tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post6768209170867909103..comments2024-03-28T22:32:50.562+00:00Comments on Liberal England: Scenes from a Westminster with no governmentJonathan Calderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00730157683743989696noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1643333461071704842010-05-11T19:00:42.564+01:002010-05-11T19:00:42.564+01:00Well it's certainly given the media lots to ta...Well it's certainly given the media lots to talk about and kept everyone on the edge of their seats. But there are plenty of other interesting things going on in politics that are being missed. For example, I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more discussion about the major transition between generations we are witnessing in the leadership of our country. After years of Baby Boomer Prime Ministers, and a Boomer-dominated Parliament, we now have a new generation in charge: Generation Jones…the previously lost generation between the Boomers and Generation X. We’ll probably have a GenJones PM in Cameron, or ultimately in David Miliband or Jon Crudas and Parliament now as more Jonesers than Boomers. Similar transitions have happened in other Western countries and it provoked a lot of media interest. In fact, it got so much media buzz after Joneser Barack Obama came to power that the associated Press labelled Generation Jones as the #1 trend of 2009.<br />This commentary about GenJones in The Independent last week has a very interesting take on the meaning of Clegg and Cameron’s identities as GenJonesers: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/jonathan-pontell-cleggs-rise-is-the-sound-of-generation-jones-clearing-its-throat-1961191.html<br /><br />I also found this site worth looking at to get a quick sense of GenJones in the UK:<br />http://www.generationjones.org.uk/Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17754316291283546569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-33816552285111540952010-05-11T16:10:11.271+01:002010-05-11T16:10:11.271+01:00So, after all that, when all is said and done, let...So, after all that, when all is said and done, let me re-post my post of Friday. If it was so obvious to me, an ordinary voter, why was it not to the LibDem leadership? They have now stupidly undermined their entire argument on coalition Government and ended up looking craven and unprincipled. This will play VERY badly for the Liberals in England in the next election AND in any referendum on voting reform....<br /><br />Here it is<br /><br />"<br /><br />Anyhow, just wanted to say that "I agree with Vince". <br /><br />Vince Cable pointed out this morning that the electorate had delivered a "perfect snooker". That's correct. So, let's examine it. <br /><br />1/ Try to play the red ball? No chance. You'll hit the yellow and be docked points. That's inevitable. Despite the thousands of column inches and millions of TV words, this is all but impossible and at least Nick Clegg seems to know that well. <br /><br />2/ Don't play the ball at all? In 9 out of 10 cases, this might be possible. However, "what's best for the country" means that today (if you take that course), you'll be mullered in England in the next election for sure. It also entirely negates the cause of coalition Government - a sensational double own-goal. The ball has to be played. There is no choice. <br /><br />3/ So, you have to play the blue ball. In the perfect snooker, the question then is, what sort of shot can be played? The truth is that if you play anything less than a fully committed strike, you'll miss. Above everything else, you need to hold out for a LONG agreement because a short term agreement will kill you. You need time to make it work and you need to avoid a no-win short-term re-election. Be clear, PR CANNOT be delivered. It doesn't matter who promises it, it can't actually happen. Cameron won't promise it because he knows his back-benches won't deliver. Brown promises it anyhow EVEN THOUGH he knows his back-benches won't deliver. Aditionally, no moral imperative can be claimed because the truth is the PR Party was CREAMED in the actual election (there's no getting away from this). I reckon the top LD brass know this right well. If this is a deal-breaker, you're truly snookered. <br /><br />Don't forget, there's a huge penalty to pay for not playing the ball. <br /><br />Simples.Brett - Chorleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-12347030844194170152010-05-11T06:28:16.545+01:002010-05-11T06:28:16.545+01:00As an English Tory voter, I can honestly say I hav...As an English Tory voter, I can honestly say I have rarely felt so angry as I did on hearing about this undemocratic Lab / Lib / SNP / etc. etc. stitch up. I can (with heavy heart) accept Labour government when they have won an election but this is outrageous and could presage the break up of the UK. Thousands of others will feel the same.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-571096942474591212010-05-10T19:26:47.021+01:002010-05-10T19:26:47.021+01:00"And one new Tory said: 'No one knows wha..."And one new Tory said: 'No one knows what's going on. No one knows anything.'"<br />But we DO know what's going on! We may not know who's said what or is about to decide what, but we pretty much know what's going on, rather unusually. Isn't it wonderful?Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04799773846241206855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-12148673315566095162010-05-10T17:37:24.344+01:002010-05-10T17:37:24.344+01:00It looks to me, after Brown's speech, that the...It looks to me, after Brown's speech, that they've been stringing the Tories along in public so as to deal quietly with Labour in private. Brown's announcement looks like part of the timing of that.<br /><br />I remember February 1974. I was IVC of NLYL. All of the party was opposed. Thorpe had to go through the motions and got an attractive offer (Home Office for him and Scottish Office for Grimond) but in the end he had no choice.Lavengro in Spainhttp://lavengro.typepad.com/lavengro_in_spain/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-10512870857234742072010-05-10T17:33:19.410+01:002010-05-10T17:33:19.410+01:00Backing the losers?
You FOOLS. You'll NEVER ...Backing the losers? <br /><br />You FOOLS. You'll NEVER recover in England from this.Brett - Chorleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-29976737674216173122010-05-10T15:38:51.547+01:002010-05-10T15:38:51.547+01:00by the way, there's a few facebook pages oppos...by the way, there's a few facebook pages opposing the deal - one of them picked up something like 46,000 members in 2 days - just incase you don't believe that their is anger out there - that's just a sample. All of the young voters that Clegg brought on board will turn their back on the party or just stop voting. You can't fudge the fact that fundamentally, the conservative party are opposed to mass democracy movements and will only except very limited reform.Roskohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16530152381769001418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-20848060456396063802010-05-10T15:33:13.917+01:002010-05-10T15:33:13.917+01:00We've got two boarding school toffs and their ...We've got two boarding school toffs and their cronies in secret meetings to decide how they're going to reconcile two diametrically opposed set of poltical principles and sell it to the public. We'll call that a real victory for democracy. Oliver Letwin smiling back at us "Don't worry plebs, we'll deal with ruling, you just concentrate on working." - if the federal conference gets conned into this they are signing their own death warrant - all of your centre left voters will leave the party and never return, and there's a hell of a lot more of them than the fiscally conservative liberals.Roskohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16530152381769001418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-42315223142027990582010-05-10T14:30:37.757+01:002010-05-10T14:30:37.757+01:00There was general agreement amongst them that ther...<i>There was general agreement amongst them that there is currently an unreal atmosphere at Westminster. And one new Tory said: "No one knows what's going on. No one knows anything.</i><br /><br />So no change there then ;-)Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08421348487212137159noreply@blogger.com