"I disagree with Nick Clegg"

The second leaders debate last night was a slightly diferent, and dare I say it more entertaining, proposition from the opening one last week. There was more bite to all the contestants, there was a bit more passion and Nick Clegg was given a less easy ride.

Clegg was never going to scale the heights of last week as the novelty wore off and his opponents took him seriously. I thought he was more nervous this week and his presentation was not quite as polished, but his content was a bit 'heavier'. Cameron was a slight better than last week, there was more passion, and his delivery was improved (but still not as pleasing to the eye as Clegg's). Brown was much much better. He perhaps overplayed it, but he was more passionate. My only problem was that he was a bit like a student who has revised only one topic for the exam. When the question was about that topic, the economy, he was very convincing but when the question was about soemthing else he still tried to get the economy in.

Overall I felt that it was a score draw, if you can have such a result with three players. All of them can have something to be pleased about. For Clegg no one landed a heavy punch on him, so he lives to fight another day, and as the days get nearer to May 6th then he becomes more of a winner if the polls stay broadly unchanged. Cameron maintained the Prime Ministerial approach, but added a bit of bite. Brown can also be pleased from a more combative performance, and he too is still in the game.

That said of the three, I suspect relatively Clegg has most to be happy still.