here? The US has lost its hold on the world's imagination; European nations have still to catch up with where we were in the 1970s." So she actually thinks we are the most immigrant friendly nation in the Western world? Are there non-Western nations which are paragons of tolerance (go to Japan, for example, and see how they respond to Blacks)? Why doesn't she follow her own advice and emphasise the positive in Britain then instead of filling her column with descriptions of nasty Little Englanders. How did such a racist people produce such a state?
"Our nation's psychotic preoccupation with bad news on integration and race will succeed where bombs failed." She seems to be quite alright with filling columns with bad news; when that bad news is her account of white racism why is it more worthy?
This is all from one column.
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/article1813559.ece
Iain - are you happy with the latest pic that accompanies your posts? Is this your best profile? Is not the masthead pic your best shot?
When you appear on telly, everyone can see that you are an average sorta lookin guy; why all the different poses and shots? You are not a vain man, surely?
I had dinner with a well known columnist on Friday, whose mugshot accompanies his name in the Sunday papers. Needless to say, the mugshot that appears each weekend predates his current physog by about ten years.....
One more idea. Ask her about the Pew Global Research study reported in the Guardian here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1804078,00.html
If the problem is British attitudes to Muslims (racism) then surely the country where non-Muslims are most positive about Muslims would be the one where the Muslim population would be the least radicalised. This research, by a very reputable firm, suggests almost exactly the opposite.
Sorry I'm not posting all this on the actual VoxPolitix blog by the way but it wasn't signing me in properly :(
Kept sending me back to the profile edit screen.
Sory. I misread the heading and I thought you were asking us what questions you should put to YAB.
I would ask her: What journalism qualifications does she have; why does she feel authorised to speak for Muslim women - has she ever held any posts or been elected to any positions within the Muslim community? Come to that - has she ever done anything worthwhile outside journalism ( I am also tempted to ask her if she has done anything worthwhile in journalism).
Why she took two years to decide she did not want to hold an MBE....
How she feels about being derided as a heretic by both Sunni and Shia Muslims (she's Ismaili), and thus her take on the Aga Khan's phemonenal wealth, particularly in the light of her vehement support for inheritance tax.
Does she still regard bloggers as 'nerds and mischief makers'?
If she refers to 'The extreme Zionism of Ehud Olmert’s Government', what would she term that of Meir Kahane?
Should people who are not famous journalists be exempt from penalty fares for boarding trains and then transferring to first class without having paid a fare before boarding?
(seethe seethe..)
Ok, a little more light heartedly - how does she feel about being trumped by Toynbee as the most loathed journalist among Right thinking people? Does she fancy a shot at the title?
Ask Yabber:
Do you ever write about anything other than race?
Do you think that journalists from ethnic minorities might be better-received if they wrote about travel, say, or education or sport, without the tedious built-in racial whine?
How did you get your well-paid job with a wet-liberal newspaper, desperate to look like a equal-opportunities employer?
Iain, we've heard that you quite like the Yabber and Hazel Blears too. Well, I suppose it doesn't make you a bad person.
I would ask her why she hates Michael Howard and the Conservatives so much?
They were instrumental in allowing Ugandan Asians into Britain.
So why does she hate the Conservatives?
They gave her a pretty decent life after all...
Inviting her on to "challenge her views" just doesn't wash.
Giving people like that any exposure is simply wrong. She is delighted to be invited on at the start of this project and at the time when it has that initial burst of interest.
She should be completely ignored and silenced.
Don't tell me, Galloway is lined up next week, yeah?
Jeremy is right - there are a whole range of people we would prefer to hear from. Don't chase ratings, chase intellect.
Iain its a good idear to get loony lefties with suitably anti-British anti-democratic Marxist lunatic idears to have plenty of time to expose their bitter confused and oh so often racist minds, on the channel.
So long as you succeed in ripping the tangled twisted strands of their almost non exsistant understanding of humanity to shreads.
You dont have to be "nice" confronted by openly racist views from even a women, you are not on the BBC now. So give then the hell they deserve, before they deliver us into a hell we dont. And have as much fun as possible doing so, while you still can.
theinjuredcyclist
Its always very interesting to see people that you have been communicateing with for some time, but have only your imagination to give a face to.
Verity would be most interesting. I always imagine she looks like an old school mistress I used to have "thoughts" about, spitting blood and waveing a 10 foot horse whip over her head. However she probelly looks like my grandmother.
suggestion Iain (for doughty st) - in the streaming window that pops up, it *might* be a good idea to have some sort of interactive chat session going on, so that as topics are discussed on video, the viewing audience can discuss it as well.
it would create a strong sense of stickiness to the site, even a "community" of sorts.
There's nothing new to say about this gruesome inhabitant of Grub Street, injured cyclist. All the negatives have been well-rehearsed over the years, and I have yet to hear anyone say anything mildly pleasant about her, save our good-natured and generous-spirited host.
On a train journey for which she bought a second class ticket and then upgraded herself to a first class compartment, she dubbed the conductor's request that she pay the difference or move back into her original compartment "racist". Her sense of entitlement reeks.
What is the point of discussing an individual of this quality?
Why does she have to be so vile about everyone all the time? Count how many times she used the word "hate" in her pontificating.
I've just watched YAB, she's waving her arms about mouthing off as usual, no one else getting a word in edgeways. Ghastly !
I don't really want to ask her anything at all. It would be so much better if we didn't have to consider the lady or her (supposed - and astoundingly boring -) views.
Thanks Richard. There's enough anti-semintism in the World without hearing from the likes of AB.
Why can't 18Doughty Street highlight the positives of our multi-cultural society and how most people, whether gentile or Jew, Muslim or Hindu do get along with each other?
Croydonian shoots, he scores.
Sorry to show off, but at least I embarassed her re the MBE for a bit. Wish ID had put inverted commas around 'right' for my follow up.
Isn't it nice that she thinks people who disagree with her are 'stupid'?
Regarding Idi Amin - He be daid. It would be safe to go back to Uganda now.
"I've just watched YAB, she's waving her arms about mouthing off as usual, no one else getting a word in edgeways. Ghastly !"
I watched the show as well and that is exactly what I got from it.
And that is why getting people like her on these shows to refute their thinking won't work very well.
Yes it is all well and good in theory but in practise it is very hard (as we have seen tonight) to take them to task or challenge them and their bizarre arguements.
can anyone else post comments on the doughty street blog? i've got an account, activated, logged in, and i still cant place a comment.
Were 12 people killed on the French Railways today because it is state owned?
After all if there had been an similar accident on the UK railways today, our completely nuetral broadcast media would be setting the agenda and asking if the ultimate course was private sector involvement in the Uk railway.
Oddly they havn't asked the same question as to state ownership in France.
We need to put trhe lefties on the back foot, trhe same way they do to us 24/7.
"Don't tell me, Galloway is lined up next week, yeah?"
why the hell not? But at the same time, invite somebody like Robert Spencer from Jihadwatch on as well.
We really have to break out of the mould of deciding who is "acceptable" or not - that is what the MSM do every day.
i thought the Yasmin segment was great Iain. it went against the grain, it was unexpected and it upset some commenters on here. completely disagree with much of what she says or writes about, but still , it was a very interesting segment.
she came across almost libertarian at one stage - going against the idea of focusing on "community" (as in "Muslim community", "Irish community", "Jewish community" etc etc) and argueing for more focus on the rights of the individual.
my jaw was dropping at that stage.
Enjoyed the review of tomorrow's papers. It's not like normal TV - which is a stressful battleground of political correctness. This is more like dropping in for a chat - where people are able to express their true feelings about what they see and hear. Refreshing, relaxing as well as interesting.
review of 18 doughty street on google video
Javelin,
Without wishing to offend, may I make a small observation?
Racism, like discrimination, cannot be relative; it is an absolute. As such it cannot be "inverted", "positive", "negative" or anything else.
Such perversions of logic are the speciality of the pc left who would have us believe that only wicked whiteys are capable of the nasty sort of racism.
Nothing else for it, Iain - you'll have to get a satellite link-up from Mexico so that Verity can 'guest' on 18ds
The word "inverted" in inverted racism - was mean't as an adverb. As in a red car is still a car and Yasmin is still a racist.
Iain what is your companies policy on racism, and what is in Yasmins' contract? Please publish it for all to see?
Does racism warrant 2 verbal warnings a written letter then sack, or is it gross misconduct and feet don't touch the floor on the way out of studio?
"and you badly need some titles between the different programme sections. "
and some titles when someone is speaking, saying what their name is , job title or organisation they work for.
Congratulations on the shows - its really a great channel. Shame you felt obliged to grant the oxygen of publicity to such an obnoxious individual as Alibai Brown.
Strong opinions and frank discussion are great but I don't believe people who promote ethnic divisions should be tolerated.
YAB makes me feel sympathy for poor old Idi Amin. Perhaps all the Ugandan Asians were like her. What a horrible thought.
Wish he'd used the croc method to deal with her rather than the BA method.
So you can see she has done wonders for community cohesion because before I heard her open her mouth I had no view on it one way or the other. But as I am tarred with the same brush by her on account of being white English basically she can go to hell!
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