Why don't politicians answer questions?

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Politicians are always accused of avoiding answering questions. If it makes them so unpopular, why do they all do it?

Written by
LIAM BUTLER @LiamMakesStuff
JAY FOREMAN @jayforeman
JON GRACEY @jongracey
and PAUL KENDLER

Presented / edited by JAY FOREMAN
Filmed / directed by PAUL KENDLER
Research / graphics by LIAM BUTLER

Also starring
GUY KELLY @brainmage

[Ranged]

"Just look at this graph"
*graph*

Not sure what I expected

[GHP]

I now get why politicians don't answer questions, but now I'm just annoyed at the media instead of the politicians.... great.

[turtlepenguinXkizuna]

"If [politicians] say anything stupid, they could be unemployed within hours... or days!"
God how I wish that were still true...

[paianis]

2:58 - "Call today!" ... shows a web address.

[magicorafaelhide]

This is one of the best channels ever.

[jcbdwsn]

Or just repeat "Strong and stable" every 5 seconds...

[ryougahibiki]

"their job security matters more than they job being done efficiently"

This is possibly the most poignant comment on modern politics.

[Nixitur]

And then there are politicians who _do_ answer questions, who _do_ promise impossible things and who _do_ make outrageous, demonstrably false claims, but voters are fine with it for some reason. I know those are an exception to the rule, but it's an interesting phenomenon, anyway.

[SomeThrillingHeroics]

Watching this in 2018, I can't help but see the juxtaposition of the faces of Cameron, Miliband and Clegg in the intro, immediately followed by the sentence "Politicians all suffer from chronic job insecurity".

Three years on, none are still leader of their party, and only one is still an MP at all.

[randomname]

"its naive to assume we're owed a solution to this terrible, worsening, inherently unsolvable problem" - evergreen words I will now be using in every single discussion I partake in

[DominikKleinMusicde]

I just stumbled upon your channel, when YouTube suggested me some educational content. And even though I don't live in the UK, I found myself watching almost every video on your channel for the last couple of hours, leaving me wondering how you can be stuck at 38000 subscribers whilst producing so much top quality content.
One could argue that focusing on mainly London / the UK, limits the amount of people who are interested in watching your videos.
But anyways, here you've got an instant subscription :)
Cheers and keep up the amazing work!!

[donerzombie]

Partially it's also the media to blame. Some questions can't be properly answered, either due to their wording implying stuff you can't erase if you just answer or cause the question itself is based on wrong assumptions. Not always the case, absolutely, but it is also a contributing factor.

[ieatgarbage]

Well, I’m glad you raised that question [interviewer’s name], so let me be clear. This is an issue we’re very concerned about, and it’s about time that we stopped dithering, got around the negotiation table, got it sorted, got this right, stopped getting it wrong, and made sure this issue doesn’t get raised again, at least, not during the course of our government, without asking permission first.

[deserthillfolk]

I don't even live in the UK and I find every single one of your videos informative and hilarious!

[tuulofdstrxn]

Makes me wonder, if it were completely normal for politicians to analyze their statements and change their mind openly and on the fly, for example during an interview, would their credibility really be undermined by it? I know that's largely not the case *now*, but for me at least it's really hard to trust anyone who can't admit to having made a mistake or misjudgment, and it's trust-inducing to me to hear someone admit to having been wrong, and further if they explained how it happened.

[catherinespark]

"The figure is [quotes figure]."
"But this piece of paper says [quotes different figure]."
"Nevertheless, the figure is in fact [quotes first figure]."
"That's not what you said last time. Last time you said it was [quotes figure]."
"Well, I can now confirm the figure is [quotes figure]. Glad we addressed that. Can I clear up any other points for you?"
"Yes, I hear you were involved in the [x, y, z] sex and expenses scandal. Can you shed light on that?"
"I doubt it would do much good. If you're determined to associate my name with that, then my answer won't make a difference."
"Answer the question."
"No."
"No as in no you won't answer or no as in no you weren't involved in it?"
"No as in no."

[joez]

I once watched a presentation from former Australian PM Kevin Rudd. During the Q&A a woman stood up and she just told him about how her experience with institutionalised racism in the 1970s without asking any question, but Kevid Rudd managed to answer the not-question anyway. I didn't know such smooth fuckery was possible.

[liamsmalley]

"It's a real pity that this man and several more like him exist/exist"

[Hiro_Trevelyan]

Tbf, I've seen politicians state facts and still get booed for not saying what people want to hear. Like that woman who finally said out loud what most architects and urban planners have repeated for the last decade : individual houses in low-density areas is bad for the environnement and the economy (and forces people to car-dependency). But it takes time to explain, which a lot of TV channels won't provide and long explanations gives plenty of space to get attacked by opponents, even if those attacks are ridiculously stupid. (like people saying "but I NEED my car !" when talking about car dependency. That's literally what we're trying to solve and they still find a way to not understand that it's the main problem).

You may play fair, your opponents won't and the public is often too stupid to see it.

[davidschaftenaar]

I'm actually an insignificant municipal politician myself: We'll start answering questions honestly when you stop crucifying us the split-second we admit to the slightest hint of imperfection, error, humanity or change of heart. You might not believe me when I say this but we actually - don't - like upsetting people by talking like Monsanto corporation representatives with something to hide.