Question Time

 I know that nobody sane watches Question Time but I like to because it’s quite a good indicator of how people are feeling. It was Question Time that showed the popularity of Farage before he stooped to doing birthday videos your your mum. It was during a QT episode that I realised people liked Theresa May’s hostile environment immigration policy. On one Thursday evening I realised that people were going to vote for Brexit. Recently the audience have been booing whenever Boris’ name is mentioned. There’s still a tiny minority that feel sorry for him, as though he’s a cute little blond-haired blue-eyed six year old that’s got a bit frustrated because he can’t remember how to spell resign but they don’t speak up anymore.

Last night, a Ukrainian MP showed us how to remain dignified, while Max Hastings told us that he’d written a book, Wes Streeting tried to hold Suella Braveman to account on the conservative immigration policy and Rev Richard Coles poured his warm chocolate voice over the disagreements. 

The audience were not on Suella Braveman’s side. They want us to take refugees now. It’s a complete switch from two years ago and I can see why the government are confused. She got so cross that she threw the ‘what about Jeremy Corbyn’ line at Wes, which is a tactic I can see will only help Labour. If you liked Corbyn then having him mentioned helped and if you didn’t then you know that he has nothing to do with the leadership of the Labour Party. The audience weren’t convinced either and sucked air in through their teeth.  Then her temper threw her into lying mode. Well, I think she was lying. She said that her parents were refugees and because I love a human story and have a friend whose father was an ambassador in Uganda during Idi Armin’s genocide of the Indians I checked to see if they had arrived in the 1970s. However they didn’t. It was the sixties. Mother from Mauritius to become a nurse and father from Goa. That sounds like enconomic migrancy; coming to England for a better life, rather than fleeing terror and oppression but what do I know?

The worrying thing, though, about this Question Time episode, was the appetite for war.

“Why can’t we impose the no fly zone that Zelensky is asking for?”

“Let’s do it. I don’t see the problem.”

This worries me. Maybe people don’t really understand what imposing a no fly zone means.

It’s not as though Putin is going to say, “OK, you’ve said I can’t fly there, so I won’t.”

He still will and someone will shoot his plane down. Then he will be at war with whatever country did the shooting, meaning that our towns and cities could look like the pictures we are seeing from Kyiv and where would we go if the whole world is at war? Nowhere would be safe. 

We are already at war. We have chosen a side and are supplying support to that side but as soon as we enter a situation where we enforce a no fly zone we become a target.

I’m not sure I’m ready for that.