Sky News, my 'go to' TV news station - not because it's particularly good but only because the BBC is utter crap! - has begun a campaign to make televised political debates prior to an election a legal requirement. Well, good luck with that one! Personally, such debates as we have had, both 'over here' and those 'over there', have never produced anything except more CO2 and, frankly, I think politicians' hot air is the cause of global warming!
These 'events' are so tightly scripted and controlled you learn nothing. The only result is that previously conceived opinions, for and against, are simply cemented even deeper. There is a place, I think, for politicians to face alone a grilling by a small team of experienced political commentators from all sides of the political spectrum. It might not teach you much about the politicians but it might throw some light on the perspicacity of those 'wiseacres' who tell us what to think via the media!
The problem with such "debates" is that they can only ever reveal what a politician claims to want. By the time we find out whether their actual performance suits us, the debates are long forgotten. Remember that jerk Clegg courting the student vote by saying he would never raise fees, and then doing precisely that as soon as Cameron goosed him? That's what did for him, and no amount of posturing in a suit can undo that.
Having said that, poor old Gordon Brown's performances were a joy to behold. A modern form of bear-baiting, except that I have never seen a Presbyterian bear look so ill at ease.
Posted by: Whyaxye | Tuesday, 18 September 2018 at 12:46