Viewing guide

Tiberius

Good luck, Fraser, and I shall be watching as usual. I see poor Ruth Kelly has the job of defending the indefensible this week. Give her hell!

Isabel

Have you noticed that every time Alan Duncan appears on tv the Tory lead drops a few points? I've wondered more than once if he is selected by Question Time and the Daily Politics for that very purpose or whether the Tory publicists who put MPs forward for these programmes are blind to his lack of charms.

Mike

Isabel - I like Alan Duncan, I've met him at one or two drinks events and he's a very nice guy with a dodgy taste in ties. He has always been witty and charming.

Austin Barry

The trouble with Alan Duncan is that, bright and articulate though he is, he presents as so insufferably smug and self-satisfied that murderous thoughts arise in even the most torpid of viewers.

Talia

What about Labour’s Green Paper on immigration (levy towards public services, community work etc). What’s the CH view on this, Fraser? (I will definitely be watching you later, by the way)

CS

To be honest, the Tory front bench isn't exactly overburdened with charming people. I think Duncan comes across pretty well. Much better than someone with the appalling televisual effect of, say, Michael Howard or Caroline Spelman. Oliver Letwin has the charm but nearly always seems to end up in a muddle. The opposite to Letwin is Michael Gove who unfortunately comes across as a cold fish but beats most of the panel with his arguments. Not watched Head to Head (late night BBC) for ages but it was always a treat to see him run rings round Polly Toynbee while she fumed. David Davis comes across well an Andrew Lansley.

The Last Tory in Scotland

Please do not let Ms Kelly away with any of the usual New Labour nonsense of low inflation, low unemployment etc; I trust you will have memorised all the correct statistics for instant rebuttal ! Shouting at the TV every Thursday night does nothing for my blood pressure - we are relying on you not to let them away with anything....... Good luck Fraser!

Cicero

You would do me a great service if you and your fellow participants could explain precisely the significance of Granite in the NR debacle.

Pete

Can you get stuck into the EU "treaty" scandasl too please? The scandalous NuLiar approach to democratic debate on the constitution/treaty/referendum/lack of Parlimentary debate is a matter that should not be buried under the morass of Northern Rock debate. Good luck.Toodle pip!

Stan, UK

Cant wait you were brilliant last time, just dont be so nervous only a few million people watching, ha ha!

Nicholas

Yes, Fraser, please guard against new labour "answers" (from Ruth Kelly) that are just the usual party political broadsides. We are mighty bored with hearing them again and again and again . . . . especially as they are lies anyway. Also don't let Dimble get away with what Andrew Neil has been doing lately (shame on him), fiercely haranguing Conservative spokesmen about their "policies" on government balls-ups (obviously some BBC commissar has re-educated him to give the Conservatives an equally hard time to the government lackeys). The Conservative spokesmen seem unable or unwilling to point out that they are an opposition party there to hold the government to account, not to justify, or be judged upon, their own virtual "policies" for events over which they have no control. Their job is to expose government lies, distortions and cover-ups - nothing to be ashamed about there - just wish they did it more savagely and more often. All this nonsense about "ping-pong" and confrontational debate is just that - nonsense. It is a classic new labour/lefty tactic rooted in soviet style subversion to attack any disagreement as "counter-revolutionary" (in this case Brown Mao's usual PMQs bleat about what the Tories "voted against" and what they may or may not have done in the last century) and to demonise the person rather than tackle the argument with any reason or logic. One sees it here and on other blogs with the recent crop of labour damage-control trolls smearing the Conservatives at every opportunity as "toffs" (In any case I'd rather have a "toff" running the government than the current socio-fascist misfits)

Max Kaye

Good Luck Fraser -may the (Coffee House) Force be with you.

PS - Don't let even one porkie get by unchecked..

Fraser Nelson

Thanks everyone - I'm reading this on the train up to Newcastle with Killer Cable a few seats ahead of me. All I need is Iain Dale to tell me what the questions will be (he has a supernatural ability to guess them) and I'll be sorted.

CS

Hang on a minute...I thought we were tired of Scotsmen getting all the good gigs in politics. (runs away)

CS

I think you can guarantee that (being in Newcastle) there'll be a question on Paul Gascoigne's sectioning.

Oscar Miller

Good luck Fraser - I will definitely tune in. And BTW posters - lay off Alan Duncan. I find him charming. One of the big appeals of the Conservatives for me is their individual and distinctive personalities - like Alan Duncan and unlike most of the current Labour front bench.

Tiberius

I have to say I found Michael Portillo's exchange with Peter Hitchens the most poignant piece of yesterday evening. If Margaret Thatcher, in the pre-Diana era, found tub-thumping education proposals so far-out as to tell their devisers to "grow up", I think there is a case for a mighty apology from Simon Heffer et al. to David Cameron.