Archive for the ‘Liberal Voice’ Category
Shami Chakrabarti is our Liberal Voice of 2007
Written by Richard Huzzey on 12th January 2008 – 7:08 pmLiberty Director Shami Chakrabarti was the clear winner of our Liberal Voice 2007 poll, taking 101 votes (a third of all votes cast). Her only serious opposition was Radio 4’s The Now Show, who took the lead for the first day but came second with 72 votes (24%).
The other candidates were: John Bercow with 18 votes (6%), Samuel Brittain 15 (5%), Al Gore 30 (10%), Simon Jenkins 20 (7%), Philippe 10 Legrain (3%), Bob Marshall-Andrews 18 (6%) and Craig Murray 21 (7%).
It’s perhaps no clear surprise that Sharmi won, given the number of nominations we got for her to be one the shortlist. You can find the Liberty website here and Shami stars in the ‘Charge or Release’ campaign video at their MySpace page.
On that theme, our next poll asks how many days should be permitted under detention without charge.
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Barcharts ready… vote for Liberal Voice 2007
Written by Richard Huzzey on 7th January 2008 – 8:39 pmVoting has topped the 100-ballot-mark in voting for Liberal Voice 2007 (see the sidebar to the right). Radio 4’s The Now Show stormed into an early lead, but is losing momentum as Shami Chakrabarti’s civil libertarian base gets motivated. There could still be time for the second-tier candidates yet, though. Make sure you vote… polls close this Saturday.
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Vote on the Liberal Voice of 2007
Written by The Voice on 6th January 2008 – 2:18 pmLib Dem Voice’s poll for Liberal Voice of 2007 opens today. We’re asking you to vote on who your favourite public champion for liberal values in Britain was over the last year. What ‘liberal’ means is up to you to decide in the vote.
There’s a twist to the contest, too. While we are all likely to judge the Liberal Democrats and its parliamentarians are the best champions, we decided to make things different. We’ve picked a shortlist of people outside the Lib Dems, mainly with the intention to spark some debate on which non-party or rival party figures are admirable advocates for liberalism. So, the shortlist for voting is drawn from a wide range of backgrounds; here’s a brief rundown of the contenders:
John Bercow is Conservative MP for Buckingham. He has earned a reputation for rebelling against his party over issues such as gay adoption in 2003, and has continued to break his party’s whip in 2007.
Samuel Brittan is a long-standing economic commentator and columnist for the Financial Times. Variously hailed as an individualist and classical liberal.
Shami Chakrabarti is Director of Liberty. She has been a high-profile critic of ID cards and the extension of detention without trial.
Al Gore is the former Vice-President of the United States who has spent the past few years spurring action on climate change. In 2007 he won the Nobel prize for peace.
Simon Jenkins is a political commentator for the Guardian and Sunday Times. He is a passionate advocate of decentralisation.
Philippe Legrain is the author of 2007’s Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them and an economic commentator.
Bob Marshall-Andrews is the Labour MP for Medway. He has broken his party’s whip over civil liberties and human rights issues throughout 2007.
Craig Murray is a former British ambassador who now crusades for human rights internationally.
The Now Show is Radio 4’s current affairs comedy programme which is popular with almost everyone, except the MS Word paperclip and the now-deceased NTL Broadband.
Lib Dem Voice readers are actively encouraged to campaign for their favoured candidate, insult the shortlisting panel, and otherwise debate in the comments.
Tags: , Liberal Voice 2007
Posted in Liberal Voice | 18 Comments »
Who’s your liberal voice of 2007?
Written by Richard Huzzey on 24th December 2007 – 3:32 pmLib Dem Voice want to find out, and we’ll be running a New Year poll to find the liberal voice in British politics which has most inspired you in the last year. But as a little twist, we want to look outside the Liberal Democrat party – 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 party or one of the majority of Britons who belong to no party. It could even be someone who isn’t British themselves, but has had a big impact on liberalism in this country in 2007. And what should qualify as “a liberal”? The shortlisting panel, chaired by Cambridge MP and Lib Dem Shadow Solicitor General David Howarth, will be watching discussion and debates in the comments when deliberating.
Let us know your nominations in the comments - and feel free to start debating different candidates’ merits - and our panel will pick a shortlist for a poll in which readers can choose their Liberal Voice of 2007.
Tags: Liberal Voice 2007
Posted in Liberal Voice, Polls | 69 Comments »
