Tag Archives: jo swinson

Door knocking, Deputy Leader and Honourable Friends – Interview with Jo Swinson MP

By Caron Lindsay | Published 14th October 2010 - 8:18 pm

This afternoon, I had a chat with Jo Swinson, MP for East Dunbartonshire, new Deputy Leader of the Scottish Party. Now that I’m going all high tech, I actually recorded it. Or, at least, my 11 year old daughter set up the voice recorder on the laptop and showed me how to work it. This is a great way to interview someone because you can have a proper chat and don’t have to worry about taking notes. I’d asked Jo for a five minute chat and we actually talked for 21 minutes, covering everything from the vibe on the doorsteps …

Posted in News, Scotland | Also tagged guest editor | Leave a comment

The Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Private Secretaries

By Mark Pack | Published 2nd October 2010 - 11:10 am

The appointments of various LibDem MPs to be PPS to ministers have been rather low-profile, so in case you have missed any here is the complete list:

Gordon Birtwistle – PPS to Danny Alexander
Mike Crockart – PPS to Michael Moore
Duncan Hames – PPS to Sarah Teather
Jo Swinson – PPS to Vince Cable
Jenny Willott – PPS to Chris Huhne

and in addition Norman Lamb as Chief Parliamentary and Political Adviser to Nick Clegg is also his PPS.

Posted in News, Parliament | Also tagged duncan hames, gordon birtwistle, jenny willott, mike crockart, norman lamb | 10 Comments

Blog of the Year Awards: The movie

By Helen Duffett | Published 27th September 2010 - 12:08 pm

The BOTYs were quite simply the glitteringest event of the whole Liberal Democrat conference last week, and Lib Dem councillor and blogger Jonathan Wallace was there to film them.

If you look carefully, you might just spot the tail feathers of the last flamingo, as it was startled away by popping flashbulbs. Alas, the heat of said flashbulbs also melted the ice sculptures before Jonathan could film those too, but the video’s well worth watching for the great speeches from winners and presenters alike:

Video also …

Posted in Best of the blogs, Conference | Also tagged alex folkes, andrew hickey, blog of the year awards, charlotte gore, helen duffett, iain roberts, jonathan wallace, mark pack, millennium elephant, nick barlow, nick thornsby, richard flowers, sara bedford, stephen tall, sue garden, will howells | 1 Comment

Jo Swinson new Deputy Leader of Scottish Liberal Democrats

By Helen Duffett | Published 23rd September 2010 - 12:13 pm

Jo Swinson MP has been announced as the new Deputy Leader of the Scottish Lib Dems. Michael Moore MP, now Secretary of State for Scotland, is stepping down after seven years as Deputy Leader.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats website quotes Jo:

After just four months in opposition, Labour has gone back to the cheap tricks and opportunism of the 1980s.

In office, Labour ran up £23,000 of debt for every man,

…

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged michael moore, tavish scott | Leave a comment

Jo Swinson invites Lib Dems to join campaign for fairer voting system

By The Voice | Published 18th September 2010 - 1:15 pm

An email to Lib Dem members, signed by Jo Swinson, is promoting the Lib Dem rally taking place on Saturday evening, with some high-profile guest speakers, as the party gears up for next May’s referendum:

On Saturday, join Nick Clegg, Art Malik, Martin Bell, some surprise special guests and myself as we launch our campaign for a fairer voting system.

As you know , Nick Clegg is leading the fight in Parliament to secure the United Kingdom its first ever referendum on electoral reform.

Fighting for fairer votes will be one of the top priorities for the Liberal Democrats this coming year –

…

Posted in Conference | Also tagged #ldconf, electoral reform | Leave a comment

Swinson: We need to make girls feel confident about their own body

By Stephen Tall | Published 4th August 2010 - 3:35 pm

Almost exactly a year ago, Lib Dem MPs Jo Swinson and Lynne Featherstone were among those in the party’s Real Women group leading the campaign to “Ban airbrushing in children’s adverts”, a view later endorsed by an independent Home Office report.

They’ve been joined in their campaign now by Girlguiding UK, which is today launching a petition to introduce compulsory labelling on airbrushed images.

Jo comments:

I am delighted that Girlguiding UK is taking up this issue. I co-founded the Campaign for Body Confidence out of concern that people of all ages are feeling so much pressure

…

Posted in News | Also tagged equalities, lynne featherstone | 19 Comments

Opinion: A lucky escape from the graduate tax?

By Andy Mayer | Published 26th July 2010 - 4:35 pm

If the BBC is correct there is sufficient opposition within the Coalition to stop a graduate tax seeing the light of day and instead come up with a system that is like fees, but not fees, and retains some kind of link between student and university. On that we will have to wait and see what it is before commenting.

I do not though fully understand why a reputable economist like Vince Cable gave the National Union of Students’ graduate tax proposal serious consideration. Apart from the clear inconsistency and hypocrisy, Vince presided over a party tax …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged chris huhne, graduate tax, higher education, tim farron, tuition fees, universities | 17 Comments

Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2010 – nominations now open

By Helen Duffett | Published 26th July 2010 - 10:20 am

The Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards, run by Lib Dem Voice, are back for their fifth year. As usual, they’ll be awarded in a ~~budget~~ lavish ceremony at the party’s autumn conference in Liverpool. (There’s further information on the event over at the Lib Dems’ Flock Together site). Click on the following links to see last year’s Shortlist and the Winners.

This year’s awards are as follows:

Posted in Best of the blogs, Conference | Also tagged andy williamson, blog of the year awards, costigan quist, featured, helen duffett, jonathan calder, lee chalmers, mary reid, prateek buch, ros taylor, ryan cullen | 1 Comment

Hames, Swinson to wed

By Alex Foster | Published 20th June 2010 - 9:13 am

I had hoped not to write this story immediately after the last, less happy one, but sometimes, them’s the breaks.

Not since Baroness Scott and the Lib Dem’s bureaucrat of choice Mark Valladeres changed their facebook statuses to “engaged” has the Lib Dem online world been so charged with romance.

Now Jo Swinson and Duncan Hames used the medium of Twitter to tell the world of their engagement, to cheers of encouragement all round.

Every congratulation and wish for happiness from all your friends at t’Voice.

Posted in News | Also tagged duncan hames, engagement, mark valladares, ros scott, twitter | 8 Comments

Jo Swinson target of anonymous smear campaign

By Stephen Tall | Published 12th April 2010 - 6:50 pm

This how today’s Sun reports the story:

A LIB-DEM MP has called in cops after an anonymous smear campaign was launched against her. Trouble-makers claiming to represent the East Dunbartonshire Taxpayers’ Alliance have sent letters to hundreds of voters across the region blackening the name of Jo Swinson, who is standing again on May 6. …

Ms Swinson said: “I’ve reported it to the police and they are investigating because the anonymous nature of this makes it illegal. It is clearly designed to damage my chances but I think a lot of people have seen through it.”

She saddedd [sic]: “This is

…

Posted in General Election | Also tagged east dunbartonshire, james graham, mps expenses | Leave a comment

It’s Easter, so it’s time for Jo Swinson’s annual Eggs-cess packaging report

By Stephen Tall | Published 2nd April 2010 - 11:50 am

2010 marks the fourth year of Jo Swinson’s annual Easter Egg excess packaging report. (You can read LDV’s 2009 posting here). This year’s headline conclusion? “Some Easter egg manufacturers have drastically cut their excess packaging, while others are lagging far behind.”

Jo explains her campaign further on her website:

Consumers are tired of excess packaging – they are tired of paying for it and tired of having to dispose of it. Easter eggs are a prime example – in many cases, the huge boxes contain more air than chocolate.

“Last year we saw Easter egg packaging reduced by a third, and companies such as Nestlé, Cadbury, Green and Black’s and Thorntons have made real efforts to cut packaging and improve recyclability. However, Guylian, Lindt and others are still producing grossly excessive packaging.

“The Government is clearly failing to enforce the law, which requires packaging to be reduced to the minimum necessary.”

You can read Jo’s full 2010 report here – here’s the executive summary:

Posted in News | Also tagged easter, environment, excess packaging, josh brooks, packagingnews.co.uk | 1 Comment

Another step forward on modernising Parliament’s YouTube rules

By Mark Pack | Published 22nd March 2010 - 9:30 pm

The Guardian reports:

A ban on broadcasting video clips of the proceedings of the House of Commons on YouTube could come to an end in the coming weeks after months of delicate negotiations between the Palace of Westminster and broadcasters led by the BBC.

Existing rules forbid YouTube or any other website, such as a newspaper’s, from embedding any clips of parliamentary proceedings – meaning that the only way to watch parliament online is via the news clips from the major broadcasters, live on the BBC’s Parliament channel or the Westminster website…

Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat MP for Dumbarton East, has long

…

Posted in Parliament | Also tagged YouTube | Leave a comment

The Leaders’ Wives obsession: why it’s missing the point

By Helen Duffett | Published 21st March 2010 - 9:23 pm

Tonight it’s Nick Clegg’s turn for a Sunday evening party leader’s interview – with Mary Nightingale on ITV1 at 10:15pm.

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez (Nick’s wife) also appears in the programme. At first I was dismayed that Miriam might be wheeled out as yet another politician’s wife, dreading revelations about socks or other foundation garments…

Until I watched her in this extract :

I don’t like that name: “political wife”. I’m the wife of a politician… I don’t have a role. I’m just married to him…

…It’s a personal choice and I think it’s perfectly possible to have a normal life

…

Posted in Lib Dem TV, Op-eds | Also tagged lynne featherstone, mary nightingale, miriam gonzalez durantez, nick clegg, ros scott | 14 Comments

Opinion: Make politics fit women’s lives, not vice-versa

By Dinti Batstone | Published 12th March 2010 - 1:50 pm

For today’s women “motherhood, not sexism, is the issue”. So says The Economist (“We Did It”, 30 December 2009), noting that “women who prosper in high-pressure companies in their 20s drop out in dramatic numbers in their 30s and then find it almost impossible to regain earlier momentum”.

Could the same be true in politics?

Nearly 80% of current male Lib Dem MPs first entered Parliament in their 30s and 40s. Yet our female MPs were overwhelmingly elected in their 20s or 50s, and not one was first elected while raising young children. Achieving the same age spread as the men could …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged azita qadri, campaign for gender balance, catherine bearder, female candidates, sharon bowles | 9 Comments

Lib Dems launch Campaign for Body Confidence

By The Voice | Published 8th March 2010 - 7:15 pm

Congratulations to Lib Dem MPs Lynne Featherstone and Jo Swinson for helping to organise a panel debate this afternoon in Parliament – to coincide with International Women’s Day – on measures to tackle the harm caused by pressure to conform to unrealistic and unhealthy body image ideals. The event marked the launch of the Campaign for Body Confidence.

The panel featured Lynne (the party’s shadow equalities minister), Clothes Show presenter Caryn Franklin, psychotherapist Susie Orbach and Dr Helga Dittmar of the University of Sussex. Other attendees included Girlguides, Linda Papadopoulous and the world’s leading body image experts.

Here’s what Lynne had …

Posted in News | Also tagged campaign for body confidence, equalities, lynne featherstone | 3 Comments

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