Author Archives: NewsHound

Liblink: The party unites against ‘Help to Buy’

By NewsHound | Mon 30th September 2013 - 1:10 pm

The Guardian is reporting the following joint letter by Liberal Democrat grassroots groups including the Social Liberal Forum and Liberal Reform representing different perspectives within the party, protesting against ‘Help to Buy’.

Sir – We write as Liberal Democrats who share deep concerns over the second element of the government’s Help to Buy scheme, the implementation of which has just been accelerated as a Conservative demand within the coalition.

The UK housing market is to all intents broken, with chronic shortages of supply having combined with an out-of-control financial system to create a house price bubble

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged help to buy | 53 Comments

LibLink: Christine Jardine: Privatised Royal Mail might prosper

By NewsHound | Thu 26th September 2013 - 10:55 am

Former special adviser and Liberal Democrat candidate Christine Jardine writes in today’s Scotsman about the prospects fora privatised Royal Mail.

She first talks about her shock when she heard that our government was going to take this step:

Were they really going where Peter Mandelson had failed and Margaret Thatcher had not dared?

But gradually as I researched beyond the tabloid headlines and thought about it in detail it began to make sense.

After all, when was the last time I ordered a delivery and expected it to arrive in the daily post?

That same daily post that arrives after I’ve left for the day,

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged christine jardine, royal mail, scotsman and sir bob smith | 20 Comments

LibLink… Lynne Featherstone: UK will help tackle the Great Neglect of disability

By NewsHound | Wed 25th September 2013 - 11:58 am

Lynne Featherstone, in New York for the UN General Assembly, has written for the Huffington Post about what the UK is doing to help those with disabilities in developing countries.

First she outlined why this is necessary:

More than one billion people worldwide live with disability and suffer huge discrimination as a result. They face unequal access to education, employment, healthcare, social support and the justice system. Consequently, they are disproportionately some of the poorest and most marginalised people in the world – part of an unseen great neglect.

The internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have done a great deal to address

…

Posted in News | Tagged disability rights, huffington post, international development and lynne featherstone | 2 Comments

LibLink: Stephen Tall – “The Lib Dems are still suffering the hangover from hell”

By NewsHound | Tue 17th September 2013 - 4:05 pm

Over at Total Politics magazine, Stephen Tall’s ‘The Underdog’ column focuses on the Lib Dem conference and how the party has been suffering the hangover from hell ever since the Coalition was formed:

My party is still suffering the hangover-from-hell that we woke up to on the morning of 7 May 2010. Until then, we’d been able to maintain the pretence, at least for our own benefit, that we would form a majority government and introduce our manifesto wholesale. And if that didn’t happen in one bound, we’d wangle it so that electoral reform guaranteed us our fair share of MPs

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged stephen tall and total politics | 2 Comments

LibLink: Time to restore York’s green city status

By NewsHound | Sat 7th September 2013 - 2:15 pm

Liberal Democrats head to the beautiful city of York next March for Spring Conference. Recently, our Council Group leader there set out a strong case for the Council to make the city the greenest in England.

Writing for local website YorkMix, Cllr Keith Aspden said:

I recently asked City of York Council to back an ambitious vision to make York the greenest city in the North of England. A city with the highest recycling rates amongst comparable councils. A city with a food waste recycling scheme in place.

A city which is seriously and ambitiously looking at renewable energy and sustainable food strategies.

This …

Posted in News | Tagged keith aspden, york and yorkmix | Leave a comment

LibLink: Nick Clegg says High Speed 2 is good for London

By NewsHound | Fri 6th September 2013 - 9:41 am

Writing in today’s Financial Times, Nick Clegg reasons that HS2 is good for London as well as the north.

He says that the capital’s long-term status as an economic global powerhouse will be threatened if housing and transport infrastructure inside London are not upgraded, and the links to and from the city are not improved. He cites Germany and Japan where good transport links have allowed prosperity to “flow from one part to another”. If we want to keep Britain among the world’s largest economies, Clegg argues, we must find a better way to link London to the rest of the UK.

There are forces who have always opposed doing anything big beyond London. They seem content to see the bubble blow up in the capital without providing any sort of valve for release. It has been going on for years, it has got to change and under this government it is.

Posted in LibLink | Tagged high speed 2 | 11 Comments

LibLink: Lorely Burt on Syria and the vote

By NewsHound | Thu 5th September 2013 - 6:39 pm

Writing in today’s Solihull Observer, Lorely Burt, Lib Dem MP for Solihull explains why she abstained in last week’s vote.

Personally I could not support the government’s position. I will not support any more foreign war adventures: no more putting British lives at risk without broad international support and a direct threat to this country or our people.

We have all been sickened by the pictures of rows of dead Syrian children, and people dying so painfully from gas poisoning. But even so, getting involved in another war is an unpalatable option for most of us.

Posted in LibLink | Tagged syria | 9 Comments

LibLink…Tim Farron: From Whitehall to the Town Hall, why we must say Yes to Homes

By NewsHound | Wed 4th September 2013 - 10:52 am

This week the National Housing Federation is running a Yes to Homes week to encourage councillors to allow more homes to be built within their areas. From their website:

Just a small handful of people can block the new homes that are a lifeline for many. When they are the only people putting pressure on local politicians their views are heard loud and clear.

All too often the people who actually need homes are missing from local debates. That’s why we have launched the Yes to Homes campaign. We want to make sure people who do support more housing are included

…

Posted in LibLink and Op-eds | Tagged featured, housing, national housing federation, tim farron and yes to homes week | 25 Comments

Nick Clegg says that there will not be a second vote on Syria

By NewsHound | Tue 3rd September 2013 - 10:51 am

Nick Clegg has told the BBC that there will be no second vote in Westminster on military intervention in Syria. He said:

I don’t think there’s any point in us going back to parliament asking the same question… so we have no plans to do that.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has called for a second vote after US revealed new evidence about the use of sarin gas. Nick Clegg responded by saying that he didn’t need any additional persuading to take the position he did, given the evidence he had already seen.

Posted in News | Tagged nick clegg and syria | 14 Comments

How hard are the Lib Dems willing to fight for their green reputation?

By NewsHound | Mon 2nd September 2013 - 5:03 pm

In a thoughtful piece on Business Green, editor James Murray asks:

How hard are the Lib Dems willing to fight for their green reputation?

To paraphrase him, he says “move over Green Party”:

It is the Lib Dems that have repeatedly pioneered demanding yet largely realistic green policies. You might not have agreed with every green policy they proposed – for example, the party’s long standing opposition to nuclear power continues to divide environmentalists – but for much of the past 20 years the Party has maintained an admirably distinctive green voice at Westminster.

Posted in Conference and News | Tagged glasgow conference 2013 and green policy | 7 Comments

LibLink…Paddy Ashdown: After the Syria vote, Britain must not sleepwalk into isolationism

By NewsHound | Sun 1st September 2013 - 7:48 pm

Paddy Ashdown has been writing about the implications of the Syria vote for the Guardian’s Comment is Free site. First, he pretty much repeats what he said on Friday:

There are strange paradoxes here. It is possible to be both proud of a parliament that said no to the executive on a matter like military action. But sad; even – dare I say it – a little ashamed at the decision it took.

Of course there are reasons for this. The leftover poisons of the Iraq war; the toxic effect of public distrust in our politics. Mishandling by the government. President Obama’s

…

Posted in News | Tagged david cameron, ed miliband, labour, nick clegg, paddy ashdown, syria and the guardian | 98 Comments

Adrian Sanders MP on the Syria crisis and vote

By NewsHound | Sat 31st August 2013 - 8:03 am

Adrian Sanders, Lib Dem MP for Torbay did not attend Thursday’s debate. Writing on his blog, he explains he is:

Currently representing the UK at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in South Africa with other MPs from the Labour and Conservative Parties so was unable to attend the debate. I made it clear that were I present I would have voted against military action.

As other MPs at the conference would have voted the other way, our votes effectively cancelled themselves out. However, I was in touch with all of my Lib Dem colleagues in the UK and urged them to

…

Posted in News | Tagged syria | 10 Comments

Nick Clegg answers Lib Dems’ questions on Syria

By NewsHound | Fri 30th August 2013 - 5:11 pm

This afternoon, Nick Clegg answered questions put by Lib Dem members. The half hour interview, by Helen Duffett, is now available on YouTube.

Posted in News | 13 Comments

Clegg, Ashdown, Williams & Hughes set out case for action in Syria

By NewsHound | Thu 29th August 2013 - 9:00 pm

Writing in tonight’s London Evening Standard, Nick Clegg, Simon Hughes, Paddy Ashdown and Shirley Williams set out the case for international action in Syria.

After describing the horrors of chemical weapons, they declare:

We four believe a strong response from the international community is now necessary.

Posted in LibLink and News | Tagged nick clegg, paddy ashdown, shirley williams, simon hughes and syria | 18 Comments

‘I have a dream’ speech on Radio 4

By NewsHound | Mon 26th August 2013 - 12:43 pm

This Wednesday the BBC will be marking the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech’ with a special programme at 9am on Radio 4.

The entire speech will be read by 19 well-known human rights activists, including Maya Angelou, Doreen Lawrence, Mary Robinson, Malala Yousafzai and the Dalai Lama. You can see the full list of readers here.

The programme will be repeated at 2.30pm on BBC World Service, or you can, of course, catch up on i-Player.

Posted in News | Tagged bbc radio 4 and martin luther king | 7 Comments

Liblink: Nick Clegg “I share the concerns about David Miranda’s detention”

By NewsHound | Sat 24th August 2013 - 11:57 am

You can’t accuse Nick Clegg of hiding away. Now that he’s returned from holiday, his first direct public comment on the Miranda detention and Guardian files controversy comes in a column in that paper.

First, where the Liberal Democrats are coming from:

Liberal Democrats believe government must tread the fine line between liberty and security very carefully, and are not easily persuaded by a government minister asserting: “Just trust me.” So now that we are in government, we have been vigilant in ensuring the right decisions are made: scrutinising and challenging the assumptions of security experts, even as we give them our

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged civil liberties, david miranda, nick clegg and the guardian | 8 Comments

Alan Beith to step down in 2015

By NewsHound | Wed 7th August 2013 - 2:58 pm

Sir Alan Beith has announced that he will be standing down from Parliament at the next election, after serving Berwick upon Tweed as their MP for 42 years.

Nick Clegg said:

Sir Alan has been a huge figure in British and both Liberal and Liberal Democrat politics over an astonishing four decades.

The present generation of political leaders in Britain were barely out of nursery when Alan Beith was first making his mark on the floor of the House of Commons.

So it is little wonder that when Sir Alan speaks today, he commands the attention of all parties in Westminster.

Posted in News | Tagged alan beith, berwick-upon-tweed and nick clegg | 13 Comments

Tougher penalties for owners of dangerous dogs

By NewsHound | Tue 6th August 2013 - 4:36 pm

Under current legislation dog owners can only be prosecuted if their dogs attack people in public spaces. Recent cases of dogs causing serious injury in the home, where the owners cannot be prosecuted, have prompted the Government to look again at the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act. Earlier in the year the Government undertook to change the law so that owners would be held responsible for an attack by their dogs wherever the attack took place.

Posted in News | Tagged dangerous dogs and featured | 8 Comments

LibLink | Maajid Nawaz – ‘Education. For me it’s personal.’

By NewsHound | Sat 3rd August 2013 - 2:25 pm

We reported here 2 weeks ago that Maajid Nawaz has been selected as the Lib Dem candidate for the ultra-marginal three-way Hampstead and Kilburn seat. This week sees him write for the local Camden New Journal newspaper, focusing on education. Here’s an excerpt:

If we desire a society in which every child is given the opportunity to fulfil their potential, regardless of their economic background, the development of an education system capable of supporting this is crucial.

This is why I’m so proud that the Liberal Democrats in government have fought hard to

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged camden, education, hampstead and kilburn, maajid nawaz and pupil premium | 2 Comments

LibLink…Stephen Tall: We Lib Dems haven’t chosen our strategy. The voters have chosen for us

By NewsHound | Wed 31st July 2013 - 4:20 pm

Our Stephen has been writing at Conservative Home again. This time he’s looking at this idea, which sits uncomfortably with many Liberal Democrats, that we’re a party of the centre. He says we have little choice:

Yet the reality is it’s precisely because we are perceived to be moderate centrists that many of the electorate vote for us. And if we are to continue as a party of government – which almost three-quarters of Lib Dem members would like us to do – then we will have to do a deal next time with either the right-leaning Tories or left-leaning Labour.

…

Posted in News | Tagged conservative home and stephen tall | 23 Comments

ALDE Party Congress needs you!

By NewsHound | Wed 31st July 2013 - 12:50 pm

What is the ALDE Party?

It is an alliance of Liberals and Democrats across Europe consisting of more than 50 member parties, Liberal Democrats in the UK being the largest.

What is ALDE Party Congress?

ALDE is arranging their annual party congress in Canary Wharf, London this year. The theme of the Congress is creating a European Manifesto. The ALDE Party Congress is the biggest annual event gathering Liberals across Europe:

over 650 members of liberal parties from around the continent;
top politicians including Prime Ministers, European Commissioners, Ministers, Members of the European and national Parliaments, Members of the Committee of the Regions, and many

…

Posted in Conference, Europe / International and News | Tagged ALDE | 6 Comments

Phil Willis praises 111 service

By NewsHound | Tue 30th July 2013 - 9:57 am

Phil Willis has praised the 111 service in York for the excellent service he received recently. Speaking in the House of Lords yesterday he said:

On June 9 I had reason to call 111 because I was having a heart attack.

The response from 111 was not only excellent in York – not only at the same time did they call the paramedics, but they had me in hospital within 25 minutes to an absolutely superb accident and emergency.

He was responding to a Private Notice Question posed by a Labour peer: “To …

Posted in News | Tagged 111, NHS Direct and phil willis | 4 Comments

A very important baby boy born in London

By NewsHound | Thu 25th July 2013 - 2:12 pm

Congratulations to Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly, who gave birth to a baby boy this morning!

He weighed in at 7lb 11oz at 9.51am. Everyone is doing well.

Posted in News | Tagged Caroline Pidgeon | 6 Comments

Unite members don’t (unite, that is)

By NewsHound | Tue 23rd July 2013 - 12:13 pm

A poll of Unite members reveals today that only 12% would like to join the Labour Party.

Following the public debate about whether union members should be offered the option of opting-in to the political levy, rather than opting-out as at present, only 30% of Unite’s members would choose to opt in.

The Lord Ashcroft poll surveyed over 700 members of Unite, the UK’s largest union, which draws its members from across a wide range of industry sectors. It seems that one third of them didn’t know whether they paid into the political fund and over half would prefer an opt-in …

Posted in News | Tagged UNITE | 8 Comments

Jeremy Browne’s consultation on Tramadol

By NewsHound | Tue 23rd July 2013 - 10:47 am

Jeremy Browne, the Liberal Democrat Minister at the Home Office, is launching a public consultation on the proposal to make Tramadol a Class C drug. You can read the consultation paper and respond to it here.

Tramadol is a prescription only painkiller used to treat a number of painful conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. It is a synthetic opioid, which is why it has developed a following as a recreational drug. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) says that …

Posted in News | Tagged jeremy browne and tramadol | 4 Comments

LibLink… Willie Rennie: Scots are great, independence will not help us to be greater.

By NewsHound | Fri 19th July 2013 - 10:25 am

Willie Rennie has been writing in the Times about the Scottish independence referendum. One of the charges that gets levelled at anyone opposed to independence is that we think that Scotland is too poor, too wee or too stupid to go it alone. Except nobody on the pro-union campaign actually thinks that. The SNP use it as something to bash the opposition with but it’s a straw man and a flimsy one at that.

I have never heard any spokesman for Better Together say “Scotland is too wee, too poor and too stupid” but I have heard people on the doorsteps

…

Posted in News | Tagged Scotland, Scottish independence referendum, the times and willie rennie | Leave a comment

Julian Huppert: Internet Hero

By NewsHound | Mon 15th July 2013 - 1:02 pm

Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, has been named internet hero of the year by the Internet Service Providers’ Association for his work on the Communications Data Bill. As a further accolade he was described as “one of the few MPs to understand the internet.”

Julian explains why the bill could not be allowed to proceed here, and you can read much more about it here.

Posted in News | Tagged communications data bill | 4 Comments

LibLink…Lynne Featherstone: Hope and HIV in Malawi

By NewsHound | Sat 13th July 2013 - 3:25 pm

Lynne Featherstone has been writing at the Huffington Post about her visit to Malawi. She talked about sitting with a father just after he found out he had HIV. She explores in the article how that man and others can be helped by intitiatives she is responsible for:

There was little hope in the eyes of the father I sat with shortly after he learnt he was living with HIV. Cradling his son in his arms, together they faced the agonising wait for the boy’s test results.

While 68,000 people die of AIDS-related illnesses here every year, HIV/AIDS no longer needs to

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged HIV, huffington post, lynne featherstone and malawi | Leave a comment

Nick Clegg announces £500 million to create jobs across England

By NewsHound | Thu 11th July 2013 - 7:00 pm

From Sky News:

More than 100 companies and projects in England are to receive cash from a £506m Government pot to boost jobs and fuel business expansion.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the successful Regional Growth Fund (RGF) bids would help secure £2.8bn of private sector investment and create or safeguard 77,000 jobs.

It is the latest round of awards made under the £2.6bn scheme designed to create sustainable employment and rebalance the economy.

And you can see where the 102 areas are on this handy map created by the party’s A Million Jobs campaign which shows the new projects and …

Posted in News | Tagged a million jobs campaign, nick clegg and regional growth fund | 2 Comments

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Author Archives: NewsHound

Liblink: The party unites against ‘Help to Buy’

LibLink: Christine Jardine: Privatised Royal Mail might prosper

LibLink… Lynne Featherstone: UK will help tackle the Great Neglect of disability

LibLink: Stephen Tall – “The Lib Dems are still suffering the hangover from hell”

LibLink: Time to restore York’s green city status

LibLink: Nick Clegg says High Speed 2 is good for London

LibLink: Lorely Burt on Syria and the vote

LibLink…Tim Farron: From Whitehall to the Town Hall, why we must say Yes to Homes

Nick Clegg says that there will not be a second vote on Syria

How hard are the Lib Dems willing to fight for their green reputation?

LibLink…Paddy Ashdown: After the Syria vote, Britain must not sleepwalk into isolationism

Adrian Sanders MP on the Syria crisis and vote

Nick Clegg answers Lib Dems’ questions on Syria

Clegg, Ashdown, Williams & Hughes set out case for action in Syria

‘I have a dream’ speech on Radio 4

Liblink: Nick Clegg “I share the concerns about David Miranda’s detention”

Alan Beith to step down in 2015

Tougher penalties for owners of dangerous dogs

LibLink | Maajid Nawaz – ‘Education. For me it’s personal.’

LibLink…Stephen Tall: We Lib Dems haven’t chosen our strategy. The voters have chosen for us

ALDE Party Congress needs you!

Phil Willis praises 111 service

A very important baby boy born in London

Unite members don’t (unite, that is)

Jeremy Browne’s consultation on Tramadol

LibLink… Willie Rennie: Scots are great, independence will not help us to be greater.

Julian Huppert: Internet Hero

LibLink…Lynne Featherstone: Hope and HIV in Malawi

Nick Clegg announces £500 million to create jobs across England

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Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

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What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Author Archives: NewsHound

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