The novelty of Clegg wins it for him

Bill Kristol-Balls

Who won the debate?

Boris Johnson

echo34

It was very ITV.

Lots of trailers showing how exciting it would be. Then you watch and find you've seen all the best bits in the trailers.

A dumbed down debate for a dumbed down nation.

Fatbloke on tour

Scratchy's 1% comment is tripe.
Most government spending is wages and benefits.

Is he proposing to cut soldiets pay by 1%?
Does he want to cut the dole by 1%?

Regarding efficiency savings all the easy stuff has gone or has been identified. Cast Iron Dave's £6bill will hurt and people will lose their jobs.

He estimates a £2bill saving on the job front.

That is 60,000 jobs at average pay.
However the saving won't be £2bill as the tax take will go down and benefit spending will go up.

Consequently Scratchy's attempt at Dog Boiling Economics fails.

Jeff

Desperate stuff Fraser.

Your boy Cameron got found out and your scrabbling around for good news.

JONNY

Well how would you propose to cut the Fat Fatbloke?
and do something about the vast debt and deficit that will cripple this country?

paul holdstock

it proved the established wisdom,
that mass debation, is never as satisfying as a fine election.

merlinthepig

Didn't watch it. Don't really care since none of these debates will alter the way I vote. But I just caught a reprise on TV of Nick Clegg's "to camera" moment. There are people looking and sounding like that selling magic healing hankies on American religious channels. Utterly unctuous.

Tiberius

I'm still digesting the event. Initially, I'd say Clegg provided very useful chaff for Labour in reducing Cameron's effect.

I don't think Cameron can allow himself to get angry, Fraser. He'd lose out.

Derek

Bill Kristol-Balls

Isn't that the truth!

What has this anodyne pap to do with English political history - or the reality of what awaits us after May 6th!

Tiberius

Within the confines of party loyalty, I'm impressed with your man Purnell on This Week, Fraser.

Richard of York

Cameron bottled it big time.
Soundbites and anecdotes no answers.
Clegg nailed him several times and Brown held his coat while Clegg did it.
Looking difficult for the Tories to take the 24 seats from Lib Dems in the marginals they need.
Brown back in the seat.

ChrisB

I'm not so sure that it'll be his finest moment - his media exposure is just starting and the honeymoon period seems to be heading over the general election unless something is done to stop it.

An object at rest...etc. Momentum is a strong force, and Frasier has, unsurprisingly, failed to present a compelling argument for inertia acting on Cleggs new-found motion. Unless something does, we're heading for a hung parliament.

J Jenkins

The real losers tonight were the bloggers and twitterers. Reading through the 'live commentary over at the Telegraph's website, coverage led by 'blogs chief' Damian Thompson, it sounded like a meeting of lonely old queens sipping sherry and slagging everyone off in a corner of some shady Earls Court pub.

Simon Stephenson

Fatbloke on tour : 11.36pm

"He estimates a £2bill saving on the job front.

That is 60,000 jobs at average pay.
However the saving won't be £2bill as the tax take will go down and benefit spending will go up.

Consequently Scratchy's attempt at Dog Boiling Economics fails."

As I pointed out to one of your fellow-thinkers a few days ago, this argument only holds water if those people leaving employment in the public sector then proceed never to have another job, and draw welfare benefits for the rest of their lives.

I know, you know, and all your mates know that this is neither the intention nor the expectation of what will happen. So why do you assert that it is?

Fraser Nelson

Tiberius: morley's ghost!

Fatbloke on tour

Sack of Spunk

The right wing dog boiling establishment has been working itself into a lather about the deficit and how it is unsustainable.

Shroud waving of the highest order as they are starting to get scared of the changes to the status quo that a properly funded public sector will generate.

Consequently the credit crunch has been a godsend as it allows them to scare the electorate and it is scare stories that get the people in the mood to look after number one.

A scared electorate is easier to manipulate and that is what the right wing establishment want as it will be easier to rollback the social and economic progress since 97.

Times are tough but a few years of restraint and a low pound should see us OK. We are in a hugely better position than we were in 80/81 and 91/92.

Consequently when it comes to fighting the fat, a balanced long term diet has to be better than cutting off an arm or a leg.

Maggie and her ideas are a busted flush. She is now seen as the queer, emotionally retarded, draft dodging, daddy's girl that she always was.

michael

So when are we going to start paying our debts?.... Any ideas?

Fatbloke on tour

Simple @ 12.31

I have to disagree, you are the one who has got it wrong.

The economy at the moment is has an issue with a lack of demand not high taxation.

£6bill cuts / savings from the public sector means a reduction in demand of £6bill.

The £2bill saving in direct wages is to my mind low but even this low figure makes my point.

The issue is not about the individuals concerned, as you say some will move on to other jobs. The issue is the fact that the national jobs pool will be reduced by 60K jobs by this action.

That is at any point in time the public sector jobs pool will be reduced by at least 60K and the standard of public services will also be reduced.

The 60K jobs eliminated will mean a reduced tax take and an increase in benfits at a national level, the multiplier effect in reverse if you like.

As a corollary, the NI increase, according to a couple of Scratchy's numbers men will lead to a PIT reduction of 23K jobs across the whole economy.

This has to be seen in the context of an implementation date of April 2011 when the economy will be expanding and jobs will be ebing created.

Scratchy's £6bill, sorry £12bill cuts start ASAP even though we know that the current economic climate is anaemic and the recovery lumpy.

AD's NIC increase is timed for next April and if the economy tanks in the interim it could be postponed for another 12 months if need be.

Consequently Scratchy is playing the dog boiler card for all it is worth, he is wrong economically and he is wrong politically.

matthew bell

@ fatbloke on tour are you just richard in disquise. You should try living in the real world chap

Major Plonquer

I agree with Richard. It was typical bully behaviour of Brown that he needs Clegg to do his fighting for him.

MJT

Policy is irrelevant in these debates- we can all read the manifestos, and if we didn't we're not the kind of people to be swayed by policy!

Clegg got the "at least you're not a C**t like the other parties" vote. That'll last about 2 days (Lib Dems have skellies in the cupboard).

Cameron should carry on as he is. He was bland and said nothing- but the other two thought they had to lay blows on him and ended up looking opportunistic v Cameron statesmanlike.

The question isn't really who won this round, rather who will win the three legged tie; for my money Cameron looked by far the strongest, but as ever luck or the referee can be decisive.

MJT

@Fatblokeontour

The NI reduction (or not increase in reality) will aid the private sector and therefore assist balance of payments. You Brownites argue that government spending increases economic activity. What's the value? It's completely unfunded. This kind of GDP growth is entirely in tandem with growth in public debt. Again I say, what is the benefit?

The only way we will square the debt circle is by becoming a net exporter. At present I do not see any UK government spending as generating any output that has a monetary value that can be exported.

Cameron said, "the state is not the same thing as the economy". He was half right- the state is the opposite of the economy.

Simon Stephenson

Fatbloke on tour : 1.08am

"The economy at the moment is has an issue with a lack of demand not high taxation.

Well, the principal problem with the economy at the moment is the gross misallocation of resources brought about by years of consuming more value than we actually produce. No small part of this misallocation is in the mass make-work scheme carried on in the public-sector where people were employed to carry out "services" that until then no one knew that we needed.

As far as the Conservatives' plans are to strip out the cost of jobs that provide little value, this is to be welcomed, surely? After all, these people should eventually end up being more productive than previously they were.

No one pretends that maintaining near-full employment is an easy thing to do, but creating non-jobs to take up the slack, financed by taxation that stunts demand, thereby increasing the slack, seems to be a pretty unintelligent response to the difficulty.

"The issue is not about the individuals concerned, as you say some will move on to other jobs. The issue is the fact that the national jobs pool will be reduced by 60K jobs by this action."

There's no such thing as a "national jobs pool". The creation of a discretionary job in the public-sector adds to GDP only to the extent that it increases the price of output in the private sector.

"That is at any point in time the public sector jobs pool will be reduced by at least 60K and the standard of public services will also be reduced."

The quantity of public services may be reduced, but the standard? By your argument, the logical conclusion is that ideally we would have the entire working population providing public services. Only so would the "standard" be maximised.

"The 60K jobs eliminated will mean a reduced tax take and an increase in benfits at a national level, the multiplier effect in reverse if you like."

On the other hand, if we fail to satisfy the foreign moneylenders of our resolve to stabilise the debt level (not just the deficit), we will see a significant increase in the rate of interest they demand. The reverse "multiplier effect" of all this extra interest going overseas would make the amounts you are talking about look like a drop in the ocean.

You, I think, just cover your ears to the fact that we don't have a choice but to take unpalatable measures now, not when we choose to, and that the chief reason why our hand is being so forced is economic mismanagement in the past led by one Gordon Brown.

David Galea

Clegg speaks pleasant sounding fallacy.

Tony E

Now we await the scrutiny of what was said. Clegg looks very good right now, but will this last beyond a day or so.

If the analysis from the media is fair and rigorous then I expect Brown to get hammered for his misuse of the police stat (the one the ASA banned) and over helicopters and armed forces requests, and Clegg to pushed to explain his sums a little more as he insists that he can 'save' money inside the NHS budget but maintains that Cameron can't save 1% of other government spending, a position which is frankly ludicrous.

Cameron will probably have to explain his comments regards China, but I think he will put it down to a slip of the tongue rather than engage on the difficulties that China poses.

sb

Belfast-era Range Rovers? I remember that era fondly- the British Army in their Range Rovers, the IRA in their Jaguars and Aston Martins, the New Years Day croquet games on the lawn before hostilies recommenced.

They're Land Rovers, silly boy.

Roger Davies

Coming out to play Nick?
Bring your bike Nick and we will go spray mud on the Cambo gang.
My best mate is Nick we do everything the same these days.
Hey Nick, let's join gangs.

Paul Hawkins

Fat Bloke - keep touring. So your suggestion is increase the debt/deficit until something turns up. Genius. I thought your lot didn't like the 'do nothing' approach?

How do you know what the economy will be doing in 2011? After all no-one foresaw the crash,yet you can predict 12 months ahead.

And how do you know which jobs will be taken out of the public sector? answer -you don't. So please explain how this will impact on the standard of front line services,which you do not define. Is Dave going to cut firemen or nurses? You don't know.

Like most other lefties,your strategy of purporting the future to be fact has long been rumbled.So stop using 'will' so much. The future is not certain.

Austin Barry

I thought Brown did very well to keep his madness in check, with just the frequent, inappropriate, pursed-lipped half-smile suggesting the sad, deluded man lurking beneath the powdery studio slap.

Cameron was a huge disappointment - enervated and somehow diminished. Roll on Boris.

Clegg the clear winner, but that's like scoring a spectacular goal for Wigan: it doesn't matter.

And the audience should just disregard the petty rules and react - who's going to stop them?

Vettekulla

Fraser
You must have been disappointed. Even when Clegg made a reference to the superiority of the Swedish educational system, Cameron completely failed to take up on this during the educational segment of the debate. He failed to challenge Brown's nonsensical claim re "taking 6 billion out of the economy". He was hugely disappointing. I can only assume that he has now seen the Treasury figures on the dire state of government finances and has decided to pass on this election leaving Brown to make his own mess even worse.

Ian

Countless times Brown talked about the Tories taking 6 billion out of the economy. When will Cameron finally shoot this down by pointing out that what it really means is 6 billion remaining in tax payers pockets. Tax payers who collectively will use this money in a far better way than Brown ever would. I know you have also pointed this out on a number of occasions but could someone get this message delivered to Cameron before the next debates!

The Laughing Cavalier

“I agree with Nick”, said Brown. Looks like another Lib-Lab pact. Stitch up Cameron together and then shaft the Libs later. It all goes to show just how sad the Liberals are, eager to do Labour's bidding for the vague promise of a reward later, never delivered. Always the bridesmaid. The Liberal Party is just another labour-saving device.

2trueblue

Hard to see how reality can be left out of it all. The public sector has had quite a bit of recruiting over tha past 2 years, pay has gone up in the public sector, and some massive pay rises in some areas are not on. Also allowing people to get a golden handshake and nip into another council job is just plain dishonest. These things alone are a huge drain on the real money and I fail to see how they arre so easily discounted. Cameron is right about waste, it is big money, and it is easy to cut waste. We all do it every day and why should the government be allowed to avoid the obvious. Easy for the media who are apid out of our pocket to closs over reality. Get with the program, tell it how it is, this is not a show, it is our lives, our prosperity that is being flushed down the toilet. You have given Liebore such an easy ride for 13yrs. and now you want to sell us another pup.

2trueblue

Forgot to say 'nouveau cuisine' was great until you discovered that it did not supply enough real substance, so not really into novelty things.

Dirty Gerty From Number 30

Brilliant! Fatbloke on tour is back! Kill the fatted calf! Put out more flags! Re-start the clocks! It's like the return of an old family member. In his case, an uncle with a faint scent of impropriety, either sexual or narcotic, whose presence makes you feel uncomfortable and whose absence - at Her Majesty's pleasure? A flight from creditors? His collar-starching scheme hit the skids? - is unexplained.

Interesting that he chose this week to come out of the woodwork. Perhaps he is the equivalent of a TA reservist, mobilised during periods of high operational tempo, to back-fill the regular trolls. Lord Sugar's cheque must have cleared.

Holly ......

Do these ignorant idiots have any idea where the Brown 'economy' money actually comes from?
Brown did such a great hatchet job he had to print money!On top of borrowing,on top of tax revenue!Just to keep the country afloat!
So 80/81 & 91/92,were in comparison to this disaster,for the whole country,for years to come,were boom times.
How much money does this dumb sugar need?
Private sector tax payers fund the civil servants,public sector workers,welfare payments,call them what you like,so please tell me where this sector got the money from to pay taxes? How was it generated?
It may show up on the pay slip,but where did it come from?
The private sector taxpayer.

PayDirt

Clegg is now the heir to blair. Reminded me mostly of a fresh-faced six-former who's got the debating society prize. I want to know more about the LibDem plan to shelve the UK nuclear deterrent. This seems to be the only real and definite plan they have, apart from not sending youth offenders to crime school aka prison (no alternative really offered). Clegg spoke well, but what are his real plans, nebulous. Oh yes, and he's going to make immigrants live in deprived areas where they are needed, fat chance: this was just dumb, as Cameron pointed out to him. Once in, the majority will just "migrate" to London and environs, either that or they'll have to be under 24hour police guard and money in the pocket to make them stay put in their designated place of work. Rubbish really when you take a closer look. Just like Blair in days of old.

Dorothy Wilson

The comments about DC needing to nail Brown over his claim about "taking £6bn out of the economy" are spot on. It's just plain nonsense. Also, DC needs to nail both Brown and Clegg on their repetitive - and incorrect - claim about tax hand-outs to millionaires over inheritance tax.

Brown's facial gestures when the other two were speaking were very revealing. He had the most peculiar stretched grin that gave he impression there was part of his brain totally disconnected from the actual situation.

And, I guess, that just about sums him up.

deVoter

Fatbloke: get over it, you lost.

Mr. Green

What made me laugh was Bruins attempt to reach out to Smegg by constantly saying "I agree with Nick". Whilst all the while Smegg was saying "Unlike these two, I would do it completely differently" - to which Bruin would again say "I agree with Nick"!

Poor "call me Dave" was stuck between two cosy lefties; one on his way out, looking for a leg-up and the other on his way in, looking to distance himself from soiled goods.

I think "call me Dave" did a good job. My kids (who were completely bored stiff by the whole event, but had the option of going to bed on time or staying up to watch it) thought Dave's closing comments very strong indeed. Without prompting, they suddenly said "I like what he just said". Shame they are too young to vote.

I can see the remaining two debates going well for Dave. He is passionate about what he belives in, but now needs to be a little more abrupt. He too readily allowed Smegg and Bruin to play out their love/hate relationship whilst he played piggy-in-the-middle.

It is clear from the polling that people do not like Bruin. It is clear from the WORM that they liked what "call me Dave" had to say. It is also clear that a large number of people got carried away with Smegg's "Bliar-like" rhetoric.

JONNY

'Cameron bottled it big time'
And your Great Leader came out smelling of roses before your bedazzled juvenile eyes.

Frank Leader

I saw the Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP on TV this morning. He has a face just like a ventriloquist’s dummy. In this case it seemed that Mandelson was pulling the strings.

JONNY

Apart from all that my friends
Yougov polling post-Debate also revealed that Clegg may have won the event
but Cameron came out overwhelmingly as Best Prime Minister.

Who would make best Prime Minister?
Cameron 39%
Brown 29%
Clegg 26%

Not sure though if Richard's quite up yet to digesting these figures.

deVoter

Holly: the ignoramuses who think public sector jobs are the be all and end all have had their brains mashed by years of Socialism typified by Gordon Brown's election manifesto pledge to create one million jobs. They will not be happy until the economy is run by the State, regardless of the lessons of most of the 20th Century in Eastern Europe: crushing inhumanity and ultimate failure.

Naomi Muse

The consensus and civility of it all was a culture shock.

With headmistress Alistair curbing the excesses and making the norty boy stand silently by his podium to allow the other to speak, it was more Rowan Atkinson than Rowan Atkinson.

What a gift for the sketchwriters!

The culture shock will have a lasting impact for it was seen last night that there is no need for the shouting matches and baying that pepper PMQs on a weekly basis.

As most of the public want politicians to look and sound as if they really care about the mess we're in and do the right thing for the country, more of this may be desired.

Seeing how Alistair Stewart controlled and refereed the debate shows what a proper Speaker at the House of Commons could do, within the confines of parliamentary practice.

This may turn out to be a lasting legacy that the public want, but maybe not the parliamentary commentators?

Truthmonkey

I fear the debate can be summarized as:

David Cameron met a black person once. Nick Clegg knew his name. Gordon Brown agreed with Nick.

Richard of York

Oh my God now Cameron thinks he is Simon Cowell....when will he understand the people want a serious PM not Mr whippy the icecream sales man.

dbmaverick

I was fully expecting Brown to get a kicking from Cameron, but it didn't really materialise. So overall I'd say Brown did better than I expected.

Cameron seemed strangely subdued. I think this is because the Tory message is "Change", and Nick Clegg had got that angle all wrapped up in his opening comments.

Regarding the content of the debate, we learned nothing that you can't have gleaned from watching the news for the last week. 90 minutes was far too long, 45 mins would have been better.

Regarding closing comments: I think Cameron had the strongest end because he seemed to say something different to the previous 90 minutes. The other two just repeated themselves (and Nick Clegg had already been doing that for every question).

But does it really matter? True fence-sitters will have gravitated towards the Libdems maybe, unless they still consider it a wasted vote (which I don't think Clegg banished entirely). Anyone already siding with Labour or Conservative isn't likely to change their mind.

paulg

Its not all bad, but we must concede that Clegg won the early rounds and that set the tone for the rest of the debate.

A lot of us thought it would pan out like an American debate which can be quite sterile, but Clegg grabbed the initiative with emotive arguments.

In hindsight I thought that Cameron won many of the later points such as: schools, crime, the NHS.

The best put down was definitely when Cameron pulled the rug from under Cleggs grandstanding over party donors, plithly replying that the Lib-dems biggest donor was still on the run from the police. Considering that the £2.5 million that the Lib dems trousered, was stolen, you would think they would pay it back to the victims, but not a chance.

Mr Brown was as bad, as we all thought he would be. Dementedly trying to put word into Nick Cleggs mouth, misrepresenting every thing he said. Mr Brown has been reduced to a bit part and that’s where he should be kept.

It’s still all to play for.

TGF UKIP

What we anoraks (Fraser included) think doesn't matter a toss, it's what the largely a-political Great British Public make of it that counts and I suspect there may be a considerable male/female divide with Brown doing rather better with male voters than we may think.

No doubt though that Clegg did have an edge was much sharper than Dave, and made a number of point that Dave should have been making.

Dave was once again clueless on how bring numbers home to voters. Instead of £6bn being "one pound in every hundred" what would get the point home far better is by saying "getting the civil service to save £6bn is the equivalent of someone earning £300 pw being asked to say £3 pw i.e a pint of lager, ten fags or two and a half litres of petrol or diesel."

My guess is that it's quite possible that ten points will span the three parties on polling day which would be disastrous for Dave and most welcome for those of us who want nothing more than to see the back of him and all his green leftist nonsense.

Tiberius

Touchee, Fraser.

There is a place for Purnell in the Blue Team now he's had his Marley's ghost moment too- have a word.

Minnie Ovens

In retrospect Clegg should have won.
Brown and Cameron attempting to say as little as possible. Brown being malevolent and Cameron, wisely, keeping his temper.
The mighty mouse said the first thing that came into his head, no matter how silly or illogical, and looked forthright and good.
There was little debate so he could not have won it but he was far more interesting and open than the other two.
Might work for you too, Cameron, why not try it?

michael

What did Nick Clegg have in his pockets....A braille organiser?

Roy Simpson

The Tories must take the gloves off and force Clegg to explain his absurd immigration policy, which includes an amnesty for illegal immigrants who have been here for ten years. (Given that illegal immigrants are not registered on arrival how can it be determined how long they have been here?)

They should also press them about their vociferous and long standing support for monetary union, (although recently there has been a deathly hush on this issue), whilst hammering home the point that the UK's problems today would be much worse if the Lib Dems had had their way.

logdon

I couldn't watch it for the reasons that turned out to be true.

However I did watch QT, This Week and the extended clips on later news. It was all I needed.

Clegg, with nothing to lose looked, talked and acted precisely like a 'will do well', sixth form boy of my memories.

The paper thin, unformed character, a high and earnest voice uttering vapid promises we all know he'll never have to enact. It was like a trip down Lewis Carol's rabbit hole.

And the media immediately hailing him as the wunderkind of British politics? Come on, we're not all daft. They said that of Blair and look where he got us?

Cameron performed better but unfortunately he looked like Clegg's older brother. A bit more mileage maybe, possibly with a decent job where he's honing his charm credentials for future use.

However he did hold his cool under extreme provocation from the increasingly loopy Brown. That is saying something.

And his summing up was certainly the superior pay off. But is seven out of ten a good enough credential for our next PM? Unfortunately he's all we've got.

As for Brown? A drugged up psycho straight from the pages of Pravda would do it for me.

Slightly menacing with a weird soporific edge. The drone, the droopy eyes, the just about contained homicidal tendency just waiting to burst forth.

Like a Kray in a kilt this son of the manse did his automaton best.

Reeling out factoids we all know to be false, gurning his pasted on plastic grin. A palpable twitching anger leading to interrupting Cameron at one point. Agreeing with Clegg who disagreed with him.

He is not well. The bonkazipam pills may be just about doing their job, but after so many years of watching his prize, the subject of his life's obsession, ebb and flow only to be on the cusp of ebbing permanently has done it for him.

He's like a second rate boxer, never the champion, always runner up when it counts and now he's on the ropes. Floating like a butterfly was never his game and now even the sting has gone, replaced by a wild and brutish slogging.

If he was likeable it would be tragic. He's not. He's a proven liar. He's an expense cheat. He's a brutal bully. His hypocrisy steams of his lumpen and lumpy soul. Nothing is beneath this man whose vaulting ambition far exceeds his puny ability. He is a hollow man about to be eviscerated of the last drop of humanity.

So that's it. After all the ballyhoo we're still no nearer to what we so badly need.

One day our Prince will come. He certainly isn't amongst this lot.

logdon

Tiberius
April 16th, 2010 11:46am

Watching Purnell's performance later on This Week did nothing to inspire.

He's still Brown to the core and probably regrets his walk out.

And that outfit?

Like a dad at a disco in black, skin tight jeans and matching similarly skin tight, shimmering shirt, fashion victim is a gross undestatement. What was he thinking of?

Less cool, more a cruel parody. Idiot!

Sevo

Why, why, why does no Tory rip into Gordon Brown the minute he repeats his idiotic "taking 6 billion out of the economy" mantra? i simply can't believe that Cameron, Osborne et a pass up this chance at an open goal on every occasion.

To say that leaving money in people's pockets -- instead of forking it over into the insatiable and wasteful maw of the State -- is equivalent to "taking it out of the economy" simply betrays a total misunderstanding of basic economics.

McBroon repeats this line at every occasion (Whelan/ Balls/ Mandelson must have told him it "tests well") and, instead of using his own line against him to prove Gordo's inability to understand how a market economy works, Cameron ONCE AGAIN last night let him get away with it on no less then 5 occasions, getting instead into a sterile and ultimately ineffective debate about saving money, timing of cuts, etc etc.

Please, please, please: whoever is preparing Cameron for the next debate, PLEASE give David the response that neutralises this ridiculous statement and flings it back at Broon's face. Even dumbed-down Britain must understand, on some primitive level, that allowing people to hang on to more of their own money (to save it, thus allowing banks to build up their reserves so they can lend to business; or to spend it, thus directly supporting British businesses) is in no way "taking money out of the economy."

That 32% of the country seem ready to trust this economic illiterate, who has already done so much damage, to run the country and the economy for another 5 years truly makes me want to pull my hair out. As does the Conservative lack of even the feeblest of corrections to this total non sequitur.

Nicholas

Sevo well said. I thought so too.

Woody

I thought I would wait for the 'ash' to settle before making a comment but on reflection my opinion hasn't changed from last night.
I thought Nick Clegg seized the moment (and who wouldn't). I hope their policies really come under more scrutiny. I don't think people realise just how PRO-EUROPE they are and will take us into the euro as soon as. I think David Cameron pulled his punches too much but then he was on a hiding to nothing because it would have just reminded people of PMQs. He needs to stop being so bloody nice and be more assertive.
Gordon Brown was dire - he was too aggressive and pumped up and resorted to the usual nasty, partisan jibes at the tories because he knows nothing else. He talked over DC a lot and wasn't picked up on this.
I don't think the central spot helped DC, he was too close to GB who was trying to eyeball him.
It will be interesting to see NC in the centre and see how he copes with Gordon's love-bombing.

Ghengis

I trust a copy of your excellent comment has been addressed to David Cameron, you never know, he may act upon it.

Amanda Craig

Cameron only came alive on two occasions:nwhen talking about the NHS, and in his closing speech. Otherwise it was a contest between two men with no necks, and no new ideas. Clegg won hands-down. He's different, he's taller (so no more of that "little Nick Clegg" stuff, chaps)and he ANSWERED THE QUESTIONS. You may not like his answers, but unlike the other two he had published his sums in his manifesto. Of course they don't add up - but at least he'd put them out there.

Holly ......

I think it is a good thing that the news bods are showing clips from the debate over and over and over again.
No one took a blind bit of notice what was being said last night,because the wise old sages in the MSM's build up gabbed on about what the three would wear,their mannerisms & the old chestnut body language.
Today,they can get a better listen.
YAY Smart arse news bods!
Cameron played it right last night.
Now Cleggy & Bozo have to deal with foreign affairs and the economy.
Brown will storm the economy debate eh Rich?
Clegg will romp into first place on the Lib Dem policies on the EU.He he he.
Nice trap he's set up for himself,being the front runner for PM & all.
DC? More of the same as last night will do the trick.
Left to their own devices,Clegg & Bozo,will alienate the majority of the electorate all by themselves...DC has to simply explain the Conservative policies,& the difference between the state and the economy.
Nothing more nothing less.
Joe public then has a week to digest the implications of a Labour, Lib Dem or both government.

jaybs

What had Clegg to lose? nothing! but for me he came over as nothing more than a fairly good schoolboy debater, remember there are two more debates!

The first time that Cable came under any serious questioning last weekend he feel to pieces, now it will be Clegg and we will see how hot it gets in the kitchen for him. The only poll that counts is May 6th and a vote for Clegg will keep Brown as PM, but is that what Clegg and Cable want, just for personal vanity of power.

Those so impressed with Clegg last night want to remember LibDems and Clegg will sell us out even more in Europe and will leave us without any real serious defence!

PatsyL

Oh please, can we all calm down about little Cleggy being David taking on the double-headed Goliath? (Some Goliath! I felt quite sorry for Cameron and Brown). Clegg had nothing new to say, except that the Lib Dems offer 'change'. Where have we heard that old chestnut before? Can't politicians come up with some solid - and believable - policies? Oh no, I forgot, that would mean having to be a conviction politician like Margaret Thatcher. FAR too risky. No, these days they are all opportunist politicians. The debate was, after all, a beauty contest. And so they spout spurious statistics/figures which don't stand up to even casual scrutiny, and chant their catch-phrase of the moment. In Clegg's case it's the meaningless 'change'.
Look, we're all SO bored, and Nick Clegg is the new fresh-faced boy on the block to shake us out of our ennui for a moment. The spectre we just do not want to face is that it doesn't matter one jot who gets in - it will be business as usual, just with new management.

hadrian

If you ask me these boredom inducing debates are going to do next to nothing in raising the interest level or quality of the political process in this country.
The three of them produced little but sheer banality.
Broon was worst, as ever. Clegg light and frothy, Cameron pretty uninspiring. Personally I am more and more convinced the best speaker the Tories have is Michael Gove. He is highly articulate, thinks nimbly and interacts accordingly and at least speaks with a degree of passion. Only William Hague equals him. And Boris at least is fun.Cameron would still get my vote but, with my schoolmaster's mortar board on, I can only say: he must do better! Let's substitute Mr Gove for round two, God help us.

Ruby Duck

I've been knocking on doors today. Not many people watched the debate, and those that did thought Cameron was ok. I had to stick up for Brown a bit - full marks to him for not being worse.
Plenty of undecideds. Not one indicating any LibDem tendencies.

Arthur Laffer

. . . for the next set of billboard posters :

Big close up of Gordon Brown on the left, with TAX stamped across it in red, Nick Clegg on the right, with SPEND, likewise in colour.

Underneath, simply write: If you want to pay more taxes vote LIB/LAB, otherwise, vote Conservative.

[ . . . it is so obvious, if you have your ear to the ground, that the Conservatives are going to sleepwalk this election. The bookmakers must be loving it, all the late silly bets on Labour and the Lib/Dems . . . as if this was the Grand National, or something.]

peter

The election was lost by Labour months ago and Gordon is going to be history soon. Life will go on and the direction of this country under Cameron will be unchanged. The UK plc will be part of the great US corporate system and will continue to be as democratic as China. Interestingly I picked up the Speccie this week and found two propaganda hatchet jobs on the BNP in it. I know the speccie is short of cash but really. Anyway I decided I would rather not read crass propaganda and didnt buy it.

Karma Rangjan

"David Cameron was fluent, articulate"

I'm not sure what debate you were watching. Most of us identified that he was repeating a few standard catch-phrases that we had all heard before. This is neither fluent or articulate (it suggests you have run out of ideas).