UK General Election 2015 | Conservatives win with an overall majority
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Still not a head to head debate though, as Miliband says:
Lib Dems are the ones that look most screwed by it, they're omitted from the "opposition" debate as well as the leader based ones. Cameron's got off fairly well from it.
Thanks Dotty, I hadn't seen that one.
Yeh the two 'interviews' are going to be a complete waste, a well prepared speech by Cameron repeating whatever Lynton Crosby tells him. Which boils down to repeating 'long-term economic plan' until the public is hypnotised and blaming all the mess on the other party.
Its a disgrace that the public are robbed of any opportunity to see unscripted debate because the prime minister doesn't feel it works for him. Considering the prime ministers previous position its just a fecking omnishambles.
They don't trust Cameron enough to debate so they're going down the route of treating everyone as fools with soundbites (true or not) and assuming policy ignorance.
Its a disgrace that the public are robbed of any opportunity to see unscripted debate because the prime minister doesn't feel it works for him. Considering the prime ministers previous position its just a fecking omnishambles.
They don't trust Cameron enough to debate so they're going down the route of treating everyone as fools with soundbites (true or not) and assuming policy ignorance.
2-way debate would be utter shite. Basically trying to convince people that this is a 2-party country when it's not anymore. They can feck off with that.
It is, really. There's only two parties who can get any sort of mandate to rule. UKIP can get a high vote share but feck all MP's. The SNP can get a decent chunk of MP's but with a tiny national vote share. The Lib Dems will be pretty low on both counts.
Am a bit baffled by the debate fiasco. Cameron is renowned as a decent speaker who'll do his conference speech for an hour without notes. Ed 'forgot' the deficit.
You'd think Cameron could crush Ed and his unfunded promises.
You'd think Cameron could crush Ed and his unfunded promises.
Not for a very long time. He had the good sense to do stop it, once he'd proved he could (whatever it proves - I don't know - but both him and Miliband seem to think it achieves something...). Anyway, doing that's all well and good. You can memorise the thing and no one will interrupt you. He was poor in the debates last time. Barely came out better than Brown, who had 13 years of government to try and defend.
He's got the undetailed cuts bit so they both take the hit there.
Cameron certainly didn't shine in the debates but he wasn't a disaster like the Green leader. Plus he made me laugh when he 'met a black man the other day'.
Agreed both him and Miliband will no doubt squirm on some questions but this whole debacle is in itself damaging Cameron and handing Miliband easy point scoring opportunities.
Were many people really swayed by the debates last time? Clegg's popularity didn't carry over into votes.
There's a few Tories who seem to think it was costly for Cameron. I think I agree with you, though. They gave us some interesting opinion polls but come the exit poll we were pretty much where we'd have expected to be without them.
Never trust a man who has his green light turned off.
Agreed. Am sure most of us only watch hoping for a car crash.
Cameron has no interest in answering unvetted questions, as of old. From the frivolously-titled PMQs to these proposed debates, there's an air of complacency and entitlement about him, as if being asked to explain himself is irrelevant, beneath him, and an unnecessary distraction.
He did that once, I believe. Ed did it twice without trouble, should've quit whilst he was ahead. Cameron can't crush anyone if he isn't doing his Flashman act, which doesn't wash in a debate.
Not without trouble I'm afraid:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/24/ed-miliband-forgets-labour-conference-speech
However I completely agree with the 'Flashman act', it aptly sums him up.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/24/ed-miliband-forgets-labour-conference-speech
However I completely agree with the 'Flashman act', it aptly sums him up.
Yeah I meant twice before that one
Should've quit after the second.Ed is a cnut.
Everything's relative, Dave is a bigger cnut
Sorry, I couldn't think of anything more constructive to say. Feck we beat Liverpool and I watched it in a sweat house Thai barEverything's relative, Dave is a bigger cnut
Who is part of the 5 way opposition debate?
Unfortunately for Cameron based on his pmqs he would probably come over as an arrogant toff bully in crushing ed... Whilst not a problem for his core vote it would probably loose as many marginal votes as it would win... As others have said "flashman"
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Commies - Labour
Racists - UKIP
Hippies - Greens
Jocks - snp
Taffs - plaid cymru
The toffs and the tossers are sitting this one out
Basically everyone, unless they're Irish.
ah that should be interesting!
I strongly dislike a lot about Labour, but I actually think he's a moderately decent guy. He's just not really PM material though, and has approached the election from the wrong angle in regards to image.
And here's me thinking I would never feel sorry for poor old Nigel
http://www.theguardian.com/politics...kip-protesters-who-forced-him-out-of-pub-scum
http://www.theguardian.com/politics...kip-protesters-who-forced-him-out-of-pub-scum
Anti-Ukip protesters in fancy dress forced Nigel Farage to flee his local pub where he was dining with his family on Sunday afternoon.
The Ukip leader called the demonstrators “scum”, claiming they had caused his children distress. The group, however, said they were holding a “cabaret of diversity” in support of those Ukip was seeking to marginalise.
Farage was with his wife and two younger children when the demonstrators arrived at the George & Dragon pub. As he tried to leave, at least one protester jumped on the bonnet of his car.
The demonstrators said Farage pushed through them to get into the car and was then chased down the road.
Farage said afterwards: “I hope these ‘demonstrators’ are proud of themselves. My children were so scared by their behaviour that they ran away to hide.”
The Ukip leader, who is thought to have left in a car driven by his wife, said that a relative had returned to the pub and his children were later found safe. Farage’s children with his wife, Kirsten, are Victoria and Isabelle, thought to be aged 15 and 10 respectively. He also has two grownup children from his previous marriage.
The demonstrations began at around lunchtime at the Queen’s Head pub in Downe, Kent, where Farage was expected to be. The campaigners from the group called Ukip – Beyond Diversity, gathered in fancy dress and included migrants, HIV activists, gay people, disabled people and breastfeeding mothers, they said.
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Protesters block the Ukip leader’s car. Photograph: Levi Hinds/Levi Hinds
They claimed to be highlighting the pressures that would be placed on such groups, were some of Farage’s policies adopted. The Ukip leader has previously said breastfeeding women should sit in a corner and has spoken out against gay marriage.
When the demonstrators learned Farage was actually in the George & Dragon pub down the road, they formed a conga line and headed in that direction.
They claimed their demonstration was good natured throughout, with speakers from groups “living under the prejudice” promoted by Ukip.
One of the demonstrators claimed Farage was alone at the pub. But the landlord, Nigel Andrews, told the Guardian he was with his family. A Ukip source attacked the protesters for targeting him near his home on a Sunday, saying that Farage never involves his family in his political career.
Protest organiser Dan Glass said: “Ukip are a con. They pretend to be anti-establishment but this couldn’t be further from the truth. By wrongfully shifting the blame for the economic crisis on to immigrants they have let the bankers off the hook.”
I don't get the flashman stuff. He isn't flashy, just posh.
Am sure his heart is in the right place, he just has a clownish element about him.
The problem is though that he's failed to turn that clownish element into something positive. Look at Boris Johnson for example: thundercnut of a person, yet he's managed to carve out a positive image out of being an utter clown.
Miliband should have tried to portray himself as a slightly awkward, but hard-working and identifiable every man who was a bit goofy, but a lot more relateable and honest than Cameron, Clegg, Osbourne and co. He's failed to do that completely.
Boris, for all his faults, can be quite witty and self-deprecating. I've seen him speak at a corporate function and even haters enjoyed it. Miliband just seems awkward with his mannerisms and his lisp thing doesn't help.
Flashman is based on the character in the books
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Flashman
In Hughes' book, Flashman (a relatively minor character) is portrayed as a notorious bully at Rugby School who persecutes Tom Brown, and who is finally expelled for drunkenness. Fraser decided to write Flashman's memoirs, in which the school bully would be identified with an "illustrious Victorian soldier" experiencing many 19th-century wars and adventures and rising to high rank in the British Army, acclaimed as a great soldier, while remaining "a scoundrel, a liar, a cheat, a thief, a coward—and oh yes, a toady."[1] Fraser's Flashman is an antihero who often runs from danger in the novels. Nevertheless, through a combination of luck and cunning, he usually ends each volume acclaimed as a hero.[2]
Exactly. He's awkward, but people are often awkward too. People are self-depreciating. Miliband shoul'dve gone down that sort of route in order to kind of create a positive public image for himself, instead of trying to be yet another dull, generic authority figure that he's not particularly good at being.
Cameron is already getting ahead of himself by stating he will not stand for a third term as prime minister, he's not even won this time yet! Already talking up his successors one being bloody Boris Johnson, the man is a complete buffoon.
yeah spot on.
I'd happily lead an army from Scotland to get us independence if Johnson was anywhere near being PM. Clown.
The Cameron news today is interesting, but feck me Ed. His comments on the SNP are such a disappointment. The way the Labour party have treated the Scottish electorate in the last nine months is a disgrace, and they completely deserve the obliteration they're going to suffer in May.
Also - Gove on Newsnight tonight. Wum.
Also - Gove on Newsnight tonight. Wum.
The Cameron news today is interesting, but feck me Ed. His comments on the SNP are such a disappointment. The way the Labour party have treated the Scottish electorate in the last nine months is a disgrace, and they completely deserve the obliteration they're going to suffer in May.
Also - Gove on Newsnight tonight. Wum.
They genuinely seem to think we're all just mindless and stupid. The "Vote SNP get Tory" line is blatantly nonsense because it's currently looking like votes for the SNP are going to result in them holding the balance of power. Not to mention that even if we vote for Labour, their chances of getting an actual majority seem incredibly slim.
They've also been caught out blatantly lying on more than one occasion. There was the shameful line about the party with the most seats automatically getting to form the government, and the contradictions they've made about the NHS pre/post-referendum. It's getting to the stage where I'd genuinely rather see the Tories ahead of Labour. Labour policies would generally appeal to me more, but I have absolutely no faith in anything the party say to indicate they'd actually follow through on any of their promises, or actually manage to stick to them.
Thoughts on Cameron announcing his retirement? Not an immediate retirement I know, but retirement nonetheless. Gove reckons it's creditable because then Cameron will have achieved what he set out to do. Presumably Gove thinks Cameron set out to lead a Coalition rather than a Conservative government, which he now seems unlikely ever to do, unless it's a minority one. Am I missing anything?
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Well said mate, well, until the last paragraph.
I still see Labour as my 'least worst' option in London, and not convinced by the line of thinking that defeat allows a party to 'cleanse' itself (look how long it took the Tories after '97). The Labour-SNP supply and confidence deal is about as good it can for the next five years I think, though there'll be an awful of shit written and said before that happens...
I don't think it's a story, really. There's nothing to stop him changing his mind, should he want to. It seems reasonably obvious that a guy who's had a tricky five years would feel any more than another five sounds an awful lot.