Anyone else find the BBC interview with Zack Polanski rather combative?

[Needtoughlove]

Is anyone watching the interview of the Green Party Zach Polanski leader on BBC News tonight?

I had to check It wasn’t GBN. The way she pressed him and kept interrupting made it difficult to watch.

I am not a green supporter btw just noticing a pattern recently with BBC reporting.

One can only hope. He and Farage can rot in jail. Two

Just watched it. No. She was firm, but allowed him full time to respond and give his side. He’s a moron and a dangerous one at that. I’ve seen ten times more combative interviewers than this all male. Is it because she’s a strong woman she appears to you to be combative?

Hardly. I have seen VB do good interviews. She is a fine reporter but not tops overall.

I am a moderate consumer of television news so there are many reporters I don’t know. I would say that Laura Kuenssberg (sp?), Emily Matlis, the women who anchor the BBC1 News and a couple of women on Sky News are more incisive with a spectrum of politicians.

VB does excel in the exposure of sex crimes, both in holding people to account and in eliciting (relatively) good interviews from the victims. She was also very good with the Post Office scandal, and I think some issues where women were underpaid. Also health scandals. Perhaps bringing injustices to light and showing the human cost is her forte.

No, he needs to be pushed.

He was at best careless and should have apologised.

I think he lives his life on social media and is more interested in tribal fights than talking sensibly about climate change when Europe is literally burning.

I have no doubt he would have found a way to gain sympathy votes from a belated apology. The country cannot afford that risk.

I don't know whether this kind of spat translates into votes, but I am sure that Farage has made more hay and Polanski has been more harmed by the lack of an apology.

However, perhaps it doesn't matter, and both Populist parties are now just eating each other and themselves.

@poetryandwineZP was a complete idiot to post what he did. Of course Farage will blow it up so don’t play into his hands. ZP isn’t the most intelligent but being that stupid is a fairly big low. I totally dislike politics of division and ZPis very much about this and I do think he’s dangerous. I believe populist politicians are dangerous for the majority - left and right. They all need holding to account.

I don't like aspects of Zach Polanski, in particular the way his first reaction is apparently always to criticise the police forces regardless of the circumstances (sometimes criticism is justified).
But it's not fair to say he's suspicious because of the name change. His family were originally Polanski but changed their name to avoid anti-Semitism. This is sadly very common, particularly in the aftermath of WW2. He choose to change it back, and he's every right to do so. If the implication is this is a cynical move to make himself seem more electable/suited to power then that feels a tiny bit anti-Semitic to be honest. And also conflicts with the narrative that the Greens are trying to appeal to anti-Semitism.

You aren’t wrong as far as this goes, @MeetMeOnTheCorner . But the strong suspicions of criminality and consorting with Russia that have reasonably accrued to Farage are a unique low.

Dealing with him is a special case. VB failed to take this into account.

@poetryandwine Well I don’t like Farage either but I strongly dislike populist politicians and it rarely ends well. They peddle their poorly thought out policies to the young and those seeking to blame others. They don’t have policies that are worked through but appeal by using sound bites to sow division to people in society who want everything shaken up and feel they have nothing to lose, but they do. Brexit should have been a wake up call but that’s not been the case.

How is it a special case?

When Polanski shares this kind of content it doesn't just affect Farage. It normalises these kinds of attacks on all politicians and high profile figures and violent, hateful rhetoric.

He is the head of a political party and his content is shared widely. That is the whole post of his social media channels. Carelessness is not an excuse. He owes an apology to all of us, and if he can't apologise to Farage when he is clearly in the wrong, that really is playing Farage's games.

I was shocked at how bad an interview it was. He really didn’t do himself any favours. VB had him rattled. If he wants to be taken seriously he needs to be able to handle this type of interview. He should have taken the opportunity to apologise.

I agree with all of this. To oversimplify greatly, NF resonates with a segment of the older and/or less educated, and ZP resonates with a segment of the younger and/or better educated. In neither case is the appeal to deep thought, though past leaders of the Greens have been more thoughtful (whether one agrees with them or not).

I think NF is a probable criminal with reprehensible ties to Russia, but I never said he lacked an acceptable level of intelligence. He did a masterful job organising Brexit (for which we are still suffering economically and otherwise).

Thoughtlessly sharing the content was an awful mistake.

It is a special case because NF is singularly dangerous, being a probable criminal with ties to Russia and also something of a PR genius.

The only reason the story has any legs is that his team found the post and recirculated it after it was quickly withdrawn. Every bit of oxygen this stupid story gets just provides more opportunity for people to sympathise with a man and a party intent on welcoming an enemy state to the UK. Farage would spin a late apology elicited on News Night to the moon and back.

Before calling that exaggerated, remember that the former head of Reform Wales (and NF’s closest aide in the European Parliament) is currently serving a 10 year jail term for accepting Russian bribes.

This is what makes the situation unique.

I thought VD was excellent but then I think she pretty much always is.

This, why should ZP be a “special case”?
unless you do mean some people can post what they like
on social media, then delete it, and all is well and what’s the big fuss?

Deleting it so quickly that it has racked up few views counts for a lot. Only when NF’s team resurrected the post to stir the pot did it go viral.

If you want common standards of decency applied to you, don’t open yourself to criminal investigations and above all don’t dance with Russia.

PS and if you all are serious about NF’s safety - and indeed if the media is - stop giving the story air. I would be happy to see ZP fade away, but I think NF probably needs to stand trial.

No, everyone deserves common standards of decency. That is what civilisation is.

Not if you are going to exploit them for evil.

I said above that if NF would sign a legally binding promise not to exploit an apology, backed with escrowed funds, he would deserve one. Because that is what it would take to keep him from twisting it. Just think of the lies he has sold previously.

I’m not following the logic of why an apology from Polanski helps Farage. Everyone knows Polanski did something wrong. It doesn’t make it less wrong if he doesn’t apologise.

It just makes Polanski look weak.

.

It also makes Polanski look politically naïve because a genuine sounding apology would have made the story die down quicker.

This is the reason so many politicians just apologise quickly when a negative story starts gaining momentum.

As soon as ZP posted the stupid thing - or as soon as Farage’s team reposted it - he was damned if he apologised and damned if he didn’t. Apologising on Newsnight would also have looked weak, in raising questions about the delay, as well as playing into Farage’s personal agenda.

No one in the UK plays the victim as effectively in the eyes of so many as NF does.

Usually their opponents have not played the victim card to this extent, by reposting something that was quickly taken down, for no constructive purpose.

Fancy Farage calling out another party leader amplifying a social media post calling for Farage’s death just days after a prominent member of Farage’s party was violently murdered by someone who apparently also had a focus on him…

As for ‘mistake’ - easy to call something a mistake after the fact when called out. Especially if you don’t want to apologise for it.

If he is damned by Farage whatever he did why not be damned in a way that doesn’t make him look like a tosser?

It is not weak to admit wrong doing and apologise.