LibDems hold Eastleigh, Tories in Third Place after UKIP

[formant]

Do they really give a toss?

For a large portion of voting public, education is a key issue. Someone from a private school background who's never been to university isn't going to come across well on issues of state schooling, further and higher education. Parents in particular care about that sort of thing.

There are a lot of parents around. The more middle class, the more they're going to care.

[d000hg]

You fail at the Internetz

It's even the top story on Radio 1 news!

Loving the sig Nick.

[DodgyAgent]

Never said it's the only way to gain credibility, but in politics it's part of the package. But being the 'only recent party leader to have had a "proper" job' (by DA's standards) doesn't cut it either. The 'street smart' thing was tongue-in-cheek, referring to DA's 'proper job' statement.

Look around globally - GWB got years of ridicule for being a mediocre student - depite his Yale degree (and his business background didn't help him there). Someone without any post-18 education isn't going to look to great against Physics PhD's like Merkel and JDs like Obama.

In the 'real world' you can get pretty far without a degree. Politics isn't the "real world".

Also, for a large portion of voting public, education is a key issue. Someone from a private school background who's never been to university isn't going to come across well on issues of state schooling, further and higher education. Parents in particular care about that sort of thing.

So Cameron who was privately educated and went to Oxford has more understanding of the state system than farage who just went to private school

[DodgyAgent]

There are a lot of parents around. The more middle class, the more they're going to care.

I think your view has more to do with educational snobbery than an objective view of what people expect from their political leaders.

[Lockhouse]

I think your view has more to do with educational snobbery than an objective view of what people expect from their political leaders.

Formant - WDAS - it's your prejudice.

[sasguru]

I think your view has more to do with educational snobbery than an objective view of what people expect from their political leaders.

She has a point though.
You didn't go to university and you can't think straight, just spout banal cliches.

[formant]

I think your view has more to do with educational snobbery than an objective view of what people expect from their political leaders.

Funny, as you will have seen from many other threads, I'm not one of those many people who'd happily spend a ton of cash to move into the catchment area of the best regional state school. A lot of (middle class) parents however do think just like that - indicating that state education does matter to them quite a bit.

Of course I'm an educational snob, though, not denying that. My education has gotten me pretty far. *shrug*

[formant]

So Cameron who was privately educated and went to Oxford has more understanding of the state system than farage who just went to private school

Considering he has made it through one of the top public universities (don't worry, I also wonder how at times), he's certainly ahead there.

[sasguru]

I think the type of education matters.
Humanities graduates (Oxbridge or otherwise) don't seem to be very good at governing the country.

[CoolCat]

I will vote for anyone who is going to stop issuing uncapped intra company work visas to Bobs, who is going to stop giving Bobs big tax and national insurance dispensations, and who actually enforces the wide and various laws and rules the Bob outsourcers break every day