Tonight’s Question Time will be broadcast from Finchley, and
judging from the panel it seems that it has been set up to engineer a
confrontation between George Galloway and “Liberal Zionist” and Guardian
journalist, Jonathan Freedland. Presumably, Tower Hamlets would have been
Galloway’s preferred London location, taking into account his
ethno-confessional predilections, but instead he finds himself in rather
different territory where the local residents are not likely to be so . . . how
can I put this? Receptive to his message?
So, prepare yourself to sit back and watch a lot of ranting
and raving about conflicts in faraway lands which really shouldn’t be any of
our concern. Unfortunately, however, it turns out that they are our concern,
insofar as we now have so many millions of residents from the said faraway
lands that they have brought their bigotries with them and their hatreds are
being played out on our soil.
I anticipate that Nicky Morgan and Tristram Hunt will make
for very dull viewing, dutifully and mechanically trotting out their respected
party lines, but quite what to expect of UKIP’s Suzanne Evans, I’m not sure,
but as she has taken on Tim Aker’s policy brief for the party, I will be keen
to hear what she says and reveals, if anything, about UKIP’s forthcoming
manifesto. Once the programme moves away from the inevitable ding-dong between
Galloway and Friedman over Palestine/Israel, I am hoping that Evans will shake
things up a little. Will any members of the audience or panellists pick up on
Galloway’s recent Bradford speech, in which he attacked Charlie Hebdo and
effectively called for a global blasphemy law to protect Islam? I hope so. If
you haven’t heard his speech, or are curious to view a summary, click here.
