What do the right-wingers think about Cameron's "I won't be involved if the Greens aren't" announcement, out of interest? Easy for me to say this as a lefty, but surely this is the most transparent electoral opportunism ever?

I wonder what I'd think if Miliband said he wouldn't be involved unless UKIP were involved. It's bloody obvious it's not for some principled reason. Do you right-wingers respect Cameron for having some political nous, or dislike him for trying to pull the other one?

"The fox has his den. The bee has his hive. The stoat, has, uh... his stoat-hole... but only man chooses to make his nest in an investment opportunity.” Stewart Lee

Ha ha pissed myself at that

always a Norwood boy, where ever I live.

Very smart move by Cameron.

With the greens in the debate, labour have a bit of left wing competition. His hope must be that left leaning posters who are fed up with Labours centrist stand will make a move and vote green. Even a few hundred votes might make the difference in some constituencies.

Given he'll be slugging it out with UKIP for votes I can see why he'd like some competition for labour.

Ed, of course, sees the ploy. But they'll all go along with the charade. Ed will say 'chicken' and Dave will say 'it's important all parties are heard'. None admitting to the political game that really being played.

Edited by beagle (08 Jan 2015 6.53pm)

When the time comes, I want die just like my Dad - at peace and asleep.
Not screaming and terrified.
Like his passengers.

I'm a right-winger and I hate Cameron.

I wonder if he cares less about damaging labour on its left flank than he does getting out of it altogether.

Brown only took part in debates because he was desperate. Dave would love to wriggle out of them.

...we must expand...get more pupils...so that the knowledge will spread...

It's probably called "playing chicken"!

I'm guessing Cameron has been advised by his army of leeches and brown nosers that he should not attempt to publicly debate issues with UKIP as swathes of Tory voters may switch allegiance when he speaks and they become disenchanted.

Holding on to their voters would be the Tories best chance of getting re-elected and fending off the Wallace led Labour party. Greens are not a major party but including them would open the door for everyone to participate. The public debates become a nonsense and therefore won't happen thereby deflecting attention from the fact (like it or not!) UKIP is a potential heavyweight that could attract a significant protest vote this time around?

Cameron gets re-elected King. Simples!

Denial is not just a river in Egypt!

But by your own admission, anyone that's even vaguely interested in politics will see what he's doing. It's hardly sneaky when it's so damned obvious. Oh and I actually agree that if UKIP are to be in there, then the Greens have a mandate, too, since they did better than the Lib Dems in the last national election that took place.

With regard to the SNP, surely there could be regional debates, since there are regional parties (there is a leader of the Scottish Labour and Scottish Conservatives).

My personal opinion, however, is that the debates don't actually help the general election campaign at all, since the whole thing becomes about the leaders' debates rather than actual policy. I mean, last time Nick Clegg got loads of praise for looking into the camera. I mean FFS are these really worth having? They are short on detail (like most modern politics) and deal with wishy-washy ideologies rather than practical solutions. NHS being a prime example. And as a Labour supporter, you'd support a one-on-one debate between Milliband and Cameron? You must be joking, Cameron would wipe the floor with him.

Edited by We are goin up! (09 Jan 2015 9.41am)

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.