Lib Dems sleaze‏

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/join-cleggs-leaders-club-ndash-for-16325000-annual-fee-2269225.html

the Lib Dems are a proper governing party now, they even have their own sleaze.
If this was really about debate and all high minded things like that they wouldn't be auctioning off access to the highest bidders. It's not exactly cheap. So only the rich's voices should be heard?

Clegg defiant despite Lib Dems' slump in Barnsley poll‏

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12645090


I personally think this line is hurting rather than helping Clegg:
""In government, nationally, we will continue to do what I think is absolutely vital for the long-term benefit of the country. Namely sort the economic mess we inherited from Labour for the long-term benefit of Britain.""

Nick Clegg blocks housing benefit cut for jobless

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/17/nick-clegg-housing-benefit-cut-dropped

I wonder if this was a genuine victory for Nick Clegg or he's just borrowed a competent spin doctor to get some support back from Lib Dem supporters.

The rest of the article is outlined by the nastiest elements of Tory philosophy

A letter to Nick Clegg from alarm clock Britain

Many good points are made. I think clegg is on to something in some ways. I am probably low to middle income, I have a job I hate and I'm worried about my cost of living. I would count myself at the more fortunate edge of this analysis but I can certainly see here he's coming from. but I'm afraid that the author's attempts to paint herself as an ordinary everyday person is absolute bollocks

Nick Clegg plays down Labour victory

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/14/oldham-byelection-nick-clegg-labour-victory

I had a feeling he might, much as I'm sure Labour are playing it up. Yvette Cooper disappointed me a bit this morning being evasive and a bit wafty

Nick Clegg claims fees debate could deter poor from applying to university

"Analysis by the lobbying group representing new universities, Million +, suggests the reforms will limit social mobility and see almost two-thirds of graduates paying much more for a degree than they do now. The "triple whammy" of higher fees, real interest rates for loans and a longer debt write-off period is likely to represent a bad deal for taxpayers and will leave between 60% and 65% of graduates worse off, with middle-income earners hit hardest, according to the study.

Allowing universities to charge £9,000 a year will result in many women spending most of their working lives in debt, while pupils from poor families and mature students will be put off applying, it said."


Says it all

Lib Dem activists target Nick Clegg over tuition fees‏

But they added: "There is one thing that sets the Liberal Democrats apart from other political parties; this is that when we say we will do something during election campaigns we then do it in government."

I must admit a certain amount of pleasure to see their holier-than-though attitude come back to bite them in the arse. Of course, the above statement is made a lot easier by not being in government, which they did expect to be


Mr Clegg said last week that he "massively regrets" being in a position where he cannot deliver on his election promise. However, he told the BBC that more Lib Dems were becoming "comfortable" with the policy as they studied the details.

Every time he opens his mouth he says something terrible, so let's hear more Mr Clegg. It must be something to do with spending all that time with Tories. He'll say something about breeding next.

So what exactly is 'progressive' in politics?‏ 2

"Mr Clegg agreed - but, unfortunately for Mr Brown, it was the Conservatives, traditionally seen as anything but progressive, that he formed the "progressive alliance" with.

Explaining his logic, in a speech on Wednesday, he claimed Labour were now "old progressives", while the Lib Dem/Conservative coalition were "new progressives".
"

The purest form of talking absolute bollocks

So what exactly is 'progressive' in politics?‏

"Nick Clegg has yet to describe himself as a "progressive conservative" but his definition of what it means to be a "new progressive" sounds suspiciously familiar.

Old progressives, he argued in a speech on Wednesday, "emphasise the power and spending of the central state", while new progressives "focus on the power and freedom of citizens".

Labour and its new leader Ed Miliband he argued, risk becoming the "new conservatives of British politics" as they obsess over income tax distribution, while ignoring the wider social picture, such as access to good public services and life chances.

"For old progressives, reducing snapshot income inequality is the ultimate goal. For new progressives, reducing the barrier to social mobility is," said Mr Clegg."


Clegg is incredibly full of shit

Labour to stage Commons debate on tuition fees on Tuesday

I'm really not happy with the hanging an effigy thing. Also, there's a good point about the debate uniting the disparate government

Nick Clegg urges students to call off tuition fees marches‏

Now he's urging people to stop voicing their opinions. You know for certain if he wasn't in the government he'd be out there with them, calling the policy a disgrace and calling on the government to row back on it. But because he's the one who about-turned, he's calling for people to just agree with him and do as they're told.

the royal wedding‏

Personally,
I care only so far as I’m footing the bill. If a single penny of tax payer money goes on that wedding it will be disgusting. Why should a pair of spoilt brats who are not exactly short of a penny or two take taxpayer money at a time when things are so tight and jobs are being lost?

I hope Labour’s focuses on this to show it’s more on the side of working people than royal glitz and glamour. Given Clegg and Cameron’s backgrounds there may be some political capital there

my worst time of year

i hate having to sit through Tory conference at the best of times, but with these smug hypocritical bastards In Government (!, looking at you Clegg) they are unbearable. Quote of the day: "Conservative party traditionalists tell the chancellor his benefit cut for high earners could discourage marriage and hit middle-class single mothers". Now i thought they were against single mothers, but apparently it's only poor ones. Middle class single mothers are to be defended. Hypocrites

a tory government

over the last couple of days i've found myself in the odd position of thinking we should have a Tory government.
they won the most votes, they won the most seats. They should be the government, end of.


getting more devious, it could work out quite well for Labour as the anti-Tory or leftist vote they currently share with the Lib Dems may be more concentrated on Labour after 4 years of a Lib Dem / Tory coalition government, either explicit or implicit.

Can't help but feel Cameron and Clegg are two peas from the same pod though

tonight's debate

Cameron: change, change, change (empty words)
Clegg: the old parties, change, political point-scoring (empty words)
Brown: he won't answer the question (policy/"substance")

personally, i did actually think Gordy did well. he was obviously nervous, especially at first but fair play. it shows he's human as anyone would be shitting themselves given yesterday.
i'm biased, i think Labour have the arguements i most agree with. I've seen the Chancellor's debates and 2 leaders debates.
the thing is, i'm not like most people. i look most at policies while others don't. it does annoy me, but there you go. people are different.
i think Labour has got the best answers going forward. yes, they have been in power for 13 years and haven't made everything perfect, but they've made this country more the way i would like it to be and i think they should be entrusted to take us forwards

"The Tory press have turned on Clegg because Rupert Murdoch will feel out of the loop if the Liberal Democrats end up having the balance of power, he says."

Sounds about right

James Murdoch and Rebekah Wade crash Independent's office

I really hope all this smearing helps the Lib Dems's position and weakens the Tories. That would be nice. I hope people can see through these for what they are: an attempt by the right-wing press to get their man into a position of power so that they can dictate the agenda.

"Why has a media organisation whose owner has a vested interest in the outcome of the result and whose newspapers present a slant biased in favour of the Conservative party, been allowed to broadcast tonight's debate exclusively? If this goes Pete Tong and Tory Boy is soft-soaped, it will destroy any credibility that Sky News have ever had."
Largely true, though the last bit is only to hope for

Nick Clegg will survive Fleet Street broadside

"Earlier this week the former Sun editor, David Yelland, described the extent to which the Murdoch papers and others are deeply invested in a Cameron victory and are trembling at the prospect of a political force in Britain that they don't control. Some may have thought that a conspiracy theory too far - until they saw today's clutch of front pages."

Oh I hope against hope the Tory press end up falling flat on their arses

BBC News - Darling makes pre-election pitch in 'holding' Budget‏

"Recent polling suggests voters are squeamish about the prospect of cuts to government spending even if they are also worried about the scale of public debt."
Potentially a huge problem and something that gives politicians free reign to take people for fools, because people/the public are being fools.


"The measure to exempt first time buyers from stamp duty on properties priced below 250,000 in the next two years was well trailed.
In other words, this would be a tax cut for some - though the policy was first suggested by the Conservatives in 2007.
But what had not been trailed before the Chancellor's speech was that, to pay for this, stamp duty would rise on properties worth a million pounds or more.
This appears to be at least as much a political as an economic decision, designed to portray Labour as a party that can deliver 'fairness' even when the purse strings are being tightened.
If the Tories were to reverse this, they would of course be denounced as party favouring the privileged rather than the wider population. "
Rather than just party positioning I think this is proper ideology, but one that the party leadership have been scared of getting into. I personally support it and the principle behind it.

But it's ok, because when times are tough Cameron and Clegg have some handy sound bite to get themselves on the news. The pair of them are pathetic and make Gordy look a million dollars

Nick Clegg's 2 years

over all, a very decent and thoughtful assessment.
I think the problem in part based on Clegg's attempt at personality politics. His take is to be angry but vacious, using some very strong soundbites but little substance. This is not helped by trying to take ground from the main parties by trying to claim to be the 'true' voice of both, rather than staking his parties' own place in the political centre