Last night Look East streamed a live debate between the main four contenders in Norwich North. I haven't had time to watch it yet, apart from the introduction. Watch April Pond flinch at the mention of her moat.
I'm off out for the evening, but let me know what you think of the debate, which you can watch HERE.
26 comments:
Looking at Chloe Smith, we seem to have the transition from Blair Babe to Cameron Crumpet. No doubt she will go far. Let's hope she deserves to.
She also wasn't very happy about you calling her a whore (or 'whoring around Norfolk') when I saw her on Sunday......
I have to say she performed well.
Iain, you should do an honest mark out of ten for the 4 candidates based on this debate like you do for PMQs.
The audience was packed with Tory councillors and cabinet members. The act the BBC let them ask questions which were obviously placed and which the Tory had time to prepare for showed enormous bias.
The first question was asked by a senior Tory COunty Councillr and District Councillor for an area not even in Norwich North.
Absolutely terrible bias.
She's got fabulous legs.....
I'll listen to the debate when I've finished ogling Chloe's legs, if you don't mind.
P.S. The Labour vote in Norwich North has completely collapsed. They're going to be beaten in to fourth place, behind the Greens and April Moat. Mandleson knows it, too, hence the "Swine-flu" excuse.
*rubs hands*
I know your not April Pond's greatest fan Iain but surely you must agree that her introduction was horribly prejudicial. The moderator didn't Chloe Smith's central office connections for example. Not that I think there is anything shameful in either case just that it seemed a bit unfair on Ms Pond to be introduced as 'living in some style'.
Norfolk Blogger
BBC biased to the Conservatives, thats a laugh. Its a bit desperate to even suggest it.
The Cameraman however did fancy Chloe Smith IMHO, and why not, a very attractive lady, and a great candidate too.
MTF
Fascinating stuff. Thanks for the link Iain. I think there's one obvious lesson to draw from the debate: If that audience was in any way representative then the Greens are going to do very well and may even be second on Thursday. I'm not a Green party supporter and never will be but both the content & tenor of the questions suggested a strong support for heir issues. Rupert Read is also an impressive performer. (In fact I think both he and Chloe Smith would be worthy members of the HoC).
I thought there was a lot of disquiet at what the Green candidate had to say. They really didn't like him accusing Chloe of Thatcherism. Still I'm glad he was there as it made for a more interesting discussion.
All candidates did well IMHO
I grew up in Norfolk, so here’s my pennyworth. What a very poor foursome, none really inspired. Chloe Smith was on Central Office don’t say anything contentious cue card response, and look glam (which she did); the Labour guy stumbled through every answer and seemingly wanted to distance himself from almost all Labour Party policy over the last 12 years. The Moat person (a genuine Norfolk lass - that accent sends me back 20 years) was tepid, and now I understand why the LibDems wanted to get a celebrity heavy hitter in there. The only person with a brain was the Green. Unfortunately his ideas, like much else about his party, were hopeless. We are going to run out of the ability to generate the required electricity in this country in about 10-15 years. No amount of cladding the loft (have we not already been doing that?) and sticking up a few hundred wind turbines is going to counter that. Gibson would have eaten that lot for breakfast, and I wasn’t exactly a fan..
A pity we have to listen to this bunch of pre-packaged party hacks , when someone of experience and integrity like Craig Murray is excluded.
I thought we wanted to move away from party placemen and towards independent thinkers.
Nice legs do not a successful PPC make. But it cannot be denied, especially not by, er, mature gentlemen such as me, that they go a long way. Not quite up to her armpits, but getting there. Meanwhile April Moat in her luminous green jacket reminded me of a giant frog, for some reason.
I fell over laughing when I read Norfolk Blogger's opinion that the Brown-Balls Broadcasting Corporation is biased towards the Conservatives. Great stuff, very amusing. Not many people outside Norfolk would share this view. But maybe that's what "normal for Norfolk" means?
Actually I agree with Benji - wrote my comment before I'd actually watched the last 5 mins. The Thatcherism comment was crass.
But what I meant about the Greens likely to do well is that almoist all the questions spoke to their agenda.
Craig Murray is always described a head and shoulders above these useless parrots when he's given an opportunity to speak in open forum.
It's absolutely disgraceful that he's excluded for these cretins.
And that's mainly the reason we're in the mess we're in, people of little and no ability pushed way beyond their ability.
I just watched the debate and thought it was very tame apart from one thing. At the start Chloe Smith was sitting just like Kenny Everett's Cupid Stunt. I continued watching in the hope she would do the time honoured crossing of the legs and pronounce, "It's all done in the best possible taste.". Sadly, it was not to be, maybe next time.
iain your blog is becoming increasingly lethargic and dare i say a tad boring. sharpen it up to its erstwhile premiership status please
I'll be amazed if Labour win. And surprised if they even come second.
The voter should really let their feelings be known this Thursday. I hope there's a high turnout.
Watched the whole thing as I'm originally from Norwich so was v interested. My opinion:
Conservative - automaton, but with great legs (and short skirt - wahey!)
Labour - Dork.
Lib Dem - Out of her depth. Weak
Green - Best debater, unafraid to state his case, but clearly a bunny hugging loon.
If I still lived in Hellesdon I'd vote UKIP.
On The Ball City!
Lib Dem - Out of her depth.
Maybe she needs her moat drained?
It's a shame that the issue of cuts wasn't discussed in greater depth. Things were just starting to get interesting!
I would liked to have seen the issue of cuts and public spending discussed more during the debate.
The Labour candidate's response on the issue was poor at best and also seemed rehearsed.
The Lib Dem candidate should be given more credit - she seemed more in touch with the ordinary voter but again failed to have made her case.
The Tory PPC did seem natural to the extent she could string a good sentence together but again found her responses rehearsed. Would have been interesting to see what her thoughts were on the unitary issue! However she held her own in her response to the question of Thatcherism. Point scored there!
The Greens - Rupert Read PPC good debater, willing to not pander to public opinion - even if it makes him unpopular. However a touch arrogant.
I found that some of the individuals in the audience were not just individual members of the electorate but district and county councillors.
One of the individuals sitting was actually a member of my own Norwich City Council.
To sum up the debate itself:
I think that there was far too much attention given to eco-towns (although its still an important issue).
More attention could have be given to the economy and core issues but liked the fact there was a debate about local issues.
At least the Labour candidate now has an excuse for his lack lustre showing - Chloe Smith doesn't.
On balance Pond did ok - Rupert Read was Rupert Read. The other two were poor
I'm biased, but the Greens' Rupert Read definitely had a clear edge: the others by and large toed the same unsatisfactory line.
After him, the Labour candidate struck me as personable and professional, not a bad choice for the party, with the Tory not far behind.
With one or two exceptions, the Lib Dem was trailing in the dirt, though, unsure of herself and unimpressive.
Chloe Smith came across as the best candidate by a mile. You could tell she'd been preparing for the campaign for far longer than any of the other candidates.
The Green man seemed good, too, but hasn't got a chance for as long as all his policies contradict with the views of the electorate.
If I make a prediction - the Labour vote might collapse to third or even fourth place resulting in a huge Tory majority. Lib Dems and Greens will split the traditional Labour vote and the minor parties will also take votes away from the other mainstream parties.
Loved the Labour candidates last answer!
To the question: "What makes your heart sing?", he effectively said getting his end of year bonus!
Of course I don't think he meant that exactly (it was some convuluted message about sharing) but it just shows he is a bit of a liability when Labour needed a solid candidate.
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