Author Archives: Mark Valladares

Language evolves, as any fule kno

It’s funny how often, if someone doesn’t like an argument, or if the subject matter is too complex for them to understand, they revert to petty kibitzing in order to “put down” the holder of a view they can’t easily refute. As Statler and Waldorf so eruditely put it;

Why haven't we retired from heckling? Well, if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life – and there's nothing we love more than haranguing, pestering, badgering, and taunting! Everything else, we can't stand!

— Statler and Waldorf (@StatlerWaldorf) July 27, 2022

One assumes that, in the absence of an argument, the establishment figures work on the basis that, if you make life uncomfortable for others wishing to penetrate your safe spaces, especially those perceived to be outsiders, they’ll give up and leave you alone to carry on as you always have. But, for liberals, that generally runs contrary to our ethos. We welcome challenge, so long as it is moderately respectful. That said, perhaps we should extend ourselves beyond our comfort zone so as to encourage the broader base of support we always claim to want.

I may talk about that in a piece later today though, so perhaps I ought to move on.

Is Rishi Sunak really suggesting that it’s acceptable to be poorly paid if you’re adding social value? That does appear to be the case if you take his proposal to

take a tougher approach to university degrees that saddle students with debt, without improving their earning potential

So, presumably, a degree in nursing, which the market suggests is underpaid, would be acceptable to Mr Sunak.

The problem is that, whilst in the private sector, the market requires businesses to compete with each other for staff, the public sector is distorted by government decisions to “set an example”. Thus, increasingly, there are areas of state activity where the rate for the job isn’t high enough to attract and retain the sort of people you want running your services.

And, with Liz Truss either lying about her intentions for public sector pay or being too lazy to read past the headlines of her proposals, it’s clear that there’ll be no effective solutions for public sector employment coming from the Conservative Party anytime soon.

Greetings from Maine, where your Day Editor is recovering from the excitement of watching an England football team actually go all the way. Congratulations to the Lionesses, who’ve brought a bit of joy into our lives at a time when joy isn’t available in abundance. Made us sweat a little though…

Meanwhile, the other big final grinds on, with Rishi Sunak making ever more unlikely promises and Liz Truss attracting key supporters. You’d think that it looks increasingly good for the latter but there’s always the question of whose team is better organised and able to reach ordinary Conservative members more effectively. But given that key media appear to have opted for Truss, I’d expect a few “knocking stories” against Sunak to appear this week, just in time for ballots to hit doorsteps.

I know that at least one reader has wondered why we’ve spent some time looking back to Liz Truss’s Liberal Democrat past. From my perspective, it’s because it offers a glimpse into her backstory and, in some cases, because it’s rather funny. And Liberal Democrats don’t always do dull respectfulness – authority figures are there to be challenged through humour and satire.

I guess that I was never going to evade COVID indefinitely, and thus Liberal Democrat Voice is brought to you from Day 4 of my home isolation. Luckily, I seem, so far, to have gotten off pretty lightly, and I can isolate in our home office, which has its compensations.

The past week has been a descent into fantasy politics, as five Conservative MPs vie to cut taxes, increase spending, level up and crack down, all at the same time. At least Nadhim Zahawi’s notion of cutting 20% of the headcount in all Government departments has bitten the dust, allowing him to spend time with his accountants. Given what is being suggested, he might need quite a lot of time with them…

But what is clear is that, between the five candidates that remain, there is little clue as to how government works, or how things interrelate. In the modern world, decision-making is made complex by international agreements, interaction between pieces of legislation and trade arrangements. And you can’t just go around abolishing statute without consequences. It’s not as though that message hasn’t been relayed to them. Previous attempts to “cut red tape” have faltered when it is discovered that the regulations were put in place for a good reason – customer protection, access to major trading markets, that sort of thing. So, you can cut the regulation on cooked meats, for example, but the producers may then find they can’t sell it into their major export markets. Effectively, they are bound by the regulations of their export markets.

And, just like that, the world changed. Not, I hasten to note, necessarily for the better, especially given the theatre of the grotesque that is the Conservative leadership contest.

But the level of vitriol with which the various contenders seem determined to vent upon each other can only be helpful to Liberal Democrat candidates in the short term, even as it damages the country still further. And all the popcorn in the world doesn’t compensate for the damage that will be done to those already struggling to get by if government spending is squeezed in order to allow tax cuts for business and the wealthy.

Of course, whoever does finally emerge as the anointed one will be inheriting a rather gruesome legacy after three years of chaos in Number 10. Inflation approaching double figures, growth non-existent, debt servicing costs increasing, and no signs of an answer to the long-term problems facing the country, unless being unpleasant towards the trans community is meant to take our minds off of it all. Perhaps the move towards tax cuts and culture wars is just a pretence intended to win the contest, but I doubt it – these people think that this is a vote-winning strategy beyond that somewhat unrepresentative Party membership.

Good morning, gentle readers, as another lively week begins, albeit curiously similar to many recently. A Government mired in sleaze, now reduced to being teased by the Chinese diplomatic corps, caught between multiple political rocks.

You can entirely understand why the Prime Minister would have initially backed his mate when accusations of sexual misconduct emerged. After all, when your own personal record is so poor, you’re hardly in a position to take the moral high ground. But the notion that the Deputy Chief Whip of the governing party requires a minder to keep them out of trouble does make you wonder what sort of behaviour is sufficient to set you beyond the pale.

211-148 does not make for a secure mandate, especially given the scale of the payroll vote. But, at least for the time being, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson continues as Prime Minister.

Liberal Democrat President Mark Pack probably best sums up the outcome from a Liberal Democrat perspective;

Conservative Party deeply split, PM damaged but limping on and a clutch of quotes heading into opposition leaflets all around the country. Not a bad day for opposition parties.

— Mark Pack 🔶 (@markpack) June 6, 2022

Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper, expresses what many will be thinking;

A whopping 41% of Johnson’s own Conservative MPs don’t want him as PM anymore. He might still be in place – for now – but he is sorely wounded & weakened. #NoConfidenceVote

— Daisy Cooper MP 🔶 (@libdemdaisy) June 6, 2022

Tim Farron makes the point that Boris doesn’t believe in the same rules that the rest of us do;

A person with a sense of shame would see 41% of his colleagues voting against them as a sign that it’s time to leave… but he’s no sense of shame so I reckon Johnson will be encouraged by this and see the result as licence to keep going.

— Tim Farron (@timfarron) June 6, 2022

Every Conservative MP who cares about integrity and decency must do the right thing, resign the whip and sit as an independent.

For the sake of our country, this failing Prime Minister cannot be propped up any longer

— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) June 6, 2022

OUCH. Terrible result for the PM.

But he's shameless. He'll limp on, while the country suffers.#BorisJohnsonMustResign

— Munira Wilson MP 🇺🇦 (@munirawilson) June 6, 2022

But whilst there is almost certainly political advantage to be had, the country will continue to suffer under his chaotic, dishonest leadership. Anyone who believes in good …

Well, that didn’t take long…

This has been sent to Conservative MPs in the last few minutes: https://t.co/CeXlVIVZBl pic.twitter.com/mkJvELGmY8

— Chris Mason (@ChrisMasonBBC) June 6, 2022

So, what is a good result for Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, how much of a margin does he need to feel safe? And what does it mean for the Opposition parties?

Here’s what Ed Davey has to say;

Every Conservative MP must do the right thing and kick out this dishonest Prime Minister from Number 10.

There is simply no excuse for backing Boris Johnson. He broke the law and partied while millions of people did the right thing and followed the rules during the pandemic, even when it meant being unable to see their loved ones.

…

Not much tends to happen here on a Bank Holiday, which makes the job of a Day Editor a mite easier. And then the Queen has a platinum jubilee and the usual schedule gets disrupted…

And I ought to wish Her Majesty the very best on her big day – it really is remarkable that she has reigned for seventy years, demonstrating her sense of duty and adherence to a code of behaviour and decorum alien to her Prime Minister. She’ll be a difficult act to follow and I do wonder what role a new monarch will have in a post-Elizabethan age.

Mind you, you have to wonder what will be left of ethical governance by the time Johnson has left office. The Gray Report hardly demonstrated any sense of adherence to a moral or ethical code and the reports that, far from being a true reflection of events, it was doctored in order to prevent exposure of the failings and misdeeds of key players at the heart of this administration, suggests that there is no level to which they will not stoop.