 |
| The leaders' debate, available on itv.com |
1 - As much as you can hate Nigel Farage for his abhorrent policies and sliminess, his style works with those who are likely to vote for him. He knows where he's good and where he can make gains and the sort of people who don't care about AIDS victims will love that 'someone has said what we're all thinking': you can't argue with his 21% leading performance polling.
2 - Equally, as well as Farage faired, it must be nearing the end for Bennett unless there is a huge turnaround on election day. This added to a long line of poor media appearances over the last few months and she really missed an opportunity to voice the Green alternative on a big stage.
3 - Miliband said an awful lot yet managed to say very little. Labour continue to bottom feed off other parties as they have in the past and battle for marginal policy differences so as to attempt to occupy the middle ground, unconvincing and lacking in principle.
4 - Tactical challenges between the Westminster neoliberal consensus was boring. None of the three major leaders said much about their parties' own policies, yet challenged the other two constantly in order to appear the alpha male on TV.
5 - In this playground battle of the supposed alpha males, Nicola Sturgeon wrecked the place. Stood back from pettiness in order to express genuine values and a proven record of governance and was the clear winner of the debate.
6 - Sturgeon's success was attributed to the female presence so absent from the Westminster political debate (May doesn't classify as human never mind female). Whilst this is a hugely valid point, another inference which can be made from the SNP leader's success is that people want a genuine left alternative, Labour have abandoned their post long ago and the SNP are more than happy to fill it.
7 - The positive response to the female leaders was somewhat misplaced however, Bennett's performance was patchy at best and Leanne Wood appeared to ride on the coat tails of Sturgeon, falling into the trap of complaining about austerity without posing genuine alternatives.
8 - Nick Clegg performed better than many would have predicted, however his ridiculous assertion that he 'did the best he could' on tuition fees; by totally reversing his initial policy and supporting the ridiculous and destructive Tory policy through parliament was bordering on comedy.
9 - Towards the end of the debate, a member of the audience confronted Cameron during his point in support of the armed services regarding his government's less than humane support of veterans. This election is increasingly becoming a Tory standoff against the rest of society.
10 - Principles are in short supply amongst the major parties. This is what makes people like Sturgeon and Farage stand out, and what gives Cameron his lead in the polls. Despite the divisive nature of some of their policies on nuclear arms, immigration and welfare respectively, standing for something stands you apart. Labour would do well to follow suit.
11 - Fear is the currency of this election, scare tactics have replaced principle among the 'Big Three' and Cameron's hope is that people can be scared off alternatives such as the nationalist parties, Greens and UKIP enough to give him a majority, his own popularity won't achieve this so he'll try and scare people about the break up of the Union or rise of some new fascism.
12 - Should the Tories fail to convince masses of idiots and wealthy scumbags that they're 'the only party who can govern' it will likely be some form of coalition rule. Maybe Nick hasn't done too badly, his party could end up providing the only returning government ministers, but if he carries on like this none of the nice girls are going to dance with him for much longer.
13 - To paraphrase Butch Coolidge, there is an incredibly high chance that Ed's dead.
14 - As predicted by this blog, (http://thetache.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-green-debate-more-harm-than-good.html) Cameron will be very happy with how the 7 person format played out, there was a lack of proper grilling and this will always benefit the incumbent.
15 - Voting really doesn't help that much. There has been huge criticism of Russell Brand and his advocacy for voter apathy along with activism outside the mainstream political narrative. There was little to be convinced by on this showing by the establishment, and other options are at least worth looking at.
16 - Julie Etchingham was a let down as host, similarly to Kay Burley's horrendous bias on Channel 4's town hall debate last week the broadcasters have not performed to a high level. Etchingham allowed various speakers out of time and did not scrutinise the participants effectively.
No comments:
Post a Comment