Sunday 27 May 2012

UK Un-cut protest outside Clegg's house

Yesterday, anti-cuts protesters held a peaceful protest out side the Deputy Prime Minister's house in the form of a street party. Bunting was laid out and even a samba band played for the masses of people come to protest about the Austerity moves made by the Government.

A further 70 protested outside the Constituency office of Mr Clegg in Sheffield;
David Kirkham stated;
We're here celebrating and partying for some great British institutions, namely, the welfare state, our NHS and the public sector life blood - things that were achieved by our ancestors in the post-war period
Another protester stated:
Nick Clegg is one of the architects of austerity; he’s a millionaire and lives in a million pound home. The cuts are a political choice of this government and the Cabinet of out of touch millionaires, they are not necessary.

Also UK Uncut stated on twitter today:
MEMO TO CLEGG: many of your neighbours & their kids joined us in the sunshine on our street party yesterday Ps stop the cuts


Mark Sewotka the head of PCS union also said:
We applaud their innovative and inspirational action that takes the campaign right to the doorsteps of those responsible.We would like to see more of this kind of community campaigning, linking up with unions, arguing for the alternative to spending cuts, for investment to improve our public services and to protect our communities from what this arrogant government is trying to do

It was a peaceful protest and passed with out incident according to the news sources however they are barking up the wrong tree in my opinion.

Firstly, I admit that as someone that has never had to worry about money Nick Clegg, in fact a good chunk of the cabinet do not necessarily understand the hardships that the common family has to suffer and the compromises they have to make just to scratch by however why target Clegg? Maybe because he is a soft target? Lets be honest Cameron has more of a Police presence so the next one down is Nick and lets face it he is quite unpopular already for many reasons.

But is targeting Nick justifiable?

The man who has been influential in pushing Libdem policy that means you no longer get income tax on the first £10,000 you earn? For bringing in the Pupil premium to aid children from poorer backgrounds in school? For nagging David Cameron and the Conservatives to change tact and invest in infrastructure and move away from Austerity? Yeah the guy sounds like a complete arse...

On top of that he vocalised on the Marr show this morning that Austerity has been necessary. For all of those who have failed to noticed or just not interested in the truth, the economy in 2008 was screwed... The Coalition took steps in 2010 to plug the leaking ship and that meant cuts - anything that was seen as unnecessary or to costly was scrapped and tough decisions were made because they had to be made. Sometimes you just have to be brutal. God knows I haven't agreed with all the places the axe fell but it had to. Now that the leaks have been plugged the Government are looking at where they can invest to encourage growth and the cuts have only been the first stage.

The third prong of my attack is that this is Nick Clegg's home... Its where his wife and kids live. Whatever the man does at work, and what ever you feel about him you should leave his family alone and his meagre family time as well. It is well documented that Nick Clegg works long hours and tries, like many of us, to balance a hectic job and his family time so why ruin it for him? In the past he's had dog excrement put through his front door and the Police even advised him to stop cycling to Parliament as they couldn't guarantee his safety. That's why he has to ride around in the Ministerial car that you guys keep criticising him for. There have been many tweets on the subject:

Cllr Ian Roberts:
: 'spend money you haven't got NOW or we'll harass your family'. Top notch, guys.

Shane Greer:
I really don't think protests at Clegg's house are right. Must be terrifying for his young children.

Conservative MP Louise Mensch also commented (and encouraged followers to donate to the Libdem party):
If you believe targeting home & family of a politician you disagree with is intolerable bullying - £5 for Nick Clegg

Importantly though its where his young boys are, they are innocent in all of this and the Protest trapped them in doors on a bright Saturday. They are not to blame for this and yet must suffer. How is this ok?

If you disagree with your football manager's handling of the team do you go back to his house and protest? No! If you get crap service at Tesco do you go to the Manager's or Staff's house? No!

So why is it ok to pester the man's family on the weekend? I'm not doing an impassioned Leave Nick Alone!!! rant, I'm just saying that its ok to disagree with his policies and the way the Government carry out its business but leave the man's family out of it.

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