politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » So Nick versus Nigel is on but it should be on national TV
politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » So Nick versus Nigel is on but it should be on national TV not LBC
Well done to Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage for agreeing to a debate ahead of the European elections. This will certainly add fizz to the Euro Elections and could boost turnout beyond the 35% of last time.
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He ended up becoming a Voodoo Pole!!
Agree about the Ladbrokes bet.
It'll be Nick wot done it.
"I feel personally very pro European, I love Europe, I think its a great place. What I don't like is the European Union"
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/91378cbe-9a3f-11e3-a407-00144feab7de.html#axzz2twXVqmLS
"Britain’s national minimum wage system needs to be reformed because it is no longer adequate to tackle low pay problems and inequality, according to the man who set it up in 1999.
Prof Sir George Bain, founding chair of the Low Pay Commission, which recommends the minimum wage, told the Financial Times the current system had been successful but had “pretty much run its course”."
The whole article is worth a read.
I have also made the point before that the electorate is deaf to Nick Clegg. They simply don't want to hear what he has to say any more. He is like a disowned child.
Plus the Left will want to portray Farage as the winner - to further push UKIP and thereby to hurt the Tories.
The Right will hardly want to portray the pro-European Clegg as having made a stout defence of the EU that is worthy of praise. So he will probably get a kicking there too.
The Today programme might say a few nice things.
Welcome to pb.com.
This debate could help shore up the Lib Dem's 4th place from the threat of the Greens rather than propel them any higher than that.
It feels like there are two sets of debates: a final and a bronze/4th place contest
Also the two leaders are unlikely to work together on this: Since FPTP is very, very close to a zero-sum game between Lab and Con, only one of them will really want the debate, while the other will secretly want to duck it. Once you get down to a two-person debate, it's very easy for the side that looks to come out behind to come up with a reason to kill it. On the other hand, while Clegg is still involved, the likely winner can threaten the likely loser with an empty chair, which is even worse for them than an unhelpful debate. (An empty chair isn't a very good threat for a two-person debate, because the remaining person would look like a plonker standing there alone arguing with a chair.)
Very few people are going to watch the debate. But then, its a low turnout election.
http://www.lbc.co.uk/listen-live-3578
% of aggregate vote at GB by-elections since 2010: Lab 47%, Con 15%, LD 12%, UKIP 11%, Respect 5%, BNP 2%, Green 1%
pic.twitter.com/DFWy0bbRu8
Of course the LibDems would be unlikely to be keen on the idea.
Similarly, Conservative policy has been clearly stated by Cameron; that's it's more moderate than either LD or UKIP isn't necessarily a bad thing.
That said, I've no doubt that the participants in a Clegg-Farage debate would seek to take mutual free hits against both excluded parties.
The papers/telly might like to push the in/out line just to try out their referendum coverage ideas.
Sounds like picking winners if you give different rules for different industries.
Are you saying people will be surprised when Nick contradicts what that nice man in the yellow rosette said to them on the doorstep in 2010?
In any case, voters won't see the EP elections as an In/Out vote. They'll see it as an opportunity to give both the EU and the UK government a bit of a cost-free kicking, the same as always.
Of course there is always a risk in any debate, but the number one rule is that the media ramp up expectations about one of the participants (in this case it will be Farage) and then have a ready-made story about his shock under-performance. In a four-way debate Cameron would potentially have a good position as the sensible middle option. (Well, it worked for Nick Clegg in 2010).
Edit: that said it is great exposure for Farage.
“Respected Telegraph commentator Peter Oborne wrote yesterday that David Cameron might throw a spanner in Scotland’s constitutional works.
He wrote: Will the Queen be allowed to remain as Scottish monarch? I have no doubt that the Queen herself would strongly prefer that she did. But it is not simply a matter for her. She is constitutionally obliged to take the advice of the Prime Minister, David Cameron.
Cameron has already denied Scotland the pound sterling. He is entitled to deny the Scots the House of Windsor, especially since the Scots had their own separate monarch before James the VI and I unified the crowns of England and Scotland in 1603.”
UKIP leader Nigel Farage says his debate with Nick Clegg on Britain's membership of the EU will take place early or mid-April.
Perfect.
You will keep HRH - worry ye not.
Norman Tebbit will be your governor general.
This was discussed a couple of days ago - the queen has to listen to the advice of the Prime Minister in her respective realms - only the PM of Scotland could tell her 'you're not the queen of Scotland'......
Assuming the people of iScot want it, then the Queen will become Queen of Scotland in the same way as she is Queen of Canada, etc. Very few people care whether it is a new monarchy, a resurrected monarchy or a dissolution of the personal union. It makes no difference in the real world.
http://www.iea.org.uk/brexit
He's now the unrivalled publicface of IN, even if St.Nigel cuts him off at the knees (certainly possible).
With the EU finally getting worried by europe-wide euroscepticism, he's probably also gone up several notches in the opinions of his prospective employers for his next big job.
He can achieve escape velocity even if the LDs crash and burn** behind him.
(**how are those euro sceptic westcountry LD MPs feeling this morning?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz,_Duke_of_Bavaria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayetana_Fitz-James_Stuart,_18th_Duchess_of_Alba
Send Princes Philip and Harry out to bat for "No"- no tiptoeing around the edges.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz,_Duke_of_Bavaria
This could well be an effort by them to promote that - in which case they will fight hard to host the debate.
'Yer PM won't engage with you, but here's a nice-but-dim & his grumpy granda to be going on with.'
Surely they have a better claim to be the Monarch of an Independent Scotland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin#Family_and_associates
Fair enough, I withdraw the dim.
Edit was meant for antifrank
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2014/02/developers-want-to-turn-this-old-london-dock-into-a-chinese-super-hub/
A Chinese developer wants to buy London's Albert Dock and build it into a European high-tech centre. It's 35-acres; in comparison, the Canary Wharf estate is nearly 100 acres.
What could go wrong? Well one thing: preventing foreigners from buying new properties in London.
Does anyone really believe Miliband is anything other than a clueless idiot?