Author Archives: John Coburn

John Coburn

Opinion: The General Election is near – are we ready?

By John Coburn | Fri 16th May 2014 - 9:12 am

polling dayHaving taken a break from frontline campaigning in recent months it’s given me time to observe the party as a voter, if not an impartial one.  The European and local elections are undoubtedly important, but the big challenge is a year away and we still have time to make the Liberal Democrat case.

I’m instinctively pro-coalition and Nick Clegg and the leadership have to take great credit on what has been achieved on area such as tax, the pupil premium, pensions and gay marriage.  Without our party in coalition, there would …

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Posted in Op-eds | 27 Comments
John Coburn

Opinion: Turing, equality and internationalism

By John Coburn | Thu 22nd August 2013 - 2:54 pm

What have we contributed as part of the Coalition government?  Well one success (but there have been many others) is enacting the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 which gives  gay and lesbian people the  same right to marry as heterosexual couples.  I have severe doubts that a Tory majority government could have introduced this reform!

Whilst Britain has progressed to an open society where LGBT people are protected by law, many other countries like Iran, Nigeria and notably Russia have not.  However liberal Britain did not just happen overnight, and the changes in our society’s attitudes have taken many decades to …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 6 Comments
John Coburn

Opinion: The ‘Bedroom Tax’ does not pass the Fairer Society test

By John Coburn | Tue 19th March 2013 - 4:32 pm

The leadership’s positioning over secret courts has angered many of the party faithful over the past week, but for me the major disappointment  has been our uncritical support of the Tory inspired ‘spare bedroom subsidy’ policy or how I think more accurately describes it – the ‘bedroom tax’.  Our leader Nick Clegg used the provocative ‘spare bedroom subsidy’ term in a Q&A session at last week’s Spring Conference, and it has been repeated by senior Lib Dems including Mike German on Newsnight in the days following.

The policy, which is part of the government’s welfare reform package, will cut the amount …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 48 Comments
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  • Peter Martin
    @ Chloe, "Who picks up the tab for the net fiscal deficit of the Scottish & Welsh governments " You're absolutely right that it should be t...
  • Tony Vickers
    @Tom Reeve you sort of get it but lets be specific how we'd pay for raising the income tax threshold. We would tax the annual rental value of land. Its been our...
  • cim
    Matt (Bristol): for single-member AV it's not terrible, but most ways of including it in multi-member STV break the proportional representation aspect very badl...
  • Rif Winfield
    Jack, you are absolutely right, as were Tom Ellis and the young David Lloyd George. The tragedy of the Newport meeting in January 1896 was that it set back the ...
  • Diana Simpson
    You would have a problem of public transport capacity to cope with kids going home in the rush hour(s) rather than before it. Our local buses are missed out whi...