ALDE MEPs Sophie in’t Veld and Guy Verhofstadt pull no punches in an article in the Guardian about the US spying revelations, saying that Europe has only itself to blame for treating the US with awe to the extent that it was bound to start taking liberties:
The truth is that for too long, the EU and its member states have been prioritising cosy relations with the US over the interests of their own citizens. The spying scandal will now put Europe to the test. It must show that it is both willing and able to protect the rights of European
We’ve seen some awful stories in the media over the last few weeks about poor standards of home care. Norman Lamb has been writing in the Guardian about what the Government can do to ensure that everyone has good quality care.
First he outlines the problems:
One of the most common complaints I come across is where care is carried out by the clock. Carers will come to the house and have a time slot of around 15 minutes to get everything done and be off to the next appointment. But 15 minutes may not be enough to do what is needed.
Sarah Teather was interviewed on The World at One about the Government’s plans to make landlords check an individual’s immigration status when they came to rent a property. She said that unless there were drastic changes to the plans, she couldn’t see herself voting for it and she said that Liberal Democrat MPs weren’t happy about it either.
She said she was worried that landlords would simply not bother to let their properties to people whose immigration status may be in doubt. She added that if the Government modelled this new …
Jo Swinson has been writing for Management Today about the importance of ensuring that businesses ensure that women have equal opportunity to reach senior and board levels of companies.
Women are vital to Britain’s economic recovery and we need to ensure we are making full use of their talents. That’s why the government is focused on removing the barriers that prevent women from getting ahead and achieving their full potential. We simply can’t afford to lose out on the talents and skills of over half the population.
She acknowledged progress on this but said that there was more to be done, outlining …
Nick Clegg has an article over at PinkNews.co.uk, in which he highlights how the forthcoming same-sex marriage legislation means this weekend’s Pride in London celebrations will be a “landmark” event. However, he contrasts the strides of progress made here with continuing repression against LGBT people around the world. Here’s an excerpt:
Civil partnerships were a huge stride forward, but only the right to marry – if you choose – is real equality. This isn’t just a ‘gay issue’. It’s about the kind of society we want to be.
Nick Clegg has written a piece for the Sun about jobs and helping people finding work. They have a Sunemployment campaign which aims to match people up with jobs in their area through a series of roadshows.
Every year, the Sunemployment campaign helps thousands of people find work. The roadshows that take place in the summer offer a chance to get advice and find out about opportunities.
Since 2010, the Government has helped to create over 1.3 million jobs in the private sector, across all sorts of sectors – from science to IT, communications to manufacturing.
ITV has revealed the contents of the infamous note left by Liam Byrne for David Laws. Unfortunately it is not possible to embed the video in this post, but you can watch it here.
Three years ago David Laws reported that his predecessor had written ‘There’s no money left’, but it seems that wasn’t quite what the note said.
This article deviates from our normal style of LibLink, but I thought that the fact that it’s the weekend, and Solstice Weekend at that, permitted it.
The UFOlogist at The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, that’s The Artist Formerly Known as Lembit Opik to you and me, has been writing over at the Huffington Post on the occasion of the closure of the Government’s desk dealing with claimed alien encounters. Could there, he asks, be other life forms across the galaxies. He seems to think so:
We live on a single planet in a galaxy which may have about
Winchester Liberal Democrats have elected popular Hampshire County Councillor Jackie Porter to be their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) to fight the next General Election.
Jackie was re-elected to the County Council in May when she received more than half the votes cast in her seat.
Jackie Porter said: “I am delighted to have this opportunity. I’ve lived in Winchester, Kings Worthy and then Itchen Abbas for more than 30 years. My children were born and went to school here. I’ve been very grateful for the chance
The BBC is reporting that Nick Clegg is insisting that any further welfare reform must start with high earners.
The fact that we’re asking people on low incomes to pay through their taxes to basically pay the fuel bills of people who don’t need to heat their homes because they live in sunny parts of Europe and maybe didn’t even work here before they retired, I think that lifts the lid on a wider problem in our welfare system.
I don’t think you can have a debate about welfare that is provided to people at the bottom, if you’re not
Nick Clegg took part in an “Open for Growth on Trade, Tax and Transparency” G8 event on Saturday. The event was attended by African leaders and the likes of Kofi Annan and the Managing Director of the World Bank Caroline Anstey. Nick hosted the sessionon extractives transparency and chaired the final panel of the day.
He said at the event:
We know why we’re here. People across the world want and expect us – governments, businesses and NGOs – to work together to deliver strong economies and fairer societies.
These issues affect those in both the developed and developing world. And we know
The three acting c0-chairs of Liberal Democrat Women, Dinti Batstone, Tam Langley and Miranda Whitehead have issued a statement on behalf of the organisation giving their reaction to Helena Morrissey’s report on processes and culture within the Liberal Democrats.
We welcome today’s report by Helena Morrissey following her independent inquiry into the processes and culture of our party, and support in full the recommendations she makes for change.
The inquiry was prompted by the sexual harassment allegations against Lord Rennard, although it does not consider the truth or otherwise of the allegations, but rather how they were handled. Morrissey observes that, ‘Overall
Paddy Ashdown has been writing in the Guardian about what he considers should be the key principles underpinning any state intrusion into our communications, online or otherwise. First of all, he tackled the “nothing to hide, nothing to fear” argument:
We can now bring you a photograph of the assembled company taken on the night.
VIPs included every leader that there has ever been of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Malcolm, Jim Wallace, Nicol Stephen, Tavish Scott and Willie Rennie, David Steel and Navnit Dholakia, our Deputy Whip in the Lords and our Commons Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael. You can also just about see the top of LDV …
Over at the Telegraph, Lib Dem blogger and former London Assembly candidate Charlotte Henry takes a look at the Lib Dems’ ‘woman problem’ in the light of the recent publicity concerning allegations against Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock and former party chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard. Here’s an excerpt:
The Lib Dems need to get more women elected at every single level, of that there is no doubt. It is galling to still walk into party meetings with barely any women, or to still see male dominated panels at party conference. … All that said, it should be noted that the
Ed Davey has been writing in the Guardian about grassroots energy projects.
He tells us the Government has commissioned research to find out what encourages people to get involved in community energy projects in the hope of generating more across the UK. So, what are these projects?
People across the country are coming together to change the way we think about our energy system and their relationship with it. From a community-run advice service in Hampshire that promotes energy efficiency to a community-owned windfarm just north of Swansea, to a renewable heat project in Herefordshire that replaces fossil fuels with locally grown
Nick Clegg has long championed improving life chances for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. As he said on this morning’s Call Clegg:
My dad helped me. I was very lucky. But is shouldn’t be all about luck. That’s what we need to address.
He said that bright kids from poorer backgrounds were being overtaken at school by less bright children from more affluent backgrounds by the time they were 7 and the problem continues as they decide on their careers. If you’re from a poorer background, you don’t have the connections to land you the best opportunties. Remedying that problem is what’s behind the Opening Doors campaign which 150 companies have signed up to. Yesterday Nick launched the Opening Doors awards, which aim to find the best examples of reaching those bright young people and giving them the help they need. It’s a very strong example of the least heard but most important part of the Trinity of Liberal Democrat Mantras – enabling everyone to get on in life.
There are a number of categories in the awards, from best outreach, to most inspirational young person to a Deputy Prime Minister’s excellence award which “will be given to the organisation who has excelled in setting the standard and communicating the case for social mobility.”
This is Nick’s video launching the awards which is also available here on You Tube:
Annette Brooke is the new Chair of the Parliamentary Liberal DemocratParty. Annette was elected unopposed, and took her place as Chair of a meeting of Liberal Democrat MPs last night.
Annette’s new role will involve the chairing of Parliamentary Party meetings, interaction with all colleagues, providing a communication channel to represent views where appropriate and providing a listening and supportive pastoral role to complement the work of the Liberal Democrat Whips.
Annette will bring a wealth of experience to the role, having been a member of the Chairman’s Panel in Parliament …
A couple of weeks ago, we reported that the Government had changed its mind and would allow Afghan intepreters to settle in this country. This is something that Paddy Ashdown and Nick Clegg had argued for vociferously.
However, as details of the scheme have emerged, they have been dismissed as insufficient by various people, including Paddy Ashdown as the Times (£) reports:
Senior politicians have accused the Government of mistaken priorities in their handling of safeguards for British Army interpreters when UK forces leave Afghanistan.
Only those interpreters who were still in British service on December 19, 2012, will be offered
We saw Defence Secretary Philip Hammond give Nick Clegg a hard time on the Snoopers’ Charter the other day. Now our own Danny Alexander has given Hammond and Michael Gove something to think about by trashing their view on leaving the EU. It is a measure of how much the media have got used to Coalition that this isn’t being played up as a huge split. It’s accepted that there are radical differences in approach between the two parties on certain issues. It would be nice to think that this would lead to more intelligent public debate between members of …
Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife and respected foreign policy expert talked to the Today programme yesterday about the situation in Syria. Last week he said that he didn’t think the EU arms embargo should be lifted. Now that it has been, he is now calling for a moratorium on arms exports to Syria so that a Conference can take place to try and get a peace process under way.
He told the Today programme yesterday:
I was one of those who expressed grave reservations about the idea of the EU embargo coming to an end which
This article appeared a few weeks ago, but we’ve held it back because its author was standing in the Liberal Youth elections. It is worth sharing, though, because it illustrates accurately the dilemma that UKIP now faces. How does it build a local government base when its councillors are inexperienced, anti politics types who don’t really know who their supporters are.
Robin McGhee is an organiser for the party in Norfolk. He describes the UKIP representatives at the count in Cromer:
Perhaps nine in ten were men, nearly all (very) elderly, and with the same expression of stubborn bafflement as a tortoise
Liberal Democrat international development minister Lynne Featherstone has written an article in the Sunday Times about the plight of disabled people in developing countries, and how they often don’t receive much needed aid.
But for every medal-winning athlete, there are millions more in the developing world who are treated as sub-human, hidden from view and forgotten. Millions of women who are raped and beaten because they are discriminated against or physically incapable of escaping their attackers. Millions of children denied an education because they can’t see their textbooks, hear their teachers or get to school. And millions of people locked out
Menzies Campbell has written an article for the Guardian about our role in the conflict in Syria in which he expresses concern about Government plans to veto an extension of the arms embargo. The first problem he identifies is that of working out who the good guys amongst the opposition are:
How would you identify those groups among Assad’s opponents who would be legitimate recipients of arms on the ground that their values of democracy and human rights are said to be the same as ours? The range of opponents is both complex and extensive. Radical Islamists are becoming more and
There are some very interesting jobs all over the country working for Liberal Democrats, either at party HQs or for parliamentarians. Here’s a quick selection – but be quick. Some have closing dates looming large.
Do you want to be the person who organises Nick Clegg’s visits? This involves a lot of travel, because you have to check venues out in advance as well as accompany him but in turn you get a great deal of job satisfaction as photographs of your work are everywhere. Closing date for this is 3 June – that’s a week on Monday.
Nick Clegg attended an inter-faith event in North London, designed to show solidarity between the diverse communities in the capital, in the wake of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. He didn’t have a script, but thankfully someone was taking notes. Here is the full text of his remarks:
Can I thank you all very, very much for being here and can I thank, particularly, everybody at the Centre, all the – all the volunteers here, everyone from the Peabody operation. You – you’ve helped us to organise this at very, very short notice indeed.
The BBC reports that Nick Clegg has been speaking at an interfaith event in London set up after the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich on Wednesday. He told representatives of a number of faiths:
Terrorism has no religion because there is no religious conviction that can justify the kind of arbitrary, savage random violence that we saw on the streets of Woolwich.
He concluded his remarks by quoting a verse from the Koran:
If anyone slays a human being, it shall be as though he killed all mankind; whereas, if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he
The Liberal Democrat Group on Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council in Leicestershire is tonight welcoming a new member, Cllr John Moore, who has decided to leave the Conservative Group and join the Liberal Democrats.
Group leader Cllr Stuart Bray expressed his pleasure at Cllr Moore’s decision:
We are delighted to welcome John to the Lib Dem Group. I have worked with him over the past 6 years on Burbage Parish Council and latterly the Borough Council and have always found him a man of great integrity who cares passionately about Burbage
Tristan Ward @ David Allen
"PFI won’t help stop the planet burning"
Who said anything about PFI - I didn't.
The private money that is building (not enough) house...
Joey Vimsante I think the EU and UK needs to support not for profit, social media platforms that put the interest of the public, vulnerable people, young people, and nation a...
Nick Baird With regard to client-side image scanning, the danger of mission creep are real, but I have other concerns. One is whether this is truly a practical and effecti...
Tara Foster Hi Simon
"Has the author not heard of girls sharing pictures with boys who then share with their friends ? of boys and girls tricked in to sharing pictures w...
Sarah Agreed. We are far too smart as a party to abandon our liberal values to pretend that social media and photo bans will be effective. The method by which we woul...
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Brechtian television: Leo McKern in Galileo (1964)
Good news on political donations?
Conference booked
Are Labour going to cross another red line?
Tristan Ward 
Joey Vimsante 
Nick Baird 
Tara Foster 
Sarah 