Election Debates

[DanaC]

We're full swing into General Election campaigning in the UK - I haven't really mentioned it much thus far because it kinda makes me want to break something - but heyho, can't exactly ignore the fucking thing entirely - whatever the shabby state of politics in this country, I'll be at the ballot box putting my X on the paper when the day comes.

So anyway - there's been all sorts of rumblings about televised debates between the party leaders - this has been going on for about a year, but gathered momentum a couple of months back - party leaders refusing to do them unless certain terms were met, then the goal posts were shifted and the new terms met etc etc.

We have had leadership debates over here in recent elections, but they still feel a relatively new addition to the campaign landscape. I figured since televised debates seem to be a much more expected part of the American election process you guys might find the Brit attempt of interest.

By the time all the conditions had been met, it ended up with a seven way debate between all the leaders of all the parties, rather than between the three main parties.


here's the full debate:



here's a couple of snippets for those who don;t want to trawl through the whole thing :p





And for the political animals, here's the post debate Question Time discussion show - a panel of prominent politicians from the main parties and journalists, with questions from the studio audience - a more energetic kind of discussion with some really interesting audience perspectives :