Originally published @ 7:51 am, Wed 30th Dec 2009
Nick Clegg complained about politicians talking to people in soundbites yesterday, which the BBC duly reported as a soundbite.
The reporter then struggled to keep a straight face as he said that Clegg had called for people to talk about what they believed in, which in Clegg's case is apparently fairness, which the reporter suggested was a "motherhood and apple pie" kinda thing to say.
Well maybe, except we know that an inheritance tax break of a million pounds each for the wealthiest 3,000 estates is not about fairness. (Inheritance tax is something the Tories were still banging on about on Monday.)
But trying to give Clegg's statement a fairer chance, I looked at his exhortation for politicans to say what they believe, and what came at the end was a series of policy intiatives rather than values.
Now even Shirley Williams, when promoting her autobiography recently on the radio, managed to say something about the values that defined a Liberal Democrat, (something akin to) being fanatical about civil liberties (amongst other things - I was driving and couldn't write it down). And this is what I would expect from Liberals whose values tend to argue about celebrating the individual.
Given that all main political parties share beliefs in freedom and politics as the way to direct a country and resolve conflicts between people, it can be a little simplistic to boil down the parties to a few words, but in terms of values, what distinguishes Conservatives is a belief in order and the existing order, what distinguishes Liberals is giving a primacy to individuals and what distinguishes Labour is emphasis on mutual progress and helping the disadvantaged.
But any statement of beliefs is missing from Clegg's statement for a call to talk about beliefs.
On Nick Clegg's complaints about Prime Minister's Question Time, there must be a lots of people who wonder why something that should be the showpiece of British politics is something that comes over so badly on television.
Having witnessed it twice, I know it doesn't seem so bad if you're there, but that's not how most people are experiencing it.
When TV was first introduced, I seem to remember that the prevailing view in the House of Commons was that cameras shouldn't intrude cos it would damage the debates and MPs' reputations, but I think MPs' reputations would be much improved if cameras were placed so as to show their faces rather than the tops of their heads, and there was a more visible reminder of the debates being engaging to the general public.
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