The proverbial Martian who was observing Earth and listened to “Any Questions” on BBC Radio or watched BBC Question Time on TV could be forgiven for assuming that, ever since 2010 the British people have been groaning under the boots of a fascist/capitalist/fatcat banker clique and are crying out for a left wing messiah who will lead them to the promised land of rainbows, unicorns and money trees – and (quelle surprise), welcome hundreds of thousands of “refugees” with open arms

Outside in the real world, of course, that particular type of infantilism fails to resonate.

So – why the discrepancy? Alison Pearson, who recently appeared on one of the panels, thinks she might have the answer

After the recording, the show’s excellent host, Jonathan Dimbleby, sighed heavily and told me it was a constant problem. He and the whole AQ team found it immensely frustrating that Tories simply did not show up on the night to add their voices. The producer said it would cost £5,000 a week to pay someone to assemble a politically balanced audience

Maybe – but one anecdote in the comments painted a slightly darker picture

I applied to join the Question Time audience four times using different details each time. Three times I expressed conservative views and voting and I heard nothing. One time I expressed socialist views and voting, and was invited to take part. Only an anecdote, but perhaps it reflects a wider issue. Question Time’s audience is never balanced. Any Questions is always loaded by lefties who use forums or rely on union shop stewards to urge each other on to go along. But I suppose these people feel at home because the current affairs output of the BBC aligns so closely with their political stance

BBC being rather selective? That can’t possibly be true…can it?

Notice how the UK media have been very quiet about Trump lately. We were earlier told by the resident pundits that he would fade and the consultant class choice Jeb Bush (Romney 2) would be emerging as the front runner ready to lose gracefully to Hillary in November 2016 having been deserted by the base.

But the Trump “fade” (rather like the UKIP fade) hasn’t happened so far and the “experts” both here and across the ocean are worried. As with UKIP,the SNP and Corbyn it’s a new landscape and their maps don’t appear to be making sense. Seems also that their regular hires from the so called “conservative” Washington punditocracy who inhabit the legacy media and the think tanks are also beginning to hedge their bets.

But in the US it’s not just the liberal/left usual suspects in the MSM who are starting to get angry at their compasses – “conservative” websites are wondering why outsiders like Trump, Carson and Fiorina getting a combined 50% plus in the polls while assorted GOP governors and senators are in single digits.

I suppose it’s beginning to feel a bit like being in St Petersburg in December 1916……