BBC Three does politics.

BBC Three aired a special version of Question Time on Wednesday, the same day as the budget. They made it especially for youths (hence its BBC Three appearance) and named it Young Voter’s Question Time. It was actually pretty good, I hope they do this sort of thing more often as it gets young people involved in politics. Which can only be a good thing.

To keep it down with the kids the Beeb decided to remix the Question Time theme into this weird sped-up version that wasn’t patronising at all, invited 150 under-25s to be in the audience and threw in Richard Bacon to host it. He was actually not too bad, he did sometimes argue with the panellists when he was supposed to be chairman but whatever, I didn’t really care. He otherwise kept a lid on it well and stopped the audience from killing many.

Considering it was aimed at the youth they brought in one of the oldest Question Time panels in history. Art critic Brian Sewell, Tory MP Col Bob Stewart, Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson and Ken Livingstone we’re herded together and George Galloway was the angry wolf thrown in to liven it all up. 

And by liven it up I mean rant for a while. He spent the night yelling his opinion on Libya exclaiming that we shouldn’t be there, to the point where I was unsure whose side he was actually on; name-calling the Liberal Democrats; complaining about hypocrisy (ironic), stirring up the audience and generally complaining about everything. I think it’s fair to say he got the most air-time, but that’s why people tune in I suppose, a bit of confrontation.

Ken Livingstone was only really there to promote his bid for London Mayor, saying all the popular things, getting applauded, you know the drill. Bob Stewart was an insightful panellist, who had some interesting views on Libya based on his experience. Brian Sewell, well I don’t really know what Brian Sewell was doing there to be perfectly honest with you.

I think the most depressing part of the night though was the audience members. One day I would like to watch something with youngsters in it that actually represent real youths in the UK. I’m just saying, it’d be nice.

They weren’t all bad, some were well informed and not out of touch at all. You could tell who the people who still lived in reality were and those who were removed from it. There was a young girl who was an entrepreneur from the Young Entrepreneur Society who actually had some input to the debate on whether or not the government should be doing more to encourage new businesses. It was relevant after all, this was supposed to be a youth orientated Question Time.

Unfortunately the reality dwellers were outnumbered and many people just put their hand up to repeat what had already been said; talk about something completely off-topic; ask a question when Richard Bacon clearly asked for just a quick statement only; or just say something they heard on the bus there like: "Lib Dems have sold out to the Conservatives". Thanks for the insight.

A couple were from the land of a thousand riches, very snooty, very upper class, each of them effectively completely out of touch with the real world. One of them was dubbed ‘another William Hague’ shouting frantically like a aristocrat whose shoe became untied without his butler nearby saying we need to be out of Europe and then once they had moved on he came out with a ridiculous statement about overseas aid, demanding we get rid of it and stop giving to African rebels. Not long after Japan becomes devastated and this pompous little idiot comes out with that. More reasons why you shouldn’t give children sweets in the evening, they go off the wall.

One man, known as ‘man with tracksuit top’ must still to this day be nursing blood flow back into his arms as he sat there with his hand up the entire show. Bacon went to him the first time and he came out ranting away with a regurgitated argument claiming Gaddafi had told the West they can’t have the oil and now they want him out. When Bacon went to him for the second time, he literally spouted out hate and scorn aimed directly at Jo Swinson about simply being a Liberal Democrat, swearing in the process. He was reprimanded by Bacon for his outburst but still had the balls to keep his arm raised for the rest of the night. As if Richard Bacon was going to go to him again.

No surprises then to see that Jo Swinson had the toughest time of all the panellist as she is bundled with the unfortunate burden of being a Liberal Democrat MP. Naturally the issue of student fees arose and she took a beating by the audience and Galloway as you’d expect. I didn’t expect the rest of the panel to just let it happen though. Bob Stewart, who was otherwise a decent panellist just let her be chewed up, just as most Tories are doing these days.

The Lib Dems are in the worst position right now. Everyone blames them for the student fee increase when in reality this is Tory legislation. They can’t stand up to them, they have no chance. The Conservatives have 307 seats. The Liberal Democrats have 57. People seem to have the impression that the Lib Dems are in this coalition 50/50. They are not.

Currently they’re playing a game of give and take, ‘we’ll back this if you back that’. The strange thing is, they are doing a lot of giving but not much taking. Voting reforms are what the Lib Dems longed for, and they’ve got it, but it’s not exactly what they wanted. They ordered chocolate fudge cake and they got a Cadbury’s fudge bar. When will they see that this is no compromise? They shouldn’t be polite and just eat their dessert, they need to send it back!

Some Lib Dems have gone against their own passionate views on tuition fees in order to gain something that will be seen as an overall gain. A sacrifice if you will. But it’s not happening. The only way they can change this now, is to rebel a little, show the Tories that they’re sick of taking the blame for everything, there are 307 Tory MPs sat in the House of Commons and not one of them takes blame, instead the 57 Lib Dems do. They need to stop being the fall guys and stand up for themselves!

They had a tough decision after the election. Either team up with the Labour party and find themselves with a tiny majority government resulting in nothing getting done; team up with nobody, leaving the Conservative party to form government with a small majority and implement even deeper cuts; or team up with the Tories, attempt to reduce the damage to the poor and actually get things done. They were damned if they did, and damned if they didn’t. And so were we.

Unfortunately, parliament is a lot like the audience on Young Voter’s Question Time. A few dedicated and passionate individuals who want to do some really positive things for our society and country, but a heck of a lot of deluded, out of touch people who can shout louder than you.

That makes them right, right?