Three 'Question Times' - in one week!

This first appeared in the Bath Chronicle on Thursday, April 29.

Iam pretty certain that by tea-time on Saturday (May 1) Bath's election candidates will be pretty sick of seeing each other - and probably fed up of seeing me too.

The reason for this is that over the past few weeks those fighting for the Bath seat have been bumping into each other at various events at a number of different Question Time-style hustings events. These will continue this weekend with the candidates due to line up against each other at The Forum on Friday night and then at the Bath Royal and Literary Scientific Institution (BRLSI) on Saturday afternoon - both of which will be chaired by me.

Friday night's event has been organised by the Churches Together in Bath organisation and was, I understand, a huge success when a similar event was held at the last election. And then tomorrow afternoon's battle of words will see the attention switch to Queen Square where the BRLSI and the Bath and District Unlock Democracy group will be the hosts.

Both events promise to be very different but hopefully both will be very informative as well.

As for myself, I had a taste of the joys of chairing a hustings event on Monday night when I was with a different set of candidates - those battling it out for the intriguing North East Somerset seat at Midsomer Norton Town Hall.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed that first of my trio of debates this week and I was hugely impressed by the mature, intelligent and entertaining way the candidates engaged a packed hall. They treated all our questioners (as they treated each other) with real respect and I like to think that in our own small way we did a little bit of good for the local democracy on that night.


I can't guarantee that anybody changed their votes but I am pretty certain most people came away understanding the candidates and what they and their party stood for much better as a result of our time together. Job done.

What of course makes these sort of Question Time shindigs all the more intriguing at the moment is that no one has a clue about who is going to win the big vote a week today (May 6) so every single vote is precious and needs to be fought for with passion.

We have seen the impact those TV debates have already had on the big global picture but I would like all the candidates for the next couple of hustings to consider that if they make their mark during these local battles, they could really make a difference if the decision goes down to a handful of votes as many people are predicting.

So, I do hope to see a number of you on Friday night and Saturday afternoon and I hope you will have the chance to ask the questions you want to be heard. It's a great chance to make your mind up with all the candidates present about who deserves your precious vote.

Let the battle(s) commence.

Bath is an amazingly Creative city

On Thursday night unless the BBC has a dramatic change of heart, the prestigious Question Time show will have a record audience as well-known Holocaust denier Nick Griffin joins the illustrious panel. It may not be November 5 just yet – but boy, oh boy, expect fireworks.

On Tuesday night I too had the pleasure of sitting on a Question Time style panel – but thankfully there wasn’t a BNP activist in sight.

For this proudly non-political panel was one that was there to highlight one of Bath’s greatest hidden assets – it’s lively and highly imaginative creative sector.

he event had been organised by the burgeoning Creative Bath group which is aiming to bring together the many different creative industries in our city. The term “creative industry” is obviously quite a wide-ranging one and among the members of the group are people involved in all forms of the written media, TV and film, writing, web designing, music, photography and other less ‘obvious’ creative fields such as architecture.

What unites them all is that they use their imagination and their brains to produce their wares. And what an enjoyably eclectic bunch they are too.

At this latest meeting a number of us were asked to be part of a panel discussion on how the recession and general downturn has affected the media/creative sector. Chaired enthusiastically by the ever-energetic Greg Ingham of MediaClash, I shared that panel with Bob Mytton, Malcolm Brinkworth, Mike Ellis, Richard Daws and John Weir and between us we represented a wide range of different organisations all of whom have had different challenges during the past 12 months.

I found all my fellow guests to be fascinating and full of insight and between us and the equally engaged audience I think we enjoyed a pretty lively debate.

What virtually all of us in the packed Ustinov Theatre shared was the realisation that yes, the creative sector has had a tough time, but that hadn’t dented the optimism, positivism or the imagination of those of us in this fascinating sector.W

hat this night also illustrated was just how vibrant the creative scene is in Bath. Organisations such as the Chronicle, Future and MediaClash are all quite high-profile but there are many pockets in and around the city where smaller groups of people are producing top-class work that collectively is providing millions of pounds for our city’s economy.

The figures of how much the creative industries bring to our area are staggering and it was revealed on Tuesday night that Bath is doing as well as anywhere in the South West in terms of its creative enterprise.

I am fairly certain that in many towns or cities which are much bigger than Bath you would not get the same number of people attending such events as this and Bath does seem to be like a magnet for many people who work in the creative field. It seems somewhat ironic that in a city which is so rightfully proud of its past that if you scratch at the surface you will find many people who are working hard in the industries of the future.

I also sense that, although the Creative Bath organisation already has hundreds of active and enthusiastic members, there may be many other people out there who are still not aware of the benefits this group brings. If that sounds like you then can I push you to the group’s website (www.creativebath.org) where you can find out how you can join an organisation which may not only be good for you as an individual, but could also boost your business and help our city’s economy grow.

PS I bet tonight’ s Question Time won’t be nearly as inspiring . . .