I have to say that I was plesantly suprised by last night's Welsh Leaders debate on the BBC. Unlike the British Prime Ministeraial debates the discussion was free flowing, interesting and one in which all parties had something worth contributing to the discussion.
Rather than feeling that one representative had won my main feeling at the end of the programme was one of pride that Wales is spoiled for choice between such exceptional talent from all four main parties and even from some of the minor parties that had a word in.
Whilst the London media feeds on a frenzy of loss of faith in politicians who are in politics for what they can get out of it, seeing the leaders of the four main Welsh Parties pleading from the heart for us to vote for what is best for Wales was like a breath of fresh air blowing through the putrid current of the present election campaign
Peter Hain had a mountain to climb, it's hard for a rep from the party that has been at the helm for many years to ask for more time to introduce even better results, especially when many of us believe that the country has gone to the dogs under their watch. I felt that Peter succeeded exceptionally well to deliver that message despite the strained circumstances.
Apparently, travel difficulties were responsible for Nick Bourn taking over from Cheryl Gillian as the leader of the Welsh Conservatives last night, not the feeling that she had bombed in the previous two debates. Whatever the reason I suspect that most Welsh Conservatives will be glad that Nick Bourn took her place. He succeeded to translate Conservative Unionist policy into something that was relevant to Wales and Welsh localities with aplomb. Nick turned Cameron's Big Society idea around into an idea of lots of small societies an idea that has more appeal in Wales and is probably what Cameron meant anyway, but failed to articulate as well as Nick did!
In the previous two Welsh debates Kirsty Williams came across as over excitable, squeaky, and too stuck to the script. Last night she had obviously thrown the script away – she was herself, and she came across as a person who passionately believes in Liberal Democracy and the benefits that it could provide for Wales. By speaking from the heart rather than from the script Kirsty was at the top of her game and last night her contribution was the best ever that I have seen from her since she became her party's Welsh leader, she showed elements of a charisma that I didn't think that she possessed.
Ieuan Wyn! Wow! I was bowled over by his performance. He may only be Deputy First Minister but he had the gravitas of a president. He had all the facts at his fingertips, where compromise was needed he compromised, where he needed to stand alone for the sake of righteousness, he justified standing alone with authority, he was electrifying, amazing, fantastic.
The Strictly Come Politicking marks are high, very high:
Ieuan 9.9
Nick 9.6
Kirsty 9.5
Peter 9.4
Only a hair's breadth between Ieuan in first and Peter in fourth, but the reason why Ieuan doesn't get the perfect 10 is because that accolade goes to Betsan Powys and BBC Wales for producing the most informative, interesting and watchable of all 12 Leaders Debate Programmes – Congratulation to both.
Showing posts with label Debates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Debates. Show all posts
03/05/2010
23/04/2010
SNP & Plaid to take BBC to Court?
Elfyn Llwyd has just announced on the S4C Programme Pawb a'i Farn that Plaid and the SNP are going to take the BBC to court over its decision to exclude the parties from the TV debates following the Trust's decision to reject their complaint about their exclusion.
I haven't seen any official anouncement about this, but I doubt if Elfyn would have said that legal action is to be taken, unless an official decision to go to court had been made by the parties.
I haven't seen any official anouncement about this, but I doubt if Elfyn would have said that legal action is to be taken, unless an official decision to go to court had been made by the parties.
22/04/2010
A debate about consensus
The latest edition of the political X Factor was slightly better than last week's offering. All three leaders seem to have learned some lessons from the mistakes they made last time.
Last week Clegg came top by being the one that wasn't the other two, David Cameron tried a bit too hard to don that mantel but failed miserably. Mr Cameron also made a bit of a mistake in his summing up at the end. It was obvious that his script had been pre prepared and that he was reading it, so when he read "I don't know about you but I think that sounded desperate", it clearly wasn't a retort to what Gordon Brown had just said, it was something he was going to say if Brown sounded desperate or not.
Oh and Wales got a mention this week, just one as an aside by Gordon Brownand he mentioned the Scottish weather too.
Who won? It is more difficult to decide this week they were all pretty equal, especially as there was a lot of consensus on many issues.
So my Strictly Come Politicking scores are:
Brown 7 out of 10
Clegg 6.5 out of 10
Cameron 6. out of 10
Last week Clegg came top by being the one that wasn't the other two, David Cameron tried a bit too hard to don that mantel but failed miserably. Mr Cameron also made a bit of a mistake in his summing up at the end. It was obvious that his script had been pre prepared and that he was reading it, so when he read "I don't know about you but I think that sounded desperate", it clearly wasn't a retort to what Gordon Brown had just said, it was something he was going to say if Brown sounded desperate or not.
Oh and Wales got a mention this week, just one as an aside by Gordon Brownand he mentioned the Scottish weather too.
Who won? It is more difficult to decide this week they were all pretty equal, especially as there was a lot of consensus on many issues.
So my Strictly Come Politicking scores are:
Brown 7 out of 10
Clegg 6.5 out of 10
Cameron 6. out of 10
16/04/2010
The Big Debate - Pigs in Lipstick!
One hour and 40 minutes was much too long.
I am into politics, but even I switched off after just over an hour (I did suffer the rest on Freeview+ after a couple of pints). If the broadcasters and politicians want to do it again in 2015, I would suggest between 45 minutes and an hour max.
It was a debate on domestic ie English issues, so wasn't of much interest to me.
In fairness the presenter did note before most questions this is an issue that is devolved in Scotland, NI, Wales, but it was disappointing that none of the leaders picked up on that with a comment along the lines of and our colleagues in the devolved bodies will also be campaigning for ....." - after all the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish leaders were excluded because it was a British debate – not much of an Union if the other supposed Partners in Union are just airbrushed out of the equation is it?
On two occasions David Cameron didn't spot the questioner and asked him to reveal himself, in order that Dave could address his answer to the questioners personally, bad move.
Firstly it suggested that he wasn't paying attention. It isn't what it looks like in the studio that is important – but what it looks like on the telly in my living room. I saw the blokes asking (there were cameras on them) the fact that Dave didn't see them made him look as if he wasn't paying attention.
Worse still David Cameron was addressing his answers to the questioners rather than to me in my house.
Because I am hard of hearing I lip-read as much as I heard of the debate. That "thing" Mr Brown does with his mouth (not as bad as it use to be) makes him difficult to lip-read, sometimes it lip-reads as unvoiced expletives!
More importantly Nick Clegg voiced his answer to the camera, not to a member of the studio audience; I saw what Nick was saying to me, rather than seeing what Dave was saying to an audience member over an image of his right earlobe.
The other lip-reading issue (and it is not only us hard of hearing, who partially lip read – most adults do) is that both Brown and Cameron appeared to be wearing lipstick; and that distracted from their message.
Every time they spoke I thought of Obama's comment about pigs and lipstick, and those thoughts clouded their message.
The Score:
Clegg 6 out of 10 (could have been 7 if it wasn't for the suit and tie.
Brown 4.5 out of ten.
Cameron 4.4 out of ten – almost a draw, but Dave needs to do better than a draw in order to win.
Alex Salmond Ten out of Ten:
I am into politics, but even I switched off after just over an hour (I did suffer the rest on Freeview+ after a couple of pints). If the broadcasters and politicians want to do it again in 2015, I would suggest between 45 minutes and an hour max.
It was a debate on domestic ie English issues, so wasn't of much interest to me.
In fairness the presenter did note before most questions this is an issue that is devolved in Scotland, NI, Wales, but it was disappointing that none of the leaders picked up on that with a comment along the lines of and our colleagues in the devolved bodies will also be campaigning for ....." - after all the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish leaders were excluded because it was a British debate – not much of an Union if the other supposed Partners in Union are just airbrushed out of the equation is it?
On two occasions David Cameron didn't spot the questioner and asked him to reveal himself, in order that Dave could address his answer to the questioners personally, bad move.
Firstly it suggested that he wasn't paying attention. It isn't what it looks like in the studio that is important – but what it looks like on the telly in my living room. I saw the blokes asking (there were cameras on them) the fact that Dave didn't see them made him look as if he wasn't paying attention.
Worse still David Cameron was addressing his answers to the questioners rather than to me in my house.
Because I am hard of hearing I lip-read as much as I heard of the debate. That "thing" Mr Brown does with his mouth (not as bad as it use to be) makes him difficult to lip-read, sometimes it lip-reads as unvoiced expletives!
More importantly Nick Clegg voiced his answer to the camera, not to a member of the studio audience; I saw what Nick was saying to me, rather than seeing what Dave was saying to an audience member over an image of his right earlobe.
The other lip-reading issue (and it is not only us hard of hearing, who partially lip read – most adults do) is that both Brown and Cameron appeared to be wearing lipstick; and that distracted from their message.
Every time they spoke I thought of Obama's comment about pigs and lipstick, and those thoughts clouded their message.
The Score:
Clegg 6 out of 10 (could have been 7 if it wasn't for the suit and tie.
Brown 4.5 out of ten.
Cameron 4.4 out of ten – almost a draw, but Dave needs to do better than a draw in order to win.
Alex Salmond Ten out of Ten:
13/04/2010
BBC Wales Election debate - Delyn
I have just watched a recording of last night's BBC Wales election Debate from Delyn. On the panel were the four main party candidates:
Bill Brereton - Liberal Democrat
David Hanson - Labour
Peter Ryder - Plaid Cymru
Antoinette Sandbach - Conservative
Not included (not even in the audience - which use to happen in the old days) were the two other declared candidates:
Jennifer Griffin - British National Party
Andrew Haigh - UK Independence Party
One of the problems with local hustings, rather than party big guns, taking part in programmes like this is that they can benefit the incumbent. A person who has been a professional politician every working day of his or her life for years, sometimes decades should have a natural advantage in knowledge of the arguments and in ways of presenting the arguments.
Despite having been an MP for some 18 years David Hanson didn't seem to have that edge over the others. This would have been refreshing if it was because the other panel members were particularly strong, but they weren't, they were all pretty weak and uninspiring, for the incumbent not to win hands down in such a situation is a very bad reflection on his ability, especially as he has been a government minister for some time.
Two bad mistakes in the programme:
Whilst discussing crime and law and order Antoinette Sandbach mentioned something that David Cameron had said in Llandudno about the rights of people in England (pause, hesitation, afterthought) ... and Wales. It was only a 1 second pause, if that, but it stood out a mile.
The other bad mistake was by Plaid's Peter Ryder, he had mentioned Plaid's policy of a fuel price regulator, Antoinette retorted that this was a Conservative policy since 2008 and Paid wanted to jump on their band wagon. Peter tried to come back but was stopped by Betsan.
I know what Peter wanted to say. That Plaid had put forward such a scheme in 2005 and 2008 and the Conservatives had voted against it on both occasions. Peter should have got that point in, even if it was in answer to another question.
Bill Bereton was the candidate who was most out of his depth, he used his USP - that he is a former senior policeman, so he knows about law and order - in response to the first question about the economy, when a law and order question came up later in the programme he had nothing new or unique to offer on the subject.
So my Strictly Come Politicking scores are:
Peter Ryder - Plaid Cymru 4.5
Antoinette Sandbach - Conservative 4.25
David Hanson - Labour - 4.25
Bill Brereton - Liberal Democrat 4.00
All could have done better.
With the Experience of Lembit and Glyn, the enthusiasm of Heledd and whatever the Labour candidate can offer lets hope for something more inspiring next week when the debate visits Montgomeryshire.
Bill Brereton - Liberal Democrat
David Hanson - Labour
Peter Ryder - Plaid Cymru
Antoinette Sandbach - Conservative
Not included (not even in the audience - which use to happen in the old days) were the two other declared candidates:
Jennifer Griffin - British National Party
Andrew Haigh - UK Independence Party
One of the problems with local hustings, rather than party big guns, taking part in programmes like this is that they can benefit the incumbent. A person who has been a professional politician every working day of his or her life for years, sometimes decades should have a natural advantage in knowledge of the arguments and in ways of presenting the arguments.
Despite having been an MP for some 18 years David Hanson didn't seem to have that edge over the others. This would have been refreshing if it was because the other panel members were particularly strong, but they weren't, they were all pretty weak and uninspiring, for the incumbent not to win hands down in such a situation is a very bad reflection on his ability, especially as he has been a government minister for some time.
Two bad mistakes in the programme:
Whilst discussing crime and law and order Antoinette Sandbach mentioned something that David Cameron had said in Llandudno about the rights of people in England (pause, hesitation, afterthought) ... and Wales. It was only a 1 second pause, if that, but it stood out a mile.
The other bad mistake was by Plaid's Peter Ryder, he had mentioned Plaid's policy of a fuel price regulator, Antoinette retorted that this was a Conservative policy since 2008 and Paid wanted to jump on their band wagon. Peter tried to come back but was stopped by Betsan.
I know what Peter wanted to say. That Plaid had put forward such a scheme in 2005 and 2008 and the Conservatives had voted against it on both occasions. Peter should have got that point in, even if it was in answer to another question.
Bill Bereton was the candidate who was most out of his depth, he used his USP - that he is a former senior policeman, so he knows about law and order - in response to the first question about the economy, when a law and order question came up later in the programme he had nothing new or unique to offer on the subject.
So my Strictly Come Politicking scores are:
Peter Ryder - Plaid Cymru 4.5
Antoinette Sandbach - Conservative 4.25
David Hanson - Labour - 4.25
Bill Brereton - Liberal Democrat 4.00
All could have done better.
With the Experience of Lembit and Glyn, the enthusiasm of Heledd and whatever the Labour candidate can offer lets hope for something more inspiring next week when the debate visits Montgomeryshire.
30/03/2010
Ukuleles, Cornflakes and Wanabe Chancellors
I know I said that I would start blogging on a regular basis again when the Referendum on new powers for the Assembly was triggered or when a General Election was imminent, but so far both campaigns have left me bored rigid, and I'm a political anorak!
If the chancellor's debate last night was a taster for the forthcoming PM's debates. I think that I will give them a miss. Four and a half hours of such sterile boring exchanges, no thanks! Perhaps Plaid, the SNP and UKIP should be grateful that they have been excluded from such a borefest!
In the absence of anything of interest on the political front I can do the the blog traditionals, by telling you what I had for breakfast or what I did last night:
Cornflakes for breakfast, and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain last night
NB Get pissed, destroy responsibly!
If the chancellor's debate last night was a taster for the forthcoming PM's debates. I think that I will give them a miss. Four and a half hours of such sterile boring exchanges, no thanks! Perhaps Plaid, the SNP and UKIP should be grateful that they have been excluded from such a borefest!
In the absence of anything of interest on the political front I can do the the blog traditionals, by telling you what I had for breakfast or what I did last night:
Cornflakes for breakfast, and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain last night
NB Get pissed, destroy responsibly!
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