2015 is the year to say YES. Yes to new adventures, Yes to restoring broken New Years’ Resolutions, and most importantly, Yes to making 2015 the biggest year yet in our campaign against extreme poverty!
Today, the London office is abuzz with General Election Fever and in case you hadn’t seen, we’ve launched a brand new campaign, Just Say Yes (hence the emphasis on saying yes, geddit?). With two months to go to the election in the UK, our chance to make sure extreme poverty is on the political agenda is here. As election candidates flood into local high streets and onto our TV screens, we want to make sure that ONE members’ voices are heard. But how will we do it?
We’ve created a rather beautiful pledge – which you can see below – that we are asking all parliamentary candidates to sign. It commits them to a) keeping the UK’s promises to the world’s poorest, b) ensuring that most of our aid goes to those countries that have the least, and c) puts girls and women at the heart of development. It’s the candidates’ chance to say YES in this historic year!
If we’re honest, trying to get a straight answer from a politician can be pretty difficult. So, to inspire them, here’s our top 10 of cringeworthy moments that politicians probably should’ve just answered the question:
- David Cameron and the dreaded maths question. Normally questions to the Prime Minister are pretty hard-hitting, but at this Conservative press conference last month, one journalist asked something a little different. (The answer is 72, Prime Minister.)
- Nick Clegg vs. Judy. On his weekly phone-in on radio station LBC, Nick Clegg went up against one caller who had had enough. After a minute of debate, Judy delivered a sucker-punch with the line “For Once In Your Life, Answer The Question Mr Clegg.” Ouch.
- Ed Miliband and the negotiating table. We all like making a point and the Leader of the Opposition certainly made his very clear with his comments on a teachers’ protest. I wonder what he thinks about those strikes…
- About your wife, Mr Farage. The leader of UKIP came under fire last year for employing his wife as his secretary in the European Parliament. The BBC’s Nick Robinson was on the case and didn’t let Mr.Farage escape without a pretty awkward interview.
- Gordon Bennett! Greens on LBC. We all have those moments where our minds go blank, but lucky for us it’s not usually on a national radio station. Unfortunately for Natalie Bennett, The Green Party leader, she didn’t have that luxury and when questioned on spending, slightly hesitated (to say the least).
- Sturgeon & the sterling. Andrew Neil is infamous for his political grillings and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon certainly couldn’t escape these questions. I think Mr.Neil was looking for the Plan B?
- Danny Alexander vs. Andrew Neil. The job title of Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the subject of UK Growth Figures sounds pretty dull but this interview certainly spices it up. Tune in at 6 minutes for a real lesson in how to dodge a question.
- Ed Balls’ mate Bill… somebody. We all know Bill, right? He’s about..mm.. 6ft tall? Blonde hair? And he’s just a generally great guy. No? Ok. Well, he does exist but I think Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls may have had a few too many late nights.
- Boris vs. Paxman. Dodging a question once is pretty brave, but 12 times must be a Guinness World Record. Mayor of London Boris Johnson gives it a pretty good go however in this hilarious 2008 debate.
- Who hasn’t read all the newspapers, Governor Palin? No list of question dodging would be complete without a quick visit over the pond to this infamous clip of Sarah Palin, running to become Vice President at the time, giving the best answer ever to the question “which newspapers do you regularly read?”.
