Tag Archives: mark thompson

Lib Dem MPs win concessions ahead of benefits cap vote

By The Voice | Published 31st January 2012 - 7:35 am

Lib Dem MPs, including the party’s deputy leader Simon Hughes, look set to obtain concessions from Iain Duncan Smith to win their support for the Coalition’s controversial welfare bill, which will introduce a benefit cap of a maximum of £26,000. Here’s how The Guardian reports the news:

The government is expected to make a series of concessions in the coming days on it controversial £26,000 household benefits cap to win over wavering Liberal Democrat MPs. Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, is expected to agree that a discretionary fund should be established to ease the burden on families

…

Posted in News | Also tagged benefits, iain duncan smith, liam byrne, simon hughes | 7 Comments

The past, the present, the future: what Liberal Democrats told WinkBall

By Mark Pack | Published 2nd September 2011 - 11:55 am

In the run-up to the Liberal Democrat autumn federal conference, WinkBall is carrying out a series of short video interviews with different Liberal Democrats about the past year, the current political situation and what the future holds.

There are three video interviews up so far:

Mark Thompson

Maelo Manning

Mark Pack

Watch out for more videos as they appear here.

Posted in Conference | Also tagged maelo manning | 3 Comments

The News of the World and giving readers what they want

By Helen Duffett | Published 9th July 2011 - 5:54 pm

No, not a trailer for your super soaraway Lib Dem Voice on Sunday, but a quick quirk-alert on reader figures at our site this week.

It’s one of my jobs at Lib Dem Voice to keep an eye on the stats, including visitor numbers, popular posts, search terms and lots of other data.

These give us blogging ideas, help us to plan (and sometimes crow), and are another strand of audience feedback – alongside the comments threads, survey responses, emails and phonecalls, and of course the articles themselves that people submit.

So I thought I’d briefly share a surprising finding from …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged news of the world, statporn | 8 Comments

How complicated is the Alternative Vote?

By Mark Pack | Published 5th April 2011 - 10:27 am

This graphic is from Anthony Smith via Mark Thompson:

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged anthony smith, av referendum, electoral reform | 24 Comments

Meet the Lib Dem bloggers: Daisy Benson

By Mark Pack | Published 22nd March 2011 - 1:25 pm

Welcome to the latest in our series giving the human face behind some of the blogs you can find on the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator.

Today it is Daisy Benson who blogs at www.daisyscampaigndiary.blogspot.com.

1. What’s your formative political memory?
The morning after the 1992 election – remembering my parents’ disappointment that Labour hadn’t won (again) and the pervading sense of gloom of another Tory government.

I also remember one election in the 80s when my parents displayed an SDP and a Labour poster in the same window!

2. When did you start blogging?
2007

3. Why did you start blogging?
I started because I …

Posted in Online politics | Also tagged blogging, daisy benson, lib dem bloggers, lynne featherstone, reading council, simon jenkins | 1 Comment

Role reversal for the Liberal Democrats

By Mark Pack | Published 27th October 2010 - 8:55 am

Hopi Sen has blogged thoughtfully several times recently about the risk to Labour of slipping into focusing on the tactics without getting the strategy right. In Labour’s case that means, for example, an undue focus on how to next best shout – “those cuts are awful!” rather than working out how to deal with the public mostly blaming Labour for the need to cut in the first place. Tactical triumphs at PMQs only gets you so far; rebuilding a reputation for economic competence is what is needed to win – as William Hague found in his time as Conservative …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, paddy ashdown, vince cable | 10 Comments

“Loathe this government if you will…” – 4 points following on from Julian Glover’s must-read Guardian article

By Stephen Tall | Published 18th October 2010 - 7:45 pm

Julian Glover, writing for The Guardian’s Comment Is Free, puts forward a trenchantly pro-Coalition, pro-Clegg line — one that’s guaranteed to attract the ire both of Guardianistas, and of some Voice readers, too. This excerpt offers the substnance of his argument:

Loathe this government if you will, but at least acknowledge that neither side in it got all it wanted at the election and that neither has sold out all of its principles. The strangeness of co-operation exposes its component parts to the easiest of attacks: of promising one thing before an election and doing another after it. But as

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, julian glover | 100 Comments

Can the surge last? Lib Dem bloggers give their views …

By The Voice | Published 20th April 2010 - 2:35 pm

Lib Dems leading the election race, and polling above 30% – that’s not a line (m)any of us expected to be able to type with a straight face. But it’s the present reality. The questions is: can the Lib Dem surge last? Here’s what a handful of Lib Dem bloggers think …

James Graham

Anyone who claims to know what will happen electorally next month simply doesn’t know what they are talking about. But there are a number of reasons to suggest that the Liberal Democrats’ poll leap over the weekend might last.

Firstly, polls tend to be mutually reinforcing. This is why some countries ban them during election time. The same factor which has reinforced the Lib Dems’ image as no-hopers in the past might well work in our favour now, especially since it is such a dramatic development.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged james graham, mark valladares, stephen tall | 49 Comments

Tory VAT tax rises and Michael Caine … the spoof posters collection

By Stephen Tall | Published 9th April 2010 - 8:20 am

On the day that the Lib Dems tried to smoke out the Tories’ true position on whether they’ll jack-up VAT by 3% – annual cost to the average household, £389 – to pay for their unfunded tax-cuts, David Cameron was joined by a man worth £45m who rather likes the Tories’ promise to cut taxes for the wealthiest at the expense of everyone else.

Full marks to Lib Dem HQ who were smartly on the case to splice the two stories memorably together:

Lib Dem blogger Mark Thompson had his own pithy take on it:

Posted in General Election, Humour | Also tagged conservative party, featured, vat | 7 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 26 March 2010

By Helen Duffett | Published 26th March 2010 - 10:52 am

Time flies – Friday already! And is it really 29 years to the day that the Gang of Four launched a new political party: the Social Democrats?

Roy Jenkins said at the launch:

We want to get away from the politics of our dated dogmatism and class confrontation. We want to release the energies of people who are fed up with the old slanging match.

Watch the video of the launch here.

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Digital economy bill to be pushed through parliament next month

The controversial digital economy bill will be pushed through in the “wash-up” leading up to an election, after the government confirmed that it will receive its second reading in the Commons on 6 April – the same day that Gordon Brown is expected to seek Parliament’s dissolution.

Harriet Harman, the leader of the house, said today that the bill will get its second reading. But when questioned by Labour MPs Neil Gerrard and Tom Watson about the lack of time given to debate over controversial issues in the bill, she said only that “ministers are aware” of the strong feelings that the proposed legislation has engendered. [Guardian]

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged chris davies, digital economy bill, ed fordham, heathrow, roy jenkins, SDP, susan kramer | 1 Comment

In the spotlight: Anna Arrowsmith and Paul Walter

By Stephen Tall | Published 25th March 2010 - 6:55 pm

For the delectation of LDV’s readers, you might be interested in clicking on the following two links:

1. Mark Thompson interviews Anna Arrowsmith

The Mark Reckons blog carries an interview with the Lib Dems’ candidate for Gravesham in Kent, Anna Arrowsmith, who shot to prominence last week owing to her successful career as the UK’s first female director of pronography.

2. Total Politics interviews Paul Walter

The Lib Dem blogosphere’s very own Burbler-in-Chief Paul Walter is profiled here by Total Politics magazine. Find out Paul’s least favourite blogger, his political idol, and what would be the one thing above …

Posted in News | Also tagged anna arrowsmith, paul walter | Leave a comment

Welcome to Lib Dem TV

By Mark Pack | Published 18th March 2010 - 3:20 pm

Liberal Democrat blogger Mark Thompson has launched a new site, Lib Dem TV:

On it I intend to put up any interviews or other sorts of footage involving Lib Dem members and candidates that I can generate. I am also happy to post any relevant footage from other Lib Dem activists that might be of interest more widely.

You can see Lib Dem TV here.

Posted in Online politics | 8 Comments

Opinion: The BBC – Snog, Marry or Avoid?

By Chris White | Published 11th March 2010 - 2:20 pm

It has been open season on the BBC of late.

We all have our reasons for criticism: the incompetent decision to close 6 Music, the failure to manage budgets, the excessive salaries of performers and especially of senior managers create a climate of anger which serves only to underline the perhaps more important failures to deliver quality public service broadcasting.

I have long been a critic of the ‘Today’ programme, which is overlong, too pleased with itself and too inclined to slide into its comfort zone of two party politics. Andrew Neil’s political vehicle ‘This Week’, a weekly genuflection before the …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged bbc | 9 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 9 March 2010

By Sara Bedford | Published 9th March 2010 - 8:55 am

On this day in 1956, the British authorities ordered the deportation of the Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios, in the hope of restoring law and order to the island.

Thirty seven years ago today, the people of Northern Ireland voted overwhelmingly to remain within the United Kingdom. In a referendum on the future of the province, 591,280 people (57%) of the electorate voted to retain links with the UK. A poll boycott by the nationalist population meant that only 6,463 voted in favour of a united Ireland.

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged archbishop makarios, bridget fox, lord ashcroft, roy ashburn | Leave a comment

Two more gains in local by-elections… and some post-match blogging

By Helen Duffett | Published 28th February 2010 - 5:20 pm

The Liberal Democrats gained two seats in by-elections held on 25 February.

In Eastwood South (Broxtowe District Council) the Lib Dems surged ahead of Labour:
LD Keith Longdon 985 (53.1; +34.0)
Lab 484 (26.1; -12.1)
Con 387 (20.9; -0.4)

In Fenstanton ward, Huntingdonshire District Council, the Lib Dems gained a seat from the Tories:
LD Colin Saunderson 391 (51.1; +4.2)
Con 337 (44.1; -4.1)
Lab 37 (4.8; -0.1)

For this week’s full results, commentary and fantastic victory photo see the ALDC website.

Mark “Reckons” Thompson was the candidate in the Owlsmoor by-elections and has blogged about it in My experiences as a …

Posted in Council by-elections | Also tagged aldc, bracknell blog, broxtowe, colin saunderson, darren bridgman, huntingdonshire, keith longdon, owlsmoor | 2 Comments

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