Author Archives: Newsmoggie

Newsmoggie

Nick Clegg attacks Labour council over Don Valley stadium closure

By Newsmoggie | Wed 2nd October 2013 - 12:00 pm

Sheffield’s Labour council have been criticised by Nick Clegg over their decision to close the Don Valley Stadium where Olympic heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill trained.

From the Sheffield Star:

I’m hugely disappointed that Labour councillors have decided Don Valley Stadium is not an asset of community value.

This short-sighted decision has denied the Save Don Valley Stadium group access to central Government grants, which would have helped them develop a business plan and move closer to their vision of running the venue at no cost to the public.

Instead of working with the community to protect facilities, we have a council determined to

…

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Newsmoggie

Liberal Democrat MEP McMillan-Scott wins Medal of Honour for human rights work

By Newsmoggie | Thu 26th September 2013 - 12:25 pm

edward mcmillan scott gets medal of honourThe Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, Edward McMillan-Scott, has won a Medal of Honour from the Venice-based European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation, Professor Horst Fischer, “in recognition of his lasting efforts in the promotion and protection of human rights.”

Previous winners are Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Manfred Nowak, human rights lawyer and  former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Speaking after the awards ceremony at the opening of the academic year at the Scuola Grande, Venice on 22 September, McMillan-Scott said:

This is a great honour, not only for me but for the European Parliament. I have always admired the Institute and its work, because human rights and democracy are an essential part of EU foreign policy.

Here he is earlier this year taking a pretty strong line on human rights abuses in Russia

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Conference comment: What the papers say (4)

By Newsmoggie | Tue 17th September 2013 - 1:31 pm

Clegg VotingTHAT email, the one giving a briefing to MPs on how to address the media, was always going to delight the political gossips. And so it proved. Shorn of the drama of a full out Farron versus Clegg versus Cable bloodbath, the quidnuncs in the Daily Mail, the Telegraph and at politics.co.uk leapt on the email. The New Statesmen notes that MPs are told not to refer to the “bedroom tax”, it is a “spare room subsidy.” Regardless, as the Guardian and Inside Housing report, the conference condemned the bedroom tax for discriminating against the most vulnerable in society.

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Newsmoggie

Jeremy Browne: Need for national debate on banning the veil

By Newsmoggie | Mon 16th September 2013 - 4:30 pm

Jeremy Browne - Some rights reserved by Foreign and Commonwealth OfficeJeremy Browne, the Liberal Democrat Home Office minister, told The Telegraph that there is a need for a national debate on whether Muslim women should be banned from wearing the veil in public places. He said:

I am instinctively uneasy about restricting the freedom of individuals to observe the religion of their choice. That would apply to Christian minorities in the Middle East just as much as religious minorities here in Britain.

But there is genuine debate about whether girls should feel a compulsion to wear a veil when society deems children to be unable to express personal choices about other areas like buying alcohol, smoking or getting married.

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Newsmoggie

Conference comment: What the papers say (3)

By Newsmoggie | Mon 16th September 2013 - 9:11 am

Ed Davey GlasgowToday’s big debate is on the economy and the Guardian reports Vince Cable and Nick Clegg at odds over future economic direction:

Clegg has decided to stage what Cable and some on the left regard as an artificial showdown over economic policy during a set-piece two-hour debate… Cable’s aides said he will stay away from the debate, which is being billed as a test of Clegg’s authority. Cable believed a compromise could have been reached between the leadership and the left over their amendments to the economic motion, especially the right for councils to borrow more to build.

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Newsmoggie

Conference Comment: What the papers say (2)

By Newsmoggie | Sun 15th September 2013 - 7:18 am

Paddy Ashdown GlasgowIn an interview with the Guardian, Paddy Ashdown is however unequivocal. He says we should not turn our back on a future liaison with the Tories:

Paddy Ashdown has urged his restive party to prepare for the possibility of a second coalition with the Tories, saying the Conservatives have proved surprisingly good and trustworthy partners for the Liberal Democrats in government.

As the newspaper recognises, that’s not going to go down well with the left of the party. In a mea culpa, Paddy admits that he was wrong to have pushed so hard for a deal with Labour after the 2010 election, when Nick Clegg was moving towards the Tories. “I was wrong and Nick was right,” he says.

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Newsmoggie

Conference Comment: What the papers say (1)

By Newsmoggie | Sat 14th September 2013 - 9:59 am

Clegg SpeechIt fairly wall to wall Lib Dem coverage in the national press today and party leaders are cheerleading for our role in the coalition. Even newspapers that are not normally friendly towards the Lib Dems have something positive to say. There is a grudging respect that the Lib Dems took on the near impossible task of collaborating in a coalition government and have stuck with it.

Nick Clegg gives an exclusive and upbeat interview to the Independent.

Over in the Telegraph, Danny Alexander says that hard pressed workers deserve pay rises as the economy recovers. He says the party has to “shout from the roof tops“ to ensure that voters recognise the role it has played in improving the economy.

Anyone who says this better economic news is all to the credit of the Conservatives is wrong. This is a joint plan that bears the imprint of the Lib Dems.

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Newsmoggie

Conference Comment: Is Nick Clegg “worse than Michael Foot”?

By Newsmoggie | Fri 13th September 2013 - 5:11 pm

Michael FootIf you only read the Independent, it would be grim news. The paper reports that Lord Oakeshott popped his head above the parapet to tell Parliament’s The House magazine that Nick Clegg is “worse than Michael Foot”.

We have to accept that Nick’s ratings have been poor and have been for a long time. You’ve got to be frank that his ratings are down at levels which, if you go back, were only seen by Mrs Thatcher shortly before she left and Michael Foot.

Well, that’s his view and the Telegraph’s venerable Benedict Brogan dismisses it outright:

His views have been discounted to irrelevance from over-use. We’ve heard it all before, from him.

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