clegg

Remember tuition fees?  Jacked up to £9000?  There was a bit of unpleasantness on the streets, I recall, after which Nick Clegg retrieved a shred of dignity with the announcement that, while £9000 per annum was the new limit, anything over £6000 had to be vetted first by the Lib Dem contribution to the story, OFFA (prop. Vince Cable, sort of), to ensure that the nasty old universities weren't profiteering.

Hardly world-shattering news - who'd'a'thunk that rank and file Liberal Democrats might be quite liberal and pro-democracy? Not Nick Clegg, oddly, for whom the fact that his own party has voted to support itself is being characterised as something of a warning shot.

[Guest post by bagelmouse]

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You know those new, unexpected, 2,300 unemployment benefits claimants in August?

I was one of them. I have worked in web content for ten years and have contracted for the last two – except, since the start of May, I have had precisely 19 days' paid employment. I have a mortgage. I have bills. I have a rapidly dwindling savings account. I need every penny I can get. So yes, I started claiming Job Seeker's Allowance.

When they're left to the work experience kid, apparently. Jack Straw may be a tired, awful old has-been with a large amount of previous, but even his insipid performance opposite Nick Clegg today managed to end up in a Coalition own goal around whether or not Clegg was answering Questions on behalf of the Prime Minister, himself, the Government, the Coalition or, well, anyone.