Nice to get an email that wasn't just about trying to get us to work or get some money out of us!
Merry Christmas everyone.
Dear Chris,
Best wishes and many thanks for all of your support this year -
Happy Christmas from the Clegg family
Nick Clegg
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
It was suggested to me by someone who's been involved in politics for far longer than me that all these rumours of a March general election may not be as innocent as they seem. We have to ask who has the most to gain out of rumours of an early general election?
The public? Almost certainly not. I would argue that the majority of the public don't follow political news closely enough to care whether the general election will be in 4 months time or 6 months time.
The media? I suppose it's a good story but there isn't much motivation in them pushing forward a March date. The vast majority of papers are loving the Brown-bashing and probably want to stretch that out for as long as possible.
The politicians? Not really. Many will be retiring or losing their seats at the next election and have no desire to bring that forward.
This brings us on to the last big player in politics. The parties. (WARNING: This bit is very cynical!). If the parties keep talking up the March election it serves them well in a number of ways.
Towards the end of last week the 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign was stolen from over the gates of Auschwitz. The BBC has the story here.
What kind of people would do this? The whole point od the Auschwitz-Berkanau museum is that it's so real. The sheds are still there, the crematoria, the barbed wire, the gates, the guard towers and the sign. Places like Auschwitz should be preserved forever as closely as possible to their original state. It's only through this constant reference to the past that we as a society avoid making the same mistakes.
What we too often forget is that Germany just before the Nazis was a Western European country similar to our own but within 15 years committed the most horrible crimes in the history of humanity. This should always be a warning of what humans are capable of and must never be forgotten. I hope the sign is swiftly returned to this sinister and chilling place so generations to come can visit and be reminded: never again.
Finally the Lib Dems have confirmed that scrapping tuition fees will be our policy come the general election. Here's the full text of the email sent by Nick Clegg to all party members:
Dear Chris,
I'm writing to let you know some good news about the Liberal Democrat manifesto - good news for students and for everyone who wants a fairer Britain. This week the Party's federal policy committee agreed a way to deliver one of our most important policies, the scrapping of unfair tuition fees. We've developed a plan to phase out tuition fees over the course of the next six years, to ensure this vital policy is affordable even at this time of economic crisis.
Labour and the Conservatives refuse to address the issue of fees and there is a real danger that both of them would lift the cap on fees which could mean even more debt for students when they leave university. We think that is wrong and our policy will prevent it happening.
It's simply wrong to penalise people who want to make the best of themselves by saddling them with enormous mortgage-style debts from the day they graduate - especially when we know the root of the current economic crisis was too much debt. And it's clear that people from disadvantaged backgrounds are far more likely to be put off going to university if it costs them tens of thousands of pounds. In a fair society, university admissions should be based on your grades and intelligence, not the wealth of your parents. You should decide whether going to university makes sense for you - and you shouldn't have to make the decision based on your bank balance.
We were right to oppose tuition fees from day one, and have been right to continue to oppose any lifting of the cap on the limit of fees. The government has been obsessed with artificial targets for how many people should go to university, while putting barriers in their way in the shape of fees. My priority is making degrees affordable, and that means scrapping these unfair fees, including for those who study part-time. This is vital, because it tends to be older or poorer students who can't afford a full-time degree, but under current rules they have to pay up-front, while everyone else is allowed to defer their payments.
Of course, at a time of economic crisis, when the government has got the public finances into a mess, it is extremely important to be responsible about making a big financial commitment like this. Students want to be treated like grown ups; they know money doesn't grow on trees and that big spending committments like this are only affordable over time. That's why we have agreed together to lay out a financially responsible timetable to scrap fees, step by step, over the six years after the General Election.
Final year tuition fees will be the first to go. Too many people drop out, often put off by the huge costs. We'll make it easier to stay on, because no student will pay any fees to complete their degree. In 2011, we'll get help to part-time students, regulating the fees they pay (a vital step towards abolishing them). In 2012, part-time students will be able to access the same loans as full-time students. In 2013, we'll extend free tuition to second year students. In 2014, we'll extend that same free tuition to part time students. And in 2015, as the public finances are recovering, we will be able to afford to abolish all remaining fees.
Labour's recession has made it more difficult to find the money to fund our priorities. That's why we are right to adapt our plans for big spending commitments and why it is right that our General Election manifesto will focus this time on a smaller number of key commitments. But our message to students is clear: we remain the only party that believes fees are unfair, and the only party with a plan to get rid of them for good.
All best wishes,
Nick Clegg
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
The New Statesman has this interesting article about the right wing bloggers relationship with CCHQ, although Sam Coates seems to suggest it's a lot of nonsense which is quite possible given the New Statesmans record. As does Shane Greer in his post here.
Without meaning to join in with the Labour 'bash the toffs' campaign, the menu does say a lot about the Tories! Sounds lovely though!
Seems like it's a bit of a negative day for the Tories on here!
This story from Lib Dem Voice about the effective war between a Tory councillor and a local residents group in Southend.
Now almost anyone who's been involved in local politics will, at some point, have come across some mad local residents associations but the best way to deal with them is not to go to war with them as this Tory councillor seems to have done!
I generally don't mind some of the robust campaigning that goes on in politics. It's part and parcel of the game.
But what certain tory bloggers seem to be doing with Kerry McCarthy (Labour MP in Bristol) is just nasty. Tory Bear and Iain Dale seem to have started quite a personally nasty campaign about her. This type of thing just isn't called for. They're not calling into question her ability to do the job, some of the terrible things she has voted for in the past or some of the policies she believes in (all of which would be legitimate lines of attack). Instead they are attacking her as a person. This kind of thing just isn't called for in politics and just puts people off.
Seems Tory Bear has also launched this pathetic 'Get Kerry Out Website'. Disgusting.
I decided to write this post after all the confusion that there has been around the Lib Dem position on tuition fees. The root of the confusion seems to lay with Nick Clegg and some of the statements he made before the party conference this year. Clegg suggested that certain flagship policies (like the tuition fees policy) may have to be temporarily abandoned because they were unaffordable under current economic conditions.
But just look at how it was reported in the media here. This story is just not true. The Liberal Democrats never even came close to scrapping the tuition fees pledge.
But I suppose the more important question is why the media chose to report the story in this way. The answer is simple really: they just don't understand how we work. We are the only one of the three main parties that makes policy democratically. Every local party in the country elects a number of representatives and these representatives attend regional and national party conferences where our policy is decided. The delegates also elect all the internal party bodies that decide what is in our manifesto, the most important being the Federal Policy Committee (FPC). The party and the FPC have consistently voted to keep our policy to scrap tuition fees over the last few years but one statement from one party member (a very important one to be fair) that went against the parties position and suddenly the media are reporting that we have abandoned one of our key policies.
We have to compare ourselves to the other two parties, as the media do, to find out why we are viewed in this way. The simple answer is that we are unique. If Brown or Cameron were to make a statement about policy then it would be adopted by their respective parties straight away but Clegg can say whatever he wishes and it still won't be policy until voted through at conference.
Anyway it seems that Clegg is now towing the party line.
This is part of an email sent to all members today:
This week the Party's federal policy committee agreed a way to deliver one of our most important policies, the scrapping of unfair tuition fees. We've developed a plan to phase out tuition fees over the course of the next six years, to ensure this vital policy is affordable even at this time of economic crisis.
The picture above is the one being put out on the Christmas card of the Scottish first minister Alex Salmond. There's been a huge amount of contreversy over using the image of a saltire with many arguing that the image is too political for a Christmas card. I have to be honest, I don't really see the issue.
I think the picture is really amazing and since when is using the national flag considered too political? I think it will be a sad day when that is the case.
It seems that one time Lib Dem mayoral hopeful Chamali Fernando is trying her luck to become the Tory candidate in Cambridge. Liberal England has the full story here.
Following the furore over the Conservative selection in Norfolk, I hope Conservative voters in Cambridge know how to use Google! It seems quite mad that so soon after standing to be the Lib Dem candidate in the London elections that the Tories would select Chamila to stand for them.
It seems that this isn't the only controversy in the Tory Cambridge selection too as Tory Bear points out here and here.
This disarray in the Tory ranks can only be good for the Lib Dems who will themselves need to find a candidate soon after David Howarth MP announced he was stepping down.
