Pawb a’i farn – is the BBC’s Welsh language equivalent of Question Time. Roughly translated it means “Everyone and their opinions” but according to the Welsh Conservatives that title may be far from accurate.
If you haven’t seen it – the programme works much in the same way as QT. An invited panel (that represents varying positions on the political scale) answer questions and respond to comments posed by an audience of roughly sixty people. The show travels around Wales from Ammanford to Anglesey talking about a range of issues and topics.
Last week’s edition came from the Senedd building Cardiff Bay, and as a fan of the programme I jumped at the chance to sit in the audience. A free buffet and a lively debate later the set lights turned off and I left for home content with a fun couple of hours.
Alun Cairns, it seems didn’t enjoy his evening as much as I did. We’ve heard this week that Nick Bourne and Alun Cairns are unhappy at his treatment on last week’s programme. It would appear that the Conservatives are worried that the programme audience didn’t represent “Everyone” as the title of the show suggests, they feel the audience was rather one sided.
Nothing official has been said or done by the Conservatives to complain yet, but we understand that Alun Cairns is “considering his options...” at the moment and may take the matter “further”.
Intrigued? Does he get an unfair ride? Make up your own mind, watch it back here
Dewi Un
3 comments:
Have watched "Pawb a'i farn" but I like Question Time better.
You might have enjoyed it Dewi Un but you probably shared the views of the audience which was in no way a fair and balanced reflection of the Welsh Public (even the Welsh speaking public despite their higher than average propensity to work in the public sector and be in Social Group ABC1).
In my view Pawb a'i Farn is never going to have a fair reflection of all strands of Welsh Public opinion due to the 'settled' view that has existed in Wales in terms of a simple political narrative of Conservatives = bad. Plaid = good (unless closing rural Schools) Labour = used to be good, should now be in Plaid. Liberals = aha, poor dears!
However, the BBC and S4C do have a duty to attempt an impartial presentation of Welsh politics.
On this edition Alun was subject to opposition from all three panellists, Dewi LLwyd on three occasions during the first question and the intervention from audience members (and you can count them if you want to) was on the basis of around 15 anti-Conservative comments, 1 supportive and around three or four which were neutral.
Fair and balanced? I think not. I suspect that on the basis of this travesty of an attempt at political programming increasing numbers of Conservatives will simply decide that Pawb a'i Farn is simply not worth the effort.
For a small audience is it worth being there to give the self-satisfied Welsh speaking elite a scapegoat for their prejudices?
I, for one,have better things to do with my time than listen to prejudice masquerading as political debate.
Guto Bebb (supposedly a panellist on Thursday, December 4th 2009).
Never seen a whole programme let alone been in one until the Harlech 2010 job. All I can say is that it was quite amusing, so many biased opinions on so many quite pointless questions, apart from one that is.
The matter of Cerificates of Lawful Use for Llanbedr Airfield, an establishment which has existed for many more years than the Snowdonia National Park, which Caerwyn Roberts tells me he 'protects for the nation' (which nation), and the Snowdonia Society.. well... what is that all about then? Some well heeled people from far away telling us poor peasants what we can do with our own land.
Anyway, the issue of CLEUDs is a sore point with the locals as far as Caerwyn Roberts is concerned.
More of that to follow before the elections!!
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