FARNWORTH Church hosted the candidates for a debate on global poverty.
Lib Dem candidate and physics professor Roger Barlow appeared the academic stereotype - eccentric but intelligent.
He said: "If the resources being put into wars were put into tackling poverty, the money would be more wisely spent."
Tory candidate Colin Bloom, a confident and clear speaker, is the head of a Christian charity.
He said: "Britain has a God given and bible-instructed responsibility to assist poor countries."
Halton's Labour MP Derek Twigg isn't a dynamic speaker but he was proud of Labour's record.
He said: "The Labour government has been leading the world on these issues."
Two sobering notes cut through the politics.
Fr Kevin Kelly of St Basil's said a report rated the parties on poverty - the Tories 2/10, Labour 4/10 and the Lib Dems 6/10.
And statistically, 1800 third-world children died during the one-and-a-half hour debate.
A quick audience survey by the World found Twigg was the winner.
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