History in the making is happening on this very day. (Thursday 15 April 2010) No, not the unprecedented closure of British airspace, historical as that may have been! No, for the first time ever a Live Prime Ministerial debate during a British election campaign goes on the air from Manchester at 8PM on ITV. The debate is hosted by Alistair Stewart, and also broadcast on 5 Live and Radio 4. (which you can pick up online for those interested who are not in Britain) It has taken 50 years for something so commonplace in US elections to cross the Atlantic, a fact that might seem incredible to our American cousins. The reason why it has taken this long is that the leading politicians have never agreed terms with each other and with the television companies before. Change happens slowly in this country. Even now, 76 rules have been put in place such as no clapping or laughing during the questions and each leader gets just 1 minute to answer a question and then 4 minutes to debate. Bob Schafer of CBS News told BBC 5 Live that this is similar to what happened in the early days of Presidential debates.

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