Why don't politicians answer the question?
Discussion
in the 5pm Downing Street press conference a journalist asked that as the grants/loans being made by the government was going to amount to several billion, why not axe expensive projects like HS2.
Did the business secretary answer the question? No he just ignored it and waffled on without answering the question.
Did the business secretary answer the question? No he just ignored it and waffled on without answering the question.
Jagmanv12 said:
Did the business secretary answer the question? No he just ignored it and waffled on without answering the question.
They'll answer a question they want to answer. If that's the same as the question you want answering then great, if not then you're out of luck!Very hard to hold them to account when questions go ignored completely.
Jagmanv12 said:
in the 5pm Downing Street press conference a journalist asked that as the grants/loans being made by the government was going to amount to several billion, why not axe expensive projects like HS2.
Did the business secretary answer the question? No he just ignored it and waffled on without answering the question.
I'm glad. Ridiculous question of which the "journalist" who asked it should be ashamed.Did the business secretary answer the question? No he just ignored it and waffled on without answering the question.
Earthdweller said:
There is no trust
Journalists cannot ask a straight question .. everyone is loaded
Politicians can’t give a straight answer as it will be twisted and misrepresented
The Press by their devious and dishonest ways have created a culture that reflects that in the answers they don’t get
Exactly. A govt with a national crisis on their watch will only present a 'message' they wish to convey and are protected from proper scrutiny for the moment.Journalists cannot ask a straight question .. everyone is loaded
Politicians can’t give a straight answer as it will be twisted and misrepresented
The Press by their devious and dishonest ways have created a culture that reflects that in the answers they don’t get
Twas always thus.
Jagmanv12 said:
in the 5pm Downing Street press conference a journalist asked that as the grants/loans being made by the government was going to amount to several billion, why not axe expensive projects like HS2.
Did the business secretary answer the question? No he just ignored it and waffled on without answering the question.
answer yes... headline :- government u turns on HS2 or millions wasted on failed HS2 projectDid the business secretary answer the question? No he just ignored it and waffled on without answering the question.
answer no … headline :- vanity project HS2 more important than saving lives/ jobs/ businesses
It isn't complicated.
If you want answers to questions don't ask 'have you stopped beating your wife' GOTCHA questions.
Trying to connect two unrelated subjects in a question is the work of children. Most adults with the exception of journalists grow out of it by their teenage years...
You could equally ask why journos ask questions which they fully know that a politician cannot answer.
It's a game.
It's also why I love watching Trump answering questions from the US hacks.
Unlike our politicians, Trump has the gonads to face them down.
Can you imagine the huffing and puffing our pompous press journos would belch out if Boris dared to have a go at them?
Only very rarely do you see a worthwhile interaction between journos and politicians.
Last one I remember was in the 80s with the much missed Sir Robin Day.
He didn't give a flying fook which party you were from - they all got an appropriate grilling.
Not many politicians could handle interviews with him, but those that could actually answered his questions.
Days long gone sadly.
It's a game.
It's also why I love watching Trump answering questions from the US hacks.
Unlike our politicians, Trump has the gonads to face them down.
Can you imagine the huffing and puffing our pompous press journos would belch out if Boris dared to have a go at them?
Only very rarely do you see a worthwhile interaction between journos and politicians.
Last one I remember was in the 80s with the much missed Sir Robin Day.
He didn't give a flying fook which party you were from - they all got an appropriate grilling.
Not many politicians could handle interviews with him, but those that could actually answered his questions.
Days long gone sadly.
Vanden Saab said:
answer yes... headline :- government u turns on HS2 or millions wasted on failed HS2 project
answer no … headline :- vanity project HS2 more important than saving lives/ jobs/ businesses
It isn't complicated.
If you want answers to questions don't ask 'have you stopped beating your wife' GOTCHA questions.
Trying to connect two unrelated subjects in a question is the work of children. Most adults with the exception of journalists grow out of it by their teenage years...
This is fundamentally it. The questions are often not asked in good faith. A lot of journalists have come to conflate 'making politicians look stupid' for 'holding politicians to account'. The mutually-perpetuating political and media cultures that crow about every little error, mis-speak, correction or admission of fault doesn't help. answer no … headline :- vanity project HS2 more important than saving lives/ jobs/ businesses
It isn't complicated.
If you want answers to questions don't ask 'have you stopped beating your wife' GOTCHA questions.
Trying to connect two unrelated subjects in a question is the work of children. Most adults with the exception of journalists grow out of it by their teenage years...
It also doesn't help that the general public will one-minute moan about politicians being robotic, soulless, vacuous, evasive suits who don't believe in anything, won't talk normally and won't answer the question and then immediately join in the evisceration of a politician who does give straight answers or who espouses a concrete ideology or who has a sense of humour or who makes what would be, in any other sphere, an entirely forgiveable human error of speaking or memory.
Edited by 2xChevrons on Friday 17th April 21:51
rfisher said:
You could equally ask why journos ask questions which they fully know that a politician cannot answer.
It's a game.
It's also why I love watching Trump answering questions from the US hacks.
Unlike our politicians, Trump has the gonads to face them down.
Can you imagine the huffing and puffing our pompous press journos would belch out if Boris dared to have a go at them?
Only very rarely do you see a worthwhile interaction between journos and politicians.
Last one I remember was in the 80s with the much missed Sir Robin Day.
He didn't give a flying fook which party you were from - they all got an appropriate grilling.
Not many politicians could handle interviews with him, but those that could actually answered his questions.
Days long gone sadly.
You think the American journos were somehow beaten by Trump?It's a game.
It's also why I love watching Trump answering questions from the US hacks.
Unlike our politicians, Trump has the gonads to face them down.
Can you imagine the huffing and puffing our pompous press journos would belch out if Boris dared to have a go at them?
Only very rarely do you see a worthwhile interaction between journos and politicians.
Last one I remember was in the 80s with the much missed Sir Robin Day.
He didn't give a flying fook which party you were from - they all got an appropriate grilling.
Not many politicians could handle interviews with him, but those that could actually answered his questions.
Days long gone sadly.
The one thing that comes over time and time again is that most of the journos make Trump look as if he's think, and hasn't got a grip on what's going on. That comes over loud and clear. He does indeed care which journos he criticises, or at least makes wild accusations against. He would not dare say anything against Fox. He only picks of the likes of CNN, and in doing so makes himself appear a fool to anyone of reasonable intelligence.
Robin Day was OK for the time, but his style wouldn't last 10 minutes nowadays.
Politicians refuse to answer questions. These are politicians whom we pay to run the country for us. But they refuse to tell us what they have done, are doing or are planning to do.
The decision about the HS2 has already been made. It will be probably be forced on the government by circumstances, or rather finances I suppose. It's the same with the additional runway. Freedom of choice is a distant memory.
Journos have a job to do, that's to be the fourth estate, and the politicians try and obstruct them in their role.
If a journo asks a question, it is for a reason. The editorial team probably discussed what was going to be asked before the press briefing. Journos can wander off script, but they'll have to have a reason.
With politicians refusing to answer questions, you have to work out the reason for the journos questions.
Trump only attacks certain journos as he has no answers to their very reasonable questions. He can't bluff, he can't obscure, he can only bluster. In doing so he shows his weaknesses. Perhaps that's one reason for the actions of the journos. They can certainly out-think the bloke, but then most people could.
Jagmanv12 said:
in the 5pm Downing Street press conference a journalist asked that as the grants/loans being made by the government was going to amount to several billion, why not axe expensive projects like HS2.
Did the business secretary answer the question? No he just ignored it and waffled on without answering the question.
Maybe HS2 will be more relevant after this pandemic? Did the business secretary answer the question? No he just ignored it and waffled on without answering the question.
Pothole said:
I'm glad. Ridiculous question of which the "journalist" who asked it should be ashamed.
^^^this^^^The questions are embarrassing. Journalists simply trying to score points.
I think it needs to change - with questions instead from members of the public, businessmen etc who will ask about the things we all really care about.
OddCat said:
^^^this^^^
The questions are embarrassing. Journalists simply trying to score points.
I think it needs to change - with questions instead from members of the public, businessmen etc who will ask about the things we all really care about.
Exactly. The questions are embarrassing. Journalists simply trying to score points.
I think it needs to change - with questions instead from members of the public, businessmen etc who will ask about the things we all really care about.
The journalists are just caught up in their journo bubble, they are all asking the wrong questions.
No wonder the public is sick to death of them, it shows just how far away from reality they are.
I guess they are a bit like public sector workers in many regards, they don't think the economic impact will have an affect on them directly so can't understand how much damage it will do indirectly.
That is not a slur, just the way it is. Like a couple of people I know celebrating about another 3 weeks at home last night on Facebook, problem is I have been speaking to their boss and they won't have a job to go back to when this is over. Those same people are saying things like "Who cares about the economy, lives are more important".
You only ask questions that think will affect you, hence why so many MSM reporters ask the wrong questions, no wonder the politicians ignore them. I would prefer it if they just took the piss out of the journo asking.
Why do journalists ask stupid questions they know won't be answered?
They have 2 questions to illicit some useful information & completely waste them. Whats worse is when they ask a variation on the question just asked by the previous journo, that also didn't get answered.
The politcians may not be great.... but the journos....thick as s
t.
They have 2 questions to illicit some useful information & completely waste them. Whats worse is when they ask a variation on the question just asked by the previous journo, that also didn't get answered.
The politcians may not be great.... but the journos....thick as s
t. GT03ROB said:
Why do journalists ask stupid questions they know won't be answered?
They have 2 questions to illicit some useful information & completely waste them. Whats worse is when they ask a variation on the question just asked by the previous journo, that also didn't get answered.
The politcians may not be great.... but the journos....thick as st.
It’s elicit. Illicit has the same pronunciation but is a different word. Anyway, I agree with your point though. They have 2 questions to illicit some useful information & completely waste them. Whats worse is when they ask a variation on the question just asked by the previous journo, that also didn't get answered.
The politcians may not be great.... but the journos....thick as s
t. OddCat said:
The questions are embarrassing. Journalists simply trying to score points.
I think it needs to change - with questions instead from members of the public, businessmen etc who will ask about the things we all really care about.
Agreed and it would rid us of the ghaslty Laura Cluelessberg.I think it needs to change - with questions instead from members of the public, businessmen etc who will ask about the things we all really care about.
gizlaroc said:
Maybe HS2 will be more relevant after this pandemic?
You're right it will be a lot more relevant, I very much doubt they will cancel it, our economy if completely buggered now the way to rebuild it is with massive infrastructure projects that pull tens of thousands of people into jobs. It's not even just the main contractor, think of the supply chain, Doris in the local cafe providing bacon batches to workers, the men who come out to service the plant, potentially even the steel works that supplies the rails.What they should do is use this project to force the main contractors hands that everything must be manufactured within the UK, keep the UK steel works going, keep the fabricators going etc
If they cancel it now I guarantee you there'll be at least one more Carillon, if not two and tens of thousands of people out of work and thats before it's properly mobilised yet.
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