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i found this on WEN if that helps. will look again.
The Environment Agency study was partly based on a survey of 2000 disposable nappy using parents but less than 200 washable nappy users. Poor assumptions it made included: a) an average parent will buy 47 cloth nappies (this was based on results of two respondents to the survey and accounts for 13.8% of the assumed global warming impact). Parents will normally need 24 nappies or less; b) 10% iron nappies (sic!) c) 19% tumble dry. It is recommended not to tumble dry, not only due to energy consumption, but also as it shortens the life of nappies; d) use of older inefficient washing machines e) a third of all nappy washes are at 90oC f) using price of disposables as an indicator of energy consumed in retail and transport. This means that manufacturers need only reduce their price to reduce their global warming impact. Leading manufacturers have had a price war for some years.
By OliviaMumsnet on Tue 11-Dec-07 15:13:49
(from MNHQ)
Hi all We're coming close to the end of our alloted time with Nick and we want to thank him again for stopping by. Many thanks for all your questions and sorry about the false start As he said, we're hoping he'll be back to reply to all his unanswered questions at a later date, though we doubt this will be before the leadership election. thanks again MNHQ
Thanks to Mumsnet for having me on and thanks to everybody for their questions. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to answer more - but hopefully I'll get a chance to come back on another time.
martianbishop, I would be seriously worried if answers from a politician were more popular than answers on Kinky Sex. I may be an MP, but I'm not naive about most people's priorities in life!
regarding your family policies, it seems as though you are saying people are still all to be economic units, but it's fine for them to be economic units part-time. given your own experiences as a stay-at-home parent, what are your policies on parents who choose not to out-source childcare? it really does seem to mainly be a matter for the Right.
Edam, thanks for your question about civil liberties etc. If I was running the government I would repeal a whole host of illiberal laws which have undermined our cherished British freedoms. I would also completely overhaul the excessive use of databases by this government. We are sleepwalking into a surveillance society, and it needs to be stopped before it is too late. If you want to find more details on what is often a technical subject please look at the Lib Dem party website.
Swedes2Turnips1, thanks for your question about honesty in politics. I have been pretty straight forward in stating my ambition for the Liberal Democrats: I want us to grow so that we break the stifling grip of two party politics in Westminster for good in two elections.
SenoraPostrophe, thanks for your question about Lib Dem policies. As it happens, we have volumes of policies of our own which we bang on about all the time. For instance, I've been promoting new, radical, ideas for the reform of our dismal prison system for ages. Sometimes our ideas get through. But as an opposition party whose constitutional duty it is to keep Ministers on their toes, I guess it is true that our reactions to government policies are often covered more fully by the media.
Nettie, in answer to your question about work-life balance I hope you've seen the first answer I posted earlier. I passionately believe that greater flexibility in the workplace, an end to abusive long hours working culture, and a better work-life balance help rather than hinder our overall economic productivity. This is certainly the experience of other countries. As such, I hope such changes would not lead to resentment amongst those people who don't have kids.
Monkeytrousers, in answer to your question about the politics of families, I have always been annoyed at the assumption that the family is only a subject for the Right. I think that there is huge scope for a political party to campaign on the needs of all families, in all their different shapes and sizes, not just the traditional nuclear family which the Conservatives think can be promoted through minor tax bribes. I fully intend to return to this theme if I become leader of the Lib Dems.
and regarding nappies - the study (besides being a load of nonsense which the Women's Environmental Network can confirm) only looked at energy use. Clearly 'reasonable' reusable nappies make a massive difference to landfill which is a big concern for councils.
Martianbishop, I have a couple of excellent special needs schools in my constituency in Sheffield and am an avid campaigner to keep special needs schools open and properly resourced.Whilst no one can disagree with the idea of inclusion in mainstream schooling, this should never be used as an excuse to close down specialised schools.
On discipline, I think the key is to give additional resources to those schools that are dealing with the most difficult intakes, so that they can provide smaller class sizes, one to one tuition and catch up classes, particularly in the early years of primary school, before disruptive behaviour becomes an established pattern.
My kids like the blackcurrant flavour the best but i find them all far too sweet and sticky!
What about the paradox of defending liberalism but not at the price of being inert in the face of religous fundametalism and attendant cultural threats? Should basic women's rights be forsaken if they are Islamic for example, in respect for the culture that oppresses them?
Flamesparodyofchristmasname and nappies,the first thing to do is to establish whether reasonable nappies are significantly greener or not then disposable nappies. A couple of years ago the Environment Agency published a analysis of the 'life cycle'of different nappies which concluded that there wasn't much difference between disposable or reusable nappies.I want to see further research done to donfirm whether this is right or not. Without clear evidence one way or another, it will be difficult to ask councils to take further action.
Unquiet dad, to answer your first question, I doubt the Lib Dems will be in a position to play eeny-meeny-miny-mo (spelling?!)in British politics. For starters, politicians should never assume an outcome of an election before the voters have had their say. I suspect that if one of the other parties does not have a workable majority the question will fall most heavily on them whether they want to approach the Lib Dems or indeed make some deal amongst themselves. Either way, my sole task if i become leader of the Lib Dems will be to explain and explain again what we stand for, and that anyone who wants a more liberal Britain should vote for my party.
As for league tables, I think they are clumsy and rigid tools which often demoralise those schools who need the most help. I wouldn't scrap tables altogether, but i would like to emulate practice in other countries where the information contained is a far fairer reflection of the rounded qualities of each and every school.
To answer your question Littlesleighbellasringing. The first thing to say is that wherever possible we should do more to avoid family disputes coming to court in the first place. Courts become involved when there is a great deal of emotion, bitterness and mistrust, which court proccesses rarely dispel and often make worse. That is why i would like us to move towards compulsory mediation before child custody rows go to court. As for openness in family courts the government has just completed a public consultation on this and are due to be reporting soon.Personally, i would like to see more openness in family courts- though it is obvious that such openess should not take place in a way which harms children who are invariably innocent and vulnerable victims in deeply emotional conflicts in their own families.
i agree - i asked for flexible working too and it got turned down. it needs to be the right to flexible working hours not the right to ask for them imo.
But Nick - The right to ask for flexible working is not really that great. Because the employers can just say no. I organised my first flexible working change in 2001 so well before the new legislation. The second one required more negotiation but was originally turned down due to valid business reasons. I just argued my case VERY well and was going to use parental leave to give me nearly all I wanted.
How could you encourage employers to allow this, such as tax incentives?
Crossmount, responding to your question about food labelling, I'm very keen on giving consumers (especially parents) more information. Compared to other European countries, the diets of far too many British children are still far too unhealthy. This can only be changed if parents are given the right information to make the right decisions. I don't think it's illiberal to give parents the power to take good decisions for their children.
ooh I was hoping I wouldn't miss this. Nick, I have a question - I know that you're multilingual and spent time in Europe workwise, but what has your marriage to a Spaniard taught your about Britain's relationship with Europe?
JoJoJoy you ask about flexible working times. As a young dad with two small children, who also have a mum in a demanding full time job, i know exactly what you mean. I think we need to do a combination of things: give one lengthy allocation of paid parental leave to working couples so they can divide it up themselves in a way think suits their family best; extend the right to demand flexible working to all workers; and push employers, particularly big employers, to help provide some childcare facilities near or at the workplace as they do in many companies in Scandanavia. Above all, we must move away from this unproductive, macho culture of excessively long working hours in this country.
I would like to know what Nick's view is on increasing the number of part-time quality jobs for mums/dads/carers. It is so plainly obvious on websites such as these that this country has many very talented primary carers who would like to work flexibly around child or elder caring responsibilities doing work which makes use of the talents they developed prior to parenthood/caring responsibilities. There are so few of these type of jobs around and although the Government launched an initiative to try and do something about this, from what I have seen,this has had little impact in the real world.
How can the Lib Dems best exploit their position as the 'third' party to influence the government over major issues like climate change? What are your plans for constructive engagement to make a difference on the issues that matter, or will you be concentrating on party-political mudslinging?!
You and Huhne maintained (and confirmed on Question Time special) that you were of one party, you were mutually supportive and that neither one of you minded serving under the other. Why not toss a coin for the leadership? Or ask someone respectable like the Archbishop of York to choose?
I'm out at lunch but heard Vince Cable being v forthright about Northern Rock on the Today programme this morning and was rather impressed. I'd like to ask Nick if Cable's a better leader than you or Chris Huhne?
I'd like to know what Nick Clegg's position is on civil liberties. The government has been busy passing law after law redrawing the relationship between citizen (subject) and state, all of them in one direction - more power for the state. At one end of the spectrum, preventing demonstrations near to Parliament, at the other, detention without trial.
Would the Lib Dems uphold civil liberties and start repealing repressive laws? Would they ensure anti-terror legislation is only used in cases of terrorism and not against peaceful protests or people heckling MPs?
And following the Child Benefit debacle, would the Lib Dems abandon massive IT databases such as the NHS Spine, the largest civilian IT project in Europe?
but dishonesty is pretending to the electorate that, for example, your party would deport all illeagl immigrants in 5 minutes isn´t it? whether or not a party can really be voted in is up to the voters.
Is it not dishonest to the electorate to insist your party is currently a contender to govern in any capacity other than providing the balance of power in a hung Parliament? People have lost interest in dishonest answers.
Another vote for the work life balance question as well.
And another question: Do the Lib Dems agree with the proposed new database where all children born in the UK, will have their details on it? If so, are you all going to put your children's details on it? Or are you going to use the MP's and famous people's opt out? If it's not good enough for MP's children, why is it good enough for ours?
(OK so there are 4 question marks there, but it's sort of one ranting question!)
I agree with many of the points posted by unquietdad, martianbishop and monkeytrousers. if there isn´t enough time, then I vote for answers to their questions please.
if there is enough time, then this:
increasingly over the last 2 years, we´ve only heard from the lib dems when they want to slag off the government, even when the anti-government argument is not a natural lib dem one. I don´t remember having seen a single news story about the lib dems´ policies in a long time. In your view, is that because the media are biased against you, or because the Lib Dems have failed to come up with any coherent plans of their own in the last 2 years?
re the nappies comment since I actually voted for him already and everything! 
