really, i think it will be Clegg,Brown and Cameron in that order.

Brown's voice during PMQs actually makes my head *hurt*. In addition, he's only as good as his script writers. For 10 minutes of exchanges, that will be fine, but I cannot imagine him being able to compete in terms of style for an hour. Cameron and Clegg will trounce him on that front.

In terms of policy debate, I don't think that there will be much to it. The Lib Dems and Tories are making similar noises on most issues, and we'll just get constant bickering over whether or not plans are properly costed (none of them are).

I'm fairly pessimistic about the whole election really. "Dealing with the deficit" has morphed into "cutting it to 'just' £120 billion annually in two years' time". Its just silly. If only there was a party saying "we're going to cut 20% of spending, put half of it towards reducing the deficit and half of it to cutting income tax. You could actually raise the allowance to 12k *and* make income tax thereon a 20pence tax all the way up with that kind of money.

@Ghost - I agree that we could do with more honest about cutting spending, but 20% cuts would be too much. It would put hundreds of thousands on the dole and we end up paying people to do nothing rather than to do a worthwhile job. If we cut people's wages we could save some money, but if they all strike for 6 months we will end up paralysing the country.

at least if they are striking they aren't getting paid to not do any work...

unlike putting them on the dole (though my borther not being in the union is getting paid to not go to work while the union strikes...)

As the debate is an extremely serious issue, I think we should limit this discussion to what really matters. Ladbrokes are offering some really temping odds on what the leaders might say!

Immigration 1/50
Jobs Tax 1/6
Climate Change 1/6
We're All In This Together 1/3
Hung Parliament 1/2
Gay 4/7
Blair 4/6
Proportional Representation 4/6
Hard Working Families 4/6
Cross Party Consensus 6/4
Thatcher 6/4
BNP 6/4
Cannabis 2/1
Elephant In The Room 2/1
Rubbish 2/1
Ordinary Middle Class Background 2/1
Broken Britain 2/1
Volcanic Ash 2/1
Tough On Crime 9/4
Double Dip 5/2
Obama 5/2
Mephedrone 5/2
You Can't Trust The Tories 5/2
Yobs 3/1
Twitter 3/1
Binge Drinking 4/1
Labour Isn't Working 4/1
Cider 4/1
Triple-A 4/1
No Time For A Novice 5/1
Eton 7/1
Bookies 10/1
Vote Yellow, Get Brown 12/1
There You Go Again 16/1
Fire Up The Quattro 20/1
Tony McCoy 33/1
You're No Charles Kennedy 50/1

Eton is a dead cert! Easy money :D

"Broken Britain" is a dead cert to.

As an American who has seen tons of our presidential "debates" over the years, I am curious about the ones in the UK. Are they true debates, or are they an excuse to use your "talking points" and a way to "get the message across?" I am frustrated by the way our debates work and am interested if it is done better across the pond.

@jimgov - there's really no way to answer that until later this evening. This is the first time there has ever been a televised debate between the three main party leaders during a general election campaign.

(Who is Tony McCoy and why is he likely to be mentioned?)

What time will this debate be televised? Does anyone know if the BBC will be airing the debate in the USA?

(Tony McCoy won the Grand National... I guess he might be mentioned on the basis that it might make them sound like men of the people or some tosh like that... I doubt it'll come up though)

So, the itv instant polls say:

43% Clegg, 26% Cameron, 20% Brown.

Not surprising.

I don't like the format. They should get 4 minutes opening on each issue, and then 2x2 minutes each to rebut, and then move on. That way you can make a genuine case for your position.

well done to clegg, brown and cameron were a lot poorer than i thought they would be

Clegg deserved the win I reckon. Brown was better that I expected, but still poor

@dave bishop = and cameron?

I'd say Clegg won, but as it went on I found him increasingly annoying for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. I'd also say Clegg has failed to make himself look very different from the main parties, which will cost him over the next few weeks.

Cameron was painfully average but I am confident he will improve dramatically. Gordan "I agree with Nick" Brown was dire.

Clegg was typical Liberal - "vote for us because we're not either of the others" - the usual story - try to be neo tories in tory areas and neo labour in labour areas.

Cameron I'm not sure... I've never really liked him. He clearly kept on saying things that he thought would be popular (like "i love the NHS", "the expenses scandal was a disaster") and I honestly thought Nick's policies seemed stronger.

I also found Brown's repeated attempts to make Clegg agree with him and Clegg's efforts not to link himself in any way with Brown funny

In my view on watching that, Clegg did the best, Brown second - he got in a few decent shots at Cameron, and Cameron was third.

Jamiet, I doubt you'd ever say that Cameron did well though, frankly

I'd also be interested to watch these online

@Kestasjk - Try this if you're really interested. http://www.itv.com/electiondebate/

The next debate is on SkyTV (and on Sky.com) next Thursday and the last is on BBC TV (and BBC iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/) a week before the election itself on the 29th.

The three leaders know the general theme for each of the debates but don't know the actual questions until they're asked.

Televised debates are disastrous for political systems - they limit the pool of political talent to tall pretty people with full heads of hair. Think about it. Who was the last American presidential candidate who didn't have a full head of hair? I can't even remember. Do we have to go all the way back to 1976 and Gerald Ford? That kind of candidate selection is not healthy.

@Tolstoy the same thing is true in the UK already, though