Are Politicians Out of Touch?
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 June 2009
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Michael Blastland asks if 'group-think' is distancing policy from the public and asks if our political elite have forgotten how most voters live. People measure their behaviour and beliefs by those around them, so MPs might have thought that the expenses system was reasonable. Might it also mean they have lost touch with what Britain is really like?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thank you for downloading this program from the BBC. |
| 0:40.0 | Analysis is offer at the moment so we thought we'd give you a chance to hear a previous program. |
| 0:45.0 | Originally broadcast on the 22nd of June 2009 towards the end of the last parliament |
| 0:51.0 | and in the wake of the MP's expenses scandal, presenter Michael Blasland |
| 0:55.3 | explores how group think can distort reality and asks whether our political |
| 1:01.0 | elite are losing touch with how most voters really live in |
| 1:05.7 | doesn't everyone? |
| 1:09.7 | A friend walked into a bar, not this one, and found herself next to Martin Johnson, |
| 1:16.5 | former captain of the England rugby team. |
| 1:18.7 | Couldn't believe it, she said. |
| 1:20.4 | He's enormous arms stretching him probably six nearly 19 stone I believe |
| 1:27.2 | really never looked that big playing rugby they don't they, one giant next to another? |
| 1:36.3 | This program is about MPs. |
| 1:38.4 | What does that have to do with Martin Johnson seeming bigger in the pub? |
| 1:42.1 | Perspective, that's what. |
| 1:44.0 | Our question, prompted by the Expenses Saga, but reaching further, thank goodness, |
... |
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