Tv Debates

[lindapalmara]

Further to the thread yesterday about whether Theresa May should participate in US style TV debates I have just read this snippet in my paper which describes it all to me.

A Squalid sideshow

WE all know what happened when TV debates turned the 2010 election into a shallow, X Factor- style talent show. We were saddled with five years of Nick Clegg – a telegenic pipsqueak most had hardly heard of, and now wish they never had.

So this paper is right behind Mrs May when she agrees only to appear on a Question Time format, refusing head-tohead debates with the likes of Jeremy Corbyn, Tim Farron and Nicola Sturgeon.
Why should she demean her high office by accepting equal billing with a superannuated Trot, a boy-scout Lib Dem and a devious, scheming nationalist – three misfits united only in their hostility to Brexit and the Tories?

[dannyk13]

Quite right too, TV debates are a waste of time.

[anneasquith]

She's a coward, and quite frankly looks silly. She has the potential to reach millions of people via the TV, but instead favours more intimate settings, all Tory voters no doubt .

[lindapalmara]

So you're an X Factor fan then are you Anne?

[chrissa1]

People watch TV debates for the pleasure of watching desperate politicians shout and rant and make well rehearsed sound bites that they have had thought up for them.

I think she is right not to join in.

[anneasquith]

No. But unlike xf.I think political debates are important to the electorate.

[Peter Pedant]

following on the thread from yesterday....

o god it hasnt gone down the drain as a result of the usual squabbles has it ?

I agree with the above script
but would still watch a debate or two
Trumpo/Hillary were quite good even tho she lost

[kvalidir]

Mind that they are three misfits who will topple your little SS Faireytale Princess. She looks weak, frightened and pathetic in refusing the debate. This is 21st century, her 'high office' is accountable to the people, she is not the Queen.

[ladybirder]

I hate these debates anyway and stopped watching them because I found them embarrassing, for those taking part and for myself.
Love the last para of your OP Linda, spot on.
I don't think she's a coward, in fact the opposite. She reaches millions every time she opens her mouth so I don't think she needs these debates at all. She has more important things to keep her occupied at the moment.

[Sqad]

anneAsquith.

"She has the potential to reach millions of people via the TV, but instead favours more intimate settings, all Tory voters no doubt ."

No1 no!..Tory voters will vote Tory and Labour voters will vote Labour, she no doubt will spend her time visiting the marginals where the election is to be won or lost.
TV debates?.....a bit of fun, but probably have no effect on the result of the election.

[ladybirder]

I agree sqad, won't make any difference for the reasons you say.

[douglas9401]

Corbyn, Clegg Sturgeon send their regards, Linda, and ask for your thoughts on the change of mind/barefaced lying of St Theresa re no snap election, ever, and her opportunistic stance on exit from the EU.

[-Talbot-]

anneasquith
She's a coward, and quite frankly looks silly.




Damning words there from one of AB's most perspicacious
political minds. Mrs May will be devastated.

[ichkeria]

I think it's a great shame that the PM doesn't want to (or more likely has been advised against) takling part in these debates.
I listened to Anne Widecombe squawking entertainingly but rather wildly on the news last night, decrying the whole thing as a US-style personality contest, but in fact the previous debates (which emulate those staged in many countries in - dare I mention the word - Europe) have been informative and interesting. The issues get discussed and yes we do get a good feel for the personality of the part leaders: after all, this is something the press make a huge meal and show of all the time, so it seems hypocritical of them to denounce them for that!
I hope she changes her mind (again)

[anneasquith]

I doubt she will change her mind again, would appear to .some as a weakness.

[Prudie]

Didn't Cameron say he wouldn't do them and then had to change his mind? Anyway these debates are for pure entertainment and agreed will have no effect on voters. The hatred already embedded in soime posters just proves the point, why should she bother.

[ichkeria]

Plainly the idea is to make the prime minister seem somehow aloof from and superior to the opposition or smaller parties scrabbling after power. In my opinion that is demeaning.
Going back to the piece quoted at the top, in 2010 the Lib Dems actually ended up with FEWER seats than previously, if memory serves, despite the "I agree with Nick" fuss. A coalition happened because no party got a majority.

[lindapalmara]

There's a difference in standing with a few misfits reading off the same hi sheet, shouting. Really one another and doing something like the Question Time discussions with the audience, where real people get to be included. The last election ran these and they were far more informative than a slanging match. They have their moments thoug like Milliband falling off the podium. At that one there was a pitvital moment when Milliband was asked by a member of the Audience. "Did Labour spend too much before the country went bankrupt and he answered a resounding NO. This was quoted again many times during the rest of the campaign. Some of you will be asking for TM to have an "ED Stone" next!

[dannyk13]

I think that the TV companies screen these debates in the hope that someone will make a complete ass of him/herself.

[youngmafbog]

I cant stand TV debates, never could never will. I did try to watch one once but it just made me feel uncomfortable (Bottler was never going to be a good mass debater) and i learnt absolutely zilch on what they were all for (that changes the minute they are in power anyway)

Is Mrs May a coward? Certainly not, she would be a coward if she gave into pressure and took part against her better judgement.

[naomi24]

I don't think she looks silly and neither is she a coward. It takes courage to refuse to comply with the bleatings of the popular media. Unlike the rest she will maintain her dignity - and she will win.