TV Debate - who did best?

No, not a sausage.

I dare you to ask PL whether he cringes at the memory of his infamous G&S-stylie party conference speech with his little list attacking single parents etc. etc. (But feel free to tell him your token plebian Labour mate thinks he's a jolly good stick, actually.)

Tash, it was Maggie who signed the Single European Act (or whatever it was called) that handed significant powers over to the EU (or whatever it was called at the time - the EEC IIRC). And it was Major who tried to take us into the ERM. Voting Tory is a pretty ineffective way of protesting against the EU.

Short of voting for a minor party, you are pretty scuttled on that one, sadly. (I'm very suspicious of the democratic deficit in Europe myself, wish there was a way of protesting without voting for that bunch of racists and dodgy geezers in UKIP.)

Edam - I'm going for drinks with PL (at someone's drinks party) next week. Have you met the LibDem or the Labour candidate. I've had NO leaflets whatsoever. Have you?

I'm not too shy to say I'm voting Tory. I don't like the thought of the left lurch this county will take if there is some sort of unholy alliance between to libs and lab.

Lib dem policies will now come under the spotlight- very pro Europe I fear futher sell outs to Brussels and god help us all if we are pushed into the Euro. I think we will be diminished as a nation.

I think I might be a shifty Labour voter. I checked my MP's voting pattern, and he voted strongly in favour of quite a few things I feel quite strongly about myself, though (obviously) the other way.

I would really like to see PR come in.

Swedes, bet you had a whale of a time in '92. I remember people walking around in shock asking 'who the hell voted THAT lot in again'.

Think you are fairly safe to organise a Tory victory party in our town, however the nation goes. Someone used that old line about 'you could stick blue rosette on a monkey and get it elected in H' the other day and I had to concede. (Although have to admit PL is not a bad stick, top voting record on civil liberties and good constituency MP.)

Will be interesting to see how the next leaders' debate goes - how Clegg copes with being favourite to win that contest and how the others try to deal with him.

Are people really too shy to say they vote Tory? I would have thought people would be deeply ashamed about voting Labour. Voting Lib Dem is a reasonable thing to do though. At least they seem to know what they stand for.

lol at rude children being GB's fault.

anyone who votes for GB and labour are mad. They have completely ruined the country. They have allowed people to have all sorts of rights, but people have made to accept no responsibilities. Parents have rights but their children are rude, except no ownership of the way they behave. Benefits have gone mad, with a majority of people sitting nicely on them with no intention of coming off them. We have somehow got to go back to when you work hard you can achieve, things should not be handed on a plate. We have all got to take responsibility of what is happening and stop blaming others. GB has a lot to answer for.

I agree with Drosophila's post above. I keep asking myself this: what if we all woke up on May 6th and said, sod it, I'm going to vote Green even though I know they aren't going to win my local seat, or run the government. It would still cause enough of a stir to "send a message" that we are actually very concerned about the future of the planet.

(My dd is lobbying hard for me to vote Green, and does not accept at all the idea that it could be a "wasted" vote.)

lol. whereas we should want dave because he can look sweaty, pink and cwoss.

Spidermama - Agree - it was vomitworthy. We want him for Prime Minister becaue he can look dewy eyed and pleading at the camera and write down Jackie, Roger, Dave and June. FGS

i personally thought it was a bit 'goodNIGHT london' and silly, but i wasn't under the impression that people thought he'd remembered. it's okay to like good manners, though, and to think it's well-mannered of him to make the effort to write the names down, imo.

Agree spidermama, it was sooo staged. He'd have been better just name checking one of them. He used their names throughout also and it made me cringe. Wonder if he's just done an NVQ in 'presentation skills?'

The polls on Mumsnet are such a stupid non-representative sample anyway.

I'm looking forward immensely to parading through Mumsnet on May 7th in my Tory victory cloak. I might even take the day off work so I can really make the most of it and chat to everyone.

I'm surprised at how many people were impressed that NC 'remembered' the audience names.

That whole stunt at the end was shamelessly stage managed. He'd obviously planned it and written all the names down during the debate then tried to act casual as he said them.

Come on!

hoopaloop - agree. The polling really should be operated by a third party. Welcome to not lurking status on Mumsnet.

Alicatte - Sorry that sounds a bit agressive. If you are a recent namechaner, fair enough. But for a newbie to just tip up and start electioneering is a bit suspicious.

Aitch - I think the polling should be operated by a third party approved by the institute of pollsters.

I'm a regular lurker rather than a regular poster so not sure if 'qualified' to be commenting, but I'm getting quite uncomfortable by how much mumsnet are asking us to comment on the election. People are giving their time to give opinions/ feedback, but is this for the benefit for our discussions or some the Parties and their reseachers? I've got visions of loads of interns poring over our comments to inform their MPs. This would be fine if it were for policy change, but much more likely for ' don't smile Gordon' ' look more sincere david'

Alicatte - Your posts don't quite ring true. Are you a namechanger or new?

none of the polls are well-designed, imo. they all ask who won, rather than who was first, second, then third. i'm sure the only reason that gordy appears to have done so badly is that a lot of people who thought he came second were only able to register that they thought cleggy came first.

i'd be very interested in seeing a 1,2,3 on the next poll, Justine.

Justine - Your poll results are horribly incomplete.

How many voters are now less likely to vote Labour (you've only told us how many MN voters are less likely to vote for Cameron).

Can we please have all the results?

nah, they weren't new posters, they were mners. fear not. we're not that stupid.

OK, let's discuss the debate and not just state our original views. I am a small government, low tax, libertarian conservative. However I appreciate that there are other legitimate viewpoints than mine.

As for the debate itself, Nick Clegg clearly won. He defended costed policies, forced both the major parties on the back foot over the cosy consensus on Trident and was personable and relaxed.

I am highly suspicious that about the first 20 posts on this subject all thought GB won it. Really? Are you sure New Labour did not get a few activists to post?! Gordon was wooden and could only talk about "protecting the recovery". To me, he was clearly last. He has never been a good debater and that is hardly a surprise.

The biggest disappointment of the night was David Cameron. He behaved too much like a prince regent and too little like a politician fighting passionately for his ideas. Trying to define the election in terms of the 1% NI hike (or less than 1% of the total tax take) is duplicitous electioneering. If he tries to take the electorate for suckers, he may well get what he deserves.

Can we have some real right wing ideas please and someone courageous who is prepared to elucidate and defend them. Nick Clegg has, for me, eruditely set out the left wing position. Were I a left winger, he would get my vote like a shot. Shame I am not, really.

Happy woman,there isn't a choice we have to save money,its no good saying there isn't anything to cut we are broke we cannot keep spending at this level so we have to save the money whether we like it or not.

There is no more money,the cuts will be long and deep ,it was bad enough in the early 80s when Mrs Thatcher made cuts but she was cushioned by North Sea Oil and our reserves but over the last 13 years GB has spent ALL of our reserves there is no rainy day money so we have to cut back however painful.