Leaders' Debate, Sky News

Instant polling reactions reflected a much closer match. Clegg's massive lead from last week had been reeled in far enough to make it a toss-up whether he or Dave was the winner, a major step forward for Cameron. Gordo, according to the stats wizards, wasn't far behind. Of course, there's only so much the most gifted crew of répétiteurs, hypnotists and make-up artists will ever be able to do with Brown, who looked as if he'd been hosed down with embalming fluid and winched out of a crypt for the occasion, and the most appropriate response to his aggressive litany of pseudo-facts and manipulated statistics would be a stake through the heart. We know both Cameron and Clegg loathe Brown as a bullying, boorish oaf, but their priceless public school educations enabled them to rise above any demeaning or unsportsmanlike urges.

What made the Clegg phenomenon triggered by last week's debate so baffling was that the debate itself was so mundane, with the trio scratching around timidly in a barren allotment of withered clichés. One can only conclude that the British public takes so little interest in the mechanics of politics that many citizens hadn't realised there was a thing called the Lib Dems until the boyish Clegg suddenly popped up on this political X Factor. It's undoubtedly the case that he radiates an easy, breezy charm and connects effortlessly with viewers, though many of them haven't even got as far as the front cover of the Lib Dem manifesto. (Everyone claims their man won, pictured below.)

Nonetheless, significant issues were raised and squabbled over. Brown poured scorn on Clegg's policy of scrapping Trident nuclear weapons, and his "Nick, get real" line was one of the more resonant moments. As was Cameron's follow-up: "I thought I'd never utter these words, but I agree with Gordon." Brown kept repeating his customary mantra about how the Tories will slash everything and destroy "the recovery" (though how he knows this when even Tory supporters complain that they don't know what Conservative policy is remains unclear), but he was pulled up short when Cameron laid into him about a Labour leaflet which is allegedly full of lies about Tory cuts to services for the elderly. Cameron seemed to have the most coherent policy on immigration, and they all shuffled awkwardly into a tentative agreement that the Pope ought to come to Britain despite the Catholic church's somewhat, er, inglorious record on stuff like paedophilia, attitudes to gays, contraception and so on.

Whether Debate Two was a game-changer to equal Debate One remains to be seen. Pretty big deal for Sky News though, who built their entire day's programming around it. Chairman Adam Boulton was a little too laid back to cope when emotions started running hotter and he didn't manage to impose martial law like ITV's Alastair Stewart, but Kay Burley's post-match encounter with Michael Gove (Tory), Bob Ainsworth (Lab) and Chris Huhne (Lib Dem) almost ended in rioting and fist-fights. Pretty darned entertaining, all told.

• The final Leaders' Debate is on BBC One on 29 April