All I know is that the article you linked from The Telegraph showed a pie chart with a heavy bias towards "left leaning".... which appears to be approximately 67% which I quoted from the BBC news report I saw a few days ago.

All the other stuff you've said is irrelevant and akin to political speech designed to confuse and undermine the opposition.

Farage was right.

It can be interpreted multiple ways but realistically half of Labour aren't left leaning so we'd have to factor that in too. The Telegraph just shoved them into a 'left leaning' category of its own making, it doesn't become gospel as a result. The guy posting here has his spin on it, they have their spin on it and so on.

Think you'll find the overwhelming majority of the population are anti UKIP too.

Yes, the majority of the audience was anti-UKIP. That doesn't mean it would have been left wing by the way as the majority of Tory voters *should* be anti-UKIP.

But to suggest there was some undue BBC bias in selecting a "left wing" audience is factually incorrect. No spin. No interpretation. Just fact. That truly can only be interpreted one way.

Farage deliberately played up to it to make himself seem anti-establishment so the "bias" worked for him anyway. It will have motivated his core support.

Anyway, like I said I will be interested to see the format for the QT "debate" when the panel will not be predominantly left wing (even by the weak definition that includes the Lib Dems as left wing).

"It's almost like a moral decision. Except not really cos noone is going to find out," Jez, Peep Show

Lefty studio audience members are always more vocal. No idea why, but if you watch/listen to any of the popular TV debate shows you'll see it - Question Time, Any Questions, etc.

Some seem to believe that shouting down the opposition means you've won the argument. This may stem from the fact that people tend to move towards the right as they get older, so maybe the right wingers tend to be more mature?

Not sure, but my point is that the fact that the audience were vocally anti-Farage needn't necessarily mean a bias in the crowd, just that the right wingers would be more likely to shake their heads, or perhaps raise an eyebrow, but largely stay politely quiet and respectful when something they disagree with, whereas the student union types will hoot and holler.

Just personal perception, nothing I can back up with figures, but the left (or at least their supporters) do tend to be less conducive to good debate (take Nick Griffin on QT as an example - there for the taking, policies to be exposed and ridiculed, but just greeted with rent-a-mob booing and panellists turning their backs on him like sulking kids, and actually ended up looking good by comparison)

Edited by npn (22 Apr 2015 1.13pm)

I agree. That bint having a shout at Cameron in the ITV one, for example.

Optimistic as ever