We need to talk about Question Time
Friday's Question Time [March 27th] was a weekly reminder of how Auntie Beeb is a net contributer to everything what is wrong in our society.
I have to admit I don't watch it normally but Gary Stevenson, former City broker and left-wing economist was on so I picked it up later on YouTube. The panel consisted left to right both geographically and politically: Gary, Daisy Cooper MP (Liberal Democrats), Richard Holden MP (Conservatives). Darren Jones MP (Labour) and Camilla Tominey (GBeebies presenter and Torygraph journalist).
It wasn't long before I was remind why I don't watch it. It’s been years since I owned a TV, and I’d almost forgotten what a reactionary bucket of warm lumpy arse gravy this programme is. It’s a glorified establishment echo chamber, masquerading as balanced debate while carefully steering every conversation back to the tired, centrist status quo. Watching it again was like stepping into a time warp where out-of-touch pundits drawn from the same cess pool of priviledge wail on about ‘wealth creators’ being taxed too much while shrugging off the absolute state of the country.It was yet another exercise in media-managed gaslighting, a polished display of Britain’s ruling class circling the wagons to protect their own.
Gary Stevenson pointed out that all the panellists had a vested interest as they were multi-millionaires to which they all guffawed denied and protested. It was here that the programme should have ended as at least on the other Question Time that the BBC produces, Gardeners Question Time, the bullshit has be be brought in on a wheelbarrow. Fiona Bruce’s claim that she’s “not well off” is laughable. She is a multi-millionaire, she has an estimated net worth ranging between £3 million and £4 million. She lives in a house in the highly expensive North London area of Belsize Park, where the average 3 bed semi is £5.3m Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward. Her husband, Nigel Sharrocks, is an advertising executive and non-executive chairman of Digital Cinema Media and Local Planet and has an estimated net worth between £800,000 and £4 million. Combined, their net worth is estimated to be between £3.8 million and £8 million. So liar liar Versace pants on fire Fiona.
A quick search on the other panellists confirmed Gary's assertion:
Richard Holden, the Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay, has an estimated net worth of approximately £5 million, according to some online sources. Hansard - UK Parliament+3MPs and Lords - UK Parliament+3theipsa.org.uk+3 The official Register of Members' Financial Interests provides information on MPs' financial interests but does not disclose their total net worth. According to the register, Mr. Holden has held unpaid directorships associated with his former role as Chairman of the Conservative Party. Parliament UK+1MPs and Lords - UK Parliament+1MPs and Lords - UK Parliament
Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat MP for St Albans, has been serving in Parliament since 2019 and holds positions as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Treasury spokesperson. Daisy Cooper+6Wikipedia+6Politics.co.uk+6 Some online sources estimate her net worth to be around £5 million. According to her official transparency page, as of April 2022, the basic annual salary for MPs is £84,144. She states that she does not have any other paid jobs or receive a second income. Daisy Cooper Additionally, the Register of Members' Financial Interests indicates that, as of September 2024, Ms. Cooper declared 11 donations totaling £75,000 in money or support. TheyWorkForYou
Darren Jones, the Labour MP for Bristol North West since 2017, currently serves as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. According to his official website, as of April 2024, his annual salary as an MP is £91,346, with an additional £34,742 for his ministerial role. He has stated that he does not have any external second jobs or income. Parliament UK+5MPs and Lords - UK Parliament+5Wikipedia+5Darren Jones MP Some online sources estimate his net worth to be around £5 million.
Camilla Tominey is a British journalist and broadcaster, known for her roles as associate editor at The Daily Telegraph and as a presenter on GB News. ScoreVision Pro+2dailyinfor.com+2Wikipedia+2 Estimates of her net worth vary significantly across different sources. Some reports average her net worth as around £6.5 million . Additionally, one source claims an approximate net worth of $70–80 million as of 2022. current-affairs.org+1Wiki En+1Entertainment DailyWiki En
Gary of course was a very successful City broker before he jumped ship and unlike the othes did not deny his wealth.
The panel attempted to mug off of Gary Stevenson, who spendidly fielded them back and was backed by an unusually supportive audience. The entire spectacle is designed as a masterclass in shutting down dissent and protecting the financial interests of the already grotesquely rich.
And of course the politicians exercised the skills they acquired on their Oxbridge PPE degrees where not a single one of them answered a fucking question they were asked.
The panel were asked "Who should plug the deficit, benefit claimants or billionaires". Stevenson had the audacity to suggest that the rich: you know, the people with actual money, should pay more tax. Well, you’d think he’d just proposed drowning a basket of puppies, tied to a brick with Pudsey bears arm bandage from the sheer outrage in the room. The panel, in perfect harmony, trotted out the tired, fraudulent line: “We’ve tried taxing the rich, and it doesn’t work.” What in the actual fuck? Let's unpack this. So it’s fine to tax people who can barely afford to put the heating on, but those who can pay should be sheltered with loopholes and exemptions? And woe betide anyone who isn't minted who doesn't pay their taxes. They'll be up in court and their assets seized quicker than you can say "Is that Michele Mone over there on one of those yachts we paid for?"
Bruce, ever the loyal establishment stooge, threw in a ‘dead cat’ about pension funds, as if that should end the debate. And yet, let’s really think about this: why should our security in old age depend on the whims of the market? People pay into pensions, and funnily enough, you never see a pension fund or an insurance company on its arse, do you?
So as she brought it up, let's talk about private pension pots, lets revive that dead cat that Fiona threw in and put it on life support. Simon Fane, socialist, record label owner and former City operative points out the disingenuousness of her comment, "Firstly, pension funds aren't taxed at source. Obviously if you personally own £5 million worth of a pension fund, you will be subject to tax when you take that out, just as if the less well off who only have £50k in their pension they pay tax if they take it out". In fact while pension funds are being held and managed by the provider, they are not directly taxed at all in the way that personal investments are and this is a key advantage of having them. For example pension funds grow free of capital gains tax (CGT) and income tax on dividends or interest while inside the pension fund. There are other tax advantages such as protection from corporation tax on investments. If the pension invests in UK equities, the companies it holds shares in will have already paid corporation tax on their profits so this exempts the pension pot. So pension pots and where they sit are an irrelevance to this question and the so called impartial host threw in a deflection from the question, as a failed attempt at false equivalence to try and shut down the discussion.
Question Time 27.03.25: Left to far right Gary Stevenson, Daisy Cooper (LD), Richard Holden (Con). Fiona Bruce (Host) Darren Jones (Lab) and Camilla Tominey
Of course even bringing up pension pots in a question about taxing billionaires is a mask slipping moment from Fiona Bruce. She is of a class that can't even comprehend that some people don't have private pensions to tax in the first place. Approximately 21% of UK adults, equating to around 11 million individuals, do not have any private pension savings at all. Among those aged 40 to 75, nearly one in four (24%) lack a private pension. Furthermore, nearly 7 million people over the age of 50 rely solely on the state pension or the hope of a state pension for retirement income. These figures underscore a significant portion of the UK population that face major financial challenges in retirement due to the absence of private pension provisions.
Angie Smith, Fashion & Dress Curator and Historian, points out the elephant in the room, that if you haven't got a pension, the odds are stacked against you trying to make alternative financial provision for yourself, "The Current system is if you’re lucky enough to have a pension fund you’re still considered poor by these clowns. Yet, if you have no pension fund and have to resort to asset stripping your possessions, and flogging them cheaply on eBay, you’re considered as having a 'side hustle' which is taxable if you make over £1,000 a year. Do they not think that people close to pension age are selling their off their possessions because they have NO pension fund? Obviously not".
Shutting down this discussion only reinforces the status quo: one in which the rich hoard wealth while everyone else is expected to shut up and pay their dues. There is a clear disconnect here that Fiona Bruce unwittingly underlines that the rich simply do not understand the cause and effect of the constraints they are putting on the less well off. The message was clear: stop questioning the Ponzi scheme, pay your taxes like a good little peasant, and don’t you dare ask why the rich get away with dodging theirs.
Put simply, it's more expensive to be poor and these fuckers haven't got a clue.
This whole point around pension pots was nothing more than poor, unadulterated gaslighting. Then came the old canard that taxing the rich will only drive them away, with a plant in the audience making the plea of victimhood for the wealthy. Fine. Off you fuck, then. If you’re not going to be a net contributor to society, you’re a liability, not an asset. And if you still want to do business here, if you want to use our banking system, if you want to benefit from our infrastructure, then we should tax you more for the prividge of not been a member of our society. We should tax your businesses to the hilt. If these corporate parasites decide to pack up shop, so what? The vacuum would be filled. Do we really think that if Jim Ratcliffe packed up shop at Ineos, the site would just sit there empty? Of course not. Simon Fane suggests that we should do what a number of other countries do and limit the amount of private and trust wealth that can be moved around tax free. He points out that "Also a govt can introduce a 'leaving' tax for those that remove assets from UK if that’s the excuse to 'not tax them more'. Adrian Jones, boy about town and former assistant to the Al Fayyeds points out that as the Government is trying to access poor peoples bank acounts if they are on benefits, then this should be across the board, "I'd go further" he says, "If you leave, we should seize your [domestic] assets. Why should the Working Class be the only ones getting threatened by intrusion into their bank accounts".
Let’s not pretend Europe treats tax-dodging corporations any differently, EU taxation - and more importantly, the taxation controls on capital coming in and out of the EU into offshore tax havens was one of the key drivers behind Brexit - because fuckers like Richard Tice, Jacob Rees Mogg and those parasites in 55 Tufton Street didn't want their gravy train derailing. And as for the claim that the UK already taxes the rich too much? Absolute bollocks. Our corporation tax is one of the lowest in the developed world, and the real money is stashed offshore anyway. That’s the real scandal, and that’s what really needs to stop.
So I'll say the quiet thing out loud here. Our taxation system isn't broken - it is functioning quite perfectly thank you - because it is designed to shield the rich from the burden of actually paying their fucking way. No one in any of the parties in Government want to reform taxation - because they all benefit from the poor being fucked over. And every single person on that panel knows this.
In summary, Question Time merely confirmed three things that we already knew:
- Our taxation system is rigged to punch down, protecting wealth rather than redistributing it.
- The Labour government, in its current form, is a spineless, neoliberal POS disgrace making things worse, not better.
- Fiona Bruce is a liar, a right-wing shill and a fucking awful host.
And there you have it. Another week, another reminder that British political discourse is a pantomime designed to keep the rich rich and the rest of us grateful for the scraps.
Rule Britannia - Britannia waives the rules.
