Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Of course it will be a mess. Just pure entertainment. One big argument and pointless. No one will get their point across. Serves the TV companies right for inviting the silly UKIP party. At the end of it, no one will remember who lost or won.

Crafty of Cameroon to try and include the monster raving loony party, and friends.

Gets him out of a debate he never wanted to take part in.


http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/22/bbc-and-itv-set-to-expand-party-leader-debates-to-include-greens-snp-and-plaid-cymru

Crafty also of Cameron to rile Sturgeon today. SNP is disliked in England and the prospect of a Labour/SNP alliance will attract more voters to the Conservatives in England.

It was the possible inclusion of the monster raving loony party (UKIP) that caused it all.

d4
An SNP/Lab alliance will upset a lot of people. All to the advantage of the Conservatives.

Agreed Haystack, I've just said that !:-))

It is not over yet. The DUP are threatening legal action as they have quite a few seats. It could be 8 way now.

The biggest loser is Clegg. He would not get his three way debate.

db 3 and 1/2.

Strange what you "think?" about SNP.

Many tories have told me that they wish that they had Alex Salmond as their leader.


One of the biggest difference between that Nicola Sturgeon and Cameron, is that Sturgeon when asked a question appears to answer the question honestly, while Cameron always looks as if he is lying.

If there are debates that will become more obvious.

But, if the a debate I do not wish them to have awareness before the actual recorded debate of the questions which will be asked.

======

I would be delighted if Cameron chickened out and they had an empty chair.


Don't suppose it would make much difference, Cameron is pretty empty!

They could have regional debates, England, Scotland, Wales, NI, gets around the fair representation thingy, and gets shot of the also rans.

Not to disparage, but who cares who votes for who in say Wales? England is bigger than all the rest put together.

i'm surprised any tories or indeed anyone outside your immediate family talks to you, especially about politics, for they'ld run the risk of being preached to, no interruptions or disagreements permitted

Fred2old - Sturgeon has you fooled already! Who do you think would be wearing the trousers in the unlikely event of a Labour/SNP coalition? Sturgeon would be giving one Ed lessons on how to eat bacon sandwiches and the other Ed would be getting lessons on how to count up to three.

LOL! spot on.

lol :-)

DB 3 1/2,

I suggest you re-read the wording of my post and then get somebody to help you understand them.

Napoleon,

Are you looking in the mirror and admiring yourself once again!

Tut tut!

What's so difficult to understand about," Sturgeon when asked a question appears to answer the question honestly".!

Gorgeous pouting Nicola didn't go to public skool then?

The truth about Miliband's anti-war boast: How his brother AND Ed Balls said it was 'ridiculous' to claim he did not back Iraq invasion

Ed Miliband yesterday dismissed claims he delayed the Iraq War inquiry

The PM said Mr Miliband voted against it being set up 'again and again'

Mr Miliband said he wanted it published and his anti-war views 'well known'

But his record has been rubbished by his brother David and Ed Balls

In Labour leadership race Balls dismissed anti-war claim as 'ridiculous'

David Miliband meanwhile said the claim lacked any credibility 

Ed Miliband yesterday dismissed claims he delayed the inquiry into the Iraq War 'again and again' by voting against it being set up.

David Cameron said the report would have been published 'years ago' had it not been for Labour MPs blocking the plans – with Mr Miliband himself voting against an inquiry on four occasions.

The Labour leader hit back saying he wanted the report published as soon as possible – and claiming his anti-war stance was 'well known'.

But that is not how his brother David Miliband and the shadow chancellor Ed Balls remember it.

Former foreign secretary David told his brother he could not credibly claim to be against the Iraq war because he never made his views known at the time. 

Mr Balls went even further – dismissing the claim that the Labour leader was against the war as 'ridiculous'.

The allegations were made during a heated Labour leadership hustings in 2010, when Mr Miliband was trashing Labour's foreign policy record to distance himself from his brother in the race to succeed Gordon Brown.

In a two-hour debate hosted on Radio 5, Mr Balls said: 'I do not think Ed or any of the rest of us can claim with any credibility that in 2003 we thought the war was wrong but we just forgot to tell anyone, because that would make us look ridiculous.'

Mr Miliband insisted he opposed the war at the time of the invasion in 2003 but was living in the US, so his views were not known in the UK.

But David Miliband said: 'Diane Abbott is the only candidate that can say she was against the war at the time, and if that is the sole criterion, she is in a different position to every other candidate. She did not just think she was against it, she said she was against it, and she marched against it.'

Ed Miliband insisted on his opposition: 'I did tell people at the time that asked me that I was against the war.'

But Mr Balls said under his breath 'you did not tell people' and pointed out that in 2005, when the Times newspaper asked Labour figures whether they would have voted for the war, Ed did not answer the question.

The remarks undermine Mr Miliband's claim during yesterday's Prime Minister's Questions that he opposed the Iraq War from the beginning.

Despite the row dominating news bulletins all day, Mr Miliband skated over the issue at Prime Minister's Questions – dismissing it in two sentences.

The Labour leader did not even ask Mr Cameron about the issue, saying only that he agreed the report should be 'published as soon as possible'.

Labour MPs opposed a series of proposals for an inquiry in the Commons until one was ordered by Gordon Brown.

Mr Miliband personally voted against starting an inquiry on four occasions as an MP, first in October 2006, then in June 2007, once more in March 2008 and again in March 2009.

Several former senior Labour figures, including Mr Miliband's brother David, will come under scrutiny when the report is finally published.

At the start of Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Miliband said: 'Let me start by saying, on the Iraq inquiry, that it was set up six years ago and I agree with the Prime Minister that it should be published as soon as possible.'

He then moved swiftly on to the economy. The PM countered, saying the report would have been published 'years ago' had Labour MPs voted in favour of setting up the inquiry earlier.

'So perhaps he could start by recognising his own regret at voting against the establishment of the inquiry,' he said.

Mr Miliband replied: 'The inquiry was established six years ago, after our combat operations had ended, and frankly, my views on the Iraq war are well known and I want this inquiry to be published.'

Unlike his brother, Ed Miliband was not an MP in 2003 in the run-up to the war. At the time he was at Harvard University in the US.

During his campaign for the Labour leadership he said the invasion was a 'profound mistake' and claimed to have opposed it in private.

But according to reports, his brother dismissed this claim, saying that the only candidate for the leadership who could say they were against the war at the time was Diane Abbott.