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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Labour splits three ways in Parliamentary vote on carbon budget

By Mark Pack | Tue 28th June 2011 - 7:54 am

Labour MPs yesterday split three ways in a Commons vote on one of the government’s key environmental proposals

The committee vote came in the House of Commons on the statutory instrument (SI) for the fourth carbon budget, on whether or not to accept to accept the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendations that total emissions in 2023-27 should be set at 1950 MtCO2 (a 50% reduction from 1990 levels).

Labour MPs Dennis Skinner and Geoffrey Robinson voted against, Nic Dakin and Ian Mearns abstained and the other Labour MPs voted in favour, as did all the Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs.

Aside from …

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Posted in News | Tagged carbon budget, carbon emissions, dennis skinner, geoffrey robinson, ian mearns and nic darkin | 3 Comments

Sheffield Labour drops Lib Dem policy of extra pay for the lowest paid

By Mark Pack | Mon 27th June 2011 - 10:01 pm

The Sheffield Star reports:

SHEFFIELD’S ruling Labour councillors have been attacked by Nick Clegg for ‘dropping’ a policy to give the authority’s lowest-paid staff an extra £250 each year.

The payment was made for staff paid below £21,000-a-year, under the old Lib Dem administration’s budget for 2011/12 – and Mr Clegg said it was supposed to happen on an annual basis.

But papers setting out the council’s financial plans for 2011/12 – including cuts of at least £48 million – do not include a pay rise next year.

Mr Clegg said: “I’ve had meetings with some of the country’s leading trade union representatives,

…

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Posted in News | Tagged nick clegg and sheffield council | 6 Comments

Resignation of Afghan central banker puts Western governments on the spot

By Mark Pack | Mon 27th June 2011 - 6:54 pm

The resignation and flight to the US of Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, chairman of Afghanistan’s Central Bank, has been accompanied by a wide-ranging set of allegations from him about corruption being behind the near collapse of Kabul Bank. That it itself is not a surprise, as corruption was already widely suspected, but he has also claimed that corruption investigations had been deliberately blocked and that he feared for his own personal safety.

It is credible that he would have detailed knowledge of such matters, though Abdul Qadeer Fitrat …

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Posted in News | Tagged Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, afghanistan and hamid karzai | Leave a comment

Ten ways to make your local party AGM better

By Mark Pack | Mon 27th June 2011 - 8:20 am

At the weekend Mark Valladares rightly pointed out that now is a good time for local parties to start thinking about their autumn AGMs. AGMs are important not only for their role in party democracy and accountability but also for the role in having a lively, healthy local party that does politics, campaigning and socialising.

Here are my ten top tips to make an AGM (or indeed pretty much any local party meeting or event) a success. Individually, each of them are pretty straight-forward but the collective impact can make a huge difference to how well a local party does …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged agms and mark valladares | 5 Comments

Equalities and Human Rights Commission fails to get its accounts right for third time in a row

By Mark Pack | Sat 25th June 2011 - 10:23 am

The news this week that for the third year in a row there are huge problems with financial control at the Equalities and Human Rights Commission raises questions not only about the future of its senior management but also about the paucity of political debate over its future.

There have only been three sets of annual accounts since the EHRC was formed – and each time the National Audit Office has refused to approve them so deep are the problems with the EHRC’s financial (non-)control.

It’s a perfect record: three sets of accounts, three sets of problems:

In 2008, a year after the

…

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Posted in News | Tagged EHRC, equalities and human rights commission and trevor phillips | 6 Comments

Police decide not to charge Liberal Democrat Assembly members

By Mark Pack | Sat 25th June 2011 - 7:54 am

The BBC reports:

Two Liberal Democrats who were disqualified from the Welsh assembly for being members of prohibited public bodies have been told they will not be charged.

Aled Roberts and John Dixon were told on Thursday that no action would be taken following a police inquiry.

The two were forced to give up their seats for being members of public bodies to which AMs cannot belong…

The party has blamed an “honest mistake”.

The Assembly’s Commissioner for Standards, Gerard Elias QC, will prepare a report on the two men’s cases so AMs can decide whether they should be allowed to be seated

…

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Posted in Election law and Wales | 2 Comments

Welsh Local Government Boundary Commissioners sacked

By Mark Pack | Fri 24th June 2011 - 7:18 pm

Welsh Local Government and Communities Minister, Carl Sargeant, this week told the Welsh Assembly that,

In December 2010 I announced a decision to establish an independent review of the timetabling and quality issues associated with the electoral review programme by the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales and to identify actions required to ensure the delivery of the reviews in good time for the 2016 elections …

I fully accept the findings of the report which contains lessons for all of us, including the Welsh Government, concerned with the process of electoral reviews.

The most concerning finding, however, is the conclusion reached

…

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Posted in Election law and Wales | Tagged carl sargeant | 1 Comment

How coalition government means better government

By Mark Pack | Fri 24th June 2011 - 1:53 pm

Last night I headed over to Enfield to hear Nick Harvey talked to a packed restaurant of Liberal Democrats about his experiences of a minister. It was an impressive turnout from one of our smaller local parties in London and an impressive speech from Nick, who cut his political teeth in the borough.

One part was about how coalition government made for better government. Nick Harvey gave the example of how troops were deployed to Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

As a defence minister learning about one of the most important issues facing him and colleagues, he had wanted to get his head …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged coalition, enfield liberal democrats and nick harvey | 12 Comments

Conservative peer wishes for return to rule by hereditary peers

By Mark Pack | Fri 24th June 2011 - 12:24 pm

It appears Baroness D’Souza has a rival in the competition for the most implausibly anti-democratic statement by a member of the House of Lords seeking to argue against them having to win any votes in order to rule over us.

Her rival is Conservative peer Baroness Hooper not only said that the 1999 reforms, which including removing several hundred hereditary peers from the Lords, had not improved the Lords but also that she wished we could return to the having hundreds of hereditaries:

As far as I am concerned, the post-1999 House of Lords is no better, no more democratic … If

…

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Posted in News | Tagged baroness d'souza, baroness hooper, constitutional reform, house of lords and lords reform | 7 Comments

Modernising community politics: creating communities

By Mark Pack | Fri 24th June 2011 - 8:43 am

At the recent Social Liberal Forum conference, I took part in the panel on the Big Society and community politics. Regular readers won’t be surprised about the views I expressed on either of them (see for example here and here), but one point that I’ve not talked about for a while came out in discussion following a very pertinent question from Hackney’s Mark Smulian.

Mark rightly pointed out that the concept of community in the area where he lives, with a large transient population, was very different from what worked when community politics was first being created. Mark if …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged big society, community politics, iain roberts, mark smulian, phil willis and robert putnam | 6 Comments

Benefit caps and central London: how many children will be moving school?

By Mark Pack | Thu 23rd June 2011 - 12:54 pm

Many Liberal Democrats I’ve spoken to have mixed feelings about the proposed benefit cap and some of the housing benefit changes. On the one hand, they have very little sympathy with the complaints of people such as Frank Dobson that rule changes means he wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in his council flat. Count me in the camp who doesn’t think council housing should be used to let ex-ministers with decades of salary earning that puts them amongst the best paid in the country and with membership of a decent pension scheme live in one of London’s most …

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Posted in News | Tagged council housing, housing, housing benefit, iain duncan smith, simon hughes and westminster council | 21 Comments

Even left-wing politicians will be hoping Newt Gingrich turns out to be a role model

By Mark Pack | Thu 23rd June 2011 - 8:15 am

Newt Gingrich, a right-winger whose bid to become US President looks to be crashing and burning after many of his senior staff walked out on his campaign, is not an obvious role model for British politicians, especially those not on the right.

But at heart quite a few all across the political spectrum would, I suspect, be rather pleased if he ends up doing well. That’s because the cause of the falling out is Gingrich’s insistence on doing two things that will strike a chord with many politicians and a fear into many election agents.

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Posted in LDVUSA | Tagged newt gingrich | 1 Comment

Baroness D’Souza gives us an unusual definition of democracy

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 8:10 pm

It’s been a staple argument of despots and dictators for decades, even centuries. They’re not undemocratic you see. They’re actually far more democratic than those decadent people who rely on elections. Because democracy isn’t about elections after all, is it?

Such arguments, even when dressed up by sticking the word “democracy” into a country’s name, have rightly and widely been given short shrift. You’d have thought, therefore, that arguing that democracy doesn’t require elections would be an argument a Parliamentarian these days might steer clear of.

But no.

Step forward Baroness D’Souza:

I do not believe that elections are the only form of

…

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Posted in News | Tagged baroness dunn, constitutional reform, house of lords and lords reform | 11 Comments

The Liberal Democrat influence on government… in David Cameron’s own words

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 12:26 pm

From David Cameron’s Radio 2 appearance this week:

If I was running a Conservative-only government I think we would be making further steps on things like immigration control or making sure that our welfare reforms were absolutely making sure that if you’re not prepared to work you can’t go on welfare.

That’s a very broad hint as to the extent of Liberal Democrat success in altering what he would like to do to the immigration and welfare systems.

Hat-tip: Politics Home.

Posted in News | Tagged david cameron | 10 Comments

Campaigning in your local community

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 7:42 am

In the latest edition of ALDC’s Campaigner I previewed their next publication, written by myself and Shaun Roberts:

UPDATE: Campaigning In Your Community has now been published and is available for purchase.

In communities across the country there are improvements just waiting for a successful campaign to bring them about. Yet there are also people – far too many people in far too many places – who do not believe they and their neighbours have any power to change the streets around them, let alone the wider world.

Helping bring about those changes and helping people realise their own power should be at the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged community politics, featured and shaun roberts | 5 Comments

Stinging rebuke for Great Ormond Street’s management in The Lancet

By Mark Pack | Tue 21st June 2011 - 8:23 am

Writing in the latest edition of The Lancet, one of the world’s most respected medical journals, its editor Richard Horton says,

If GOSH’s management team had been in Wigan they would almost certainly have departed by now. Perhaps GOSH is just too important to be seen to fail. Even when a child dies. (The Lancet – free registration required)

The reason for his comment that had it been another hospital, the management team would have been sacked or resigned by now is the criticisms levelled at the hospital not only for its role in the death of Baby Peter but …

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Posted in News | Tagged andrew lansley, great ormond street hospital, jane collins and richard horton | 4 Comments

Vince Cable on equalities

By Mark Pack | Mon 20th June 2011 - 1:54 pm

As part of the Social Liberal Forum conference last weekend, I took part in a blogger interview with Vince Cable and took the chance to ask him about his attitude towards equalities issues. My reason for asking is that I’ve always viewed Vince as a firm liberal on such matters (perhaps in part because of his own personal history) but there have been plenty of murmurings that his department are rather keen on abolishing regulations in this field.

His answer was very …

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Posted in News | Tagged equalities and vince cable | 10 Comments

News in brief: The disappearing alarm clock, Vince Cable’s favourite moment and more

By Mark Pack | Mon 20th June 2011 - 8:55 am

The police have returned the paperwork related to David Laws’s expenses – which suggests that they have not found anything in it worthy of legal action.

Asked by me at the weekend what his favourite moment had been since last year’s election, Vince Cable said it was getting drive an Aston Martin DB9 at 150mph. He swiftly added that this was on a racetrack rather than a road…

On a more substantive issue – he was also hopeful that a mutual buyer could be found for Northern …

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Posted in News | Tagged david laws, northern rock and vince cable | 4 Comments

Newspaper headlines, the Evening Standard way

By Mark Pack | Fri 17th June 2011 - 12:54 pm

Story:

Lord Judge said … “The problem therefore is not the internet”

Headline:

Judge: Internet threatens justice

(From Thursday’s Evening Standard, page 7)

Posted in News | Tagged evening standard and journalism | Leave a comment

Great Ormond Street Hospital finally apologies to whistleblower who was suspended rather than listened to

By Mark Pack | Thu 16th June 2011 - 8:51 am

Belatedly, and after initially refusing to follow the recommendations of an investigation, Great Ormond Street Hospital has apologised to whistleblower Kim Holt who raised concerns about the unit that subsequently failed to properly protect Baby Peter.

Kim Holt (along with three other senior consultant paediatricians) tried to warn about serious failings in the unit which were, in their view, putting vulnerable children at risk. However, the hospital’s reactions ranged from suspending her through to blocking her return to work and failing to follow up on the recommendations of an investigation into her case.

The belated apology has taken Kim Holt three …

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Posted in News | Tagged baby p, great ormond street hospital, jane collins and kim holt | 2 Comments

Now that’s what I call a referendum question

By Mark Pack | Wed 15th June 2011 - 7:22 am

Here’s the paperwork from the recent Italian referendum on nuclear power. Concise questions don’t seem to be their style…

Posted in News | Tagged italy | 4 Comments

Grassroots Liberal Democrat campaign for Lords reform launched

By Mark Pack | Tue 14th June 2011 - 7:22 am

From a news release sent out by, er…, me and as featured on page two of this week’s Liberal Democrat News:

The number of Liberal Democrat peers opposing the government’s plans for elections to the House of Lords has triggered the creation of a new campaign group by grassroots activists who back the introduction of elections.

“Liberal Democrats for Lords Reform” is campaigning for Liberal Democrat peers to stick to the party’s long-standing policy of an elected Upper House.

“We’ve already been waiting over 100 years for Lords reform to be completed. It’s absurd that in the 21st century you can get

…

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Posted in News | Tagged constitutional reform, house of lords, lords reform, richard davis, richard morris and rob blackie | 7 Comments

Dear God: if you exist, I like your sense of humour

By Mark Pack | Mon 13th June 2011 - 5:54 pm

Via UPI:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused European countries Saturday of using weather control to deprive is country and other Muslim nations of rain.

The president made the charge while opening a dam in Arak, Murkazi province, The Daily Telegraph reported. Immediately after he spoke, rain began falling.

Posted in News | Tagged iran and mahmoud ahmadinejad | 1 Comment

How Great Ormond Street’s Jane Collins escaped investigation last year

By Mark Pack | Mon 13th June 2011 - 8:32 am

Jane Collins, the Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital, is facing calls to resign after it was revealed that critical details about the hospital’s role in the death of Baby Peter were withheld from one inquiry into the tragedy and, despite the hospital’s subsequent claims, were also not supplied to the second inquiry.

However, what has been less commented on in the coverage in the last few days is the way Jane Collins escaped being investigated by the General Medical Council last year:

The chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital has escaped investigation over the Baby P scandal …

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Posted in News | Tagged baby p, dan falchikov, great ormond street hospital, jane collins, jonathan calder, kim holt, lynne featherstone and richard morris | Leave a comment

My favourite public sector worker of the week: Lynn Wyeth

By Mark Pack | Sun 12th June 2011 - 1:55 pm

There’s something bureaucratic and management-speak about a job title such as “Head of Information Governance” which can make you fear that the worst sort of mix of cliches, banalities and PR warm words is about to be uttered.

But … full credit to Lynn Wyeth, holder of this post at Leicester City Council, for her comments to the media following the news that her council had received a freedom of information request about the council’s contingency plans for a zombie attack:

“We’ve had a few wacky ones before but this one did make us laugh … To you it might seem frivolous

…

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Posted in News | Tagged leicester city council and lynn weath | 3 Comments

If you are not reasonable, what are you?

By Mark Pack | Sun 12th June 2011 - 11:53 am

I only ask, because Unison general secretary Dave Prentis has been criticising Labour for making reasonable comments:

In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, the Unison general secretary suggested the Labour leader can no longer count on his union’s automatic support when he said he still has “a lot to get right” and should abandon the strategy of only issuing “reasonable statements”. (Independent on Sunday)

‘Comrades, we must be unreasonable!’ certainly would be an effective demand – if you wanted to caricature yourself into unpopularity.

Posted in News | Tagged dave prentis, ed miliband and unison | 2 Comments

Tamed and reshaped – Clegg on the NHS White Paper

By Mark Pack | Sun 12th June 2011 - 10:11 am

Speaking last night at an excellent anniversary dinner to mark 25 years (yes, 25 years) of Liberal Democrat control on Sutton Council, Nick Clegg said the party has been successful in taming and reshaping the NHS reform plans.

The run of political and electoral success achieved by Liberal Democrats in Sutton is, as Clegg pointed out, a standing answer to anyone who doubts that you can achieve and then hold political power whilst continuing campaigning and staying true to your liberal roots. One of the key people in that success was Ruth Shaw, who Nick Clegg personally presented with the 2010 …

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Posted in News | Tagged graham tope, NHS, nick clegg, ruth shaw, shirley williams, sutton council and sutton liberal democrats | 8 Comments

Our lost phrase: community politics

By Mark Pack | Sat 11th June 2011 - 12:28 pm

On a hunch, earlier this year I did a little research ahead of writing a blog post for Liberal Democrat Voice: how often is the phrase “community politics” used by the party’s national spokespeople since the May 2010 election?

The answer was far worse than I’d feared. Looking through all of Nick Clegg’s major speeches, all the news release from him and also all those from others issued via the Liberal Democrat press team, I could only find one use of “community politics” – by Paul Burstow. Andrew Stunell deserves an honourable mention for using it in an LGA pamphlet …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged andrew stunell, bernard greaves, big society, community politics, featured, gordon lishman, nick clegg, paul burstow and tim farron | 8 Comments