* Conference goers were none too impressed by BBC Political Correspondent, John Pienaar, who didn't fancy joining the LibDems on the conference shuttle bus (who can blame him) which took the bearded ones from the main hotel to the conference centre. Instead, Pienaar opted for a taxi. Good man.
* Liverpool City Council Cabinet member Colin Eldridge, who owns a laundry business in the City, was allegedly spotted urging delegates staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the official conference hotel, to make full use of their hotel towels. His company coincidentally does the hotel's laundry. Nice to see the LibDems full of the entrepreneurial spirit! However, he lists himself as a member of Friends of the Earth in his online biog. Obviously he doesn't go along with all these pesky signs in hotel bedrooms urging people to 'think of the environment' before using more towels!
* Photographers at the Crowne Plaza Hotel tried in vain to get a picture of Nick Clegg standing by a rather hideous statue in the entrance lobby of the Crowne Plaza. The name of the statue? Fallen Angel...
Thanks to my undercover reporter in Liverpool for these snippets.
18 comments:
I believe David Cameron had a few handwritten notes too! I do public speaking and prefer the 'off the cuff' walking about style rather standing behind a lecturn reading from an autocue or a written speech but its suicide not to have a few notes with you to jog the memory should it go blank.
I did listen to Clegg though and he did not seem at ease - bit of a stunt that feel flat I feel.
It really was a bizarre experience, full of contradictions and odd assertions.
Err... we are talking about the Lib Dems aren't we? You found that odd?
Lib Dems in a free fall that's even worse than West Ham Iain!
Odd that you celebrate John Pienaar wasting licence fee-payers money.
P.S. Everyone should stop this 'walking about' speech style. Bring back the lecturn!!!
Surely Pienaar will have paid for his own taxi? No one would imagine a BBC journalist wasting taxpayers' money..?
The BBC would never pay for a taxi if there was a free shuttle-bus service available. They're very careful with licence fee payer's money.
John Pienaar
read my lips
"NO NEW TAXIS"
. "Instead, Pienaar opted for a taxi. Good man."
The bus? With the beardies & wierdies with whom he has to work? Well...the poor man. Lawdie, close contact with the serfs? Heaven forbid!
Now the question is: Should I pay for my taxi out of my own pocket as transport was, indeed, provided?
Or should I charge it to expenses (i.e.my good buddy the taxpayer who already pays for my lucrative job with his compulsory TV licence)?
Yep, good man, Iain.
Well, all credit to Iain for revealing this. If you're listening BBC - don't give John P. that fare back!
Iain you are wrong to insinuate that Clegg was claiming to speak a la Cameron - without notes or autocue. Yes, he was walking about, and he had no notes, but the autocue use was obvious and admitted. Anyone in the hall could have turned around and seen the screens behind them.
Alex said...
"Iain you are wrong to insinuate that Clegg was claiming to speak a la Cameron"
Clegg wasn't claiming to speak without autocue.
Why did Pienar take a taxi?
Was he worried that his hair might get messed up?
@ Anonymous 11:05
So speaking without Autocue is some sort of virility test then - almost like fornicating without a condom.
Like, Wow!
What was that about 'dogs walking on their hind legs'? It's content not presentation that matters in this case. Let's face it Clegg has virtually no personality, precious little charisma and zero gravitas, so he really needs to do something about intellect to make up for the deficiencies.
I think Pienaar is eminently sensible. I sure as s*it would not get onto a coach full of LibbeDems! I imagine the gruesome twosome of Hughes and Oaten were passengers. I think we can forgive Pienaar this once for wasting license payers money on this instead of his usual 'expenses' (ie)pies)!
2 items about things that didn't happen - somebody not taking the bus & Clegg not being fooled into standing beside a statue - & one highly improbable one about somebody "allegedly" trying to get people to use towels. Pretty boring conference if Iain cant find things actually happening to talk about.
Nick Clegg is just facing reality. Neither Labour nor the Tories would touch the Lib Dems as a coalition partner.
Whereas, in the (quite likely) event of a hung Parliament, those two socially, culturally and politically indentical and interdependent rump organisations would go into coalition with each other without a second thought.
And, just as in the extremely improbable event of an outright Tory victory, nobody would be able to tell the slightest difference.
So the Lib Dems, as a party, might as well disband now. Their existence depends on the fantasy that they would matter in a hung Parliament. They would not.
One wonders why John Pienaar felt he had to take a shuttle bus at all. I was at the conference with Liberal Youth, and every single one of us walked. It only took four minutes, and was often faster than waiting for the shuttle bus to get through traffic.
So much for the Lib Dems caring for the environment.
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