Barry: I fear for Nick the nobody

Sep 23 2009 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

“AT least it shows you’re being read,’’ my old column editor Andy Flynn would say as he dropped another angry letter on my desk.

I’ve had a few scathing notes from readers in my time for my views on Christianity, the Royals, the BNP, even the whales. And I enjoyed reading every one because it’s good to get a reaction, whether positive or negative.

The idea that no-one reads what I’m writing is much more difficult to deal with.

I wonder if Nick Clegg feels the same way.

It’s the Lib Dem leader’s big week with his party conference coming to a conclusion in Bournemouth.

This is pretty much the only time of the year when Britain’s third party gets major media attention, so the results of a new poll must be pretty galling for the Lib Dem leader to read.

Some 1,056 people were asked what they thought of Nick Clegg, to which 36% replied: “Who’s Nick Clegg?’’

Ouch.

Just a few months from a General Election it’s not good news for any party leader that one in three people don’t know you from Adam.

No politician wants to be unpopular, but perhaps Mr Clegg might feel happier if he was disliked instead of unknown.

For, as the great French philosopher David Ginola once said: “I’d rather be booed than ignored.’’