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Author Archives: Mark Pack

Mark was the Liberal Democrat Head of Innovations until June 2009 and is now at Blue Rubicon. He also lectures at City University and is co-author of 101 Ways To Win An Election. He blogs at www.markpack.org.uk and is on Twitter as @markpack. He likes chocolate. Lots of it.
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Public sector pensions: what you find if you ask the obvious question

By Mark Pack | Wed 7th March 2012 - 8:55 am

In the debates over public sector pensions, it has been very common to have figures quoted that are supposed to show how low public sector pensions are on average. In better coverage this sometimes results in some juggling about of means and medians so that the ‘average’ quoted is more meaningful. What is usually lacking, however, is the answer to the obvious question: how many years work has someone put in to get that apparently low average pension?

Talking about how much pension someone gets without talking about how many years they work is odd, to put it mildly. For example, …

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Posted in News | Tagged pensions | 27 Comments

Only limited success for data-matching trials to improve electoral register

By Mark Pack | Tue 6th March 2012 - 8:14 am

The Electoral Commission reports:

Data matching may have the potential to improve electoral registers in Great Britain, but more work needs to be done, the Electoral Commission has advised the UK Government.

The Commission, the independent elections watchdog, has evaluated pilot schemes by 22 local authorities in England and Scotland, supported by the Cabinet Office. The authorities compared their electoral registers with other sources of information, such as the Department of Work and Pensions database, and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency driver database as part of the work in preparation for the introduction of individual electoral registration (IER).

The aim was to see if data from these sources was useful for checking the accuracy of the registers and for identifying people missing from the registers who may be eligible to vote.

“The results from the first pilot scheme were inconclusive for a variety of reasons,” says Electoral Commission Director of Electoral Administration, Andrew Scallan. “However, we believe data matching may have the potential to supplement activity by electoral registration officials and help in the implementation of IER. Further, well-constructed trials are necessary so that we can properly evaluate the potential.”

One reason for cautious optimism that further trials will have more success is that the Royal Mail’s change of address database ended up not being tested in the first round of trials. Using the Royal Mail to provide leaflets to people about the need to register when they notify it of changed addresses has had success in the past, so a trial of data matching using these records would have a promising pedigree.

Data Matching Pilot Evaluation

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Posted in Election law | Tagged electoral commission and electoral registration | Leave a comment

Campaign Corner: How can I best use Facebook?

By Mark Pack | Mon 5th March 2012 - 3:50 pm

The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.

Today’s Campaign Corner question: How can I get the best out of Facebook for my ward branch?

Around half the UK’s population is on Facebook, so if you’re wondering what to spend time on campaigning online, then Facebook is a very good choice (perhaps these days it is second only to email). Three pieces of advice then, as is traditional:

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Posted in Campaign Corner and Online politics | Tagged facebook and featured | 4 Comments

Nasty negative ad as political race turns sour

By Mark Pack | Mon 5th March 2012 - 2:50 pm

First there was the positive ad:

Now there’s this:

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Posted in Humour and LDVUSA | Tagged political ads | 5 Comments

You break it, you fix it – Brian Paddick’s new campaign poster

By Mark Pack | Mon 5th March 2012 - 6:55 am

Appearing on 176 poster sites around London from today:

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Posted in London and News | Tagged brian paddick | 17 Comments

Edinburgh sees first new council homes built in a generation

By Mark Pack | Sun 4th March 2012 - 5:50 pm

Good news from Edinburgh:

The keys to the first council home to be built in Edinburgh in more than 30 years are set to be officially handed over to a new tenant.

Council housing leader Councillor Paul Edie will present the keys to Lynsey Carmichael, who has moved to one of 99 houses and flats built at Gracemount.

The development is part of City of Edinburgh Council’s 21st Century Homes programme, which will see 1300 mixed tenure homes constructed for sale and rent around the capital…

Cllr Edie said: “I’m delighted that this administration has delivered the first new council homes

…

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Posted in Scotland | Tagged edinburgh, housing and paul edie | Leave a comment

Can you guess the policy?

By Mark Pack | Sun 4th March 2012 - 9:15 am

See how many clues it takes you to work out what policy this person is talking about.

It is a policy promoted “at the behest of a small minority of activists”.

It is not a minor policy for “it will redefine society”.

What’s more “it will have huge implications for what is taught in our schools”.

It even involves an “attempt to redefine reality”.

Not in a good way, for it “represents a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”. And not merely that, for it will “demolish a universally recognised human right” too. Demolish and grotesquely subvert. Now we’re talking.

And please, think of …

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Posted in News | Tagged keith o'brien | 19 Comments

The weekend debate: Who are the five most influential women of all time?

By Mark Pack | Sat 3rd March 2012 - 4:08 pm

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

Borrowing from Lynne Featherstone’s blog:

It’s International Women’s Day on Thursday – and my local paper, The Journal, have asked me to name my top 5 influential women of all time.

I know who mine are but who would be yours?

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged international women's day, lynne featherstone and weekend debate | 30 Comments

Norman Lamont is an excellent example of why the Lords should be reformed

By Mark Pack | Thu 1st March 2012 - 12:25 pm

Yesterday Conservative peer Norman Lamont was the latest in a sequence of Tory peers to take to the pages of ConservativeHome to argue against their own party’s policy and opposed elections to the House of Lords.

However, he is also an excellent example of why the Lords should be reformed, for he is just the sort of MP I had mind when writing a piece for Left Foot Forward last year:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged constitutional reform, house of lords, lords reform and norman lamont | 10 Comments

ToryBoy: John Walsh portrays life on the campaign trail as it really is

By Mark Pack | Thu 1st March 2012 - 10:25 am

Southwark Liberal Democrats have started a great series of slightly different local party events, as a result of which I was in the Shortwave Cinema earlier this week for a screening of ToryBoy. It is a documentary by John Walsh of his experiences getting selected as a Conservative Parliamentary candidate and then fighting Middlesbrough against the controversial Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell at the 2010 general election.

It is a hugely enjoyable documentary, which mixes humour, drama and education. Humour such as John Walsh’s attempt to explain flash-mobbing to the massed ranks of Middlesbrough Conservatives (viz 6 people, mostly aged over 60 by the looks of it).

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Posted in News | Tagged featured, graham neale and john walsh | 4 Comments

In praise of… Tom Brake

By Mark Pack | Wed 29th February 2012 - 9:25 am

Before I was winning chocolate at the weekend, I was campaigning in Croydon and Sutton as part of the excellent Action Day organised by George Kendall and others. It is no secret that the reason Liberal Democrats from across London are now paying rather more attention to Croydon than before is because significant parts of it may be moved into Tom Brake’s constituency.

It is typical of Tom that in amongst all the heat and rhetoric of the Parliamentary boundary review process, he has been quietly getting on with thinking ahead and acting. Rather than just abstractly debating what his constituency boundaries might be, he and the Sutton team (including the excellent Ruth Dombey) have started working with colleagues in Croydon to build up the strength of the party there.

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Posted in News | Tagged croydon liberal democrats, george kendall, sutton liberal democrats and tom brake | 4 Comments

Why Tory Euro-sceptics should back Nick Clegg

By Mark Pack | Tue 28th February 2012 - 7:50 am

Writing for ConHome, Lord Michael Dobbs argues against reform of the House of Lords because elected peers would behave differently from unelected peers:

I would demand more influence, a stronger voice, and that new power could come from only one place – the House of Commons.

There’s two flaws with that argument. The first, the most obvious, is the question of why, if such a transfer of power happens, should we fear it? Taking power away from elected politicians and giving it to the unelected is certainly often to be feared (though not always – judges and juries, not ministers, should …

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Posted in News | Tagged constitutional reform, house of lords, lords reform, michael dobbs and nick clegg | 3 Comments

Campaign Corner: How can I make my direct mail better?

By Mark Pack | Mon 27th February 2012 - 3:25 pm

The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.

Today’s Campaign Corner question: We’ve started doing a lot more direct mail in my local party, partly because there are so many shared houses and blocks with one letterbox. How can we make our letters better?

Direct mail is a very important and powerful tool, as long as you remember it’s about quality as well as quantity:

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged direct mail and featured | 1 Comment

Warning to Lords: if you play silly buggers with Lords reform, you’ll lose your say

By Mark Pack | Mon 27th February 2012 - 9:50 am

The last few days has seen seep into the media an idea that has been doing the rounds of pro-Lords reformers in government for a little while.

It is an answer to the question of how the Coalition Government could get Lords reform through the Lords itself without the legislation being bogged down in filibustering and disruptive tactics designed to wreck other legislation. For all the childish temper tantrum tinge to the views of some peers (mainly Conservative) – ‘if you dare take away my place in the Lords, I’ll scream and I’ll scream and I’ll wreck all your bills’ – it is a serious threat. Because, after all, unelected peers don’t have to worry about making themselves look ridiculous, out of touch or petulant in the eyes of the electorate as they’re currently blessed with a seat in Parliament for life, regardless of what the public thinks.

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Posted in News | Tagged constitutional reform, david cameron, house of lords and lords reform | 12 Comments

Nick de Bois is wrong on Lords reform

By Mark Pack | Mon 27th February 2012 - 7:50 am

Conservative MP Nick de Bois put an apparently appealing case on Lords reform at the weekend – yes, let’s get rid of hereditaries, but hey, let’s not rush:

Lords reform should not be rushed.

Appealing that is, if you’ve missed out on the last century.

Because not only is it a century since further Lords reform was first promised by a government, but in the interim that have been proposals, debates and schemes aplenty.

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Posted in News | Tagged constitutional reform, house of lords, lords reform and nick de bois | 8 Comments

How internet voting can go wrong

By Mark Pack | Sun 26th February 2012 - 3:50 pm

News from America:

Small coding mistake led to big Internet voting system failure

The main security weakness that let University of Michigan researchers take control over a planned city of Washington, D.C. Internet voting system pilot for overseas voters in 2010 was “a tiny oversight in a single line of code,” …

It’s evidence, say the researchers – led by Assistant Professor J. Alex Halderman – that Internet voting should be postponed until, when or if major new breakthroughs in cybersecurity occur. Mistakes like the one they exploited are all too common, hard to eradicate, and indicative of a brittleness in web applications,

…

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Posted in News | Tagged electronic voting | 7 Comments

Labour sticks to its support for the Digital Economy Act

By Mark Pack | Sun 26th February 2012 - 12:55 pm

Cory Doctorow writes,

Harriet Harman, deputy leader the UK Labour Party, has explained her party’s programme for the British Internet: “implement the Digital Economy Act under a clear timetable including getting on with the notification letters.” “Notification letters?” Why yes, those would be the letters notifying you that you have been accused, without proof, of downloading copyrighted material without permission, and that everyone in your household is now at risk of being disconnected from the Internet, without a trial. If that costs you your job, if that costs your children their education, if that makes it harder to engage with politics, civics,

…

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Posted in News | Tagged cory doctorow, digital economy act, harriet harman and julian huppert | 5 Comments

Sometimes a bus is just a bus

By Mark Pack | Sat 25th February 2012 - 10:50 am

When Boris Johnson promised that if elected Mayor of London he would introduce a new Routemaster bus, I don’t think many expected him to interpret that quite as literally as he has.

For by the end of his term in office, there won’t be hoardes of new Routemaster buses on London’s roads. Not even scores or dozens. But there will be a new Routemaster bus. One bus. Just the single bus.

As London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon puts it:

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Posted in London and News | Tagged boris johnson and Caroline Pidgeon | 25 Comments

Electoral register grew 0.6% in 2011

By Mark Pack | Sat 25th February 2012 - 9:25 am

This week the Office of National Statistics published its latest round-up of electoral registration figures for the UK, showing a 0.6% increase in 2011 for the total number of entries on the electoral register.

As the UK has a growing population, it is likely that this growth was in large part caused by an increase in the total number of people theoretically entitled to register.

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Posted in Election law | Tagged electoral registration | Leave a comment

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone on marriage – this is not gay rights versus religious beliefs

By Mark Pack | Sat 25th February 2012 - 7:50 am

Writing in the Daily Telegraph Lynne Featherstone says:

I believe that if a couple love each other and want to commit to a life together, they should have the option of a civil marriage, irrespective of whether they are gay or straight.

We are not prioritising gay rights, or trampling over tradition; we are allowing a space for the two to exist side by side…

Marriage is a right of passage for couples who want to show they are in a committed relationship, for people who want to show they have

…

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Posted in LibLink and News | Tagged equalities, gay marriage, lynne featherstone and marriage | 12 Comments

What David Cameron used to say about bankers and bonuses

By Mark Pack | Thu 23rd February 2012 - 6:50 am

As ever, it’s three things to remember:

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Posted in News | Tagged banking and david cameron | Leave a comment

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 | Tagged twitter | 1 Comment

Campaign Corner: What should I measure?

By Mark Pack | Mon 20th February 2012 - 3:50 pm

The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.

Today’s Campaign Corner question: I work in marketing for the day job, where measuring impact and altering our plans as a result is the norm. In the evenings when I become a Lib Dem campaigner however, measuring seems to go out the window and we just do what we always did. Surely we can do better than that?

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged featured | 3 Comments

The weekend debate: Should music be priced by morality?

By Mark Pack | Sat 18th February 2012 - 1:25 pm

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

Sony caught a lot flack this week for initially raising the price on Whitney Houston’s songs after her death (a rise since recanted). Was Sony initially right and the pricing of products like music should be left to market forces? Or was Sony’s second view right and is there also a moral angle? If so, which prices does it cover and when?

Post your comments below…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged weekend debate and whitney houston | 23 Comments

Another step towards ending the waste of two European Parliament locations

By Mark Pack | Fri 17th February 2012 - 1:50 pm

Whether it’s the cost, the environmental impact or the disruption to operating the organisation, the continuation of two locations for the European Parliament has few friends. The friends it does have, who think it’s a sensible way of spending time and money to shuttle one institution back and forth between Brussels and Strasbourg, are very tenacious though. Yet as a result the obvious waste of these arrangements continues to overshadow the steps the European Parliament does take to cut waste elsewhere.

As a result, progress has been slow, but another step has been taken as London Lib Dem MEP Sarah Ludford has reported:

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged european parliament and sarah ludford | Leave a comment

The original text of today’s speech from David Cameron

By Mark Pack | Thu 16th February 2012 - 1:54 pm

Due to an unfortunate computer virus prank, David Cameron was forced to give a speech today using the wrong text. The virus had swapped the words “United Kingdom” for “Scotland” and “Europe” for “United Kingdom” along with a couple of other small edits to muddy the waters. Here is the original text of the speech he meant to give.

I am convinced that for both the United Kingdom, and Europe, our best days lie ahead of us.

And that even though it may be a great historical construct, Europe is actually even more of an inspiring model for the future.

Think of the …

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Posted in Europe / International and Humour | Tagged david cameron and featured | 15 Comments

Livingstone and Johnson: a record of unsavoury comments

By Mark Pack | Thu 16th February 2012 - 10:25 am

Funny, pointed and relevant: this is one of the best pieces of campaign artwork I’ve seen put out by the party this year.

Posted in London and News | Tagged boris johnson, brian paddick and ken livingstone | 25 Comments

A man, an eaten banana, a door, a piece of string and the leader of a political party

By Mark Pack | Wed 15th February 2012 - 10:25 am

A man, an eaten banana, a door, a piece of string and the leader of a political party.

Each of them on their own are quite normal. Put them together however and you have still the most puzzling moment in a political video I’ve seen. Sure, there are the strange adverts, the bizarre adverts and the baffling adverts, but watch this film and wait for the moment 30 seconds or so in:

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Posted in Lib Dem TV | Tagged nick clegg | 4 Comments

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