The PM Debates

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

I'm voting Independent. None of those cunts are getting my vote. I strongly urge everyone else to do the same.

[Nemo]

I'm now mildly tipsy and having to spellcheck carefully thanks to picking the wrong horse in our drinking game..turns out Gordon Brown used a stupidly large amount of stats. What a git!

[pride_of_wilts]

I'm not going to waste my time voting this year, If i had to vote though i'd probably vote for UKIP.

The 3 main parties are all the same, They will never change, Just a shame that one of them will be in power, Maybe one day someone else will get in, If i had to vote for one of the 3 main parties though it would be Lib Dems.

[Bogus Dave]

FT says nick clegg did well

yaaay. bloody hypocritical lib dems

[Ardiles]

I'm coming round to the way of thinking that a hung parliament might be the best thing to happen to British politics for some time.  With the disengagement the electorate is feeling towards the political class at the moment; the anger to do with MP's expenses, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the failure to push through banking reform following the greatest convulsion to the system since the 1920s...it would be a shame if we all plodded along as before, swinging alternately between Labour and Conservative.

We need to mix things up a bit, turn the system on its head and take a few politicians outside their comfort zones.  Coalition government has its drawbacks, but I don't think it would be as arrogant/aloof as the government we have now.  My prediction...a Labour/Liberal coalition government with Brown as PM, Cable as Chancellor and Miliband/Clegg also in the top tier of cabinet.  Not everyone's cup of tea, I'm sure...but an eventuality that would give the Tories the shake up they need.  (Cameron needs to grow a backbone and Osborne needs to go.  If they weren't such pale imitations of their predecessors, they would be walking this election by now.)

[Phil_S]

Any government that doesn't include Brown & his gang of thieves & liars would be better than what we have had to put up with. Unfortunately a vote for the Liberals in this region is usually a vote for labour in this region (outside of Swindon any way)

[Ardiles]

The problem with the 'anyone but [insert name of incumbent party/PM]' school of thought is that it produces precisely the pendulum effect I was talking about earlier.  Thirteen years ago, the mantra was 'anyone but the Tories'.  Now it's 'anyone but Brown/NuLabour'.  All we will ever do is swing between two parties with entrenched allegiances, while anyone else outside this cozy duopoly with fresh ideas gets marginalised.  If you want to get people to start caring about politics again, politics needs to offer more than a straight choice between red and blue.

[Highland Robin]

The debates were quite boring, but they had more substance than anyone expected, and actually there wasn't a lot of slagging off going on, which was a relief.

They key difference I think they are going to make is giving the Lib Dems an equal platform with Labour and Conservative.  Nick Clegg played a clever game very effectively, of showing that the usual ding-dong between the two bigger parties was going on in the same old way, but now the people could see a bright new force in politics, all shiny and fresh, and with realistic actual policies (which of course are unlikely to be tested very much as the LDs will not make that much of a breakthrough).  It was very well done.  Clegg came over as standinf apart from the other two, honest and down to earth (and I happen to know he is actually a very nice guy, but a bit lightweight, and he relies very much on the big hitters of Vince Cable and to a lesser extent Chris Huhne.

But this is exposure the Lib Dems have never had before, and in the one opinion Poll i saw last night of voting intentions following the debate, their percentage share had gone up from 20% to 26%.  If he sustains that level, and maybe secures another 2% or so, we could see large numbers of Lib Dem MPs elected and a hung parliament inevitable.  Last time that happened (Feb 74)  parliament only lasted for six months, but those were different days, with Harold Wilson, Edward Heath (following a disastrous Tory term of office) and Jeremy Thorpe as party leaders - all of them 'prima donnas'.  There is likely to be much more pragmatism this time, not least because all parliamentarians know that the public will not put up with any more shenanigans!

[Colin Todd]

  NuLabour 

Dont say that, PaulD doesnt like it!

[Ardiles]

It's an ironic piss-take of the most shallow, transparent marketing gimmick of the late 20th century.  And I know that Paul loves a bit of irony.  So he can stick it!  (Smiley thing, smiley thing.)

[Jamiesfuturewife]

Eugh Gary Barlow is singing with children for some rubbish Cameron speech god it's makingme feel Ill!

[jonny72]

But this is exposure the Lib Dems have never had before, and in the one opinion Poll i saw last night of voting intentions following the debate, their percentage share had gone up from 20% to 26%.  If he sustains that level, and maybe secures another 2% or so, we could see large numbers of Lib Dem MPs elected and a hung parliament inevitable.

You should have a play with the seat calculator on the BBC website. Even if the Lib Dems get 30% of the vote they will still most likely end up with fuck all seats (just under 100) due to the way votes are spread out. Bizarrely, if the vote was split evenly with 30% for each of the main parties and 10% for the rest you'd have Labour with 300 seats, Conservative 200 and Lib Dems 100.

[Ardiles]

...all of which goes to how f##ked up the first past the post voting system really is.

[Batch]

...all of which goes to how f##ked up the first past the post voting system really is.

That's democracy. Apparently.

[pauld]

It's an ironic piss-take of the most shallow, transparent marketing gimmick of the late 20th century. 

It's not though, it's tired and not as clever as it thinks it is. So actually quite appropriate to the subject, now that I think about it