Nick Clegg new lib dem leader

FUCK THE POLICE

911 EVERY DAY
Chris Hughne was more of a market liberal, but Nick is more marketable. So I guess it's all good.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3071125.ece

We knew who had won — or thought we knew — by watching the wives. The scene was a ridiculously overcrowded room in the St Martin’s Hotel near Trafalgar Square. It is not healthy to be in an enclosed space with so many Liberal Democrats, not least because, as a party, they tend to suffer from body odour. I feared that the air-circulation system would collapse under the strain.

The announcement was late, for the Lib Dems love their leadership elections and don’t like to rush them. The room, overheating to incubator levels, was littered with photographers taking pictures of each other and broadcasters interviewing each other. In the front of the room were all the former Lib Dem leaders pretending to have intense conversations with each other.

Then, suddenly, Miriam Clegg and Vicky Huhne came in, straight from the secret room (LibDems love secret rooms) where they had been closeted with their husbands. Miriam, who is Spanish, was all smiles, her dark hair bouncing this way and that as she chatted away. Vicky, who is Greek, looked drawn as she beetled over to her chair. They bussed each other as if they’d not just been in the secret room.

“Only two kisses,” we noted ominously. For Europeans this is a paltry number. Surely, the minimum would be four in normal circumstances. But this was not normal for, as far as we could see, Miriam’s husband had beaten Vicky’s. They began to chat with the determination of women doing their duty while being filmed by eight different cameras.
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* Clegg snatches Lib Dem leader victory

They were put out of their misery by the arrival of Vince Cable, acting leader, economist and ballroom dancer supreme. He was met with thunderous applause. Everyone loves him. Indeed, they love him so much that they are replacing him with someone worse.

“You can all relax,” Vince noted drily. “I’m not intending to announce a military coup.”

This was a blow. Everyone laughed. Though maybe, inside, they were crying. “Can I just say a few words about my own very brief interlude?” he asked. No one wanted to stop him but, to be honest, I’m not sure that anyone could have. “It had some memorable moments,” he noted, “the finest being when I was for a few moments the envy of every man in Britain, dancing with the gorgeous Alesha.”

This got an instant laugh. I suspect that many in the room didn’t know who she was. At this point they would have laughed whatever Vince said. I half expected Alesha (a star from Strictly Come Dancing) to run up on stage for a final tango moment. Vince then decided, boringly, to give the result.

Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne stood to one side, looking awkward. They have been on the campaign trail for two months and are starting to resemble each other. Indeed, they walk in tandem as if they are partners in a permanent three-legged race.

“The total number of votes cast was 41,465,” Vince said. He said that Nick Clegg had received 20,988 votes. At the word “twenty”, there was an “ohhhh”. Then he said Chris Huhhne had got 20,474. This brought another gasp. No one had expected it to be so close.

Mr Huhne, irrepressible even in defeat, bounded up. “Well, there are close-run things and close-run things!” Then Mr Clegg gave a speech about how he wants a new beginning. It was rather dull. But, still, he looks good. Is that enough?

* Have your say

Just as revealing as the battle is the media coverage of it. Did anyone notice that the BBC Today programme this morning (the day after the result) not only failed to cover it in detail but didn't even mention the result in their bulletins. Conspiracy, indifference, sulk? Whatever the reason, it seems perverse to ignore the story. Can you find out why?







And look at this photograph!!!! :

bloggers_1.jpg




THAT IS MY ELEPHANT!
 
Nick Clegg also doesn't believe in God:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7151346.stm

New Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has answered "no" when asked on BBC radio if he believed in God.

The rapid-fire question and answer format on 5 Live meant the 40-year-old did not have the chance to elaborate.

He later said he had "enormous respect for people who have religious faith", that his wife is Catholic and that his children are being brought up Catholic.

Last month, former PM Tony Blair said he had not talked much about this faith for fear of being labelled a "nutter".

Reshuffle

The radio interview with Mr Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, came ahead of a reshuffle of the Lib Dem frontbench team expected over the next few days.

Asked whether he had ever taken illegal drugs, he replied: "I'm going to cast a veil over that. It's the one thing I agree with David Cameron on. I think politicians are entitled to a private life before they go into politics."


If politics is going to solve the problems of people's everyday lives, we need to listen to people
Nick Clegg
Lib Dem leader

And asked if he believed in God, he said: "No."

In later comments to the BBC News website, Mr Clegg added: "I have enormous respect for people who have religious faith, I'm married to a Catholic and am committed to bringing my children up as Catholics.

"However, I myself am not an active believer, but the last thing I would do when talking or thinking about religion is approach it with a closed heart or a closed mind."

Mr Clegg was joined on his first day in the job by musician Brian Eno, whom he has brought in as an adviser on how to "reach out beyond Westminster to people who don't get a say in politics".

Mr Clegg said: "I will fight for a society where everyone gets a fair chance in life, and no-one is condemned by the circumstances of their birth.

"Education has got to be front and centre of Britain's agenda if we're going to make that happen. So I will raise funding for the poorest children to the levels in private schools.

"And every family must be free from poverty, and feel they have a voice, and a stake, in Britain today."

'People's politics'

Mr Clegg added: "That requires a new kind of politics - a people's politics. If politics is going to solve the problems of people's everyday lives, we need to listen to people, and act on what they say."

Later the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, reacted to Mr Clegg's declaration.

Dr Williams told Radio 5 Live presenter Simon Mayo: "It matters less to me than to know they are honest and reliable and that what beliefs they have they hold sincerely.

"This isn't a country where Christianity is imposed by law. It's a country with a nominally Christian majority. And that's good.

"And whoever becomes prime minister has to understand that and work with it rather than against the grain of it."

Last month, Mr Blair told the BBC his Christian faith had been "hugely important" to his premiership, but that he had been wary of discussing it in case he was labelled a "nutter".

His ex-spokesman Alastair Campbell once told reporters: "We don't do God."

Current Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the son of a church minister, is also a Christian who has spoken of his father's advice acting as his "moral compass".

Mr Clegg, an MP since 2005, beat Chris Huhne to the Lib Dem leadership by 20,988 votes to 20,477 - a margin of just 511.

Mr Clegg's election follows a two-month contest caused by the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell.
 
You don't still believe that Lib-Dem are a Libertarian party do you?

One of their standard lines when they went around trying to get votes where my grandmother lived was asking people:
"Don't you think it's terrible that there are rich people who have so much more money than everyone else?"
One candidate asked my grandmother this and when she responded that she didn't and she was fine as they earned their money, the Lib Dem candidate then switched lines and started agreeing with her and trying to talk to her like he was all of a sudden in favor of Conservative policy.

When I ask her about Lib-Dem, she always tells me:
"They don't know whether they are coming or going."

She's right, they just follow public opinion and tell people what they want to hear.
 
You don't still believe that Lib-Dem are a Libertarian party do you?

One of their standard lines when they went around trying to get votes where my grandmother lived was asking people:
"Don't you think it's terrible that there are rich people who have so much more money than everyone else?"
One candidate asked my grandmother this and when she responded that she didn't and she was fine as they earned their money, the Lib Dem candidate then switched lines and started agreeing with her and trying to talk to her like he was all of a sudden in favor of Conservative policy.

When I ask her about Lib-Dem, she always tells me:
"They don't know whether they are coming or going."

She's right, they just follow public opinion and tell people what they want to hear.

They've kind of had to sell their soul to get votes but they do have a few good market liberals in there. It's better to have an alliance of social and market liberals than for the market liberals to just sit there and shout anarcho-capitalism to the moon.
 
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