Author Archives: Ben Maconick

Opinion: Do we really want politicians to be “ordinary people”?

By Ben Maconick | Sat 23rd April 2011 - 1:25 pm

Recently Ed Miliband’s Labour Party TV broadcast expressed his frustration that the world of politics wasn’t like the real world. Considering that the entire broadcast was along the lines of painting Ed Miliband as an ordinary guy, it got me thinking on the subject of whether we really want our politicians to be ordinary people. It seems common sense that we want the people who represent us, to be like us. I would question this assumption, especially when we look at some of the other requirements we place on them.

The first requirement is obviously that they are knowledgeable about the …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged david cameron, ed miliband, nadhim zahawi, nick clegg, norman lamb, tim farron and vince cable | 9 Comments

Opinion: the Lib Dem identity crisis

By Ben Maconick | Mon 12th July 2010 - 12:20 pm

Most parties have identity crises after being kicked out of power; we are having one upon gaining it for the first time. This crisis is not an internal one, as most Liberal Democrats seem to be holding firm, but rather a crisis of what the public perceive us to be. Tough decisions of power have meant for our long term electoral success, our basic thinking and ideology needs to be made clearer to the public.

Having voted for the first time this general election, I found many of my first time voter friends simply did not know what the Liberal …

Posted in Op-eds | 69 Comments