What they think they need to do

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

"Everyone who is part of this election, politician and journalist alike, can see and sense the madness of it all - but it's what they think they need to do to get your vote"

....And no-one at any point seems to be in any great hurry to correct them?

What they need to do is to be bloody well honest with us.

Love the new Lib Dem tax bombshell poster (pic above). Now where have I seen that before?

And they're right - the Tories can go on about tax cuts as much as they like but everyone knows that is a massive porkie (as Chris Patten would say)

Taxes are going to go up whoever gets in and it's about time they all said so.

Nick with coverage like yours I'm guessing that Nick Clegg will be clamoring for less coverage. Did you actually ask him any questions about his policys at all? Or was this just a chance to flame one of the opposition partys?

By the way in Bristol the best places to meet people are either the brand new shopping centre in the middle of town or outside the council house. Take Clegg to either of those places and he will get questions.

Hmm Mr Clegg, shame you didn't have time for those questions, if you want to do well you need to be different to the main two parties and take some risks. Otherwise you are just another media manipulator who doesn't engage with real people.

I say tear up the schedule, and say to the next TV crew waiting for you, sorry I was late, I got into a discussion which overran.

You do want to be different don't you?

It's Thursday, so it must be …. ? You've got this about right, Nick. Far too much stage-managed spin with the public almost an afterthought.

No wonder some hacks are becoming frustrated, reduced to reporting the cock-ups and gaffes. Weary and bored hacks? Spare a thought for the voters.

The election plan from all parties is to try to capture and control the political agenda but a recent poll has revealed a stark truth. That two-thirds of the public find all this campaigning a "tiresome and long-winded process".

Isn't it voters who will decide what kind of country they want come election day? So where are the issues to set tongues wagging that voters want to talk about - not what the political and media class deem will be the 'issues' of the day?

https://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/no-wonder-voters-are-bored.html

Ridiculous carry on, isn't it? And all rather fabulous!

The can't stop because they may just be questioned on the cost of their own policies.

Liberal Democrats are having it easy at the moment being all things to all men and women but eventually they will have to stop long enough to be put under the same scrutiny as the others.

I guess when that time comes the perception that they will hold the balance of power will be so terrifying to the rest of us their whole campaign will just melt away.

My local MP, the one who hisses, snakelike, at Geoff Hoon in that clip on HIGNFY (Your secret's safe with me Mrs Snelgrove!) has sent out a load of vote begging letters. You never hear from her normally!

Nick,

Any chance of you asking what a lot of people considering voting Lib Dem are wondering?

Will a vote for the Lib Dems be used as a mandate for supporting five more years of PM Gordon Brown as part of a Lib-Lab pact?

Surely that would be a better use of licence payers money than following Nick Clegg about, so you can report to us that you followed him about but nothing much happened? We might actually learn something.

All this undue effort by the candidates:
People often spoil things at the point of success
Take it easy at the finish as well as the start;
Then nothing will be spoiled.

I've seen various bits of Nick Clegg on TV, and their strategic plan - such as it is - for this election is somewhat tangential and all over the place at best.

Your report would seem to be consistent with my view of this.

I remember in 1997 when Paddy Ashdown said that he would not do anything to prolong the life of the John Major government by a single breath. It's that type of clarity that the Lib-Dems seem to be missing.

And I'm not sure what "the something different" is that Nick Clegg keeps going on about - apparently the electorate want it, but he doesn't actually say what it is. The Lib-Dems are more of a force a local governemtn level, and I don't see much of "something different" coming from them there.

If this is their big opportunity, then they really need to up their game considerably.

So the LibDems went campaiging and ... nobody was listening.

Waste of a vote.

Cleggy and his hair dye are all a bit reminiscent of Brown and his Grecian 2000 swimming goggles story. Still can't stop laughing about that one.

Taxi for Brown! (and Balls, Darling, Cooper, Harman, in fact; just call a bus for them)

9. virtualsilverlady

"I guess when that time comes the perception that they will hold the balance of power will be so terrifying to the rest of us their whole campaign will just melt away."
===============================================

Excellent comment.

12. NaturalLaw

All this undue effort by the candidates:
People often spoil things at the point of success
Take it easy at the finish as well as the start;
Then nothing will be spoiled.

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

All very CEH ???

afternoon, according to nicks colleague in scotland ,brian taylor, Mr Clegg arrived late and left early! Say's it all really exactly how his party works in Scotland

the half hour in glasgow shows exactly what the Lib Dems think of Scotland and why they will be running the tory's close for 4th place in Scotland !

Sid

#4 -- talking about bombshells & posters -- Nick have you checked this out: https://thefrontline.v3.co.uk/2010/04/red-faces-for-l.html

Nick,
What a silly carry on - presumably as you have spent most of the day on a plane with him did you get any questions answered ?

What they all need to do it get out and talk to people (does not actually matter where - it is what they say that is important), not have pre-arranged sterile photo opportunities wandering the length and breadth of the country not talking to people just for the benefit of the media.
Any of them answering questions from the general public on their policies is far more illuminating than watching them not answering questions from the media.

I thought the job of a political editor was to question and understand the policies of all the parties. Perhaps I am wrong and it is to swan around the country at our expense sight seeing? Just as I thought he was begining to get on top of his brief......

Nick Robinson wrote:
"Every stop guarantees local media coverage, the life-giving force for a party that feels it rarely gets the coverage it deserves".

Actually the LibDems merit no coverage at all (other than to expose the vacuity of their thinking). They are the political party for people who have no interest in politics.

The further one travels; the less one truly knows.

Nick

NORTHERN IRELAND POLITICS SCANDAL-FREE

I trust that you will devote some time to election issues in Northern Ireland.

We are luckier than the rest of the UK in having politicians who have not been involved in the scandals that have embroiled their Westminster brethren. In my view, you have a responsibility to showcase our politicians as exemplars of probity.

To that end I’m giving you a couple of little nuggets. Where better to start than with the leaders of the DUP/Sinn Féin Fascist Coalition which runs the show at Stormont. Go no further than the BBC’s website to read here about Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams AND read & see here about the DUP’s Peter Robinson.

How lucky we are in Ulster to have politicians of their stature.

Susie
Carryduff

Is anyone keeping track of the carbon footprint of these jaunts?

Or is that just something ordinary people going on holiday or paying fuel bills have to think about?

Typical Lib Dems

Labour have been in government for 13 years so who do they decide to attack? The Tories.

Just goes to prove a vote for Lib Dems is a vote for Labour. A vote for Nick Clegg is a vote for Gordon Brown.

Well, surprise surprise, Clegg doesn't want to have to deal with any of those pesky voters. Don't suppose Brown or Cameron will be any different.

I really can't see any of the mainstream politicians wanting to engage with real people during this election campaign. They wouldn't know how to, even if they wanted to.

Nick, can I suggest you ask them (if you get the chance) what they mean when they say it is the voters who decide who Lib Dems will side with if there's a hung parliament.

Does that mean they'll side with the party with the most seats or the party with the largest share of the vote ?

Don't expect to get an answer (at least not the same answer two days running).

The pretense of caring....the pretense of knowing....the pretense of working for the people....
What will be changed about investment banking regulations? Will anyone actually be punished for the banking collapse, or just take some responsibility? What "specifically" will be done to improve the economy?
When informed of the global banking forthcoming collapse: What actions did you take? How much funding are you accepting from banking and financial services?
Simple questions about character and judgement.

This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain.

Nick says that everyone who is part of this election, politician and journalist alike, can see and sense the madness of it all - but it's what they think they need to do to get your vote.

Note that Nick names the mainstream players, namely, politicians and journalists, as 'everyone who is part of this election', not really intending to slight us, the English public, but we appear to be some sort of annoying by-product of the election process.

IMHO, the 'mainstream' needs to become just another feed in the democratic process, massively diluted and we, the voters of England, can make that happen by looking at 'any of the others'.

Democracy England 2010.

I am a first time voter and was actual at the Cable factory this afternoon, we were standing round for Mr Clegg for 1 hour and we didn’t even receive an apologise. We were also assured we could ask question but this didn’t happen, that was just said to keep us hanging around in my opinion. I was thinking of voting for Lib dems not so sure now!! Having said that what he said in reference to getting £700 back tax does seem appealing I just wonder how he would go about doing that??

Nick, do you know if the Libdems will implement the full NI rise? Sometimes they say they will, sometimes the opposite.

Do you know if they will guarantee not to put up VAT during the entire length of the next parliament? They seem to duck and weave on this one and I just cannot work out where the money will come from to match their tax cuts and other spending plans.

Time these questions were asked so that when they do not answer we can put their credibility at the same level as the other main parties and treat what they say with a sackful of salt (paid for from savings on waste)

Mr Robinson, please clarify with Clegg whether, in the case of a hung parl, they will support the party with the largest number of seats or the party with the largest number of votes.

As they support PR the correct answer ought to be the latter. I am hoping the answer will provide an indication of their Labour/Tory bias. If they don't answer that will indicate to me that they are concealing a Labour bias.

"Why?" may be the question that occurs to you. The answer is simple. Every stop guarantees local media coverage, the life-giving force for a party that feels it rarely gets the coverage it deserves, given that it received almost one in four votes at the last election."

===

And these are the self-same hypocrites who lecture us on global warming and reducing our "carbon footprints".

Contemptible!

It's hard to know who to feel most frustrated with...

Clegg for failing to offer any leadership, and seeming instead to roll over like Brown's poodle. If the LibDems are to stand any chance of holding on to their reputation for honesty, integrity, and a 'third way' then they have to campaign on their own merits, and not hoping against hope to end up as Labour lapdogs.

Robinson for a paltry report that adds nothing to the sum of human knowledge about what should be hot political issues. Bored already, Nick?

#14 all 460 in one BUS now I would pay to see that

11. At 4:13pm on 08 Apr 2010, keyboard_monkey wrote:
Nick,

Any chance of you asking what a lot of people considering voting Lib Dem are wondering?

Will a vote for the Lib Dems be used as a mandate for supporting five more years of PM Gordon Brown as part of a Lib-Lab pact?...

===

I think not.

"THE Liberal Democrats have signalled that Gordon Brown would have to quit as Prime Minister in the event of a hung Parliament, it was reported last night.
Liberal Democrats party leader Nick Clegg yesterday described the election as “the beginning of the end” for Gordon Brown.

And he made it clear he would be unwilling to work with the Prime Minister in any power-sharing deal saying he was “directly and personally responsible” for the economic crisis, the Iraq invasion and “rottenness” in the political system."

https://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/167717/Nick-Clegg-Liberal-Democrats-won-t-do-deal-with-Gordon-Brown


"Gordon Brown confirmed today his determination to serve a full term if Labour is returned to government at the next general election.

The prime minister made his comments near the close of a two-and-a-half-hour grilling session by the liaison committee of 32 select committee chairs."

https://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/feb/02/gordon-brown-serve-full-term

===

The two statements are incompatible, Brown is a dead man walking. Only if Labour achieve an overall majority will he be inflicted on us for another 5 years.

a whole day and not a single question put or answered

can i have your please, sound much easier than working in industry

Is it me or does everything coming from Brown's mouth seem totally negative and destructive?

Why does he never seem to answer any questions?

Would you trust / vote for this man? After all it is his record in office that should be judged.

What do other people think about him?

Michael Caine - does he pay any UK income tax - I think we should be told!!

if Clegg is not carful Super hero Galacticus Brown will bring down
the liberals as well as if he is the one that keep them in place
he will get the debt bomb taking him out too in around 8 months time.

In the crystal ball I see a november election

What is of concern at the moment?
Growth or the lack of it_ _ _ but_


The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development predicted yesterday that the UK will outperform all other major economies this year.

The Paris-based experts said the economy would expand by 3.1% - beating America, Japan, Germany, France and Italy. Germany is back into 0% increase in GDP.


Looks like Labour got it right from the start! So far the numbers are showing Labour's predictions.

There is more good news in the coming weeks as well. Well done Gordon.

Well done Nick Robinson, but one should not exert oneself too much, cause nothing will change after the election.

Nick: '"Eastleigh, Hampshire: It's lunchtime, so it must be Eastleigh. I've joined Nick Clegg's campaign tour for the day and I'm already feeling like an American sightseer, touring Britain in 24 hours."

Yeah, because that's how all, or even most Americans have, or will go about touring Britain. Instant gratification. My way or the highway. Everything and everyone unAmerican is simply third world, primative and weird that doesn't warrent even the slightest interest and examination. You know, I expect this from some of your contributers. But you? Astoundingly offensive. To all readers of this blog, not all Americans are like this. Some of us are very much interested in and encapsulated by the culture and people of other countries, and what's more, we actually don't mind taking the time to learn about it!!!



"In Eastleigh, Mr Clegg was on the ground for 45 minutes. He spoke to a group of workers at a cable factory and apologised for the fact he didn't have time to take their questions because he was running over schedule."

How typically American of him. No doubt he had to get back to the hotel in order to schedule that flight home ASAP so that he could finally get back to some semblance of civilisation.

The Liberal Democrats who from an outsider's perspective look none too democratic.

Funny, that the Canadians seem to think that democracy and the parliamentary system is something to be valued. When THEY have debates any party with even ONE MP MUST be invited.

And when there were threats to not invite the leader of the Greens because of a technicality--amazingly enough because the Canadians REALLY DO believe in democracy and their Parliament--there was a nationwide outcry. Including from most people who frankly have no truck with the Greens.

I don't see that happening in the UK. WHAT has happened to the country of the "mother of parliaments"? However, in a way it's no wonder because when I wants the PMQ I also have to wonder what has happened to that "mother" as well.

Yes, the Canadians in their debate included the separatists, the Bloc Québécois. There was NEVER a question of not doing so.

Do the British no longer believe in a parliamentary system? Do they even still believe in democracy? I honestly have come to wonder. Because if they did there would be a nation-wide outcry over such an assault on their system.

And the supposed Liberal "Democrats" are the first to support this outrage to democracy.

Oh - Come on, perlease!!! How anyone can take the lightweight Clegg and his bunch of chancers seriously at this stage is beyond me. They can sniff an outside chance of a hung parliament and will attach themselves to whatever popular choice of words will help them weasel a way in. The trouble is that the electorate is too intelligent to let this happen. Finding out that nobody wants to meet him is the least surprising aspect of your blog today. I hope Clegg has enjoyed his time playing with the big boys, but now it is time to leave the battlefield and return to matron.

Gordon Brown has been Britains most proglifgate Chancelor ever presiding over ten years of boom, yet doubling taxation by stealth to 53% of GDP but still needed a hidden borrowing debt of at least £5 trillion just to get by.

Why?

He has no business experience at all nor shows any sign of any financial acumen!

But despite this in the face of backing by 90 major British business men. He says it is impossible for people like Cameron & or Osbourne both involved personaly in the runnning of multi £ millon companies.

To find £ a piffling £ 6 Billiom more tham him this year?

What happened to the mansion tax. Not heard Clegg mention that one for a while.

This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain.

I've just watched Nick Robinson's 'out and about' with Nick Clegg on the BBC 6 o'clock news. I now know that Clegg can eat toast and break open an eggshell at the same time, but I'm none the wiser as to how the Lib Dems are going to fund 22 billion of tax cuts that they are promising the British electorate.

Still, future episodes will no doubt prove Clegg's ability to chew gum and walk in a straight line at the same time (so at least that's an improvement on his predecessor).

Of course their media attention doesn't reflect the 22% of votes they get - because, under the current system, there's such a slim chance that what they say will ever become a reality!

Let's face it - however much the BBC and others include them in discussions, and however interesting the points they raise are - they still come across as amateurs that are difficult to take seriously. And only the risky options of a hung parliament and/or electoral reform could ever change that.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No. It is SuperClegg who will save the United Kingdom from 13 years of Labour's abuse of power.

No one was around to meet SuperClegg at his first stop and he was travelling too fast to be able to stop and talk to voters at the next stop ..... is that simply a sign of voter apathy or Super Clegg indifference?

The trouble is it seems that no Political Party really cares enough about the Electorate to bother beyond platitudes nor enough of the Electorate really care about the Political Candidates and their platitudes that I suspect the voter turnout in the forthcoming election is going to be so low that THAT will be THE talking point post-6th May!

Can a Democratic Nation truly be a democratic if too few voters actually vote because they so dislike the indifference and unsufferable gangster-like behaviour of the current government and supporting politicians?

30. At 5:19pm on 08 Apr 2010, JohnConstable wrote:

I don't disagree with the thrust of your argument here, and the inference of a casually dismissive journalistic pose generating an unintentional slight:
- But "English public" - "we the voters of England" and "Democracy England 2010" lays you open to a similar charge.
This is a UK election campaign, 16% of the UK population is not English.
You might say I'm oversensitve - picking on a careless use of language, i.e. the very common substitution of England for Britain, at least by the English. But if you don't think it matters, or don't think it ought to matter, can you explain why?

#37

Thanks I hadnt seen that, it's a relief to know that GB will be out in the event of a hung parliament.

I still fing this blog entry a little vacuous though and feel Nick R could have got us "more for our money" from his day with Nick Clegg. Maybe some elaboration on LD policies.

"Liberal Democrats are having it easy at the moment being all things to all men and women but eventually they will have to stop long enough to be put under the same scrutiny as the others."

Try replacing the words 'Liberal Democrat' with Conservatives. You'll find that is also true. It probably works for most parties but its a kind of stereotype aimed at the Lib. Dems. that is used for attack from Labour and Conservative sides. afraid of losing the absolute power that FPTP majorities give them. I'd say the Conservatives are blatently trying to all things to all men when they are nothing of the sort. The Conservatives as the main opposition were hardly challenged at all by the media in general. No one specific! I know how this works now.

Flying all over the country, just to get some media coverage isn't very green is it?

It's been fascinating to read the Labour and ibDem response to the Tory suggestion that a planned increase in N.I. would harm business.

Brown talks about a policy written on the back of an envelope.

This is the guy who chatted to his friends in the City and encouraged LloydsTSB to take over HBoS... Which they did with minimal due diligence and meant it became necessary to bung another 12 BILLION into the kitty to keep the new beast afloat.

I don't think Brown has many friends now in the City. You can hardly attack the bosses of major businesses outside the finance sector as if they were just as culpable as the banking idiots who Brown's FSA failed to regulate.

Somebody must have known that they didn't really understand where all that "collateral asset value" came from. But nobody had the steel ones to ask...

By the way. GTo check how the UK's balance of trade looked in 1997 (it was positive) and take a peak at where we are after 13 years of the Brown maestro's economic miracle... 60BILLION in the red.

Comment 24.

A very fair point. There is a clear choice. One can vote for Labour who will change nothing at all except the money they bleed from your pockets in the next five years by which point the recovery will be killed. Vote Lib Dem who claim they will change but who do they attack the Tories therefore siding with the Labour party the party who has doubled national debt. Gordon Brown may say he is the one to secure the recovery when actually his party is the party who caued the worst reccession. The only party who will change anything at all is the Conservatives.

Typical Lib Dems.

"Just goes to prove a vote for Lib Dems is a vote for Labour. A vote for Nick Clegg is a vote for Gordon Brown."

#42 your having a giraffe,

Today car sales are up by 25% compared to same time last year BUT BUT

the SMMT are predicting a 10% years on year fall and that is on top
of the massive slides seen in the last 2-3 years.

Reason,

GB showroom tax,
End of scrappage system
Increase in VAT etc

This show how dead the economy really is and what is around the corner.

Clegg would be better saying that he would not support labour under any circumstance or its down the drain for the libs.

Back in the late 70's they prolonged the inevitable and actually made it worse by prolonging it, lets not history repeat itself.

So if Cleeggie will not support labour with GB but then will with another will we get another election when

1) labour changes leader after forcing brown out
2) GB forces another before he is forces out.

think we could be in for 3 elections this year

25. At 4:52pm on 08 Apr 2010, jobsagoodin wrote:

"Just goes to prove a vote for Lib Dems is a vote for Labour. A vote for Nick Clegg is a vote for Gordon Brown."

How true.

It just goes to show how pathetic the LDs are. Meeting no-one; sounds about right.

As I've said since last year: Vote Lib Dem, get LABOUR.

42. At 5:47pm on 08 Apr 2010, Onlywayup wrote:
What is of concern at the moment?
Growth or the lack of it_ _ _ but_


The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development predicted yesterday that the UK will outperform all other major economies this year.

The Paris-based experts said the economy would expand by 3.1% - beating America, Japan, Germany, France and Italy. Germany is back into 0% increase in GDP.


Looks like Labour got it right from the start! So far the numbers are showing Labour's predictions....

===

No they didn't, silly.

The OECD said they forecast an annualised Q2 growth in UK GDP equivalent to a 3.1% ANNUAL growth, NOT 3.1% in Q2!

Zero marks to you for fiscal accuracy, I think you are Gordon Brown and I claim my £5.

"Let's face it - however much the BBC and others include them in discussions, and however interesting the points they raise are - they still come across as amateurs that are difficult to take seriously."

Which of the partys at the moment look professional and are easy to take seriously? Another statement that works which ever party you aim it at.

WestCountryScot @ 52

I see that you are new to this blog - and welcome.

All of our regular bloggers on this forum know exactly where this Englishman is coming from, and my posts are using the English language very deliberately.

Rather than bore everybody by reiterating my political stance, I would suggest you simply click on my name link and read some of my previous posts - whereupon it all should become perfectly clear.

Although I should say here that I never conflate the political use of Britain/United Kingdom and England, just as a native Scot *knows* that Scotland is a country in its own right.

For example, a native Scot would not often use the terms Scottish and British interchangeably, which unfortunately, is something we English often have to put up with, usually spouted by politicians at Westminster who are trying to keep the near-dead horse of political Britain alive.

BTW, Democracy England 2010 are key words for search engines such as Google and Bing. As you live in an English constituency, you may wish to have a look.

Only one good piece of advice for the Lib Dems is: Go radical. The other parties have shown how you can screw with the centre ground, so Lib Dems should say: And now for something completely....

#56

Balance for trade Surplus £60B in the red
ecomonically inactive 8m+
national debt 750,000,000,000 and rising faster than a lightning

HMG take of GDP over 53% and heading north

Jobs creation in the Public Sector still on the increase
Job disstruction in the Private Sector on the increase.

Manipulate stats to show targets are meet on the increase much like
what happened in the USSR before it imploded.

CCTV on the increase.

Children losing a life with their father (ie the father that belongs
to the Children) on the increase

Any meaningful stat you care to look at is ALL heading in the wrong
direction

so the LD's are not doing any back door deals with labour then

not like they did in the previous 3 elections where there have been persitant rumor's that in a number of seats they each did not campain
hard to allow the other to win, which is why labour have has so many seats with the lib compared with the share of the vote.

So if this is NOT happening this time not much Lead for the Tories would see them in with quick a good working majority ?

Until there is a more democratic electoral system in this country we will continue to be under- and mis-represented. The party with the majority often has the fewest votes. The constituency system like the parochial boundaries is a relic of Victorian Britain. We were the first country to institute elections and now it seems the last to reform as our European counterparts at least respect the electorate and seats are allocated according to votes cast. Not so here and all we have is jaw jaw from similar sounding politicians and weeks of it. The finale will be predictable with a reduced majority for Labour given the number of pointless Scots seats they will win or a hung parliament which will mean a run on the pound and a repeat of this nonsense in October.

The country needs electoral reform and an end to the whipping system in Parliament which obviates any attempt at democracy. We are as let down by the present system as we have been by the greed of the MPs to claim their statutory limit of expenses.

So wake up everyone, smell the coffee and corruption, cast your votes to the wind

I am an exservice man i jioned the army back in the seventies. The reason i jioned was i had no family and if i continued the way i was going i know i would have ended up in prison. The reason i am contacting you is,i was watching the news tonight with cameron and michael cain talking about voluntary national service. Are we that afraid of our kids that we have to ask them please go in the army and do national service. We have an ideal opertunity to say you either stay in full time education or you do national service,we dont have to send them to afganistan [umless they want to go]there are plenty of places to look after in this country and abroad and learn a trade. Let them ern there unemployment benefits,and lets see if they would rather wear a real medal or an ASBO. But please dont ask them,for once some one have the guts to tell them how its going to be.it work for me

As has been said earlier (by JohnConstable) one interesting aspect of this blog is Mr Robinson's statement that the only people who are "part of this election" are politicians and journalists.
Some humility, from both of these groups, would be most welcome. But I will not hold my breath.

try asking any party the following

if all things are eqaull , slowing the rise of the National Debt (ND)
to 50% of its current rate in 4 years , would mean that the ND would nearly doubled in 7 years, therefore the interest payments would double,

So in the boom years lets say there would have to have been big CUTS just to service a debt that has doubled , but at this point we face an
ecomomy that has shrunk by around 7% but HMG is borrowing 25% of all expenditure.

So what happens after the 4 years is up, it seems this is a very short sight plan and unless the ND actually shrinks soon, Not the rate of increase slowing the UK will fall of the financial cliff ?

So we are going to have to see growth around 5%+ year on year for the next 10 years just to get the ND going in a south direction ?

cannot see it myself , not even in the DEBT fuelled Binge of GB as chancellor did we see that kind of growth

JH

You`re quite right,the Lib-Dems are politics for the non-political, but that`s the rub isn`t it.With parliament discredited,the elites of both main parties mistrusted and an electorate bruised by decades of political failure, who should now enforce the democratric mandate?, the will of the people? in uncertain times?

A volatile and politically naive electorate, confused by claim and counter claim,will play safe and opt for the centre which will cause problems for Cameron.Although the Lib-Dems will take seats from Labour,they will take more from the conservatives arithmetically,unless the tide begins to run more strongly in the Conservative`s favour.

To counter this the Tories need a strong "Britain first" message in their Lib-Dem marginals to outflank them on Europeanism which is a minority taste.It neweds to be done delicately so as to sound national without being nationlistic,Damian Green rather than William Hague to carry the message.

A clear and present danger to the two party hegemony.Perhaps they should consider a coalition.Imagine Clegg,Hughes,Cable and Kennedy occupying the four great offices of state!

30. At 5:19pm on 08 Apr 2010, JohnConstable wrote:

..........Note that Nick names the mainstream players, namely, politicians and journalists, as 'everyone who is part of this election', not really intending to slight us, the English public, but we appear to be some sort of annoying by-product of the election process............

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

Spot on John!

We - the voters - are an insignifance. A thorn in the side. How the politicians must wish that elections could be held without having to involve the great unwashed outside the Westmister bubble.
Be fair, all we are really needed for is to provide the pockets to be picked for whatever grand schemes they care to put in place.
The mere fact that all these carbon guzzling tours are set to involve carefully selected worshippers and journalists who don't seem able to (or won't) ask the sort of questions we would put to them, shows how scared politicians are of having to face the real World.

As I said in yesterday's blog, I don't have a candidate to vote for in my ward - I will be counted as a spoiled ballot paper - so what is being spouted by the Parties will have no influence on my vote.

But listening to the Party leaders all claiming to know everything, in intimate detail, about what the other parties are going to do, while at the same time telling us nothing about their own intentions, shows just what a bunch of charlatans they all are.

In an ideal World it would be compulsory for politicians to only speak of their own party's agenda.

An impious thought. If Cameron is Blair MK 2,and Clegg is Cameron Mk2,that makes Clegg Blair Mk3.

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Gordon's right about one thing. The tories haven't got a clue about the financial side of things. Check this out-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1T6B7GTCE0

MWO (#68), it seems to me that both you an JohnConstable have misconstrued Mr. Robinson's remark. I would call it a poor choice of words on his part. He should have written "campaign" instead of "election."

#66 I do not think that the european respect the voters just look at the referendum until the voters get it right approach

#67 we are fightened of the Kids beacuse they have become untouchable and are not allwoed to be disapplined etc , they have no worth while male (father) role models in there life, they have been let down in the last 13 years, is all part of the broken britain disorder that we face

#72 yep MK3 and just like the Chinook he will be grounded and only fly in bright sunslight and not very high, so I would say that is more fitting after todays lack of performance. And like the FSTA he will not be allowed near the comdat zone of real people too

65. At 8:30pm on 08 Apr 2010, IR35_SURVIVOR wrote:
so the LD's are not doing any back door deals with labour then

not like they did in the previous 3 elections where there have been persitant rumor's that in a number of seats they each did not campain
hard to allow the other to win, which is why labour have has so many seats with the lib compared with the share of the vote."

In Labour-Lib-Dem marginals,conservatives vote Lib-Dem,in Con-Lib-Dem marginals,labour votes Lib-Dem.These informal arrangements are of long standing and should work to Labour`s advanatge because there are more Con-Lib-Dem marginals.However,Labour supporters have a lower propensity to vote so it evens out.

This time however,there is no enthusiasm for either Labour or Tory,my guess is a Lib-Dem vote is just that.

#79 from what I understand if not the none campainging my one or
other that caused a skew in the results, the question remain are they
LD's going to do the same again, or labour because I guess its there lack of , which see the lab going to the libs and so the libs get the seat, which might explain GB "enthusiasm" for reforms that the lib might like to see get implemented.

at least if the libs pick up seats then GB might have a chance as PM with the lib as a minor player. But if the seat would go to the tories then he has no chance,

I could see a Lab plus everybody else HMG except the BNP,UKIP and Tories holding the ring for a while, depending what happens to the leadership with Brown, which is why it is so important that Cleggee makes his position clear or He will be brought down by the clunking fist/phone of GB.

Not making himslef clear means a vote for Brown by proxy

Why is Dave Cameron so chuffed about the Chief Exec's round robin supporting his questionnable "promise" to cut an aspect of a projected NI increase?

If I were heading a party, hoping for electoral success, in a deep recession, I would not be happy to have my policies supported by a group of CEOs who are despised for the excessive salaries they are paying themselves while the electors and their employees are struggling to make ends meet and are losing their homes.

This takes me back to the Steve Bell cartoon when John Major won the 1992 election. Tories seem to think that the more they humiliate the people, the more we like them.

That sucks in the 21st century..

Is it next the bankers and the shamed expense MPs Cameron will call on to endorse his policies?

He has a major task ahead to distance himself from the greedy leeches who have sucked the life out of our economy and Sam Cam will not close that gap.

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Hi Nick,

I see that you, and the biased BBC have joined Nick Clegg on the campaign trail.

Is there any danger that you might join the UKIP leader on his campaign trail? My guess is a great big NO. I am not in any way associated with UKIP, but they are the only party to have a fully costed manifesto spelling out their proposals on all relevant issues, not just the EU. You really should take the time to log on to their Web Site, and read it. OK, so their proposals for cost savings are based on putting a stop to the NET cost of around £120 billion per year, and growing that the British Taxpayers are forced to spend on the EU. They also point out that the cost to British industry is around £124 billion due to EU regulation, and laws since 1998. I don’t care how you look at it, but the EU is a disaster for the UK, and UK Taxpayers. The simple truth is that in the North of England the BNP (not that I support them in any way) will take a huge slice of the vote from Labour, and in the South of England UKIP will gain huge support. The facts are that the British public are sick and fed up with Lab/Lib Dem/Con parties. If you really want to do your job, and that of the BBC, who’s Charter is to report impartially then you have got to read what is happening in the UK. Come on Nick join the real word, and report impartially on what is really happening in UK politics.

JH66 @ 49

"I'm none the wiser as to how the Lib Dems are going to fund 22 billion of tax cuts that they are promising the British electorate."

Efficiency savings I'd have thought, John. That seems to be the vogue.

Nicky, hello again from butcher’s shop in Smolensk, where today assistant Yuri has been making herrings and sausage pies – smurf and turd as you are say in England. Like your Nick Clogg, he enjoy experimentings.

Though I am doubt if Liberals visit to science museum be as effective as visit of glorious leader Vlad Putin to Smolensk research laboratories last year. Sir Clogg will play with Van Der Graaf’s generator and is talk of importance science to economy and all that blues. But Putin on visit is look at particle generators and is say “Look! That is Higgs Boson, yes?” Story is hush up not embarrass Western Imperialist scientists in bunker under Cerne Abbas Giant. But I let you know so once again you can proclaim superiority of Russia managed democracy. In Russia best people is really get to top, but in British model, man put on yellow tie, walk around stiffer than Tin Man in Wizard of Oz, say plagues on both your gardens and is call it statesmanships.

NR Report on Clegg on this evening's news - Does Nick Clegg know he's married? Has his wife told him? He seems to be oblivious to the fact. And nobody mentioned it to him. Does his wife know? I think they should be told.

If you vote for Alec Salmond then you will get Alec Salmond. Possibly.

Gosh just a few concerns:
Mr Idzi the ex serviceman can't spell - what happened to basic training at the AFC?
The "english" public are not considered? - is this not a UK election?
I suspect that the various contributors to this comment / post site might at the very least deploy their "spell check" software - before deploying their knees into "jerk" mode!
IR35_survivor - I respectfully suggest that you re visit your English lessons - as an "older" voter I am increasingly disturbed by the ghastly and quite shockingly poor use of English in these Blogs - is it me ? - am I so hopelessly out of date/touch that it is "old fashioned" to expect British citizens to have a basic understanding of the English language?

Well I may be - but it is a disappointment - apologies to all concerned if this seems like a pointless opinion!

Mike Idzi

totally agree-compulsory national service.....get bigger tax receipts, much reduced unemployment, and a younger generation with the majority, not minority, with a great work ethic.

I've employed ex servicemen in the past-brilliant employees.

Win win if you ask me! I can only hope that it becomes compulsory if Cameron is successful.

I for one would be glad to see any policy which halts this 'world owes me a favour, init?' attitude dead in it's tracks!

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#88 My english was learn when labour were last in power in the 70's, teachers that did not care etc. Also I'm very busy at work and some of the twaddle put by those of a left variety whom seem not to be doing a real job have plenty of time to put up well selected long statements.

The real problem is not my enlish BUT the maths of Mr Gordon Brown hows just does not add up which is why we will be heading to a Greek tradegty
quit soon.

#89 "world owes me a favour, init?" this it the politics that Zanu_liebour have been pedalling for the last 13 years , that its all someone elses fault I'm entittled to xyz from the state but have to give nothing baxk in return, Social Engineering , PC and equailty the tripple cancers that are destroying this country, its not that these are incorrect in princple its just that it only applies to some peoples and then excluded others , that they feel positivly and activelly discriminated against by the state.

An example was in Derby about 6 years ago £1m of motoring fine was just disgarded as they could not find the people, they were foriegn workers.
Have you tried to get aparking ticket revoked , just does not happen to the natives and you can see why in certain parts of this land the BNP are on the rise, along with the national Debt this is another ZaNU_liebour legacy.

I am extremely dissapointed with the bbc election coverage so far .
Why no mention of any of the smaller parties ?
I feel we are being conned .

What you need to do is give us some impartial reporting , the smaller parties need to be given some coverage too !
So far its very poor biased coverage for the LIB-LAB-CON.

"3. At 3:52pm on 08 Apr 2010, jdennis_99 wrote:
What they need to do is to be bloody well honest with us."

So deep is the structural malaise forced on the country by Brown that no-one can afford to be.

In addition to the current problems, we have a unfunded, index linked final salary public sector pension scheme which, thanks to Brown's bloated workforce, will have to be paid to 1 in 3 pensioners who will be living much longer on average. Meanwhile, many private sector workers are doing nothing at all for pension provision. they can't afford to and besides, Brown's £5bn a year taken in the withdrawal of tax reclaim by pension funds has had a dramatic effect on them and lessened the value for those who are bothering to save. Many private sector workers will be wholly reliant on the state for their post-retirement income as well. It is THIS that is the elephant in the room.

All parties know this but are playing 'head in the sand' over it. Of course, the party least likely to do anything about it is Labour. It would affect union members and Labour are in the pockets of the unions. It is a problem they cheerfully put in the hands of their children, just so they can stay in power now. A vote for Labour at this election is a vote for the bankruptcy of the UK in 20 years time. That's for certain.

"8. At 4:07pm on 08 Apr 2010, sagamix wrote:
Ridiculous carry on, isn't it? And all rather fabulous!"

Is that because to you, it's all just a game?

No, my point is for all its flaws and irritations (major and minor), our democratic system is a great one. Certainly compared to many others. At times like these - general elections - one realises that. Or I do anyway.

A few weeks off and I have no actual clue, though many hints, where the Lib Dems stand on a fairly critical aspect.

My constituency is a clear choice between Conservatives and Lib Dem.

If there is the slightest chance of the latter meaning support for Labour, my already tactical voting options are decided.

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Looks like Mandy is losing his touch... despite the the Digital Economy Bill going through pdq at the expense of other legislation during washup, who ends up indulging in a spot of flagrant copyright theft, signed off by three senior cabinet ministers??

Oops. Draw pistol... aim at foot... fire when ready..

https://thefrontline.v3.co.uk/2010/04/red-faces-for-l.html