Tag Archives: mark oaten

The coalition agreement: social action

By Mark Pack | Published 4th June 2010 - 3:45 pm

Welcome to the eighteenth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here.

At the time David Cameron started talking about the Big Society, the concept struck me as a mix of traditional community politics and vagueness. Looking at the specifics in this section, there is still a fair amount of vagueness, but the specifics are ones that often touch on themes which our party (or more precisely the Liberal Party) has talked about in the past and rather neglected in more recent years. In other words, it’s …

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The 7 retiring Lib Dem MPs (and the 7 candidates hoping to replace them)

By Stephen Tall | Published 22nd March 2010 - 2:10 pm

Seven Lib Dem MPs have announced they’re retiring at this year’s general election. All seven are men: of their replacements, four are women. Here’s the list in full:

John Barrett (LD) – Edinburgh West

Majority: 13,600 (30%) – second safest Lib Dem seat in the UK.
Reason for leaving: to spend more time with his grand-daughters.
Hoping to succeed him: Mike Crockart.

Colin Breed (LD) – South East Cornwall

Majority: 6,507 (13%).
Reason for leaving: not stated.
Hoping to succeed him: Karen Gillard.

David Howarth (LD) – Cambridge

Majority: 5,058 (11%).
Reason for leaving: “to concentrate on my other life, as an academic.”
Hoping to succeed him: Julian Huppert.

Paul

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Oaten reduced to tears in new Channel 4 documentary

By The Voice | Published 26th January 2010 - 9:50 pm

The Sun reports today, with unsubtle snideness, on a new Channel 4 documentary, Tower Block Of Commons, in which ‘four pampered MPs were reduced to tears and tantrums when they swapped their grace and favour lifestyles for eight days living on a council estate.’

One of the MPs who took part is Lib Dem MP Mark Oaten, who is standing down at the next election. Here’s how the paper reports his experience:

In the first of the four-part series, the programme begins with Winchester MP Mark Oaten cleaning out his pool at his Hampshire pile and musing about what life on

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Daily View 2×2: 19 October 2009

By Stephen Tall | Published 19th October 2009 - 9:35 am

2 Big Stories


Labour’s Hain threatens BBC with legal action over BNP invitation

Labour’s Welsh secretary Peter Hain makes a bid for the media spotlight today by arguing that the BBC could face legal action over this Thursday’s edition of Question Time, due to feature an appearance by BNP leader Nick Griffin MEP:

… in his letter [to the BBC], Mr Hain … said the decision should be reconsidered in light of a legal case about ethnic restrictions on the BNP’s membership rules. The party has agreed to amend its constitution after the Equalities and Human Rights Commission sought an injunction, claiming the BNP was breaking the Race Relations Act by restricting membership to “indigenous Caucasian” people.

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UPDATED: PPC news: Winchester & Woking select

By the founding editor | Published 3rd December 2006 - 11:27 am

Martin TodCongratulations to Martin Tod in Winchester, former marketing guru for Vodafone, now Internet Campaigns consultant for the Liberal Democrats. He has a tough sell on his hands, but if anyone can do it, he can.

Local Councillor David Spender has blogged the result. Martin saw off Sarah Carr, Sue Farrant, Gary Lawson and Justine McGuinness to secure the selection.

Update: True to form, Martin Tod is off to a flying start with the launch of www.winningwinchester.com!

Also congratulations to Cllr Rosie Sharpley, selected as the PPC for Woking. Rosie has been a Woking councillor for 18 years and is currently a member of the Lib Dem exec running Woking Borough Council.

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Mark Oaten speaks to Iain Dale

By the founding editor | Published 7th November 2006 - 12:33 pm

OatenLast night conservative commentator Iain Dale conducted an hour long interview with Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten on 18 Doughty Street. You can find it at:

http://www.18doughtystreet.com/blog/?page_id=174

The first 25 minutes cover Mark himself, the remainder of the time discussing broader liberal politics.

Have you watched it? What do you think? There’s a short audio-only teaser below. Click ‘play now’.

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