I agree that it is general unhappiness, and very much agree that Labour would have been in the shitter if they'd won, but voters like finding scapegoats. Shame.
I actually put up a heads-up post about today's event on Clameron last week. It is at 3:30 today "at a factory in Essex", a long way from the Rose Garden... but I've also promised to post pictures on Clameron, such as they may be, provided that I find them. And of course Miliband has tried to upstage them by having a Q&A in Essex (Harlow) right now, the fucker.
Today's Guardian quotes the Times with a really mixed bag of bad and good tnings concerning the Coalition, or Nick and David specifically:
Senior Liberal Democrats believe that the party may have to withdraw from government early to avoid being wiped out at the next general election, The Times has learnt.
They think the party will need to reassert its independence from its Conservative governing partners well before polling day in May 2015. The concerns emerged during an investigation by The Times into relations within the coalition before its second anniversary this week. Other findings include:
• David Cameron refused a request from Baroness Warsi, the Tory co-chairman, to attack Nick Clegg during this month's local election campaign;
• George Osborne blamed Mr Clegg for the leaking of Budget secrets during an angry telephone confrontation;
• Mr Clegg feared a revolt by Liberal Democrat MPs over the cut in the 50p top rate of tax, but over-ruled his closest advisers to agree it.
I like the part about Cam reining in Warsi, and for better or worse, see myself proven right over Osborne's dislike of Nick. Not sure what to think about Nick overruling fellow LIb Dems... loyal to his Tory partners, but suicidal as a Lib Dem leader. I suppose he is past caring in that respect (he also said earlier that he'd stay as Deputy Prime Minister until the next election, which contradicts - somewhat - what the Times is saying).
I miss 2010 :(
Yep, exactly. In the past few days I've caught myself repeatedly wishing I could just wake up and find it 2010-like again, and both the Coalition and the lolitical comms all hope and goodwill :(
I missed the press conf, was out, but having looked through your post and the one on the main comm and I'm not sure I even want to watch it. Having said that, even if there isn't the trust/camaraderie there was in the past, both of them seem recognise the need to maintain a good relationship, even against the advice of their own parties.
Interestingly, though Nick has been a political dead-man-walking for many months now, it's looking more and more likely that Cameron doesn't have much of a future either. The Leveson inquiry has damaged him, and that's even before he's had his own day in the chair. If we end up in a situation where both of the men running the country have, career-wise, nothing to lose... unexpected and interesting things might happen. We can hope :)
The Guardian has little snippets of it, as I am sure does ITN's Youtube channel and the BBC iPlayer - and since you can get the BBC on TV, you probably won't be able to avoid seeing some footage... but yes, basically there isn't much to see there. Lincolnimp's screencaps on the main comm have most of it; I've now added the few pics I found in the Fail and on Zimbio to my post, but so far there haven't been many, and I am not sure how many more may be posted tomorrow.
It wasn't hostile or heartbreaking; just bleak and uninspiring, tense and awkward and businesslike - but at least the tension and awkwardness seemed to arise more from the event and the political and economic reality than from resentment between them. In a sense, it was less poignant than last year's post-AV appearance. So it didn't so much seem to be an issue of missing trust or camaraderie, but one of both of them being very concerned that they and their parties are in deep shit.
An interesting little thing I noticed was that they looked marginally more relaxed in the pics where they get out of No 10 together, and at the start of the factory tour, compared to the speeches and Q&A. It is as if they so they are so preoccupied with showing that they are in no mood for levity, knowing that they'll be ridiculed if they show any hint of it, that they overcompensated by being very controlled and boring as hell businesslike, and did their damned best not to look or sound chummy. After all, they see each other almost every day where they are not photographed or broadcast, and now that they have hardly any joint public appearances, they are probably too aware of the scrutiny and the need to "project images" etc. As manics_fan said on the live watch thread, they are screwed if they look like their parties are not getting along but equally screwed if they look too matey and pleased with life. Tomorrow's Queen's speech may provide a marginally less stage managed glimpse of how they treat each other... I am not over-optimistic but will try to keep an eye on it.
The Leveson inquiry may indeed be Cam's undoing, maybe even more so because it is at least another month until he testifies - and until then the thing will be hanging over him, though Coulson's and especially Rebecca's testimony this week will provide a sense of the scale of the potential disaster (especially if she does disclose those texts). But as you once said, for the most part their survival, or lack of such, will depend on whether the economy improves.
If we end up in a situation where both of the men running the country have, career-wise, nothing to lose... unexpected and interesting things might happen. We can hope :)
You mean, like the pair of them getting pissed and deciding to shag in earnest? :P
(incidentally, I've gone back to playing with my old Eternal Sunshine plot as a private mental plaything, and have come to the inevitable conclusion that the only way I could make it remotely plausible was if they wiped the memories of their fictional affair soon post-AV in 2011, and if Labour won in 2015, so that they would, indeed, have nothing to lose afterwards. Alarmingly, I decided on that at least a month before the disastrous elections. But I'd still rather be proven wrong, even if it will mean a Tory-only government.) Then again, you've probably seen today's most inspiring quote in both lincolnimp's and my comments:
And then there a view that this romance could yet last a lot longer. "Whether this goes to 2015 or 2020 or 2025, however long this coalition lasts, it will be a transaction," said one Tory.
For the time being, their hearts and souls are in it. And it is personal. When Mr Cameron rebuffed Lady Warsi, he was warning the Cabinet that it would be fatal to allow his relationship with Mr Clegg to corrode.
"We don't want the coalition to fall apart and we don't want to lose Nick," said one present. "Can you imagine having a coalition with anyone other than Nick?" Dave can't.
I actually put up a heads-up post about today's event on Clameron last week. It is at 3:30 today "at a factory in Essex", a long way from the Rose Garden... but I've also promised to post pictures on Clameron, such as they may be, provided that I find them. And of course Miliband has tried to upstage them by having a Q&A in Essex (Harlow) right now, the fucker.
Today's Guardian quotes the Times with a really mixed bag of bad and good tnings concerning the Coalition, or Nick and David specifically:
Senior Liberal Democrats believe that the party may have to withdraw from government early to avoid being wiped out at the next general election, The Times has learnt.
They think the party will need to reassert its independence from its Conservative governing partners well before polling day in May 2015. The concerns emerged during an investigation by The Times into relations within the coalition before its second anniversary this week. Other findings include:
• David Cameron refused a request from Baroness Warsi, the Tory co-chairman, to attack Nick Clegg during this month's local election campaign;
• George Osborne blamed Mr Clegg for the leaking of Budget secrets during an angry telephone confrontation;
• Mr Clegg feared a revolt by Liberal Democrat MPs over the cut in the 50p top rate of tax, but over-ruled his closest advisers to agree it.
I like the part about Cam reining in Warsi, and for better or worse, see myself proven right over Osborne's dislike of Nick. Not sure what to think about Nick overruling fellow LIb Dems... loyal to his Tory partners, but suicidal as a Lib Dem leader. I suppose he is past caring in that respect (he also said earlier that he'd stay as Deputy Prime Minister until the next election, which contradicts - somewhat - what the Times is saying).
I miss 2010 :(
Yep, exactly. In the past few days I've caught myself repeatedly wishing I could just wake up and find it 2010-like again, and both the Coalition and the lolitical comms all hope and goodwill :(
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Interestingly, though Nick has been a political dead-man-walking for many months now, it's looking more and more likely that Cameron doesn't have much of a future either. The Leveson inquiry has damaged him, and that's even before he's had his own day in the chair. If we end up in a situation where both of the men running the country have, career-wise, nothing to lose... unexpected and interesting things might happen. We can hope :)
Reply
It wasn't hostile or heartbreaking; just bleak and uninspiring, tense and awkward and businesslike - but at least the tension and awkwardness seemed to arise more from the event and the political and economic reality than from resentment between them. In a sense, it was less poignant than last year's post-AV appearance. So it didn't so much seem to be an issue of missing trust or camaraderie, but one of both of them being very concerned that they and their parties are in deep shit.
An interesting little thing I noticed was that they looked marginally more relaxed in the pics where they get out of No 10 together, and at the start of the factory tour, compared to the speeches and Q&A. It is as if they so they are so preoccupied with showing that they are in no mood for levity, knowing that they'll be ridiculed if they show any hint of it, that they overcompensated by being very controlled and boring as hell businesslike, and did their damned best not to look or sound chummy. After all, they see each other almost every day where they are not photographed or broadcast, and now that they have hardly any joint public appearances, they are probably too aware of the scrutiny and the need to "project images" etc. As manics_fan said on the live watch thread, they are screwed if they look like their parties are not getting along but equally screwed if they look too matey and pleased with life. Tomorrow's Queen's speech may provide a marginally less stage managed glimpse of how they treat each other... I am not over-optimistic but will try to keep an eye on it.
The Leveson inquiry may indeed be Cam's undoing, maybe even more so because it is at least another month until he testifies - and until then the thing will be hanging over him, though Coulson's and especially Rebecca's testimony this week will provide a sense of the scale of the potential disaster (especially if she does disclose those texts). But as you once said, for the most part their survival, or lack of such, will depend on whether the economy improves.
If we end up in a situation where both of the men running the country have, career-wise, nothing to lose... unexpected and interesting things might happen. We can hope :)
You mean, like the pair of them getting pissed and deciding to shag in earnest? :P
(incidentally, I've gone back to playing with my old Eternal Sunshine plot as a private mental plaything, and have come to the inevitable conclusion that the only way I could make it remotely plausible was if they wiped the memories of their fictional affair soon post-AV in 2011, and if Labour won in 2015, so that they would, indeed, have nothing to lose afterwards. Alarmingly, I decided on that at least a month before the disastrous elections. But I'd still rather be proven wrong, even if it will mean a Tory-only government.) Then again, you've probably seen today's most inspiring quote in both lincolnimp's and my comments:
And then there a view that this romance could yet last a lot longer. "Whether this goes to 2015 or 2020 or 2025, however long this coalition lasts, it will be a transaction," said one Tory.
For the time being, their hearts and souls are in it. And it is personal. When Mr Cameron rebuffed Lady Warsi, he was warning the Cabinet that it would be fatal to allow his relationship with Mr Clegg to corrode.
"We don't want the coalition to fall apart and we don't want to lose Nick," said one present. "Can you imagine having a coalition with anyone other than Nick?" Dave can't.
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