Tag Archives: total politics

LibLink: what to look out for at Lib Dem Spring Conference

By NewsHound | Published 11th February 2012 - 12:00 pm

The Voice’s Mark Pack has a post over at Total Politics, discussing the issues likely to dominate the upcoming Lib Dem Spring Conference in Gateshead.

The first thing to note, says Mark, is that some of the most contentious political issues of recent weeks such as the reforms to the NHS and to the welfare system don’t appear on the conference agenda as it was drawn up some time ago:

There is a slot for emergency and topical issues to cover this eventuality, but with only time for one motion, not all of the controversies can be aired. Unless a

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Posted in Conference, LibLink | Also tagged Gateshead 2012 Conference, mark pack, nhs reform, welfare reform | Leave a comment

Total Politics: top blogs and bloggers

By Mark Pack | Published 21st September 2011 - 6:50 pm

Following its list of top Liberal Democrat blogs and bloggers, Total Politics has now also published its overall list of top blogs and bloggers – two lists in which many Liberal Democrats feature.

In the top 50 of the blogs list, Lib Dem Voice is in at number 12 (up from 27 last year), Caron Lindsay at 25, Jonathan Calder at 38 and Andrew Reeves at 44.

In the top 50 of the bloggers list, I’m in at number 20, Caron Lindsay at 29, Andrew Reeves at 43 and Jonathan Calder at 49.

Thank you to everyone for your votes …

Posted in News, Online politics | Also tagged andrew reeves, blogging, caron lindsay, jonathan calder | Leave a comment

Total Politics: top Liberal Democrat blogs and bloggers

By Mark Pack | Published 17th September 2011 - 9:45 am

Out with a little less fanfare than usual this week have been various categories in the Total Politics Blogger League Tables, including the top Liberal Democrat blogs:

1 Lib Dem Voice

2 Caron’s Musings

3 Liberal England

4 Andrew Reeves’ Running Blog

5 Stephen’s Liberal Journal

6 Mark Pack

=7 Liberal Vision

=7 A Scottish Liberal

9 Cllr Fraser Macpherson

10 Mark Reckons

And the top Liberal Democrat bloggers:

Lovely and fitting to see Andrew appear so highly in both …

Posted in News, Online politics | Also tagged andrew reeves, blogging | Leave a comment

Voting closes on Friday….

By The Voice | Published 18th August 2011 - 9:25 am

A quick plug for ourselves: voting closes on Friday in the Total Politics Blog Awards 2011. You can cast your votes here and if you would be so kind as to remember both The Voice and the blogs run by the various contributors to this site, that would be most spiffing. Thank you!

Posted in Online politics | Also tagged blogging | 1 Comment

Total Politics Blog Awards: voting is now open

By The Voice | Published 9th August 2011 - 3:48 pm

It’s that time of the year again, the Total Politics blog awards, in which people very kindly voted The Voice number one Liberal Democrat blog last year.

This year the voting rules are slightly different both to remove the old system of sending in emails and also to reflect that some people blog in several different places, so you can now vote for bloggers as well as blogs:

Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. The higher you rank a blog

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Posted in Online politics | Also tagged blogging | Leave a comment

LibLink: Mark Pack – The secret concessions behind the 1911 Parliament Act

By Nick Thornsby | Published 7th July 2011 - 5:53 pm

Before he departed for his blogging holiday, The Voice’s Mark Pack had an interesting piece on the Total Politics site looking at the 100-year history of the 1911 Parliament Act.

Here’s an extract from Mark’s piece:

The 1911 Act had its immediate cause in the 1909 People’s Budget from Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, which raised taxes for the richest to pay for military armaments and social works. As he put it:

“This is a war Budget. It is for raising money to wage implacable warfare against poverty and squalidness.”

The sums now seem modest – including the equivalent in today’s

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged mark pack, parliament act | Leave a comment

Chris Rennard profiled in Total Politics: “Think about the swings and roundabouts over the years”

By Helen Duffett | Published 13th June 2011 - 6:48 pm

Over at Total Politics Iain Dale interviews former Lib Dem Chief Executive Lord Rennard about his views on the local elections, The AV referendum and Coalition government.

Here’s a flavour:

Bernard Jenkin said you could imagine a Lib Dem enclave within the Conservative Party at some point. It’s happened before, hasn’t it? Do you think that that’s at all possible or likely?

I think that’s just trouble-making by someone who is very anti-coalition. I don’t think in the 21st century things will go back to the way they were in the 1920s or 1930s.

Don’t you think this time it just feels a

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged bernard jenkin, chris rennard, david cameron, Ian Dale | Leave a comment

LibLink: Mark Pack – Lords reform: three tests for three party leaders

By Nick Thornsby | Published 12th June 2011 - 8:57 am

Over on the Total Politics website, Mark Pack has a piece looking at what the coalition’s plans for reforming the House of Lords means for each of the three party leaders:

For each of them Lords reform offers both an opportunity and a threat. For David Cameron the opportunity is to push on with his mission to change the Conservative Party, modernising it in a continuing effort to shed the problems that have resulted in nearly 20 years passing since it last won an overall majority. Many in the Conservative Party, especially in the Lords, are opposed to the introduction of

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged constitutional reform, house of lords, lords reform, mark pack | 1 Comment

Nick Harvey profiled in Total Politics

By Nick Thornsby | Published 31st May 2011 - 1:27 pm

Last month’s Total Politics magazine featured a profile of Liberal Democrat Armed Forces Minister, Nick Harvey. The piece looks at Nick’s life before politics, his time as a pre-coalition MP, and the various issues that now end up on his desk as a minister in the Department of Defence.

Here’s a sample:

“This is a difficult and challenging time for the Ministry of Defence and it’s vital that we meet the needs of our service personnel,” said Nick Harvey following his appointment as Minister for the Armed Forces in May 2010. At a time of unprecedented budgetary constraints it promises to be

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged nick harvey | 1 Comment

LibLink | Lynne Featherstone: “Cross-departmental nagging is my strong point”

By Helen Duffett | Published 30th May 2011 - 1:43 pm

The June issue of Total Politics has a profile of Lynne Featherstone MP in which interviewer Ben Duckworth looks at how Lynne thinks as a minister and how she is regarded.

Here’s a flavour:

On ministerial visits, she will arrive to discover that people have confused her with her Conservative colleague Maria Miller: “I go somewhere and someone thinks I’m the disabilities minister. I’m taking a look at how that can be communicated better.” This does seem to be down to her vague title, as Featherstone admits. “People think, because my nomenclature is minister for equalities, I cover race, discrimination, age

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged ben duckworth, lynne featherstone | Leave a comment

The Saturday Debate: Can a progressive alliance between the Lib Dems and Labour work?

By Stephen Tall | Published 23rd April 2011 - 8:45 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

‘Can a progressive alliance between the Lib Dems and Labour work?’ That is the question asked in this month’s issues of Total Politics magazine, debated by Neal Lawson of the left-leaning Compass pressure group (who argues Yes) and Labour MP Michael Dugher (who says No).

Neal’s is a thoughtful piece, which recognises the ebbs and flows of history — but does not view them as inevitable. After al, it was only 13 years prior to the Coalition being formed that Paddy Ashdown …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, neal lawson | 44 Comments

LibLink: Jo Swinson – “You just don’t need voting machines for AV”

By Helen Duffett | Published 19th April 2011 - 5:47 pm

The TotalPolitics blog has an interview this week with Jo Swinson MP, in which she gets down to some mythbusting about the referendum on the voting system for the UK Parliament. Here’s an excerpt:

The only voting machines that I’ve been aware of were for counting the local council elections. I mean you just don’t need voting machines for AV. Have they [No to AV] ever managed to answer that question as to why they think it would? I’ll give you an example right, in my constituency, in the last two years we’ve had two by-elections in the council.

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged av referendum, jo swinson | 17 Comments

Total Politics Top 75 Lib Dem blogs list published

By Stephen Tall | Published 6th September 2010 - 6:32 pm

It’s two months since Total Politics asked blog-readers to vote for their Top 10 favourite blogs in their annual survey promoted here on LDV, as well as at LabourList and Iain Dale’s Diary. More than 2,200 people voted, and here is the full list of the Top 75 Lib Dem blogs according to the voters of Total Politics:

Stephen’s Liberal Journal

Jennie Rigg

Always Win When

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Posted in Best of the blogs | Also tagged blogging, iain dale, Online politics | 4 Comments

The Miliband campaigning house parties

By Mark Pack | Published 18th August 2010 - 11:12 pm

Over on the Total Politics website they’ve been poking fun at the ‘house party’ instructions issued by the David Miliband campaign. On reading the piece at first I thought it was being a little harsh, because house parties (where you invite electors – Labour members in this case – to a small event to discuss things face-to-face) have a great role in campaigning. And yes, the instructions are a bit detailed at points – but then many people will be hosting this sort of event for the first time ever.

Then, however, I got to this part:

Read your guests a

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Posted in Opposition watch | Also tagged david miliband, labour party | 5 Comments

Total Politics best blog poll 2010: voting ends tomorrow!

By The Voice | Published 30th July 2010 - 1:51 pm

A final reminder that time is running out: voting ends tomorrow in the Total Politics Blog Award… We hope readers may be inclined to list Lib Dem Voice somewhere, alongside many of the other fabulous Lib Dem blogging talent listed on Ryan Cullen’s Aggregator.

It’s that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. This is the fifth year of the poll. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2010-11, which will be published in September. For the second year running, …

Posted in Online politics | Also tagged blogging | Leave a comment

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