Question Time

Question Time

Last week I decided to watch the TV programme Question Time. I don't often watch debates on TV because I get unduly annoyed and frustrated when a chairperson or interviewer has the opportunity to pin someone down on a point and totally fails to do so. However I wanted to see the topics coming up now and the ensuing discussions as I haven't watched this weekly political discussion programme for months. And I was rather perturbed by what I saw.

Brexit of course came up as one of the topics and also as a sub-plot to others. The panel had representatives from the Treasury side of both the Labour and Conservative parties, the leader of the Lib Dem party, Tim Farron, a very articulate professor of economics and a benign and somewhat buffoon head of a retail chain. The audience, from its questions and reactions, appeared suitably mixed, hopefully more or less representative, with just a few obvious extreme right-wingers. What perturbed me was what was not said as much as what was said, the cowed tone of the discussions when I have been used to passionate if not always well-reasoned debate on this programme.

When Brexit-related issues came up, the Labour and Conservative politicians almost tripped over themselves to be polite to one another and avoid controversy. The industry representative, who had voted Leave, talked benignly about the importance of freeing people to make decisions in the certainty(?) that creativity would follow, with nothing more specific than that; his business was entirely in the UK, a point made by the economics professor. The only two of the panel who came out of the debate with any credit, in my view, were the professor of economics and Tim Fallon. The former, quoting figures (some the governments own) and drawing definite conclusions, jovially made a strong case that a hard Brexit would be tantamount to national economic suicide, a case that the Conservative representative hardly even bothered to dispute. Although working and living in England, she had a north American accent which may have had something to do with the dispassionate tone of her pronouncements. Tim Farron very clearly said that all had yet to be decided, including whether or not Brexit actually happened. Those were the only two, apart from the audience right-wingers, who made any definite statements.

The discussion was almost a non-event then, except that the extreme right-wingers in the audience made it clear that there as no possibility of compromise on their part, with undertones of a threat of violence if any compromise was attempted. It was this, together with the cowed atmosphere among those who tried reasoned argument, that perturbed me. Whatever happens, those who rely on reason must not be cowed. Or are we to have the battle of Cable Street and its consequences all over again? If the extreme right threatens violence, explicitly or implicitly, if opposed, will the centre and left have the courage to resist and, if necessary, take action against it?

France's Economic Problems

In a nutshell the roots of France's economic problems are far too generous contractual arrangements made with its workforce, arrangements that it can no longer afford. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that over 50% of the workforce is employed directly or indirectly by the government. A result is lack of investment in anything that would imply cutting jobs, however temporarily, and thus a lack of new jobs. Within the roots are very generous pension arrangements; these have been curtailed by recent administrations but only by forcing some employees to work for longer, which simply exacerbates the new job shortage. So what can France do?

It could well be that another 1968 is on the cards. The primaries for the next Presidential election are already underway with Fillon the winner of the centre-right candidacy. The political mood of the country seems to be a swing to the right, which could bring to power an administration that would attempt to make the necessary economic reforms. However, that would inevitably provoke a veritable Olympics of the nation's favourite sport: strikes; and strikes to an extent that could cripple the country. With no General de Gaulle in sight to sort it out, the result may well be another sport at which France excels: political fudging.