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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Will Farage accept Clegg’s challenge?
politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Will Farage accept Clegg’s challenge?
This morning Nick Clegg has challenged Nigel Farage to a live debate on Britain’s membership of the European Union before May’s elections.
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If he doesn't it'll be chicken jokes at least until the other side of the Euro elections. It may be than our Nige is playing a canny game of winding the media up to maximise coverage of the [eventual] debate.
If Cameron doesn't take part he doesn't get to argue his case.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26277432
Indeed so. Anyone who thinks an interest rate rise is a good look for the government could probably do with reprogramming.
Hmm, not so sure that his style would work a second time.
However, from the LibDems' point of view a debate would be a good idea. I can't see Farage wanting to debate with Clegg, though: he's trying to play in the big boys' league now, not be relegated to a 'minor parties' slot. So he'll refuse as Paul O'Flynn indicates, unless Ed and Dave play along, which won't happen. Win/Win for Farage and Clegg: both can and will claim that Ed and Dave are chicken, although frankly I doubt if many voters will notice either way.
http://www.ukip.org/newsroom/news/1177-ukip-responds-to-nick-clegg-s-invitation-to-a-televised-debate
F1: Red Bull and Toro Rosso both got decent laps in, alas. So, looks like the Renault has stopped exploding all the time.
http://www.ukip.org/newsroom/news/1178-ukip-director-of-communications-patrick-o-flynn-says-televised-leaders-debate-a-very-interesting-idea
Hard to say who that would harm the most. Lib Dems might be least harmed (Labour loses WWC sorts and the Conservatives the right wing of their party/BOOers. Not sure many sandal enthusiasts vote UKIP).
Mr Farage debates this issue frequently. He'll be fully on top of the facts. Mr Clegg however never gets beyond his 'three million jobs' soundbite.
UKIP want to have a build-up to Mr Farage's LBC programme tomorrow. Fine. But I don't think there's any doubt that the debate _will_ happen.
FWIW, the three most common colours in the national flags of the countries of the world are red, white and blue (in that order). Or at least they were when I counted them several years ago. So let's have no more of this nonsense of changing the Union Flag, either in terms of colours or design.
It wasn't just Osborne and his amusingly out of touch tory image, wonderful as that was.
It's the fact that the EU and currency are way, way down the list of priorities for scottish voters. 7th and 8th with a tiny 3% and 2% rating them most important.
Basing the entire No campaign on that was always incredibly stupid.
All the more so since they couldn't even get the rollout of their currency policy right.
What they should have done (since they mistakenly think currency really is the magic bullet) was to coordinate across all three parties and have a staged rollout so keeping it in the public eye for weeks not a few days.
Week 1. Find the best possible face for it which would have been labour and one of their spokesman. Balls is still not very popular mind (assuming they didn't want Darling, Brown or Murphy to do it) but Balls it would likely have been.
Week 2. Wee Danny. Toxic but it's a close run thing with Osborne and the lib dems, and they can't get someone the scottish public likes like Charles Kennedy, so wee Danny it is.
Week 3. The hardest of all. Given Cammie seems to be less toxic than Osborne maybe even he would have been better but it wouldn't be by much and he should be joined by any remaining scottish tory presence like Ruth Davidson.
There you have it. Three weeks of wall to wall blasting of the same message easing the scottish public into it before unleashing the tories.
Too late now.
Oh and here's the other vital bit. That's three weeks out of the seven months remaining. So even if it was a magic bullet (it's not) and even if it had some effect to help No (no sign of that so far, quite the opposite) how on earth do they keep that up from now until September 18? They don't and the scottish public soon gets very tired of the incessant negativity.
However, he must bear in mind that Clegg is a very good debater who will get into the nuts and bolts, and will also know the EU very well, being a former eurocrat. Farage must thus study hard to make sure he accounts himself properly.
Mr. Anorak said,
"I think you're right. Plus, someone whacks 1% on my savings rate and I'm pleased, but it's no game-changer. Someone whacks 1% on my mortgage and all of a sudden it's rice pudding three times a week and no summer holiday. That's a game- (and vote-) changer."
You wouldn't consider the idea, Mr. Anorak, that your mortgage rate rising by 1% meant that you could no longer afford proper food meant that you and borrowed too much in the first place? Or perhaps there is a trade off between buying your own home and being able to afford holidays and it may not always be possible to do both.
As a member of the baby-boomer generation it does make me laugh that people think that it was always easy for us, that there weren't times when mortgage rates went up that we did not have to pull our horns in and sometimes severely.
I'm sure you're right mick, but there' no way the tories would have countenanced that strategy.
It would look like they were bounced into denying a currency union by labour and the libs.
Massive u-turn by the Environment Agency (trying to save Chris Smith's job?)
"River dredging on the Somerset Levels will begin next month "as soon as it is safe and practical to do so", the Environment Agency has said.
The work will take place on five miles (8km) of river channel where the Tone and Parrett meet at Burrowbridge.
Dredging equipment will also be deployed on a 200m section of the River Parrett north of Coates Farm.
The agency said these are "key stretches" of waterway specifically identified by local people.
It claimed the proposal provides the greatest chance of reducing future flooding and is the "full dredge" requested by residents."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-26270501
As for the "appropriate level" argument, it's a fine idea, but completely out of touch with the reality. Half the EU budget is spent on agricultural subsidies to make sure farmers have high incomes - why is that needed to be done at a continent level? Regional support, which in its very name is subnational, is the second category. This is why an EU debate is so desperately needed: it will bring the EU's floaty ideas into contact with the practical reality.
So this is likely far more to do with boosting the kipper vote in lib dem tory marginal areas at the expense of tory votes. We know for a fact that tory kipper waverers can move about while the lib dem vote has flatlined since late 2010 and shows no sign whatsoever of budging now.
I think there was a church close to the Somerset coast that had a high water mark half way up the church porch.
Of course it might have been all James VI/I fault as he was known to bat for the other side .... only of course after he left for England .... there being in 17th century Scotland, just like Sochi according to their mayor, no gayers in town !!
(Before you explode, note I'm NOT saying that there isn't a rational case for leaving the EU; what I'm saying is that they are not making it, in fact not even trying to make it, which is why they rely so much on personal attacks on Cameron and on immigration as the key vote-puller. More's the pity; it would be good to have a proper debate.)
The Scottish Government has refused to publish a “plan B” for an independent Scotland’s currency, in case a “currency union” is not agreed to by the rest of the UK. Do you believe the Scottish Government should draw up alternative options to a “currency union” ahead of the referendum on September 18, 2014?
2011 Holyrood Vote (Y/N)
SNP: 60/26
Referendum Vote:
Yes: 59/28
No: 71/18
Giant Panda = Ailuropoda melanoleuca, in the bear etc family
so yes different species (if your default panda is the Giant Panda). Can't imagine them cross breeding.
And also genera and families (though this is rather more the opinion of mammalogists rather than the animals themselves)!
Selling the dredging machines looks a bit short sighted now. Another success for the EA,
2. Things sometimes have to be said because they are important and true, no matter how palatable the message and the messenger may be to the Cumbernauld massive.
3. Perhaps the tories mind a bit less than they pretend to? Just a thought.
1) To discuss the up and coming European elections and the initiatives that may come out of it. In which case Farage as Chair of the EFD should debate matters with the UK representative of the other leading EU groups (PES, EPP, ECR, EFLD) etc However, in such circumstances there would be no requirement for a domestic politician such as Clegg.
2) The only other occasion when such debate would be suitable was if there was to be a referendum on our membership of the EU. Bizarrely it is Clegg and the Liberal Democrats who have proved to be an obstruction to such a plebiscite.
Consequently, such a debate with Clegg involved seems utterly pointless. Just another worthless circus sideshow from a loser desperate for the oxygen of publicity. If I was Farage I'd repeat there is no point having a debate with Clegg without a referendum to fight and then call to debate the leader of the Libdems in Brussels (along with Labour and The Troies and The Greens).
Basically the reason why Clegg should not be involved in a debate about the Euros is the same as why Salmond should not be included in the Westminster leaders debate.
That said if the only way to stop the usual suspects from wetting their panties for the next three months is to agree with this piece of purile premature ejaculation then so be it. Although it really is a waste of time.
2. Assertion are not facts. This is a Yes/No campaign so trust is hardly inconsequential.
3. Not the first time I've heard that but it would be far more accurate to say some tories may not mind. There's also more than enough out of touch tories who seem utterly clueless as to how toxic they are elsewhere never mind in scotland.
http://www.ukip-southbucks.com/costoftheEU_2013.pdf
I can;t see how a tory chancellor could allow his labour shadow to front run him for three weeks on a matter as serious as this.
Nothing strange about three different unionist parties considering the response of the other two and then deciding to do the same with their reasons why.
Surely Mick the key group here isn;t English tory voters, its English swing and labour voters.
Labour have calculated that leaving a currency union open would go down very badly with their own voters, or there is no way they would have trooped in behind Osborne. No way at all.
Labour's default position is opposition to the tories, even on matters they don;t intend to change in 2015.
When the Union Flag was adopted several shades of blue appeared. This was because of the different natural dyes used. Maritime flags tended to be darker blue so as to last longer.
About 10 years ago the Scottish government, after advice from the Lord Lyon, formalised the saltire blue at pantone 300 which is a slightly lighter shade than the pantone 280 used on the Union Flag.
I understand entirely your need to continue your week long Osbornegasm since you have little else to contribute, but I'm afraid you just had polling the clearly shows all your hero has done is narrow the polls. All the shrieking in world can't change that. Not that you should stop now of course. By all means continue.
As I said, scrutiny works both ways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Scotland
Mind you that blue lipstick on his cheeks made me worry !!
Is he? The rapturous reception he got in the first debate was in my view inevitable for practically any Lib Dem leader; anyone with even an iota of political nous could've got a lot of mileage out of an attack line like "we need to do something different" at a time when the Establishment politicians were reviled.
In my opinion, if Charles Kennedy had got the luxury of debates then he would've done even better in them than Clegg.
I could very easily see the likes of C4 being interested and it would have a very strong curiosity factor. But if all that Farage comes away with is an hour or so of radio then that won't make much of a splash at all.
Union = Pantone 280
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Scotland
EDIT - oops, others beat me to it!
"competitors are invited to compose a Blueprint for Britain outside the EU, covering the process of withdrawal from the EU and the post-exit repositioning of the UK in the global trading and governance systems"
http://www.iea.org.uk/brexit
Fop chicken? Surely not.
Chortles indecently ....
Fop chicken? Surely not.
Seriously Mick, he's only got so many hours in the day in which he can chillax. Ease off on the bugger.
Fop chicken? Surely not.
Just like the TV debates last time then, when he tried to back away from them and then was pressured into it.
If Cameron sticks to this line, Miliband should join, get a big TV channel to do it and make Cameron look particularly pathetic if he's the only one not there. The "I'm PM and too important line" won't be an easy one to stick to when the DPM, who needs to be involved in all major decisions, is doing it. It'll also hold himself up to ransom, if he says he can't spare an hour or two for a debate, every time he tries to get a photoshoot in front of some fields or some children's nursery.
Has anyone remembered that the State Pension paid out next week is entirely funded by this week's NI contributions? There is no pot of gold to split.
There are a lot less earners for each pensioner in Scotland so will pensioners take a cut or will earners be taxed more?