5 things you didn’t know Nick Clegg loves – another clever use of Buzzfeed by LDHQ

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 10th March 2014 - 8:57 am

Back in January, when a character from Sherlock was analysed as a disillusioned Lib Dem, those clever people at Party HQ came up with a Buzzfeed thingy giving 1o reasons why she should come back to us.

They’ve now done the same with five of the things from Nick Clegg’s speech that he loves about Britain.

I liked that part of his speech – here’s a reminder:

I love that a country capable of extraordinary pomp and ceremony can still retain a spiky irreverence towards its establishment. A country where we line the streets waving our Union Jacks wildly to welcome the arrival of Prince George, and the next moment we’re chuckling at Private Eye’s front page: ‘Woman Has Baby’.

I love that we insist on queuing when we go abroad, even when the locals don’t.

I love that the BBC and NHS are known and respected across the planet.

I love that our cities are home to every race, religion, colour and language in existence.

I love Miriam telling me that the feeling of freedom you get in Britain simply doesn’t exist anywhere else.

I love that the shipping forecast is listened to by insomniacs of all ages, right across the country, miles from the sea.

I love how excited we get at the glimpse of any sun, insisting on staying out in our t-shirts and flip-flops – even when it’s obviously still cold.

I love living in a country synonymous with human rights and the rule of law.

I love that it was British lawyers who drafted the European Convention on Human Rights and a British Prime Minister who helped launch the Single Market. And I enjoy reminding my Coalition partners that it was a Prime Minister from their party at that.

I love that we do respond – the cliché is true – to every problem no matter how big or small with the same thing: a cup of tea.

I love that, wherever you go in the world, you’ll find football fans obsessed with the Premier League.

I wish they’d put the Private Eye thing in because that was the funniest of the lot.

It’s good to see that the social media people at LDHQ are using these new platforms that are springing up. I suspect we’ll see a few more of them in the future.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings

4 Comments

Sandy 10th Mar '14 - 9:12am

Yes Caron, it’s really great to see LDHQ employing strategies like this. It will make a difference.

Clegg’s speech was inspiring and we need to be reminded about it, let people hear what he thinks about the shipping forecast and flip flops . It’ll win votes,, there’s no doubt about that.
ATF 10th Mar '14 - 1:33pm

Sandy – it is a way of reaching one audience via one platform. It’s a popular site and it would be foolish to ignore it.
Shirley Campbell 10th Mar '14 - 10:21pm

As a “Liberal” by instinct I hate insincerity and I hate those who purport to support justice and equality whilst hypocritically seeking to support an unjust and unequal institution commonly known as the “monarchy”.

I support Nick in his quest to promote the merits of the European Union and I support Danny in his quest to press for an increase in the personal allowance but please Nick and Danny examine your Liberal credentials.
Simon Banks 11th Mar '14 - 11:02am

I thought that part of the speech was very effective, not only because it was funny, but because it showed a comfortable relation with public emotion, something I feel Nick Clegg as a leader finds difficult.

Shirley, I’m a republican too (not the U.S. sort). But I think his point was that we’re capable of both loving things and laughing at ourselves for our attachment to them. That could apply to all sorts of things. I love Liberalism and (with reservations) the Liberal Democrats; but last night I posted on Facebook, along with a positive take on the conference, the fact that one of the two food-serving pubs closest to the venue had a notice outside, “We cater for small parties”.