British Election: First Ever Televised Debate

I blogged recently that the Brits are about to face the polls (May 6) for a general election.  For those election watchers who are really missing good old U.S.-style presidential elections, the Brits are apparently taking a leaf out of our book and are hosting the first ever televised debate on the issues between the leading candidates.  This perhaps makes less sense in Britain because in a parliamentary democracy, the electorate actually votes for the party rather than the candidate.  However, Australia (which is also a parliamentary democracy) toyed with televised debates some years ago and they were pretty entertaining – although  not necessarily all that illuminating.