Televised debates

The televised debates in the UK have been a huge hit with television audiences and to the chagrin of the two main parties, a boost to the Liberal Democrats and their leader, Nick Clegg. To many, that the election could be a three horse race, will come as a bit of a shock. Certainly to Gordon Brown and David Cameron, who have, in the House of Commons, ridiculed for years the third party to the point of being contemptuous of their contribution. It mattered not that this disdain was by association a direct insult to the constituents of the seats where these members stood. Now their rudeness is looking a little silly and to my mind so do the leaders of the Socialist and Tory parties.
The point I wish to make is that in politics as in business and other walks of life, nothing is certain in the world. I remember attending a management course in Chorley, Lancashire, where the group was divided up into teams of four. Each team was given some equal and imaginary points. They were then allowed to meet with the other teams with a view to form syndicates and consolidate their points. After a time, it was clear that one syndicate was amassing more points than the others and because of their success attracted yet more points until they were dominant. In the final play of the game, it seemed a formality that this syndicate must win, yet when the poll was taken of the final points they had been beaten. How could it have happened?
One of the 'beaten' syndicates had waited until after all the points had been cast and then transferred the total to their own team. Despite being an obvious cheat, the result was allowed to stand as an example of people's behaviour when pushed into a corner. On another occasion, a team had set off the fire alarm to disrupt proceedings.
What has this to do with the election? This. Never underestimate the lengths Gordon Brown will go to to secure a victory. I believe Brown has hidden secrets that he and his predecessor, Tony Blair, would prefer to remain hidden and the best way of achieving this is to secure unending power by whatever means. To date they have an advantage due to the unbalanced boundary conditions; they introduced massive and unprecedentd immigration in the hope of boosting their support and they recommended changing the voting age to 16 for the same purpose. I believe that in marginal seats, at least, Brown will resort to any tactics to win. Having already being exposed as telling blatant lies in election leaflets in order to scare voters away from the Tories, what else will he try?
Recently in Birmingham council elections, Labour were exposed trying to rig postal voting in six seats. A judge described the system as being wide open to abuse.
To be fair, it's not only the Socialists. In Slough, six Tory supporters were found guilty of electoral fraud.

When the two main parties are trying desperately to exclude the third, and pooh pooh others like the BNP and UKIP, a reaction can be expected and has indeed happened. It can only be for the good. Readers of my blog will know that I favour a meritocratic style of Government, fearing that the general populace are not fit to vote in the best interests of the country but sometimes, just now and then, something amazing happens and certainties become less so. I shall be following the election with great interest, looking for signs of desperation in the leaders as they see their hopes fade. Something extraordinary might happen.