Political

Found: the perfect gift for an on-message Liberal Democrat activist

Up at the crack of dawn* fighting for Alarm Clock Britain?

Battling from letterbox to letterbox to anchor the government in the centre ground?

Then this surely is what you need:

Anchor Alarm Clock

 

On a more serious note, I really do wonder about the wisdom of the new Liberal Democrat catchphrase about anchoring the government in the centre ground. The sentiment over avoiding the extremes of the other parties is a good one. But anchoring in the centre ground? It’s not the sort of language real people use.

If you’ve been canvassing yourself, I doubt very much you’ve had someone say to you, “You’re an anchor!”. If you think you have, I’m sorry to break it to you – but you misheard.

True, some great political orators do use language out of the ordinary. But they don’t lift themselves onto that special plane by dropping ordinary language in favour of insular geometrical patterns salted with a nautical touch.

So anchoring in the centre ground? Nah, I can’t see that working as a phrase.

 

* Even if you are, you will still be 4 hours behind Paddy Ashdown. Sorry.

 

 

3 responses to “Found: the perfect gift for an on-message Liberal Democrat activist”

  1. As a slogan it is a pile of anch 🙂 It’s also deeply lacking in inspiration for members of what is supposed to be a radical, progressive, reforming party and lacks any sense of “changing the way in which we do politics” (a common phrase in 2010).
    During the rise of firstly Major and then the full-fat New Labour Blairism version Paddy used to say about the battle for the centre ground “you have the centre-ground – I never wanted it!”

  2. The centre ground is a shifting sandbank, moved by the changing political currents of other parties. Nobody in their right mind would anchor to that.

  3. That pretty much sums up everything I hate about Nick Clegg’s leadership.  Actual Liberal Democrat policies and principles are conspicuous by their absence!

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