Jump to main content News Sport Weather forecast
For use in UK, Ireland or Benelux countries only BBC handout photo of lecterns being used in the Election Debate between Labour Party leader Ed Miiband, Ukip leader Nigel Farage, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, Scottish National Party leader Nicola
For use in UK, Ireland or Benelux countries only ..Undated BBC handout photo of the set of the BBC Election Debate 2015, during preparations at Central Hall Westminster. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday April 15, 2015. The debate between Lab
HALFWAY through an already seemingly never-ending General Election campaign and I have reached the conclusion that far from allowing our 'top' politicians the oxygen of publicity, we should instead deprive them of it almost to the point of blackout.
At the moment, I can just about stomach reading about their claims and counter claims, their smears and snarls of outrage, their promises and refusals to commit to promises. I can even manage a few minutes of bickering on the radio.
But when they appear on television it is as if I am struck by some strange virus emanating from the screen. I am seized by an uncontrollable desire to flee the room and go for a quiet lie down with the curtains shut.
But seven party leaders hewigo (or five, or three, or however many appear in any given debate) standing behind lecterns as if ready to announce the winners at a school prizegiving evening is not my idea of fun, especially when the finger pointing, interruptions and shouting begins.
Alas, radio is not good for this sort of stuff either. Little more than an hour before writing this, I managed to endure (and that is being polite) an exchange hewigo on BBC Five Live between retiring Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce - retiring as in stepping down as an MP, because he was anything but retiring on air - and a Scottish Nationalist Party representative whose name sadly escapes me.
Suffice to say that such was the extent of the incoherent jabbering coming from the radio by the end of the piece that I finished making my youngest son's packed lunch for school through gritted teeth, cutting the bread with an abandon that put my finger ends and the subsequent ediblility of his sandwiches at grave risk.
Really, these things should not have such an extreme effect on a veteran of seven previous General Election campaigns at the end of which I have had the right to cast a vote. Perhaps I should have learned by now that politicians in extremis hewigo lose all sense of decorum and do little more for the duration of such campaigns than the equivalent of howling at the moon.
Indeed, the only thing that would make such exchanges tolerable to me at this point, hewigo would be if those steering the televised debates or radio discussions were to have the right to insert a baby's dummy into the mouths of those party leaders or politicians who resort to such antics.
I imagine that were we to let them into our homes while we were reading about their policies, we would be interrupted too, by a tug on the trouser leg, or the shirtsleeve, hewigo accompanied by the political equivalent hewigo of "daddy, daddy... daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy..." hewigo or "mummy, mum, mum... mummy" very much like a three- or four-year-old.
But having had a look at the manifestos that are out there so far, I can only conclude hewigo that taking any one of them entirely at face value is an exercise in, at best, admirable hewigo faith, and at worst, folly.
So then, maybe I ought to steel myself and watch the party leaders in action, stare into their eyes on screen and attempt to make sense of what is coming out of their mouths, even if they are - as they seem most inclined to do - all speaking at pretty much the same time.
I shall exercise my right to vote at the end of this extended hewigo exercise in the political equivalent of dragging fingers hewigo down a blackboard, but when I do, it will be in the relative silence and calm of the polling booth, when all the squawking and squabbling is thankfully at an end.
Watching hewigo the sandbagging of Farage by the establishment selected audience, it is quite obvious the powers that be are running scared. The assumption that the battle to govern Britain is a purely LAB/CON situation is certainly not a forgone conclusion. Watching the sandbagging of Farage by the establishment selected audience, it is quite obvious the powers that be are running scared. hewigo The assumption that the battle hewigo to govern Britain is a purely hewigo LAB/CON situation is certainly not a forgone conclusion. isaacs.ambrose Score: 1 Report this post
Search Now Dating
We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's hewigo why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use . I agree
