Tag Archives: Nick Clegg

Tempers rise along with student fees

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By Olivia Blackamore and Jasmin Snook


TUITION fees are on the up and it’s causing a stir across the generations.

Yesterday Nick Clegg got a verbal bashing from students and it seems that the people of Bournemouth are none too pleased at the Coalition’s plans either.

The huge debts that will be incurred by students are worrying to young and old alike with parents taking the financial strain to get their kids the best education.

But for Joe Williams, 17, of Broadstone in Poole, like many others his age, family funding was out of the question. “My parents have told me that If I go to uni, they can’t afford to help. It’s so expensive and there is no guarantee of a job at the end of it.”

For Lisa Dunning, 30, from Parkstone, Poole, the rise in tuition fees was outrageous. “It upsets me as a parent as I cannot help them out but we simply cannot afford it.”

Dudley Asquith, 32, from Broadstone, Poole, said: “Parents are under a lot of pressure to help out their children, and if they cannot afford to do so it’s very distressing.”

Amy Kelly, 18, from Poole, planned to go to a performing arts school through a scholarship but now the fees were on the increase that wasn’t looking possible. “Performing arts schools are different to universities. The government is seriously cutting their funding and they might not offer scholarships this year.”

Anastasia Lee, 16, from Poole, was still in a quandary about what she was going to do after school. She had dreams of university but due to the rise in fees she was anxious about going and feared the fees would increase even more.

It seems parents are really feeling the financial and emotional strain. Guy Jagger, 45, from Bournemouth, said he would rather take the loan out himself than his son have “a millstone around his neck.”

Sarah Griffiths, 42, from Wimborne, agreed she would not want her children to be in debt from the off. “But it’s difficult because we can’t afford to help them, and don’t want to deny them of the chance of going.”

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Nick Clegg pledges to trim fat from NHS

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Nick Clegg today outlined his plans to reduce the bureaucracy of the NHS and to tackle the £167 Billion deficit, to rounds of applause from the Royal College of Nursing.

Mr Clegg said “there was no bag of gold” waiting for them and they were going to have to do better with the same money they have now.

He marked out issues such as the “Grandiose ICT project running years late and way over budget”.

“GP and consultant contracts poorly negotiated … and the endless botched re-organisation of the NHS with endless quangos” said Mr Clegg, were the causes of inefficiency.

Mr Clegg pointed out that it would take “one person, 491 years to process” the administration work of the NHS, at a cost of £1 Billion a year. That is enough to pay 25,000 Nurses in wages and points to the sad situation that the NHS has “more managers and clerks than beds”.

The biggest applause of the day however came from a question raised by a nurse, who asked Mr Clegg if he was planning to give nurses the power to sack their Chief Executives, like he had promised constituents could do to an ill performing MP. The sentiment in the room was that they knew more about health and welfare of patients than the Chief Executives.

Clegg didn’t want to go this far but was keen to stress that he wanted to see more “John Lewis style” trusts where the people involved in the service would be more in control. However with a record deficit of £167 Billion, and many estimates saying we need cuts of £40 billion a year, it may be that more radical steps are needed.

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Nick Who? Many Fail To Recognise Lib Dem Leader

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Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, speaking in Bournemouth this week

Do you recognise this man? Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, speaking in Bournemouth this week

When shown a photo of Nick Clegg, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, only 25 percent of people interviewed in Bournemouth managed to recognise him.

In a separate poll on BBC 2’s Newsnight ,conducted by Orb, one third of people failed to recognise his name. The find is a knock to the Party leader who is holding his Party Conference in Bournemouth this week.

When shown a photo of the Party leader, very few people could positively identify him.

“He’s on TV isn’t he?” said Damien, 28, from Bournemouth. “I know I should know him, but I can’t remember his name.”

While the Liberal Democrat Party Conference has arrived in Bournemouth, it seems that the star of the show is still an anonymous non-entity.

“He’s the leader of the Lib Dems isn’t he?” Said Michelle and Chris, from Jersey. “What’s his name?”

It’s not just his identity that people don’t seem to be paying attention to. His policies don’t seem to be the main concern for people either.

“There’s a sense that people feel they [the Liberal Democrats] won’t be elected so why should they care” commented a Radio 1 reporter. “But we have to show that they are important, as the third biggest Party, as they do have influence on the other Parties and their policies.”

The Liberal Democrats themselves feel that they struggle to get the appropriate media coverage and that this is to blame for their third party status, but the media say the blame lies with the Party and its senior members.

“It’s always hard to get the Lib Dems into the newspaper.” said Michael White, assistant editor of The Guardian. “This is partly because they are too nice. They need to be more brutal with each other and with the other Parties.”

Andy Martin, News Editor of the Bournemouth Echo said “It’s has always been a two party system, and only now, during this week, when there isn’t anything else much in the news, will the media focus their attention on the Liberal Democrats. They need to offer the voters something more distinct than what the two main Parties have on offer and rise above the aggressive fighting we see form the other Parties.”

Another finding from the Orb poll was the only one in three people believe that Mr Clegg would make the best Prime Minister, while two fifths favour David Cameron.

Orb interviewed over 1,000 people over four days to collect these findings about the nation’s political preferences.

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Nick Clegg Meets The People

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Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg MP travelled to  Corfe Hills School in Broadstone, Poole last night to give the people of Poole the opportunity to quiz him on his policies, personality and predictions for the next General Election. The evening was entitled; Nick Clegg Meets The People. The Liberal MP for North Poole and Dorset, Annette Brooke introduced Mr Clegg.

Mr Clegg faced a hall of over 200 members of the public and press, to answer questions on a number of topics including: a proposed referendum on membership to the European Union, “serious” tax cut plans, MPs’ expenses reforms, health care, defence budget spending, climate change to council tax and improved security for students and young families.opportunity for the people of Poole and Bournemouth to quiz Mr Clegg on his policies, personality and predictions for the next general election.

To provide an idea of the general feeling of the audience after the meeting, Poole People asked; would they vote Liberal Democrat in the 2010 elections?

Mr Tim Spencer

Tim Spencer, 46, a software engineer, said: “I shall be voting for Annette Brooke, not because she’s Liberal but because of the great work she does in the constituency.

“She genuinely helps the constituency.”

Mr Bob Williams

Bob Williams, 67, a retired electrician from Broadstone, said: “I will be voting Liberal, yes.”

Mr Williams said that he had been a member of the Liberal party for 25 years, adding: “They have always had a positive view on Europe, the environment and constitutional reform and always supported them.

“They will get my vote.”

Rosa and Stephen Foster

Rosa Foster, 58, a former school teacher from Christchurch, said: “Yes, there’s a certain integrity to the Liberals and it’s to be respected.”

Mr Randolf Meech

Randolph Meech, 74, a retired Counsellor, who served for the Liberal Democrats for 23 years in Poole and is one of its past Mayors, said: “They want to increase the threshold for tax to £10,000 a year per person. I’m happy with that.”

Cllr Tony Trent, Poole Council

Speaking about Mr Clegg’s performance, one current Liberal Democrat Counsellor for Poole, Cllr Tony Trent, 57, who has lived in Poole all his life said: “His showing was excellent. I didn’t vote for Nick in the party elections. I voted for the guy who came second, but seeing him speak I see he was the best man for the job.

“He was strong on everything.”

“I was very encouraged by some of the changes, for example the reform on income tax.”

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Lib Dem Leader Faces the Public Voice

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Wealthy Sandbanks Property Could be Under Taxation threatsWealthy Sandbanks Property Could be Under Taxation Threat

Sandbanks home owners should pay thousands more in council taxes, according to a policy aiming to hit a quarter of a million homes in the UK reinforced by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg last night.

The new move would introduce a 0.5 percent levy on houses over £1m, bringing in an average of £4000 per household.

In his 50th public town hall appearance, the Liberal leader answered questions on issues such as the NHS, the EU, education and the recent council tax proposal.

Speaking from Corfe Hills School, he expressed an anxiety that “people were turning away from politics.”

Vince Cable, Liberal MP for Twickenham and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, has already set out new Liberal Democrat ideas on tax changes for the rich and poor as well as doing away with tuition fees for students.

Yet getting these people turning back to politics with attractive policy comes with pessimistic realism. Mr. Clegg admitted he is “fully behind” scrapping tuition fees but a “twelve billion pound deficit” stands in the way.

Scalded by political commentators for a lack of verbal coherence, the leader summarised Britain’s historic political situation as “Red, blue, blue, red tweedle-dum, tweedle-dee politics”.

Mr. Clegg gave the strong opinion that it is “that which got us into this mess and continuing it will not get us out”.

On the politically taboo subject of the NHS, he showed more clarity. He felt the organisation needed to “find poorly run systems and divert money”.

He also spoke of a multi billion pound database which his “friends from within the NHS” told him “doesn’t work”.

The European Union was an issue strongly defended. The Lib Dem leader remained adamant that the “international” dimension to our financial situation and Britain’s crime meant a need for togetherness.

Although conceding the Union is “bulky” and “cumbersome”, it was strongly conveyed that without Europe Britain was at a severe disadvantage in tackling its problems.

Despite realism starting to creep up on Lib Dem policy and the leader’s sometimes confusing speech, he reminded attendees that “a quarter of all voters voted for the Liberal Democrats” at the last election.

The Liberal manifesto is designed with clear cut “difference” in mind. Nick Clegg may need to deliver his promises if he is to inspire true confidence.

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Nick Clegg holds firm on Europe

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Conference Sketch

Nick Clegg brought to Poole yesterday his Westminster heavy-handed bullish approach to debating. Mr Clegg made himself available to open questioning from the general public but in fact did not appreciate certain Europe-based questions. This saw him become extremely animated.

Clegg’s latest bid at dispensing with his public image of being a ‘Cameron clone’, took place in the exact same format as Cameron had taken part in July, just down the road, north of Poole.

Hundreds of people flocked to Corfe Hills School outside Broadstone to see what the leader of the Lib Dems had to offer. A couple sitting next to me were reminiscing about the strong leaders that preceded Mr Clegg but felt that he himself was ‘a bit lightweight’.

Mr Clegg began by launching himself into an introduction of why politics is still important and relevant and then invited his audience to question him. His aggressive style was consistent with the arm-thrusting behaviour that is typical of him as seen in Prime Minister’s Questions when attempting to have his voice heard across the House of Commons.

However, one EU-related question seemed to rile him somewhat when his interrogator described the signing of the Lisbon Treaty as showing contempt for our democratic rights and compared it to ethnic cleansing in Zimbabwe and Iran. Mr Clegg responded in an aggravated way and said that the comparison was ‘absurd’, that ‘we have got to keep a sense of proportion’ and that such questions were a ‘form of extremism which confuses and scares people’.

Having concluded his rant, he was rewarded with applause from the audience who were now stirring and warming to Mr Clegg as if he was their champion. Surely it was not necessary for Mr Clegg to become so outraged in order to receive public praise. He had certainly become red-faced and hot underneath the collar resulting in him claiming ‘it’s quite hot in here’ as he removed his jacket.

As if by magic he addressed a young lady in the front row and delicately switched off his anger and turned on his charm while responding to her question on the reform of MPs’ expenses. Mr Clegg claimed that there was a ‘tacit cover-up’ happening and by changing a few rules they were not addressing a fundamental problem. ‘MPs should be accountable directly to their constituents post-election; if an MP is proven to have broken rules they should be able to be sacked’.

A school lad challenged him on why we are wasting money paying into the Euro coffers and not spending that instead on the war in Afghanistan. Mr Clegg became animated by this issue claiming that the ‘Euro price-tag’ was worth it and highlighted an example of a factory that he had visited in Bournemouth which made brake discs. Ninety percent of their business came from Europe and that was only possible by being part of Europe. He went on to patronise the lad: ‘Do I have to spell it out, if they did not have that business all those factory workers, they-would–be–on-the-dole!’

Having put the lad firmly in his place he turned to his next questioner with an eye of a boxer sizing up his opponent. Mr Clegg certainly had the answers but perhaps spoke a bit too passionately.

At the end of the meeting I asked the Lib Dem couple next to me, who before the meeting were not convinced by his leadership, their impressions of Mr Clegg.

They were impressed by him, but added, ‘he needs to calm down’.

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