Quiz shows and the value of knowledge

If you are one of those unfortunate people who have to work until 6:00pm every weekday then you will probably never have watched, or even heard of, ITV’s hit quiz show The Chase. Soon to return for its fourth series, The Chase is hosted by Bradley Walsh and pits a group of four total strangers against one of three quizzing geniuses known as the Chasers as they attempt to win thousands of pounds. Contestants have to secure money by individually answering general knowledge questions and must then outrun the Chaser by answering more questions in order to bring it back to the prize pot. Any contestant who is caught by the Chaser loses their money and is eliminated from the game. All the contestants who succeed in outrunning the Chaser, however, must then work as a team in The Final Chase by answering quick-fire questions to prevent themselves from being caught by the Chaser and to win an equal share of the total prize fund.

The chances of defeating the Chasers are slim but that has not stopped many from having a go. I have become one of the latest people to put myself forward by filling out the lengthy online application form. I know that I am unlikely to even receive an audition let alone make it on to the show but the prospect of winning money by pitting myself against one of Britain’s finest quiz brains is incredibly attractive. My support may always lie with the contestants when I watch the show but I have a great amount of admiration for the extensive knowledge of the Chasers. Their ability to quickly rattle off answers to a wide range of questions must have taken years of studying and considerable brainpower to achieve. I doubt my knowledge would be any match for theirs but it would still be fun to try.

After submitting my application, I found myself thinking back to a few years ago where a quiz show contestant made headlines for all the right but also all the wrong reasons. Gail Trimble was the captain of the Corpus Christi team for the 2008-2009 series of University Challenge and demonstrated amazing knowledge by scoring 125 points in the last four minutes of the show. Her achievement was not met with admiration, however, as she became the victim of a vilified hate campaign for being a know-it-all and too intelligent. It seems she would have found a greater reception from the public if she knew nothing at all. This certainly seems to be the impression given by much of today’s TV. The cast of reality shows The Only Way is Essex are idolized when many of them display a lack of basic intelligence. The show may have an entertaining appeal for some but I feel it demonstrates just how much our society has come to disregard the value of knowledge.

I can not help feeling disheartened at the way our society has come to shun knowledge for the truth is that no knowledge is bad knowledge. Every single little scrap of knowledge can be useful in some way. BBC 1’s quiz show Pointless where contestants win by giving obscure answers to questions is clear proof of this. I always allow myself to feel the smallest amount of smugness when I am able to answer a question which nobody else in my quiz team can. Nobody likes a boaster of course but I really don’t think there is any shame in taking pride in what you know. It’s what got the Chaser’s where they are today and which may allow me to get past them if I am given the chance and am very lucky.

Broken Britain

This week, Britain has witnessed a disgraceful spectacle which has appalled the majority of the population and caused considerable damage to our international reputation. What began as a reaction to the police’s shooting of Mark Duggan escalated into a full-scale assault against the very structure of society. The countless images of hooded thugs assaulting innocent bystanders, burning people’s houses and businesses to the ground and looting whatever they can is truly sickening. It is clear that such actions go far beyond anger at the death of an alleged drug dealer.

The riots raise many questions about the police’s judgement and their ability to deal with such outbreaks of violence. The most disturbing questions, however, revolve around why so many people were inspired to commit such acts of criminality. Why has a society that was a few decades ago one of the most ordered in the world descended to such a low level? The answers lie in the fact that Britain has undergone a continual decline in moral and social values. For many years I have argued that Britain had become a broken society. I received scornful retorts and was told that I was simply talking down society by clinging to dated and irrelevant views. I draw absolutely no comfort or satisfaction from being proved right this week.

In the last few decades increasing emphasis has been placed on adopting more liberal policies in Britain. While the thought behind such policies may have been well intentioned, the truth is that they have had the adverse effect of breaking down the very foundations upon which society is built. The previous government continually undermined marriage as an institution with the result that many children have grown up without a strong family base or a figure of authority to instil them with respect and guide them in their early years. The emphasis placed on criminal rights has also led to our justice system becoming a laughing stock. The increasing number of short sentences and community orders handed out to lawbreakers has left many feeling that they can escape being truly punished for their wrongdoings. The situation is summed up perfectly by the remarks of one fifteen year old rioter: ‘They can’t touch me, I’m still a kid […] What is the worst they can do?’ Give me a caution or a curfew I won’t obey’.

The scale of the violence we have witnessed seems to have finally awoken many to how bad the moral decline of British society has become. Ed Miliband has accepted that Labour bears a large amount of responsibility for undermining the ethics in today’s society. This long overdue admission has given me slightly more respect for the Labour leader as it suggests that he, at the very least, has come to realize that urgent action is needed to combat this problem.

The riots have also served as a wake-up call to David Cameron about the need to mend Britain’s broken society. In Opposition he made several fine promises which would have been important steps towards addressing the situation. To his great shame, however, the majority of these were dropped in the creation of the coalition and society has continued to descend into a moral black hole. He should recall his pledge to support marriage as an institution by ending the married couple’s penalty in the tax system as this would send out a clear message that the government values families as an essential part of a stable society. He should also bring in stronger punishments for criminals to make it clear that law-breaking of any kind will not be tolerated. Most of all, he should continue to emphasise the importance of the Big Society and the opportunity it offers to restore the moral and social standing of British society. It is only through making people realize that we can end the culture of individuality which has led many to feel that their own well-being is all that matters.

Cameron will undoubtedly find himself facing fierce opposition from the Liberal Democrats as well as many other groups if he does pursue such action. If he stays strong, however, Cameron has a unique opportunity to change society for the better and restore his sense of purpose and authority that has been considerably damaged in recent months. If he fails to do so, however, then I fear these riots may not be the last.

Downing Street E-Petiton's Website

It appears that despite the turmoil and bad news concerning Libya and the global economy this week, the public’s attention is more focussed on the resurrected e-petition system on the Downing Street website. First brought in by the previous government, but dropped before the 2010 General Election, it was recently revived by the coalition as a means of addressing voters’ increasing disillusionment with politics. The system allows members of the public to submit and sign petitions on issues that they believe should be considered by parliament. Any petition that attracts at least 100,000 signatures will be passed to the cross-party commons backbench committee who will decide if it is worthy of a parliamentary debate.

It is not altogether surprising that such a site has attracted considerable public attention. There are, of course, those who have treated the site as a joke by posting ridiculous suggestions such as making cannabis legal and making bodybuilding compulsory to improve the nation’s health. One petition in 2009, which attracted nearly 10,000 signatures, called for Jeremy Clarkson to be made Prime Minister (though let’s face it, he couldn’t have been much worse than Gordon Brown).

The majority, however, seem to have taken the site seriously by using it to promote issues that they genuinely believe in. The popularity of petitions calling for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union and a withdrawal from the European Human Rights Act  reflects how frustrated many Britain’s have become with the continual interference of the EU in the way that their country is governed. The fact that the most popular petitions of all support the reinstatement of capital punishment also shows how many feel that our current system is not doing enough to punish criminals and prevent them from committing more crimes. In effect, what the site is really allowing people to do is to highlight issues which politicians are refusing to confront.

The growing divide between politicians and the people who elect them in this country is a cause for serious concern. The problem, which I hoped would get better with the election of a new Parliament, has unfortunately continued to get worse over the last few years. This is mainly due to the coalition’s worryingly consistent record on breaking promises on issues like tuition fees, Europe and criminal justice. The electorate has been increasingly left feeling that they are being completely ignored by politicians. Many of them have lost faith in the political system to such an extent that they have simply stopped voting in the belief that politicians use them purely as a means of securing power so they can pursue their own agenda.

The Downing Street website may be gimmicky but it offers an opportunity for politicians to begin earning back the voters faith. Leader of the Commons Sir George Young has said that MP’s cannot simply ignore the voters when they express their views in this way which highlights the key strength of the site. Politicians will at last be forced to confront the issues that they often shy away from. Issues like immigration and the Human Rights Act will no longer be presented as mattering only to so-called right wing zealots but the legitimate concerns of standard voters. At the very least, politicians will be obliged to provide reasons for why they are ignoring issues which are of key importance to voters. They must seize this website as the first step down the long road of reengaging people with politics and restoring their faith in the political system. Failure may result in consequences more severe than any of us could imagine.