Author Archives: Helen Duffett

Helen is the Liberal Democrats' Internal Communications Manager. As well as being part of the Lib Dem Voice team, she blogs at www.helenduffett.blogspot.com and is on Twitter as @helenduffett. Helen loves Underground trains and transport history.
Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 21 December 2012

By Helen Duffett | Fri 21st December 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. A Christmas Carol. Stave One: Mensch’s Ghost (5 comments) by Andy Boddington
  2. Y’know those stories about the death of the Lib Dems? Turns out, they might’ve been exaggerated… (57 comments) by Stephen Tall
  3. Did you know the Lib Dems have lost half a million voters to Ukip? Here’s what I think it means. (48 comments) by Stephen Tall
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Helen Duffett

“It was a tough battle” – Shirley Williams on the birth of the SDP

By Helen Duffett | Thu 29th November 2012 - 4:17 pm

Shirley Williams tells the story of the 1981 Gang of Four breakaway, which eventually led to the formation of the Liberal Democrats, in the first issue of AD LIB magazine, out next week.

“…we said, if we haven’t got anywhere else to go, we’ll create one.”

Those nascent views crystallised after the party’s 1981 Wembley conference which committed it to unilateral nuclear disarmament and withdrawal from the EEC and NATO. Within hours Williams, Owen and Rodgers were drawing up the plans which would lead to the creation of the SDP.

“The three of us met – not Roy, at that point –

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 11 Comments
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg: “Let Leveson speak”

By Helen Duffett | Thu 29th November 2012 - 12:17 pm

The Leveson Report on the culture, practice and ethics of the press will be published today at 1:30pm.

Speaking to the BBC this morning Nick Clegg said,

I think we should leave Lord Leveson to speak for himself. But my views on this subject are well known.

I believe in a vigorous free press that holds the powerful to account and isn’t subject to political interference. But a free press does not and cannot mean a press that is free to bully innocent people, or free to abuse grieving families.

I hope when Lord Justice Leveson gives his full statement later today, we will

…

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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 23 November 2012

By Helen Duffett | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Ed Balls: My starting point is we are going to have keep all the cuts (32 comments) by Mark Pack
  2. My ‘Super Thursday’ Lib Dem post mortem (61 comments) by Stephen Tall
  3. The other local elections: Lib Dems gain five and hold three (28 comments) by Helen Duffett
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Helen Duffett

AD LIB: A new magazine for Liberal Democrats

By Helen Duffett | Wed 21st November 2012 - 2:43 pm

Cover of AdLib issue 1

Last month I asked for your views on the new members’ magazine to replace Liberal Democrat News.

We got loads of really good feedback and we’ve tried to get as much of it into the magazine as possible.

Of course, no one has ever made 100 per cent of Liberal Democrats happy 100 per cent of the time, but we sincerely hope AD LIB lives up to most (if not all of) your expectations.

We’re not giving away too much about the content yet, but Twitter and Facebook profiles for AD LIB are up and running and for a teaser we’ve released the front cover (above right).

I know, I know, as defenders of transparency in public life how can we justify keeping the contents secret?

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 18 Comments
Helen Duffett

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #300

By Helen Duffett | Sun 18th November 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 300th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (11-17 November, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Helen Duffett

Joe Biden appreciates Nick Clegg’s friendship

By Helen Duffett | Sat 17th November 2012 - 11:20 am

From a White House press release this week:

Readout of Vice President Biden’s Call with Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg

Vice President Biden spoke to Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg today to thank him for his congratulatory message following last week’s U.S. election. The Vice President expressed appreciation for Deputy

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Posted in LDVUSA and News | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Tim Farron MP emails party members: Thanking our candidates on this tough day

By Helen Duffett | Fri 16th November 2012 - 6:53 pm

Party President Tim Farron MP has just emailed Liberal Democrat members with a message of thanks and encouragement on this day of election results.

I wanted to put on record the party’s thanks to our candidates in yesterday’s PCC elections, by-elections and Bristol mayoral election.
We had many excellent candidates and teams who worked very hard to fly the flag for our party. I thank them all and I’m sure you would like to do the same.

It was a tough day, and whilst we may not have gained anything the hard work we’ve put in lays the foundations for the challenge ahead.

However

…

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 16 November 2012

By Helen Duffett | Fri 16th November 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. ++ SHOCK! HORROR! LIB DEM MP CAUGHT UP IN NEW EXPENSES ROW! (22 comments) by Stephen Tall
  2. Federal Committee Election results 2012 (20 comments) by Helen Duffett
  3. Majority of Lib Dems support ‘No more page 3’ campaign (but big differences between women/men’s views on issue) (26 comments) by Stephen Tall
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Helen Duffett

The other local elections: Lib Dems gain five and hold three

By Helen Duffett | Fri 16th November 2012 - 2:53 pm

The Liberal Democrats have gained five council seats and retained all three of their previously-held seats in the raft of council by-elections they were contesting yesterday.

In Wallsend, North Tyneside, Michael Huscroft gained from Labour with 58.2%, or 1158 votes.

David Siddans won in Rossett, Harrogate Borough Council, with 48.9% of the vote (897), in a 25.6% swing from the Tories.

From the Harrogate Advertiser:

Councillor John Fox, Constituency Chairman, Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats said: “This is the first Liberal Democrat gain from the Conservatives in the north of England this year. We are absolutely delighted to have overturned a

…

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 29 Comments
Helen Duffett

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #299

By Helen Duffett | Sun 11th November 2012 - 9:30 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 299th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (4-10 November, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Helen Duffett

Federal Committee Election results 2012

By Helen Duffett | Sat 10th November 2012 - 9:43 am

Postal ballot paper being postedLiberal Democrat Federal Conference reps have voted for members of party committees for 2013-2014; the results are as follows:

Federal Executive committee
Places: 15
Candidates elected:

Qassim Afzal
Elaine Bagshaw

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , , , and | 20 Comments
Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 9 November 2012

By Helen Duffett | Fri 9th November 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

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Helen Duffett

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #298

By Helen Duffett | Sun 4th November 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 298th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (28 October-3 November, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 2 November 2012

By Helen Duffett | Fri 2nd November 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

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Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg on Tories’ Trident announcement: “Some people are jumping the gun”

By Helen Duffett | Mon 29th October 2012 - 4:53 pm

Trident missile launchNick Clegg has made it clear that the Coalition Agreement on the Trident nuclear programme will not be changed, despite Philip Hammond’s announcement today on a multimillion-pound contract for a new generation of nuclear missile submarines.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Nick Clegg said:

Some people are jumping the gun on this Trident decision. The Coalition Agreement is crystal clear. It stands. It will not be changed. It will not be undermined. It will not be

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Helen Duffett

George Selmer selected for Lib Dems in Middlesbrough

By Helen Duffett | Mon 29th October 2012 - 3:24 pm

Middlesbrough Liberal Democrats have selected a local jobs expert as their candidate for the upcoming Parliamentary by-election in the constituency.

George Selmer, who grew up and went to school in Middlesbrough, has outlined his plan for the town – focusing on jobs, housing and safeguarding local facilities under threat from Labour cuts.

Commenting on his selection, George said:

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections and Selection news | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Helen Duffett

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #297

By Helen Duffett | Sun 28th October 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 297th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (21-27 October, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 26 October 2012

By Helen Duffett | Fri 26th October 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Opinion: Where now on Electoral Reform? (France!) (67 comments) by Mark Wright
  2. Why the Lib Dems are standing for barely half the elected police commissioner posts (19 comments) by Stephen Tall
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Posted in Friday Five | Tagged | 2 Comments
Helen Duffett

A new magazine for Lib Dems – tell us what you want

By Helen Duffett | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 2:17 pm

Lib Dem News is changing. After 14 years at the helm, editor Deirdre Razzall is retiring and the time has come for us to take a fresh look at one of the key ways members can get information about what’s going on in the party.

First of all we’re going to change the format. In the age of news websites, blogs and social media there’s less of a need for a weekly publication to supply members with news.

By switching to a monthly magazine format we can do a whole lot more – features, interviews, long form journalism, debates.

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 17 Comments
Helen Duffett

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #296

By Helen Duffett | Sun 21st October 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 296th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (14-20, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 19 October 2012

By Helen Duffett | Fri 19th October 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Vince Cable MP writes… My view on George Osborne’s employee ownership scheme (73 comments) by Vince Cable MP
  2. Opinion: Clegg’s cock-up over Page 3 – he should sign the “No More Page Three” petition now (58 comments) by Daisy Cooper
  3. Opinion: Britain should join the Euro (157 comments) by Geoff Crocker
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Helen Duffett

Lynne Featherstone MP wins Attitude magazine’s Politician of the Year Award

By Helen Duffett | Thu 18th October 2012 - 1:40 pm

At the inaugural Attitude Awards, former Liberal Democrat Equalities Minister and current Minister for International Development, Lynne Featherstone received the Politician of the Year Award for her work to secure equal marriage for same-sex couples.

From the Attitude website:

As much of the debate over the issue has descended into hysterical farce, we salute Lynne Featherstone for her clear and concise defence of the reforms. The minister has refused to be sidetracked, stating in March: ‘The

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 18 Comments
Helen Duffett

Marisha Ray selected for Lib Dems in Croydon North

By Helen Duffett | Wed 17th October 2012 - 11:13 pm

The Liberal Democrats have tonight selected Marisha Ray as Parliamentary Candidate for the Croydon North by-election, caused by the death of Malcolm Wicks MP.

Marisha, a married mother of one, is a former IT professional. She spent much of her childhood with close family friends in Croydon. Marisha served as a councillor in Islington between 2002 and 2010, and was an executive member with special responsibility for tackling crime (2006-08), implementing a groundbreaking gang prevention strategy.

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections and Selection news | Tagged , , and | 10 Comments
Helen Duffett

Clegg on McKinnon: “A day for celebrating”

By Helen Duffett | Tue 16th October 2012 - 7:25 pm

Nick Clegg has just emailed Liberal Democrat members about today’s announcement that Gary McKinnon will not be extradited to the US:

In opposition, we were unequivocal: Gary McKinnon should not be extradited. I said at the time that he was too vulnerable to be uprooted from his friends and family and sent across the Atlantic, and if there was a case to answer it should be here in the UK.

So today I am absolutely delighted by the Home Secretary’s

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 5 Comments
Helen Duffett

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #295

By Helen Duffett | Sun 14th October 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 295th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (7-13 October, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on

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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 12 October 2012

By Helen Duffett | Fri 12th October 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

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Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg: “Turkish entry into the EU is a strategic necessity”

By Helen Duffett | Wed 3rd October 2012 - 3:23 pm

Nick Clegg is on a trade mission to Turkey today, and has announced £500m of business deals and £1m of funding for the Turkish Red Crescent in Syria.

He wrote this morning in Turkey’s Sabah newspaper, on the Turkish economy, trade between Turkey and the UK, visas for Turkish travellers, and the the response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. You can read the article in Turkish over at Sabah; the English translation is below:

This summer for a few, glorious weeks the United Kingdom became the centre of the world as we hosted the London Olympic and Paralympic

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 20 Comments
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg’s autotuned apology viewed 1.8 million times

By Helen Duffett | Sun 30th September 2012 - 5:53 pm

Not only has the charity single version of Nick Clegg’s tuition fees pledge apology been the surprise hit of the year, entering the Top 40 download chart, but The Poke‘s video has now been viewed more than 1.8 million times on YouTube.

From The Wall blog:

James Herring, of PR firm Taylor Herring which worked with the The Poke on the autotuned story (and has done since The Poke launched two years ago), says that Clegg was such an easy target that the opportunity was simply too good to miss.

“We worked through the night to create the mash up

…

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Helen Duffett

Liberal Democrat Party Awards 2012: The winners

By Helen Duffett | Sun 30th September 2012 - 4:20 pm

Each year at Autumn Conference, the Party President presents awards for outstanding service to the Liberal Democrats.

Tim Farron appealed for nominations back in May, and presented the awards on the final afternoon of Conference in Brighton last week.

Tim Farron also took a moment to thank all those who work hard in their local areas and for their local parties, everyone who campaigned in the council elections in May, and those who will play a part in this autumn’s elections for Police Commissioners, the Bristol Mayor and Parliamentary by-elections.

The winners of the 2012 Party Awards are as follows:

Patsy Calton Award

…

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment



Recent Comments

  • User AvatarMalcolm Todd 21st May - 11:58am
    @Michael Parsons -- I think you're confusing civil partnership with civil marriage. I don't quite understand the point of the civil partnership now that it's...
  • User AvatarJack 21st May - 11:51am
    Quite. The UKIP "surge" is being gleefully over-egged in the press. UKIP aren't building the kind of local support they need to win seats; instead...
  • User AvatarMalcolm Todd 21st May - 11:51am
    Explain to me why voting for civil partnership to be extended to male/female couples is illiberal, or would somehow derail this bill. Seriously, I don't...
  • User AvatarMichael Parsons 21st May - 11:34am
    Quite right Shirley! And as a Lib Dem party member I was horrified that the amendment extending Civil Partnership to heterosexual couples was rejected. So...
  • User AvatarAshley 21st May - 11:26am
    Forget what people do or do not do, it does feel rather dissapointing to people who are instinctively liberal that someone who calls themselves liberal...