Anyone else going off Clegg?

[dinosaurinmybelly]

I thought he was very cocky last night, interrupting the others several times to slag off their debating style rather than their policies. It was probably justified in one instance, but certainly not the 4 or so times that he did it - in fact it was annoying that he interrupted what was good quality debate at times.

I'm starting to worry about exactly how much he would listen to the public if he were elected. I didn't like his comment that he was a negotiator "on behalf of all of us" in his early career. How much do we know about this guy? Who would be his key advisors if he were to govern, and how much would he actually listen to them? I love the idea of electoral reform and a fresh new government, but is this really the time to be electing someone with less experience, who is pro-Europe, sketchy on defence, and populist on the economy?

Rather disappointing to see that while NC suggests getting all parties round the table together with Governor of Bank of England to put together a strategy that would last more than one parliament and not be pulled to pieces by another party, neither DC, nor GB had the backbone to answer (yes, good idea, or justify why not).

Not once did he ask, but twice, and was twice ignored. That smacks to me of being supercilious because they don't want to acknowledge a proposal that makes sense!

While so many other things are significant, if the economy isn't sorted out so the deficit can be reduced, all the other plans will come to nothing anyway. Cooperation seems to be a dirty word for the two smug gits ones who have been forced, kicking and screaming, to accept the 'third' party could make a big difference to their abilities to get policies through.

NC is full of it, if he actually thought he stood a chance of being the majority party he wouldn't be using this 'let's work together' ploy to try to make himself look good.

Other Lib dems have been offered a place in the labour government PA comes to mind, but the lib dems don't play well with others do they.

Coming late to this but I have got to take issue with GetOrf's comment about North Devon. I am a Labour party member, and I agree that at a local poliitcs level the LibDems here are not totally inspiring, but Nick Harvey is a good constituency MP who works hard and does a good job for people here and I will happily vote for him next week. The Tory candidate on the other hand is a vile creep, a sanctimonous bigot who actually said in an interview with the local paper that giving housing benefit directly to claimants was "like giving alcoholics the keys to the wine cellar" because single mothers might choose to spend the money on food for their children rather than give it to their landlord.
You may not like what the LDs are doing here, but consider the alternative.

I womder if HB direct to LL will be compulsory agin then? if so may as well hand my house over on elecxtion day as LL refuses that role.

Clegg is WET and keeps promoting consensus politics that all the people uneducated in politics will agree with. It's annoying having to listen to him going on about fairness. He has also clearly been to the Tony Blair school of waving your hands around and general smarmyness...

That's just rude rosie- if you don't agree with me then you know nothing, is that it?

There's an assumption that rears it's head from time to time that people who vote LD are panic buying him: whilst that may or may not be the case for some (and if so reflect on the other candidates and you may gain understanding) a great many people like me have voted LD on and off for eryars, have a lot of political awareness and the ability to make decisions. I have a LD Assembly member and DH had a LD MP, both of whom we admire. This is not panic buying, it is voting abseed on our own experiences and political motivations.

Nick Clegg CANNOT be PM! I also cannot understand how seemingly intelligent parents can think he is capable of running this country and that his policies are valid!
Lib Dems will:
Sell this country out to the Euro;
Will NOT stop benefits for scroungers;
Will put VAT for the first time on new homes bought;
Will abolish Trident and therefore let our country's defences down;
Wants teachers working weekends and evenings; (err.....when do I get to see my own kids?!)
AND
claimed that 80% of immigrants were from the EU and therefore cannot be stopped......Er no: in fact in the last year 32& of immigrants were from the EU....How embarrasing for a man wanting to run this country to get his figures SO wrong and then try and make out David Cameron's policy was unachievable! WHAT A JOKE!!

I believe: If you're a decent, hardworking and honest person, you'll vote Tory!

JUdith could you explain how you will stop benefits for scroungers please without affecting genuine claimants? That being, after all, The Golden Chalice of policy

I live in Cornwall which is very strong Lib Dem. They repaid this loyal support by forcing a Unitary Authority on us to replace our district councils.

They held a vote, 80% of the Cornish said no, but they did it anyway! So much for strengthening local democracy .

I think they may be in for a bit of a bruising from Cornwall on Thursday.

I have never been impressed by him. I think it is the eyes, sort of dead looking. Don't trust the economic proposals, hate the idea that they want to scrap the road spending and put it all into rail. My suspension still hasn't recovered from the pot holes, in fact, it is still being pounded to death.

I think that all the media outlets have got themselves into such a frenzy over a hung parliament that they are now trying to engineer one. They saw Clegg look straight at them in the first debate and 'fell in love' so had to big him up.

Judith817 - have you been reading the Daily mail?!

please tell us what david cameron's policies are eg. how is he going to control immigration? and what is wrong with vat on new homes. I don't want 100s of tacky new noddy homes built on green belt land to be honest. The tories said they want to build lots of new homes whereas the lib dems want to use the 1000s of empty properties.

If you are a teacher in a state school I can't believe you are thinking of voting tory as they are most likely to cut spending in the state sector. Teachers and other civil servants will realise they have got off lightly so far and wake up to the reality of low non existant pay rises/ job cuts that the private sector has already gone through.

The tories are not offering any financial incentives for middle to high earners to vote for them.. Eg married tax benefit only on incomes less than 45k, cutting down tax credits, would not be surprised if they means test child benefit. Weird they aren't offering anything to those who would traditionally vote for them. I think they will mainly look after the very top earners who would lose out under the mansion tax and the wealthy retired with the inheritance tax thing.

The tories will probably cut down on a lot of waste in the public sector and I'd agree with that as long as it is quangos, bureaucracy and not frontline staff like teachers, nurses. I think their plan for 65 yr olds to pay 8000 up front for care is better than the current situation.

The tories have said no to voting reform which is the main reason I won't vote for them.

I think the tories will get in so you don't really need to worry.

joedevizes - pot hole filling is controlled by county councils. I live in surrey (tory) and the roads are in a terrible state..although slightly improving now the election is nearly here. Funny that. In terms of new investment it is much more environmentally friendly to build railways rather than roads isn't it?

Roads here (LAbour) totally fucked too.

Maybe we should all vote - what, UKIP?- if roads are the priority tbh.

Sit in cornwall sounds dire. however Dh grew up un der another LD authority and loves it. here we are Labour (Tories no chance) but when we badly needed help we emailed the Labour MP and he sent an email saying not his field sorry, sent same one to LD AM (AM will give clue why not Tory LOL) and he was here, on my sofa, resolving issue within 24 hours (issue was to do with my disabled son and school).

You can perhaps understand why, here, LD are getting my vote. Same team.

Oh and the fact I belive passionately in PR, but am horrified by the whole WMD thing, and whilst not at the moment and generally pro Euro in the longer term.

I think Clegg is the best of the bunch though. In the debates he really showed how his policies would address the problems we face.

Whereas Cameron doesnt seem to have any useful policies, unless you have millionaire parents about to pop their clogs (like Cameron, who stands to inherit £30 million.. hm wonder why he went for that 'No inheritance tax' policy then?).

Brown, I feel quite sorry for, he's done some good things but has raided the coffers and is just not suited to leadership.

Isn't N.C beginning to sound like a used car salesman.Picture him in a serious diplomatic meeting talking to Putin about North Korea. Perhaps instead imagine Arab Israeli peace talks. Do we want someone on the world stage peddling "you're the boss, not me" ideas? A "man of the people" style is inapropriate.
Leadership means being extraordinary, not plain ordinary.

smells of fish

"Picture him in a serious diplomatic meeting talking to Putin ..."

I can and thats what scares me..

" well we don't have a proper nuclear deterent anymore so if you want to start up the cold war again, we can't stop you..."

He's got a lot more experience of international negotiation than Cameron has. He managed the EU's team negotiating Chinese and Russian accession to the WTO, among other things.

What's Cameron's experience here again?

"He managed the EU's team negotiating Chinese and Russian accession to the WTO, among other things."

Yes we all know he's a Euro brat prat crat and that he wants nothing more to sell us out to his paymasters in Brussels, you don't need to keep reminding us, but thanks.

It is the labour/tory govts who have signed away powers to Europe. I don't think any of the 3 main parties are proposing to withdraw from the EU. If you don't want to be in the EU you have to vote UKIP not tory.

Snowlady thats a very good point.

Its weird how there are so many Cons on here, desperate to spread rumours.

I saw Nick Cleggs debate with Paxman, he was again really strong. Cameron however was on the back foot all the time, none of his policies or ideas stood up to serious questioning (hence resorting to rumour spreading?). Paxman absolutely wiped the floor with Cameron, so I DO NOT want to see him in a negotiating position! It would be dangerous.

Sessypoos - you don't know what you're talking about. The Conservative inheritance policy means you don't pay up to 1 million which actually would not benefit Cameron that much if his parents have 30 million. It's more likely to help the people who have say a house worth a million and a couple in cash or investments.

Sessypoos we must've been watching a different Paxman interview - but then I suppose everyone sees what they want to see when they watch something like that. I found Paxman himself a bit weak on all 3 discussions asking pushing ill-informed questions on all 3 of the candidates just to get some kind of reaction. Not very useful at all in getting to the heart of things. I don't think he wiped the floor with anyone, perhaps losing his touch...

As for the point of snowlady - we are involved with Europe, but neither the Tory nor Labour government are in favour of giving up as much power to Europe as NC. We are currently setting our own monetary policy for example. It is a multi-layer process - I think you'd be surprised how retaining the level of independence we have, whilst still having a seat at the table has served us well to date.

I have to say I too think we should be more worried about NC's time spent in higher education in Europe, than about DC's time at Eton. If you are pro-Europe however, of course you are going to be excited about having NC at the helm

"If you don't want to be in the EU you have to vote UKIP not tory."

There's a difference between not wanting to be in the EU and not wanting to be governed by the EU.