tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6041078734586577907.post2249296635620270793..comments2023-10-28T16:47:04.766+01:00Comments on Jo Christie-Smith: The wrath of Linda...Jo Christie-Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02971979793175012868noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6041078734586577907.post-29865973731886058122008-10-07T09:17:00.000+01:002008-10-07T09:17:00.000+01:00Hi Jeremy,Obviously it's taken me a rather long ti...Hi Jeremy,<BR/><BR/>Obviously it's taken me a rather long time to get back on this:<BR/><BR/>Firstly, we are in possession of the facts - Linda had, when I wrote this the break down of male to female cards and the lack of proportionality was clear - the Chair was clearly favouring male cards over female.<BR/><BR/>Secondly, if the FCC isn't accountable for the Chairs of the debates then who is? He may not have been a member of the FCC but he was still given an incredibly powerful role by them - to chair the big debate at conference?<BR/><BR/>Nope, I don't accept that it's not really the FCC's fault. I accept that's not what they wanted to happen but the buck has to stop somewhere!Jo Christie-Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02971979793175012868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6041078734586577907.post-62771493032512053402008-09-18T22:02:00.000+01:002008-09-18T22:02:00.000+01:00I'd make a few points:1. I think you have a strong...I'd make a few points:<BR/><BR/>1. I think you have a strong point. The lack of women was very striking and it's difficult to believe that more couldn't have been called. <BR/><BR/>2. That said, none of us have seen the cards submitted so we aren't in possession of the actual facts. I agree it seems likely that the gender balance could have been much better, but we can't really say that without knowing all the facts. <BR/><BR/>3. The FCC have said they will investigate what happened, and I'm sure this will happen, as it has occasionally in the past when this has been an issue. <BR/><BR/>4. I think it's somewhat unfair to blame the FCC for this issue - not only did the committee not pick the cards, but the chair of the debate is not even a member of FCC...<BR/><BR/>5. I would just say that selecting cards and balancing all the many factors, can be really pretty tricky. A chair has much less discretion on speaker selection than people think and although we're here understandably focussing on women, there would also be an outcry if there is not some ethnic balance, geographical balance, and other factors - not to mention balancing speakers for and against different points of view, which surely has to be pretty important. I spent several hours after a debate I chaired talking to some of the 28 people that I had not been able to call, including several MPs including frontbenchers - the point that being important means you get to speak is certainly not true - indeed I was roundly challenged why some much less good or well informed speakers had been called instead of MPs who would indeed have spoken better than them.<BR/><BR/>6. On intervention speakers - there is no selection procedure for this, you simply go and sit in the appropriate seats in the hall.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6041078734586577907.post-68049857424748331472008-09-16T23:29:00.000+01:002008-09-16T23:29:00.000+01:00Jo: I was going to follow this up as well. I was t...Jo: I was going to follow this up as well. I was told by Jon Ball, who was aide to the debate, when I complained to him about this, that 'around 20%' of cards submitted for the debate were from women. No excuses as to why more women weren't called. Jo Swinson and I got ourselves into the intervention seats,ensuring we got called. So at least we got a minute each. Members of the conference committee need to wake up and demonstrate the party's policies and commitment to equality.Meral Hussein Ecehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16882052499747698790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6041078734586577907.post-62526345131975735292008-09-16T21:39:00.000+01:002008-09-16T21:39:00.000+01:00The BBC chose that moment to lose the sound. Thou...The BBC chose that moment to lose the sound. Though from the sound of it it might have been the censor :-)<BR/><BR/>The debates I've seen (MiH and Europe) do have a worrying tendency to only feature "people of stature" within the party speaking from the platform<BR/><BR/>Only two "ordinary members" spoke in the MiH in that way - and one of them is the party's former policy director.<BR/><BR/>If I didn't know better I'd say that the only way you could to speak from the podium at conference was if you were an important person and the ordinary members had a second tier method through interventions.Hywelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16094171587140185827noreply@blogger.com