Interview date : 9.8.2008 (Day.Month.Year) 10.58.00 (Hr.Min.Sec)
Direct Link : http://www.ukstudentnews.co.uk/nickclegg.html
Interviewer : Andy - Editor ukstudentnews.co.uk
Title : ukstudentnews.co.uk interviews Nick Clegg MP ( Leader of the Liberal Democrat )
L
iberal Democrats will say "yes" to anything as they have no chance of getting into power in the near future. What will you say to that?
Nick Clegg says : Nonsense. We have a better thought-out policy platform than any other party – an economic recovery plan based on cutting taxes for poor and average families, reforms to our health system and schools, and policies to protect the environment for our children and grandchildren.
Our policy is formed democratically, by the members of the party, and it’s all public and published so everyone can find out what we stand for very easily on every issue. You’d struggle to find that sort of transparency in any other party: Labour in government has behaved wildly differently from what people expected, and the Conservatives refuse to make any specific commitments.
I
f liberal democrats doesn't exist and you have to choose amongst the existing British parties which party will you join and why?
Nick Clegg says :
I’d found the Liberal Democrats. Neither of the other parties has the right approach, both of them for different reasons. Labour want to bully everyone into doing what they’re told, while the Conservatives have a “sink or swim” attitude coupled with a desire for everyone to conform to their view of moral behaviour. I’m a liberal, not a socialist or a conservative. I believe in people, I believe that the more freedom we have, the better we can be – but that often people need a helping hand to make the most of their freedom.
I joined the Liberal Democrats because I was tired of the old parties and their old ideas, and I wanted to change the system completely. If the party didn’t exist, I’d still believe those things, so I’d have no choice but to create it!
Y
ou believe tuition fees should be scrapped and higher education should be accessible to as many people as possible. On a practical level how will your party fund the universities, bearing in mind these universities have to compete on an international level.
Nick Clegg says :
University’s got to be affordable for everyone if we’re to have a fair society. But we also need to make sure our universities get enough money to compete with the best in the world. That’s why we currently have a policy working group looking at how we marry these twin ambitions. I’m not willing to sacrifice either for the other – but it will be challenging.
S
hould certain university degrees be scrapped as they offer no job prospects. For example : you can study David Beckham as part of a 12 week course at Staffordshire University.
Nick Clegg says :
There’s a very good reason universities are independent. It’s not for politicians to be dictating what should and shouldn’t be taught in every classroom or lecture hall. Students should do their best to choose wisely – and think about their future job prospects when picking courses and modules. If courses are truly pointless, don’t take them – then the universities will soon stop offering them..
Y
ou said politicians are entitled to a past private live ( http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/nick-clegg-you-ask-the-questions-402603.html ) . Do you believe students should be judged on their past criminal records when it comes to universities considering their applications?
Nick Clegg says :
Broadly, no. If someone’s made a mistake – and then turned their life around and moved on, we need to make it possible for them to have a clean slate. Otherwise someone can get condemned to a life of crime thanks to one mistake as a teenager.
We have a system under the Rehabilitiation of Offenders Act where crimes get “spent” after a certain amount of time and you don’t have to disclose them any more. That system needs reform – proposals to change it were put forward in 2000, but the government’s done nothing about it. I’d put the changes into effect – and make sure it applied to university applicants too. That way a recent spate of serious crimes could affect your application, but a mistake a few years ago wouldn’t. That seems fair to me.
W
hat do you envy about today's student?
Nick Clegg says :
Being a student is a wonderful opportunity to learn about something that interests you in real depth, and to learn about yourself too. I think one of the exciting steps forward in education is the increase in mature students at university. Instead of having to take one particular path, there is much more freedom to try different things before deciding what you want to study, or coming back much later on if you want a change of direction.
D
uring your student days, who inspired you and why ?
Nick Clegg says :
Vaclav Havel had a big influence on me. His leadership of the Charter 77 manifesto group and then the Velvet Revolution was an inspiration to people of my generation who witnessed and admired his courage, and that of other freedom fighters behind the Iron Curtain. He showed that men of principle and character truly can change the world.
Havel spent many years in prison and even when released was kept under surveillance and constantly harassed. Yet his determination to change the government of his country for the better did not falter. He put at the cornerstone of his activities a belief in the importance of non-violent resistance. Few politicians can ever hope to move people in the number of ways that Havel did with his words and deeds.
He is also a particular hero of mine because many years ago I met him in his presidential palace in Prague. At the time I was working on the Czech Republic's application to join the European Union and he gave a small group of us a considerable amount of time.
S
hould a student from a less privileged background with a lower grade take precedence over a student with a higher grade from a middle-class background when it comes to university admissions?
Nick Clegg says :
No. But it is worth remembering that thus far in life everything has been stacked against the kid from the poorer background. By the age of 6 a child from a privileged background will have overtaken a brighter, poorer kid in school. The way to tackle this is to target money at children from less privileged backgrounds early on. I want to introduce a ‘pupil premium’ meaning money follows the child, this will act as an encouragement for better schools to take on kids from less privileged backgrounds.
S
hould A-levels be replaced with a different qualification system?
Nick Clegg says :
Yes – but not in the way it’s being done at the moment. The government’s creating a complicated and confusing qualifications maze which risks being a massive flop. The Government should scrap its Diploma model and introduce a single General Diploma, using GCSEs and A-Levels as building-blocks, as proposed by education expert Mike Tomlinson in 2004. That’s the best way to bridge the gap between vocational and the more traditional “academic” qualifications and make sure everyone can get a top quality education that suits them, and is tailored to their individual capacities.
A
sides from your wife, who will you classify as the sexist British female?
Nick Clegg says :
No-one comes close to my wife!
Ukstudentnews.co.uk will like to thank Nick Clegg for this interview
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Nick Clegg
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If someone’s made a mistake – and then turned their life around and moved on, we need to make it possible for them to have a clean slate.
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Nick Clegg
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