The Socialist 21 April 2010

Stop these savage cuts: support the socialist alternative

Young people facing a fight for their future

National Union of Students conference: Campaign needed against fees and cuts

Left candidates excluded from media

Big business as usual for Liberal Democrats

TV debate - Party leaders compete for the same policies

Volcanic eruption brings travel chaos: Planned and integrated transport system vital

Planes, trains and automobiles

Cameron turns back clock on women's rights

Banks use microloans to fleece poor

Fast news

Doncaster - Jarvis's vicious sackings and workers' fightback

Portsmouth North: "An ordinary guy to represent ordinary workers"

Lewisham councillors' record

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

Coventry: Standing up for public services

Colne Valley / Huddersfield: Kirklees' only fighting councillor

Spelthorne: "The trade union candidate guy"

A chance to put your questions to your local Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates.

Why the BNP offers no way forward for working class people

Anti-BNP protest

Progressive Workers Federation of Pakistan founded

Sri Lanka parliamentary elections: Rajapaksa's clan consolidates its rule

National Care Service - fact or fiction?

1936 - A play about the Olympics

Vote to boycott SATs

Civil service dispute continues

Fighting cuts at Coventry council

Strike ballot at Manchester Metropolitan University

Unison health conference

Laundry workers fight closure

Dover trade unions against privatisation

National Shop Stewards Network 2010 conference:

Previous issues, etc

Print this issue




Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/621/9400

Google search the site	Printable version	email to friend

Home | The Socialist 21 April 2010 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Bookshop

TV debate - Party leaders compete for the same policies

The first television debate, on 15 April, between the leaders of the main parties was the first such election debate in Britain. The press loved it, even calling it "gladiatorial combat", but it was more like fighting with cushions. If the other ten million viewers were like me, they would have been bored stiff.

If you didn't already know who the parties were, you would not have known which was which as there were no ideological differences in evidence. Any differences were of a managerial nature, over the detail of specific measures, or not even disagreements but: 'I want to do that too but I want to do it more'. Then Gordon Brown would say 'but we're already doing it' and David Cameron would say 'but you've had 13 years to do it, you're only doing it now' and Clegg would say 'the more they argue the more they sound the same'. This was Clegg's 'winning' argument.

Nick Clegg delivered the most competent performance and managed to inject a slight human element into it, occasionally sounding exasperated. He constantly said: "it's time to try something different". But the audience would have been hard-pressed to see what that difference was. The only stand-out difference was on Trident, with Clegg saying he would scrap it, Cameron saying that 'the defence of Britain is vital', and Brown managing to not comment on it.

In this medium there was no real debate, no dialogue, no one held to account. The audience sat passively in the TV studio and at home. Questioners were not allowed to comment on the answers, or make comments of their own. There were no heckles or applause, and no one was challenged.

On the economy, no one argued anything other than that there should be cuts. Clegg's 'something different' amounted to telling the others to be honest about what needs to be done.

With a massive onslaught coming on the public sector that will devastate the lives of masses of people, the voice that was missing from this debate was the one that says: 'No! We will not pay for your crisis!'