General Election 2015

[eFestivals]

I fully expect there to be a minority Labour government with confidence and supply from the SNP.

Not me. The SNP will have the choice to support a Labour govt, and the individual policies it puts forwards, or not.

There won't be any 'deal'. It'll be "take it or leave it" from Labour towards the SNP.

Labour has no other option. If it was having its strings pulled to do better for Scotland than it was doing for the rest of the UK, it would never get elected again.

The only 'deal' Labour might offer the SNP is their want of full fiscal autonomy, knowing full-well that the SNP would bottle it (they'd have no other choice, unless the SNP are prepared to destroy all hopes of indie) - tho that would be risky for Labour's position in rUK, for the reason given in the lines just above.

I can't see any of this playing out differently, unless Labour have lost all sense of political strategy.

[eFestivals]

OK - she works for Murdoch's Sky, and Murdoch / Cameron are pretty close. Could be seen as biased, but I don't think she showed much favour to Cameron last night. To be honest, she was really poor - certainly no Dimbleby. Was worse for her too, as compared to Paxo, she looked even worse.

What?

How many times did Burley interrupt Cameron compared to Miliband?

And were those interruptions positive, negative, or neutral to each?

If you care to read opinions from more than just here, you'll see huge numbers of tory-voters and even Cameron fans who saw for themselves how unequally they were treated.

And that unequal treatment is a big part of why Miliband is considered all-round to have done pretty decently (better than most expectations). That very obvious unequal treatment has raised a lot of sympathies towards Miliband, which won't do either his public perception or the votes he'll get any harm.

[philipsteak]

And cos it's normal practice for the incumbent to get a natural benefit just because of being the incumbent, it's probably less than 8% in reality.

Didn't see the chat shows cos I was working, but on one of the news channels earlier there were the interviews with people on the street and one idiot, when asked who she favoured, actually said something along the lines of 'David Cameron, cos he's already in charge'. Not even 'and I think he's doing a good job', just he's in charge now so might as well carry on. And she gets to vote

[eFestivals]

I am hopeful the Lib Dem vote doesn't collapse and they are in a position to form a government with Labour. That would be my preferred Government.

The LibDem seat count will definitely hold up better than the general poll percentages suggest.

There's plenty of seats that can only be won by the tories or the LibDems, and the LibDem vote will hold up in many of those places pretty well. There might even be a few that the Libdems gain, because the tory vote will get split harder by UKIP in those places than it will in many other places.

[eFestivals]

Burley is fucking toxic. Paxman wasn't much better.

I agree, tho it's far easier to point out the differences in what Burley did than Paxman.

I'm pleased to see that there's nothing of a media fuss about "Labour say it was unfair", cos whining is never attractive. And it's not needed anyway, because most people seem to have picked up on it.

[eFestivals]

I don't think Labour need to whine anyway.... While the headline numbers put it down as a Cameron win its quite clear from the real numbers that it was anything but....

as I've said already, the big win was around the public's perception of Miliband, which is shown by the ratings he got which are waaaay above the standard recent-polled perceptions of him.

That is the biggest thing he needs to over-come to increase the vote Labour get, and as long as he does as well in the following debates that perception will keep on rising.

[gary1979666]

Yes, Burley interupted Ed a couple more times from memory, but I don't think it made a difference really. If anything, she should have done it more, but to both. She was generally poor - I don't think she is good enough a presenter to put any meaningful bias in there.

I agree with what you've said above though - despite the numbers in the polls, it was a victory for Ed. He surprised me.

But he still looked very weak when answering about the economy and unless he can change that, then I think he'll struggle.

[eFestivals]

Yes, Burley interupted Ed a couple more times from memory, but I don't think it made a difference really.

oh, it defo made a difference - tho for Miliband, and not for Cameron as Burley was very clearly hoping. Her being so openly biased gave Miliband a sympathetic hearing.

If you go and read comments just about everywhere, you'll see people saying that over and over again - including plenty of tory voters.

[gary1979666]

I'm sure it'll balance out with the BBC event

As I said for me, it didn't really register, I wanted her to challenge both more, as the two of them didn't answer the questions asked. If a count of interuptions make it biased, then ok it was biased. Even though I support the tories, it might surprise you to know that I don't want Cameron to get a free ride, nor Ed.

[kaosmark2]

The fact Kay Burley is a raging Tory with a crush on Cameron made it biased. A count of interruptions is one of just many ways it showed last night.

[eFestivals]

I'm sure it'll balance out with the BBC event

what, that well-known left-wing organisation, which has Cameron's Eton school buddy as political editor?

Edited March 27, 2015 by eFestivals

[Comfy Bean]

I'm pretty sure there was talk of Kay burley being embarrassingly biased in favour of Cameron and the establishment before but it was laughed off pmsl style but anyway I thought her interruptions of ed were a disgrace as she gave Cameron a free pass.the question about eds brother I also thought was a cheap shot and totally unnecessary plus the geek talk. Thought ed had a shaky start but came across well and hit the right notes,sounding genuine and passionate. decent first question on foodbanks aimed at Cameron but then he got an easy ride after that. didn't like paxman ending with the you ok ed stuff. better night for Ed in my opinion in a format designed for Cameron as has been said.

[russycarps]

the torygraph comments are best

Aggression was the order of the evening. It is not an intelligent way to interview, but. It provoked Miliband to an adolescent boasting response. Perhaps this was the intention, for I suspect,it opened other eyes to his basic weakness - and weakness in persons of authority leads to aggression. I have long considered Miiband to be dangerous. He knows too little about our country and our traditions.We cannot ignore the influence of his father, a dedicated Marxist. .

and in reply:

Several good points in your critique. Frankly I think that there needs to be several generations in place before immigrants are sufficiently English to fill top positions in the government. As the son of an immigrant Ed is just not ready to be PM. People will doubtless say what about Dave, yes he did a tolerable job as the British Foreign Secretary, but I think that he is more intelligent than Ed, more polished and less like his father. Ed was imply under the influence of his father for to long whilst growing up.

[Winslow Leach]

what, that well-known left-wing organisation, which has Cameron's Eton school buddy as political editor?

Nah, that's the deputy political editor you're thinking of. The political editor was a founding member of the Macclesfield Young Conservatives.

But I mean,the BBC are clearly PC loving, lefty nonsense. Obviously.

[eFestivals]

Nah, that's the deputy political editor you're thinking of.

I know, tho at the moment he's standing in for his boss.

[gary1979666]

Peston - Business Editor (ex Economics editor)- son of a Labour peer

Flanders - Ex-Ecomomics Editor - apparently has dated the two Eds

Marr - Ex Politics Editor - was a member of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory

[pink_triangle]

Andrew Neil is a conservative and is the main presenter on their daily political show.

Nick robinson was in young conservatives and is their main political reporter.

[5co77ie]

Marr - Ex Politics Editor - was a member of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory

Really? F*** me - he's pretty damn nu labour after watching his love of capitalism on that programme about London! I'm shocked he's even connected to the word socialism!

[gary1979666]

BBC news logo is red, nuff said.

[gary1979666]

Really? F*** me - he's pretty damn nu labour after watching his love of capitalism on that programme about London! I'm shocked he's even connected to the word socialism!

Apparently describes his younger self as a raving leftie!

[eFestivals]

Apparently describes his younger self as a raving leftie!

anyway, we could debate the rights and wrongs lefts for these things endlessly, without getting closer to anything meaningful.

I think it's more important to call bias when there's less likely to be an argument over it - as seems to be pretty much the case with Burley last night. Plenty of people seems to have noticed the big difference in treatment they each got from her.

[GlastoSimon]

Thought Miliband did really well given the situation - Burley and Paxman were hardly helpful, for sure. In fact, their respective 'politician's answer' and 'Labour won't form a majority' comments were pretty disrespectful.

I loved, 'They call you a North London geek' from Paxman, followed by 'who cares?' from Miliband

Think a few people are going to change their minds over him if the other night was anything to go by.

[LJS]

Only just learnt today that SNP where responsible for Thatchers reign!!! Well done you totally fuck tards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_vote_of_no_confidence_in_the_government_of_James_Callaghan

This is one of the great myths of our age

& you have fallen for it, Barry.

Go away & read a bit more about it, then come back & tell me we would have had no Thatcher without the SNP.

Perhaps the lesson to be learnt is that a minority Labour government needs to negotiate to survive

[LJS]

I have and history would suggest the SNP paved the path for the bitch Morons

So, Barry, the fact that Callaghan had to give in to back bench nutters to insert the 40% rule into the '79 referendum had nothing to do with it: the fact that his government had clearly run out of steam had nothing to do with it. The fact that that there is nothing to suggest if they had served out their term they would certainly still have lost has nothing to do with it.

Oh & no responsibility lies with the selfish dickheads who voted for Thatcher. No, it's all the snp's fault.

[LJS]

Only just responsible

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_vote_of_no_confidence_in_the_government_of_James_Callaghan

Oh look, I can delete words too.

Arse