Go Girls!

Today’s TV, radio, and social media are full of political pundits and self-servers such as Katie Hopkins picking over the bones of last night’s UK Leadership Debate.

Many had described the format as the worst episode of Fifteen to One, the Weakest Link, or, Take Me Out…..as if there could ever be a good, of better episode of Take Me Out. Not Paddy McGuinness’ finest moment.

While the moderator, Julie Etchingham, did exert control in an Anne Robinsonesque manner, for me the Debate took on an otherworldly feel.

Rather than a TV quiz show, I was minded of the fantasy of the Fellowship of the Ring in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. In this story, the disparate and diverse people of Middle-earth came together in an uneasy coalition of men, elves, dwarves, wizards and hobbits, to save the world from evil and destruction.

For me Nick Clegg was Legolas, trying to bring ancient, long-lived elvish wisdom and compromise to the short-termism and hot-headedness of the men. This is a political world in which the dwarves and hobbits are unfortunately too few in number or lacking in stature to rule in their own right, but are an integral part of the alliance.

It remains to be seen who will emerge as Frodo, the diminutive hero who ultimately saves the world and allows the King to return to his rightful place of enlightened, absolute power.

But, I suspect it will not be Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru, who is mostly Welsh. She is as Welsh as a Welsh thing, stopping just short of standing on stage next to an inflatable leek and rallying the audience with a cry of Oggy, Oggy, Oggy.

I despair that it might yet be Farage, who offered nothing but fear of HIV infected health tourists and the fact that the Communists were coming. I think he would promise a lot of sweat and tears – his sweat and our tears.

And, while I would hope that Clegg could be the voice of reason and compromise in a Labour-led coalition this coming May, I fear that Nicola Sturgeon, might be Grima Wormtongue whispering in Moribund’s ear, which will not bode well for this United Kingdom.

All in all I would say that the winners of the Debate were Nicola Sturgeon and Natalie Bennett, who spoke well and honestly, answered the questions, and showed that they had a sense of how normal people in this country live. Girl power might be on the up.

Unfortunately, both Cameron and Moribund seem stuck in their fantasy world of Middle-earth.

Turn to camera and make puppy-dog eyes……