I tried...

[smokingboot]

but even my natural powers of bloody-mindedness couldn't stay the distance on last night's election debate. Dear oh dear.

In the limited time I could bear to watch our stuffed shirts trying out their telegenic charisma or lack of it on a baffled audience, it seemed clear that Nick Clegg came off best, not that anybody benefited from ITV's desperate attempt at copying the American model. You could almost hear the judges:

Nick; nice, very natural, now say something.

David; are you actually made of wax? For christ's sake, talk faster. You used all your time taking deep breaths for a long speech no-one would let you give.

Gordon; don't tell other people to answer questions you aren't answering yourself, don't hector or heckle - remember those headlines about you being an angry bully in no 10? Don't prove them right - and above all, don't hop from foot to foot when you're excited. It just looks weird.

Comments

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Hindsight seems to have proved the wisdom of your words! Got to concede, everyone is talking about it, and that must be to the good. I will certainly be tuning into the next two debates to see if they improve. My problem is that they didn't really discuss anything!

Take Nick's regional ID cards for skilled economic immigrants for example. So, what if said immigrant's employers want to send them from Newcastle to London? How much is this going to cost and how do we enforce it? Hmmm...

Or David on crime rates, that nice neat answer of harsher longer crime sentences...our prisons are already bursting at the seams, with every convict costing approximately £400 a day to keep. Another hmmm. I won't shoot down Gordon's performance, as it's too easy.

Do we get anywhere near the real problems? No, we get a quick charisma test. So I should moderate my words to mean that I doubt any substantial benefit to the voter has resulted. But at least next time, I will rally my inner fortitude and try to stick out the debate?

[steve-c.livejournal.com]

These debates, and the manifestos, can only sketch out a policy and give you an idea of the ideology behind it. For detail you have to read policy papers.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

If a sketch is too rough, you won't get any idea of what it depicts.I agree, the viewer wants palatable bytes, but at this stage, the candidates could promise anything and get away with it if the smile is right. OK, the debates don't have time to dig deep, but surely we can dig deeper than this!