Cleggeron Gets Desperate

Does anyone else think that Cameron & Clegg's latest effort at selling the public on the coalition is both undignified and patronising?:



See also.

Quote Of The Day

Something for anyone burnt out by the focus on politics for the last week, from 'Scraggs' in the comments under this article at Comment is Free:

Typical that, out of the three of them, Clegg appears as the deep-thinking but slightly bewildered underdog who haplessly allows events to overtake him. Anyway, I'm not even sure why I'm watching Last Of The Summer Wine.

How Nick Clegg Sees Britain.

I'm in two minds over the Daily Mail's attack on Nick Clegg.

Describing his remarks about Britain's place in Europe and attitude to World War 2 as a "Nazi slur" is grossly unfair to him. If what he said is a "Nazi slur" then almost any comment that tangentially references the War can be a "Nazi slur". I also don't like the reference to his foreign parentage and marriage which seems gratuitous. Churchill had a foreign mother of course and it didn't seem to affect his love of country.

However Nick Clegg's articles on Britain's role in the world are worth airing as they reveal how he views the world. The first thing to make note of is how unimaginative he is with cliches about the "loss of empire" popping up. He churns out the default positions of Guardianistas in the Guardian yet does so in a patronising tone that suggests that he is bravely challenging the orthodoxy. He does not challenge his opponents positions because he doesn't seem to see any need to actually know what they believe because they are so self evidently stupid. Therefore he simply creates a straw man and knocks it down.

This attitude also infuses the Lib Dems statements about other issues, for example on crime they come out with the canard that prisons are "colleges of crime" and try to pass this off as original thinking that contrasts to their opponents more emotive and irrational positions.

In fact it is almost 180 degrees opposite from the truth, the idea that prison doesn't prevent crime was for many decades the policy of both Conservative and Labour governments but when Michael Howard finally made prison a more likely outcome for criminals, crime fell for the first time in decades. There are counter arguments that can be made against this but Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne can't be bothered to understand the position of their opponents let alone refute them, so instead dismiss it as an emotional spasm that is self evidently stupid.

Dogmatic thinking is never appealing especially when it is presented as being the result of open minded and non ideological policy making.

How Crazy Are The Lib Dems?

Well consider this:

Nick Clegg deserves the praise heaped on him. He has style and substance and though immersed in the bog of politics still smells of integrity. Last year he invited me to write a pamphlet on the need to develop a progressive national British identity.

That was written by Yasmin Alibhai Brown. Someone who decides that a well established extremist like Yaz is the go to woman for shaping our national identity is not some moderate. Yasmin Alibhai Brown is someone with a visceral hatred of the white working class, a racial monomaniac and who applies an absurd double standard that seems to depend on the colour of someone's skin.

Turning to Yaz to draft a report on such a subject, especially after she was involved in a similar effort a decade ago, demonstrates that on cultural matters Nick Clegg is an extremist and any pressure they bring to bear as a coalition partner in government will be to maistream such views.

(Via Julia)

Mea Culpa

I suppose I should acknowledge that my confident assertion that the leaders' debate would have no major impact appears to have been very wrong.

Any explanations as to why the debate has provided such a big boost?

The Debate

As I said yesterday I didn't think the debate between Brown, Cameron and Clegg would be worth watching. Unless the three way stand off probably went something like this, then I will stick to preconceived notion that it is a waste of time: