Caron Lindsay

Cole-Hamilton: Children must have equal protection from assault

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 20th October 2017 - 1:30 pm

Well, this will probably be a controversial one as the issue over whether parents should have the right to hit their children for some peculiar reason always causes a big argument in liberal circles. My own view has always been that there are no circumstances in which it is justifiable to hit a child and that there is always a better way. Having children grow up thinking that it’s fine to hit someone smaller and defenceless to get your own way really isn’t a good look. Some children will grow up emotionally scarred from the experience of what some people …

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Jo Swinson talking about her political comeback

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 20th October 2017 - 11:55 am

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Jo Swinson was on the Daily Politics this week talking about her two years out of politics after her defeat in 2015 and what motivated her to come back. She cited the threat to liberal values posed by Brexit and Trump and the unwelcome prospect of another divisive referendum on Scottish independence as the driving forces which spurred her to contest her seat again.

Watch her discusser own comeback – and whether Nick Clegg could do the same, here:

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NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg: Bickering brexiteers and teenage footballers

By NewsHound | Fri 20th October 2017 - 10:25 am

Nick Clegg has been telling the readers of the New Statesman all about his week.

As he attended a reception on mental health at Buckingham Palace, he remembered one of his first appearances as Lib Dem Leader at PMQs:

In the evening, I attended a reception at Buckingham Palace to support people who work in mental health, listening to a good speech by Prince William and a funny and moving one by Stephen Fry. Almost exactly ten years ago I raised mental health at Prime Minister’s Questions when Gordon Brown was at the despatch box as PM, and I was a newly elected Lib Dem leader. At the time, it was considered a “brave” thing to do – party leaders never raised mental health in the Commons. So it’s massive progress that mental health is now talked about openly in parliament, in the media, and even in Buckingham Palace. But the gap between words and deeds is huge. The taboo may have been broken, but the problems of poor mental-health provision still exist.

On a trip to Brussels, he learned something quite alarming about Brexit:

I caught up with some senior European Commission officials in Brussels, some of whom I’ve known for more than 20 years, from the time I worked there. One told me that the most striking moment in the Brexit negotiations so far was when UK officials asked whether the EU could provide Britain with “technical assistance” on how to process and transport nuclear materials, tasks presently overseen by Euratom (the European Atomic Energy Community). “Technical assistance is what the EU provides to some of the poorest countries of the world,” my friend told me. “Now the UK is asking for help like a developing nation. Wow.”

Then he went to see Hillary Clinton at the South Bank Centre and had some observations on defeat:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: Patriotism vs Nationalism

By Tom Arms | Fri 20th October 2017 - 8:55 am

Patriotism: Good. Nationalism: Bad. At least that is how it reads in my political lexicon.

Patriots  love  their country. They love the land and the sky, the people, the culture, the history and the values.  If necessary, they are prepared to die for their country.

Nationalists feel all the above, but then take it a step too far. Sometimes several steps. And therein lies the problem.  Nationalists (in my political lexicon) believe that their country is better than other countries.  That it and their fellow citizens are superior to other countries and their citizens.

Sometimes that sense of superiority is applied not to national identities but to race or religion, such as White nationalists, Black nationalists or Islamic nationalists.  But whichever vehicle they use, nationalists  carry a strong sense of entitlement based on their nationality, colour or beliefs. And, if they are superior to others,  than it must follow that whomever the others are, they must be inferior.

That is why nationalism is bad.

European colonialism was bad because it was at least partly based on the belief that Europe was bringing a superior civilisation to a barbarian world. Colonialism was a form of European-wide nationalism.  In fact, much of the world that Europe viewed as barbaric had enjoyed the fruits of civilisation centuries before anything approaching civilised structures were even thought of in France, Britain or Spain.

Nazi Germany was the ultimate expression of nationalism. It encompassed race, language and culture, It claimed ultimate superiority for the German state and German race and used that assumed superiority to wage genocide and set out to subjugate the rest of the world.

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The Voice

Vince Cable’s message for Diwali

By The Voice | Thu 19th October 2017 - 9:00 pm

Full text is below:

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Caron Lindsay

Question Time is going to be worth watching tonight

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 19th October 2017 - 7:20 pm

Most often these days, I can’t even force myself to watch Question Time and I’m interested in politics. It’s become such an unbalanced, thoughtless shouting match which rarely yields intelligent observation. The liberal viewpoint is rarely represented and the frequent presence of the most unpalatable voices from the right wing tabloids or extreme right wing politics just makes me want to weep.

Tonight, though, we are in for a treat.

Not only are we going to get our amazing Sal Brinton, but also on the panel, fresh from Strictly, is the one and only Reverend Richard Coles. He will no doubt bring a bit of good humour and thoughtfulness to the proceedings.

Lisa Nandy was one of the editors of The Alternative, the book advocating a progressive alliance.

We might see a spat between brexiteers Chris Grayling and Tory Peer and Next CEO Simon Wolfson, too. Wolfson isn’t showing any sign of “bregret” but he has been critical of the Government’s approach to Brexit. 

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Geoff Payne

The Federal Policy Committee Report

By Geoff Payne | Thu 19th October 2017 - 3:16 pm

The Federal Policy Committee met again on 18th October 2017. This was a fairly heavy agenda this time and decisions were taken that will reach some distance into the future.

Association of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)
Peter Price presented a report on the work of ALDE. The organisation has a total of 59 member parties throughout the EU and members of the Liberal Democrats have traditionally played a significant role within it. It is governed by a Bureau, a Council and a Congress, the latter meeting annually. Motions and papers can be submitted and there are usually quite a lot of them, often on what are …

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Recent Comments

  • User Avatarexpats 20th Oct - 1:12pm
    It was rewarding to see the whole panel, Grayling aside, united in demanding a major change in the handling of 'Universal Credit'... I was particularly...
  • User Avatarexpats 20th Oct - 12:54pm
    Patriotism: Good. Nationalism: Bad. At least that is how it reads in my political lexicon..... Patriots love their country. They love the land and the...
  • User AvatarDavid Evans 20th Oct - 12:29pm
    David Raw, ever the radical. As an aside, do people notice how many times politicians say "We have the best police force/soldiers/health service/whatever in the...
  • User AvatarDav 20th Oct - 12:02pm
    So… you're saying that the EU is bringing a superior form of civilisation to a barbarian world? Sounds like you're an EU nationalist!
  • User AvatarDavid Raw 20th Oct - 11:56am
    @ Richard Fagence "It is time we started taxing assets more than income." Tread carefully here with regard toboth threshold entry level and type of...
  • User AvatarNigel Jones 20th Oct - 11:38am
    Jo Swinson is right to mention Education, BUT a recent report from the Education Policy Institute showed we are not making enough progress in closing...