Debates on Syria, health and welfare reforms and tax cuts for small businesses were on the agenda as an audience of more than 700 people packed into the Prince Obolensky Building at Trent College school for BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions live broadcast on Friday (23 February).
Representing a cross-section of the local community, several audience members, including Trent College Sixth Form student Harriet Livesey, were chosen to ask their challenging questions on the hot political, social and moral topics of the day to the four-strong panel in Long Eaton, Nottingham.
The panel was made up of Liberal Democrat MP and Minister of State for Children and Families, Sarah Teather, writer and broadcaster Kenan Malik, Nikki King OBE, Managing Director of vehicle distributor Isuzu Trucks UK and Labour’s Shadow Minister without Portfolio, Michael Dugher. Any Questions was chaired as always by Jonathan Dimbleby.
As well as their views on the coalition’s controversial back-to-work proposals, the panel were also jokingly asked what it would take for each of them to get into a brawl, in response to the alleged incident between two MPs in a House of Commons bar last week!
James Gregory, Trent College’s Director of Operations, co-ordinated the event. He said: “It was a delight for Trent College to host the BBC’s Any Questions. The production and technical teams were a pleasure to work with and I was pleased that all the preparation and communication prior to the broadcast paid off. We were also delighted to welcome so many audience members made up of pupils, parents, friends of the school as well as many new faces. We thank everyone for their support and hope they, and people listening at home, enjoyed the lively debate.”
Among other invited guests included Jessica Lee, MP for Erewash, Leader of Erewash Borough Council, Councillor Chris Corbett, Mayor of Erewash, Councillor Kevin Miller, Sir Andrew Buchanan, Lord Lieutenant of Nottingham and Headteachers from several of the area’s schools.
Any Questions was first broadcast in October 1948, and currently around 1.5m people listen to the programme weekly. Each week the production visits a different community in the UK and occasionally Europe.
For more information about Trent College visit www.trentcollege.net