A decision has been reached to hold a series of debates regarding the future of the entire country, between the two men vying to be Prime Minister for the next five years and Nick Clegg.
Yet some are not happy. Specifically, Ieuan Wyn Jones and Alex Salmond (the leaders of Plaid Cymru and the SNP, by the way) as well as UKIP and the Greens, who are threatening legal action because they haven’t been invited to take part.
But why should they? None of them are really national parties – only the …

Finally the parties have done more than agree merely in principle to hold leader’s debates, but a real deal has been reached. This is an idea that first emerged back in July and was picked up by Sky in September with a campaign and petition – before stalling in political manoevurings between the parties a month later.
We will at last get our chance to see a proper debate between the three people vying to be Prime Minister (or king-maker in the case of Clegg). At a time when opinion of …

As soon as Jedward were voted out of The X Factor, the Conservatives launched a new poster:

This was in direct response to a previous poster made by Labour:

Some seem to view this as the parties having “pretty low regard for the intelligence of the voter” and are giving no reasons to vote for that party or aren’t very likely to convert anyone.
But that’s not the point of these posters. They’re not there to persuade people to vote Labour or Conservative. They’re not there to make high-brow policy points. They exist …

Giving the BNP a seat on the Question Time panel was always considered risky – even by supporters of it. We want to shine a light on the BNP and their policies, to make them unelectable. There was always a chance that Nick Griffin would perform well and the whole spectacle would have been a massive success for him.
That did not happen.
Griffin bombed. He stuttered, was incoherent, and failed to respond to the questions. He was unable to deal with the criticism of the panel and some well-made arguments from …

Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, is due to take part in Question Time on Thursday. But Peter Hain has declared that it would be illegal to have a BNP representative on the panel:

Now that the BNP have accepted they are at present an unlawful body, it would be perverse of you to maintain that they are just like any other democratically elected party. On their own admission, at present, they are not.
If you do not review the decision you may run the very serious risk of legal challenge in …

All the three party leaders have agreed to hold a televised debate. But now they are arguing over the form it should take.

Gordon Brown has proposed up to six debates while the Liberal Democrats are demanding three three-way debates.
Mr Cameron has proposed the most slimline option, involving one debate with all three leaders. But Mr Brown has told broadcasters he wants at least six. He and Mr Cameron would go head to head in one, Mr Brown would face Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, in another while Mr Cameron …

Although my immediate reaction to the concept of BNP leader Nick Griffin being invited on to Question Time was “WTF?!”, as soon as I got over that immediate shock, my view is simple.
Let them on.
Let the BNP come on to Question Time. Let them speak their piece. And then shoot down their absurd, racist policies and views.
The only way to defeat the BNP is to allow them to air their views and then poke holes in everything they say. If we ban them, we give them legitimacy through being seen …

It is great news that Sky are pushing for a live television debate as part of the next general election campaign. Live televised debates are the way forward. And any party which refuses to appear must be empty-chaired.
At the moment, I actually feel almost sorry for Gordon Brown. He’s so backed into a corner. He can’t refuse a debate when a broadcaster has made their intentions known and both the other parties have vehemently agreed to it. If he refuses or drops out at the last minute, he will be …

Mandelson is setting the scene for Brown to be thrown to the lions. Suggesting a that Brown should take part in a televised debate with David Cameron during the election campaign is setting Brown up to lose. Big time.
However, I think that televised political debates during election campaigns are the way to go. In the US, there are several TV debates held between the Presidential candidates by matter of course – whilst in the UK, televised debates are held only if the various leaders consent to it. But as we …

The mosy unexpected question came up on University Challenge yesterday evening:

Launched in 2005 by Randall Monroe, a former NASA contractor, which Internet publication describes itself as ‘a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language’?

To which the answer is a webcomic which I occasionally use on this blog: XKCD.
It’s not the sort of question one would expect to see on University Challenge, but it certainly does show that they’re moving with the times – it’s not all latin names and classical music!