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As the show started I was reminded that once upon a time the "celebrity guests" were celebrities only to people with Morning Star subscriptions. Pugnacious trade unionists, NGO big dogs, Red Wedge-era pop stars like Billy Bragg and Paul Heaton, and the occasional professional Tory, like Tim Rice, or Jim Davidson or somebody else who hates paying taxes. Now, the stars seemed to be almost apolitical, just famous people with opinions on the NHS; they are arseholes with appearance fees.It felt ugly and slightly pointless watching something which had obviously been drummed up for Twitter trends alone, but like a Tyson Fury fight, the hype was as tantalising as it was dumb. It seemed unlikely, but I held a small hope that Barton was going to stand up and do a Morgan-like Ousmane Dabo at some point.Amazingly, giving a man who printed fabricated photos of torture to sell copies of his newspaper and a man who stubbed out a cigar in the face of a teenager wasn't enough for the BBC. They chose this moment to run out the freshly elected UKIP MEP, Louise Bours. Whoever chose this panel understands how to russle up some internet furore. Sadly though, they didn't understand that this week, of all weeks, UKIP's supporting cast deserved to have shit torn out of them by proper political adults, not cosy up to talent show hosts and footballers.
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I wondered where we've got to as a society, when politics is essentially being repackaged as ideological prizefighting, with the likes of Morgan, Barton, Owen Jones, Mehdi Hassan, Katie Hopkins, et al willing to enter the ring and bludgeon some sweating politicians. A lot has been written about the nature of obverse journalism, but Question Time isn't even that. It's just people trying to pick holes in each other's arguments and then go for dinner afterwards – a frivolous debating society for the Twitterati to boo and hiss at from behind the red button.I've still got a lot of time for QT, but a part of me wonders how far we are away from Paddy Power putting odds on who'll mention Tony Blair and in which minute. It doesn't really appear to be about democracy anymore, it's just another platform for the entitled few. It's Twitter basically: the blue ticks sit at the front and largely ignore the mass throwing questions their way. Of course it does deal with important questions in an entertaining manner, but ultimately, it only ever makes news when a Tory squirms or a celebrity chokes. I mean, not even Mr Saturday Night himself, Piers Morgan could lift this episode into the stratosphere.Maybe QT should try and be a little more Chomsky and a little less Cowell.@thugcliveMore from Clive:Does Anyone Care the One Direction Were Caught Smoking Weed?Stop Fucking with Our Youth SubculturesScrew London, Move to BritainAll smiles over #BBCQT dinner. Have to say - Le Pitbull @Joey7Barton is great company. For an ugly bloke. pic.twitter.com/frv4xbp8Pb
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 29, 2014
