Huhne: scrap ID cards and put 10,000 bobbies on the beat. Three reasons why he’s wrong

Written by Stephen Tall on 30th June 2009 – 9:30 pm

Amother day, another nail in the coffin of Labour’s increeasingly half-hearted attempts to force the British people to carry ID cards and enrtust their personal details to a national government database. The BBC reports:

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has dropped plans to make ID cards compulsory for pilots and airside workers at Manchester and London City airports. The cards were due to be trialled there – sparking trade union anger. … But Mr Johnson said the ID card scheme was still very much alive – despite Tory and Lib Dem calls to scrap it. He said the national roll-out of


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Posted in News | 7 Comments »

WED: Green Lib Dems annual conference

Written by Alex Foster on 5th June 2009 – 10:25 pm

News reaches the Voice of the Green Lib Dem’s annual conference, unfortunately just a little too late to promote it in time for the early registration rates:

SESSIONS INCLUDE: “The Great Nuclear Debate”; “Greening Your Council”; “Transition Towns”; “Eco Housing”; “Green Campaigning Workshop”

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Simon Hughes MP; Chris Huhne MP; Heather Kidd PPC; Donnachadh McCarthy, Media Environmentalist; Lembit Opik MP

PRICES HELD AT 2008 RATES – BOOK NOW TO ENSURE A PLACE

Registrations received after 5th June

GLD members £22 (for both days) £14 (single day rate)

Non members £28 (for both days) £18 (single day rate)

Conference fees include lunch. A separate Saturday evening


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Posted in Events | No Comments »

New collection of leaflets

Written by Alex Foster on 11th May 2009 – 12:16 pm

A strategically hashtagged tweet brings an interesting new site to the attention of The Voice. It is being built by people with some connection to MySociety, who are responsible for the excellent non-partisan sites intended to improve how politics works, such as WriteToThem, PublicWhip and FixMyStreet.

The new site is intended as a repository of the leaflets that are routinely delivered by local political activists day in, day out up and down the country.  Whilst similar sites have tried to do this before – particularly for the bigger by-elections – no-one has really got a site together that works quite …


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Posted in e-campaigning | 17 Comments »

Successful wind farm to be nuked?

Written by Helen Duffett on 28th April 2009 – 2:13 pm

A successful wind farm close to the Lake District national park is one of the sites recently approved by the Government for a new generation of nuclear power plants.
From the Guardian:

One of the oldest and most efficient wind farms in Britain is to be dismantled and replaced by a nuclear power station under plans drawn up by the German-owned power group RWE.

The site at Kirksanton in Cumbria – home to the Haverigg turbines – has just been approved by the government for potential atomic newbuild in a move that has infuriated the wind power industry.

Colin Palmer, founder of the Windcluster company, which owns part of the Haverigg wind farm, said he was horrified that such a plan could be considered at a time when Britain risks missing its green energy targets and after reassurance from ministers that nuclear and renewables were not incompatible.

In a masterful understatement which belies the local anger and bewilderment at the lack of early consultation, Matthew Clayton of Triodos Renewables, the company which owns three turbines on the site said:


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Posted in News | 15 Comments »

NEW POLL: what’s your view on nuclear power?

Written by Stephen Tall on 16th April 2009 – 6:59 pm

Yesterday the Government released a list of 11 sites in England and Wales where new nuclear power stations could be built, with the aim of having the first reactors operational within a decade.

The Lib Dems’ shadow energy and climate change secretary Simon Hughes was unequivocal in stating his anti-nuclear position on behalf of the party, branding this new generation of nuclear power stations a “colossal mistake”:

They are hugely expensive, dangerous and will take too long to build. There is a real danger that the Government is becoming too close to and [sic] the big energy companies.


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Posted in Voice polls | 26 Comments »

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Shirley, Simon, Chris and David

Written by Stephen Tall on 1st April 2009 – 1:45 pm

The Times tells us that four senior Lib Dems will be on hand to inspect police treatment of protesters at today’s climate camp in London’s Square Mile:

Four Liberal Democrats – Baroness Williams of Crosby, Simon Hughes, Chris Huhne and David Howarth – will act as legal observers at the climate camp to prevent violence initiated by police, rather than protesters.

Mr Howarth, the MP for Cambridge, said that police and media were guilty of “talking up the violence”, adding: “The danger is that they are putting off peaceful protesters, and attracting the wrong sort.”

Over at the paper’s Comment Central


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Posted in News | 3 Comments »

Simon Hughes in Harrogate

Written by The Voice on 8th March 2009 – 10:21 am

Simon Hughes’s speech from yesterday morning is online to watch, and for your viewing convenience we present it here:


Simon Hughes addresses spring conference 2009
Uploaded by libdem

You can also read the text on the party’s website.


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Conference: Higher education paper

Written by Alix Mortimer on 7th March 2009 – 12:01 pm

Breaking news! The Lib Dem Voice cupboard has a WINDOW! Yes, it’s a slightly unnerving black smoked glass internal window which reflects us as well as revealing the outside world, but it’s a window!

I missed Simon Hughes’ speech this morning, which is a shame as I am extremely hopeful about his capacity to advance the environmental agenda – we’ll bring you that video as soon as we’ve established that it exists.

Listening now to the motion on the Investing in Talent, Building the Economy paper (Adult, Further and Higher Education policy paper).

I’ve missed the movement from Stephen Williams, and come …


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And the moral of the story is…? Energy efficiency begins at home

Written by The Voice on 15th February 2009 – 9:26 pm

From Friday’s Guardian, Lib Dems unveil plan for energy-efficient households:

Every UK home will be made energy-efficient within 10 years in a compulsory revamp of British housing stock equivalent to the “digital switchover”, the Liberal Democrats will promise today. … The party’s ambitious pledge increases pressure on the government, which will today announce its own plans to offer voluntary eco-makovers to one in four British homes. … It is estimated that carbon emissions from British homes account for a quarter of the country’s total. Under EU agreements, the government has 42 years to cut emissions by 80%. …

Announcing his party’s


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Posted in News | 4 Comments »

Enough is enough

Written by Alex Foster on 5th January 2009 – 9:22 am

Anyone from any political persuasion can list things this Government has done that annoy them.

Personally, I was annoyed enough to join millions of others on the march against the war in Iraq – now it’s time to hold them to account.

I’m not so sure how I will react if and when I get the orders from the Government to present myself at the interrogation centre in nearby Derby and hand over more personal information than is currently demanded from sex offenders.  I’m not certain I’m ready to join Simon Hughes in jail for refusing an ID card.

I’ve never …


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Posted in News, e-campaigning | 5 Comments »

Our starters for 2008 – how did we do? (Part II)

Written by Stephen Tall on 29th December 2008 – 10:20 am

A year ago, Lib Dem Voice posed 10 questions, the answers to which we believed might shape the Lib Dem year – time to revisit them, wethinks. To read Part I dealing with Qs 1-5, click here.

6. Will Nicol Stephen’s leadership of the Scottish Lib Dems continue to bounce back?

No, it didn’t, though this was in large part due to Nicol’s decision to resign the party leadership at the beginning of July, in order to put “the health and wellbeing” of his family first. The Scottish party has had a tough time, playing third fiddle to …


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Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments »

Jonathan Fryer’s Diary of a Euro-candidate

Written by Jonathan Fryer on 10th November 2008 – 2:50 pm

Monday
Each autumn, I’m invited by Public Affairs International to give a briefing in London to foreign civil servants about relations between British political parties, the public and the media. A majority of the participants this afternoon are from Qatar and the UAE, which is an interesting reflection of current global realities. As their government ministers are almost all members of the ruling family, the Westminster system must seem very strange. I am left pondering what things would be like if Prince Andrew were our Minister of Defence. In the evening, I am the guest speaker at the AGM of Ealing …


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Global Peace and Unity Conference: Pakistan news agency report

Written by Helen Duffett on 28th October 2008 – 5:33 pm

From the Associated Press of Pakistan:

LONDON, Oct 27 (APP): Politicians, activists and grass-root leaders joined thousands of British Muslims to celebrate peace, in defiance of divisive smear casters. They gathered Sunday to take part in an annual jamboree to celebrate British Islam and discuss how the community can reach out to wider society in peace and solidarity.

The Global Peace and Unity conference organised by the Islam Channel took place at Excel Centre in East London despite the attempts of smear casters to dissuade leading politicians, activists and community leaders from attending.

The Muslim Council of Britain has written …


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Posted in News | 26 Comments »

Glenrothes update

Written by Alex Foster on 28th October 2008 – 10:36 am

A few members of our forum have mentioned the lack of coverage of the Glenrothes by-election, and by a curious coincidence, I received an update email from the campaign manager Andrew Reeves at almost the exact same time.

I was sat in the by-election HQ in Markinch, Glenrothes on Saturday afternoon with Tavish Scott MSP, the new Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats looking at the article in the Guardian, where they have said “even the Tory and the Lib Dem could lose their deposits.”

We have had this happen once this year, in the Glasgow East by-election, let us ensure it


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Labour cuts the number of days Parliament will sit to lowest figure since 1979

Written by Mark Pack on 24th October 2008 – 11:15 am

Over the next year Parliament will sit for just 128 days, the lowest figure since 1979.

Although MPs do much valuable work when Parliament isn’t sitting (for example, Hornsey & Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone used this summer’s recess to call round on the residential care homes and sheltered housing in her constituency and last year’s to call round on the shops to find out what issues more effect them and need sorting), cutting back on the amount of time Parliament sites makes it much easier for Government to avoid scrutiny and to push through legislation without proper debate.

Simon Hughes raised …


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Posted in News, Parliament | 5 Comments »

Jonathan Fryer’s Diary of a Euro-candidate

Written by Jonathan Fryer on 25th September 2008 – 10:57 am

Wednesday

On the tube over to West London, I wonder how Ukraine and Slovakia have managed to have their national celebrations on the same day, and both at lunchtime. Fortunately the two embassies are close to each other, and predictably there is a lot of toing-and-froing between. I decide to do Ukraine first, having recently been in the country itself and I am not surprised to find the mood somewhat sombre. After the Russian intervention in Georgia, there are rumblings in the Crimea again and the government in Kiev is falling apart. I have earnest discussions with the diplomats there, …


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Posted in Op-eds | 1 Comment »

Conference: Liberal Vision and the Free Society

Written by Joe Otten on 18th September 2008 – 5:54 pm

Tuesday lunchtime in Old Harry’s Bar was packed to the rafters with delegates promised something better than food: a list. Don’t we just love lists? Not this time the 10 most influential fluffy bloggers, but a ranking of how liberal the 63 Liberal Democrat MPs are on the basis of Parliamentary votes and Early Day Motion (EDM) support, on issues relating to personal liberty – i.e. drinking and smoking, rather than tax and CCTV. Nobody really believes the methodology behind the list to be sound, but, hey, it’s just a bit of fun, isn’t it?

I was quite pleased to observe …


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Posted in Conference, Op-eds | 4 Comments »

Final speeches from party conference

Written by Will Howells on 18th September 2008 – 12:56 pm

A final round-up of speeches by Shadow Cabinet members from party conference in Bournemouth. First off, here’s Shadow Chancellor and Deputy Leader Vince Cable:

Simon Hughes gave an impassioned final conference speech as President of the Liberal Democrats:
And finally, rounding off conference, Nick Clegg’s barnstorming Leader’s speech:


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Conference: Make It Happen debate… the live-blog

Written by Stephen Tall on 15th September 2008 – 3:16 pm

Yes, it’s the day of the Big Debate on Make It Happen, the party’s policy and consultation document, and there’s keen anticipation here in the conference hall. Over 100 members have applied to speak so far, so we can expect some fiery views on both sides of the should-we-cut-the-tax-burden debate.

The party’s manifesto chief Danny Alexander has introduced Make It Happen – plenty of warm applause, including for the line that tax cuts for ordinary people are very much part of a social justice agenda. He urges conference to vote down Paul Holmes’ and Evan Harris’s amendment, arguing it will …


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Posted in Conference, Party policy and consultation | 143 Comments »

Simon Hughes: why the Lib Dems will not stand against David Davis

Written by The Voice on 12th June 2008 – 5:31 pm

This is the text of the email just sent by Lib Dem president Simon Hughes explaining the party’s decision not to contest the forthcoming Haltemprice & Howden by-election triggered by David Davis’s shock resignation:


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Posted in News, Parliamentary by-elections | 47 Comments »
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