Cynical but not far off the mark JK. I thought it changed nothing either. By the way, appreciated your earlier comment and realise that we were not actually arguing.
I don't think Milliband is confused at all- in the context of doing the job, rather than presenting like a animal on heat, he seems pretty clued up, with definite policies. He is not the most comfortable of speakers, but I thought his conviction to do the job and overcome the nonsense that he has to face for not being the most polished presenter (for a multitude of reasons) was a positive sign. Paxman was a bit of a cock and pandered to the audience too much.
Depends what you mean by winning, in my mind Milliband came across more favourably than people would have expected, which is a success, I guess
My slight concern is that Paxman was allegedly approached as a potential Tory candidate just recently which must give away his own politics. I am not suggesting that this affected any bias with the two interviews as he was pretty severe with both of them (as usual) but it is perhaps something that should be borne in mind with any future debates. The one thing I particularly liked was that he stamped on both candidates for answering their own questions and dug in when his won questions were avoided e.g. Cameron was asked four times whether he could survive on a zero hours contract. I thought that his tenacity was very good and even handed.
That maybe how you see it Thurnby but you can't really speak for the whole country. If they had of stood up to the Tories I know I would have respected them more and quite frankly this country needs a bit of a shake up. A country can't be seen as black and white, Tory and Labour. That's just lazy. There are so many shades in between, it's just that our choices are limited. If Labour voters saw the Lib Dems stand up and say "No, we want a full amount of control over our main policies" Or "No, we would never go into a coalition with the Tories" then I imagine some would have been impressed. I also can't speak for the whole country, just from my perspective, and from my perspective the Lib Dems have suffered far more from being in this coalition.
Paxman's style is the style I'd like to see all political interviews done in. There should never be an easy question for a politician, they are doing a very hard job. I find it pretty annoying how relaxed and quippy Cameron is because it shows he has this detached air to governing. He'll say a lot but it doesn't mean anything.
There's something of an irony in the media campaign against him, isn't there? There's no doubt in my mind that he is a pretty odd guy, but the more the media portray him as a complete weirdo with head in the clouds who can't eat a bacon sandwich, the better off he is in these live debates because expectations are so low. So you watch it and think "oh, he's nowhere near as odd as they're saying" instead of "what a weirdo". I think that works in his favour overall, but time will tell
I liked the way he made fun of himself effortlessly when asked if he'd like to have a pint with Cameron he immediately quipped that he probably wouldn't, but that he could possibly have a bacon sandwich with him. That whole nonsense is a perfect example of the pretty shocking media campaign against him. You could sit and take two dozen photos of anyone eating anything and you'd always find a couple of gormless expressions. Compare the reaction of that to when Boris ****ing Johnson gets snapped in a pre-arranged compromising position - it's all apparently so hilarious with him, "good old Boris" and all that ****. No doubt his team gets a say in which shots to use to maximise his appeal, the polar opposite of what I imagine happens with Miliband. The media take away the level playing field, and the fact people are judging his performance by comparing it with what they were expecting given what they know of him, rather than what he actually said is an indictment of this.
It is how I see it but I suspect that I may well speak for the majority here. You cannot have a minor party holding the larger one to ransom, society cannot work like that. The LibDems took the decision to partake in the coalition formally and in my view it was the only one realisticaly available to them. They stood up (which would have pleased you) for a vote on a new voting system but they could not enforce their entire manifesto into the coalition contract. They managed to up the personal allowance from which we have all benefitted, defended the overseas aid budget and though I do not care personally for this, forced Cameron against his own party on the quesion of Gay Rights. On the whole they have punched above their weight but in terms of their parliamentary standing it was proportional and did not jeopardise the country's standing in the view of the wider world.
What I found unforgivable was Burley profusely thanking Cameron and fawning all over him,but being aggressive towards Miliband. That shouldn't be allowed. Paxman says he is a "One Nation Tory" and I have no quibble with him,he is fair. Allegra Stratton on Newsnight declared a win for Miliband as did most neutral poliltical commentators. Cameron came out ahead on one poll but on a poll of undecided voters Miliband was a mile ahead.
93% Labour, 93% Greens, 87% Lib Dem! Seems about right to me. According to that test I'm more UKIP than Tory! I also did the Policies thing that JK posted the other day and came out with prtty much the exact same results. Not a surprise really.
We shouldn't kick them out, they'd make perfect struts for new motorway bridges, once they'd been encased in concrete!
I'm a labour voter but have voted for the Liberal Party on several occasions where there was a chance of keeping the Tories out. I have a big respect for the Liberal Party in their achievements regarding individual freedom and support of minority groups. Even back to the abolition of slavery and Chartist Movement which set the seeds for the development of the Labour Party. They tend to be excellent constituency MP's , as in Norman Lamb, fighting for everyone, not their vested interests. But I do believe they lost it with Clegg who perhaps they though was their 'Blair'. Sure they needed a new impulse but that individual imo has done for them, for the sake of his own self interest. I cannot believe there will be any Scottish liberal MPs after the election because they have sided with the Tories and kept them in power. Sure there will be the odd one or two in peninsula areas such as the South-west and hopefully North Norfolk but being in the government with Tories was not a good move. Regarding tuition fees,
Ach they'll have a bad election or two, Clegg might disappear, but ultimately they'll bounce back in some shape or other. That's how politics works - if you play with fire... The important thing is that politics in this country has finally changed - the near duopoly has been broken and we have a variety of choices and real questions are being asked.
