BBC Question Time host Fiona Bruce made yet another major slip-up on last night’s show. In an embarrassing attempt to defend Labour, Bruce wrongly claimed that their manifesto didn’t use the phrase “working people” in reference to national insurance. Has she managed to miss all the headlines this week?
The blunder was broadcast live on iPlayer at 8pm, and soon after, the official BBCQT account rushed to clean up the mess, scrubbing the part where Bruce tried to justify Labour’s expected tax rise. In a post on X, they sheepishly admitted:
On the live iPlayer version of Question Time tonight, we said that in their 2024 General Election manifesto, Labour didn’t mention the phrase ‘working people’ in relation to raising National Insurance. We are happy to clarify that they did and accordingly we have taken it out of…
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) October 17, 2024
The ‘fact-checker’ getting fact-checked – and not for the first time…
Eyebrows have been raised pretty high in response to Michael Gove’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. Gove said she had “significant weaknesses” but was “the lesser of two evils.” Those “weaknesses” have been painfully on display today…
Gove said on the BBC’s Today podcast:
“I would follow Dick Cheney’s advice, and I would vote for Kamala Harris.”
At the same time Gove refused to back Badenoch on the record because “the Spectator doesn’t back candidates, it backs causes.” Media sources question the wisdom of the Spectator’s new editor endorsing the most left-wing Democratic candiate in some years. They point out that fledgling US edition of the magazine is loss-making – sales may not be helped by this intervention. The US expansion is a big deal – throwing weight behind one party’s candidate is a choice…
The Guardian has finally apologised for putting up a review of the documentary One Day in October which included such choice commentary as:
“If you want to understand why Hamas murdered civilians, though, One Day in October won’t help. Indeed, it does a good job of demonising Gazans, first as testosterone-crazed Hamas killers, later as shameless civilian looters, asset-stripping the kibbutz while bodies lay in the street and the terrified living hid… Hamas terrorists are a generalised menace on CCTV, their motives beyond One Day in October’s remit.”
After backlash last week the paper took the review down. Now it says sorry:
A collective failure of process indeed…
Breaking news from the corridors of Westminster: the power’s out in the journalists’ offices in Parliament, and with it, the hacks’ ability to sit around in their usual haunts, drink coffee, check X and of course, find big scoops. The plugs have failed, the computers are dead. MailOnline cannot be browsed. Off to Old Queen Street Cafe they go…
Matt Chorley’s aggressive interview with Boris yesterday on 5 Live has raised a few eyebrows. The BBC’s newest hire (and its snippiest critic) got into a tired shouting match with Boris yesterday about whether the former PM is a “liar.” Chorley wouldn’t let Boris answer his own snarky questions…
Chorley admitted in a newsletter sent out later that viewers were not happy with his interview style:
“The reaction to the interview was divided almost equally – I was too shouty, he was too shouty, I wouldn’t let him speak, he wouldn’t answer the questions. But as always, everyone has a view.”
When an interviewer says the reaction to their interview was equally mixed – that means it was terrible. To top it off Chorley spent the rest of the day retweeting the odd random punter who said he did well. Is the BBC regretting its latest hire yet?
