TV Debate - who did best?

[JustineMumsnet]

So there you have it. History in the making; the UK's first live Leaders' election debate. Who do you think did best? Has it confirmed/ clarified your choice or even changed your mind?

Let us know your thoughts in our third election poll and you could win £50 in Boden or Amazon vouchers.

Thanks,
MNHQ

[LadyBlaBlah]

Ponders - nice thoughts about drug users but he gave no actual solutions

Yes, lets get drug users off drugs. Great, not thought of that.

So, how, exactly?

Rehab is pretty much ineffective, so what DC, what are you proposing?

[Ponders]

one of my kids works in drug rehab & it does work for some, LadyBB - would be better if it worked for more but you know, baby steps...

They are all v concerned that if the Tories get in their budgets will be slashed, so it was vaguely comforting to hear him acknowledge that rehab is one measure to help reduce crime (as opposed to banging them all up)

[alicatte]

I hadn't thought of that Shrinking Violet. He does have very smooth, and winter holiday tanned, looking skin doesn't he?! Surely not.

[KurriKurri]

Nick Clegg had least to lose - he couldn't really fail.

GB - did well in something which is not his strongest suit.

DC - blew it with his 'I was talking to ......' anecdotes. Awful, the more debates he has to take part in the more his weaknesses will become apparent IMO.

[alicatte]

Then again Ed Milliband who I am watching now also has that smooth skin maybe its an epidemic amongst politicians. Well except Boris Johnson.

[LittleSilver]

Ponders I work in an area affiliated to (but not precisely) drug rehab. I'll believe the Tories funding it when I see it. We are all very worried at the thought of them coming into power.

[LadyBlaBlah]

Sure it works for some but overall is quite ineffective. Point is DC gave no solutions/proposals/promises.........just a vague opinion masquerading as a policy

[LittleSilver]

Evidence base for that?

[AgnesDiPesto]

DC's anecdotes were awful and mostly inaccurate. If you commit arson you can get a life sentence even if you don't actually kill anyone - you might only get 4.5 years for the burglary but you'd get a lot more for the arson. Judges set sentences anyway not politicians. That was just BS. As was the Bulgaria thing. And of course they won't fund every single whoppingly expensive cancer drug. Thats just a lie. No party can promise to buy every drug going whatever the cost. And I hate that he used his son all the time. As a parent of SN child I think if he can't sort out his direct payments form he definitely should not be Prime Minister, its really not that hard especially when someone comes to your house and talks you through it. And I don't know where he got his 3 lever arch files from. I would imagine there was more paperwork in paying the nanny.

GB did better than I thought,when he started I thought oh no big lecture, but he came across better after a few questions.

NC did well but not enough to make me feel he could run the economy or cope with a terrorist attack tomorrow

What was interesting was that DC didn't say anything in answering any of the questions about his big society idea or basically refer to his manifesto at all and then in summing up talked about the big society for the first time. which just made it obvious that its completely impractical and not the solution he claims it is, it wasn't relevant to any of the issues - immigration, schools, healthcare, crime etc all of these do need a big state solution not a big society / DIY solution which is just Thatcherite self help dressed up.

And of course businesses will speak out against increased taxes - these are the same people who said the minimum wage was wrong and would put Britain out of business when in fact vast majority of businesses absorbed the minimum wage just fine.

Not sure DC or NC can afford to cut class sizes in a recession though - my school already has 2 classes in portacabins if they cut class sizes by a third they would have to find an extra 7 class rooms or build a new school to house the infants as well as extra staff costs.

[alicatte]

KurriKurri, On another strand I saw a really interesting saying 'However many anecdotes you tell they can never add up to a fact'

[wubblybubbly]

Nick Clegg came okay but I don't think he won the debate, well not for me anyway.

GB surprised me and came across much better than I'd thought.

Cameron was just dreadful, but no big shocker there.

Wonder if he's on the phone to China now, explaining his faux pas on nuclear weapons?

[LadyBlaBlah]

Haven't got my login for journals here but some bbc details on uk rehab figures here

[KurriKurri]

Very true alicatte! I think DC will be kicking whoever advised him to take that particular tack.

[TheFirstLady]

My 12-year-old daughter sat up to watch the debate with us. She went in as a Labour supporter and finished saying that if she could vote she would vote Lib Dem. I have to say I agree, I thought he won the debate hands down, particularly be refusing to play along with Gordon Brown's blandishments to gang up on DC (which were possibly being made with one eye on a possible coalition).
DC was weak on detail and overall didn't demonstrate nearly so much command of his facts as the others.

[said]

Someone described DC as "flimsy" earlier on - I like that description. And he seemed very scowly and petulant looking a lot of the time. Looked a bit spoilt.

[NoseyNooNoo]

GB agreed to it, not because he's a good egg but because he has nothing to lose and much to gain. He came across as point-scoring and please, someone, tell him to stop gurning like that.

DC came across as the best potential leader and refrained from too much 'I agree with Nick'. He gave the best closing argument.

NC, as I predicted, gained the most. He gave the kind of answer, style-wise, that I would give but that is not a complement because I am inexperienced and lacking in knowledge. He had the most relaxed body-language. He was the worst offender re: naming names. The closing argument was excrutiating.

DC the winner, by a nose, for me.

[takethatlady]

I have voted twice before, both times for Liberal Democrats - partly on single issues (university tuition fees (I was 18 and in uni the first time) and the war). Though I'm not much of a Nick Clegg fan, and though I think he focuses too much on very narrow issues such as Trident or smaller class sizes without really being brave enough to hammer home liberalism as a political philosophy, the debate has only confirmed to me that I will vote Lib Dem again.

Particularly having watched Question Time tonight I am utterly horrified at the Conservative proposal that we should all be able to run our own schools, hospitals, and even elect certain people within the police force. Education, surely, is about giving young people the chance, whatever their backgrounds, to learn about the world beyond their own communities - other religions, other times and places, the natural world, literatures, and so on. I am deeply concerned that this policy will mean that education narrowly benefits local businesses and their narrow employment needs, or will serve the interests of the pushiest parents. Justice is not a matter for election, as Shami Chakrabarti pointed out. Poorer communities will have less skilled or expert people to run these schools, and the upshot is that the Conservatives hope to exploit the goodwill of volunteers to make its cuts. For me that's the end of any slim chance they had of me voting for them. I thought Cameron was cold, cynical and smug.

Brown did okay in my book, but what can he say? The times are against him, and whatever he does he can't hope to win public favour at this late stage. Clegg did best not because he was the most relaxed, but because the Lib Dems are the only ones with any degree of honesty about the cuts and where they're going to come from, so he was better able to answer questions directly. And the other leaders' determination to ignore him actually made him stand out.

[takethatlady]

PS - I really got pissed off with all the anecdotes. The amount of things everybody seemed to have done 'the other day' was amazing! If only we all had this mythical 'other day' we could fit a lot more in, I reckon!

[grumpypants]

how funny; the independent were offering tips - use anecdotes was one of them. i got distracted at the end when dc pulled nc back, and gb went off shaking hands...

[takethatlady]

I know - perhaps it was just one anecdote too many. The ending was so strange! It was weird to watch GB wandering off shaking people's hands while the other two just stood there nervously. Poor NC - that was definitely DC's fault! I think he was hoping for one more posing opportunity...

[expatinscotland]

Swing voter here (NOT Tory).

Labour now.

Got our notice today: postal ballot coming through letter slot 23-30 April.

GB really shone through tonight, IMO.

[Picante]

Was anyone else really annoyed by the way DC said 'properly'?

I heart NC.

[cupcake75]

Thought GB came off a lot better than I expected. NC was good as well. This debate was DC's to lose and I don't think he will have won too many new fans as a result of his performance. Yet again he was very light on detail and I continue to have no idea what the man stands for and what their policies will be in practice.

[MaryAnnSingleton]

done ! go Nick !

[preggersplayspop]

DC was like a walking talking Daily Mail front page, which definitely put me off. All those hand gestures in the opening bit as well - too rehearsed and insincere.

I think GB had learnt a trick from the mumsnet webchats - Answer the question David!! I was alarmed that DC completely ducked these very direct questions, which makes me concerned about what else they would hide from us.

I thought GB came across well, he has strong principles to fall back on and I thought his policies and reasons for them were made clear (eg why we are in Afghanistan, nuclear weapons etc).

NC came off well, but hard not too. Some of his policies seem attractive, but not sure how workable in practice.