Author Archives: James Graham

What part of Yes do you not understand?

By James Graham | Published 6th December 2011 - 9:54 am

We don’t normally republish lengthy pieces from other people’s blogs, but in the case of James Graham’s review of Don’t Take No For An Answer by Lewis Baston and Ken Ritchie, which doubles up as a detailed post-mortem on the AV referendum, we’re happy to throw those rules out of the window because of both the post’s excellence and the importance of the issues to future campaigning and hopes for electoral reform.

So here is a slightly revised version of the post which first appeared on James’s blog. You can also read Mark Pack’s (much shorter!) review of Don’t …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged av referendum, electoral reform, electoral reform society, featured, ken ritchie, lewis baston, unlock democracy | 21 Comments

Opinion: Could low voter registration cost the Lib Dems seats?

By James Graham | Published 5th March 2010 - 2:10 pm

The Hansard Society’s latest Audit of Political Engagement has added to the view that there is likely to be another risible turnout at the impending General Election. The study finds that only 54% say they are certain to vote.

The Hansard Society have offered some ideas about how to boost turnout. They suggest that more should be done to target groups such as the ‘disenchanted and mistrustful’. Apparently, a quarter of adults, mostly young and working-class, fall into this category of voters who distrust politicians but not yet entirely hostile.

But a report from the Electoral Commission would suggest that efforts to get these …

Posted in Election law, General Election, Op-eds | Tagged brighton pavilion, caroline lucas, electoral commission, electoral registration, hansard society | 7 Comments

Looking beyond the Lib Dem ghetto

By James Graham | Published 16th August 2009 - 10:20 am

The Lib Dems have always selected their candidates by “one member one vote” (OMOV). It has always seemed the most logical and transparently fair system, and it is certainly better than having candidates hand-picked by an inner cabal. It still does a fairly good job at selecting candidates for the House of Commons, although as membership levels drop that is becoming less true. But it has been quite inadequate for selecting candidates for larger constituencies, particularly for the European Parliament and London Assembly.

Here’s the fundamental problem: a significant proportion of our members are concentrated in our held and target constituencies. Target seats become target seats because they have a larger pool of activists from which to draw. In turn, in order to become winning seats they have to recruit more activists. The more tightly we focus on target seats, as the Lib Dems certainly have for the past two decades, the more the gap between target seat and what we sometimes euphemistically call “development seats” widens.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged ken livingstone, london assembly, lynne featherstone | 24 Comments

Jo Swinson’s expenses: why you should write an email today

By James Graham | Published 24th May 2009 - 1:42 pm

I’ve been very gratified by the entirely positive feedback my articles about the Daily Telegraph and Jo Swinson yesterday have received. This is entirely in keeping with the broadly sympathetic reaction Jo has received on both the blogosphere and on Twitter.

That the story has had such a positive backlash is of course a good thing. The trouble with such stories however is that they often grow in the retelling. I’ve already cited how the BBC and Guardian have contributed to this. What if a candidate opposing Jo in the general election campaign were to base a dirty tricks campaign …

Posted in News | Tagged daily telegraph, jo swinson, mps expenses | 3 Comments

The database state and the true cost of Labour’s free lunches

By James Graham | Published 23rd March 2009 - 9:55 am

During the Unlock Democracy debate at the Convention on Modern Liberty last month, Justice Minister Michael Wills defended the growth of the database state by arguing:

“We’ve heard a lot of about datasharing today. But that datasharing, that so many here today say is an unacceptable intrusion of privacy by the state, can actually help thousands and thousands of children who are eligible for free school meals but don’t get them at the moment… Look, it’s all very well for you to sit here. You’ve probably all had a hot meal in the last week. One

…

Posted in Big mad database, Op-eds | Tagged contactpoint, database state, education, michael wills, national dna database, national identity register, NHS | 7 Comments

@LibDig Pig Number Thirteen

By James Graham | Published 5th March 2009 - 4:20 pm

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren’t one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk).

You can now get twitter updates of stories which appear on libdig – simply “follow libdig” to sign up.

This week has a very clear theme – and I don’t mean Tony Hart:

1. ID cards database breached by nosey council staff (Computer Weekly). Submitted by me: ‘”They haven’t even fully launched it yet, but our …

Posted in Best of Lib Dig | Leave a comment

Opinion: Is Lord Ashdown the IT industry’s patsy?

By James Graham | Published 26th February 2009 - 2:39 pm

Yesterday’s Guardian carried this story:

Privacy rights of innocent people will have to be sacrificed to give the security services access to a sweeping range of personal data, one of the architects of the government’s national security strategy has warned.

Sir David Omand, the former Whitehall security and intelligence co-ordinator, sets out a blueprint for the way the state will mine data – including travel information, phone records and emails – held by public and private bodies and admits: “Finding out other people’s secrets is going to involve breaking everyday moral rules.”

Omand’s frankly terrifying report has been published by …

Posted in Op-eds | 22 Comments

@LibDig Pig Number Twelve

By James Graham | Published 25th February 2009 - 11:55 am

Welcome to the twelfth edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren’t one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk).

You can now get twitter updates of stories which appear on libdig – simply “follow libdig” to sign up.

We had an encouraging increase in both digs and diggers this week – honestly, it almost makes me compiling this list each week worthwhile. Not much of a pattern this week, so without further ado:

1. Brian …

Posted in Best of Lib Dig | Leave a comment

@LibDig Pig Number Eleven

By James Graham | Published 18th February 2009 - 12:50 pm

Welcome to the eleventh edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren’t one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk).

You can now get twitter updates of stories which appear on libdig – simply “follow libdig” (http://twitter.com/libdig) to sign up.

This week, predictions of a dark future: a police state run by Noel Edmonds and Labour Spin Doctors in which everyone is forced to morris dance five times a day. Or something.

1. The sorry state of …

Posted in Best of Lib Dig | 1 Comment

Lib Dig Pig #10

By James Graham | Published 12th February 2009 - 11:12 am

Welcome to the tenth edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren’t one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk).

You can now get twitter updates of stories which appear on libdig – simply “follow libdig” (http://twitter.com/libdig) to sign up.

1. Henry Porter: The horror of the ID card system (Comment is Free). Submitted by me: “Welcome to your future: a world were bureaucrats screw up your data and then you have to sort it …

Posted in Best of Lib Dig | Leave a comment

Lib Dig Pig #9

By James Graham | Published 5th February 2009 - 5:19 pm

Welcome to the ninth edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren’t one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk).

It’s a pretty random list this week:

1. Charlie Brooker to focus on news in BBC4 Screenwipe spin-off (Media Guardian), submitted by Stephan Tall: “’Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker is to take a satirical look at the news media in a spin-off from his BBC4 show Screenwipe.’ Yay If you missed the 2007 Screenwipe news episode, you can glimpse its brilliance here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5RRmE0_n0K4”

2. Brian Coleman’s interests – the wordle’s out (vickim57), submitted by Alex Foster: “Fat cattery via Wordle ”

3. Manchester ‘could pilot ID cards’ (BBC News), submitted by Nigel Ashton: “Manchester could be one of the testing grounds for the government’s ID cards scheme, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said during a visit to the city.”

4. Confidence In Blog Postings Over Time (SlideShare), submitted by Iain: “It’s like there’s someone in the room with me. ”

5. Chart Porn: Create Your Own Original Star Trek Story (io9.com), submitted by me: “40 years too late sadly.”

Lib Dig Pig #8

By James Graham | Published 29th January 2009 - 10:14 am

Welcome to the eigth edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren’t one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk).

I thought I’d try a slight change of format this week: less snark, more links. Also, to encourage you to explore Lib Dig more, I’m including the name of the person who submitted each item along with a link so you can see what other things they’ve been “digging.”

So without further ado, the top links this …

Posted in Best of Lib Dig | 1 Comment

Lib Dig Pig #7

By James Graham | Published 22nd January 2009 - 1:50 pm

Hearty apologies to James Graham who faithfully submitted his copy for Lib Dig Pig well in advance of his deadline despite his hellish week. Unfortunately an editor who shall remain nameless didn’t press the right button and it languished in LDV’s “Unpublished drafts” folder until much of the content had been superseded by current affairs.

Welcome to the seventh edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren’t one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk).

This …

Posted in Best of Lib Dig | Leave a comment

Introducing the Carnival on Modern Liberty

By James Graham | Published 20th January 2009 - 8:02 am

Cross-posted from Liberal Conspiracy.

Much as I support the Convention on Modern Liberty, I am very conscious of the fact that there are two dangers inherent to an initiative such as this. The first is that all it leads to is talk and a thousand people sitting in a hall munching on sandwiches. Linked to that is the danger that all it leads to is despair; that the problem seems so big and so intractable that people simply end up withdrawing altogether.

It is crucial that the Convention leads to positive action

…

Posted in Op-eds | Leave a comment

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