Author Archives: Nick T

Nick T

LibLink: Julian Astle – The real threat to the Coalition’s public services reforms doesn’t come from the EU

By Nick T | Tue 1st March 2011 - 3:25 pm

Over on his Telegraph blog, Julian Astle, director of the CentreForum think-tank and former adviser to Paddy Ashdown, argues that the real threat to the coalition’s plans to reform public services comes not from European law, but more pertinently from the system of national pay bargaining.

Here’s an excerpt:

Although the government is trying to raise standards across the board, its particular focus is on reducing the UK’s intolerably high levels of health and educational inequality. But as Professor Alison Wolf has demonstrated, it is the system of national pay bargaining that locks these inequalities in place. Leave that system in place, and all the Government’s

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Nick T

LibLink: Michael Moore interviewed

By Nick T | Tue 22nd February 2011 - 11:57 am

Sunday’s Scotland On Sunday newspaper featured an interesting interview with Liberal Democrat MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk and Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore. The interview begins with a discussion of the pre-Christmas ‘sting’ on Liberal Democrat MPs by journalists from the Daily Telegraph, of which Michael was one of the (albeit less publicised) ‘victims’. Also touched on is the Scotland Bill, which is one of the main focuses of Michael’s attention.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview, in which the upcoming Scottish Parliamentary elections are discussed:

The other big issue on the agenda is May’s election. While Clegg has

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Nick T

Conservative Councillor: Those opposing AV should stop their “misleading statements”

By Nick T | Mon 21st February 2011 - 1:55 pm

Richard Willis is a Conservative Councillor on Reading Borough Councillor, and over on his blog he has a thorough post looking at the pros and cons of both first past the post and the alternative vote. He is particularly unimpressed with the misleading nature of the debate so far, and helpfully shoots down quite a few of the canards propounded by the No campaign:

I have long thought that AV was a good system for use at Parliamentary elections and I have heard nothing from the “No” campaign to persuade me otherwise. Indeed I have been annoyed by the misleading

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Nick T

LibLink: Mark Pack – The Liberal Democrat Spring Conference agenda, whistlestop guide version

By Nick T | Sat 19th February 2011 - 1:05 pm

Over on his Mandate, Hogarth and Penrose blog, Lib Dem Voice’s Mark Pack provides the time-pressed among us with a whistlestop guide of the agenda for the upcoming Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Sheffield.

Here are the bits of conference that Mark suspects are liable to be the most controversial:

Saturday 10:15am: conference debates the Disability Living Allowance – mobility component, which is one of the areas of proposed welfare reform that has generated much controversy between Liberal Democrats and Conservatives in the coalition.

Saturday, 10:45am: a long motion supporting the NHS reforms, including the words, “Conference welcomes the vision for the NHS

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Nick T

LibLink: Vince Cable – Private recovery can create growth potion

By Nick T | Fri 18th February 2011 - 3:25 pm

Today’s Financial Times carries a piece by Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable, on the coalition’s strategy for economic growth. However, as Vince points out,  a government ‘strategy’ can only do so much. The main weapon in the government’s armoury is – perhaps counter-intuitively to some – to actually do less, particularly, for example, in terms of burdensome regulation, which is often a particular problem for small businesses. The best thing the government can do is create a situation in which it is more likely that businesses will invest and grow; this will be the route to sustainable, lasting economic …

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Nick T

NO campaign in a muddle over AV costs

By Nick T | Thu 17th February 2011 - 5:25 pm

In a move which even those who oppose the Alternative Vote have found bizarre, the NO to AV campaign has decided that its key message with which it hopes to dissuade voters from voting YES is going to be the apparent cost of changing from First Past The Post to AV. This is a strange strategic decision in itself, but it becomes even more curious now the ‘factual’ basis for the outlandish claims has been demolished at the slightest scrutiny.

The YES campaign wasted no time in putting the NO side’s claims under the spotlight, and they found that:

  • There are

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Nick T

LibLink: Jonathan Calder – Larry the cat is no true blue

By Nick T | Thu 17th February 2011 - 3:13 pm

Over on the Guardian’s Comment is Free site, Liberal Democrat blogger-in-chief, Jonathan Calder, turns his attention to one of this week’s most important political stories: the arrival of Larry, Downing Street’s newest resident (who also happens to be a cat). It was, of course, Downing Street’s rodent problem (no, actual rats, thank you Harriet) that necessitated Larry’s presence, and Jonathan even has time for a brief history of Westminster’s rodential (yes, that really is a word) residents, as well as its feline ones.

Here’s an extract:

You could argue that his arrival marks a much-needed victory for Nick Clegg. True, Larry is

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Nick T

LibLink: Mike Tuffrey – GLA Budget 2011: Failing to plan for the future

By Nick T | Tue 15th February 2011 - 12:55 pm

Over on the MayorWatch website, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, Mike Tuffrey, gives his take on Boris Johnson’s first budget under the coalition government. Mike believes that the Mayor’s budget “fails to grasp the opportunities offered by the coalition’s localism agenda and continues to rely on financial reserves to defer difficult, but necessary, decisions”.

Here’s an excerpt:

Three years into his mayoralty, this is Boris Johnson’s first budget since the change of government. Regrettably it fails to rise to the challenge of the new national reality.

In so doing, it exposes the direction that Boris Johnson intends to travel up to election day:

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Nick T

Henry Porter: Why we should believe Nick Clegg when he promises to restore liberties stolen by Labour

By Nick T | Mon 14th February 2011 - 6:53 pm

In yesterday’s Observer, Henry Porter, who has written widely on civil liberties ‘stolen’ by the previous government, talked to Nick Clegg about the government’s recently-announced Protection of Freedoms Bill. As you probably gleaned from the headline, Porter is generally extremely enthusiastic about the Bill, though he takes the deputy prime minister’s advice to “hold the government’s feet to the fire” by listing some additional illiberal measures which he would like to see removed.

Here’s a short excerpt from the piece:

Negotiation over the bill has been long and intense, especially with the Home Office and police over the deletion of innocent people’s

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Nick T

LibLink: Nick Clegg – Sweeping away the illiberal measures of the past

By Nick T | Sat 12th February 2011 - 10:25 am

Over on Sean Dilley’s blog, there’s a transcript of an interview he conducted on talkSPORT with deputy prime minister Nick Clegg discussing yesterday’s announcement of the government’s long-awaited Freedom Bill. Here’s an excerpt of what Nick said:

I first proposed the idea of a Freedom Bill some years ago, because I think under Labour, too many of our Freedoms were taken away. Our Privacy was invaded. Too many innocent people were treated with suspicion. Look, under Labour, your children could have their finger prints taken at school without your permission. You could be spied on by your local Council, your bins

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Nick T

LibLink: Jeremy Browne – Lib Dems can’t just be a home for protest votes

By Nick T | Fri 11th February 2011 - 5:45 pm

Over on the Guardian’s Comment Is Free site, Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton and Foreign Office Minister, Jeremy Browne, makes a valuable contribution to what will be an increasingly important conversation for Liberal Democrats to engage in in the coming years: how we can make our participation in government an electoral asset, and make it more likely that 2010-2015 will not go down in history as simply a one-off period of Liberal Democrats exercising national power.

Jeremy’s main thesis is that, to ensure future success, the Liberal Democrats need to replace those voters who supported the party as a protest, whose …

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Nick T

Yes to Fairer Votes: The North-East experience

By Nick T | Thu 10th February 2011 - 5:56 pm

Over on Political Postcards, you can read the first in a series of four posts on how the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign is going in the North-East. The first post looks at the tactics that both sides are deploying to sway voters. Here’s an excerpt:

The Yes campaign are holding firm to their strategy. Strong messages about reform, greater choice and making politicians work harder seem to resonate with wavering voters.

They use the campaign principles from the Obama campaign of ‘Respect, Empower, Include’. Perhaps a bit too sickly sweet for a more cynical British audience but as Obama

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Nick T

LibLink: David Laws – Tax cuts for the rich can wait. Tax reform can’t

By Nick T | Mon 7th February 2011 - 5:25 pm

In today’s Times, David Laws, Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury , argues that the coalition must live with increased taxes on the rich as part of its deficit-reduction programme, but that reforming Britain’s complex and unfair tax system must be undertaken in earnest. Here’s an excerpt:

Under the last Labour Government tax policy was characterised, in the words of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, by “drift, punctuated by poorly thought-out changes”. A 10p in the pound rate of income tax was introduced and abolished. National insurance changes were made for political, not economic, reasons.

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Nick T

GriffinWatch: exposing the BNP

By Nick T | Sat 13th June 2009 - 11:00 am

Like most of you I am not a fan of the BNP. Their views are irrational, parochial and dangerous. But they have now, for the first time, managed to get two MEPs elected, one of whom is their leader, Nick Griffiin, in the North West.

It’s quite likely that both of these MEPs will be in office until the next election, so we now have to consider what will be the best strategy to defeat them after their five year term in the European Parliament. In my view, a key part of this strategy will be to highlight what they’ve …

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Nick T

Opinion: The Rubber Chicken Circuit and Lib Dem policy on factory farming

By Nick T | Sat 4th April 2009 - 5:20 pm

The ubiquity of overcooked, tasteless chicken served at political fundraising events is such that it has warranted the invention of a phrase that must surely strike fear into the hearts of even our most sociable Elected Members: The Rubber Chicken Circuit.

It was probably inevitable that chicken would become the meat of choice to serve at such events because of its almost universal popularity and the fact that it is now one of the cheapest meats available. But I always wonder how this has become the case at Liberal Democrat events, given that we are the only party to …

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Recent Comments

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    It is all very well talking about pluralism when most of our structures work against it. It is like talking about fairness and then introducing measures that re...
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    The item most missing from Israel and the wider Middle East is trust. For israelis to feel safe and so oppose further violence they must trust that they are sec...
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    To me empowerment of ordinary people embodies what we stand for and how we differ from the other Parties. This in turn reflects our respect for people knowing w...
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    I totally agree with David. This is another of those "Something must be done" policies. If you want to help the poor pay their bills then give them more money ...
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    An interesting looking diagram. Different from the Political Compass. But a similar lower-left quadrant. My first thought was that Reform and the Conservatives...