DOE EYED AND MALICIOUS: The Spiteful Calculation of Nick Clegg

Most politicians see themselves as principled, individuals with a strong moral compass. Any suggestions that their concerns may be  venal or based on narrow selfish interest’s prompts outrage and wounded dignity.

Few politicians look in the mirror and see reflected back the white knight in shining armour as much as The Lib Dems. This is particularly true of their leader Nick Clegg. If the result of the next election, as seems very possible, should not deliver a decisive majority for either of the two major parties, Clegg stands at the ready to step back into his government office, make use of the limousine and stand yet again at the despatch box in the national interest. Nick Clegg the man of common sense, occupying the middle ground, a man of principle and compassion. This is how he sees himself and this is how he would like you to see him.

It is worth bearing this in mind when considering the following scene. Clegg is with the Prime Minister, who says, “We really need to be seen to do something about lobbying.”

“Yes,” says Clegg, but he is not thinking about professional lobbying he is thinking about his constituency, Sheffield Hallam. Before the last election he made some extravagant promises to get the student vote, which he promptly broke as a price for getting into office. Now he is worried, what will happen at the next election? Will the National Union of Students now seek revenge?

“I have an idea,” says Clegg, “maybe we can kill two birds with one stone.”  Thus was born the current ‘lobbying bill’ currently winding its way through parliament. I will let Polly Toynbee summarize the consequences of Clegg’s idea.

‘Nick Clegg instigated this bill. Afraid of a backlash from the National Union of Students over fees, anti-frackers and myriad single-issue groups who were once allies, he pressed for this gagging act to protect his candidates in election year.

[The bill] crafted to barely touch the professional lobbying trade, which Cameron once called "the next great scandal waiting to happen". Only 1% of lobbying is caught, not Lynton Crosby’s tobacco and alcohol lobbying firm right in the heart of government nor any in-house lobbying by companies; scores of meetings with energy firms go unrecorded.

Part two of the bill will curb charities and others campaigning for a full year before elections by limiting what they can spend, counting all their overheads. Going about their ordinary business risks turning charities criminal if they fail to register with the Electoral Commission, which is itself highly critical of the bill. Trustees will never know how far they can go on climate change, child poverty, hunting, housing, badgers or any other advocacy. The bill being rush through is to ensure a year of silence can be imposed by next May.’[1]

As I say, think on this at the time of the next election, think of this nasty little bill born of a mixture of fear and malice the next time you witness Nick Clegg go doe eyed and put on his ‘trust me’ face.

Trust Me 



Having visited this page I would be grateful for your feedback, either tick one of the boxes below or make a comment via the comments button.

Popular posts from this blog

NESRINE MALIK AND THE UNSUNG VIRTUES OF HYPOCRISY

Image
As I write this a 27 year old woman, Mariam Ibrahim, has just had a baby in a Sudanese prison, ‘the condition of the mother and baby is not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and her husband, a US citizen, had been denied access to her. Omdurman women's prison has a basic clinic, where the child is thought to have been born. Ibrahim has been shackled since being imprisoned.’ [1]   Mariam also has an 18 month old child who is also being held in prison with her. The ‘crime’ for which she is imprisoned is apostasy, for which she has received the death sentence. She has also been sentenced to 100 lashes, for the additional crime of having sex with her Christian husband. Although she has been a lifelong Christian her father was a Muslim, Sudanese sharia law forbids women to marry outside the Muslim faith, men needless to say can do as they please in these matters. Mariam Ibrahim and her husband.  Nineteen countries punish their citizens for apostasy, and in 12 of those countries...
Read more

INTERVIEW WITH TOM VAGUE

Image
Tom Vague At the top end of All Saints Road there is a refuge, an enclave in which a local Bohemian culture retains a foothold, this is the Book & kitchen , a café/bookshop with adjoining terrace. Here the bustle of the nearby market gives way to conversation, conversation in the presence of images of the recent, and not so recent, past. The past of an area that has contributed so much to the life and culture of the city. I was there to meet local historian Mr Tom Vague a man intimately familiar with so much of this history. What Tom doesn’t know about the recent history of the area probably is not worth knowing. With Tom’s energy and effort Colville Community Forum, supported by City Living Local Life, recently held a gathering at The Book and Kitchen to celebrate this rich history. February 16 6-9 Pm, with Film Screening and Readings Exhibition February 16-26 2016. Featuring 30 Classic Westway Photographs and Posters. This represents one of a number of initiatives of t...
Read more

VOLINE AND TROTSKY

Волин и Троцкого A Footnote in Russian History In April 1917 the Russian anarchist revolutionary Voline* and Leon Trotsky were both stranded in New York as the Russian revolution broke out in Petrograd , inevitably coming into contact with one another. Voline stated that he felt that the Bolsheviks, given their ruthlessness and single minded determination, would ultimately come to power. They would then begin eliminating their opponents, amongst whom of course were the anarchists; this persecution would end with the Bolsheviks shooting the anarchists “like partridges.” Trotsky was dismissive, they might have their differences but they were comrades in arms, they had different interpretations of the revolutionary process but shared the same goals. It was nonsense to speak of Bolsheviks shooting revolutionary comrades, “we are socialists, comrade Voline! So we are not your enemies….” [1] In December of 1919, whilst gravely wounded Voline was captured by the Bolshe...
Read more