Vandalised conservative billboards

[John Bailey]

That's an odd outcome, because that article I linked to really drove
home to me how three party debates like that often end up with the
conservatives winning because the left end up splitting their votes
among competing but similar candidates (which is why, here, a vote for
the Green party is sometimes considered a vote wasted). Would Tory
voters really swing to Clegg? That's a surprise to me.

In related news, Ian McKellen's in town here at the moment and said
the following at a press conference:

"''I voted for my Labour candidate. I'm a one-issue voter - and on gay
issues the Labour party has been sensational over the past 30 years.''

Although McKellen has a soft spot for rising star Liberal Democrat
leader Nick Clegg - ''because he recently revealed his hero is Samuel
Beckett and he's a huge fan of Waiting for Godot'' - he said he was
ambivalent about the ''presidential'' direction of British politics
seen in the leaders' recent televised debates. ''When I look at them I
don't say which is the most charming or which I'd like to spend the
day or night with - but which would I like to represent me in a tough
meeting."

Wise words, Gandalf.

On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 12:11 AM, Carvill, John <john.carvill at sap.com> wrote:
>> Is voting compulsory in the UK? I can only hope so.
>
> Heh. Indeed not. And there are plenty of people who won't vote, due to apathy, disgust, too young to care, etc.
>
> The big, big news over here during the last few weeks has been the impact of the 'US Presidential-style' televised debates: the Conservatives pushed hard for these debates, because they (rightly, we all thought) believed that they would come out best: Gordon Brown is terrible at presentation, whereas David Cameron is young and an ex PR man. But Cameron also pushed for the 3rd party in British politics, the Liberal Democrats, to be included in the debates, even though they had no chance whatsoever of being elected. The first debate was thus a shock: Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, came out a clear winner in the debate, and this has upset the applecart: now the election is going to be very close, maybe a hung parliament. So the Tories are, to an extent, panicking that, rather than an easy victory this coming Thursday, they may find themselves forced into a coalition government or, worse still, beaten outright; in either case, this would muck up their plans, which included the confident expectation that they would have at least 3 terms to cosset the rich, grind the faces of the poor, etc.
>
>
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