Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow reviews last night’s televised debate between the leaders of the UK’s three main political parties:
The American tuition was evident. Clegg’s engagement with the camera was by far the best – I do not know whose input that might have been – possibly his own. But it was a wise use of the medium.
The most notable American influence in the debate was the wheeling out of individual and anecdotal stories. They didn’t work- they were thin and largely inconclusive, sometimes begging the question as to whether they were true. They don’t seem to work in a UK context.
Elsewhere, Shane Richmond blogs a round-up of some of the best one-liners making up the conversation around the debates on Twitter.
Last night’s broadcaster ITV and plenty of other news sites were busy liveblogging the debates and providing instant polling of viewers, but what were the best ways to follow online (and what tools didn’t work out)? Let us know in the comments below.
Let’s launch the Hung Parliament Party compaign!
Are you fed up with your expenses-scandalised MP? Don’t trust Labour or Tories to honour their election pledges? Want something different? Turned off by political debate? What about a hung parliament? All we have to do is identify the key marginal seats (100 +) and then split the Tory and Labour vote in half, thereby ensuring a splendid hung parliament in which the Lib Dem input will be valued and counted. This would bring about the alternative vote – proportional representation, and force the three parties to reach agreement.
So, come on all you marginal voters! Work it out! Divide up the marginals (alphabetically?) and give us a glorious new 21st century hung parliament.