Tag Archives: twitter

Paddy Ashdown finally starts tweeting

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 30th January 2013 - 9:56 am

Last year, I remember seeing somewhere that Paddy Ashdown was learning how to work Twitter. Sadly, nothing happened after that. However, yesterday, our favourite ex leader and new Chair of the General Election campaign actually sent his first tweet.

Needless to say, he immediately received lots of replies asking what he did have for breakfast – including one from Ladbrokes which started offering odds on Paddy’s morning repast.

I have no doubt that some enterprising Liberal Democrat will tweet a …

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Posted in News | Also tagged paddy ashdown | 2 Comments

Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson apologises for ‘insensitive’ tweet

By Stephen Tall | Thu 17th January 2013 - 10:30 pm

A swift retraction by Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson of this tweet, reacting to the news David Cameron has cancelled his landmark speech on Europe as a result of the hostage crisis in Algeria:

Immediately condemned as ‘clearly sick and offensive’ by Nick Clegg’s spokesman, Graham has now issued this apology:

I wish to apologise profusely for the insensitive tweet I issued earlier. I have taken it down.

— Graham Watson MEP (@grahamwatsonmep) January 17, 2013

Posted in News | Also tagged algeria, david cameron and graham watson | 20 Comments

Lynne Featherstone calls for Julie Burchill to be sacked for post attacking transgender people

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 14th January 2013 - 9:25 am

As Equalities Minister, Liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone put into place the Government’s Transgender Action Plan. She will be acutely aware of the issues facing transgender people, particularly in relation to violence and discrimination. Hate crime towards that community has been rising as the Independent reported.

Yesterday, the Observer published a piece by controversial writer Julie Burchill which was peppered with hate filled language. Had the target of Burchill’s invective been a particular ethnic group, and she had used similar language, then her piece would have found its way onto the editor’s spike and she would most likely have been …

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Posted in News | Also tagged julie burchill, LGBT rights, lynne featherstone and observer | 34 Comments

The Carmichael Twinterview: Pandas, Coalition and Cake

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th January 2013 - 2:54 pm

Just before Christmas, Scottish Liberal Democrat members received a newsletter which contained a “Twinterview” with Chief Whip and Scottish Deputy Leader Alistair Carmichael. This is a chat he had with me – in which questions and answers had to be within 140 characters reproduced here for your amusement.

CL: You clearly enjoy social media despite the risk that it might get you into trouble some day. Why do you do it and what do you like about it?

AC: Despite? Because of the risk! Facebook allows me to stay …

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Posted in News | Also tagged Alistair Carmichael and pandas | 1 Comment

Just when you thought the SNP’s scomnishambles was over…

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 20th November 2012 - 6:55 pm

Scotland’s SNP Government is having a bit of a torrid time at the moment.

There’s been allegations of ministerial bullying, then the First Minister gets caught out not only misleading Parliament, but doing so in smug and gloaty style, and then the Education Secretary has to make a grovelling apology for an earlier transgression. Not very edifying at all.

So it must have been really gratifying for Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil to get a tweet from someone called @SirIanBlair saying how well the SNP were doing …

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Posted in News | Also tagged angus mcneill, bloopers, policing, sir ian blair and snp | 3 Comments

Blog of the Year Awards 2012: The Shortlists

By Helen Duffett | Sat 22nd September 2012 - 7:33 pm

Nominations for the Liberal Democrats’ Blog of the Year Awards 2012 closed on 14 September. Since then, the judges, Kirsty Williams (Assembly Member for Brecon and Radnorshire and Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats), Nick Thornsby (Lib Dem Blogger of the Year 2011), Tim Gatt (ITV News Digital Output Editor), Stephen Tall (Co-Editor, Lib Dem Voice), Alan Muhammed (Lib Dem Voice’s social media manager), & Helen Duffett (that’s me – Co-Editor (Associate) Lib Dem Voice) have been poring over the entries for the five categories.

It’s been a big task, and a fun one, to distil so many excellent examples of Lib Dem blogging and e-campaigning into lists of the best.

Congratulations if you’ve been shortlisted, but if you haven’t: remember that the shortlists are based on the judges’ subjective opinions. The awards are intended to be a fun way to celebrate the talent in the Lib Dem blogosphere, whilst introducing you to some blogs you might not have read before.

Next, a plug for the awards ceremony itself. If you’re at party conference in Brighton, do come along to the Pavilion Room, Grand Hotel, Brighton, from 9.45pm tonight, Saturday 22nd September.

Now, without further ado, here are the shortlists: (Drumroll, please)

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Posted in Best of the blogs and Conference | Also tagged 2012 Brighton Conference, alan muhammed, blog of the year awards, helen duffett, kirsty williams, lynne featherstone, nick thornsby, stephen tall, tim farron and tim gatt | 3 Comments

Nick Clegg in Cambridge: Liberal Democrats have a good story to tell

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 13th September 2012 - 4:29 pm

Nick Clegg went to Cambridge today. He met Liberal Democrat members ahead of a packed public Question and Answer session where

Credit: Helen Duffett

he was quizzed on a huge range of subjects. Local MP Julian Huppert, LDV’s own Helen Duffett and Liberal Youth’s Harry Matthews were among those present and tweeting.Nick talked about the distinctiveness of the three traditions, Conservative, Labour and Liberal in British politics and how they couldn’t be folded into each other. He explained how the liberal tradition valued the sanctity of the individual.

The vexed question …

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Posted in News | Also tagged cambridge, harry matthews, helen duffettt, julian huppert, nick clegg and town hall meetings | 18 Comments

Tom Brake MP writes… Romney’s bought the latest gadget, but he’s forgotten to read the manual

By Tom Brake MP | Thu 13th September 2012 - 3:29 pm

Romney’s bought the latest gadget, but he’s forgotten to read the manual.When Obama stormed to the Presidency he did so in glorious Technicolor while his opponent was still campaigning in black and white (or at least fifty shades of grey). In contrast, Obama campaigned with panache and proved what can be achieved by harnessing the power of social media.

His victory, for me, was a Kennedy/Nixon moment – one campaign looked modern and dynamic, the other looked tired, sweaty and frankly a bit outdated. The result was rather predictable in the end. Obama triumph. Slam dunk.

But if Obama’s victory four years …

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Posted in Online politics and Op-eds | Also tagged barack obama and Mitt Romney | 1 Comment

On Twitter, Leveson, media standards… and Labour MP Ian Austin labelling Russell Brand “a disgusting, sleezy [sic], horrible creep”

By Stephen Tall | Sat 18th August 2012 - 12:13 pm

I love Twitter and I hate Twitter. At its best, it is a brilliant way of enjoying a shared moment with friends and friends-of-friends, whether glorying in the Olympics or bitching about X-Factor. At its worst, it is a bile-filled bearpit, where opinions are sprayed with scant regard for their accuracy in the race to be first or funniest or most outraged.

For fans of cognitive dissonance, it’s a wonderful window-on-the-world which explains much about how and why the media works as it does. Lord Justice Leveson would have learned much from observing a life-in-the-day-of Twitter.

He would, for example, see …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, ian austin, leveson inquiry and russell brand | 4 Comments

John Leech MP writes… It is not just the Leader’s job to sell the Pupil Premium

By John Leech MP | Tue 15th May 2012 - 4:21 pm

The Pupil Premium is one of our biggest achievement in government, and helps the poorest children in our country bridge the gap when it comes to the quality of education they receive. Manchester has had an extra £19 million this year, and the overall spend is some £1.25 billion this year, increasing to £2.5 billion by 2014/15.

The Pupil Premium ticks all the boxes for the Party. It is designed to help the most disadvantaged, it allows schools to spend the extra money flexibly, and it is new money on top of the school budget.

So why are we not shouting about …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged nick clegg, pupil premium and sarah teather | 22 Comments

All Aboard! One hour bus campaign moves up a gear

By Caroline Pidgeon | Tue 27th March 2012 - 7:22 pm

Tomorrow Brian Paddick and I are boarding our first campaign bus together, and what better way to celebrate than using it to launch our great One Hour Bus Ticket policy.

We’ll be travelling round eight London boroughs informing residents that the Lib Dems are dedicated to targeting fare reductions at those Londoners who need them most. Our Fairer Fares package proposes six ways to save, one of which is a One Hour Bus Ticket that will allow people to hop-on and hop-off buses as many times as needed within one hour, paying only one single fare.

The scheme works successfully in several …

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Posted in News | Also tagged brian paddick, Caroline Pidgeon and one hour bus ticket | 2 Comments

A Twitter gem for seeing what Liberal Democrats are saying

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd February 2012 - 11:50 am

Liberal Tweets is an aggregator (run by the king of Lib Dem aggregrators, LDV’s very own Ryan Cullen) which displays in one convenient place all the latest tweets from Liberal Democrat members who are using Twitter.

If you are one of those but aren’t yet being included, you can email [email protected].

Posted in News and Online politics | 1 Comment

Opinion – Twitter: powerful campaign tool or waste of effort?

By Alan Muhammed | Thu 9th February 2012 - 2:55 pm

The simple tweet “F*ck” at 10am with the reply “Agreed” last Friday was the only source and all the evidence I required to know that Chris Huhne had been charged. Two words tied emotion with cognition. I followed Nick Clegg’s tax cut speech live through the medium of 140 character paraphrase: a sort of Focus-speak reduction I can only imagine would have the speech-writers crying. The utterance “Borgen – Danish West Wing” was all the persuasion necessary to watch it religiously.

Twitter is free, fast and tragic. And if it wasn’t powerful in facilitating the fall of …

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Posted in Online politics and Op-eds | Also tagged connect, jamie matthews, julian huppert, tim farron and victor chamberlain | 3 Comments

Lib Dem achievements, communicating peers and election timetables

By Mark Pack | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 12:50 pm

A trio of resources for your weekend’s delectation:

Electoral timetable for May’s elections: I’ve recently updated my May 2012 election timetable post with extra details

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Posted in News and Online politics | 1 Comment

Commons votes to allow Twitter but MP demands minister communicates via letter

By Mark Pack | Fri 14th October 2011 - 8:50 am

Yesterday Parliament voted by 206-63 to allow MPs to (continue to) tweet from the Chamber, by rejecting an amendment that would have gutted this proposal, subsequently passed:

That this House notes the Third Report from the Procedure Committee on Use of hand-held electronic devices in the Chamber and committees, HC 889; and resolves that hand-held devices (not laptops) may be used in the Chamber, provided that they are silent, and used in a way that does not impair decorum, that Members making speeches in the Chamber or in committee may refer to electronic devices in place of paper speaking notes and

…

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Posted in News and Online politics | Also tagged lindsay hoyle | 2 Comments

New on Twitter: Deputy Prime Minister’s Office

By Helen Duffett | Mon 10th October 2011 - 3:59 pm

Nick Clegg has added another string to his social media bow – this time it’s a new Twitter account.

@DPMoffice will be “Tweeting the official business of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.” It will be run separately from his existing party Twitter account, @nick_clegg, which will still cover Nick’s Liberal Democrat and Government-related activities.

See also the Deputy Prime Minister’s website, his (Cabinet Office) Flickr gallery and the Deputy Prime Minister’s YouTube channel.

Posted in News and Online politics | Also tagged nick clegg and office of the deputy prime minister | Leave a comment

Opinion: Huhne #tweetfail – Why #cockup is more likely than #conspiracy

By Paul Walter | Sat 8th October 2011 - 9:53 am

Just as most people were packing up for the weekend, the Twittersphere and, eventually, the Mainstream Media were lit up with the story that Chris Huhne had apparently sent out a private text message to his 8,007 Twitter followers, including many of the great and good of “Fleet Street”.

The message said:

From someone else fine but I do not want my fingerprints on the story. C

So what was this “story”? – we are all now wondering.

Think about it.

Chris Huhne had obviously been having a private text exchange with (that ubiquitous Huhne Aunt Sally) “a staff member” (if you believe what Huhne …

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Posted in News | Also tagged chris huhne | 11 Comments

Opinion: #HandsOffTwitter

By Richard Morris | Thu 25th August 2011 - 7:54 pm

So, good news everyone – according to reports in the Guardian and others, the Home Office have decided that introducing legislation to allow the police to turn off access to Social Networks would be, ahem, inappropriate, and will instead work in cooperation with the networks going forward. To quote the Home Office after talks today

“The discussions looked at how law enforcement and the networks can build on the existing relationships and co-operation to prevent the networks being used for criminal behaviour”.

Good.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david cameron and louise mensch | 3 Comments

Councillor Warren Swaine apologises for offensive tweet

By The Voice | Thu 4th August 2011 - 7:53 am

Reading Councillor Warren Swaine has issued an apology for his actions on 27 January.

I would like to take this opportunity apologise for making derogatory comments during the BBC Question Time programme on the 27th January especially those relating to Chuka Umunna MP. I made a lot of comments that were insulting that night and I regret that.

In respect of one particular tweet, no offense was meant but I absolutely acknowledge that it was recklessly worded and liable to an interpretation that was never intended. For that I would like to offer my sincere apologies to Mr Umunna and

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged chuka umunna, reading council and warren swaine | 12 Comments

Top 10 tweeting MPs: congratulations to Lib Dem @julianhuppert in at No. 6!

By Stephen Tall | Sun 31st July 2011 - 2:20 pm

Who are the top 10 Twitterers in the House of Commons? That’s the question the Mail on Sunday answers today, following a survey by Westminster Public Affairs.

The list looks not at number of followers, but at the volume of tweets each MP has sent out. Heading the list is Labour’s Kerry McCarthy with well over 27,000 tweets. Cambridge’s Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert — elected to Parliament just last year — comes in at number six, having sent over 10,000 tweets, and now with over 4,000 followers.

My Co-Editor Mark Pack has compiled a …

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Posted in News | Also tagged brian binley, charles kennedy, julian huppert, Mark Pack and olly kendall | Leave a comment

Councillor Warren Swaine reinstated after Twitter race row

By The Voice | Fri 29th July 2011 - 3:46 pm

Reading Councillor Warren Swaine has had his Liberal Democrat membership restored after being accused of making a racist remark about a Labour MP in February – but will have to complete diversity training if he wishes to be an officer for the Liberal Democrat council group.

The Reading Chronicle reports:

The Lib Dems’ South Central office announced today that Reading borough councillor, Warren Swaine, who represents Katesgrove ward, will have to undergo diversity training if he wants to be a spokesman for the group in the next two years.

The decision comes more than five months after Cllr Swaine was suspended

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged chuka umunna and warren swaine | 29 Comments

Opinion: Traditional media is not all we should be looking at

By Martin Gill | Sun 17th July 2011 - 1:48 pm

It’s not often I agree with a Conservative MP, it’s even less often that I hear them say something that actually strikes me as truly insightful.

During the parliamentary debate on the BSkyB bid there was one such moment. At 6.25pm Dr Phillip Lee stood up and spoke to a now mostly empty chamber. This was a shame, because what he had to say was, in my view, extremely relevant and highly important. (Hansard)

He spoke on the fact that a lot, if not the vast majority, of the news people are getting today comes from not the mainstream media, the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged bing, bskyb, facebook, google, microsoft, philip lee and yahoo | 5 Comments

LibLink Nick Clegg: Regulating media, empowering citizens

By Helen Duffett | Tue 12th July 2011 - 4:37 pm

Nick Clegg has a piece in Huffington Post UK today, on media regulation, responsible reporting and replacing the Press Complaints Commission.

He calls new news outlets, such as the newly-launched UK version news and comment website Huffington Post, “a welcome breath of fresh air” at a time when public confidence in the media establishment is being rocked by phone-hacking allegations.

Here’s an excerpt:

The hacking scandal throws up an array of insights. But one in particular stands out to liberals: information is power. It always has been. When elites deploy secretive and opaque practices, it is nearly always to protect their own

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged arab spring, huffington post, nick clegg, Phone hacking and press complaints commission | 7 Comments

Opinion: The struggle for democracy persists in Europe, not just the Middle East

By Harriet Ainscough and Sam Fisk | Mon 11th July 2011 - 1:18 pm

In December last year, Alyaksandr Lukashenka was re-elected president of Belarus, with 79.7% of the vote in elections deemed to fall massively short of OSCE standards. Under his leadership, the Belarusian regime systematically violates basic liberties. The past week has seen a worsening of the situation, with the oppressive regime using unjustifiable violence against protesters seeking democracy and freedom.

Despite a ban on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, in an attempt to try and stifle the protests, the capital Minsk has seen huge anti-Lukashenka demonstrations. The response of the Belarusian Government has been appalling. Hundreds of peaceful protesters have been …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Alyaksandr Lukashenka, amnesty international, belarus and facebook | 2 Comments

Opinion: A child dies every 20 seconds from lack of clean water

By Antony Hook | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 3:51 pm

On 19 May, the summit of European-Africa-Caribbean-Pacific parliamentarians (the ACP-EU Assembly) at Budapest called for action to alleviate the global crisis in clean water supply.

One in six people in the world have no access to clean water. 2.5 billion are without clean sanitation and 1.5 million die every year from water contamination.

The report presented to the summit found that there are three main causes of water pollution: industry, agriculture and sewage. In developing countries 70% of industrial waste is dumped untreated into water. The most common source of water pollution, however, is faecal matter.

One of the Millennium Development Goals …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged ken clarke, millennium development goals and water | Leave a comment

Learning the lessons from last week #6: Talking to yourself is not enough

By Mark Pack | Sat 14th May 2011 - 8:57 am

There was a highly symbolic moment late in the Yes campaign when its final TV broadcast was made. The TV broadcast featured Dan Snow and was a remake of an earlier Dan Snow film, shot to higher production standards (understandable) and also, intentionally or not, featuring a cast that overall looked younger. From being a film that featured people of a range of ages it became one that primarily featured young people. That was the general tenor of the campaign – with an overall cast of talking heads (in online films, TV films and elsewhere) younger than the average voter.

Yet in a relatively low turnout (I say “relatively” because, once again, turnout was much higher than many of the auto-pilot electoral doom-mongers in the media predicted) election it’s older people’s votes who are vital.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged av referendum and dan snow | 3 Comments

Use the new Facebook app while campaigning this weekend #YES2AV #LibDems

By Helen Duffett | Sat 30th April 2011 - 9:43 am

When you’re out campaigning this weekend for the elections and Fairer Votes referendum, make sure you let your friends on Facebook and Twitter know what you’ve been up to.

Hundreds of people are already using Lib Dem Voice’s new Facebook app to do just this. It’s a great way of building up a buzz around our campaigning – and the more someone sees their friends have been campaigning, the more likely they are to join in.

You get a list of actions – select one and publish it to your …

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Posted in Online politics | Also tagged av referendum and facebook | 2 Comments