The Chancellors - C4 now

[CaveMum]

Is anyone else watching?

I'm entrigued to see how the US style tv debate works.

agree Tashtodd, Cable has been built up by the media as being the only one to have foreseen the crisis. I read predictions from other commentators of the impending crisis for several years before Cable started receiving publicity over it. However, at least Cable was saying it whilst the others carried on pretending that everything was hunky dory.

Think I watched a different program to you Claig. Osborne impressive? bit of an oxymoron that one.

Vince ain't going to be chancellor - and, as such, was unchallenged in his assertions. For example, how does he propose to fund his £10k tax threshold?

Darling seems a nice enough bloke... but his admission that "there isn't a penny in the bank" was classic. Just remind us, Alistair, who has been in charge for the last 13 years? And, of course, flip-flopped live on air about the death tax.

I think Osborne did ok - shame he didn't nail the misinformation about inheritance tax. Used the line "we're all in this together" too many times, I thought.

Ninjacat, you need to watch it again on 4OD. I thought Osborne did better than he was predicted to do. Not as good as Cable, but better than the "fairer society" waffle from Darling, who as Chancellor would be expected to have loads of hard facts up his sleeve, but came out with only platitudes.

I thought all three were pretty good, actually.

Darling didn't say anything new other than scrapping the death tax, but you wouldn't expect him to say much new after he just gave a budget. He is the best member of Labour's cabinet, in my opinion.

Cable made some good jokes but comes across as a bit too much of a populist to me. How is he going to fund his increase of the income tax threshold to £10000? That is a massive change, costing dozens of billions. The mansion tax is a tiny change speaking macro-economically - only raising hundreds of millions - and can't possibly cover the income tax change. The Lib Dems get off easy because no-one really examines their proposals, and they aren't put under the same scrutiny as Labour and the Conservatives.

Osborne did far better than I expected. I thought he would fall flat on his face but he seemed fairly composed, with some credible spending cuts like limiting public sector pensions to £50k a year.

Damn I missed it - working - so this v useful, thanks.

The only clip that I saw was the child pov bit, in which GO looked astonishingly sixth-form - angry, flushed, doing a hammy derisive sneer - when Darling criticized. I'm not a swinger but if I were, that one teeny moment would have put me off. He's young, and arrogant, and utterly un-statesmanlike. Weird because on the whole I'm depressed by personality politics - but it just seems impossible to me that this repulsive, sneery child could be In Charge.

Keep imagining him in a wig and beauty-spot, which doesn't help much.

I was impressed with them all. It was nice to see such a civilised debate.

I prefer Vince.

I wish the election was like a buffet rather than a set menu. I'd pick Vince for Chancellor, erm.... then I'd remain undecided for the rest, maybe we'd all be better off if we were governed by a cheese and pineapple hedgehog.

scarlet - that was exactly my feeling when he said there wasn't a penny in the bank. Exactly whose fault would that be then?

Also made me laugh when he started talking about having identified and implemented efficiency savings in the public sector when this government have bloated the public sector so grossly to prop up employment figures.

No thanks Claig I watched it pretty closely.
I don't feel the need to dissect it from my pov. People on here are intelligent enough to make up their own minds.
We will just have to agree to disagree.

Crikey, I came back to this thread today expecting pages and pages of frenzied debate, but I'm astonished there are so few posts.

Do you think it's because the programme was with the chancellors, rather than the leaders? IMVHO, their role is just as important, especially at the moment.

I thought this was supposed to be the Mumsnet election! Have we nodded off?!

Am totally

Birdly I'm surprised too! When ai came inti the Telly Addicts forum last night I expected there to be a thread running already, but instead I had to start one!

Personally, nothing that was said last night has changed my voting intentions. I too was shouting "Who's fault is it then?" everytime Alastair Darling said there was no money in the pot, or cuts needed to be made.
I was also getting a bit annoyed with Vince Cable and his constant referrences to "the army". Hello! What about the RAF and the Navy? Politicians, and Journalists should really be referring to "the Military".

As the wife of an RAF officer it really got up my nose!
I wish they had talked about the Defence Spending Review too, but perhaps they are saving defence talk for another debate.

I thought GO's announcement on NI was a stunning misjudgement. His strength is that the Tories have promised to lead a crusade against the defecit and now that image has been ruined by this one populist announcement. He also came across as sneery and he was even caught ticking off points on his crib sheet which added to his image as school boy debator.

Anyone else think that today's story that Tony Blair is getting involved in the election campaign is a BIG mistake. Surely this is a gift for the Tories?

Everyone I speak to can't stand Tony Blair, granted I live in a Conservative constituency, and I can't help but think this is a very bad idea.

It doesn't bother me of course, I've no intention of voting Labour

I was thrilled to see Cable being so sensible, and Darling did come across less weird - osbonre was so funny - me and dh were counting the number of times he said david cameron. Like political bingo! (Do you think he had a wire and DC feeding hime lines?) I'm voting Lib Dem now - if noone does it, it will always be a two (lame) horse race.

Aubergines, I don't think Osborne's NI cuts were a misjudgement. They show his committment to jobs and private enterprise. The people know there are going to be savage cuts whoever gets in, but they are worried about whether they will be taxed out of existence and whether they will still have a job. Osborne was demonstrating that there will be cuts, but all of the burden will not fall on the public, there will still be tax cuts and he will reduce taxation on private enterprise to encourage job creation.

CaveMum, agree with you about Labour shooting themselves in the foot by reviving the spectre of Blair. Even Labour voters don't like him. The only way that Blair will help Labour is if he says that he agrees with all the Tory policies, that'll be enough to send voters scurrying in the opposite direction.

although Osborne was a bit like a deer in the headlights when Darling asked how he would pay for these cuts, when he needed to rake in as much cash as possible. Osborne needs to be better briefed on this point. He needs to confidently assert that job creation and retention are an absolute priority and that anything that can alleviate the pain on the public in terms of taxation will be a top consideration. He should make it clear that the bureaucracy will suffer the burden of the cuts.

I think they all did very well, last night. It was a big thing to do and they were bound to be nervous.
I think it's so unfair to accuse GO of sneering which he patently was not doing. He is always having to put up with a lot of offensive comment about his background[he can't help which family he happened to be born into] etc.
I believe the Tories will manage the country best. Labour's capacity for frittering away our money on useless projects is terrifying.

I stand by my comment that GO comes across as sneery. Actually maybe sneery isn?t quite the right term. Patronising is better. And I am not saying that because of his family background, I am saying it because of the way he talks.

I agree with others on this thread that it was really nice to hear a civilized grow-up debate between three senior politicians. It is a rare thing given we normally only ever hear them in the depressingly school yardish forum that is the House of Commons, or in interviews with terrier journalists bent on making their own points rather than listening. I am so glad that the Parties signed up to these debates.

For the avoidance of doubt by "the way he talks" I mean the constant hammering home of the most obvious points.

There hasn't been lots of publicity to the debates. In other European countries and America these debates are HUGE on the ratings. Any tv people know how much ratings it got?

The more I see that Osborne the more I think that Cameron has cocked it up appointing such a wet mr bean lookalike as a chancellor.

Can we see more of him on telly - sure that it will put voters off voting Tory.

I have to admit, the more i consider this, the more i see GO as a key reason not to vote tory. Last night just served to reinforce this view

Am also surprised by the lack of debate here and agree that it was really refreshing to have a civilised event.

stifled a snigger at the 'noses in the trough' comment from VC

I am also surprised about the lack of debate on this subject. I wonder if it is because it was on channel 4. If it had been on BBC1 or 2 there would have been lots of publicity on the radio as well as TV.

Can we have Vince for Chancellor in a power-sharing administration do you think?!

'I think they all did very well, last night. It was a big thing to do and they were bound to be nervous.' I love this! Like they are all doing a school play or something, bless 'em.

anyone who missed it and wants to watch it can see the programme "Ask the Chancellors" online at
www.channel4.com/programmes/4od