chairman\_hall wrote:Did everybody see the cynical attacks on Clegg in the newspapers today?The press in this country sickens me.Sparky suggested I look at this blog entry by Newsnight's Paul Mason:Election zeitgeist: Blackberry world does not get iPhone world'Cleggmania' has the city spooked, and perhaps points to a paradigm shift in politics in general, particularly if the LibDems demand PR and electoral reform.

Yup, the knives are well and truly out. It's remarkably aggressive. Who's watching round two?

2207 wrote:simmo wrote:Poll added at the suggestion of Andy Est En Feu.FWIW (did I just use an internet acronym correctly?), I'm still deciding between three parties. Clue: it's not BNP - UKIP - ConservativeSNP?Plaid Cymru?Or is it an English poll only?Sorry, adjusted accordingly

simmo wrote:So, these debates have introduced us to each of the party leaders' preferred catchphrases - "Get Real" (Brown), "The other day I met [someone from ethnically diverse background]" (Cameron) and "Same old two parties" (Clegg).I thought it was interesting that Clegg has actually changed a few of his key phrases in the second debate. In the first he referred to the others as "the major parties" and in the second he changed to "the old parties".

^^^^^biggest guffaw of the day so far.in other news, SWP neck and neck wiv da Lib'raal posse. could get interesting in Da House.

I started a new job last week. A young chavvy lad a couple of desks away said, in all seriousness, before the first debate "Cameron and Brown are gonna get merked tonight. Nick Clegg's going on gangsta."

chairman\_hall wrote:The more I think about it the more I think shit is going to go down in 2010. Everyone is sleepwalking into the reality of the neo-liberal public sector massacre that is bound to come. Sector wide strikes and unrest. Stuff not getting done - civil unrest. Bankers sitting pretty. Hey, it might be fun.I for one would be in favour of this. Politics needs a massive kick up the arse. So, these debates have introduced us to each of the party leaders' preferred catchphrases - "Get Real" (Brown), "The other day I met [someone from ethnically diverse background]" (Cameron) and "Same old two parties" (Clegg). Pretty dull. I think we should rewrite them. Suggestions?For Brown, I'm gonna go with "Yo man, there's a lot of brothers out there flaking and perpetrating, scared to kick reality".

The best analysis of the circus surrounding the second debate I've read so far. Some lovely Brooker-esque turns of phrase in here.http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/22/sky-leaders-debate-spin-room-abortion-democracy

Worrying, but not fatal. The media is certainly talking it up and the stats don't bear out their analysis. Gives them something to do. And given that immigration is the UK media's main hobby-horse, it shouldn't surprise us that UKIP is all they want to talk about. Front National got a massive win in France, because people stayed away. But the last time Marie LePen looked like having a breakthrough in the main elections, the whole establishment came out to block him. Labour did really well, in fact.

big\_dave wrote:They're honestly not further right than the conservatives, just a bit more chaotic and reactionary, and virtually guaranteed never to win a general election and die slowly in pit. Maybe they'll force the Lib Dems to move back toward the center.I agree, their policies are traditional Tory ones. As Paul Mason says: people who espouse patriotism, church, a big military and constrained immigration.Their job is to condition the Tories from the right and drag them from the centre-ground over Europe. Problem is they're dragging the whole discourse of the centre to the right at the same time.