political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Very Cross Talk on 18 Doughty Street
This is a three minute trailer for the next of 18 Doughty Street's CROSSTALK programmes in which Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and I question the Daily Mail's John Torode about Israel and the Middle East. Well, more accurately Yasmin and John go at each other hammer and tong while I try to keep the peace. I'm not wholly successful. It makes the Nick Cohen programme look rather tame by comparison. If you enjoyed the clip you can preview the whole programme HERE.
By the way, we're now doing a lot of outside broadcast coverage at think tank events and the like. If you know of event you think we should film, let us know. Here is a sample of what we've covered recently. Click to view...
Boris Berezovsky in conversation with Ed Stourton
Dr David Starkey at the RCIS
Pakistan: Perception & Reality at the Foreign Policy Centre
John Major in Conversation with Elinor Goodman
And what about a moments reflection and thank's to the D-DAY soldiers and those from our past who gave their lives so you can produce such pap.
ReplyDeleteJohn Torode? The chef?
ReplyDeleteWTF did Yasmin say to him?
That he couldn't make orange sauce out of Jaffas if he's cooking Palestinian Duck?
Why does any one invite that silly rude arrogant patronizing woman on to any programme at all? How did you restrain yourself from strangling her?
ReplyDeleteYasmin Alibhai-Brown is a poor man's Caroline Flint, or Jacqui Smith, talking over people, asking inane questions and then demanding answers, and always suggesting if you disagree with her you're evil.
ReplyDeleteI thought 18DS was supposed to be about adult debate, not ranting?
ReplyDeleteThey might as well have been arguing over Formula 1 tactics or who was the greatest ever Belgian left back, since their childish "you-said-i-said" was hardly education or informative, even if it was entertaining for five seconds.
If you're going to promote 18DS as being the place to watch ding-dongs, I'll tune into Today or watch Newsnight instead since they can still get a better class of victim, or listen to John Gaunt since he can work up his guests into an even more bitter froth.
Sorry to be mean, I wish you well but can't you raise the debate, instead of sinking down?
I suggest we devise a new set of annual awards for gratuitous argy-bargy - The 18DS Ferrets-in-a-Sack Awards.
ReplyDeleteMost Irritating Interviewer; Most Irritating Interviewee; Most Unnecessary Use of a Swear Word; etc...
Gordon Ramsay as 'Effin Host. Obviously.
(and yes, I do know there's no F in Host)
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a whining C-list rentagob with a reckless disregard for material facts (as The Indy found to its cost when I had a run-in with them a couple of years ago over one of her opinion pieces on F4J).
ReplyDeleteShe is a poster-child for the ills of the mainstream media.
Needless to say, I won't be bothering to tune in.
There has been a bit of talk about your blog around my bit of blog neighborhood so I thought I would come 'round for a look see. very interesting, she said.
ReplyDeleteI do imagine that clip would be banned here in Morocco.
I love 18DS, but I refuse to watch anything with that woman in. Can you measure your viewing figures? I'm sure they must drop when she is on.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even going to view the clip Iain.
ReplyDelete(Why not ask someone from the Board of Deputies or the Chief Rabbi on 18DS?)
The old crone is definitely on ritalin.....
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Yasmin did have me in stitches when made a stand-in appearance on R4's Any Questions? back in February.
ReplyDeleteAlthough managed to grab a recording of it myself, the audio is sadly no longer available on the Beeb website, but the transcript (here) gives a flavour of her responses.
Her thoughts on the Bernard Matthews turkey crisis, in particular, are unmissable!
I don't like Yasmin but I think it is great to see debate unprohibited by TV's rules and regulations and it is refreshing to see someone stand up and say what they think rather than giving the usual politicians answer.
ReplyDeleteThe old crone is definitely on ritalin
ReplyDeleteHuh? I would have said that a hefty dose of ritalin is precisely what Yasmin needs.
I hope you guys don't actually pay YAB for her appearances; the woman's a loon. I can only guess the reason you have her on the show is to showcase her lunacy.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't your producers have a quiet word with her and explain that an interviewer is actually supposed to wait for an answer from her interviewee before launching off at a tangent?
I think you need a new editor. The person who put that clip together isn't qualified to do so. It's put me off the show.
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope Iain that you're paying yourself well to endure such guff. For the most part you maintain an impressively stolid facade, broken only by wide grins.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder if the estate of Gustave Holst is getting any royalties for the use of "Mars" from the Planets...
Vote Freedom,
ReplyDeleteUs current and past members of the the Armed Forces don't demand you recognise our achievements, we merely hope you do. Thanks
Er, I thought Doughty Street was about NOT doing things the useless mainstream way? Surely deliberately antagonistic, vicious little programmes like this - in which the poor old guest can't actually say a bloody word - goes absolutely against that, and the original Doughty ethos of letting people finish their sentences.
ReplyDeleteKnock-off CNN Crossfire nonsense is one of the reasons I can't be arsed with Doughty.
Um...does she ever let the guest answer?
ReplyDeleteIain I won't watch 18DS while you continue to feature this woman. She brings no expertise or insight and lacks even basic manners. You might think you are being clever by featuring her regularly(pull in people who will be horrified but intrigued by her), but you are wrong.
ReplyDeleteShe is an anti-Western and anti-Israel and I(and I suspect others) have no desire to watch a station that features such a bigot. Fix it Iain.
Huh? I would have said that a hefty dose of ritalin is precisely what Yasmin needs.
ReplyDeleteJune 06, 2007 10:26 PM
READ BELOW
Because of its stimulant properties, however, in recent years there have been reports of methylphenidate abuse by people for whom it is not prescribed. It is abused for its stimulant effects: appetite suppression, wakefulness, increased focus/attentiveness, and euphoria. Addiction to methylphenidate seems to occur when it induces rapid increases of dopamine in the brain. In contrast, the therapeutic effect is achieved by slow and steady increases of dopamine, which are similar to the natural production by the brain. The doses prescribed by physicians start low and increase slowly until a therapeutic effect is reached. That way, the risk of addiction is very small.8
When abused, the tablets are either taken orally or crushed and snorted. Some abusers dissolve the tablets in water and inject the mixture; complications can arise from this because insoluble fillers in the tablets can block small blood vessels.
I second all the thoughts about YAB.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of outside broadcasts, I tried to watch the David Starkey one the other day, but the sound quality was so bad I switched it off. You guys at 18DS need to look at that.
Why, oh why is that ghastly woman even allowed thru the dooor of 18DS?
ReplyDeleteIt's bad enough having to hear her anal contortions on the BBC.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSehr geEhrter Iain
ReplyDeleteI flatter myself that you & I agree on so many things except perhaps politics, religion, choice of cars & best dog-breeds etc
but why, oh why, do you invite onto your Programme a lady who is so rude and who does not allow Mr Torode (whoever he is) to get a word edgeways
Surely 18 Doughty Street should be the forum of rational debate
Yr obedient servant etc
G Eagle
PS Well done over Mr Pun VC
Got the message now Iain? We want civilised debate, not controversial confrontationals.
ReplyDeleteIain, The muses have inspired me again.
ReplyDeletePicture this:
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown versus Alan Sugar!!!!!!
A fight... ...to the death.
Each armed with a chainsaw or a mallet!!!
Guaranteed to bring in the punters.
I'd pay to see it.
No need to thank me.
Yours, etc...
You persevere with that miserable crone, but I cannot understand how someone so obnoxious can be in such demand. I won't watch, read or otherwise have anything to do with anything Alibaba-Brown is involved in even if it involved mallets and chainsaws (maybe).
ReplyDeleteA shame that Iain has not responded to the vox populi on the subject of YAB, but as the half-life of comment threads on this blog can be measured in hours, I guess it's too late now...
ReplyDelete@anonymous, on the subject of Ritalin:
Clearly, I stand corrected. Or perhaps not quite: just as I was beginning to think that I had got the wrong end of the stick about this wonderdrug, I encountered this interesting piece (thanks to 'anonymous' over at JADF).
YAB was infuriating. She behaved like an irrational meme-factory that has had a complete and total logic bypass.
ReplyDelete