3 CHEERS

...(one for each) to the three participants in Britain's first ever TV election debate for confounding the critics who predicted that the events 70-plus rules would put the leaders in a presentational straight-jacket. The star of the show was the Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg whose confident performance brought him instant recognition as a future prime minister and his party a lift in the polls. Gordon Brown and David Cameron have two more debates in which to recover from the shock of Mr Clegg's impressive debut.