http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26443312
Personally Its easy to see why Clegg is doing it. He simply has nothing to lose. The LD's are most likely going to get trounced at the end of may so he lots to possibly gain and little to lose. Farage must clearly feel he can still further improve UKIP's vote in the election. Of the two of them Farage is the better public speaker and I would say debater, I know not a lot of people watch EU parliament sessions but I do watch highlights and comparing say Farage and the questions he poses and Cleggs performances in Parliament such as when taking PMQ's in place of Cameron.
A lot will depend on how much like a debate it is and how much like a series of questions it is. As well as how willing David Dimbleby is to let them engage each other. I was not a fan of the 2010 debates they seemed contrived rather than proper debates, I stopped watching after the first two of four (including the chancellors). On the whole I am not a fan of american presidential style debates sort of like the ones we had in 2010, they tend to lack content, depth and information as well as focusing more on attacking the man not the policies. The 2010 debates were not that bad as they had little of the ad hominem but still not great. I would prefer a more academic style of debate but then I tend to be a bit of a Purist. I prefer for example Test over ODI or T20 cricket and eating dinner round a table as opposed to in front of the TV on a sofa.
I think Farage will probably come off best, as it's already looking bad for Clegg from the BBC article. Attacking somebody over voting record who has a better voting record than yourself is pretty stupid.
In a speech on the EU's role to the Centre for European Reform, Mr Clegg accused Mr Farage and his colleagues of failing to "stand up for Britain" in the European Parliament.
"Nigel Farage and deputy leader Paul Nuttall rarely turn up to vote in the European Parliament, despite being happy to take their taxpayer-funded salaries," he said.
"UKIP MEPs refuse to roll up their sleeves and get down to work. Nigel Farage hasn't tabled a single amendment to EU legislation since July 2009."
Mr Farage hit back at his rival's claims, saying: "Nick Clegg has some cheek raising attendance and voting records. Although Nick Clegg lives in London, between 2010 and 2014 he has voted in Westminster only 22.6% of the time.
"By contrast I live eight hours away from Strasbourg, lead a national party and have voted 55% of the time in the European Parliament.
"Furthermore from 2005-10 Nick Clegg's voting record in Westminster was only 42.5% and for much of that period he was not leader of the Lib Dems.
You would think he would check this sort of stuff out before saying anything. If Clegg does this sort of thing in the debate he is going to lose, he needs to stick to why he believes in the EU not resort to negative politics and campaigning, usually the realm of Labour. If he turns away from negative campaigning he has a chance of coming out of the debate well.
As for effects, strangely I see it being a boost to both if Clegg avoids negative debate, the reason being they are the only two mainstream parties that have a uniform position on the issue of the EU. For and against respectively. Both the other two main parties by popular support have an "in and and "out" camp within them. Thus Clegg could gain those who are Pro Eu from the other parties for May whilst Farage Gains more anti vote.
Neither of them have much to lose and I think it will be good for both of their parties. Those who should be worried are the Conservatives and Labour due to the lack of a concrete position. Cameron has at least tried with his "New Deal" for Britain but Labour have come up with nothing.
Interesting development on the whole though, especially with the European elections not long after. So what do you think about it? Who will come out on top? why? and what effects will this have on the European parliament elections?
Also anybody willing to bet that we end up with stereotyping and "in before" post's before the bottom of the first page?
Mod Edit: Did away with the all-caps.
