Now it's time for the North's TV election debate
Apparently someone tells me TV debates are all the rage in this general election.
Timely then that we have our own Northern television shindig planned.
The Look North Election 2010 Debate airs tomorrow night on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳1 after the 10 O'Clock News.
Unlike the prime ministerial debates, there won't be 76 rules, but hopefully it'll get people talking just as much.
It's a Question Time-style format, with a 40-minute debate, although that does also include a short film setting out some of the issues affecting the North East and Cumbria.
Our main panel is for the Conservatives, for Labour, and for the Liberal Democrats.
We will also have representation from the smaller parties.
But the crucial people will be the voters. An audience of them will be posing the questions at our venue in Sunderland, and I'll be aiming to make sure the politicians answer.
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Look North's presenter Carol Malia will introduce proceedings (apparently she's regarded as slightly more glamorous than me), and I will then chair the debate.
I must admit I'm really looking forward to it.
We do want to make this the chance for the region's voters to discuss what matters to them, so the issues we raise might not be the same ones that have dominated the national campaign.
And there'll be a lot at stake for the politicians too.
All the parties are now stepping up their efforts in a region which now has a growing number of really keen contests in it.
Watch it and let me know what you think.
We got into some issues in the third of our Politics Show debates that have certainly not been at the centre of election campaigning.
Post office closures, affordable housing, public transport, and hunting all featured as we discussed rural affairs.
On the panel at Cliburn Village Hall in Cumbria were Rory Stewart for the Conservatives, Stan Collins for the Liberal Democrats and Michael Boaden for Labour.
Policies affecting the countryside don't often get much of an airing so it was good to focus on them for a change.
Certainly our panel of voters felt frustrated that their concerns had barely merited a mention in the Prime Ministerial debates.
The economy and jobs will dominate our discussions next Sunday. More of that later in the week.
I'm Richard Moss, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
Comments
or to comment.