Do you watch BBC Parliament TV and how pop is it in the UK?

Shuimo   Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:13 pm GMT
Do you watch BBC Parliament TV and how pop is it in the UK?
Robin Michael   Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:24 pm GMT
I almost never watch BBC Parliament TV. Today, I watched CNN for a change because I was bored with the other two News Channels that I normally watch: BBC News 24 and Sky News.

BBC News 24 and Sky News will often broadcast similar content to BBC Parliament TV when it is of particular interest during the day. The main News programmes will broadcast edited highlights in the evening.

The Sunday Papers and the Weekend TV News and Chat shows sometimes make the News by publishing Scandals or because of what Politicians say during interviews. Often the big Stock Market stories happen over the weekend because the Stock Market is closed.
Robin Michael   Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:35 pm GMT
Today:

Ms Smith (Home Secretary) told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show:


Migrants face tighter work rules



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7904393.stm?lss
Damian in Edinburgh   Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:32 pm GMT
Freeview Channel 81 gives you on-going 24/7 viewing of the proceedings in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, including Committee Room debates which are recorded in rooms, as the name suggests, away from the two main chambers, all rooms being off very long corridors with plush carpeting.

The debates in these rooms comprise a select group of Members of Parliament or Govenment or Opposition ministers. The topics for discussion include just about everything covering issues affecting people and life generally in the UK.

Outside of normal "working hours" for both chambers all the proceedings are, of course, recordings of discussions, meetings etc held earlie that day or the previous day, depending on the days of the week..both Houses do not sit at weekends only in emergencies - like when Cornwall declares war with England.

During normal "working hours" the proceedings are recorded live, and if you want to listen to a debate on such rivetting issues as the control of grey squirrels in the Forest of Dean or the financing of pensioner's universal bus passes in the Parliamentary Constituency of Paisley and Renfrewshire North or the problem of publc transport in the remoter parts of the Yorkshire Dales then you will be chuffed to bits...assuming you don't fall asleep, of course.

Everything, but everything, that is discussed and thrashed out in the entire Westminster Parliament, no matter what the topic, is there to be seen in full view on this TV channel, not to mention the regular Parliamentary radio programs. Nothing the buggers in Govenment say or do in open forum escapes the attention of the British public.

The same goes for the sub Parliaments of both Scotland and Wales, in Edinburgh and Cardiff respectively.

As for nationwide popularity in the UK? Well...let's just say that viewing the workings of Government and Parliament generally on a day by day basis like ths, minute by minute, hour by hour, live or recorded, is very much a minority interest among the British public...for the devotees only, who all have to have a very high boredom thresh-hold.

Having said that though, some debates can be very entertaining...such as the weekly Prime Minister's Questions each Wednesday, in which members chuck a whole array of questions at the Prime Minister, who stands at the Despatch Box, on absolutely any issue on which the questioning MP wishes to clarify points and issues - and the PM has to come uip with relevan answers. Apparently there is nothing quite like this weekly PMQT* session, a British Parliamentary institution for centuries and still ongoing, at any other Governmental legislative assembly anywhere else in the world.

*Be careful to get these letters right.
Damian in Edinburgh   Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:49 pm GMT
Migrants and immigration into the UK.....a mega hot topic right now.

The very extreme right wing party - the British National Party (BNP) is gaining more and more support among certain sections fot eh voting public all over the UK. This is quite disturbing as the BNP advocates the complete repatriation of all immigrants, whether legal or illegal, and the total ban on all immigration and asylum seekers wishing to come here, no matter what their circumstances are.

There policy is "Britain for the British" and all jobs for British people only only.

They want withdrawal from the EU, and people who are not white and British born are to be regarded as being of less value than people who are white and native born British. They also want to make homosexual relationships, male or female, illegal in the UK and they alo want to make the death penalty obligatory for certain crimes.

Does this not have a very chilling, very familar ring to it when we consider 20th century European history? Does it not remind you of a certain figure from history and his band of thugs stomping around Europe less than 70 years ago?

On Thursday the BNP won a council seat in a by-election in the Sevenoaks Council area of Kent, South East England. It gained the seat from Labour....the least likely area of the UK you would expect such a thing...a predominantly white, very prosperous and affluent area, with no known record of "social unrest" or hot headed extremeists...nothing of the kind.

But like many other parts of the country, the Sevenoaks area has seen quite an influx of immigrants and not only from the rest of Europe.......many are not white.....say no more.

But in a democracy how is it possible to put an outright ban on a political party? Quite a problem.....
Andy in Kent   Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:09 pm GMT
I watch the Parliament channel sometimes during the day because daytime TV in the UK is mind-numbingly poor.

The alternative is usually:
1) Jeremy Kyle with some inbreds,
2) Noel Edmunds with people who think that calling out random box numbers is a skill,
3) Jeremy Clarkson driving a car sideways round an airfield,
4) A young couple building a massive arty-farty house for their teenie-tiny family,
5) The top 100 music videos with a tenuous connection.
6) All of the above but an hour behind.

I'd rather watch the Banking Crisis Committee on the Parliament channel.
Shuimo   Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:00 am GMT
Thanks, Andy in Kent, Damian in Edinburgh, Robin Michael!
I will keep an eye on the channel!
Damian in Edinburgh   Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:57 pm GMT
Shuimo:

No problem....happy to assist in any useful way. There are more people out there than you would realise who enjoy tuning into Parliamentary/Government channels, either on TV or the radio, to find out what our politicos are up to in the corridors of power.

I hope this link gives more information for you:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/3004787.stm

Andy:

I never watch daytime TV, I have to earn a living, and at week-ends I've got better things to do, but I do hear that it's dreich - Jeremy Kyle?...the self proclaimed idol and patron saint and saviour of the hardworking UK taxpayer supplied social welfare maintained Great British Underclass dragged in from the sink estates to find out which tanked up ex con smackheads are dads to the equally tanked up smackhead's seventeen bar stewards and who can't recall which one she last slept with or when or where.....no thanks.
Andy in Kent   Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:50 pm GMT
I wish I could earn a living again but finding a new job is proving more difficult than I'd hoped. Daytime TV almost drives you back to work.

Damian: you describe Saint Kyle's show perfectly.
Andy in Kent   Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:51 pm GMT
I wish I could earn a living again but finding a new job is proving more difficult than I'd hoped. Daytime TV almost drives you back to work.

Damian: you describe Saint Kyle's show perfectly.
Adam   Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:44 pm GMT
BBC Parliament Channel is Channel 81 (Channel 80 is BBC News 24 and Channel 82 is Sky News).

It broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the British House of Commons and House of Lords, Select Committees, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, and occasionally from the General Synod of the Church of England. The channel also broadcasts reports from the European Parliament (which people aren't really interested in) and the yearly party conferences of the main political parties and the TUC.

For people interested in political history, since 2002 the channel has frequently shown (almost) complete recordings of BBC general election coverage from a given year, from the 1955 election, the first British election programme to be telerecorded, to the 2005 election.
Adam   Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:53 pm GMT
The very extreme right wing party - the British National Party (BNP) is gaining more and more support among certain sections fot eh voting public all over the UK. This is quite disturbing as the BNP advocates the complete repatriation of all immigrants, whether legal or illegal, and the total ban on all immigration and asylum seekers wishing to come here, no matter what their circumstances are.

There policy is "Britain for the British" and all jobs for British people only only.

They want withdrawal from the EU, and people who are not white and British born are to be regarded as being of less value than people who are white and native born British. They also want to make homosexual relationships, male or female, illegal in the UK and they alo want to make the death penalty obligatory for certain crimes.
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What's wrong with "Britain for the British"? Especially during a recession. I'm sure the vast majority of people in Britain will agree with the term "Britain for the British."

Look at the Brown. In 2007, shortly after he became PM (even though there wasn't an election), Brown vowed there would be "British jobs for British workers."

Since he made that speech, the number of foreign workers in Britain has actually INCREASED, whereas the number of British workers in Britain has DECREASED.

It may be EU law to allow people from one EU member state to work in another EU member state but why, during a recession, should British people do nothing when foreigners come here and take MUCH-NEEDED jobs as the unemployment atehits the two million mark for the first time since 1997?

It's no wonder that workers at oil refineries throughout Britain went on strike earlier this year, like those in Lincolnshire who went on strike over the use of Italian and Portuguese workers. During a recession, it's BRITISH people we want in British jobs. We don't want foreigners coming here and keeping thousands out of work and being unable to pay their bills.

And if every other country in the EU regularly breaks EU rules, I don't see why Britain can't do the same.

I also don't see why there's anything wrong in withdrawing from the EU. Millions of Britons (probably most of them) want withdraw from the EU but that doesn't mean they are racists. Otherwise any SNP-supporting Scots who want Scotland to leave the UK can be classified as racists, too.

In fact, I'm planning on voting UKIP at the next General Election.
Kate Blanc   Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:38 pm GMT
During a recession, it's BRITISH people we want in British jobs.
---
Expel all Indians, Jamaicans and Americans back to their homeland.
Modesty Blaze   Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:44 pm GMT
Let's not forget Jews, Normans and Madonna.
Damian in Edinburgh   Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:56 pm GMT
It's the new Resurrection, lads....Adam is back among the quick...the Beast of Bolton himself!

Dinnae fret, Adam.....Scotland will never withdraw from the UK...your English money is far too precious for that to happen, and as for UK withdrawal from the EU...another dead duck...it just willnae happen, pal!

Only a small minority are turning to the BNP...it is far too right wing extremist for the majority of the British people, and you know full well that the overall British character itself simply doesn't give itself to any kind of extremism whatsoever - be it from the far left (Communism) or the far right (Nazism) and neither do we ever lend ourselves to any great outward demonstrations of emotional outbursts and passion.....in politics or in great political issues or in any other way really. Tony Blair himself called it Cool Britannia, didn't he? ;-)

People feel strongly at the moment because of the current ecomonic crisis and a wave of job losses, as is the case across the planet, and as the UK has been such a magnet for so many people from so many other countries in recent years, and the Labour Government has been perceived as being extremely lax over the issue of immigration into an already crowded wee island and allowing the world and his wife and grandma into this country then there is bound to be a reaction, and certain people are drawn to a party like the BNP whose main aim anyway is to kickass out of this fair country of ours altogether anyone who is not of British origin, who is not white (they officially admit that in private but never in open forum) and who do not swear allegiance to the Union flag and all that kind of thing.

If you study European history and that of certain European countries you will see that this has a chillingly familiar ring to it, and British as the BNP claims to be through and through, its policies and aims are simply not in tandem with the British character, as I've already said.

There is no person more outwardly British than I am - Scottish first and foremost, and British a proud close second, and thirdly - yes - enthusiastically European. Europe is our natural home in all ways, and overtly aggressive nationalism of any kind is nasty. All that kind of thing is long gone - dead in the water - in Europe anyway....hopefully.

I love our English Language with a passion, but the universal spread of English must never, ever be the cause of the demise of any other Language...ever.

When we let go on the sports grounds we call it justifiable exuberance ;-)