The General Election Thread

[cibaman]

It's about democracy and about the election.

Why should the TV companies/papers decide who should and who shouldn't be invited to broadcast their manifestos?

These debates are big these days, there are a lot who will base the decision on this alone. Not me but many will.

Either it's the main parties or it's a broader spectrum. Why on earth are UKIP invited but no one else?

But it will be funny if they go ahead without Dave. But they won't and hopefully if Farage is there he'll be shown up for the dangerous buffoon that he is.

The 2010 debates gave us "Cleggmania" but very little insight as to how the parties would deal with the deficit. Good telly for some but not exactly essential to the democratic process.

 

[SWP's back]

Instead of watching talking heads spouting carefully prepared soundbites in stage managed tv debates why not go out to hustings and listen to what the person you are actually going to vote for has to say?

Don't be silly; that's like getting your arse off the sofa and suchlike

Well that and no party ever follows through on their manifesto.

 

[Len Rum]

It's about democracy and about the election.

Why should the TV companies/papers decide who should and who shouldn't be invited to broadcast their manifestos?

These debates are big these days, there are a lot who will base the decision on this alone. Not me but many will.

Either it's the main parties or it's a broader spectrum. Why on earth are UKIP invited but no one else?

But it will be funny if they go ahead without Dave. But they won't and hopefully if Farage is there he'll be shown up for the dangerous buffoon that he is.

The 2010 debates gave us "Cleggmania" but very little insight as to how the parties would deal with the deficit. Good telly for some but not exactly essential to the democratic process.

There seems to be a lot of revisionism going on here regarding the merits of the TV debates since Cam did the funky chicken. Wonder why?

 

[foxy]

A poxy tv debate is no measure of how the next Prime Minister will perform.

 

[Len Rum]

A poxy tv debate is no measure of how the next Prime Minister will perform.

Maybe. But not good to be seen running scared of them.

 

[foxy]

A poxy tv debate is no measure of how the next Prime Minister will perform.

Maybe. But not good to be seen running scared of them.

I'm not defending him one bit, he was at the last TV debate so don't think he's scared of it, Miliband isn't exactly fearful, Cameron does well against Silliband every week in PMQs. I think Cameron fears Farage the most.

I just think it's daft because the emphasis will be on the BBC putting on a good show and entertainment and fear that it moves away from raw issues in that it will be tit for tatt with party leaders saying "oh well back in 2010 you did this". At least debates in the House of Commons chamber are chaired fairly by the speaker, will be interesting to see if the beeb allow a fair debate. One bonus will be for the Greens and Ukip to have a greater platform as for obvious reasons, they have a small presence.

 

[bugsyblue]

Not one party I want to vote for. Depressing.

 

[Chancy Termites]

A poxy tv debate is no measure of how the next Prime Minister will perform.

No, but the national TV channels and most of the papers aren't exactly falling over themselves to talk about UKIP and te Green's policies so it will help both if their leaders can give the electorate more information on the details of what they want to do.

Basically the same reason why they want to help their friends the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour to shut them out.

 

[foxy]

A poxy tv debate is no measure of how the next Prime Minister will perform.

No, but the national TV channels and most of the papers aren't exactly falling over themselves to talk about UKIP and te Green's policies so it will help both if their leaders can give the electorate more information on the details of what they want to do.

Basically the same reason why they want to help their friends the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour to shut them out.

I king of mentioned this in a recent post if you scroll up.....

 

[cibaman]

It's about democracy and about the election.

Why should the TV companies/papers decide who should and who shouldn't be invited to broadcast their manifestos?

These debates are big these days, there are a lot who will base the decision on this alone. Not me but many will.

Either it's the main parties or it's a broader spectrum. Why on earth are UKIP invited but no one else?

But it will be funny if they go ahead without Dave. But they won't and hopefully if Farage is there he'll be shown up for the dangerous buffoon that he is.

The 2010 debates gave us "Cleggmania" but very little insight as to how the parties would deal with the deficit. Good telly for some but not exactly essential to the democratic process.

There seems to be a lot of revisionism going on here regarding the merits of the TV debates since Cam did the funky chicken. Wonder why?

Didnt know we'd been debating them until now.

Cameron can't complain if he gets stick and loses votes by chickening out. He's got to balance that against the potential loss of votes that they'd suffer if Farage gets a free ride in the way that Clegg did in 2010.

But to listen to some commentators you could be forgiven for thinking the debates were a centuries old insititution with an established format.

 

[Bill]

I think there is far more important things to sort out other than who sits round a table. Still a difficult year to contend with.

LOL , if the situation was reversed and it was Ed refusing to participate in the debates you'd be calling him all the names under the sun.
Strange how your views suddenly change when it's Dave who's accused of being 'frit'.

no I wouldn't. I have always thought these debates are bollocks. they are hardly going to reveal what they are really thinking are they? even the most naïve lefty wouldn't fall for that. would they?

 

[blue cigar]

Dont under estimate the effect that such a debate can have. The public only see the odd exchange at pmq's, they want to see how they stand up under pressure. Cameron will be there otherwise it will be a disaster for the tories,he is already looking weak and an empty chair wont help. Wont matter anyway,ed will win the election and save us from the toffs and put the racist ukip back in their box as well....bring it on.

 

[whp.blue]

i honestly have no idea who to vote for...

All the Experts on here seem to say UKIP are just the protest vote so vote them in protest against the more established parties that have disenfranchised you so much.

I have spoken to a few people who will go down that route I imagine the more political posters on here will be driven nuts by this though.

 

[RabidCity]

I have to grudgingly admit the Tories are doing a good job with the economy, I think they should get longer to sort the deficit. Labour are just a disaster, whilst I think UKIP will withdraw from Europe in the wrong way, it needs to be done right

 

[Len Rum]

A poxy tv debate is no measure of how the next Prime Minister will perform.

Maybe. But not good to be seen running scared of them.

I'm not defending him one bit, he was at the last TV debate so don't think he's scared of it, Miliband isn't exactly fearful, Cameron does well against Silliband every week in PMQs. I think Cameron fears Farage the most.

I just think it's daft because the emphasis will be on the BBC putting on a good show and entertainment and fear that it moves away from raw issues in that it will be tit for tatt with party leaders saying "oh well back in 2010 you did this". At least debates in the House of Commons chamber are chaired fairly by the speaker, will be interesting to see if the beeb allow a fair debate. One bonus will be for the Greens and Ukip to have a greater platform as for obvious reasons, they have a small presence.

At PMQs Dave bullies Ed and doesn't answer questions put to him. That works well in that environment but not in a televised TV debate where he doesn't perform so well.
But that's not the reason he doesn't want to participate in these debates.
He doesn't fear debating with Ed, nor with Clegg, what he does fear is as you say debating with Nigel Farage and the potential damage this could do to the Tories.
Hence his faux concern over the non inclusion of the Greens , a party which he really doesn't give a monkey's about but their exclusion gives him an excuse to avoid a potentially damaging confrontation with UKIP.

 

[CityStu]

Maybe. But not good to be seen running scared of them.

I'm not defending him one bit, he was at the last TV debate so don't think he's scared of it, Miliband isn't exactly fearful, Cameron does well against Silliband every week in PMQs. I think Cameron fears Farage the most.

I just think it's daft because the emphasis will be on the BBC putting on a good show and entertainment and fear that it moves away from raw issues in that it will be tit for tatt with party leaders saying "oh well back in 2010 you did this". At least debates in the House of Commons chamber are chaired fairly by the speaker, will be interesting to see if the beeb allow a fair debate. One bonus will be for the Greens and Ukip to have a greater platform as for obvious reasons, they have a small presence.

At PMQs Dave bullies Ed and doesn't answer questions put to him. That works well in that environment but not in a televised TV debate where he doesn't perform so well.
But that's not the reason he doesn't want to participate in these debates.
He doesn't fear debating with Ed, nor with Clegg, what he does fear is as you say debating with Nigel Farage and the potential damage this could do to the Tories.
Hence his faux concern over the non inclusion of the Greens , a party which he really doesn't give a monkey's about but their exclusion gives him an excuse to avoid a potentially damaging confrontation with UKIP.

I don't think he's looking for an excuse. I think he reckons that if he's going to have to defend his policies against a party further to the right, then Labour should have to defend their policies against a party further to their left. Besides, why shouldn't the Greens get a say? They're just as large as the Libs and UKIP.

 

[Len Rum]

I'm not defending him one bit, he was at the last TV debate so don't think he's scared of it, Miliband isn't exactly fearful, Cameron does well against Silliband every week in PMQs. I think Cameron fears Farage the most.

I just think it's daft because the emphasis will be on the BBC putting on a good show and entertainment and fear that it moves away from raw issues in that it will be tit for tatt with party leaders saying "oh well back in 2010 you did this". At least debates in the House of Commons chamber are chaired fairly by the speaker, will be interesting to see if the beeb allow a fair debate. One bonus will be for the Greens and Ukip to have a greater platform as for obvious reasons, they have a small presence.

At PMQs Dave bullies Ed and doesn't answer questions put to him. That works well in that environment but not in a televised TV debate where he doesn't perform so well.
But that's not the reason he doesn't want to participate in these debates.
He doesn't fear debating with Ed, nor with Clegg, what he does fear is as you say debating with Nigel Farage and the potential damage this could do to the Tories.
Hence his faux concern over the non inclusion of the Greens , a party which he really doesn't give a monkey's about but their exclusion gives him an excuse to avoid a potentially damaging confrontation with UKIP.

I don't think he's looking for an excuse. I think he reckons that if he's going to have to defend his policies against a party further to the right, then Labour should have to defend their policies against a party further to their left. Besides, why shouldn't the Greens get a say? They're just as large as the Libs and UKIP.

Come on mate. Yes the Greens should be included , and I'm sure Ed would be happy with that, he wouldn't have any problems defending his policies against the Greens, but Dave would have a major problem with UKIP, hence his pretend concern over the Green's exclusion which hopefully for him will scupper the whole TV debate process.

 

[Ronnie the Rep]

At PMQs Dave bullies Ed and doesn't answer questions put to him. That works well in that environment but not in a televised TV debate where he doesn't perform so well.
But that's not the reason he doesn't want to participate in these debates.
He doesn't fear debating with Ed, nor with Clegg, what he does fear is as you say debating with Nigel Farage and the potential damage this could do to the Tories.
Hence his faux concern over the non inclusion of the Greens , a party which he really doesn't give a monkey's about but their exclusion gives him an excuse to avoid a potentially damaging confrontation with UKIP.

I don't think he's looking for an excuse. I think he reckons that if he's going to have to defend his policies against a party further to the right, then Labour should have to defend their policies against a party further to their left. Besides, why shouldn't the Greens get a say? They're just as large as the Libs and UKIP.

Come on mate. Yes the Greens should be included , and I'm sure Ed would be happy with that, he wouldn't have any problems defending his policies against the Greens, but Dave would have a major problem with UKIP, hence his pretend concern over the Green's exclusion which hopefully for him will scupper the whole TV debate process.

Then include the greens and bring it on

 

[Chancy Termites]

Just to repeat, the Daily Telegraph, Guardian and YouTube all came together in May last year to offer to organise a live debate involving Cameron, Clegg, Farage, Miliband and the Green one (can't remember her name). As of yesterday, neither Cameron or Miliband had agreed to take part.

There is nothing to stop this debate from going ahead, and nothing to stop any of these five party leaders from taking part, should they wish to. It's only sensible to conclude that Cameron and Miliband do not want to debate with Farage, just like when they avoided debating Europe with him last year.

Why are they scared of Nigel Farage? Because they know their policies don't stand up to scrutiny.

I completely disagree with the Lib Dem's pro-European stance and Clegg was made to look at fool in his debate with Farage, but I admire him for having the bottle to accept the challenge all the same. Cameron and Miliband are cowards.

 

[Ronnie the Rep]

Just to repeat, the Daily Telegraph, Guardian and YouTube all came together in May last year to offer to organise a live debate involving Cameron, Clegg, Farage, Miliband and the Green one (can't remember her name). As of yesterday, neither Cameron or Miliband had agreed to take part.

There is nothing to stop this debate from going ahead, and nothing to stop any of these five party leaders from taking part, should they wish to. It's only sensible to conclude that Cameron and Miliband do not want to debate with Farage, just like when they avoided debating Europe with him last year.

Why are they scared of Nigel Farage? Because they know their policies don't stand up to scrutiny.

I completely disagree with the Lib Dem's pro-European stance and Clegg was made to look at fool in his debate with Farage, but I admire him for having the bottle to accept the challenge all the same. Cameron and Miliband are cowards.

No, they are politicians who will do anything to gain votes, or in this case, not lose them