Every Friday morning I try to watch the previous evenings Question Time episode. It is on far too late at night for an old toppie like me, but I always feel that the general tone of the audience members might give me some indication as to how people are really feeling about Britain and the world.

Yesterday, the actor Laurence Fox was on the panel and my initial reaction was ‘Oh no, not another ruddy actor, full of doleful piety and about to lecture everyone else on the folly of our ways.’

I was wrong. Mr Fox was refreshingly honest and stood up to politically correct bullying from an audience member and another member of the panel.

One inevitable question was about the Royal Biscuit and his Tame Yank and while Fox was giving his opinion, a lady called Rachel Boyle who described herself as an ethnicity lecturer – whatever that may be – at Edge Hill University in Liverpool butted in.

Now this good lady has appeared on the BBC on quite a few occasions so I couldn’t help wondering whether she was deliberately planted in the audience, but then perhaps I am being a bit cynical – maybe!

Anyway, Miss Boyle called Fox a ‘white privileged male’ for denying that Meghan M was ‘hounded from Britain for being mixed race.’ She was jeered by a goodly proportion of the audience for her comments and Fox was visibly exasperated. First, he looked up at the ceiling then he gently banged his forehead on the desk in front of him. I felt for the bloke. None of us can help being what we are and I am fed up with these crackpot people trying to make me feel guilty about my own ethnicity.

The row apparently continued on Twitter and yesterday Mr Fox quoted Martin Luther King who wanted to live in a nation where children ‘will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.’

Meanwhile the worthy Miss – sorry, ‘Ms’ – Boyle said she wasn’t ‘arsed’ about the spat and tweeted, ‘Fell out with LozzaFox (not arsed) upset a (majority white) audience (not arsed) but called the treatment of Meghan Markle what it is ‘racism.’’

Hardly suitable language from a university lecturer but all too typical of this modern world, I fear.

In another fiery exchange Labour Baroness, Shami Chakrabarti accused poor old Foxy of ignoring female candidates in the Labour leadership battle by backing Keir Starmer to replace Jeremy Corbyn, who he called ‘magic grandpa.’

He was asked who he was backing for God’s sake and was the only member of the panel who seemed to dare to give an opinion, yet this ennobled harpy was obliquely accusing him of misogyny!

Obviously completely exasperated again, Mr Fox said back sarcastically: ‘Jeepers creepers. Sorry, let me rewind. Any of the women. Is that better? Any woman. Because it’s really important what your gender is or what your sexuality is rather than what your policies are.’ 

The look of shock on Chakrabati’s face was priceless and the audience loved it. So did I.

Please Question Time producers, let’s have more panel members like this chap.

Another member of the panel was a Scottish National MP called Alyn Smith and while I am not fond of the SNP – as epitomised by the Poison Dwarf in Edinburgh and that pompous pratwinkle, Blackford in Westminster – *I did agree whole heartedly with one of his comments. When asked about the row about the Biscuit and his Bride, Smith said, ‘The rest of the world must think Britain has lost its marbles.’

How right he was. I am heartily fed up with diving into the papers every morning and reading piece after piece about these two spoiled brats. The world has far greater things to worry about damnit!

The Middle East is on the edge of catastrophic war, the Russian government has resigned – or was pushed – en masse and figures just released in South Africa show that on average, a farmer is murdered there every seven and a half days. There were four hundred and fifty three farm attacks during 2019 and forty eight farm murders.

The oldest person that was attacked was ninety six years old, on average there were four attackers per incident with the highest number of attackers being twenty.

Now that, coupled with the South African government’s insistence that there is no problem is surely something worth writing about.

I did smile when I read about Emily Thornberry’s opening to her leadership campaign yesterday. She is another who tries hard to give herself a working class background but is married to a High Court Judge and is in reality, Lady Nugee.

In her launching speech to the faithful, this paragon of working class worth whittered, ‘Labour in not beaten.’

Sorry My Dear, but you are wrong. Labour is not only beaten but it has just lost its fourth election in a row.