Televised debates about televised debates really would be worth watching!

It was, I suppose, only to be expected that debates about the format and rules for the televised pre-election leaders' debates would hot up as the election draws nigh - no matter how pointless and unenforceable such rules are almost certain to be.

The Guardian is warning that the party leaders' election debates are in danger of 'being negotiated to death', and today's Times is reporting that Brown is calling in 'the Obama team for help with television debate'.

As readers of this blog will know, I'm fully expecting the 'debates' to be as boring as all the other interviews the media will be inflicting on us during the election.

But all this talk about the debates about the debates has given me an idea:

Why don't the BBC, ITN and Sky insist that all further negotiations with the main political parties about the rules and formats for the debates must be conducted in front of the cameras?

That would surely make for such riveting viewing that it wouldn't matter very much whether or not the actual 'debates' ever get to take place at all.

RELATED POSTS:

• TV Debate Claptrap: a warning to those cooking up rules for the leaders' election debates
• Will the 2010 general election be the first one to leave us speechless?

'New Statesman' on political speeches & speechwriting

An interesting article by Sophie Elmhirst on political speeches and speech writing has just appeared in the New Statesman magazine.

I can't complain about her quotes from me being inaccurate, even if some of them do make me sound like a grumpy old man recycling themes that will be all too familiar to regular followers of this blog.

However, given my extraordinary generosity in allowing her to spend half a day at one of my courses (without charge) I confess to being disappointed that none of my books got a mention.

So, by way of reciprocity, I've provided the above link so that you can read the article without actually having to buy a copy of the magazine!

Translation news: Выступать легко: Все, что вам нужно знать о речах и презентациях

I've just heard today that the Russian translation of Lend Me Your Ears will be published on 19 February 2010.

If you can read Russian, you can check for further details of the publishers, availability, etc. HERE & HERE, and I'll be posting more details as and when I have them.

Meanwhile:

Two slight worries

1. The name of the originating Russian publishing house is 'Nofun Publishing', which, at least to English ears, doesn't sound too promising.
2. The title of the book, according to Google's automated literal translation, is To come out easily (with the same sub-title as the English version). Even though this might take it into new and unexpected markets, I'm rather hoping that the version given to me by the books translator - Speaking in Public is Easy is nearer the mark.

P.S.

1. News from my brother, who speaks Russian, about the mysterious title: "vistupat is a compound verb - 'vi' (= 'outwards') + 'stupat' (= 'move') - and it can mean 'walk out' but more usually 'speak out', 'make a speech'. "
2. 250 Roubles = £5.24 (i.e. about half the price it is in the UK!).

Макс Аткинсон

4 февраля 2010