{"id":3461,"date":"2015-03-27T10:35:20","date_gmt":"2015-03-27T10:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3461"},"modified":"2015-03-27T16:44:18","modified_gmt":"2015-03-27T16:44:18","slug":"hell-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3461","title":{"rendered":"Hell, yes"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The first live TV action of this general election was a bruising encounter. But Ed Miliband boosted Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hopes and morale with a focused and passionate performance.<\/p>\n

 
\nHell, yes, he has truly arrived on the political stage. And hell yes, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shown he is capable of winning this election.<\/p>\n

 
\nMiliband looked as if he is back to the Ed of the Labour leadership hustings. Back to the Ed when the Daily Mail attacked his family.<\/p>\n

 
\nHe showed passion for his beliefs. Not just what he thinks, but what he feels.<\/p>\n

 
\nDavid Cameron can be very good. But he was out of sorts.<\/p>\n

 
\nHe seemed distracted, lacking in focus. A man without a long-term plan beyond his retirement years.<\/p>\n

 
\nNeither David Cameron nor Ed Miliband got off without taking some political punches. They were both roughed up by Paxman, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what he does.<\/p>\n

 
\nCameron struggled to recover from the opening exchanges about the rise of food banks — the growing numbers of people relying on charity just to avoid going hungry.<\/p>\n

 
\nPaxman reminded him that he had fought the 2010 election on the theme of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098broken Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the Tories broken it a bit more, was the suggestion.<\/p>\n

 
\nThen rising Government debt \u00e2\u20ac\u201c rising by \u00c2\u0141500 billion under Cameron. Paxman had done his homework (sometimes he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t). Cameron had not.<\/p>\n

 
\nPaxman probed on low wages and zero hours contracts, a job but no guaranteed income. Cameron did not seem comfortable dealing with the consequences of his own actions.<\/p>\n

 
\nHis judgement was questioned. Although Cameron did not quite twig this.<\/p>\n

 
\nHSBC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boss Stephen Green had been made a Lord and a Tory minister. Had Cameron asked questions about HSBC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Swiss operation and money laundering, tax evasion and tax avoidance?<\/p>\n

 
\nNot much.<\/p>\n

 
\nMany questions asked about Andy Coulson, later jailed for conspiracy to hack phones? Clearly he had not probed too deeply.
\nAnd his support for his friend Jeremy Clarkson, shown the door by the BBC for punching a producer?<\/p>\n

 
\nOn all three Cameron was not happy dealing with the consequences of his actions. And so it went on through immigration, the EU and foreign policy.<\/p>\n

 
\nHaving watched it on BBC, the first commentariat response was from the Tory behind so called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098free\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 schools, Toby Young. Young looked shaken by what he had seen and complained about Paxman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0098aggression\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 
\nCameron was much steadier and more polished with the audience questions. After a bruising encounter which he did not enjoy, he showed poise and composure.<\/p>\n

 
\nHe was helped by Kay Burley taking some time to get involved beyond simply introducing the next question. That finished very downbeat, even boring, and Cameron seemed relieved it was all over.<\/p>\n

 
\nHe will have to be careful not to come across too much like a timeshare salesman looking for us to buy him another 5 years in Downing Street. There is such a thing as too slick.<\/p>\n

 
\nMiliband faced the same tough time with Paxman. But he was much more focused and on the counterattack with zero hours contracts and a fairer society.<\/p>\n

 
\nLike Cameron, he was unclear on where he would make the cuts. And a bit shakier still on Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s track record on immigration.<\/p>\n

 
\nBut he was not afraid to say \u00e2\u20ac\u201c four times – where he thought Labour had gone wrong in the past. He distanced himself from \u00e2\u20ac\u0098New Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and said some spending decisions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c such as the Millenium Dome \u00e2\u20ac\u201c had not been great.<\/p>\n

 
\nHe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clearly not trying to make friends with \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Mr Dome\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, Peter Mandelson.<\/p>\n

 
\nHe took his knocks on the Mansion Tax and defended it well. There would be no deal with the SNP.<\/p>\n

 
\nAn EU referendum. Not a priority and only if there was a further transfer of power by Treaty.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe most uncomfortable questions were very personal. Wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he just a north London geek whose brother would have been better?<\/p>\n

 
\nHe faced those from one audience member, fair enough. But Kay Burley, interrupting and commenting more than she did with Cameron, pressed the same question.<\/p>\n

 
\nAnd just for overkill, so did Paxman. Ed Miliband handled them all very well and may well have put that question to bed.<\/p>\n

 
\nIn any event, if the other Miliband boy would have faced some very awkward questions about his time at the top end of the last Labour Government.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe Tories, as they say in boxing, talk a good fight. But their man did not seem to have the heart needed to take the pain and last the distance.<\/p>\n

 
\nOne of those in the TV \u00e2\u20ac\u0098ring\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 was hungrier for it. And hell \u00e2\u20ac\u201c yes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Ed Miliband showed he also has the heart and the head.
\nAnd he was \u00e2\u20ac\u0098tough enough\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 
\nNo wonder Cameron has been ducking and diving to avoid a true head-to-head debate with Ed Miliband. He was ill-prepared, but experienced enough to get through without it being anywhere near a car crash.<\/p>\n

 
\nMiliband had passion, energy and impact. He had more screen presence but still has work to do.<\/p>\n

 
\nIt was Ed Miliband\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s breakthrough moment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not a knock out moment. Labour will be buoyed by now.<\/p>\n

 
\nFor once the public saw him unfiltered. Not through the sieve and bias of the media.<\/p>\n

 
\nEd needs to keep his hat on and batten down the hatches, because the bumpy ride to Downing Street has just started.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first live TV action of this general election was a bruising encounter. But Ed Miliband boosted Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hopes and morale with a focused and passionate performance.   Hell, yes, he has truly arrived on the political stage. And hell yes, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shown he is capable of winning this election.   Miliband looked as if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[224],"wps_subtitle":"ED SHOWS LABOUR CAN WIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3461"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3501,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3461\/revisions\/3501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}