Britain's first ever prime ministerial TV debate.

[Gronnuck]

Tonight 8.30 PM on STV.

I don’t want to detract from John Little’s thread ‘what I want from a government’ so my question is simple – will you be watching and why/why not?

My own view is that the 'debate' has been so tightly managed, with over 70 rules, that it will be very bland and of little real worth.
I'll probably record it and 'dip' into it over the next week or so.

[Fluff]

I'm watching it as it is on now. It's slightly amusing, Brown keeps interrupting Cameron but has come out with a couple of funny quips. It's all rubbish anyway though

[Kodiak]

Finished and what a Bore it was. Nothing new and just the same old smarm from all three. I do not know why I expected anything else.

[Fly]

It was better than I thought it would be.

[Flashman]

That was better than I thought it would be too

My thoughts -

Nick Clegg - Won out by a mile, confident and slick and honest but escaped some tougher questions on his policies as the other two concentrated on each other.... when they did hit him on trident he had to go on the backfoot. Thing is if can he tranfer support from a after debate poll to the ballot box?

David Cameron - Totally underperfomed for what was expected of him, looked a little uncomfortable at times but did make some good points on Crime, Immigration and Education. Has to do alot better in the next two debates.

Gordon Brown - Defended himself well, started poor but grew in confidence... always an uphill battle for him but I thought it was a good solid perfomrmance but defintly the least popular of the three.

[Boozeburglar]

I thought it was funny.

Brown smiling at the wrong times.

Cameron trying to keep a straight face all the time to avoid looking smarmy.

Easy for Clegg to keep his cool, he has nothing to lose.

[Flashman]

I thought it was funny.

Brown smiling at the wrong times.

Cameron trying to keep a straight face all the time to avoid looking smarmy.

Easy for Clegg to keep his cool, he has nothing to lose.

Also not scrutinized as well, it's clear that if we are going to have these kind of debates then Cons and Lab have to take the Lib Dems a little more seriously than they take them in parliment.

[Anfield]

I thought it was funny.

Brown smiling at the wrong times.

Cameron trying to keep a straight face all the time to avoid looking smarmy.

Easy for Clegg to keep his cool, he has nothing to lose.

Having had to endure the past week with never ending news reports about who/what/where on the Election, the last thing I wanted to watch was the main three protagonists discussing it.

Instead I watched "Outnumbered" which, as usual, was brilliant.
This programme is, to TV comedy, what Sgt Peppers and Dark Side of the Moon was to music. Pure brilliance from everyone concerned, from writers to actors.
Plus it made me laugh

[Boozeburglar]

Having had to endure the past week with never ending news reports about who/what/where on the Election, the last thing I wanted to watch was the main three protagonists discussing it.

Instead I watched "Outnumbered" which, as usual, was brilliant.
This programme is, to TV comedy, what Sgt Peppers and Dark Side of the Moon was to music. Pure brilliance from everyone concerned, from writers to actors.
Plus it made me laugh

Yeah, a whole WEEK of election stuff. My goodness, and it is every three months we have an election. Darn it there is going to be another three weeks of this stuff too. I wish they would only have one every few years, it is taking over our lives.

[riggerboy]

i doesnt matter who gets in they are going to screw us over anyway, what you need to think of is


which 1 will pull yer troosers up and tuck yer shirt in after,

[Phill]

The three of 'em needed to wipe their mouths afterwards, they had BS dribbling down the sides.

[John Little]

Cameron - CGI skin, related to HM, old ruling class, smooth, plausible and all froth - he looked uncomfortable.

Broon - old stager, chunky, lots of gravitas - did as well as he could be for the fact that he's already had 13 years to make a mark.

Clegg - young, voice needs to be heavier and came over like a university lecturer. Which of course he is and he's obviously seriously smart. Inexperienced - but so is Cameron.

But Clegg had a shadow standing at his shoulder. If there's any chance that Cable will be Chancellor he'll get my vote.

But he won last night hands down.

THEY will be oot to get him now.

I wonder what skeleton in the closet the red tops will dig up...

[bekisman]

Floating voter? lady who was in the audience who's hand was shaken by all three, said that Brown 'did not look at her', Cameron 'had a bit of an overdone smile' Cleg 'looked at her, said a few words' so she's voting for him..policies? sod 'em.. hmm 'nuff said?

[The Drunken Duck]

Didnt watch it, wont be voting for any of the major three parties so I didnt see the point. Broon is a waste of space and a downright liar, Cameron comes across as a slimeball and Nick Clegg is the leader of a useless party.

I find it hilarious, but not surprising, in this media driven age that people would vote for someone purely because of how they performed on TV.

[Sara Jevo]

Clegg always had the most to gain from the exposure because very few people knew who he was. That said, he performed best of the three. Cameron had the most to lose, and he did.

The trick for Clegg now will be whether he can maintain the bounce in the polls he'll get from it.

It'll be fascinating to see the attitude of Cameron and Brown towards him in the next one, once they've had a chance to reflect on the outcome.

[ducati]

Clegg always had the most to gain from the exposure because very few people knew who he was. That said, he performed best of the three. Cameron had the most to lose, and he did.

The trick for Clegg now will be whether he can maintain the bounce in the polls he'll get from it.

It'll be fascinating to see the attitude of Cameron and Brown towards him in the next one, once they've had a chance to reflect on the outcome.

Immediate poll of a sizeable sample puts LD second by one point to Con with Lab trailing by a huge margin. Others are only 5% in total

That would be something, LD the HM Opposition

[rambo1978]

Not being politically orientated I watched the entire debate and was surprised to get drawn into it, I found it an interested piece of television and imo Nick Clegg was on top by a long shot.

[Sara Jevo]

Immediate poll of a sizeable sample puts LD second by one point to Con with Lab trailing by a huge margin. Others are only 5% in total

That would be something, LD the HM Opposition

If you believe the Lib Dems have gone from rank outsiders to realistic runners in this election, I wonder if John Thurso is terrified or electrified by the possibilty of finding himself in charge of the Department of whatever it's called that Mandleson presided over?

[bekisman]

Oh well have to wait til 65 to get the winter fuel payment if Lib dems get in (not likely though)
'Reforming Winter Fuel Payments to extend them to all severely disabled people, paid for by delaying age-related Winter Fuel Payments until people reach 65.'

[Anfield]

I find it hilarious, but not surprising, in this media driven age that people would vote for someone purely because of how they performed on TV.

Another example of a concept we have borrowed from America.
Mind you they voted Bush back in, will we get Brown again?
But in view of current politicians and policies, I am definitely a floating voter.

One person who wont be getting my vote though is John Thurso who votes on crucial issues without consulting his constituents.
I set out below a reply I received from His Lordship on the matter of his views on whether or not he would support Hilary Benn on repealing any attempt at re-introducing foxhunting:

“..No. This is a matter for me of my own convictions and I therefore voted as I felt right..”

John Thurso

I just wonder whether his role as a director of Ulbster Estate (Sporting) Ltd http://www.hotfroguk.co.uk/Companies...portinghttp://
helped him come to this decision.
Or maybe it was his friendship with Lord Kirkham who in the 2001 election contributed 25% of Thurso's election expenses which merited this mention on BBC website:
"..Lib Dem MP John Thurso's extensive entry in the register includes a donation of 25% of his election expenses from Lord Kirkham, who just happened to vote against an amendment of the Hunting ban which would have widened its scope.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1719010.stm

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2001-03-13&number=1&mpn=Lord_Kirkham&mpc=Lords&house=lords &house=lords

He did however repay the money in which he was overpaid (£548.21) in the recent MP's expenses scandal.

So, if you are against foxhunting, and any other forms of killing wild animals for sport do not vote for John Thurso