Category Archives: LDV Awards

And the winner of our Liberal Voice of the Year award is… Mark Littlewood

By Stephen Tall | Published 15th January 2012 - 4:31 pm

It’s a fortnight since we launched our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year with the aim of finding the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is LibDemVoice’s fifth such annual award, and as is our tradition, we looked beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the liberal who’s most impressed our readers and is not a member of our party.

We unveiled the shortlist here on New Year’s Day. In total, 903 readers cast a vote in the past two weeks. Here are the results …

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Opinion: Why I’m backing the Occupy Movement as my Liberal Voice of the Year

By Daniel Furr | Published 5th January 2012 - 6:27 pm

Yes, it is true. I, of all people, did indeed recommend The Occupy Movement as the Liberal Voice of the Year. My health is perfectly fine and operating at sufficient capacity; but regular readers of my blog are fully aware of my support for these protesters. Overt Marxist language and anti-capitalists rhetoric is, of course, not very liberal but the ability to comprehend the true nature of corporate welfare and its relationship with government is something liberals should be aligning with.

Free markets and capitalism are not the problem – corporatism is. Corporate monopolies deny competition and prevent new competitors …

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NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year?

By Stephen Tall | Published 1st January 2012 - 2:45 pm

Today’s the day we launch our search for the Liberal Voice of 2011 to find the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is the fifth annual award, and as is our tradition, we’re looking beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the greatest liberal who’s not a member of our party.

The list of nine nominees appears below. These were sought from Lib Dem members via our most recent survey; 233 nominations were submitted, and each of those short-listed needed to clear a threshold of five.

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LDV readers vote Aung San Suu Kyi your Liberal Voice of the Year

By Stephen Tall | Published 10th January 2011 - 12:28 pm

Congratulations to Aung San Suu Kyi, who has won Liberal Democrat Voice’s fourth annual Liberal Voice of the Year award – an award which publicly acknowledges the campaigning work of non-Liberal Democrats in promoting liberal values.

She gained a plurality of votes, with 22%; the runner-up was Prime Minister David Cameron (assisted by some right-wing push-tweets), with 20%, followed by fellow Tory Ken Clarke, with 12%.

  • 22% (238 votes): Aung San Suu Kyi – for her courageous stand against political abuse in Burma
  • 20% (216): David Cameron – for his commitment to forming the Liberal-Conservative Coalition Government

…

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NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year?

By Stephen Tall | Published 1st January 2011 - 7:45 pm

Earlier this week, in the dying days of the last decade, we launched our search for the Liberal Voice of 2010, to find the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. And as is our tradition, we’re looking beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the greatest liberal who’s not a member of our party.

Our thanks to all who put forward nominations — here is the short-list of 12 (in alphabetical order):

  • Bob Ainsworth, former Labour secretary of state for defence, for his controversial public call

…

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Who’s your Liberal Voice of 2010?

By Stephen Tall | Published 26th December 2010 - 4:45 pm

LDV wants to find out who our readers think merits the title Liberal Voice of the Year 2010, and we’ll be running a New Year poll to find the individual or group which has most inspired you in the last year. But, as is our traditional little twist, we want to look outside the Liberal Democrats – and find the greatest liberal who’s not a member of our party.

So, who would you pick? It could be a member of another political party, or one of the majority of Britons who belong to no party; or a group of people, or …

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Peter Tatchell’s message to LDV readers

By Stephen Tall | Published 19th January 2010 - 9:45 am

Yesterday we announced that Peter Tatchell had won LDV’s annual Liberal Voice of the Year award (open only to non-Lib Dems) in recognition of his fearless campaigning work for international human rights. We emailed Peter to let him know the news, and here’s the message he sent to all LDV readers …

Wow! What an honour. I’m chuffed. Thanks to everyone who voted for me.

What a surprise too. A socialist Green wins Liberal Voice of the Year.
It shows that your readers are non-sectarian and inclusive, putting
values and principles above party politics, which is how it should be.

There are progressive people

…

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LDV readers vote Peter Tatchell your Liberal Voice of the Year

By Stephen Tall | Published 18th January 2010 - 6:32 pm

Congratulations to Peter Tatchell, who has won Liberal Democrat Voice’s third annual Liberal Voice of the Year award – an award which publicly acknowledges the campaigning work of non-Liberal Democrats in promoting liberal values. Peter gained a plurality of votes, with 27%; the runner-up was author and journalist Ben Goldacre, with 20%.

Over 700 votes were cast, and the results were as follows:

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LDV’s Liberal Voice poll: a two-horse race* between Tatchell and Goldacre?

By Stephen Tall | Published 14th January 2010 - 8:55 pm

Five days ago, LDV launched our search for our annual Liberal Voice of the Year, open only to non-Lib Dems, with you, our dear readers, forming the electorate. Voting will close this Sunday, 17th January. Here’s how the votes currently stack up:

  • 11% (69) – Guy Herbert, general secretary of NO2ID, for his campaigning work against the database state;
  • 30% (180) – Peter Tatchell, for his tireless and fearless international human rights campaigning;
  • 13% (79) – Joanna Lumley, for her campaigning for justice on behalf of Gurkha veterans;
  • 2% (13) – Rory Stewart, for his straight-talking common sense on

…

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NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year?

By Stephen Tall | Published 9th January 2010 - 11:45 am

Ten days ago, in the dying days of the last decade, LDV launched our search for the Liberal Voice of 2009, to find the non-Lib Dem individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in this country in the past 12 months.

Our thanks to all who put forward nominations, all of which were considered carefully by the LDV editorial collective, which has agreed to short-list the following (in no particular order):

  • Guy Herbert, general secretary of NO2ID, for his campaigning work against the database state;
  • Peter Tatchell, for his tireless and fearless international human

…

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Who’s your Liberal Voice of 2009?

By Stephen Tall | Published 28th December 2009 - 5:22 pm

LDV wants to find out who our readers think merits the title Liberal Voice of the Year 2009, and we’ll be running a New Year poll to find the individual or group in British politics which has most inspired you in the last year. But, as is our traditional little twist, we want to look outside the Liberal Democrats – and find the greatest liberal who’s not a member of our party.

So, who would you pick? It could be a member of another political party, or one of the majority of Britons who belong to no party; or a group …

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‘Best of the Noughties’: LDV’s Polls of the Decade

By Stephen Tall | Published 1st December 2009 - 12:55 pm

It’s December, folks, and the last month of the decade* we’ve never quite been able to bring ourselves to call ‘The Noughties’. In celebration of its passing, Lib Dem Voice will be running a series of polls for which we’re seeking your help.

What categories would you like to see polled? My draft list of 21 includes the following politics, media and culture ‘Best ofs’:

  • Liberal Democrat Politician of the Decade
  • Liberal Democrat Backbencher of the Decade
  • Conservative Politician of the Decade
  • Labour Politician of the Decade
  • Most Influential Campaigner of the Decade
  • Best Political Speech of the Decade
  • Best

…

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Local elections – Friday open thread

By Stephen Tall | Published 5th June 2009 - 9:47 am

English local election results will be pouring in throughout the day. Lib Dem Voice will try and keep you abreast of what’s happening across the country, as we did throughout Thursday night with our open thread – many thanks in particular to those commenting who were able to break the good news that the Lib Dems had taken majority control of Bristol City Council amid disastrous results for Labour. Please do keep the news coming in from wherever you live.

As at 9.50 am, the BBC results scoreboard is telling me that the Lib Dems are the only party showing …

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Also posted in Conference, Europe / International, News, Parliament, Party Presidency | Tagged | 130 Comments

LDV Awards 2008: Liberal Voice and Defining Moment of the Year

By Stephen Tall | Published 2nd January 2009 - 6:20 pm

Many thanks to the 200+ LDV readers who took part in our end-of-year awards, which ran between 24th and 28th December. Voting was conducted via Liberty Research using the alternative vote method of ranking the nominees for each of the eight categories.

In the first two days, we revealed the winners of Lib Dem Politician of the Year, and By-election Performance of the Year; and Lib Dem Campaigner of the Year, and Most Desperate Press Release of the Year.

Yesterday, we turned our attention to the first two non-Lib Dem categories – Political Journalist/Broadcaster of the Year and Political Programme of the Year; and today we name our Defining Moment of the Year, and the name of the coveted (well, maybe) non-Lib Dem Liberal Voice of the Year…

Defining Political Moment of the Year

There was no doubt in LDV readers’ minds what was the defining moment of the year – the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the USA. A whopping four-fifths of you chose it, against 14% opting for the near-collapse of the west’s world banking system; the other three contenders were also-rans.

1% – Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report;
3% – Gordon Brown for his “we not only saved the world…” gaffe;
1% – Hazel Blears’ launch of the Sustainable Communities Act;
14% – The collapse and subsequent nationalisation/recapitalisation of the banks in the USA and UK;
81% – The election of Barack Obama as President of the USA.

Liberal Voice of the Year

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LDV Awards 2008: Political Journalist/Broadcaster and Political Programme of the Year

By Stephen Tall | Published 1st January 2009 - 6:20 pm

Many thanks to the 200+ LDV readers who took part in our end-of-year awards, which ran between 23rd and 28th December. Voting was conducted via Liberty Research using the alternative vote method of ranking the nominees for each of the eight categories. In the last two days, we have revealed the winners of Lib Dem Politician of the Year, and By-election Performance of the Year; and Lib Dem Campaigner of the Year, and Most Desperate Press Release of the Year. Today, we turn our attention to two non-Lib Dem categories:

Political Broadcaster / Journalist of the Year

17%

…

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