The younger generation
- 5 Jul 07, 04:32 PM
Lots of things seem designed to make us feel our age, but having an 18-year-old panellist on Question Time has got to be right up there with fresh-faced policemen or thirty-something Cabinet ministers.
Well, we've got two out of three on tonight's special edition of Question Time. Charlie Bell is on his gap year and after appearing in a mock QT yesterday. Ed Miliband, freshly elevated to the Cabinet, is also on. As if that wasn't enough, the show is being co-produced by eight students from four winning schools in the and they've decided the studio audience should be between 14 and 22.
It's a delicate thing handing over a large degree of editorial control to a team who aren't even old enough to vote. So far it's going well, although tonight will be the acid test. It's got to be worth it if it proves that we're open to a generation which is often dismissed as apathetic and they can prove they're up to the job.
David Dimbleby (age unknown) is so enthusiastic he suggested on this morning (which you can watch by clicking here) that there should be a young version of Question Time every week - maybe on 大象传媒3. Perhaps Davina McCall, who's also on tonight's panel, might be interested in presenting it.
UPDATE 6 July: Click here to watch Schools Question Time.
FURTHER UPDATE AT 1530, 6 JULY: Charlie Bell and two of the student producers of Schools Queston Time were interviewed by Anita Anand on Radio Five Live after the show (which you can listen to by clicking here).
James Stephenson is chief of the Jerusalem bureau
