Political tweeting with the BBC

Twitter has enlivened the watching and listening of political programmes as now you can shout at the world and not just at your telly.

The BBC actively encourages this on its main audience participation programmes Any Questions (Radio 4) and its young upstart Question Time (BBC One).

Even better, Any Questions is followed by Any Answers which has moved over the years from the paper post (the answers were broadcast a week after the original debate) to the telephone to email and now to Twitter.

I have had a few tweets read out on Any Answers but this week was even better as I got retweeted BBC Radio 4 and so my comment, on the lasting legacy of capitalism, was picked up by more people than usual leading to more retweets, more followers and some bizarre replies.

All that is much better that ranting at a box that can't argue back.

For the record, this is what I tweeted during this week's programmes.

Any questions?

Apart from petty vindictiveness, what actually is the point in denying prisoners the right to vote? #bbcaq

We should back down and let all prisoners vote as is their human right and we'll forget what all the fuss was about in a few weeks. #bbcaq

In my children's lifetime we will lose Holland to the sea but all the Tories will talk about is the short-term cost of renewables. #bbcaq

The mistake is only counting the financial cost of energy and ignoring the environmental cost that will critically damage the planet. #bbcaq

The lasting legacy of capitalism will be that it made us destroy the planet because that's what the numbers told us to do. #bbcaq

Anybody who thinks that economically and politically that GB is anything like CH is clearly bonkers. #bbcaq

Question Time

IDS grandstands that Parliament is sovereign and not one person clapped. #bbcqt

Prisoners are still human so they still have human rights. The clue is in the name. #bbcqt

If the UK Parliament flaunts the law will they lose the right to vote too? #bbcqt

Prisoners should be allowed to vote. To restrict democracy in this way is inhumane and is a dangerous route to take. #bbcqt

Don't forget that Charles Kennedy sacked an MP (mine) for just saying she understood why Palestinians are angry. #bbcqt

Kind of guessing that posh boy in the audience has never been to Gazza. #bbcqt

It's a false question; Hammas are responding to the continual growth of illegal settlements and the blockade. #bbcqt

Why a referendum on Europe and why now? We cannot relive all our major political decisions every thirty years. #bbcqt

I'd rather have a tighter relationship with Brussels and weaker one with Westminster. Our MPs are nothing to be proud of. #bbcqt

Don't forget that there is a woman bishop in the Anglican Church already, Ellinah Wamukoya in South Africa. #bbcqt