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
Friday, January 25, 2008
Bustin' and Dronin' on Question Time
Can anyone name me a more inane Question Time panellist than the former Blur band member Alex James? He had absolutely nothing to say. It was embarrassing. Car crash TV.
Like watching a Kangaroo tree climbing . One is faintly impressed they do it at all but the incongruity between task and equipment is agony for observer and Roo.( true they do)
Yes, and I don't have to look far back in time to find them: Louise Bagshawe. Never have I seen a more charmless, cookie cutter PPC. If she hadn't been quite so dreary as she was, I might have found the energy to feel aggrieved that QT were allowing the Tories two panellists in a single night.
Same can be said about axe-killer, the aspirationally-named "Jailhouse Lawyer". Although this is an American terminology he employs for purposes of self-aggrandisement, this killer will never be getting into the United States. He won't be turned back at US Immigration, because he will not be allowed to board any flight to the United States. Ever. From anywhere.
His details are in the computers. Not that he could afford an even notional flight to the US, given that he's living on "benefits" (enforced charity) from British taxpayers.
For those who think this pseudonym is a trendy, light-hearted usage, "Jailhouse Lawyer" killed his elderly landlady with an axe, while her back was turned, because she had left the lid off his jar of marmalade/jam and he frankly felt miffed. He was kept in the pokey for around 18 years - I'm not going to waste my life looking it up - because he failed to express remorse.
for some reason Alex James seems to be getting a lot of media space lately - a sort of moderately articulate reformed re-member of the brit-pack blah blah blah - he makes cheese! - as he reminds us - Damon Albarn was the only genius of that outfit - I suspect it's all about the habituettes of Soho House admiring their own immacualate good taste in fronds - and guess what - he actually reads this blog the talentless cheesemaker. Bet he has Dave's number on his speed-dial. Altogether now...oh shit forgot the verse...something with those talentless Appleton's singing along.
good to see you've managed to get access to a comptuter Verity. Guessing they've spotted the security breach by now and locked the facility down till they work out how you made it to the public area.
Jailhouse axed his lady victim in the swede because she asked him to get a bucket of coal in.
You quite rightly say that he has expressed no remorse and appears to revel in his 'notoriety'.
Incidentally, as he is obviously sufficiently fit and able, he seems to find plenty of time for blog and internet activities, he is clearly not unfit for some type of gainful employment.
He is a persistent and undeserving Benefits Claimant. I think that an anonymous call to the Benefits Fraud Hotline would not go amiss.
Alex James is actually a very bright and interesting person. Unfortunately he is inarticulate and he was unable to contribute any viewpoints on Question Time.
His special BBC Panorama show on Monday Jan. 28th at 8:30pm should be interesting though.
"Cocaine - Alex James in Colombia: Blur's Alex James travels to Colombia to see first hand the effect the drug has had on the lives of the people: the farmers, the sellers and the enforcers"
A notorious gas-bag. His autobiography is the most self-satisfied bag of guff I have ever flicked through. Maybe he should have stuck to his day job. Mind you, the same could be said about another pundit they dragged up last night...
Paul Myners. Clearly the worst QT man ever. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. Though I had to keep launghing at the knowledge that, however much he brown-nosed the Bottler, he's lost the chance to get the peerage he so openly craves.
I hate alex james. He was only the bloody bassist. Albarn and Coxon were the talent in that band, and Coxon is a good lad, so why do I have to see my telly and papers constantly filled with Alex James telling me his opinions on things. He's talentless.
His choice as a panellist probably has much to do with the BBC’s in house advertising & cross-pollination programme, pity they do not engage their brains first. Of more interest to me was the ferocious feral howl of protest from the audience (carefully selected for balance) that was their response to the denial of a referendum question. Politicians would be well advised to note it.
Sad about Paul Myners. He once did a useful job in the early 1970s as part of the Questor team on the Daily Telegraph when it was beginning to develop into a must read. Many would now not want to be in the same room with him.
Alex James should not have been on QT - he was a disaster. But judging by his articulate performance on This Week, QT should be signing up Ross Kemp. BTW I thought Letwin was really on form last night. His connection with the audience made a stark contrast with Geoffrey Robinson and David Laws.
It was the audiences fault for asking the wrong questions! If 'what sort of cheese do you like?' and 'how many times have you appeared in the witney gazette?' was asked Alex James would have waffled all evening!
Only caught the end of it as the train crash on BBC2 was compulsory. Did GuF break Hain? No he didn't make must difference at all. Looked rough as hell also. Silly soundbite about dithering like a donkey.
As anonymous 12:39am said: "Guido Fawkes??"
James was a bit odd it's true. But I rather liked his reducing to absurdity attitude to some dim points from elsewhere.
Why blether 400 words in two minutes like a Letwin when you can say in 10 seconds and 30 words - no need for a refenrendum this is a service provided by MPs to stop us having to engage with such crap.
Or asking the obvious question of whether anyone was actually offended by the three little pigs story. Letwin was brilliant on that - pointing out that he and Howard took no offence whatsoever from the famous pigs might fly non-advert.
Unusual James, but less of a car crash than GuF. Because James does not think he's the bee's knees.
I have to agree with your comments about Alex James. The bbc hyped him up as 'now a writer and broadcaster, and a columnist for the Independent, the Observer and the Spectator'... but when he got in the programme he seemed to have nothing whatsoever to say. I agree it was embarrassing.
I have another point to raise, something I have never heard raised. It seems really obvious to me. Does the Conservative party take Questiontime seriously? It is one of the bbc's main political programmes, and yet the Conservative party continues to put forward their weakest members, at a time when they should really be putting the knife into a Labour party on the rocks. Oliver Letwin may be an intelligent guy, but he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. I heard Chris Grayling described as 'a tory attack dog' yesterday on the bbc... and yet every time I see him, he seems mild and hardly threatening to anyone. Why don't the Conservative party put the big hitters forward? people who could make a convincing argument (when was the last time William Hague was on?). There is an open goal here, and nobody seems motivated to step forward and take advantage of it. People who don't just stumble over their words when the Labour drones repeat time after time the excuse that the Hain/Alexander/Harman ‘donorgate’ law breaking is just a symptom of a larger problem in British politics? The Conservative party has an opportunity to make real concrete moves in the public eye as an alternative to the incompetence of this Labour administration, and yet they continue to fudge the issue. Can you imagine the bile coming out of Labour mouths if the tables were turned and this was a tory problem? I am all for constructive politics, but when the government makes mistakes, the opposition shouldn't be so nice about it, they should swat away the constant excuses made by Labour MPs fully illustrate their incompetence to the public... isn't that the duty of the opposition?
Alex is a pig farmer and is used to dealing with pigs. That's why he fitted in nicely last night. I agree that his appearance was questionable. He is clearly politically unaware, poor chap. I only caught a wee bit of Guido on Newsnight, but at least he was much more articulate than Mr. James.
I also feel this lack of really sticking the knife in is counterproductive... you can see that the British people at large are sick of the incompetence, they are sick of the sleaze, they are angry at the fact they are not given a referendum on the EU constitution/treaty, and yet they don't see the Conservatives reflecting their anger, properly holding the government to account on their mismanagement. I watch PMQs every week. Brown goes on about hating ‘punch and judy politics’ and yet he stops any real debate from happening by constantly refusing to answer even the simplest of questions. This is bad enough, but it is the Conservatives who should be fully attacking him on this. I’m bored of Cameron’s style at PMQs, every week he does the same old thing, asking straight questions which Brown just swats away, and then getting very excited in his concluding question. Can you imagine if Blair was fighting someone like Brown in his current state? He would make mincemeat of him. The Conservative front bench are too nice, too interested in towing the line of the way politicians ‘should’ act… when in reality, they should be asking the questions the British public are screaming at the tv every week…PMQs is a time when the PM is meant to be held to account, its not a press conference, and frankly it’s a completely pointless exercise if the PM refuses to answer any question. But the Conservatives should highlight that. I’m sick of seeing this government think they are above criticism & the law, and get away with it!
Try reading Alex James' autobiography, "bit of of a blur".
He is reasonably bright, in a plodding sort of way, and candid about his time with Blur. Unfortunately, he comes across as an utter wanker, out of touch with reality.
Up against professional toadies and used car salesmen masquerading as our leaders, he did not look good; if there was a group dynamic he was not in it.
He is used to being treated like a guru, but spouts the kind of homespun drivel last seen leaving the lips of Danny the hippy in Withnail and I.
The "autobiography" reveals a dearth of self-awareness. That much was obvious from his bizarre stint on Question Time.
Actually I thought that while he was clearly not used to public speaking he brought a few useful points from outside politics into the debate (for example that £250,000 is, in some circumstances, a small publicity budget).
On the other hand I thought Oliver Letwin not only stuck to cliches but delivered them hesitantly.
I was really disappointed by Alex James last night. The columns that he writes in The Speccy and other places are typically quite good (as was his book), it's just a shame he couldn't articulate for toffee last night.
Le pigeon makes an interesting observation about Tories not putting up "big hitters" to twat Labour.
This is clearly a deliberate ploy. To avoid the nasty party tag. And to save the gaffers from embarrassment too. Did Cameron ever do it?
Grayling is an excellent choice for a spokesman because he is so mild mannered yet quietly assertive and impressively clear. No sign of swivel eyes, knee jerks or hamming about.
Why does the BBC think that second rate entertainers like Alex James, the talentless Davina McCall and Billy Bragg are any better informed than the rest of us?
Bragg is at least the "milkman of human kindness" - Alex James is just a cheesemaker. And a minor member of a great 90s Britpop band. Why not give Ringo a gig on QT? He has been quite articulate lately on life in Liverpool 8.
guido fawkes??
ReplyDeleteLike watching a Kangaroo tree climbing . One is faintly impressed they do it at all but the incongruity between task and equipment is agony for observer and Roo.( true they do)
ReplyDeleteThere's been a lot of 'celebrities' on QT who have been abysmal. The low point to my mind was the borderline retarded Tracy Emin.
ReplyDeleteMe! Me! I can - Davina McCall.
ReplyDeleteSame can be said about Guido on Newsnight!
ReplyDeleteYou're forgetting Emma Jones.
ReplyDeleteYes, and I don't have to look far back in time to find them: Louise Bagshawe. Never have I seen a more charmless, cookie cutter PPC. If she hadn't been quite so dreary as she was, I might have found the energy to feel aggrieved that QT were allowing the Tories two panellists in a single night.
ReplyDeleteSame can be said about axe-killer, the aspirationally-named "Jailhouse Lawyer". Although this is an American terminology he employs for purposes of self-aggrandisement, this killer will never be getting into the United States. He won't be turned back at US Immigration, because he will not be allowed to board any flight to the United States. Ever. From anywhere.
ReplyDeleteHis details are in the computers. Not that he could afford an even notional flight to the US, given that he's living on "benefits" (enforced charity) from British taxpayers.
For those who think this pseudonym is a trendy, light-hearted usage, "Jailhouse Lawyer" killed his elderly landlady with an axe, while her back was turned, because she had left the lid off his jar of marmalade/jam and he frankly felt miffed. He was kept in the pokey for around 18 years - I'm not going to waste my life looking it up - because he failed to express remorse.
for some reason Alex James seems to be getting a lot of media space lately - a sort of moderately articulate reformed re-member of the brit-pack blah blah blah - he makes cheese! - as he reminds us - Damon Albarn was the only genius of that outfit - I suspect it's all about the habituettes of Soho House admiring their own immacualate good taste in fronds - and guess what - he actually reads this blog the talentless cheesemaker. Bet he has Dave's number on his speed-dial. Altogether now...oh shit forgot the verse...something with those talentless Appleton's singing along.
ReplyDeleteBBC are dumbing down even further. There's a new specification since Blair left. They have to find people who make Gordon Brown look good.
ReplyDeletegood to see you've managed to get access to a comptuter Verity. Guessing they've spotted the security breach by now and locked the facility down till they work out how you made it to the public area.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely terrible. This guy is getting an awful lot of TV and never has anything to say. And What the hell is wrong with his hair?
ReplyDeleteTrolly-Patrolly on the skids - Yes. I feel so lucky.
ReplyDeleteDidn't understand the prison terminology.
Do you know Rose West at all?
watch out for that jailhouse hooch Verity. No idea who "Rose West" is. Friend of yours?
ReplyDeletejust a theory of mine....
ReplyDeleteNow, now, verity. Facts please.
ReplyDeleteJailhouse axed his lady victim in the swede because she asked him to get a bucket of coal in.
You quite rightly say that he has expressed no remorse and appears to revel in his 'notoriety'.
Incidentally, as he is obviously sufficiently fit and able, he seems to find plenty of time for blog and internet activities, he is clearly not unfit for some type of gainful employment.
He is a persistent and undeserving Benefits Claimant. I think that an anonymous call to the Benefits Fraud Hotline would not go amiss.
National Benefit Fraud Hotline:
0800 854 440.
Your call would be appreciated.
Interesting term - "car crash TV".
ReplyDeleteAlex James is actually a very bright and interesting person. Unfortunately he is inarticulate and he was unable to contribute any viewpoints on Question Time.
ReplyDeleteHis special BBC Panorama show on Monday Jan. 28th at 8:30pm should be interesting though.
"Cocaine - Alex James in Colombia: Blur's Alex James travels to Colombia to see first hand the effect the drug has had on the lives of the people: the farmers, the sellers and the enforcers"
He was the worst I have ever seen on the BBCs QT. Dumbing Down is the phrase that comes to mind.Was he on something ?
ReplyDeleteHe provided something very valuable - the programme should be shown in all schools as a warning about what drugs can do to you.
ReplyDeleteA notorious gas-bag. His autobiography is the most self-satisfied bag of guff I have ever flicked through.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he should have stuck to his day job. Mind you, the same could be said about another pundit they dragged up last night...
I think you are confusing QT with newsnight. Guido ??????. What a plank
ReplyDeletePaul Myners. Clearly the worst QT man ever. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. Though I had to keep launghing at the knowledge that, however much he brown-nosed the Bottler, he's lost the chance to get the peerage he so openly craves.
ReplyDeleteArise Lord Myners? No.
I hate alex james. He was only the bloody bassist. Albarn and Coxon were the talent in that band, and Coxon is a good lad, so why do I have to see my telly and papers constantly filled with Alex James telling me his opinions on things. He's talentless.
ReplyDeleteNo - the worst ever was that lead singer off Beautiful South. He was truly dreadful.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jim Davidson was rubbish too.
Alex James is doing Panorama on Monday isn't he?
His choice as a panellist probably has much to do with the BBC’s in house advertising & cross-pollination programme, pity they do not engage their brains first. Of more interest to me was the ferocious feral howl of protest from the audience (carefully selected for balance) that was their response to the denial of a referendum question. Politicians would be well advised to note it.
ReplyDeleteSad about Paul Myners. He once did a useful job in the early 1970s as part of the Questor team on the Daily Telegraph when it was beginning to develop into a must read. Many would now not want to be in the same room with him.
ReplyDeleteAlex James should not have been on QT - he was a disaster. But judging by his articulate performance on This Week, QT should be signing up Ross Kemp. BTW I thought Letwin was really on form last night. His connection with the audience made a stark contrast with Geoffrey Robinson and David Laws.
ReplyDeleteToo true
ReplyDeleteWas it only coincidental that immediately after QT, the BBC trailed a Monday night programme featuring Alex James on Cocaine? What's going on?
ReplyDeleteIt was the audiences fault for asking the wrong questions! If 'what sort of cheese do you like?' and 'how many times have you appeared in the witney gazette?' was asked Alex James would have waffled all evening!
ReplyDeleteI was at school with Alex James. Apparently. Yet strangely, I can't remember him at all.
ReplyDeleteIt was all a bit of a blur to him.
ReplyDeleteI think they should have a guest Chair and put Dimbleby on the panel.
Only caught the end of it as the train crash on BBC2 was compulsory. Did GuF break Hain? No he didn't make must difference at all. Looked rough as hell also. Silly soundbite about dithering like a donkey.
ReplyDeleteAs anonymous 12:39am said: "Guido Fawkes??"
James was a bit odd it's true. But I rather liked his reducing to absurdity attitude to some dim points from elsewhere.
Why blether 400 words in two minutes like a Letwin when you can say in 10 seconds and 30 words - no need for a refenrendum this is a service provided by MPs to stop us having to engage with such crap.
Or asking the obvious question of whether anyone was actually offended by the three little pigs story. Letwin was brilliant on that - pointing out that he and Howard took no offence whatsoever from the famous pigs might fly non-advert.
Unusual James, but less of a car crash than GuF. Because James does not think he's the bee's knees.
I have to agree with your comments about Alex James. The bbc hyped him up as 'now a writer and broadcaster, and a columnist for the Independent, the Observer and the Spectator'... but when he got in the programme he seemed to have nothing whatsoever to say. I agree it was embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteI have another point to raise, something I have never heard raised. It seems really obvious to me. Does the Conservative party take Questiontime seriously? It is one of the bbc's main political programmes, and yet the Conservative party continues to put forward their weakest members, at a time when they should really be putting the knife into a Labour party on the rocks. Oliver Letwin may be an intelligent guy, but he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. I heard Chris Grayling described as 'a tory attack dog' yesterday on the bbc... and yet every time I see him, he seems mild and hardly threatening to anyone. Why don't the Conservative party put the big hitters forward? people who could make a convincing argument (when was the last time William Hague was on?). There is an open goal here, and nobody seems motivated to step forward and take advantage of it. People who don't just stumble over their words when the Labour drones repeat time after time the excuse that the Hain/Alexander/Harman ‘donorgate’ law breaking is just a symptom of a larger problem in British politics? The Conservative party has an opportunity to make real concrete moves in the public eye as an alternative to the incompetence of this Labour administration, and yet they continue to fudge the issue. Can you imagine the bile coming out of Labour mouths if the tables were turned and this was a tory problem? I am all for constructive politics, but when the government makes mistakes, the opposition shouldn't be so nice about it, they should swat away the constant excuses made by Labour MPs fully illustrate their incompetence to the public... isn't that the duty of the opposition?
Alex is a pig farmer and is used to dealing with pigs. That's why he fitted in nicely last night. I agree that his appearance was questionable. He is clearly politically unaware, poor chap. I only caught a wee bit of Guido on Newsnight, but at least he was much more articulate than Mr. James.
ReplyDeleteI also feel this lack of really sticking the knife in is counterproductive... you can see that the British people at large are sick of the incompetence, they are sick of the sleaze, they are angry at the fact they are not given a referendum on the EU constitution/treaty, and yet they don't see the Conservatives reflecting their anger, properly holding the government to account on their mismanagement. I watch PMQs every week. Brown goes on about hating ‘punch and judy politics’ and yet he stops any real debate from happening by constantly refusing to answer even the simplest of questions. This is bad enough, but it is the Conservatives who should be fully attacking him on this. I’m bored of Cameron’s style at PMQs, every week he does the same old thing, asking straight questions which Brown just swats away, and then getting very excited in his concluding question. Can you imagine if Blair was fighting someone like Brown in his current state? He would make mincemeat of him. The Conservative front bench are too nice, too interested in towing the line of the way politicians ‘should’ act… when in reality, they should be asking the questions the British public are screaming at the tv every week…PMQs is a time when the PM is meant to be held to account, its not a press conference, and frankly it’s a completely pointless exercise if the PM refuses to answer any question. But the Conservatives should highlight that. I’m sick of seeing this government think they are above criticism & the law, and get away with it!
ReplyDeleteQuite right, he was awful Iain. I didn't notice a single comment with any substance from the man.
ReplyDeleteOh, Andy (1:09am) is right - that Tory PPC was abysmal, but at least she could be bothered to string coherent sentences together.
ReplyDeleteI must add that when Alex James said something to the effect that ratification of the Constitution was a 'gift from the government' I nearly choked.
This Week have had guests from the entertainment industry who have been very articulate so I would not write them all off.
ReplyDeleteiain just wants a go himself. but he's right, that alex james was awful
ReplyDeleteTry reading Alex James' autobiography, "bit of of a blur".
ReplyDeleteHe is reasonably bright, in a plodding sort of way, and candid about his time with Blur. Unfortunately, he comes across as an utter wanker, out of touch with reality.
Up against professional toadies and used car salesmen masquerading as our leaders, he did not look good; if there was a group dynamic he was not in it.
He is used to being treated like a guru, but spouts the kind of homespun drivel last seen leaving the lips of Danny the hippy in Withnail and I.
The "autobiography" reveals a dearth of self-awareness. That much was obvious from his bizarre stint on Question Time.
Actually I thought that while he was clearly not used to public speaking he brought a few useful points from outside politics into the debate (for example that £250,000 is, in some circumstances, a small publicity budget).
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I thought Oliver Letwin not only stuck to cliches but delivered them hesitantly.
I was really disappointed by Alex James last night. The columns that he writes in The Speccy and other places are typically quite good (as was his book), it's just a shame he couldn't articulate for toffee last night.
ReplyDelete"Can anyone name me a more inane Question Time panellist than the former Blur band member Alex James?"
ReplyDeleteLet's wait to paass judgment on this one until they've invited you on, eh, Iain?
I didn't see Alex James. Can he really be even worse than Billy Bragg?
ReplyDeleteLe pigeon makes an interesting observation about Tories not putting up "big hitters" to twat Labour.
ReplyDeleteThis is clearly a deliberate ploy. To avoid the nasty party tag. And to save the gaffers from embarrassment too. Did Cameron ever do it?
Grayling is an excellent choice for a spokesman because he is so mild mannered yet quietly assertive and impressively clear. No sign of swivel eyes, knee jerks or hamming about.
As Alistair Campbell once said about someone else "he seems strangely detached" (from reality).
ReplyDeleteI expect as a pop singer he could be expected to be generally suportive of the BBC/liberal/socialist views.
ReplyDeleteHe was indeed terrible but unlike Davina McCall was not full of himself and spouting ill thought-through pseudo-opinions.
ReplyDeleteSo Alex James was the second worst guest ever on QT after McCall.
Yes he's obviously a twat but it shouldn't stop the programme from trying out celebrity guests in future panels.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally it will work but we may have to suffer a few pillocks along the way.
Davina McCall and Heather Mills were worse.
ReplyDeleteAlex James. What a tool.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the BBC think that second rate entertainers like Alex James, the talentless Davina McCall and Billy Bragg are any better informed than the rest of us?
ReplyDeleteAt least my barb at David Lammy MP about North Korea was entertaining
ReplyDeleteBragg is at least the "milkman of human kindness" - Alex James is just a cheesemaker. And a minor member of a great 90s Britpop band. Why not give Ringo a gig on QT? He has been quite articulate lately on life in Liverpool 8.
ReplyDeleteOh I don't know - I thought it served as a timely reminder to our 'yoof' of what a few years doing sex, drugs and rock and roll can do to you.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that after years of promoting everything at variance with middle class values, he is now a sheep farmer in Gloucestershire!
Guess puberty hit him late!
Bet his kids won;t be allowed to live their formative lives as he did.
They should have you on Iain!