First ever leaders debate on British TV

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was the winner of the first ever leaders debate on British TV, say the media.

Clegg was the most visibly at ease early on and gave a confident pitch in which he represented the Liberal Democrats as a change from the 'old' parties of Labour and Conservative.

Both David Cameron and Gordon Brown appeared to be trying to curry favour with the 42-year-old Lib-Dem leader as the likelihood of a hung parliament come May 6th increases.

In terms of election coverage during the debate by the media outlets, there were no real surprises as to who the broadsheet newspapers, and their readers, were backing.

What was interesting was that the Daily Mail appeared to declare David Cameron the winner before the debate had even finished.

Disappointingly, the web page has since been changed to reflect the reality of what happened in Manchester this evening, and stupidly I failed to get a screen shot of the offending page which has now changed.

However, it is interesting to note how the media have reacted to tonight's events and I will make sure I pay closer attention to the how the next debate, televised on Sky on April 22, is covered.

Cut the Clique rather than Services

Obviously this article is one-sided:
http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2009/10/oxford-universitywealth-school

However, it does have me asking the question: How in-touch are politicians?

I don't believe we can expect our politicians to make the correct decisions for all sections of the population when they tend to be sourced from just one demographic: Rich, middle to upper class, university educated etc.

What makes me feel even more disappointed is the fact that it looks likely we will vote in a government that thinks that the best course of action in a recession is to cut spending: "Cameron goes into his pre-election conference as the only leader of a mainstream party in the western world who has called for spending cuts during the recession".

Labour does not have all the answers; but then neither do the Conservatives.