Tag Archives: miriam gonzalez durantez

What made the Mail, the Express and the Telegraph keen to see Nick Clegg doing more of his job?

An odd set of messages this week from some of the right-wing press: the Mail, the Express and Telegraph all ran pieces criticising Nick Clegg for taking his children to school, while being essential to the smooth running of the country.

In a classic bit of pandering/flamebait (delete according to taste), they variously criticise Clegg for not working 24 hours a day before concluding that he is “powerful”, “Co-Prime Minister” and “the second most senior politician in the land”.

The Express’s Virginia Blackburn likes to think of Clegg as “a commanding figure, a statesman, a diplomat representing his …

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LibLink: Nick Clegg, the New Statesman interview and crying

The latest edition of the New Statesman has an interview with Nick Clegg, which has mostly garnered attention for the shock news that Nick Clegg is a human being and has been known to cry to music:

He is besotted by his “three lovely boys” and is most proud “by a long shot” of the family life he has created with Miriam. They manage to lead a relatively normal life, “not in a bunker in Westminster”, and he tries to pick his children up from school and put them to bed at night at least two or three times a week.

He

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Lynne Featherstone’s speech to conference

Liberal Democrats.

I look around and I see the faces of so many friends, colleagues, Cabinet Members. Yes – I did just say that – Liberal Democrat members of the Cabinet.

Now conference, I was pretty clear at the time as to just what I thought of having an all male all pale team sent to negotiate on our behalves in May. Often for some of us women we get frustrated when we see mediocrity promoted above us.

But in this case, they weren’t mediocre – our negotiating team did one hell of a job and I thank them all …

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Book review: Campaign 2010 by Nicholas Jones

Anyone who has read Nicholas Jones’s previous books – especially Soundbites and Spin Doctors (1995) and Sultans of Spin (1999) – will look forward to a new tome from the BBC’s former political correspondent, who has proved himself to be an acute observer of the Westminster scene, and a fearless revealer of politicians’ trade secrets.

Campaign 2010, Mr Jones’s new work, is billed by publisher Biteback as “political theatre brought to a fresh level”. Can it live up to such hype? Sadly – and it genuinely pains me to say it, as I have high regard for …

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Miriam Gonzalez blows whistle on sexist media: “treat women for who they are and not simply for what their male partners do”

Hat-tip to Lib Dem Welsh assembly member Peter Black for blogging the letter by Miriam Gonzalez (or Mrs Nick Clegg as she’s known to right-wing tabloids) published in today’s paywall-protected Times, in which she directs a well-aimed shot at the paper for its shabby treatment of a woman who happened to have fallen in love with a man in the public eye:

Sir, now that Spain has won the World Cup and Iker Casillas demonstrated on Sunday that he is an outstanding goalkeeper regardless of whether his girlfriend, Sara Carbonero, watches him from the touchline or not, it may be

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Now the Daily Mail thinks election is about leader’s wife’s underwear

Elections used to about politicians. Then they became about politicians and their spouses. Now the Daily Mail introduces us to politicians, their spouses and their underwear choices with a “story” about where Miriam Gonzalez Durantez buys her underwear.

As Next Left points out, the story doesn’t have a name to it – just the generic “Daily Mail reporter” by-line. I wonder why?

UPDATE: As pointed out by several people on Twitter, the News of the World ran a similar piece first.

UPDATE 2: And as for Jan Moir’s contribution: sigh.

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Nick Clegg interview draws 1.1 million viewers

Nick Clegg was the subject of an hour-long feature interview with ITV’s Mary Nightingale on Sunday night – if you missed it, you can catch up courtesy of itv Player by clicking here. (It’s available online for the next 29 days).

Helen Duffett examined the 1950s-style newspaper previews of the Dead Tree Press, which focused on the shocking news that Miriam Gonzalez Durantez (Nick’s wife) has her own life, for LDV here.

Meanwhile MediaGuardian reports that over 1.1 million viewers watched last night. Okay, so it’s not as many as watched Gordon Brown be interviewed by Piers …

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The Leaders’ Wives obsession: why it’s missing the point

Tonight it’s Nick Clegg’s turn for a Sunday evening party leader’s interview – with Mary Nightingale on ITV1 at 10:15pm.

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez (Nick’s wife) also appears in the programme. At first I was dismayed that Miriam might be wheeled out as yet another politician’s wife, dreading revelations about socks or other foundation garments

Until I watched her in this extract :

I don’t like that name: “political wife”. I’m the wife of a politician… I don’t have a role. I’m just married to him…

…It’s a personal choice and I think it’s perfectly possible to have a normal life

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Miriam attacks stem cell waste

The Independent has the full story:

The wife of the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has criticised the financial and bureaucratic barriers that prevent British mothers from donating discarded umbilical cords to a national tissue bank.

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, who married Mr Clegg in 2000, said she wanted to donate the cord blood cells of her third child, Miguel, to a national tissue bank but was told it was impossible.

Cord blood contains stem cells that can be used in transplant operations to treat a range of disorders relating to the blood and immune system, such as leukaemia and anaemia.

The Government has

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