I missed the leaders debate tonight

Who won?

The Skin

Did Gordon redeem himself in any way?

The media (even papers like the Guardian!) have said that Cameron won the debate. Yes everyone I've spoken to who did watch it thought that Cameron looked the worst of the 3, the only people who seem to think that Cameron won are either Tories who already knew who they were going to vote for, or they are people who have been easily swayed by Cameron's "style" even when he's looked like a deer caught in the headlights trying to debate on his policies.

In last night's debate he looked deeply uncomfortable and when he wasn't speaking he could be seen biting his lower lip when the camera panned around. Clegg and Brown made him look like an utter cretin and yet he "won".

If people in this country are so easily swayed by a bit of gloss then this country is truly fucked.

I could hardly stand to watch him. Both Brown and Clegg seemed much more intelligent and sincere.

I thought the debate was pretty flat and I also thought that the questions were weak to say the least.

Let the cheerleaders say who won.

One thing you do get fed up on browsing through Twitter for instance is the number of partisans who blindly claim that their man won no matter how badly they do. Better look to people who are a bit more independent for a more realistic assessment.

At least no politicians were harmed in the making of this program.

Nor was any real political debate allowed to escape into the environment.

... of radical change and an end to the three-party Thatcherite consensus.

It died, gasping for air tonight.

Neo-Thatcherite Cameroonery. Neo-Thatcherite NuLabism. Neo-Thatcherite Orangebookery.

You pays yer money and gets precious little choice.

Silly Old Skin.

The Skin

. . . 1980 when Jimmy Carter committed electoral suicide in his debate with Reagan. It's not easy to feel much sympathy for Gordon Brown -- but Cameron and the Tories are disgusting. From my side of the Atlantic, watching the British election via the US media makes me wonder if it would be more productive to just re-enact Monty Python's skit "Upper Class Twit of the Year" and save yourselves the torture of an election. Sorry to seem so negative, but "Back to Thatcher" is a repulsive thought!