The leaders debate - who won?

The leaders debate: who won?
When you read post-mortems of the debate between the seven party leaders broadcast on Thursday 2nd April, it makes you wonder if these people watched the same debate.
Similar to someone bringing their own wine along to an offline which turns out to be a dud/crap/knackered/dead. You are polite about it and he or she is raving about it, and crowns it wine of the night.
Of course these matters are down to opinions to an important extent. But I am going to start from the bottom up: from the worst to the best.
Leanne Wood: she was useless, trite, parochial, weak or had nothing to say on encompassing issues. You would never have to worry about getting your ankles wet in her deepest thoughts. She should have been kicked off the set Ann Robinson style. 1/10
Nick Clegg - he came across as a lightweight. His best moment was when he challenged Miliband to apologise to the British people for crashing the economy. But overall a lacklustre performance. 4/10
Ed Miliband - he had obviously been rehearsing in front of his mirror. And you have to give the boy Ed credit for giving it his best shot. We were rooting for him...Grrr! Tige! Go on my son! But he falls well short of being acceptable prime ministerial material. He has negative gravitas. Also in the debate he peaked too early and then started to flounder. Even worse he then came across as a hypothetical mix between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. 4/10
David Cameron - he came across as being elitist and miffed that he had to share the platform with six other plebs. Some of the mud thrown by Miliband and the others stuck too but they could have done a much better job of skewering Cameron on issues like hedge fund tax evasion. He just about got through this without too much collateral damage, but no better than that. But as he matures he gains gravitas, and he is so much more credible than Miliband. 5/10
Nigel Farage - although he is a bit of a one trick pony he made his points effectively if not controversially, and also scored points on other issues as well. Came across as a bit of a clown/court jester, and will probably be irrelevant in this election; anyway. Still 6/10.
Nicola Sturgeon - canny and bright as a button, she came across very well, scoring points easily against her other male protagonists. Her problem is that she can't stand Ed Miliband - she understands that he is not acceptable prime ministerial material - and has a secret crush on David Cameron. 8/10
Natalie Bennett - Natalie Bennett was the star of the debate. Stylistically she may have been a tad nervous and her delivery was not as smooth as some of the others, but substantively she was cogent, consistent, thoughtful, knowledgable on a range of issues outside the environment. Head and shoulders above the others on substance. And the clear winner. 9/10.

The leaders debate - who won?

The leaders debate: who won?
When you read post-mortems of the debate between the seven party leaders broadcast on Thursday 2nd April, it makes you wonder if these people watched the same debate.
Similar to someone bringing their own wine along to an offline which turns out to be a dud/crap/knackered/dead. You are polite about it and he or she is raving about it, and crowns it wine of the night.
Of course these matters are down to opinions to an important extent. But I am going to start from the bottom up: from the worst to the best.
Leanne Wood: she was useless, trite, parochial, weak or had nothing to say on encompassing issues. You would never have to worry about getting your ankles wet in her deepest thoughts. She should have been kicked off the set Ann Robinson style. 1/10
Nick Clegg - he came across as a lightweight. His best moment was when he challenged Miliband to apologise to the British people for crashing the economy. But overall a lacklustre performance. 4/10
Ed Miliband - he had obviously been rehearsing in front of his mirror. And you have to give the boy Ed credit for giving it his best shot. We were rooting for him...Grrr! Tige! Go on my son! But he falls well short of being acceptable prime ministerial material. He has negative gravitas. Also in the debate he peaked too early and then started to flounder. Even worse he then came across as a hypothetical mix between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. 4/10
David Cameron - he came across as being elitist and miffed that he had to share the platform with six other plebs. Some of the mud thrown by Miliband and the others stuck too but they could have done a much better job of skewering Cameron on issues like hedge fund tax evasion. He just about got through this without too much collateral damage, but no better than that. But as he matures he gains gravitas, and he is so much more credible than Miliband. 5/10
Nigel Farage - although he is a bit of a one trick pony he made his points effectively if not controversially, and also scored points on other issues as well. Came across as a bit of a clown/court jester, and will probably be irrelevant in this election; anyway. Still 6/10.
Nicola Sturgeon - canny and bright as a button, she came across very well, scoring points easily against her other male protagonists. Her problem is that she can't stand Ed Miliband - she understands that he is not acceptable prime ministerial material - and has a secret crush on David Cameron. 8/10
Natalie Bennett - Natalie Bennett was the star of the debate. Stylistically she may have been a tad nervous and her delivery was not as smooth as some of the others, but substantively she was cogent, consistent, thoughtful, knowledgable on a range of issues outside the environment. Head and shoulders above the others on substance. And the clear winner. 9/10.

Tony Blair nominated for Nobel peace prize

Former British Prime-Minister Tony Blair has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in recognition of his ‘tireless efforts in working for peace and promoting democracy in the Middle East’ in his capacity as the region’s peace envoy, and representative of the Quartet of the UN, the US, the EU and Russia. Mr Blair’s name was put forward to the Norwegian Nobel Committee by former US President George W. Bush who also cited his role in liberating Iraq, helping to overthrow Saddam Hussein and for providing crucial evidence uncovering Saddam’s WMD programme. Blair’s nomination has been endorsed by other current and former world leaders including Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also short-listed for the award, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi.

His nomination also received enthusiastic backing from other high profile figures including Peter Mandelson, Max Clifford, Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Alex Ferguson, Roman Abramovich, Rebekah Brooks and Wendy Murdoch, the ex-wife of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. According to his close aide and long-time confidante Alistair Campbell, ‘Tony feels that receiving the Nobel Prize would be an overdue recognition of his achievements as the Quartet’s representative, and would be a fitting high note on which to bow out of the role to pursue his other philanthropic interests.’

For Blair it would be a crowning achievement after winning the Save the Children Legacy Award last November and the GQ magazine’s Philanthropist of the Year in September.  If successful he would join the ranks of other august Nobel laureates including Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, The Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama.  Previous awards Blair has received include the Liberty Medal in 2010 and the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights in 2003.