The Chair

Please keep this sensible. If you want to flirt, take it to the Lounge! The Chair x

Brendan - thank you for editing your comments although I have only just seen the fallout. Whilst this is the Drawing Room and therefore a place for adult debate, adult language should only be used constructively. Please refrain from using this in the future. Thank you.

MitchK, LadyM Could we try and stay within the boundaries of normal debate please and refrain from anthems of any sort. Much appreciated. The Chair.

SteveT - I will ask nicely this time: Please, for the love of God, do not turn every thread into a whinge about MPs expenses. We know you're concerned but it's been discussed at length elsewhere. Please try and control your outbursts to the subject at hand. Or at least something vaguely related to it. Many thanks. The Chair.

Apologies for allowing such offtopication, people. All discussions on such matters now appear to have their own thread. I would kindly ask you all relocate there to let battle commence.

Two out of the four candidates have now replied. The Green (Shane Collins) and Conservative (Kemi Adegoke) candidates have both replied by private email saying they would take part. They were sent the questions and instructions of how to register an account with the Forum. Subsequently nothing has happened. The Chair is not a nanny, however. I will not continually remind those standing for public office to engage with their constituents. Jonathan Mitchell, the LibDem candidate, was nearly a week late in posting his reply. However, it is possible that the original email address I tried to contact him on was incorrect. Tessa Jowell, the sitting MP and a government minister, managed to respond the day after the deadline. I think this is to be commended. I hope now that more of the EDFs members will now comment on the candidates answers. Politicians are often derided, on both the EDF and in the mainstream media, for not being "in touch" with their electorate or not being interested in "the little man". Currently two candidates have suggested that this is not true and are willing to speak directly to their electorate via this forum. I urge you to take advantage of this.

The Chair has been informed of hustings tonight. Tessa will be attending. I don't know about the other candidates. Further info is/was in the ED issues section. Regards. The Chair.

The Chair did not write the questions. The Chair's profession is not relevant. Jamma did not submit any questions. Nor did any "media types" volunteer their free time and energy in setting this up. The candidates can answer the questions as they see fit and can choose to participate, or not, in the subsequent discussions. I think that's all that needs saying.

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Chair - have you given them a deadline and/or can > all the replies be posted simultaneously?. I guess > If I was them I might be tempted to wait until I > saw what others had to say and comment etc. before > posting my own. I agree ???? but it's very hard to do otherwise. I have asked all the candidates to try and post by Friday night so hopefully by Monday we should have all four. As for waiting till the other candidates have been... well shall just have to live with it. I'm hoping we just get their opinion rather than an opportunity for point scoring. Ho-hum. And thanks all for the kind words of support.

Questions have now been sent to all four candidates to answer. The questions are: 1) Should MP's live in the constituency they represent? 2) What is the fairest way of capping individuals annual earnings i.e Bob Diamond ?63 million at Barclays? 3) Do you accept that whilst the crime solving benefits of surveillance are considerable, there must surely be a level at which the costs to an individual's privacy and sense of freedom outweigh the potential benefits? 4)Could the candidates please outline how they intend to offer this area (East Dulwich, Nunhead and the wider Southwark/South East London area) better transport links to other parts of London. Although I realise the Mayor has overall responsibility for transport in London, do any of the parliamentary or council candidates have a view/ have plans to propose measures to improve the connections between South East London and the rest of the city? 5)I would like to ask the candidates what they would do to ensure that all local children can go to good local state primary and seconday schools (with the emphasis on good as well as local). 6)Should the government departments treat humanist, secular and religious organisations equally in policy making, funding decisions and consultations? These are an amalgamation of different questions and themes that were submitted and I would like to thank all of those that did so. Apologies if yours didn't make the final cut. Let's hope for some interesting answers. The Chair.

This thread is for the Green Party PPC to post their answers to the debate questions they have been sent. Please do not post anything in this thread until that has occurred. Thank you.

This thread is for the Liberal Democrat Party PPC to post their answers to the debate questions they have been sent. Please do not post anything in this thread until that has occurred. Thank you.

This thread is for the Conservative Party PPC to post their answers to the debate questions they have been sent. Please do not post anything in this thread until that has occurred. Thank you.

This thread is for the Labour Party PPC to post their answers to the debate questions they have been sent. Please do not post anything in this thread until that has occurred. Thank you.

For goodness gents. I know I said I was prepared to let debates wander off topic but PLEASE try and keep it within the vague realm of the original debate. Mentions of Surrey, The Daily Mail, metropolitan elites and Spain are also to be avoided on the grounds that all of them are naff. So, are the Falkland Islanders British or not?

I'm inclined to agree with ???? here. There are enough debates running simultaneously about the various political factions, local and national, in the area. The upcoming General Election debates will add more. For that reason I'm going to lock this thread and any further discussion of this issue can continue in the other "bumpf" thread. Thank you.

I'd rather this thread didn't turn into a bun-fight between Labour and the LibDems. James, Vikki.....I'm looking in your direction. Please conduct yourselves with some decorum and debate the issue at hand rather than trying to score cheap political points. As PeckhamRose says, this is exactly the sort of stuff that turns people away from politics, even at a local level. This thread poses some interesting points about shared services and efficiencies of scale - why not start there?

???? - a valid point. I shall try to ensure there is at least a local flavour to the questions submitted. First and foremost these people should be constituency MPs and their work in the local community should not be down-played in favour of national issues. Silverfox - thanks for highlighting this. To allow for debate afterwards I shall set a provisional deadline of Monday 19th. Should insufficient questions have been submitted this could be flexible.

Whilst I appreciate that some residents of SE22 will be voting in a different constituency, logistically it would be difficult to accomodate another 4+ candidates into the debate. If however any of the candidates for Dulwich and Norwood decline or are unable to take part I will endeavour to invite their Camberwell & Peckham counterparts. The criteria for vetting the questions is arbitary. I do not have specific criteria other than that the questions are sensible, intelligent and will provoke debate. I have set a provisional limit of six per candidate to try and cover a few topics but to try and keep some degree of brevity. I feel it only fair that candidates are allowed to answer their questions in secret but may consider allowing personalised rather than identical questions for each candidate. Moderation of the follow-up debates will be more vigorous than normal. This is because I want to ensure that all candidates are respected and that the contributions are valid. This is not Question Time, I am not David Dimbleby and hopefully the readers of the EDF are more intelligent than the average studio audience.

LuLu Too Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm with *Bob* on this one. > And Fisking makes my eyes go funny... > > What's happening in The Drawing Room? > Surely this thread should be lounged by now?! Agreed. Too much silly behaviour.

Dear all It is proposed that, in light of the forthcoming General Election, a series of debates will take place within the confines of the Drawing Room that each Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) will take part in. I have, in principle, obtained the participation of Tessa Jowell and am currently contacting the other major parties with expectations of their inclusion. I propose that the debates shall run according to the following guidelines: 1) Questions to be put to the candidates should be PM'd to the Chair 2) Prospective questions will be vetted and a shortlist drawn-up. Expectations are of approx. 6 questions. 3) These (identical) questions will be put to each candidate via a private email and each candidate will be given 3 days to respond. 4) Answers will be posted in a separate thread for each party. 5) Follow-up questions and/or supplementaries can then be submitted via that thread in a free, but heavily moderated, manner. 6) PPC involvement in the subsequent questions will be at their discretion. The Chair asks for understanding that these are busy people with campaigns to run and that they may not be able to dedicate large amounts of time to subsequent debates. I hope that these debates will be illuminating and educational. We at the EDF have a great chance to participate directly in democratic debate in one of the most closely fought elections in recent history. I hope people will respect this opportunity. Comments below can be used for discussion of the method of debate but please PM any questions you have for the PPCs to the Chair directly. Regards.

Whilst fisking has its place from time-to-time (and the Chair's alter-ego has been guilty of it), the Chair is of the opinion that the Drawing Room participants are capable of reading, cogitating, digesting and discerning information from paragraphs of text without resorting to breaking it down in to bite-size chunks of meaningless sound bites. The Chair does not wish for style guidelines to be drawn-up but merely asks that we all try and behave like well-rounded, intelligent adults and show those Lounge-types how it's done. That is all.

The Drawing Room is not a place for adverts. However, if Amina or Jonathan wish to discuss Liberal Democrat policy in an intelligent environment then they should be allowed to do so. Closer to the election there will be a series of formal debates featuring all the major candidates (hopefully). In the meantime I'm happy for LibDem policy to be discussed here. Please keep comments within that parameter. Regards The Chair.

I removed that post as it was deemed unbecoming of someone from Surrey.

I have noted the above suggestion and had had the same thought myself. Elections are not until May 6th so a bit closer to the time I shall set up such a thread for formal electioneering to be conducted. I need to have a think about formatting first though. Thank you for your support.