Question Time is held Watford Colosseum

BBC One's Question Time came to Watford Colosseum on 8th January, with wide-ranging discussions and a panel which included Watford born Liz Kendall MP (Shadow Health Minister).

Last week's Question Time panel were all pretty vocal though some took longer to warm up than others. Guests included Watford born Liz Kendall MP - Shadow Health minister, Business Secretary Vince Cable MP, ex-shadow Home Secretary David Davis MP, Wikipedia founder, Jeremy Wales, and columnist/ broadcaster, Julia Hartley-Brewer.

The first issue discussed was the attacks in Paris, which quickly verged onto the matter of free speech and the extent to which it is exercised in the UK.

Vince Cable brought a slightly more light-hearted tone to the conversation: “we don’t actually have, in this country, or in Europe, freedom of speech. We have freedom of speech within the law. In this country, you cannot incite racial violence. In many European countries, you cannot deny the Holocaust, rightly. But there are many respects in which we don’t allow freedom of speech. You cannot go into a cinema, for a joke, and shout ‘fire!’ We restrict freedom of speech in certain areas.

Right, so we got from Paris to the Cinema in the UK. Moving on…

The next question I was particularly interested in. “Is David Cameron just using the Green party to avoid the televised debates?” This comes as Prime Minister David Cameron announced last week that he would not take part in the Television debates unless the Green party were included.

Julia-Hartley Brewer got the conversation going; “we now seem to be having a debate about the debate between the political leaders over which political leaders should get to debate in the leaders debate.”

David Davis MP was next to comment, reluctantly. He tried to defend David Cameron, stating “let’s just have the Greens on”, but did accept David Cameron’s move may be slightly tactical – “I think all Prime Ministers try to control the agenda, particularly when they have to defend the agenda. But I think if he says the Greens, let’s get the Greens in”.

He continued, in true politician style, in an attempt to divert the conversation – “I can’t imagine us ever having a general election without a TV debate”. …Until I brought it back…. I asked – “If David Cameron is using the Greens, why? Is he using them tactically because he’s scared of the threat of UKIP?”

The next topic was Ched Evans, to which the question was whether he should be able to carry on with his life having ‘served his sentence’. This came on the day that Oldham decided not to sign the ex Sheffield United player, and as Evans apologised for the ‘effects’ the night has had on people.  Liz Kendall started off, stating that she was “appalled” that Oldham had even considered signing him.

Julia Hartley-Brewer then continued to ‘go against Sisterhood’ and give a voice to the opposing side, “I would not have convicted him. If we are going to go around convicting drunk men, for having drunken sex, with drunk women, who don’t remember, we are going to be imprisoning a hell of a lot of young men. I think this is the rule of the mob, he should be allowed to return to work, and he should be allowed to get his life back.”

As you can see from the above image, this point initially put me very much on edge, but in hindsight, she put forward a valid argument… though was questioned on the extent to which she has authority to say this – after all she is not convicting him – that’s the job of a jury? Being the strong willed woman she is, she effectively continued “ he has an entitlement in a free country to ply his trade. Baring in mind a number of other footballers have returned to work after doing things like killing people through dangerous driving, racism and other sex offences”. This gave context to her argument and personally I thought it was effective.

The final question – “who is to blame for NHS waiting times. The government, the NHS or the general public?” Originally on the defence for his coalition government, Vince Cable interestingly took the opportunity to state – “the GP contract system has failed very badly… a very bad use of resources, very inefficient.”

Liz Kendall MP warmed up towards the end, and particularly during this conversation, stating “you do not distract the entire system for 3 years with a massive, pointless, reorganisation. I do not apologise for holding the government to account for its actions.”

Jimmy Wales said that he ‘would lay the blame on politicians, not the government.” He pointed to the constant battles between politicians, and said that he would ‘love to see politicians set aside their differences, address real reform, and be much more technocratic about the whole thing.” I think he was saying that the government should stop wasting time trying to get one up on one another, and put their time into fixing real problems. With two members of the incumbent government sitting next to him, I was ready to take my hat right off. Kudos, Jimmy Wales.

Before I knew it, the debate was over, and David Dimbleby brought the session to a close. Much more could be said, but this is a small summary of what went on in Watford’s very own Colloseum on Thursday 8^th January!

Written by Mollie Malone.