Damn sussed. Post your credit card details (inc CVC) and expiry and I will credit your card with the requisite £5.
In fact as it’s Xmas. Why not £500 (plus VAT!). Don’t forget that CVC number, oh and the name on the card.
(I have a sons mammoth student debt to clear, so embezzlement is ok isn’t it?).

True story: I did get Dave Cameron into a media hotspot in 2011. He visited where I worked on one of those touring the regions trips. I asked him on camera about betraying a generation with the hike in student fees. The idiot wen off on some pre prepared script about the BME intake at Oxbridge (and got his facts wrong). Was on the 10 o clock news! Quite proud of that one, but I think my MD was hoping for a more neutral press story out of the visit!

He was well and truly played by the Tories like a rank political amateur.

This

I don’t know where the idea comes from that the coalition would somehow have been pushing through vast amounts of cherished LibDem policies. Seems silly to give Nick Clegg a hard time for doing something that would have been impossible whoever had had his job.

It’s hilarious that all the hand-wringing lefties who kicked out lib dems because of their “principles” in 2015 ushered in a Tory government and Brexit.

But what does any of this have to do with David Steel, Keith Vaz, Norman Lamont, Child Abuse, Arms Deals and Le Cercle’s Nadhmi Auchi?

Or indeed Nick Clegg’s mentor; Leon Brittan

What indeed? Why don’t you tell us? Is it a secret?

What does any of this have to do with the post topic?

JHJ, people meet each other all the time. This isn’t proof of anything.
I’ve met Tom Baker, that doesn’t make me a ****ing Time Lord.

With my moderator hat on for a minute:
<Mod>
If you have any FACTS to present then please present them. If you make another rambling bollocks post about completely off-topic and unrelated people who are evidently guilty of “something” on the strength of little more than the fact that they were once photographed in the same room together, I’m going to give you a week off. It’s disruptive.
</Mod>

I’ll be back later with how all this relates to Clegg (and the knighthood)

Off you go then, still waiting for that one.

“Reigning in the Tories” is a Lib Dem myth. Clegg was an absolute and total disaster as a Leader hence their 2015 election performance. He dscribed AV as a “grubby little compromise” then sold the Lib Dem’s soul for a referendum on it. His tuition fees U-Turn was a catastrophe. I was a Lib Demvoter and donor until he produced that performance.

A Knighthood for spectacular failure, not as bad as Osbourne mind.

Jive Leon Brittan was cleared of all allegations, every single one. The whole police handling of those fabricated and politically motivated allegations was a total disgrace.

Politicians & knighthoods? Don’t make me laugh. Theyr’e all a bunch of self centred **** & I don’t trust any of them to do anything apart from line their own pockets, the lot of them.

Front line public servants deserve all the praise, & not the **** managers either. Staff nurses, paramedics, cops, firefighters, HMPS staff, (coastguard & mountain rescue volunteers too) Any one of those are worth more praise than & sodding MP.

jambalaya – Member
“Reigning in the Tories” is a Lib Dem myth. Clegg was an absolute and total disaster as a Leader hence their 2015 election

He’s not a Lying Pig Face **** though is he.. 😆

I don’t know where the idea comes from that the coalition would somehow have been pushing through vast amounts of cherished LibDem policies. Seems silly to give Nick Clegg a hard time for doing something that would have been impossible whoever had had his job.

Nick Clegg’s intro from the Libdem 2010 Manfiesto.

This May, you have an opportunity to shape the future of our country for the better. We’ve had 65 years of Labour and the Conservatives: the same parties taking turns and making the same mistakes, letting you down. They have taught people to expect little from politics, and get less…
A strong vote for the Liberal Democrats means the end of red-blue, blue-red politics. It means the end of the stitch-up between the two old parties. It means the beginning of real change that works for you

😀
On reading the LibDem manifesto there doesn’t seem much that he persuaded the Tories to do-I’m still waiting to be £700 a year better off!
Oh but there is this about Europe

Liberal Democrats therefore remain committed to an in/out referendum the next time a British government signs up for fundamental change in the relationship between the UK and the EU. We believe that it is in Britain’s long-term interest to be part of the euro. But Britain should only join when the economic conditions are right, and in
the present economic situation, they are not. Britain should join the euro only if that decision were supported by the people of Britain in a referendum.

Clegg seemed quite keen on referendums then.

<Mod>
If you have any FACTS to present then please present them. If you make another rambling bollocks post about completely off-topic and unrelated people who are evidently guilty of “something” on the strength of little more than the fact that they were once photographed in the same room together, I’m going to give you a week off. It’s disruptive.
</Mod>

So everyone else can do conjecture and rambling bollocks, but since I do my best to deal in FACTS, then I get the short straw…

sounds fair.

Brian Crozier = Founder member of Shield Committee and ‘the 61’, Instrumental in Thatcher’s rise to power, European Head of Le Cercle, which has several ties to child abuse networks the world over.

Julian Lewis = Named by Crozier as the most prominent UK player in ‘the 61’ the international private intelligence network set up by Crozier in collaboration with other Le Cercle Members. Played key role in original cover up of North Wales Child abuse and trafficking.

Wholly relevant given the origins of Nick Clegg’s political career under Leon Brittan, who despite extensive propaganda to the contrary was never cleared of child abuse… Like Jimmy Savile, Cyril Smith and Greville Janner, he was never charged, but that’s a whole different kettle of fish.

The people who have ‘cleared’ Leon Brittan are of the same ilk as Crozier… after all, like many journalists with ties to the intelligence agencies, Crozier was still welcomed to the fold even after Forum World Features was exposed as a CIA propaganda operation.

Speaking of propaganda, Crozier was also closely associated with Rupert Murdoch, to the extent that Murdoch bailed out Crozier’s publishing company, Sherwood Press.

Also in the United States there was strong circumstantial, if not conclusive, evidence that he helped fund the clandestine activities of Brian Crozier, an anti-communist campaigner with connections to the British and US intelligence services. Crozier had a long history of anti-communist activism, including running a CIA-sponsored operation called Forum World Features, which syndicated right-wing articles to newspapers. In his autobiography, Crozier acknowledged his financial backers, including “Rupert,” subsequently identified as Murdoch by one of Crozier’s associates. In December 1990, the Guardian reported that Crozier’s publishing business, Sherwood Press, was bailed out by News International, Murdoch’s British holding company. News took a half-stake in the business and assumed liability for its debts, then said to total £90,000.

Murdoch, like many media moguls, has been known to publish propaganda on behalf of the intelligence services,

‘the link between the security services and the whip’s offices in parliament’

Well, that goes some way to explaining why Special Branch intervene when VIP abuse is reported…

May also give us some background why Julian Lewis, known to have played an active role in covering up abuse in North Wales, was elevated to the Privy Council, under the supervision of Nick Clegg… who is now being knighted for his services.

Final note for now… both Clegg and Cameron were mentored by members of the Cambridge Mafia: Clegg by Leon Brittan and Cameron by Norman Lamont (who like Crozier, was also European head of Le Cercle)

So everyone else can do conjecture and rambling bollocks, but since I do my best to deal in FACTS, then I get the short straw…

sounds fair.

He does have a point, Cougar. Apart from yelling at jhj, it’s not as if you’ve exactly added anything of substance to the thread yourself, is it?

“‘Sir’ Nick Clegg? A true sign of how Britain’s elite rewards failure “

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/28/knighthood-nick-clegg-george-osborne-britain-elite

There are supposedly petitions against his knighthood on the internet.

“The organisers of the honours list said more time was needed to gather and judge nominations of people praised for their responses to this year’s biggest tragedies.“

New Year Honours list: Heroes of Grenfell Tower, Manchester Arena and London Bridge not included – But Conservative MPs who backed Brexit are awarded knighthoods in ‘doled out favours’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/new-years-honours-list-grenfell-tower-fire-heroes-manchester-terror-attack-london-a8133811.html

It’s hilarious that all the hand-wringing lefties who kicked out lib dems because of their “principles” in 2015 ushered in a Tory government and Brexit.

I think you’ll find a decent amount of them just went back to their original affiliation after tactically voting for the Lib Dems the time before.

While it’s easier to label someone as a hero or a villain or a self interested scumbag, the truth is always going to be more complicated than that.

I reckon that Nick Clegg did some things well and some things badly. He holds some views that I agree with and others with which I disagree. I also suspect that circumstances pushed him into situations from which it would have been difficult to come out unscathed.

The LibDems and the Lib/SDP Alliance before them have been calling for PR for as long as I’ve been aware of politics. Coalitions seem to be a fundamental part of the politics of every country that has a PR system.

When the first hung parliament in a very long time happened in the UK, especially as others have said in the economic circumstances of 2010, it would have been seen as very hypocritical for the greatest champions of PR not to attempt to help form a coalition government. I can imagine that as the results came in on election night Nick Clegg quickly worked out what was in store and realised the LibDems were in a no-win situation. They’d have to go into coalition with the Conservatives and they’d be punished heavily for it. Not doing so would have been portrayed as a betrayal of one of the party’s most core principles.

That said, the LibDems were completely outplayed by the Conservatives when it came to the coalition negotiations and Nick Clegg has to take a large portion of the blame for that. They seemed to come away with one significant policy, some minor policies, the AV referendum and some vague promises for enquiries and reports into some other things they were after.

Raising the income tax allowance was probably a significant thing but they never got the credit for it.

The only good thing that came from the joke of an AV referendum was that it meant that the rules were better for future referenda, but only because it itself was handled so badly.

Attempts to reform the House of Lords died a miserable death at the hands of politics. The Tories are much better at that game than the LibDems.

Up against all that, the LibDems let the Tories get away with lots of stuff. Like I say, they were outplayed badly during the coalition negotiations. Nick Clegg did not help by taking the idea of joint cabinet responsibility too seriously. I’m sure there were many times where he fought against the extreme positions of the Conservatives, but in public the government largely presented a unified front and so the LibDems took at least as much flak as the Tories. Plus tuition fees. At the very least Clegg acknowledged the bad blood that caused far too late and really he should have got a right for LibDems to at least abstain in that vote in the coalition agreement.

Personally one thing Nick Clegg did for me is that I learned about the classical liberal/social democratic fault line that exists in the LibDems. The “wishy washy liberal” stereotype appears to be much more about the latter part of the party than the orange book liberal part of which Nick Clegg was a member. In whole I think the 2010 LibeDem voters were much more in favour of the Charlie Kennedy brand of social democratic liberalism and that is the reason so many were so surprised that Nick Clegg was so willing to do a deal with the Conservatives and seemed so comfortable in the company of people like Cameron and Osbourne.

Finally, I don’t really know whether he deserves a gong or not. It may just indicate that there are people in Westminster who reckon he’d still be useful to have around there even if he isn’t an MP any more. Or it could be part of the general habit that almost anyone who gets to the front bench will eventually be awarded one if they want it. In the coming years I suspect that pretty much any major politician who manages to get through their career without an expenses or sex scandal will end up with a knighthood or similar.

Stole this off twitter:

Quick reminder that today Chris Chope MP, who steered through Poll Tax, called for minimum wage to be abolished, voted against same sex marriage and the Turing pardon, and opposed domestic violence legislation was awarded a knighthood. But sure, carry on moaning about Nick Clegg.

Front line public servants deserve all the praise, & not the **** managers either. Staff nurses, paramedics, cops, firefighters

I’m sure that thought will make the additional shifts my wife covered over Christmas seem so much more bearable. You know, one of those clinical managers who is no good but who by stepping into the front-line still made sure essential, quality hands on care was provided to patients.

There are good managers and bad managers, good front-line staff and bad. But you know that already egf. You don’t have a career like yours without realising there are good apples and bad apples everywhere.

Leon Brittan, who despite extensive propaganda to the contrary was never cleared of child abuse

When were you cleared of abusing children jivehoneyjive?

Good on your Mrs Jamj, if she’s a half decent manager who’s ‘come up through the ranks’ (which she must have by the roll she did, as you say) then she deserves more praise than ANY politician. In HMPS & in my experience there are lots more crap managers than uniformed staff but the crap managers always seem to get to get sidestepped into a non front line roll & get a bloody pay rise even after theyv’e left somewhere in turmoil!

Plus, I just hate politicians, can’t be trusted IMO.

this off twitter:

Quick reminder that today Chris Chope MP, who steered through Poll Tax, called for minimum wage to be abolished, voted against same sex marriage and the Turing pardon, and opposed domestic violence legislation was awarded a knighthood. But sure, carry on moaning about Nick Clegg.
Are you incapable of holding two thoughts at the same time?

Are you incapable of holding two thoughts at the same time?

I think the point here is Nick Clegg is shot down for trying to make the best of a situation and go forwards while the other guy is a total arse hole and is getting away with a free ride.

I think the point here is Nick Clegg is shot down for trying to make the best of a situation and go forwards while the other guy is a total arse hole and is getting away with a free ride.

Clegg’s motivations are open to debate but that’s not really the point. The point is that we expect the Tories to be arseholes, which is why so many were disappointed when the Dems turned out to be little different.

This:

Nothing like getting a knighthood for just doing the job you are paid for ….
Can we all have one?

I think the NY Honours list is a joke, I’ve seen people I’ve worked getting honours for turning up to work. Pop stars/Meeja darlings who aren’t doing their tours for the love of the country or any altruistic purpose. And quite frankly an MP, whose job it is actually to work for the country…… I guess it makes others look good for nominating them-all self back patting.

crap managers always seem to get to get sidestepped into a non front line roll & get a bloody pay rise even after theyv’e left somewhere in turmoil!

That happens everywhere…

The plot thickens…

So is Sir Nick a Charley Chester or not

Nick Clegg appointed as Facebook’s head of global affairs and communications in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

To be expected I suppose…

Nick Clegg in Ex-Senior Cabinet Minister joins the Board of a Large Multi-National shocker.

Completely expected.

Clegg was always a tory and this is a particularly tory move.  disguising it as something good when its all about the money and power for him

disguising it as something good when its all about the money and power for him

And your evidence for this is?

I think he was one of the more principled* and rational politicians and who knows, he might be able to influence FB for the better in a small way (given MZ has nearly all the share voting rights).

* and yes I am well aware of the graduate loan thing but more importantly aware that politics is 99% compromise.

His entry into coalition was all about money and power  and this is his payoff.

Never a principled politician.  would do anything for a sniff of a ministerial limo.

An utter shit and a hypocrit

would do anything for a sniff of a ministerial limo.

How many wouldn’t?

The lib dems USP was they were principled.  He sold his principles for a sniff of a ministerial car and caused so much damage to the country as a result.  I despise the man.  Hypocrisy is the worst of sins in a politician

I wondered who would be put to start the bashing. Good on him clearly an intelligent and clever guy. Probably understood more about politics than most in here and set about to try and move the country forward in a good way.

Good on him clearly an intelligent and clever guy. Probably understood more about politics than most in here

Understatement of the year…

I dunno, my sense of him is that he was one of the good guys and probably did a lot to temper Cameron’s Tory government. I’m a bit sad he’s given up on UK politics, just when we need a credible centre left opposition.

Just remember he chose tory over labour.

Just remember he chose tory over labour

You know what I said about understanding politics…

He had a choice to make, Labour were finished after years in power people did not back them but gave enough votes to those not in power, they were still tainted by Blair and the brown Blair factions were still at war. Its not a simple binary choice and certainly the UK should look more carefully about proper coalition government and how it can work.

What shows most here is the one and only chance people gave the lib dems which then gives them a clear conscience to vote for one of 2 parties who have lied, broken most promises on more occasions than any other.

There was no choice to go with labour.  the arithmetic did not work.  What he should have done is a supply and confidence deal so he could have wielded veto power as the DUP have shown.  As it was he allowed the tories to make him a patsy and allowed them to get away with whatever they want.  Its a complete myth he stopped the tories worst excesses.  He actually enabled them by his spinelessness.

I actually believe he is a tory thru and thru and did what he did to get the lucrative contracts as he has done now.  If he really had principles and cared about the UK then he wouldn’t have run away from politics to buysi8ness as soon as he had a big enough name to get the luctractive contracts.

I used to vote lib dem.  I will never again until they face up to the awful legacy their spineless support of the tories left the country.

I actually believe he is a tory thru and thru and did what he did to get the lucrative contracts as he has done now.

I’m sure he values your opinion,

If he really had principles and cared about the UK then he wouldn’t have run away from politics to buysi8ness as soon as he had a big enough name to get the luctractive contracts.

Up until now what big business has he worked in?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Clegg#Career_after_Parliament

Radio Show and podcasts since he lost his seat? After the 2015 election he stayed in politics and would probably still be there if May had not have gambled. So I have to say TJ it appears you are letting your anger and hate get the better of you and ignoring the facts.

Maybe you just want to be on his podcast.

I used to vote lib dem.  I will never again until they face up to the awful legacy their spineless support of the tories left the country.

So instead who do you vote for?

The LIbDems must be watching the DUP hold the Tory feet to the fire and think ‘shit…we could screwed them for soooooo much more’.