Author Archives: Paul Walter

Paul Walters blogs at Liberal Burblings - www.liberalburblings.co.uk

PMQs: Cancel that firing squad!

By Paul Walter | Published 9th February 2012 - 2:54 pm

We started yesterday with warm congraulations to Her Majesty on attaining the sixtieth anniversary of her accession to the throne.

For the second week running at Prime Minister’s Questions, Ed Miliband’s inquiries were on health reform. He had one of his most successful sessions so far, during which we found out that David Cameron doesn’t want Andrew Lansley to be taken out and shot.

Miliband was on excellent form and, by golly by gosh, at one point he almost ascended to the John Smith “hotels fall into the sea” level of stinging wit, with this passage:

Isn’t this interesting? The Prime Minister says

…

Continue reading »
Posted in PMQs | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

US Presidential election – hold onto your hats!

By Paul Walter | Published 7th February 2012 - 3:54 pm

The 2012 US Presidential race is certainly going to be interesting. That’s for sure. There is no end of permutations, twists and turns ahead which will make very entertaining viewing for us over this side of the pond.

Every time you make a statement about the election, there are caveats and “but ifs” which follow.

It’s tempting to say that Obama is sunk because of the US economy. However, there are strong signs now of a solid recovery. Last week’s job news was very positive and polls are showing a thawing of anti-Obama feeling.

You could also say that…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

LibLink: Ashdown – This 11-year exercise in self-delusion must end

By Paul Walter | Published 6th February 2012 - 10:24 am

Paddy Ashdown has an opinion piece on Afghanistan in The Times today (£) in which he says:

We have repeatedly deluded ourselves about “successes” that never existed and thus took so long recognising that a victor’s peace was beyond our reach that we wasted the best opportunities for a negotiated one. We failed to understand that in these wars it is politics, not weapons, that counts most. Even if you win on the battlefield, you lose if you lose politically; which we have, painfully

Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 1 Comment

Farron on Davey: An outstanding environmentalist

By Paul Walter | Published 6th February 2012 - 8:54 am

In case you missed it, Tim Farron’s interview on yesterday’s Andrew Marr Show is here in full on BBC iPlayer (starting at 35:43) or here in a shorter clip.

Standing, well wrapped up, in snowy Cumbria, Tim is in typically robust form. He pays tribute to Chris Huhne and says he “wants and expects” him to be back in government soon. He says that the LibDems are concentrating on being “collegiate not destructive” in coalition by ‘behaving like grown-ups’. He pays warm tribute to Ed Davey’s environmentalist credentials and covers a wide range of policy issues.

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Influence of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party drops off

By Paul Walter | Published 2nd February 2012 - 2:54 pm

In the New York Times, Michael D Shear reports that the influence of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party has waned during the US Republican Presidential primaries:

In October, Sarah Palin announced that she would not run for president in 2012, ending the media frenzy around her potential candidacy even as she vowed to remain politically active and influential.

“I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets,” she wrote in an e-mail to her supporters.

Just over three months later her attempts to wield influence in the presidential campaign the way she did during the 2010 midterm elections have

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | Leave a comment

PMQs: Miliband goes all Thatcher

By Paul Walter | Published 2nd February 2012 - 1:54 pm

Full marks to Ed Miliband. He had a good Prime Minister’s Questions this week.

One of the reasons he did so well is that he took a leaf out of Margaret Thatcher’s book. He lowered the tone of his voice. Gone was the shrill shouting of recent weeks. Instead we had a calm, firm low tone. And he slowed down his delivery, making it very de-li-ber-ate. As a result he sounded a lot more effective.

First on executive pay, and then on the NHS, Miliband did well against the PM. For me, his line of the week was this one on top …

Continue reading »
Posted in PMQs | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Opinion: Never mind ‘disrespect’, “Iron Lady” is just not a very good film

By Paul Walter | Published 30th January 2012 - 6:23 pm

The film “Iron Lady” starring Meryl Streep has attracted a fair amount of Tory ire. Rob Wilson, MP for Reading East said in the House of Commons:

This week I attended the screening of The Iron Lady and was disturbed by the way in which the film portrayed its subject. Can we therefore have a debate on respect, good manners and good taste, as I found the film—although brilliantly acted—to be disrespectful to a Member of this Parliament?

While I once met Mrs Thatcher, and Denis, it will come as no surprise that, as someone who got involved in politics as …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 10 Comments

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone – Success so far of the body image campaign

By Paul Walter | Published 30th January 2012 - 5:23 pm

In the first of a series of monthly posts on Huffington Post, Lynne Featherstone outlines the case for changing perceptions of body image, and the success of the campaign so far:

Every day people are confronted with images of the ‘perfect’ body that just don’t reflect the diverse society we live in. These unrealistic images set an impossible standard, potentially damaging self esteem and crushing confidence.

We need to challenge this culture of conformity and widen the definition of beauty to include all ages, shapes, sizes and ethnicities. And we need to help people recognise that their value goes beyond

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , | 2 Comments

PMQs: The importance of Doncaster, almost to the exclusion of everything else

By Paul Walter | Published 26th January 2012 - 12:56 pm

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, David Cameron and Ed Miliband first clashed on the subject of economic growth (or, indeed, contraction). That entanglement was, more or less, a score draw. But Ed Miliband was much stronger during a later exchange on the NHS reform bill, culminating with this belter:

I shall tell the Prime Minister what is happening in the NHS: waiting lists up, morale down. What does the majority-Conservative Select Committee on Health say about his reorganisation? It says that it will be a “disruption and distraction that hinders the ability of organisations to” release savings.

Let us be frank: this

…

Continue reading »
Posted in PMQs | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Nick Clegg needs cutting down to size – Tebbit

By Paul Walter | Published 23rd January 2012 - 8:02 pm

It is always good fun when right-wing Tories get all het up about Nick Clegg, fulminating that David Cameron should jolly well do something about it.

Norman Tebbit provides today’s entertainment along these lines under the headline: Nick Clegg needs cutting down to size. If only the Prime Minister was brave enough to do the job.

He is specifically exercised about immigration and the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights. Employing all his skills as “the Chingford Skinhead” he culminates with this:

It seems that Mr Cameron is prevented from doing anything to bring the nonsense to an end – and the repeal

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , | 17 Comments

Video: Perhaps the most dramatic implosion of a front-running Presidential campaign in history

By Paul Walter | Published 23rd January 2012 - 3:54 pm

In case you missed this, it is likely to rank as one of the most dramatic ends to a front-running Presidential campaign in history.

Before this RTE debate on 24th October last year, Sean Gallagher, standing as an Independent candidate, was 15 points ahead of the field and a “shoe-in” to be the next Irish President. Three days later, he finished the actual election 11 points behind the winner, Michael D Higgins.

This video clip shows the complete debate episode which led to Gallagher’s political demise. The discussion centres on a visit to a businessman’s house on behalf of …

Continue reading »
Posted in News, YouTube | Tagged | 2 Comments

LibLink: Tim Leunig – Housing benefit cap: can you live on 62p a day?

By Paul Walter | Published 23rd January 2012 - 9:24 am

On Comment is Free, Tim Leunig reveals some alarming impacts of the government’s housing benefit cuts:

Imagine two sets of people, both renting from private landlords. One is an Islington couple who have never worked. The other is an Oldham family with four children, where the working parent has just lost his or her job. The Islington couple currently receive £250 a week in housing benefit, while the Oldham family gets only £150.

Times are tough, and the government wants to save money. Which family should have its housing benefit cut? George Osborne has chosen the Oldham family. He is cutting

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 25 Comments

PMQs: Miliband hoist by his Balls’ petard

By Paul Walter | Published 19th January 2012 - 8:24 am

Let’s start with what Ed Balls, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor said in the Guardian on January 14th:

My starting point is, I am afraid, we are going to have keep all these cuts. There is a big squeeze happening on budgets across the piece. The squeeze on defence spending, for instance, is £15bn by 2015. We are going to have to start from that being the baseline. At this stage, we can make no commitments to reverse any of that, on spending or on tax. So I am being absolutely clear about that.

So, it was something of a surprise when Ed …

Continue reading »
Posted in PMQs | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

PMQs: Opposition leader asks: “Can I agree with the Prime Minister”?

By Paul Walter | Published 12th January 2012 - 9:25 am

2012′s first Prime Minister’s Questions started with a bit of a score draw about rail fares. It got rather heated as Ed Miliband said the government had allowed fares to go up by 11%. He said:

The last Labour government saw that the train companies were taking advantage of consumers…we took away that power from them

David Cameron retorted that:

The power (to increase fares well above inflation) was given to them to do that by the last Labour government.

Channel 4 News FactCheck, as usual,has an excellent analysis of this spat, concluding that they couldn’t give either men a “Fact” or “Fiction” …

Continue reading »
Posted in PMQs | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

DPMQs: LibDem MPs enjoy an untroubled post-questions lunch

By Paul Walter | Published 22nd December 2011 - 10:03 am

Time was when Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions was the closest you got to bloodsports in the House of Commons. The DPM would be tethered, red-faced and growling, to the dispatch box, as Labour MPs taunted him and propelled all sorts of bile at him, augmented by the odd tactical nuclear missile rear-launched by the Tory swivel-eyes.

We’ve come a long way in a few months. Now, DPMQs are relatively sedate affairs. The DPM is well in control and there is little mischief from the Labour benches. Well, none that would spoil LibDem MPs’ lunches.

Indeed, at least four MPs found it difficult …

Continue reading »
Posted in Parliament | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment