Power
Michael Portillo made the point on Friday night on Newsnight that power was the reason political parties existed. "They exist to get into power". He said this, I think, to explain why he thought the LibDems would eventually do a deal with the Conservatives that moved closer to a formal coalition. The scent of power would be too attractive to turn it down.
Ostensibly, Portillo's point seemed reasonable (and no-one else on the Newsnight panel questioned it). But I was reminded of an episode in Mad Men where the focus group for a pet food advertisement were asked to describe their dogs' personalities.
"They are describing themselves", observed the Ad Man behind the two-way mirror.
Indeed, and perhaps Portillo was in a way describing himself, rather than detailing an absolute fact.
For I suspect that there are a significant number of Liberal Democrats (the old "radical Liberal" wing, as it were) that do not see the sole purpose of their party as the pursuit of power. Rather the exact opposite. They want to stay on the outside; they want to stay as a radical alternative, and they certainly don't want the irritations of realpolitik to get in the way of their idealism.
For such a group (one thinks also of Lenin, with his "split, split and split again" strategy as detailed, I think, in "What Is To Be Done?") the prospect of power with compromise is anathema.
Frighteningly, Clegg has to persuade this group, rather than persuade Portillo. Or does he?
Once again we enter interesting parts of the British Constitution. For the Liberal Democratic activists might have helped the LibDems get into parliament, and the Liberal Democratic Party might have a lot of leverage when it comes to Clegg and Co's position within the Liberal Democratic Party, but they can't do bugger all about their position as MPs. MPs are elected as representatives of the people, not of the activists. The weapons that the "grass roots" have available are as blunt as those of shareholders in a listed company, and not as immediately effective.
If Clegg fails to carry the LibDem executive, then he will back down, but if he carries the LibDem executive, I suspect that he will worry about the grass roots later.
As I write, it looks to me as if Clegg has told Brown that Clegg and Cameron and cohorts will be announcing some kind of deal this evening (talk about making myself a hostage to fortune!). This gives Brown the chance to cancel tonight's two-for-one theatre deal at the Palace to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and to prepare instead for tomorrow's visit to the Palace to see Elizabeth, Queen of the UK and all her Dominions.
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Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out the €750bn "rescue" deal cobbled together by the EU Finance Ministers. The immediate interpretation was that this was the ECB taking its own Quantitative Easing" path, but the ECB has stomped on that rumour by saying that it would only buy up second-hand debt. Personally I don't see how that makes an awful lot of difference, except that the ECB is buying shittier debt than did the Bank of England.
It's certainly a lot of money, and one has to say, who would be a market maker? Not often that you see the FTSE 100 go up by more than 250 points by lunchtime.
I assume that the strategy is that the money, once it is announced that it is available, will not be needed. But that's one hell of a gamble. Because if it is needed, I don't think that it is there -- at least, not under the current ECB rules.
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The front side window of the car got smashed in. Partially my own fault. I shouldn't have parked on that side of the road (where people can get to the near side of the car to smash the window). I shouldn't have let it get dirty (I think that cars that have been left to get dirty are more likely to have their windows smashed), and I shouldn't have left the Tom Tom holder stuck on the windscreen. This doesn't matter so much if I am parked on the other side of the road, because the wall stops people getting to the nearside door, smashing the sindow and reaching through to the (empty) glove compartment.
I'm taking it in to be serviced and get the window fixed, so I guess it'll be a monkey or thereabouts, which doesn't really matter a fuck. If it was a BMW instead of a Nissan I would probably be looking at two grand -- so I'm in front on the deal! And I'm too lazy to claim on the insurance -- even if your no-claims isn't affected, you find it mysteriously hard to renew at a reasonable price.
So that makes for a busy week. As if my life wasn't busy enough.
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Ostensibly, Portillo's point seemed reasonable (and no-one else on the Newsnight panel questioned it). But I was reminded of an episode in Mad Men where the focus group for a pet food advertisement were asked to describe their dogs' personalities.
"They are describing themselves", observed the Ad Man behind the two-way mirror.
Indeed, and perhaps Portillo was in a way describing himself, rather than detailing an absolute fact.
For I suspect that there are a significant number of Liberal Democrats (the old "radical Liberal" wing, as it were) that do not see the sole purpose of their party as the pursuit of power. Rather the exact opposite. They want to stay on the outside; they want to stay as a radical alternative, and they certainly don't want the irritations of realpolitik to get in the way of their idealism.
For such a group (one thinks also of Lenin, with his "split, split and split again" strategy as detailed, I think, in "What Is To Be Done?") the prospect of power with compromise is anathema.
Frighteningly, Clegg has to persuade this group, rather than persuade Portillo. Or does he?
Once again we enter interesting parts of the British Constitution. For the Liberal Democratic activists might have helped the LibDems get into parliament, and the Liberal Democratic Party might have a lot of leverage when it comes to Clegg and Co's position within the Liberal Democratic Party, but they can't do bugger all about their position as MPs. MPs are elected as representatives of the people, not of the activists. The weapons that the "grass roots" have available are as blunt as those of shareholders in a listed company, and not as immediately effective.
If Clegg fails to carry the LibDem executive, then he will back down, but if he carries the LibDem executive, I suspect that he will worry about the grass roots later.
As I write, it looks to me as if Clegg has told Brown that Clegg and Cameron and cohorts will be announcing some kind of deal this evening (talk about making myself a hostage to fortune!). This gives Brown the chance to cancel tonight's two-for-one theatre deal at the Palace to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and to prepare instead for tomorrow's visit to the Palace to see Elizabeth, Queen of the UK and all her Dominions.
++++++++++
Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out the €750bn "rescue" deal cobbled together by the EU Finance Ministers. The immediate interpretation was that this was the ECB taking its own Quantitative Easing" path, but the ECB has stomped on that rumour by saying that it would only buy up second-hand debt. Personally I don't see how that makes an awful lot of difference, except that the ECB is buying shittier debt than did the Bank of England.
It's certainly a lot of money, and one has to say, who would be a market maker? Not often that you see the FTSE 100 go up by more than 250 points by lunchtime.
I assume that the strategy is that the money, once it is announced that it is available, will not be needed. But that's one hell of a gamble. Because if it is needed, I don't think that it is there -- at least, not under the current ECB rules.
+++++++++++++
The front side window of the car got smashed in. Partially my own fault. I shouldn't have parked on that side of the road (where people can get to the near side of the car to smash the window). I shouldn't have let it get dirty (I think that cars that have been left to get dirty are more likely to have their windows smashed), and I shouldn't have left the Tom Tom holder stuck on the windscreen. This doesn't matter so much if I am parked on the other side of the road, because the wall stops people getting to the nearside door, smashing the sindow and reaching through to the (empty) glove compartment.
I'm taking it in to be serviced and get the window fixed, so I guess it'll be a monkey or thereabouts, which doesn't really matter a fuck. If it was a BMW instead of a Nissan I would probably be looking at two grand -- so I'm in front on the deal! And I'm too lazy to claim on the insurance -- even if your no-claims isn't affected, you find it mysteriously hard to renew at a reasonable price.
So that makes for a busy week. As if my life wasn't busy enough.
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