For those that missed the Twitter heads-up, I was back on BBC World News Today last night discussing the European election results. The programme itself can be watched on the BBC’s iPlayer here for a short while – the segment I’m featured in starts around 17 mins and 29 secs in – and I’m working on getting an alternative version up for non-UK types, which I’ll add as an update to this post as and when I can.
Update: Below the fold – an alternate video source for international readers.
June 9, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Great to see a face of Nosemonkey – other than the one on the blog header :)
June 9, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Come on do you really not believe that EU democracy will improve if Lisbon passes?(concerning your “depressing” ending) Cool vid btw.
June 9, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Democratic oversight will improve if Lisbon passes, for sure. But democratic engagement? I doubt it. (I think that’s what the presenter chap was asking, at any rate…)
June 9, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Hiya James – fun to debate/chat with you last night. We must do it again sometime!
June 9, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Only two bloggers this time?
Next time, you’ll be whittled down to only one.
“Survivor” for EU bloggers.
June 9, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Josef – from what I understand, Helen from EU Referendum pulled out at the last minute. Wasn’t happy with the amount of airtime she got in the previous session, apparently. Which was a real shame, because it would have been good to get a right-wing, anti-EU perspective.
Alan – Yep, it was good fun. Wish they’d given us more time, though – only managed to scratch the surface.
June 9, 2009 at 4:34 pm
NoseMONEY’s EUtopia?
Oh, well… :D
Actually, I’m impressed by the BBC. This was a much better piece than last time. Perhaps they’ve got some researchers reading the comments on here? If so: good job.
The first time you went on the BBC, it seemed a bit “let’s cart out these strange blogger creatures and have a look at them, then.”
This time they had only two bloggers on (obviously mistaking you for a well-mannered eurosceptic, Nosemonkey). Although it would have been interesting to have Helen on as well, with only two bloggers you both had more time to speak.
Good stuff!
June 9, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I can understand why Helen pulled out. Three bloggers in a ten minute slot with a lengthy, pointless introduction to “what your blogs look like.”
They should either have given you 15 minutes last time, or cut you down to two bloggers.
So, whilst I would have liked to hear a debate with Helen as well, she was right to pull out. If she had been there, nobody would have had any time to speak.
June 9, 2009 at 4:44 pm
And, actually – if they originally intended for three bloggers to be on in an 8 minute piece and Helen pulled out, then the BBC hasn’t learnt their lesson at all.
They’re probably worried that you might start ranting about conspiracies. And they would have a point, there. There are all sorts of issues with having amatuer bloggers on and interviewing them as if they were “political experts.”
Maybe I’m being harsh on the “what your blogs look like” bit, as well. They played a nice video from this blog, after all, which make it look very flash.
June 9, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Good video – hopefully some day they’ll have a good debate and the time to stage it properly.
June 9, 2009 at 7:03 pm
(By that I mean it was very good, but too short – you both got some good points in, but there wasn’t any time to get to more meaty issues).
June 9, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I don’t think you’re being harsh at all Josef – the “what your blogs look like” bit was indeed both lengthy and pointless. Imagine if they introduced newspaper editors with a full minute of the camera panning around the front page of a newspaper!
You did well though.
June 9, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Bit of criticism of us EUrosceptics there Nosemonkey. I thought you were going to be reasonable. Why didn`t you just call us “swivel eyed loons `?
June 9, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Eh? I went to some lengths to praise Eurosceptics, I thought. I wasn’t given enough time to finish the point, but I was going to go on to say nice things about Farage and Hannan as well, believe it or not.
June 9, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I`ll have to view it again. What were you going to say about Farage and Hannon ?
June 9, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Largely that they are both intelligent chaps with some good points to make, who represent the views of a part of the electorate – and that even if you disagree with their conclusions about what the cure is for the EU’s various problems, they can be good at identifying where those problems lie.
I personally reckon they’d get more results if they were less confrontational in their approach, but it’s not the method in which the message is delivered, it’s the content of the message that’s important.
(This is why I always get annoyed when anti-EU types keep repeating myths like the “80% of laws” or “£40 million a day” ones. They play well with a cynical electorate that’s already inclined to believe the worst about political institutions, but for other MEPs and Brussels types who know that these claims are not backed up by the facts, they just undermine the credibility of other, far more justifiable eurosceptic arguments – of which there are many. And the EU needs to have its faults pointed out to it – very much so.)
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June 11, 2009 at 12:21 am
Alan – Yep, it was good fun. Wish they’d given us more time, though – only managed to scratch the surface.
Absolutely true: frankly I think we should go the whole hog and demand our own show – kinda like a UK Hannity and Colmes (except you’d be less nuts than Hannity and I’d be less wet than Coles). Whaddya say? ;-)
June 11, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Nosemonkey
In Re: your 9.32pm 7/6.
The criticizms that you regard as justifiable, and other criticizms of this project that are never brought to light , which are basically hidden can be the trade off for the 84% of laws made in Brussels or £40 million per day to the EU.
It`s as annoying as the Glittering Generalities we get from the EUrophiles , right up to the likes of Barrosso.