im sttruggling to come to terms with this..

[David Johnson]

"As soon as the Tories don't need them, it's goodbye to the Lib Dems and a return to being firmly in the third place in politics."

Agreed. It's like an X factor winner that has their moments of glory and then sinks back into nonentity. Lets just hope Cleggie aint a Leona Lewis !happy!

Cheers
D

"Do I think that these big, big cuts are merited or justified at a time when the economy is struggling to get to its feet? Clearly not. Of course I would vote against cuts which would destroy any chance we would have of having a sustainable recovery." Nick Clegg to Jeremy Paxman re. the Tory planned 6 billion cuts in 2010 his party have just accepted in full as part of the Lib Dem Con coalition.

[number 6]

All i can say David is its going to be a bloody long hard 5 years befrore we can take revenge on these bastards.

[number 6]

I honestly think this phoney power hungry power sharing coalition will get absolutely hammered when the next election comes round

[David Johnson]

Well there is the facility for an election to happen before the end of the 5 year fixed term period in the case of government collapse.

Cheers
D

"You have aligned yourself with nutters, anti-Semites, people who deny climate change exists and homophobes" Nick Clegg on Cameron's alignment with extreme right wing parties in the European parliament. There are no changes to Cameron foreign policy in the Lib Dem Con coalition.

[Sam Slater]

[quote]Clegg should be out of a job, after flopping so badly in the polls, yet here he is strutting about like a peacock.[/quote]

He didn't flop badly in the polls. He did very well in the polls. I think you're talking about the election. An easy mistake. Whether he flopped in the election or not depends on your expectations. The Liberal Democrats' vote share went up 1%, the Tories' 3.8%. I'd say that considering Cameron had a 20%+ lead in the polls a month ago and since Labour lost over 100 seats then the biggest flops were Labour and the Tories not winning the election outright.

[quote]One thing you can be absolutely sure of though, not one Lib Dem MP has any principles at all.[/quote]

Lol. Why? Because a group of individuals have made a decision to compromise on differences and attempt to work together? Coalitions are commonplace in many countries around the world. That's a whole lot of MPs. Maybe the coalition government between 1940 and 1945 made for 'unprincipled MPs'.

[quote]Vince Cable in particular must be feeling like the biggest joke in politics today, although he obviously has no shame.[/quote]

You suspect VC sees himself as a joke but also that he has no shame? Hmmm... Not necessarily contradictory but you'd have to be one sick man to consider yourself a joke and not be shamed by it. VC is an intelligent guy with a PHD in economics. I doubt he sees himself as a joke.

[quote]The only consolation is that these fools who think they're relevant will very soon learn they're not. As soon as the Tories don't need them, it's goodbye to the Lib Dems and a return to being firmly in the third place in politics.[/quote]

Given the history of politics, that does seem likely. And given the Lib Dem MPs are politicians my guess is that they aren't as blind to this as you seem to think....unless you think yourself much more wise and knowledgeable of political history and human relations than all the Lib Dam MPs that have dedicated their lives to the subject......well, do you?

Regardless, like I admit, it seems more likely than your other assumptions, which, for me, is a credit to their bravery. They realise this alliance could be a disaster for them politically but think it's worth the risk to serve the public better than a unhindered Tory minority. Very principled indeed!

[randyandy]

Sam

During the BBC 6 O'clock love-in between Green Dave & Clegg they both said they will fight each other at the local elections.

Not having any knowledge of the Lib Dems, other than seeing a significant number joining Labour in the last few days, I am struggling to see how this works.

I am not having a dig or anything because as I said I've no idea how they work. Can you explain how they will go about it?

I get compromise (sort of) but to win Local you need knowledge of National and if they are to fight at Local I am confused at the we won't fight but compromise comments.

[David Johnson]

Hi,
You ask Sam a question re. how the local v. Westminster elections will work with regard to the Lib Dem/Conservative coalition.

Another thing that might be worth considering is how by elections for the Westminster parliament will work.

For example the election for THirsk and Malton is still to take place because the UKIP candidate died. The vote takes place at the end of May.

The Lib Dem candidate Howard Keal, a Ryedale councillor, claimed the Lib Dems were in a two-horse race with the Conservatives and he was looking to a ?full-on fight? and a chance to ?upset the apple cart?, adding: ?I hope disgruntled Conservatives ? of which there are plenty ? will lend me their vote.?

This potentially creates the strange situation where Keal attacks the Conservative candidate, highlighting the advantages of Lib Dem policies, presumably,(otherwise what is the differentiator) on this that and the other and then finding himself at Westminster, voting for or being asked to abstain voting on policies which were formerly viewed with horror by Lib Dems.

Cheers
D

[randyandy]

Agree David. Like I said from our perspective it looks like it can't be done or if it is done it will be a vote for coalition not party, that's why I asked Sam for how it looks from their side of things.

Julia Goldsworthy was on This Week tonight praising the new link up but I do not believe for one minute that she was happy to lose her position as an MP in order for the coalition with compromise to be created, despite the smiles and giggles laid on.

[Ned]

They lost five seats after bragging about being the new force in politics all the way through the campaign. Incidentally, "the polls" means the REAL poll. The vote on the day. It's called polling day for a reason you know, because you do the only real and meaningful poll of the population by asking them to put an X in a box. So talk your way around things all you like, he fucked it up, lost seats instead of gaining ground and should be looking for a job outside party politics today.

Sadly he's an unprincipled cunt but I guess the ministerial Jag soothes whatever miniscule traces of a conscience he has about dumping his voters in this way.

[The Last Word]

I'm struggling to come to terms with agreeing with Lord Tebbit on the issue ("As they say, marry in haste and repent at leisure.")

I fear he's right, and like many a marriage, once the initial thrill has worn away it will all end in tears.

Ours.