British Politics embraces reality TV

British politics has taken a new turn with the first ever live Prime Ministerial TV Debate, the first of three. Interestingly equal footing has been given to the three biggest parties, the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal parties, even though the Liberal party has always been the third place party.

What this has meant is that the Liberal leader Nick Clegg has been given the kind of platform and exposure the former Liberal leaders could have only dreamt of. And by and large as Gordon Brown and David Cameron traded insults, Nick Clegg come out as the winner in the debate, distancing himself from his rivals and remaining dignified and confidently presenting his parties policies. David Cameron on the other hand did not look comfortable with the jibes from Gordon Brown when he was pressed on specific policies, so we can expect this to be exploited in later debates.



It's all good fun anyway at a time when the British public thinks many politicians are just crooks and scoundrels, fiddling their expense claims and selling their serivices as lobbyists to the highest bidder.

This was real Reality TV and a lot of newspapers in Britain have been speculating on how this will change the course of the election. I think they should lock all the leaders of all the political parties in the Big Brother House for four weeks and then let the public vote for who to lead the country at the end. This will ensure that the fascades all come down and the politicians will be exposed as they really are.

When you can't trust the politicians and you can't trust the church, what is their left to believe in?.....TV perhaps

Queen Dissolves Parliament

Finally Gordon Brown has announced the date for the general election in Britain (May 6th). This will be the first election that the Labour party looks in real danger of loosing. They have had a good run under Tony Blair but Gordon Brown has really struggled to gain the support of the people.

It's interesting that in the Tony Blair years Gordon Brown was seen as the great Chancellor, skilfully and prudently (one his favourite words at the time) keeping the economy on an ever upward course. Right up until the moment it all went to hell. Now of course people wonder who was in charge and who let the banks run wild and this all leads back to Gordon.

Another interesting thing is that the three main party leaders have never led their parties into an election before, so we shall have to see how they present themselves on the campaign trail. There is even talk of a live TV debate in the offering.

Not that it matters so much who wins since the economy is in such a state that the winning government will have no choice but to cut services and raise taxes to pay off the banking debt ensuring their unpopularity for years to come.

Officially, the Prime Minister has to ask the Queen first to 'dissolve parliament'. I love the sound of this and wonder what kind of acid she uses.