So Ian Hislop thinks Gordon Brown came on Mumsnet because it "wasn't too tough." Can we have Ian Hislop on a webchat please...

[nigglewiggle]

The cheek!!

Also who said "that's the cringiest thing I've ever heard." You've been mentioned on HIGNFY .

Interested why the request for the focus group was pompous though? Why shouldn't the views of us on MN, many of whom have significant political concerns, have a chance to communicate that to GB/the government? Or don't you think we have a right to do that?

Well, no, you don't have a right to decide to form a focus group and expect an audience. There are well-established means of communication with government that you do have a right to do, although admittedly many of those involve making a fortune and then buying a national newspaper.

'he'd eat many mumsnetters alive, i suspect

yup but not all

where we have an advantage I guess LOL-- sheer numbers and reserve troops LOL

OK preacticing sneery look

Sneery witch- even better LOL

Ah yes. That old chestnut of having to make a fortune first ...

Lol.

Watched HIGNFU last night and knew he would be wanted on here now.

I suspect he doesn't spend his free time trawling the parenting support web sites to compare and contrast them though,. (Would be wise to before he comes on here though.)

Invite him - would be fun!

Hislop was hugely patronising on HIGNFY. So what if mumsnet is an information exchange for mothers. There's more intelligent discussion here than in the Private Eye office I suspect - or does he leave all the kids stuff to Victoria, and do the 'important' stuff, like er go on tele, himself? Yes, get him on to explain himself. And we can ask him how much he actually knows about life issues and how much time he actually spends doing 1) the school run 2) the parents' evenings etc

Well yes wheels

I mean, if we were all saying 'IH must die'or be boycotted or simesuch then OK

But asking to have him for a chat- that's ^civilised@ innit? Very QT of us, come and explain yourself young (erm...) man, rather than be vil;lified for what we assume is your meaning.

as i thought

Mrs Hislop on her husband

"Ian is actually a very serious person," she replies. "Although he can be hysterically funny. He is domestically challenged and has been known to make cucumber sandwiches for the children using a courgette."

perhaps we could test him on vegetables.

bobbing - agreed. my post sounded a bit harsh. would just like him to come on mumsnet really.

HIGNFY is a topical news quiz.

One of the items in the news is that the Prime Minister went on a web forum for a live chat, did not answer some questions, quite a lot of which were about biscuits.

What exactly do you expect Ian Hislop to say, when given this as a question?

a) "Gordon Brown should have known better than going on to Mumsnet. Only fiercely intelligent left-wingers are allowed to join and he should have known he would get roasted."

b) "The constant questions on Mumsnet about biscuits were not the desperate acts of intelligent women unable to think up an intelligent question at that point in time, but rather a cunning plan by political media-wise feminists to humiliate Brown by showing up both his inability to answer a simple question and his being out-of-touch with Ordinary People. Mumsnet mums, I bow at your feet. Can I come on next week so you can chew my balls off?"

c) What he did.

If you discover that being talked about like a bunch of airheads on national television isn't to your taste, then don't get the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister serious questions and piss it away; arsing about on the topic of biscuits instead.

Or put more simply, if you play the fool, don't get all surprised and offended when people treat you as a fool.

By "you" I mean "us" Mumsnetters.

'By "you" I mean "us" Mumsnetters.'

some. I wouldn't have everasked that question, like a great many.

Just to be clear.

No I wouldn't have ever asked that question either, and I didn't.

What I meant is I consider myself "incriminated" - for want of a better word - because I didn't post and say "Can we stop the biscuit comments please, we don't want the PM to think that's all we are interested in, do we?" (or something less patronising). I just thought every time I saw a biscuit question.

If people like myself and you who think it was all a bit lame had objected at the time maybe Mumsnet might not now have the reputation of being biscuit-obsessed. But we didn't. Well I didn't...

Ah I shall shout exempt through non attendance LOL, I couldn't be there

But I know what you mean BS. I could have posted a plea when I listed my Q's for people to stick to real Q's, thought about it and didn't.

Well said Balloon Slayer

i was suprised by teh bisuit hting
didnt realise it was a tradition.

Someone did start a separate thread, asking for people to only post sensible questions.

TBH, it didn't bother me that much, given the calibre/seriousness of the rest of the questions. This issue has arisen because of the way in which GB was handed the questions - i.e. he didn't even see the biscuit one - so the whole joke fell totally flat.

Nothing wrong with some light-hearted stuff IMO. Personally, I was just glad that so many of the questions were about serious political issues and not just childcare issues. i.e. they demonstrated that although we might be mothers, that we have concerns/issues that go beyond our children.

I didn't realise it was a tradition either Cheryl. It bloody well will be now though.

I don't think it is actually a tradition -- at least, if you search for "biscuit" or "biscuits" in the Mumsnet live webchats section you don't get anyone else being asked the question (Kim "and Aggie" Woodburn got asked what biscuits MHHQ had offered her, and needmorecoffee offered David Cameron a biscuit if he came to her disabled childrens' group, and that's about it).

Ah now I assumed that the sneery tone with which he said 'Mumsnet' meant that his wife had found all the threads slagging her books off - does no-one else think this?

FWIW I love HIGNFY and Ian Hislop but Private Eye has been rubbish for the last few years....

Is the problem not that MNers asked, jokingly, "what's your favourite biscuit" but the fact that the national press felt the need to report that the PM didn't answer??

Yes come on, forget biscuits, lets have Hislop on toast

But the advantage is with the celeb really, as they can choose which questions to answer. So that does make it easy, especially if some splitter plants posts easy questions.

PrettyCandles - I like HIGNFY, wish I'd seen that one.

Try HIGNFY on iPlayer a little after 20 minutes into the programme (for those who just want to see the bit when GB is photographed with a biscuit).

To be fair, I'm not sure that Ian Hislop is really very negative or dismissive about MN, rather than critical of GB for not being on a political show, where he'd have to answer more carefully, and the odds of a question about favourite biscuit might not come up.

"He clearly thinks we are a trifling bunch of bum-wiping fish wives"

But isn't that our USP?

Ha! Just seen you've got the thermos out PW