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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be irritated by this Nick Clegg love-in?

113 replies

gramercy · 22/04/2010 08:20

I can't believe some of the comments I've read on here.

Somehow NC must be above reproach; it doesn't matter if there are expenses questions, donor questions, any questions. And heaven forfend that he is quizzed on policy. How very dare anyone challenge him? It would be soooo mean.

David Cameron is on the receiving end of comments on here about his poshness, but NC's privileged background is OK. Likewise his children attending a favoured Catholic primary school (because his wife is a Catholic - he isn't and professes atheism) - that's fine. But if DC sends his children to a nice faith school - that's bad. (Both as bad as each other, there, imo.)

If people support NC's "fairness" he keeps banging on about, then at least be fair in challenging him as well!

OP posts:
chandellina · 22/04/2010 08:24

YANBU. He is getting an easy ride. Everyone loves an underdog.

SloanyPony · 22/04/2010 08:38

I hate the new love fest too. Everyone's like, oooh, maybe I'll vote for Nick Clegg. So you want to be paid in Euros do you? No? Oh right. Still going to vote for him then?

jamaisjedors · 22/04/2010 08:39

What's wrong with being paid in Euros - millions are?

SloanyPony · 22/04/2010 08:58

Many dont want to move over to the Euro yet and feel it would be the wrong time for Britain to do so. Yet many dont seem to realise that the Lib Dems are committed to joining the Euro and are instead blinded by Clegg's charisma...that's all.

If you want the Euro, then vote for Clegg! Its your choice!

I just think the masses are not necessarily making an informed choice if they dont even realise that the Lib Dems are committed to joining the Euro. I know its subject to a referendum etc but if its not something a voter considers they want happening any time soon, they should definitely consider that in their decision of who they support.

There's a good article about the Euro here

Peaceflower · 22/04/2010 09:07

Carrying on the theme of last week's debate being an X-factor show, it's the contestant who least people object to winning.

Doesn't matter if he's not the best, they just don't want someone else to win because they don't like their hair/their way of talking/their clothes, their life story, etc etc.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 22/04/2010 09:07

YANBU. He has propelled himself into the race so he should be treated just the same as the other two main party leaders.

The hypocrisy around people still ranting on about DC going to Eton but not seeing NC having gone to Westminster as a problem is staggering.

Yes the guy is charismatic, but FGS we don't choose a future PM on the basis of his shaggability, do we?

MrsVidic · 22/04/2010 09:09

I think he came accross so well because he seemed to rise above the usual bitchy comments = etc. I'm not a lib dem btw.

SloanyPony · 22/04/2010 09:10

Thanks Alibaba. You just made me imagine shagging Gordon Brown. I feel dirty now

Ewe · 22/04/2010 09:11

It doesn't matter so much about the Euro as with the best will in the world Nick Clegg and the lib dems won't get a majority (or anywhere near one!).

If they have the balance of power, the other party is likely to have Europe as a sticking point. My best guess would be that in this situation they have to lose commitment to join Euro and as a result they will get electoral reform they want so badly.

scaryteacher · 22/04/2010 09:16

I don't want to join the Euro at all - prices are far cheaper in the UK, and joining the Euro will push prices up. The Belgians were shocked at the rise in prices when they changed from the Belgian Franc to the Euro.

I won't be voting Lib Dem as they cannot be trusted on Defence and Europe; and I don't wish for further European integration on any level. The Commission is barking and intent in having jurisdiction over all aspects of our lives because it can. It is a self aggrandising monster imo.

CagedBird · 22/04/2010 09:17

"The hypocrisy around people still ranting on about DC going to Eton but not seeing NC having gone to Westminster as a problem is staggering."

I don't think people have a problem with someone going to eton or having a privileged background, the problem was dc's whole "down with the kids/down with the poor people/down with the working class" tripe that he was pedalling in order to get some votes. He was supposed to be the grand master who bought the working class to the conservatives. I've yet to hear nc going on about this. Nobody goes on about GB's background either.

I do think that the debates are some x-factor propoganda rubbish and unfortunately a good number of people will vote based on this, but for me it introduced me to the lib dems (as this will be the first year of me voting) and some of their policies, which I then started looking into.

MumInBeds · 22/04/2010 09:21

Last I heard Lib Dems were committed to referendum not the Euro but maybe that has changed, we'll find out more tonight I guess.

I'm not sure there is a party that stands for everything I believe in and I imagine that is the case with most people, you just have to go with best fit. I agree that there is becoming too much of a focus on the leaders themselves though, a PM isn't a president and shouldn't be treated like one.

ahundredtimes · 22/04/2010 09:23

I agree with cagedbird.

I actually find the current counterpoint really insulting - if you decide to vote Lib Dem it's because you are a moron who thinks politics is like the x factor, and you're only voting for him because you think he has a nice suit.

It's wrong and it's patronising and rude.

Nick Robinson said pretty much exactly this on the Today programme this morning. Made me cross.

bambipie · 22/04/2010 09:25

It just terrifies me that people are considering voting for NC without even considering what lib dem policies actually are. As if the vote was so trivial that it's just a matter of voting for one or the other to be 'cool' or because of a misplaced belief that they are 'a normal guy'.

Sometimes I wonder if people should have to do a little test before voting
e.g. what is your favoured party's policy on XXXX.

ahundredtimes · 22/04/2010 09:25

Oh and judging my today's papers - there is no love-in. The conservative papers are out to get him, good and proper. Eugh.

ahundredtimes · 22/04/2010 09:27

bambipie - but how do you know that's true? You don't. You just assume it to be so.

I'm sure there are lots of people who vote because they think someone seems okay. And other people who vote because they agree with the policies.

It's odd to assume that people who might vote Lib Dem might do so because they actually agree with their policies.

bambipie · 22/04/2010 09:27

I don't think everybody who wants to vote lib dem is ignorant of they're policies, just lots of the recent band wagon jumpers.

bambipie · 22/04/2010 09:27

their not they're

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 22/04/2010 09:27

I'm not sure if you were watching the telly last thursday, gramercy, but he spent 90 minutes answering on policies?

And as that'll have been the first time many people ever heard the Lib Dems' policies discussed in public, it's hardly surprising that a number of them decided they agreed with them.
If you introduced 100 people to the Conservative party's policies, who were previously completely unfamiliar with them, I imagine quite a few would agree with them. It wouldn't necessarily mean they liked DC's haircut.

didgeridoo · 22/04/2010 09:28

YANBU. I thought a lot of his policies hadn't been properly thought through, especially on education. Maximum class sizes of 16!? Great in theory, but how big will the schools have to be to house the extra classrooms needed!? And where are all the extra teachers going to come from when they are already leaving the profession in droves? And where's all the money going to come from to pay for all of it?

And I don't want to join the Euro either. Europe is meddling enough in our affairs & making a hash of it as it is!

ahundredtimes · 22/04/2010 09:30

Sure - but that's democracy isn't it bambipie?

I still think it's wrong to say that if someone has decided to vote Lib Dem - for reasons you can't really know - that they are therefore unthinking or stupid or easily influenced by someone's suit.

I'm still cross about Nick Robinson's piece on the Today programme - it was so patronising. And not so very objective imo

hettie · 22/04/2010 09:32

mmme- yes he's getting such an easy ride despite 4 out of 5 of the uk's national newspapers running front page negative stories about him? And shovk hooror what if i actualy agree with most of the policies?

ahundredtimes · 22/04/2010 09:34

But I can also see that after the tv debate they did suddenly seem like a legitimate option and choice.

And that in some ways it might also be a vote for a new way of doing things - or a measure of disaffection with the other two.

But that's still as legitimate a reason to cast a Lib Dem vote, if that's what people want to do.

And doesn't make the people casting that vote morons.

MmeBlueberry · 22/04/2010 09:36

I don't get the love-in either.

He was a whiner at last week's debate and wasn't picked up on his hypocracy. He kept banging on about how the other two leaders were just saying things but not putting anything into practice. And that is exactly what he was doing too - he hasn't done anything, just did a lot of talking.

He deserves to be scrutinised now. Liberal policies are very, very scary.

herbietea · 22/04/2010 09:39

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