It's Nick Cleggs Fault!

With the general election drawing ever closer (just over two weeks now!), the fight is really on, and what a fight it is so far. As the general election in the UK is usually a fight between Labour and the Conservatives, everyone was quite taken aback last week when Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats, who was only allowed to partake in the TV debates out of courtesy, won by several miles. Suddenly there was this third party that could really influence the elections, they were even in the lead in most of the polls! (though in percentage of votes, in parliament they would end up with significantly less seats than both the Tories and Labour).

For the UK, this situation is really unique: elections have traditionally been between two major parties, with other parties battling in the sidelines. People are used to choosing between the party forming the government at that moment, and one party arguing against that government. Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems offer a valid alternative to both, which hasn't happened in recent years. This also leads to the situation where newspapers have to suddenly deal with a whole new party. This might sound weird, but you have to realise that in the UK, newspapers tend to ally with one party, either the Tories or Labour. Take the Daily Mail for instance, they're fond Tory supporters and will slack of Labour at every opportunity, ignoring all other parties (except of course the Tories, whom are more wonderful than Wayne Rooney (or his cricket equivalent) in their eyes). Because of this attitude, they have always completely ignored the Lib Dems. After Nick Clegg's (who is half Dutch by the way) success in last week's debate, and the 10 per cent rise in the polls and corresponding dip of the Tories, the Daily Mail decided to take action.

The results of this, and of some other 'news' papers are on the right. All of their claims where proven to be completely bonkers within a few hours, leading to a new Nick Clegg hype: the #nickcleggsfault tag on Twitter. Just click on the link to get an idea of the brilliance of this tag. In just one week, all the backlash Nick Clegg has been getting from the other two parties since the first leaders debate has made him the most popular man in politic since Winston Churchill.

Today, at the second leaders debate, he got a chance to prove himself, and he did so marvellously. Gordon Brown and David Cameron, who were practically blown away last time, were better prepared this time, and it was a close finish, but the early polls are indicating Clegg won again. At times, it was quite pathetic to see Gordon Brown struggling. He had a few lines prepared, which sounded really good and he certainly scored some points there, but he just kept repeating the same things over and over and over again. David Cameron also upped his game since last time, but as he's a Tory I just can't agree with him. The way they addressed each other also stood out for me, as it was always 'David Cameron says this' and 'Gordon Brown thinks this' but Nick Clegg was consistently referred to as Nick. I don't think his last name was mentioned once throughout the night, which again works in his advantage as it makes him more of a 'normal' guy who might as well be your next-door neighbour as opposed to the Lib Dem PM candidate. Best part of the debate though was Gordon Brown's suddenly strong Scottish accent every time he got a bit upset. Next week it's the final debate, and I for one can say I'm already looking forward to that!