LIB DEMS BOOST

PUT one way 1.8 million people sounds like quite a big crowd. As a TV statistic, however, it indicates relative failure. On Monday evening Channel 4 had enterprisingly arranged for the three men who stand a chance of being Chancellor of the Exchequer after the next election to debate the issues live on TV. But only 1.8 million turned up to listen to them -- compared with more than nine million who watched the BBC's Eastenders and the three million who preferred ITV's University Challenge.

Does this indicate that the British people have already turned off the election in their minds and are committed only to abstention on polling day? Possibly, but at the same time it should be recognised that the nearly two million people who did watch the debate were probably those with a keen interest in politics and likely to vote when the time comes. Much larger audiences will be expected for the party leaders' debates which will be part of the election for the first time in Britain. Did the Channel 4 programme give any pointers to the election? Only that Vince Cable of the Liberal Democrats was clearly judged to be the best performer on the night while Alistair Darling just edged George Osborne in most of the instant polls. With a place on the TV platform with Brown and Cameron, Nick Clegg will have one of the best chances ever to lift the Lib Dems in the polls.