Did you watch PMQs?

An Honest direct answer to a direct question

I expect a bunch of overpaid self-serving talking heads to bark at each other and for them to rush about attempting to maintain the status quo in the country complicit with the media to promote the cause that the people who are paying them through directorships consultative contracts etc..
in other words the entire system is corrupt we have the best democracy money can buy.

Go as Tony Blair if the millions he recieves and knew he would recieve from that middle eastern oil company would change his opinions on anything .

It would be nice if Nick were to apologize for mis-leading all the Lib-Dem voters and supporters for being a TORY MOLE all along.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is preparing for his first session of Prime Minster's questions. What do you hope to hear?

Complete Silence and decorum, both whilst MPs give their questions, and while Mr Clegg answers them.

Any MP, booing,tutting, cat-calling or doing that unitelligible muttering thing at any point to be immediately stripped of their MP status and debarred from ever standing again.

What will actually happen:

Feeding time in the monkey house.

"Right, while the boss is away, this is what we're going to do:
1) ditch the academies bill - everyone else can see it'll be a disaster
2) we start pulling out of Afghanistan tomorrow
3) sell Trident for scrap
4) ....and here's a new bill to introduce full PR for the next election!
"

come on, I dare you!

If the Opposition have any sense they will be asking him repeatedly how comfortable he is with the decisions the Government have been making. We know that the cutting and taxing must be straining his relationship with the rest of his Party.

Does he believe in the "Special Relationship" with USA?
Does he agree to not funding school maintenance?
Does he believe 25% Public Sector cuts will help this country?
Does he think 20% VAT will kick-start the economy?

Oh, it's going to be fun.

I would hope that he performs his role as the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party and uses his platform to explain why he has been behaving like Cameron's poodle. If he has had a sudden and drastic change of heart about just about every issue he previously stood for he should explain why this is the case (and no, saying, 'We're broke' doesn't cut it. I'm also broke, but it soesn't stop me aspiring to be a decent human-being).

If he has no explanation for his ideological shift then he should cross the floor and the Lib Dems should run a leadership election.

Big deal - what a non event.The less we hear from Clegg the better.

Will i be watching PMQs?
No, same old dross.
Its like going back to my primary School days.
Nothing gets done, nothing matters.Lets just shout loudly.
Clegg is playing witht the big boys, and it shows. He always seems to look embarrased and as though he cann't believe his luck he's there.
Neither can the rest of us!!

That he and David Cameron will carry on doing the excellent job they have been doing thus far and continue repairing the damage that thirteen long years of Labour did to the country.

Jack Straw vs Nick Clegg instead of Hariet Harman vs David Cameron.

Does PMQs hold so little regard with the current political parties, that no-one in the top positions bothers to turn up anymore?

Clegg utterly out of his depth evasive and downright condiscending times end of term time though and for me the speaker is the star of the show,now onto septemeber and the real PMQ's instead of this phony war.

Oh and enjoy while you can Nick the tories will bail on you quicker than you think

Just once I'd like an MP to stand up and say

'Given that we know that the voting public find our behaviour in PMQs a source of national embarassment, perhaps we should all grow up?'

Don't care to be honest, because I won't believe the answers even if I could be bothered to listen.

They're politicians....so what do they know about running the country?

#11. At 12:17pm on 21 Jul 2010, Rob wrote:
Jack Straw vs Nick Clegg instead of Hariet Harman vs David Cameron.

Does PMQs hold so little regard with the current political parties, that no-one in the top positions bothers to turn up anymore?

-----------------------------

Let's face it, Cameron would have a job to turn up at PMQs today considering he is not even in the country at the moment! There is no excuse that I can think of why Harriet Harman should not take part though.

As far as I am concerned it will just be business as usual with the main characters squirming and gesticulating their way out of awkward questions with the rabble at the back trying to see who can shout the loudest.

How hard is it to say when your wrong?
We try to teach our kids in this country right from wrong. Whats the point if the goverment won't even do it.
Clean up the house they said. Well this is a good start!
When your caught out telling a lie to the nation you should stand up and say you were wrong Nick!

· 1. At 11:50am on 21 Jul 2010, you wrote:


An Honest direct answer to a direct question


###################################

As usual I didn’t see one

#10. At 12:13pm on 21 Jul 2010, Barry Jones wrote:
That he and David Cameron will carry on doing the excellent job they have been doing thus far and continue repairing the damage that thirteen long years of Labour did to the country.

-------------------

You have gotta be kidding. Just what have they achieved so far, apart from get the backs up of the majority of LibDem voters, the 25% of public service workers who are likely to lose their jobs, the local authorities whose schools who were supposed to be repaired under the previous governments schools maintenance scheme etc etc. I don't particularly call that an excellent job.

What do you hope to hear?

In view of the useless loss of life, the unjustifiable cost, and the 9 years of failure in Afghanistan, we have decided to pull the troops out from tomorrow, and have informed the US government of our decision.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

18. At 1:05pm on 21 Jul 2010, mofro wrote:

You have gotta be kidding. Just what have they achieved so far, apart from get the backs up of the majority of LibDem voters, the 25% of public service workers who are likely to lose their jobs, the local authorities whose schools who were supposed to be repaired under the previous governments schools maintenance scheme etc etc. I don't particularly call that an excellent job.

--------------------------

And all parties have been honestly saying that labour messed up badly. Except labour who wanted to borrow much more and fix nothing

"11. At 12:17pm on 21 Jul 2010, Rob wrote:
Jack Straw vs Nick Clegg instead of Hariet Harman vs David Cameron.

Does PMQs hold so little regard with the current political parties, that no-one in the top positions bothers to turn up anymore?"

It is a known protocol that if the leader of the Government is not at the dispatch box then the leader of the opposition stands down for their deputy as well!

I see Clegg wouldn't answer why he had changed his mind over the Forge Masters loan hopefully the residents of his constituency will be the first to vote to recall him and have a new election in his seat. (No I do not vote Labour never have never will).

I'd rather watch the picture quality on UK Gold deteriorate as each and every day passes as I think the attrocious effect it has on watching Only Fools and Horses is just as bad as the fools in Parliament have on the country and also that of the horses with their snouts in the trough.

"19. At 1:06pm on 21 Jul 2010, Geoff wrote:
In view of the useless loss of life, the unjustifiable cost, and the 9 years of failure in Afghanistan, we have decided to pull the troops out from tomorrow, and have informed the US government of our decision."
-------------

You can bet that if they did pull out tomorrow, there would be a bunch of lefties on here saying that it's only so the Tories can cut public expenditure.

3. At 12:00pm on 21 Jul 2010, spacekadet wrote:

It would be nice if Nick were to apologize for mis-leading all the Lib-Dem voters and supporters for being a TORY MOLE all along.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
He is a very capable and competent individual doing an excellent job which is why so many from the hard left are so upset. Given the calibre of persons sitting on the Labour benches no wonder they wish Nick was sitting on their side of the house. However after thirteen painful years of Labour he saw what the rest of us saw which was that they were a spent force who lack credibility.

The Coalition is doing a great job and long may it continue.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I'd like to hear about whatever happened to a CENTRAL and MAIN pre-election promise of PROPER PUBLIC consultation which was supposed to be the CENTRAL THEME of TORY policy, especially with regards to such MASSIVE changes to education and NHS, which if current policy and plans were stated pre-election, I would bet my life that the Torys and Lib Dems with their now known compliance would still be in OPPOSITION in parliament even with the experience and reality of such an ATTROCIOUS previous Labour government.

But its not PMQ's todat but i was watching DPMQ's

headline
Nick Clegg BBC minions hide the truth - participate in propogating the myth he is fit to govern - the media will outsmart you if you moderate comments that does not use foul language - you do know that in bristol the LD Council has been critiscised for the mishandling of the elections - maybe we didn't even elect the LD's?
ps the Torys are keen to ditch the BBC too - hope you've got other jobs lined up!

Most people on HYS don't seem to realise that all the contributors to the Orange Book, a collection of essays by senior Lib-Dems, are now in the coalition government.
The overall objective of the Orange Book was to replace public sector provision in areas such as education, health and welfare with private sector providers.
It was a major reason Clegg & Cable could so easily entertain a coalition with the Tories. Cameron and Osborne also have the same agenda.
The rank and file of the Lib-Dems may be uneasy, some MPs may have misgivings but the leadership are fully signed up to the project.
Clegg has no problem supporting what the coalition is doing.
He should consider what happened the last time the Liberals where in a formal coalition, The party split, the right joined the Tories, the left joined the Labour Party and the rump carried on as a severely truncated Liberal Party.

1313 Mr Hague says there will be 105,000 Afghan police officers by October 2011, about 4,000 short of the target, but he said the "quality" of the recruits was a problem both for the police and the Afghan National Army.

I PERSONALLY would suggest that the POOR quality of Afgan police and military will in FACT be a PROBLEM for the UK and in effect are basically using a bullet proof vest as protection from an attack by an exocet missile.

Why have you scrapped the Foregmasters loan?
"Because of the mess you left us"
You told the house it was because the shareholders didn't want to dilute their shareholding, but that wasn't true.
"Because of the mess you left us in"
You told the company something different than you told the house.
"Because of the mess you left us in"
You told the Yorkshire Evening Post, Forgemasters don't need the loan, but they say they do.
"Because of the mess you left us in".

1. An explanation of how this country can't afford the school maintenance and building programme and yet the same amount of money can suddenly be created to fund the start up of "free schools".

2. How does high unemployment and increased taxation help promote growth in the economy.

3. How the health of this nation is supposed to improve, and therefore put less strain on the NHS, when the government is intent on removing free swimming and shutting leisure centres.

4. Why transport is one of the areas facing the biggest cutbacks when we already have exceedingly poor public transport routes. Soon there will be no public transport in rural areas for OAPs to use their bus passes on (if they manage to keep them that is).

5. How schools, who are already "outstanding" under the last government, will suddenly become more inclusive and helpful when they become academies, removing money from the council that can be directed to areas of need and not just want.

6. An apology from Nick Clegg for turning his back on everything the Liberal Democrat party stood for so that he could have 5 minutes of power as Mr Camoren's helper (I did put in the term for a young person at a private school who looks after an older student by polishing shoes etc - but the BBC don't understand that term and removed my post for being offensive! Hopefully this version meets with their approval - if this one gets removed too I don't know where the offense is).

More 'democracy'.

PMQs are a disgrace. All that happens is that politicians try to sound clever at the expense of their opponents, and in the process look like a bunch of 5-year-olds.

I recommend comment #13

What do you expect from PMQs?
Simple questions with simple answers and no chance to have a dig at the other side

What questions are you hoping to hear?
Questions of significance, not questions that help to bolster the government's policies

How important are PMQs?
Very. They are one of the few times in which the public sees the working of parliament.

Just more rubbish from the mystic babblers!

I am not sure there is a point to Parliament any more!

What I hope to hear is Nick Clegg - and not the constant burble of ignorant MPs from other parties who used consistently to talk loudly when any LibDem MP stood up, and haven't the manners to change their ways now there are Libdem members of the coalition taking a lead in the House. Disgraceful, pity there isn't such a thing as a Parliamentary ASBO. And no, I'm not a LibDem, never have been and never will be.

At the end of it I would like to hear.

BOING

Time for bed....



Th th th thats all folks

25. At 1:22pm on 21 Jul 2010, Barry Jones wrote:

He is a very capable and competent individual doing an excellent job which is why so many from the hard left are so upset. Given the calibre of persons sitting on the Labour benches no wonder they wish Nick was sitting on their side of the house. However after thirteen painful years of Labour he saw what the rest of us saw which was that they were a spent force who lack credibility.

The Coalition is doing a great job and long may it continue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a sarcastic comment right? It certainly had me laughing, as well as my cllleagues here at work!

ConDEm honeymoon has ended and the nightmare has begun!

RIP NHS and Schools, welcome to the ConDEm-nation!

I'd like to know what is going to be done about rainbows that dont have a pot of gold at their end.

32. At 1:35pm on 21 Jul 2010, Sampain wrote:
Why have you scrapped the Foregmasters loan?
"Because of the mess you left us"
You told the house it was because the shareholders didn't want to dilute their shareholding, but that wasn't true.
"Because of the mess you left us in"
You told the company something different than you told the house.
"Because of the mess you left us in"
You told the Yorkshire Evening Post, Forgemasters don't need the loan, but they say they do.
"Because of the mess you left us in".
---------------------------------------------

Brilliant!

Brilliant!

Brilliant!

How long do the ConDem's think the public will buy this?

Jack Straw vs Nick Clegg instead of Hariet Harman vs David Cameron.

Does PMQs hold so little regard with the current political parties, that no-one in the top positions bothers to turn up anymore?
----------
Might have been a tad tricky for Call Me Dave to make it back from Washington between meetings!
Protocol says no PM no leader of the opposition.

And all parties have been honestly saying that labour messed up badly. Except labour who wanted to borrow much more and fix nothing
-----
So your comment is that all parties that aren't Labour are looking to blame Labour!

Well that's a surprise!

The next thing you know they will be appointing a Catholic as Pope!

A shame nobody asked him how he felt about Lib-Dems used as a human shield for the Conservative Party. Every time something negative is announced it's a Lib-Dem announcing it and having to defend it.

He's killed his own party with his supine behaviour.

If I was an MP in Parliament (opposition of course but probably on my lonesome) I would ask Clegg a direct question to and about his coalition government. The question would go something like this-

I ask the learned and wholely honourable members for some understanding of reasoning of basis of decisions and mental capacity/inteligence and adherance to truth and evidence. Could all the coalition members state whether they believe in an invisible or visible mystical superbeing with planet and species forming powers of such efficiency and capability as to create this planet and all upon it within the space of a few days, whilst since and also presently maintaining the invisible provision of a fire infested punishment zone utilised for the purpose of punishing unbelievers and naughty people for eternity, and is it possible for this energy source to be utilised for and in this/our visible dimension of conciousness as I/many people have reason to understand as is such, in fact true reality?
Also do any coalition members also believe in the power of four leaf clovers?

#21. At 1:17pm on 21 Jul 2010, in_the_uk wrote:
18. At 1:05pm on 21 Jul 2010, mofro wrote:

You have gotta be kidding. Just what have they achieved so far, apart from get the backs up of the majority of LibDem voters, the 25% of public service workers who are likely to lose their jobs, the local authorities whose schools who were supposed to be repaired under the previous governments schools maintenance scheme etc etc. I don't particularly call that an excellent job.

--------------------------

And all parties have been honestly saying that labour messed up badly. Except labour who wanted to borrow much more and fix nothing

******************************

And I suppose the Investment Bankers and financial industry had no part in the recession then! A lot of what was borrowed by the Labour party was to save the Banks. I often wish now that the Banks had been allowed to go under. I am not saying that Labour didn't borrow because we all know did, I am however saying that the recession was not entirely their fault. David Cameron is often saying "we are all in this together", so if we are, how about the Bankers paying back some of their share instead loading it all on to the rest of us.

15. At 12:51pm on 21 Jul 2010, mofro wrote:
Let's face it, Cameron would have a job to turn up at PMQs today considering he is not even in the country at the moment! There is no excuse that I can think of why Harriet Harman should not take part though.
----------------------------------------

It seems to be the norm that Cameron is out of the country... If Obama wanted to discuss the relase of a prisoner from Britain, why does he not come to Britain to discuss it?
Perhaps Cameron is trying to make the most of the free holidays before the public force another general election..

What questions would you like to hear?


So which one are you? Tweedledum or tweedledee?


Having said that at least they are better than liebour. I sincerely hope we never have another labour government again. Those that think liebour did well in the last 13 years are living in a different world, with their heads in the sand and their nanny state backsides sticking in the air.

45. At 2:06pm on 21 Jul 2010, steve wrote:
And all parties have been honestly saying that labour messed up badly. Except labour who wanted to borrow much more and fix nothing
-----
So your comment is that all parties that aren't Labour are looking to blame Labour!

Well that's a surprise!

The next thing you know they will be appointing a Catholic as Pope!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think the point thats being made is no government has messed up quite as badly as the blair/brown dictatorship.

Straw tended towards rambling generally,but nailed Clegg on the Sheffield Forgemasters Question.

New faces,same,modus operandi,no real change!

Any man who knows all the answers most likely misunderstood the questions.

My learned and honoury compatriate. With regards to pre-election promises and statements of intent.

If after marriage to your wife and exchange of promisary vows, you were to set up home with your wife and she immediately stated that because she found out there was not as much money in the bank as she thought, and she now refutes and refuses to abide by those promisary vows, would you be happy and also would you regard this as breach of contract?

Ahh, British democracy...LibDems actually see their share of the vote fall and here's Nick fielding PMQs. It's the mother- of all parliaments you know.

I hope to hear him apologize to the loyal party members for betraying them and all that they stood for so cheaply. It seems to me he did it just so he and a few of his followers could grab a bit of power. I hope he and others have the guts to turning back before its to late and regain the principles they championed at the last election and not just carry on as they are now like little Tory lapdog.

Dear oh dear,

Same old drivel from the Yellow Tory Clegg. It was Labours fault!

-Was fixing the NHS also Labours fault?
-Was having new Primary schools Labours fault?
-Was having Tax Credits Labours fault?
-Was having the Stephen Lawrence enquiry Labours fault?

Yes it was, and a good fault to have.

If Labour hadn't bailed out Camerons banker chums we would have no economy to talk about.

Back to question:

I watched Cleggs performance and think he came up against a Labour lightweight. He would be trashed if he came up against someone Like the Millibands or even Harman!

51. At 2:31pm on 21 Jul 2010, LabourBrokeBritain wrote:


I think the point thats being made is no government has messed up quite as badly as the blair/brown dictatorship.
----------------------------------------------

ConDEm's have done a pretty good job in just a few weeks!

I expect Nick to tells who WERE the LibDems and why he jumped ship.

et.tu.brutus.

ToriesBrokeBritain wrote:
ConDEm's have done a pretty good job in just a few weeks!

--------------------------------------------------------------

If by that you mean they haven't really done anything yet then I agree. To be fair they probably need a bit of time to get settled in and sort through the mess left by labour - although I'm not holding much hope even when they have settled in.

Damn it, I should have made my username: LabourAndToriesBrokeBritain.

Oh yes, never miss it.

Like bully school boys on an ego trip.
Nothing positive about creating jobs,just more cuts for the "vulnerable",
while they wages and pensions are protected to carry on their champagne lifestyle;
hypo criters !

I never watch PMQ, it's just sound-bite points scoring to me.

However, I hope Clegg enjoys himself, after all he sold his soul to the devil to get to stand at the dispatch box today.

I don't know if the condems will fail, I cannot see them succeeding with their current policies.

But what they have done is shown dramatically just how low a party will stoop to get the trappings of power. I predict they will be, at the very least, a footnote in the history books as to the baseness of modern politics.

61. At 3:51pm on 21 Jul 2010, LabourBrokeBritain wrote:
//ToriesBrokeBritain wrote:
ConDEm's have done a pretty good job in just a few weeks!

--------------------------------------------------------------

If by that you mean they haven't really done anything yet then I agree. To be fair they probably need a bit of time to get settled in and sort through the mess left by labour - although I'm not holding much hope even when they have settled in.

Damn it, I should have made my username: LabourAndToriesBrokeBritain.///

Come on now - you must realise they only just got the boots, they are still in the process of carefully lacing them up and walking them in!

Once, this important task is complete, they will most definitely be kicking all of us in the head!

And its correct the LibLabCon Parliamentary private members club have broken Britain quite conclusively. Now they are preparing to break all the people too!

Lovely!

where was Hatty Harperson? Cameron was off seeing the most powerful man in the world, so at least he has an excuse for not turning up.

Still, i prefer to see a seasoned and broadly effective politician in the form of Jack Straw table the opposition's questions. Harperson fails to impress (that's a polite way of saying I find her to be as useful and effective as a block of butter in the sun)

I expect to hear more hypocritical babble about,duty,responsibility,change,crises,fairness,blame,reform,change, decency,altruism,change,accountability,transparency,equality,change, education,education,education,did I mention change? This is the one hand waving while the other is just out of sight,I expect more political sleight of hand,more spin,more propaganda,more lying by omission, more deceit and evasion from the high priests of the church of iniquity. Does anyone seriously expect these deceivers to change public life for the better by total legislative control? Ahh,Hindenburg and THAT piece of paper......Look out for the soon-to-be British version of The Enabling Act......The future is a sharpened stick.......and Clegg is a ventriloquists dummy,or at least the political equivalent of one.....Just another clique of the advocates of "The Third Way". One of the constants of Cameron and Clegg is the way in which their collective and individual "greatness",diminishes in direct proportion to their distance from the mercenary sycophants which surround them. A hallmark of the true fascist.

My honourable and learned compatriot of the utmost esteem of some Liberal Democrat voters and lower esteem of many others,

IF I WERE A RICH MAN,

DAIDLE, DEEDLE,

DAIDLE, DIGGUH,

DIGGUH, DEEDLE,

DAIDLE, DUM.

ALL DAY LONG

I`D BIDDY, BIDDY BUM,

IF I WERE A WEALTHY MAN.

WOULDN`T HAVE TO WORK HARD,

DAIDLE, DEEDLE,

DAIDLE, DIGGUH,

DIGGUH, DEEDLE,

DAIDLE, DUM, unfortunately that is NOT the case, hence could you possibly use your position, nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more, anyone for lupins, nudge nudge, to introduce me to Jimmy Saville, so he can fix it?

For such an introduction I would be your servant to command, if and when any such emergency occassion were to arise as to necessitate a vote upon according parliamentry privilege and the utmost of morality of principle of the said mentioned maintenance of utmost importance of a low price of jam to enable and facilitate the continued sticky fingered chops and fingers of members of this esteemed and highly honourable house and all its members wherein and whereto they can forsakeingly carry out the highest and most necessary of practices and proceedures wholely of or impart of and impartially of and to, the immediate functionality of disfunctional attributes which negate for all intents and purposes the realitys and conditions of existance of jam above and beyond that of marmalade to encourage such intrinsically valuable behaviours and experiences of such preserves in this great house of debate so as to exemplify to the poor of this nation that basically you've got the cake and no-one else is going to eat it!
For this and my soul I thank thee most graciously if thou can just fix it, DAIDLE, DEEDLE, DAIDLE, DIGGUH, DIGGUH, DEEDLE, DAIDLE, DUM, if I was a rich man......




TA.

43. At 2:01pm on 21 Jul 2010, Vic Singh wrote:
32. At 1:35pm on 21 Jul 2010, Sampain wrote:
///Why have you scrapped the Foregmasters loan?
"Because of the mess you left us"
You told the house it was because the shareholders didn't want to dilute their shareholding, but that wasn't true.
"Because of the mess you left us in"
You told the company something different than you told the house.
"Because of the mess you left us in"
You told the Yorkshire Evening Post, Forgemasters don't need the loan, but they say they do.
"Because of the mess you left us in".
---------------------------------------------

Brilliant!

Brilliant!

Brilliant!

How long do the ConDem's think the public will buy this?////

-----------------------------------------------

But the New Labour gang used this excuse for over a decade! It almost became enshrined in our constitution 'It was all the fault of Thatcher and the previous Tory administrations' we still got so much to do .....bla bla bla!

Now its labour fault for a decade or so!

Then you idiots will just go vote them all back in again!

Its just like Ground Hog Day but in decades! Sooooo boring now thanks!

Can't you folk all go out and vote for 'change' or something? HoHoHo

Oh I know lets go and change the establishment for the establishment!

57. At 3:11pm on 21 Jul 2010, ToriesBrokeBritain wrote:

Back to question:

I watched Cleggs performance and think he came up against a Labour lightweight. He would be trashed if he came up against someone Like the Millibands or even Harman!
----ooooo------
Come on, nobody can be so bad as to be trashed by Harman

=========================================================================


ConDEm's have done a pretty good job in just a few weeks!
----ooooo-----

Nothing like giving a fair crack of the whip - a few weeks !! - get real. Lab had 13 years & still presided over the worst financial mess in memory.
=========================================================================

Sir, your majesty, your honourable ship, your esteemed worthiness, your flys are undone!!!!!

Just wanted to say.....comedy genius....dear MrWonderfulReality you sir have either finally gone totally insane or you have developed a genius form of comedy specifically for the medium of HYS! Brilliant!

Oh how we laugh...........

Wont get fooled again Eh

Again and
Again and
Again and
Again and

Again

The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more.

I am not a LibDem voter but I think many people are foolishly underestimating Clegg. He may come across as a 'lightweight playing with the big boys' to some - this may be because he comes across as a relatively honest politician not given to making snide remarks and playing games. He is not innocent or naive I think he just seems to plays a different game to the one we are used to. He is highly intelligent. He has in the past been offered safe Tory seats (spotted by Leon Britten) they were fully aware of his assets. He has had plenty of chance to join the Tories but has turned them down and stuck to his principles. Obviously he has taken a huge gamble joining the Tories but it was probably the best chance the LibDems would have for many years to get a change to the voting system, so he gambled. He was right in his judgment that the Country would not accept a LibLab coalition esp with Brown still a player. Once he gets reform to the voting system through then we may see a different picture. Why do you think he is rushing it? The public would be foolish to underestimate him - he is not a fool I think he just genuinely prefers a more adult responsible politics. The Sheffield forgemasters is clearly a very, very difficult issue for him however Mandelson is the real culprit here - why can't people see that? I am however sick of hearing Labour being blamed for everything oas if the Bankers had nothing to with it. Blame Labour for the whole of europe's crisis. The govt know if the public hear something often enough they start to believe it.
Clegg is clever and no fool so the commentators/journalists/cartoonists, who are making a joke of him and trying to influence the public's perception of him are the real nasty characters here. Unfortunately they have the power to do a lot of damage - perhaps they should do something more constructive with their lives and actually contribute something positive to help the country. Lets have some cleaner new journalism along with politics.

My lord in waiting, my honourable compatriate (translation = muppet) I beg of you that for the good of this nation you set up a working committee with Nestlé .

As every one knows smarties already have the answer, hence could save ££BILLIONS and you could go on permanent holiday to the Scilly Isles.

Of all the people here bashing the libs for abandoning their principles and selling their souls I must remind you there is no money. The libs had a completely different world view (which the majority didnt have) and they have no chance of forming a majority government without the tories.

Without a majority government the country cannot be effectively run. Normally this is less of a problem, except labour left us hugely in debt.

Whatever plans any party had for the country are long gone with the money given away by labour. The libs have no choice and are (thankfully) working with the tories to cut the rate of spending and try to pay off some of the huge debt we are left with.

All you libs who want your fairyland, dig deep and pay off our debt then. That way the libs will have something to negotiate with. Otherwise there is nothing to be done

"It was the last PMQs before MPs go on their long summer break and with David Cameron in Washington the Liberal Democrat leader was sparring with Jack Straw."

So Cameron the coward upset a lot of people with his Big society speech and then legged it straight to the states, leaving his lapdog to face the music. Then, lo and behold, they're straight off on their summer break leaving the public to stew; not exactly a good start is it? Why do they have to have a summer break anyway, is it a school or something?

Come on Cameron, show us you've got a pair and call a General election and let the country show you what we think of you.

My earlier post didnt do Clegg justice i dont recal a single answer to a direct question,other than blame labour or the soft nonsense thats served up by his own side it was an utter farce.

Now with the "oracle"s grad tax scheme being binned i think we're seeing how junior the libdems are in this sham of a government the cuts that are coming could and should have been tempered but no this right wing fanatism thats gripped both parties is shocking i dont think even the tory appolgists realise how bad things are going to be.

And dont blame Labour for all of this,yes they must take an ammount of blame but they didnt cause the world to implode unless i missed something.

18. At 1:05pm on 21 Jul 2010, mofro wrote:

You have gotta be kidding. Just what have they achieved so far, apart from get the backs up of the majority of LibDem voters, the 25% of public service workers who are likely to lose their jobs, the local authorities whose schools who were supposed to be repaired under the previous governments schools maintenance scheme etc etc. I don't particularly call that an excellent job.
................
I agree with you 100%, problem is that you, and all other Labour supporters fail to then tell us how we might get our spending under control. When Labour were dumped at the last election we were horrendously in debt and Labour were borrowing something like 6,000 pound a minute. Do you have any ideas as to how we might curb this or would you just carry on ad nauseum racking up more and more debt? Criticising the current administration is easy and it's legitimate too if you have a viable alternative plan - sadly Labour did not and still do not; that is largely why they are now in opposition.

I cannot believe some Liberals are still droning on about the election.

If you don’t like the coalition then stop being a Liberal by all means but do please give the rest of us a break from your whinging about finally getting some power!

Most Liberals are counting their blessings, keeping their inexperienced traps shut and learning from their betters…

Lords and ladyships, honourable ladies and gentlemen, compatriates, comrades, fellow citizens, brothers and sisters, members of the highest esteem and lower, ladies and knights of the Garter, companions, countrymen and women...

without further ado, getting straight to the point and heart and crux of the matter without sparing any horses at all....

It is in my expert and unbiased reasoning of intelectual opinion that out nation is bust, kaput, our banks are bust and kaput our society is bust and kaput, let it be said, that there was a choice, a stark choice, a real choice, a choice of value, a choice of worth, a choice of long term choices, a choice of affordability......................






So why didnt we just use Radio rentals when we had the opportunity!!!!!

His answers were too wordy, even after a Speaker's rebuke. But in general he stood up well.

Both Clegg and Cameron are attacking Labour a bit too much rather than giving a direct answer to the question. I realise that the answer to many of the Opposition questions along the lines of why are not you spending more on the elderly, disabled and kids is because the Labour Party spent money like there was no tomorrow and tomorrow has arrived, but the tone needs to be kept positive.

58. At 3:14pm on 21 Jul 2010, ToriesBrokeBritain wrote:

51. At 2:31pm on 21 Jul 2010, LabourBrokeBritain wrote:


I think the point thats being made is no government has messed up quite as badly as the blair/brown dictatorship.
----------------------------------------------

Absolutely correct Labour were a complete shower. Nothing could ever be as bad as Labour.

Usual diatribe on here about lib dem selling their souls which is getting really boring. Clegg coped ok with PMQS apart from sticky moment about Sheffield Forgemasters loan. I would really like to know why the government is supposed to act as lender of last resort when the banks do not want to know. On daily politics it was said it had been subject to management buyout recently and probably already had certain amount of debt. Maybe this was not such a viable proposition. Mandelson only promised the loan because it was a marginal seat. As for Cameron being out of the country, this trip was planned shortly after he came into office so no getting out of the country. I personally would be happy if Labour never came into office again which judging by the calibre of their leadership candidates may indeed be a possibility. We need to give this coalition time to get their policies into effect.

57. At 3:11pm on 21 Jul 2010, ToriesBrokeBritain wrote:

57.Back to question:

I watched Cleggs performance and think he came up against a Labour lightweight. He would be trashed if he came up against someone Like the Millibands or even Harman!
----ooooo------
Not the same Moribund heavyweight that was trashed on Newsnight lastnight by Alex Salmond for his changing position on Megrahi? lol!

No.

Sorry.

Was doing something much more important.

OK.

Contribution 1.

Q1: How many PMQ's in the last 12 months do you remember ???

@Geoff: “In view of the useless loss of life, the unjustifiable cost, and the 9 years of failure in Afghanistan, we have decided to pull the troops out from tomorrow...”

Another irresponsibly shortsighted liberal view. I think you may have meant to say:

“In view of the 9 years success we have had keeping Afghanistan free from the nightmare of Taliban/Iran controlled Afghanistan threatening India and the West with nuclear arms, we thank our armed forces for their brave sacrifices and think the financial costs cheap.”

If Geoff however wishes to predict that no future harm will accrue from a Taliban run Afghanistan because we pulled out too soon, then I look forward to hearing him say so…

83. At 5:44pm on 21 Jul 2010, Barry Jones wrote:
58. At 3:14pm on 21 Jul 2010, ToriesBrokeBritain wrote:

51. At 2:31pm on 21 Jul 2010, LabourBrokeBritain wrote:


I think the point thats being made is no government has messed up quite as badly as the blair/brown dictatorship.
----------------------------------------------

Absolutely correct Labour were a complete shower. Nothing could ever be as bad as Labour.

----------------------------------------------

I am more than certain many of the Governments of the 19th and early 20th Century were far worse than New Labour, and I would think the next decade will be the worse of our nations whole history! I guess you will not be able to blame labour for that! or you could - it really will not matter much who you blame - When the political cliques have finished with the program being dictated by the wealthy elites you will not be able to have an opinion about anything.

Never mind hay - keep kicking the football!

All of this babble comes down to the reality of the political situation in a national and international context,namely,the real question is:Which bunch of uncaring,hypocritical robber-barons do you want to lord it over you this/next time?.......As if you had a "choice"......More spin and evasion from the high priests of the church of the holy liars....Oh,look mummy!.....the emperors got no clothes on!!how many are reprising the actions of Nero? Ah,infamy,infamy....they've all got it infamy!....ho,ho,I hope that some will learn to see the wood despite the trees,but I'm not going to hold my breath.......If these deceivers of the masses could,on their deathbeds,be given enemas,they could all be buried in matchboxes,because they are so full of themselves......

I didn't get time to say this back when this topic was what do you hope to hear, so can I do it now?

I'd hope to hear him say 'yes! I'm sorry! I'm a sell out! I let you all down! I'm so so sorry! I'll resign immediately and force an election!'

As ever I post what I hope to hear. not expect to.

76. At 4:59pm on 21 Jul 2010, in_the_uk wrote:
Of all the people here bashing the libs for abandoning their principles and selling their souls I must remind you there is no money. The libs had a completely different world view (which the majority didnt have) and they have no chance of forming a majority government without the tories.

Without a majority government the country cannot be effectively run. Normally this is less of a problem, except labour left us hugely in debt.

======================================================

ERM....you are factually right on just one point, we do not have any money.

BUT how much of this debt since 2008 is debt due to recession caused by the banks = decrease in government tax revenues and huge borrowings to pay for massive increased unemployment and also to pay for normal public services expenditure (NOT Labours extra extravagances) and also pay for pensions with money we do not now have because of lower tax receipts and massive drop in pension funds values. Also not even counted in government "OFFICIAL national debt, is the extra £800 billion "UNOFFICIAL" national debt the banks owe the nation and which the nation is ultimately liable for and ALSO is WHOLELY part of TOTAL government borrowings and which incidently is USED by the international credit rating sector to assess our actual TOTAL debts and borrowings liability.

A further fact is that UK banks are due to pay back £285billion later this year to UK government, but they have been unable to raise ANYWHERE near that amount and already have an agreement in place to roll over £140billion of it for another few years.
The MORE that banks do NOT pay back the LESS able we are to borrow from markets via government bonds as like I said, our national deficit is actually NOT the official figure which is stated as £925BILLION and growing, but ACTUALLY £1725 BILLION ( £1.75TRILLION) if you include the amount borrowed for the banks, which is the FIGURE that credit agencies USE and the MAIN reason why reducing our national debt via TAXPAYER ability is so vitally important, because the banks, REGARDLESS of how well they are supposed to be doing they apparantly do NOT have the money/finances to pay down their ACTUAL dues, but in ALL this, they STILL have money to pay out in bonuses, which for UK banks was £60billion year 2009/2010.

You, and Clegg/Cameron etc also fail to mention a VERY IMPORTANT reason why so many banks actually got into such an attrocious state, which was because the VERY credit rating agencies which NOW DEMAND nations comply to their demands, were in FACT CENTRAL to this whole banking catastrophy by fraudulently/deceitfully WRONG selling Sub Prime debt packages as LOW RISK investments when in FACT they were the WORST RISK investment since 1930s. Which resulted in banks around the world buying £$BILLIONS upon £$BILLIONS of WORTHLESS investments and when the bubble burst those banks found themselves holding WORTHLESS investments, which resultingly INFLICTED the banking collapse.

Wake up to TRUTH & FACTS. I am not saying Labour were gods gift to economic or social excellence, because that is also FAR from the truth they used the cycle of personal greed to finance political promises and rebuilding of what Thatcher destroyed and also INCESANT/CONTINUOUS demand of UK citizens to improve EVERY aspect of life/society.

Another part is ALSO that those who made substantial profit via increased property prices and spent the balance on credit cards & re-motgaged for cars/holidats etc and kept the cycle going out of personal greed, were ALSO HIGHLY complicit. Hence to blame Labour for so much is TOTALLY unrealistic especially when literally so MANY had their fingers in the pie.

What if Labour had said STOP, NO MORE, due you really think that the millions of homeowners in UK would be at all happy! GET REAL.

One things for sure, its NO USE/GOOD crying over spilt milk. If we do NOT pay down our national debt, then our nations credit rating will worsen which means the money we STILL need to borrow over the next 5 years and more will be MUCH MORE expensive which would result in even LESS affordability of ALL public expenditure and even DEEPER cuts to Military, NHS, education, roads, tax credit benefits and other benefits, jobs and pensions.

When you or others blame Labour for ALL our ills, you, like Cameron and Clegg are FACTUALLY WRONG, which is INDISPUTABLE by FACTS EVIDENCE. Labour might have been crass and wasteful and dictatorial but what government historically isnt, in its own way.

Do you really think that this coalition will dispose of most excessive waste and incompetance, will they weed out those who just shuffle papers for most of the day looking busy, or hospital workers whos job it is to clean up blood on floors and who I have personally seen walk past and over blood 3 times to go outside and have a smoke, while many others also have ignored it.

Do you REALLY suggest that by changing buildings, systems, equipment and people who administer hospitals and health services the present systems, buildings etc will NOT be wasted and no FURTHER EXTRA MASSIVE expense will be incurred by the changes.

Do you REALLY suggest that by providing a "free school" the necessary funds to convert a dilapidated and closed ex-hospital (or other such like) into a HIGH COST MAINTENANCE school in preference for existing school buildings is a GOOD use of money and NON-wasteful.

If you do, your basically a muppet of wasteful stupidity mentality because the changes that are being implemented by this coalition are very evidently and factually based upon Tory ideology rather than on reality and necessary waste reduction.

It is much cheaper to use same buildings, same people and use processes to reduce the unnecessary, inefficient and incompetant workers than to move everything and start again and build/start WHOLE new processes and systems at huge extra expense including a VAST NEW amount/increase of areas of prospective failure.



Also there is NO Labour government in:-

Germany
France
Holland
Spain
USA
India
Japan
Portugal
Greece
Iceland
Poland
Ireland
South Korea
Latvia
Malta
etc etc etc

hence how can Labour be to blame for all you suggest and all you so simply take in from this coalition government.

Labour was NOT necessarily very good in all aspects of governance, and in some areas was excessively attrocious, which even now those in Labours leadership race just havent even got the message of and refuse/can't/will not face up to the TRUTH and REALITY and blame their election failure on ALL and SUNDRY, APART from that which is ultimately to BLAME.

This present coalition are in a terrible position, but I personally do NOT think that they are actually ANY better competant at maintaining and managing this nation for the main and simple reason that the MAJORITY of their policys are based upon biased political idealism and NOT REALISM.

Hence the damage to our nation will just continue, just in other ways and each turn of the political cycle will just result in MORE WASTE via attempting to reverse much of that which was previously implemented.

The thing with Tory/Lib Dem coalition policys is that the changes are so deep that WHATEVER the outcome, we will be stuck with those changes either indefinately or for 20 years +, because of the unaffordability of reversing them.

Hence, if anyone can be really bothered to create a fair and just society, they might just start to think about a voting system which provides the GREAT majority of our nations people with their FIRST choice of representation and for EACH and EVERY vote to be of EQUAL status and provide morally and ethically justified proportional representation for each and every one of us.

That way and that way alone, can ANY UK government be representative of the MAJORITY of people.

Nuff said!!

Camreon and Clegg have been in office less than half a year, they cant clean up 13 years of Labour mistakes in six months. Be reasonable. Yes Clegg changed his Ideas, Yes I was disappointed he didnt stand his ground more. But he did what he did to help his party. The lib Dems were getting nowhere and he did the best thing after an appauling Election and got some power for the Liberals in the houses of Commons.

Did you watch PMQs?

No, I have better things to do, which basically means anything rather than listening to the media or watching television.

Member: "...and as for the party opposite, half of them are utter idiots".

Speaker: " I insist the member withdraw that unparliamentary remark".

Member: "Very well. As for the party opposite, half of them are not utter idiots".

Perhaps someone will remind me who it was who once said something akin to that.

I'm sorry I missed PMQs. Perhaps all those moaning about it would rather live in a country without an open democracy.

If Nick C carries on and he's very, very good then one day he might turn into a real politician.

For all their faults, Clegg & Cameron are relatively convincing in their sincerity. We all know (some belatedly) that the Blair-Brown conspiracy had one partner out to boost his own ego and finances and the other to pretend he had real answers to deep-rooted problems. Thank heaven for Clegg & Cameron - with a little luck, the New Labour fascist fingers-in-the-pie gang has been wiped from the face of British politics.

No I didn't watch thinking it'd be a damp squib all round, I had better things to do. We've heard of neighbors from hell these two sets ups are the loonies from hell, it seems with these wanna be's the left foot doesn't know what the right is doing.

So much for their electioneering manifesto and all the TV debates, we're getting policies far from this, besides how come a party coming third ends up in a coalition who appears to have the biggest say, call that democracy. No way would I vote Labour again, I won't be voting for these two either.

What seems to be happening is they are bartering policies as well as sending mixed signals, who is charge here, David Cameron is looking like a dogs tail already and an alligator without teeth and he is the PM!

Comparing Nicks performance barring his interruptions on the TV debates his performance was trash - and so was Straw's.

· 86. At 6:01pm on 21 Jul 2010, SSnotbanned wrote:
No.

Sorry.

Was doing something much more important.

OK.

Contribution 1.

Q1: How many PMQ's in the last 12 months do you remember ???


##########################

The majority

Nick Clegg easily saw off the weak opposition. PMQs have become an easy ride for the coalition. I'm afraid Labour is done for.

32. At 1:35pm on 21 Jul 2010, Sampain wrote:

Why have you scrapped the Foregmasters loan? etc etc etc
"Because of the mess you left us" etc
-----------------------------------------------------
Why is Jack Straw so concerned with Forgemasters? Is he feeling particularly aggrieved for the workers? Or is it he just wants to waste valuable time in PMQs point scoring? Same old politics? Some MPs can't change their mindsets.
The country is in a mess and he wants to play games. Why did Mandelson promise money when he knew there wasn't any? Please be honest and tell us Jack!!

Re the Budget I am concerned that they are cutting too fast and too deep when they don't need to -they could take a little longer. I can see Liberal policies in there and am grateful that they have had some influence. I am glad that Clegg has brought some influence to bear remember he does not have a huge mandate.
It's disheartening to watch what goes on at PMQs Osborne gets too excited at the jeering and point scoring he clearly is driven by this and I find it difficult to trust him and his motives. I feel there is too much Tory ideology in the budget. Where are our constructive politicians working in our interests at a time the country is in crisis? We have to compete against other countries so we should work as constructively as possible. There are too many still in the Commons who are playing their old games.

43. At 2:01pm on 21 Jul 2010, Vic Singh wrote:

How long do the ConDem's think the public will buy this?

__________________________________________

I'm guessing as long as they have to pay off Labour's massive debt, which will take decades.