Nick Clegg on Mumsnet this Thursday (16th Sept) evening between 8 and 9 pm

[JustineMumsnet]

We're delighted that the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, will be joining us for a webchat this Thursday evening 8 and 9pm.

Next week the Deputy PM will be joining other world leaders, celebrities and business leaders who are gathering in New York for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit. He will be aiming for global action to reduce the shocking number of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth in the world's poorest countries.

Nick is happy to answer your questions on the UN summit as well as on his role as Deputy Prime Minster. Join us on Thursday evening or if you can't make it along then post your question (one each only please) here.

Thanks.

Nick, I have voted Lib Dem most of my adult life, though part of that is due to the fact that our constituency is two horse race between Lib Dem and Conservative.

I listened to the pre-election coverage and heared you say you would be protecting NHS and Education. So why do I now find my local hospital has a large budget deficit for next year and will have to cut jobs and beds ? Our desperately needed new Maternity unit looks like it has been shelved leaving an antiquated system that is often short staffed, a situation which surely can only lead to increased maternal mortality .

My friend is a practice nurse and her job is now under threat, her husband works in Drug and Alcohol services as does another friend, they are waiting to hear about the future of their jobs and really the list goes on. DH has already been made redundant and my small business which was just starting to recover from the last few years is going down the pan rapidly as people are cutting back gain in fear of what is to come and due to redundancy.

I also heard you talk about reduced class sizes which was something I wasn't actually concerned about at our local schools all have TA's and there were 2 adults per 30 children which I felt was fine. But recently I saw that TA's jobs are being axed, which will have a bit impact on classroom learning. Yesterday DS's teacher was asking for parents to help in the afternoon as she doesn't have a TA then and it makes it really difficult for her to get through the things she needs to with the whole class. friends who have spent the last couple of years training to be TA's can't get work.

What I'd like to know is how can things like this be happening (and this is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg, clearly more is to come) when both yourself and David Cameron stood up and assurred us all that front line services would be protected. Clearly they are not.

Nick
I do wonder why you are doing this webchat. Did you or your advisers really not think that this might be the reaction awaiting you?

Anyway, to my question.

When you look back on the past year, which decision would you like to unmake?

This is going to be my favourite webchat ever

The MDG summit seems to be a wet fish in terms of concrete benefits being given to poor members of our planet, and instead seems to be more ego driven - declared altruism never is altruistic.

Most of the MDG goals are failing, e.g. more than 1 billion will still live in extreme poverty by 2015. and in fact the best way to improve the situation in many of these countries is not about simply increasing aid which is what Nick is going to come on here and brag about - instead it is more about politics and fair government ( from a report by Andy Sumner - http://www.eadi.org/index.php?id=1108 here

So, if it is fair government they need, well.......do I need to say it?

link here

FGS people this thread is a disgrace! Fine, lot's of you think Nick sold out.

Lots of the posts on here don't even contain questions!

That's sweet, Tabouleh, but Nick is a big boy now

Dear Nick,

I was a libdem supporter. I even inspired and wore the Team Clegg Needs You badge:

www.flickr.com/photos/deathgob/4557544382/

?alas to no avail.

Question: How do you expect to improve maternal health and choice for any women in developing countries when you can't even manage it here?

Case in point. The Albany, a midwife led practice contracted to Kings College Hospital was closed last year following a report/investigation into a small number of neonatal injuries which SPECIFICALLY STATED that it was NOT a statistical report and therefore was NOT evidence on which such decisions should be taken. What do you propose to do to bring back the Albany and more practices like it, so that we can learn better about educating women about midwife lead birth and spread this education throughout the developing world.

From a Libdem Activist page

I tell you what Riv. I'd have him over for tea. I'd even offer cake. AS long as we don't have 'it's all Labour's fault' as the perpetual excuse: that bored. it's your all now LD and you can't prove you'd ahve done any better with a very complex fiscal situation anyway. Deal with it as adults not pointing and saying 'he did it Miss'.

Someone said about the whole progressive / regressive thing V campaigning on keep tories out was wrong: totally agree. As I said am not against colaition as such but totally against the way the entire LD voice has ben absorbed. As for the election pact- pah. That's actually quite nasty and controlling. It's not supposed to be about keeping a aprty out: it's suposed to be about having a range of options for what you ethically believe in surely? So reducing those options is a direct blow to the electorate as a whole.

Trouble is, it all makes sense under capitalism. Best way to blast strikes? A huge army of unemployed people ready to take on low paid jobs in minutes fearful of incredibly tiny benefits. If you apply pure capitalism to most of these things they aowrk: trouble is pure capitalism is horrid, it amkes mockeries of lives.

An example: today I got a flyer detailing that carers in Wales save the state an estimated £5.69 billion a year. So I am discussing this in enrolment queue at uni. person says they want carer's allowance removed so private homes and institutioncs can thrive and suport the economy with jobs and get carers sent out to raise revenue also. I ask about teh humanity behind this: the very real lives it would destroy (becuase if I hand to hand my boy to such a place absolutely it would destroy me). Apaprently it's not about niceness, pleasantry or kindness: it's about the £ and the pennies.

And if that's how you think then well what can you do? Except weep silently, of course. And be gratefult aht labour got in ehre dspite me LD vote because i'd have felt far worse had they not.

I wasn't going to post this, as it seemed trivial. But it's been nagging away at me since yesterday and, since I read this morning's report in the Guardian about the MDG summit, it suddenly seemed less than trivial.

The UN summit has some amazing ambitions, and I'm pleased that our government, regardless of what I think of the coalition, is an active participant. But what on earth are celebrities doing there?

Is it the case that, because this about women, we have to have someone pretty/handsome to look at? Talk about trivialising a seriously important issue.

Good Q BIWI.

Celeb culture- pah.

A maternal death related query for Mr Clegg: given in the poorest countries, so many factors (distance from health facilities in case of complications, lack of infrastructure, poverty of population, unhealthy living conditions where clean water and clean air is far from the norm,lack of education and suspicion of the new, to name but a few) contribute to the maternal death statistics, how is this conference actually envisaged to tackle all of these contributing issues?

That's a really good question dinkystinky. It's why I asked down the thread what NC is learning - it's such a huge, huge web of poverty, malnutrition, lack of access to hygienic conditions (NB doesn't have to be a hospital), depressing attitudes towards women, random cultural factors, fear

If hygiene is the biggest "saviour" of pregnant women, how do they propose to change global society to ensure that all women have access to a hygienic environment to give birth in? If nutrition is the next biggest factor - well, that's a hard one too. [understatement]

And where does the aftermath of childbirth fit into this? Infection, fistulae, prolapse etc. These can ruin lives.

I voted lib dem, and I will again.

I would like Nick to press for more investment into adult literacy in the developing world. Women who can't read are seriously disadvantaged when it comes to accessing healthcare.

Profound parliamentary change was the only reason I voted Lib Dem. So I'd like to ask Clegg whether he thinks that a referendum on the Alternative Vote (with the Conservatives free to badmouth this relatively minor electoral reform while the Lib Dems are campaigning for a Yes vote) is enough of a move in the direction of proportional representation to justify the Lib Dems' participation in the coalition. It is a much less decisive step towards PR than I expected them to hold out for.

I would like to ask Mr Clegg why have the government put a stop to the free swimming for U16s and over 60s? This may cost the NHS more in the long run when you consider the impact of rising obesity and an increasingly sentient society. This mealy mouthed penny pinching will have deeper more costly impacts in the future.

Since the coalition governent came in -
dh works for local council - half his team made redundant, the ones left cannot physically do the work - the building he works in is being sold off and his job will end in a year. My job - council have cut our funding and arts council cut the rest. My job will end next year.

I work with vulnerable people and i have never experienced this level of worry and uncertainty - social services support being removed, people left unsupported and services knowing that by March they will no longer exist.

We both feel totally bleak and anxious about the future, how will we pay the mortgage, how will we support our children? We live in a rural area where jobs are scarce, we've both worked hard and feel like the government have just unravelled our future with startling efficiency.

Is this really the only way?

With regards to the employment statistics today, there so many jobs offered in local papers and the job center by employment agencies, BUT when called up they say they do not have any vacancies, they say they are no longer accepting (even a day after advertising) or the requirement for Identification is a Birth Certificate (which i believe is not a valid proof of ID as it states so on the actual certificate) a valid Passport or a National Insurance Card?

Question 1
My question is Nick Are the Government asking for Job Centre and Employment Agencies to advertise jobs that are not there, and also why do English people need to provide a Birth Certificate when a P45 or P60 or an out of date passport would be relevant for proof of identification as it proves that they have already being passed via the Home Office?

the not for

i ask this question because my husband and i are out of work, me due to the cost of extortionate child care rates and my husband was finished from work in July because of illness. Since then he has signed up with JSA and is searching for jobs daily, to no success. Warehouse jobs are not hard he has 10 years experience of working in warehousing but yet no one will take him on because his passport is 2 years out of date, he lost his NI Card when he was younger and his Birth Certificate, he cannot find. His mum does not have it and she said that it is on a small copy - which would not provide proof of identification because when this certificate was issued, a birth before marriage was frowned up on.

2nd Question
I am a 24 year old female who has had two children in the last 4 years. Currently i am experiencing problems, my symptoms mirror those of the signs of Cervical Cancer. I have seen doctors, nurses, Gynecologist but i am too young for a smear test. i am extremely annoyed that the petition to lower the age of Smear tests in young women from 25 to 20 was thrown out? I have being told to ask for a smear the day after my birthday - so what will change over night from me being 24 on the Saturday and me turning 25 on the Sunday. I believe the reason that was given for this is wrong on all levels.

My 2nd question is
Will this be looked at again, too many women are getting diagnosed with Cervical Cancer and are dying because of this, leaving behind children. Many of my friends have had smears and they are the same age as me, does it go what area you live in? I am in East Yorkshire (Goole)

Seing as half of these are not questions but digs at Mr Clegg. Please can i ask a 3rd and final question?

Question 3

As the VAT rises in January to from 17.5% to 20% will the benefits be going up, benefits including JSA? We find it hard to survive as it is, and come January this will be even worse for us.

We would get a job but like i have said previously Child costs prevent me from working and jobs being advertised are none exsistant according to the Agencies advertising them.

Following is my first ever link which I hope works. It should be a summary of the MDGs aims and progress which I think is a little bit on the positive side but worth reading if you want to engage with Mr Clegg on the matter.

{www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/57964/2010/08/14-144854-1.htm

As I have nothing constructive to say to Mr Clegg probably best to say nothing. I am very heartened by the other messages however and very glad to see them.

CLS some are going down, if anything: have a look at housing benefit to see if youa re affeected (but it is complex as it's to do with length of time on benefit and average priced house in your area- and area is a quite sizeable geographocal area. To move to the average priced area we'd have to hand in all 3 school palces: praying we never need to rely on that!)

I would suggest that after the next batch of anouncements you need to take a trip to your local CAB to get a full benefit check done, see what you are entitled to and how it will all be affected. But no, don't expect rises at all. Neither though should tou read the headlines and panic- it's not set in stone yet. For example, there's a rumour that people getting EMA will be subject to a time limit on claiming. Am hoping treasure see stupidity of that given that some people are severely disbled or whatever and a time limit is meaningless to them- triply so when back to work services are likely to be cut!

Hello Nick Clegg - a lone voice saying I think you did the right thing to form a coalition. Over time I hope you will be assertive enough to influence Tory policy. No-one really won the election but Labour certainly lost. I hope they can form an effective opposition again but in the meantime I am delighted to see the Tories working with the LibDems. I don't think you sold out.

I don't have a question but I do hope your party will continue to pursue the improvement of the status of women across the world. I'm sorry people have used this to rant instead of to ask questions. Have a nice glass of wine later.