For about a year or so now I have been watching, almost incessantly, BBC1's This Week, usually in the hope that it will fill my hunger for political banter last thing on a Thursday night. Stay put after BBC1's Question Time and you will be met by Andrew Neil, cracking well rehearsed quips about the 'Blue Nun' and of course our 'Great Leader' (A.K.A- Gordon Brown), and met by the sight of Dianne Abbott and Micheal Portillo sat comfortably on a dark mauve sofa. It would not be wrong to say that their innocent chuckling and gleaming facial expressions has always brought a spark of relaxation and light heartedness to the show, whether or not the current events of the week merit it. There is however an almost non-serious underlayer to the comments of the trio in reaction to some guest reports on the show, and an almost zealous criticism expressed by them that seems purely to be based on a matter of personal achievement rather than on reasonable argument. Of course politics can be relaxed, and it's good to see particular shows taking a different stace on current affairs, but surely the lighthearted atmosphere should stay lighthearted rather than turning into another fierce Paxman style interview.
This weeks edition of the show featured bestselling author and former Islamic radical Ed Hussain, who basically did his take on the week. His report began with scenes from the streets of Kartoum, with members of the Sudanese public holding up placards and weapons calling for the death of British teacher Gillian Gibbons. His report praised the successful actions of Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi for their securing of her safe release, but urged the wider Islamic community in Britain to speak out more often against similar cases across the Islamic world. One of his main points was that although thousands of people from Britain each year go to Saudi Arabia to worship in places like Mecca and Mdina, when women are refused entry to certain areas on cultural grounds, the British nationals just accept it and do not speak out against the laws which are soley based on cultural, rather than Islamic, traditions. His main point was that British Muslims should know where they are from and be proud to be British, and that it took him a journey throughout the Middle-East, as a young radical, to finally discover that his place was Britain, and not the Islamic world state for which he had so long strived for. Watching Ed Hussains report really inspired me as a promoter of an intergrated Britain, and seeing an ex-radical like himself who now was so in touch with modern British values, almost made me think that he should be working for the Government on such matters. Fingers crossed Santa will be bringing me his book 'The Islamist' this Christmas.
Back to 'This Week' though, and Ed sat before the trio hoping to answer some questions and to go into more depth about his report as most guests do. He began to elaborate about what had radicalised him in his teens, and indeed what he believed other young muslims were feeling with particular regard to identity. He began to critisise the British Islamic community for not quite doing enough to prevent and condemn the preaching of extremists, and urged them passionately to do so with the realisation that they are British. Diane sat there cynically, as she usually does at this point of the show, and when asked what she thought about the report began to attack the views of Hussain. She was adamant that "in her constinuency" no such sects had infiltrated the Islamic community, and that "on the ground" people were happily living side by side with there fellow neighbours without any problem. "I dont really recognsie your very gloomy prognosis" she went on, commenting that because her muslim constituents had "womens projects", they were not part of the underlying problem highlighted by Hussain. She seemed to attack Hussain in a manner I thought quite rude and thoroughly offensive. The whole thing mimikced a broadcast earlier in the year when Ms Abbott told Peter Hitchens live on television that she thought his views were similar to that of the BNP, potentially destroying his career in one instant. Michael Portillo at this point tried to defend Mr Hussain and shift the emphasis onto his own personal views by spouting another obvious, highly agreeable comment almost to show his unhindered tantering to Diane. The debate however continued with Diane patronising Hussain as he began to quote the comments of MI5s Director Genral Johnathan Edmuds (who 3 weeks ago stated that an estimated 4,ooo British Muslims have already been radicalised) by simply smiling and shaking her head. Despite her cynisism and continued arrogance Hussain told Abbott that he had infact been radicalised in London and that he believes many muslims, even if not belonging to specific groups, share the mind set of separatism. He hit the nail on the head when he said to Abbott "There is a problem, and there's no point pussyfooting around the issue, what you do then is you allow that mind set to fester".
I mean for heavens sake, here is a man with experience of the extremo-Islamic movement in Britain being seriously contested by an arrogant Labour-rebel MP on matters which she can hardly comment on in comparison. The challenging of Hussains views were clear to me to be entirely political, clearly making sure that anybody from her constituency who also disagreed with his report would be voting her in at the next election. The debate continued further before Andrew Neil then ended it by making some sarcastic comment to Hussain, whom I thought had made his case very well.
To have such intellectuals on the show has undoubtably raised the kudos of the programme, but surely they have a responsibility to treat guests with a little more respect, even if they don't entirely agree with their personal views. Funny how guests like Toyah Wilcox, who featured at the end of the show, with a less controversial report seem to get treated with more respect by the trio. Such a love hate relationship I have for This Week, and even though broadcasts like last nights seem to be becoming more and more common, the non-inclusion of such guest reporters would be a great tragedy. I suppose guests on the show have to face a certain amount of criticism, more than anything to acquire credibility, afterall most political critics in society are widely known about thanks to such programmes.
Overall I would have to say that the comical performance of Andrew Neil, and the cheery smiles of Portillo and Abbott are a sort of addictive torture for me. This liberal specialist programme with a high value guests list is both my lover and my loathing.
Think i'll keep watching...for now...
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