No Debate

Among the interesting quirks of British elections is that there is no requirement for debates, it is merely customary.

That’s true in the United States too and given that The Donald has already dispensed with so many modern traditions like releasing his tax returns I’d consider it unlikely that he’d submit himself (though he does like his airtime and headlines) in the 2020 cycle if I believed he was likely to survive that long (really, the man eats the unhealthiest diet in the world, never, ever exercises, and has to take a Golf Cart to travel 400 yards, he’s lucky each week he stays out of Bethesda).

But you can always cook up something. In this case Sky News (Rupert Murdock) has strung together 2 interviews and 2 of what we would call “town halls” to approximate a debate between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn (yeah, they shut out 3rd parties too).

I offer it for educational purposes, it’s a little over an hour and 15 minutes long. Corbyn has been surging in pre-election polls from a 15 point gap when the snap elections were announced to a mere 5 point deficit today. Elections will be held June 8th. Conventional wisdom in the British Press (even The Telegraph) points to Corbyn’s obvious sincerity and compassion vs. May’s flip flopping and disdain for the 99%. Even ‘Leavers’ from the Labour Party are coming to support Corbyn and it’s distinctly possible they might pry a few seats back from the Scottish National Party. UKIP looks poised to lose it’s lonely seat and the Liberal Democrats will continue their slide into futility and obscurity. Greens? Who knows?

When all is said and done it’s likely that the Tories will retain a slightly diminished majority and Labour will gain a few seats. Britain will plunge ahead into Brexit with May claiming a mandate for her suicidal policy of pissing off everyone in Europe.