1/07/2011

Proud to be a Lib Dem ?

Not a day to feel proud of this government.

Today the government announced plans to privatise and sell off vast tracts of the country by selling off Forestry Commission land. In addition to that, the Public Accounts Committee announced that the "culling" of the QUANGOs had no value for money criteria in the decision making meaning that closing many of these QUANGOs will cost us more, and in some cases duties and money previously in the hand of QUANGOs that were at least accountable to parliament, are now in the hands of private organisations that are unaccountable to the electorate.

Not a day to be proud of being a Lib Dem.

No, I'm not going to Oldham.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nich, have you made a decision on standing for re-election next year yet?

Anonymous said...

Nich, why havent you joined Labour yet like all the other "principled critics" of the Coalition? Please, fuck off, and do the rest of us a favour by removing yourself from Lib Dem Blogs so we can happily forget you ever existed and dont have to see your pathetic rants and clamours for attention.

Nich Starling said...

I think you'll find it's called free speech. I thought it was allowed ? I don't recall asking for those on the right of the party to have their blogs removed before the election.

It might be an idea for you to read the preamble to the constitution which talks about "being enslaved by conformity".

THE PARTY SPEAKS - if you don't follow the party line, you will receive abuse and told to leave.

In truth, I'll still be here when you've got your Tory membership card.

Anonymous said...

@2nd anonymous

Fuck off yourself, I've been very surprised and deeply saddened by the vile attacks Lib Dems have made on other party members who speak out. A close friend of mine whose been a staunch Lib Dem member for five years left over the tuition fee betrayal, he announced this on twitter. And he got a massive amount of rude and insulting comments from other members - he was so disgusted by this he went out leafleting for Labour.

Every time I read online these bitter and insulting remarks I get closer to donating money to the Labour Party.

Alans said...

Remember when we used to be incredulous at the way Labour members, councillors, MPs sat silently saying nothing about the war in Iraq and how we couldn't believe they would say nothing about the wrongs their party was doing ?

Now we are in power, we sit silently castigated from the comfort of an anonymous posting those who choose not to blindly follow the party line.

Disagree with Nick, but Anon@2, how about addressing the arguments ?

Nicko said...

I don`t really care which of the three dinosaurs Nich chooses to support.

My only slight criticism would be, there`s been a Save our Forests campaign for months, which has been very well supported.

It does seem a bit odd to start complaining now when it moght have been better to use this blog to promote that campaign in the first place.

I wonder if Nich is falling into the same trap as many Labour supporters seem to, of seeing everything in terms of his party`s internal affairs ?

Above and beyond that, I`d say that any organisation that sees all dissent as disloyalty eventually runs into difficulties. The Lib Dems need their Norfolk Bloggers and Disgruntled Radicals !

None of the above said...

@anon number 2

fuck yourself again

Nich is at least keeping to what he said before the election. He hasn't changed his opinion to be in line with his party like some slimy political class type.

It looks like Nich is like a lot of people now in not really having a party with views he supports, to vote for any more. There are many of us.

Nich Starling said...

Nicko,

Perhaps I have not been mentioning the campaign because I had not heard of it before you mentioned it.

I am a quite well informed person, but I cannot help it if I had not heard of your campaign. I do wish you well though as I lived in a village surrounded by forestry commission land which was well sued by locals and was a real amenity. Local people felt they had an interest in the area because it was government owned.

Whatever next ? Selling off our rivers and beaches ?

Nicko said...

Apologies, Nich, I just assumed you were aware of the campaign.

If anyone`s interested, I gather it is still ongoing and details can be found at the website for 38 Degrees.

Whatever next ? you ask. Possibly National Parks and Waterways, informed sources tell me. You couldn`t make it up.

Anonymous said...

A bit off topic I know but do you think Nick Clegg is the right man to lead your party?

Labour have been a major factor in running this country into the economic mess we are now in.
The people blame them and that is why they turned to the Conservatives hoping for a change.

The Conservatives are now forced to make the British public swallow some nasty medicine in an attempt to remove us from the economic mess.
By the time they have finished they will be hated by many people who lost their jobs houses etc.

This would have left the LibDems free of any stain.

However Nick Clegg in a desperate attempt to grab any type of political power has now tied himself and your party to the Conservatives and their cuts.

The Conservatives are doing as expected but the LibDems are now breaking promises and receiving more flack tehn the Conservatives.

Way to go Nick.

Nich Starling said...

In answer to your question, I did, I don't now.

nicko said...

I agree about Nick Clegg, but not so sure I agree with the preceeding comments.

I think both the major parties have contributed to the state we`re in.

Labour`s big Achilles heel is that they`ve antagonised their core supporters, which is very clear from voting patterns where I live. However, I think their voters will return to them, though only as the least bad option.

The Conservatives, however, have not benefitted from this. As far as I can see they`re no longer really a national party. Their MPs are largely in the south, and the few they have elsewhere are busy paying lip service to the cuts whilst fighting them locally (Save Newark Hospital, Friends of Bramwell, What Price Justice).

I think this is why Cameron is so keen to visit the regions.

It will be interesting to see if anyone else benefits. I`d think the Greens might improve their position.

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