Author Archives: Paul Walter

Paul Walter

+++BBC call it for Leave

By Paul Walter | Fri 24th June 2016 - 4:49 am

The BBC have just called in for leave. This is a really historic decision. The turnout was huge. We’ll have to respect the decision and move on. Thoughts?

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Paul Walter

Fun Referendum day quiz!

By Paul Walter | Thu 23rd June 2016 - 10:50 am

Here’s a fun referendum day quiz. Use the comments field below to submit your responses. The first person with the correct answer will win a prize!

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Posted in Europe Referendum | Tagged | Leave a comment
Paul Walter

Could there be three ironic (?) tragedies that follow a leave vote?

By Paul Walter | Tue 21st June 2016 - 10:08 am
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Posted in Europe Referendum and Op-eds | Tagged | 67 Comments
Paul Walter

Obama slow jams the news – the coolest of the cool?

By Paul Walter | Fri 10th June 2016 - 5:45 pm

There are not many politicians who could pull this off…



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Posted in Humour and LDVUSA | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Paul Walter

Confused by competing claims over the EU? – try these impartial fact-checking websites

By Paul Walter | Tue 7th June 2016 - 9:25 am

I’ve heard quite a few people saying words along these lines:

I’ve heard claims and counter-claims about the EU and I just don’t know who to believe.

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Posted in Europe Referendum | Tagged and | 6 Comments
Paul Walter

Compelling portrait of a disabled person who was one of the USA’s greatest Presidents

By Paul Walter | Sat 4th June 2016 - 12:36 pm

BBC 4 have surpassed themselves with “World War Two: 1945 & The Wheelchair President”. Professor David Reynolds presents a remarkably gripping and informed biography of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, focussing mainly on the final year of his life. It’s a must-see for any politics anorak and is available for the next 20 days here.

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Posted in LDVUSA | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Paul Walter

Clinton finds her voice: “This isn’t reality television – this is actual reality.”

By Paul Walter | Fri 3rd June 2016 - 3:55 pm

Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when he’s angry, but America’s entire arsenal.

Hillary Clinton has found her voice with a major speech on foreign policy in San Diego. The speech is substantive, going through key issues one by one and quoting Donald Trump’s “ideas”, of which she says, powerfully:

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Posted in LDVUSA | Tagged , and | 21 Comments
Paul Walter

The government’s BBC white paper presents reasonably sensible proposals

By Paul Walter | Wed 1st June 2016 - 9:49 am

The government’s white paper on the BBC (“A BBC for the future: a broadcaster of distinction”) is available to read here. For a white paper, it is attractively presented. It puts forward a range of thoughtful and carefully calibrated proposals for the future.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 6 Comments
Paul Walter

Is it the BBC’s fault that Bargain Hunt is so popular?

By Paul Walter | Mon 23rd May 2016 - 12:11 pm

I have a confession to make. I watch BBC’s antiques competition, Bargain Hunt, three times a week. Perversely, I watch it with the volume turned down, reading the sub-titles (I’m on the treadmill in the gym at the time).

It’s a strange programme, because, as my lifelong auctioneer father often says, in exasperation:

They’re going the wrong way!

What he means is, that prices are lower at auctions than flea markets/boot sales. So, if you buy some things at an auction, you can earn good money on them at a boot sale. But if you go the other way, you are often on a hiding to nothing.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 142 Comments
Paul Walter

A personal view on the successful Watford campaign

By Paul Walter | Mon 23rd May 2016 - 9:44 am

If we cast our mins back to Friday 6th May, one of the pieces of good news in our election results was in Watford. We won seven seats, wiping out the Tories on the council and gaining control.

Over on “Rambles of a Liberal“, Nassar Kessell has written a personal view of that campaign. For those of you not familiar with Nassar, he is one of our live wire activists. He has brought a remarkable mixture of passion and energy to campaigns.

Nassar identifies five headers in the Watford success story:

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Posted in Local government | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Paul Walter

+++80% of special Welsh conference members vote to back Kirsty Williams as Education Secretary in Welsh government

By Paul Walter | Sat 21st May 2016 - 2:53 pm

Many thanks to @liberalmorgan and @peterblackwales for keeping us updated on the special Welsh Liberal Democrat conference today.

They’ve just tweeted (see below) a few minutes ago to say that the conference has endorsed the motion:

That the Welsh Liberal Democrats endorse the Progressive Agreement announced on Thursday, 19 May 2016, by Welsh Labour and Kirsty Williams and the invitation made by the First Minister to Kirsty Williams AM to take up the position of Cabinet Secretary for Education within the Welsh Government.

This is quite an historic moment. Many congratulations to Kirsty on getting such fulsome backing and becoming Education Secretary for Wales!

The conference today was closed so tweeting was generalised, without a comprehensive identification of views to speakers. But the tweets did give a flavour that the subject was thoroughly debated over three hours.

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Paul Walter

Updates from the special Welsh Liberal Democrat conference today #wldconf

By Paul Walter | Sat 21st May 2016 - 12:30 pm

There’s a special conference for Welsh Liberal Democrat going on today. It’s to decide whether or not to endorse the “Progressive Agreement” reached by Kirsty Williams AM and the Labour Welsh Assembly group.

There are live tweets coming from the hall. #wldconf is the relevant hashtag. @peterblackwales and @liberalmorgan are particular Twitter handles to watch, if you’re interested. I’m retweeting most of the tweets on @paulwalteruk, so you can see them scroll up on our Team Twitter feed on the right hand column of this site.

Update 1pm: It appears that tweets from the conference hall have stopped. We’re expecting the conference to end around 2pm or shortly afterwards, so we hope to bring news then.

Update 1:30pm: The stoppage of tweeting is because they’re having lunch, bless them.

Here are some of the tweets so far:


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Paul Walter

“In the heart of Wales” – details of the special Welsh Lib Dem conference today

By Paul Walter | Sat 21st May 2016 - 10:30 am

welsh lib demsThe Special Conference 2016 organised by Welsh Liberal Democrats is being held at Cefn Lea Park, Dolifor, Newtown, Powys, SY16 4AJ and will start at 11am.

There is one item of business to discuss:

That the Welsh Liberal Democrats endorse the Progressive Agreement announced on Thursday, 19 May 2016, by Welsh Labour and Kirsty Williams and the invitation made by the First Minister to Kirsty Williams AM to take up the position of Cabinet Secretary for Education within the Welsh Government.

The full text of the statement is available here.

All members of the Welsh Liberal Democrats are entitled to attend and vote.

The Conference will be a closed, member-only event. Media will not be allowed into the auditorium during the debate.

We’ll be covering the news from Dolifor here on Liberal Democrat Voice as the day progresses.

Cefn Lea Park is a holiday and conference centre “in the heart of Wales”. It’s set in beautiful rural surroundings. So Welsh Liberal Democrats will certainly have a tranquil environment in which to consider their future! You can read Cefn Lea Park’s conference brochure here.

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Paul Walter

PJS/YMA – Ultimately a sensible judgment by the Supreme Court

By Paul Walter | Fri 20th May 2016 - 5:40 pm

It is rather disconcerting that, sitting down to write this post, I have to think quite hard about what I can and can’t say. It does seem that free speech is rather trammeled when people can’t talk directly about this case. Those who have bothered to spend a little time googling (try Australian, US and Canadian outlets or a well-known political blog), will know what I am talking about. Those who haven’t, won’t. It’s all a bit strange.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 20 Comments
Paul Walter

David Rendel memorial event will be held on 4th July

By Paul Walter | Thu 19th May 2016 - 10:45 am

David Rendel at Anti-Iraq war demo 15th Feb 2003 Some rights reserved by Paul WalterEarlier this week, we reported the sad death of former Liberal Democrat MP David Rendel.

David’s funeral will be attended only by members of his family but all will be welcome at a memorial event to be held on Monday 4th July at the Corn Exchange, Market Place, Newbury, starting at 1.00 pm.

There will be an opportunity to make a donation to charity in David’s name – details will be announced in due course.

It is particularly fitting that the memorial event is being held at the Corn Exchange. It is an historic and striking building in the centre of the town he loved, Newbury. David led the campaign to save the Corn Exchange from closure and revitalize it as a modern arts and entertainment venue.

My photo above shows David, with the Houses of Parliament in the background, on the anti-Iraq war demonstration with other Liberal Democrats on 15th February 2003.

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Paul Walter

“This is about control” – yes, of course it is

By Paul Walter | Wed 18th May 2016 - 11:30 am



This video clip sums up the whole EU referendum debate. It hits the nail on the head. It is virtually all you need to see, to make your mind up on the matter.

It’s from a Daily Mirror debate, chaired by Mark Austin. The Guardian summarises the clip thus:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 16 Comments
Paul Walter

Tim Farron and Paddy Ashdown pay eloquent tribute to David Rendel

By Paul Walter | Wed 18th May 2016 - 10:30 am

On BBC Radio Berkshire’s Andrew Peach show this morning there was a great tribute to David Rendel. Andrew Peach said some touching words about the many times he interviewed David. He then played a superb clip of David in full “fighting form” defending the Newbury by-pass at its 20th anniversary in January. Then Tim and Paddy came on the line and paid superb, eloquent tributes to David.

It really is a great 15 minutes of radio. You can listen to it here on BBC iPlayer at 1′ 17″.

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Posted in Obituaries | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Paul Walter

David Rendel 1949-2016

By Paul Walter | Tue 17th May 2016 - 1:18 pm

David Rendel on Newbury Town Hall steps - Some rights reserved by Martin TodAs we reported earlier, former Liberal Democrat MP David Rendel has died aged 67.

David was born in 1949 in Athens, Greece. His father was a foreign correspondent for The Times, and he was a great-grandson of civil engineer Sir Alexander Meadows Rendel, and a great-great-nephew of Liberal MP Stuart Rendel, the first Baron Rendel, a benefactor of William Gladstone, as noted in Roy Jenkins’ book “Gladstone: A Biography”.

David was educated first at Horris Hill school, Newtown, Hampshire, and then as a scholar at Eton College. He spent 14 months as a volunteer teacher in Cameroon and Uganda with Voluntary Service Overseas. Afterwards he went to Magdalen College and St Cross College, Oxford where he gained a degree in Physics and Philosophy and rowed in the record-breaking Boat Race crew of 1974.

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Paul Walter

Traffic chaos caused by accidents – we need to listen to local radio and look to our own driving

By Paul Walter | Sat 14th May 2016 - 2:45 pm

On Wednesday there was traffic chaos in Berkshire. A lorry driver sadly lost his life after his vehicle over-turned, closing six lanes over two carriageways on the M4 for nearly twenty hours.

Fortunately, I turned onto BBC Radio Berkshire as I left home and, on hearing about the problem, was able to turn around and work from home for the day.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 2 Comments
Paul Walter

Government abandons enforced 100% academisation in England

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 4:25 pm

The BBC reports that the government have climbed down over enforced academisation. What they are now proposing seems to be what they were doing before this crazy scheme was mooted.

They’ve sneaked out this “trash” on a busy Friday afternoon hoping no-one will notice.

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Posted in News | Tagged | 3 Comments
Paul Walter

Lib Dems “over the moon” in Gosport

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 6:45 am

Portsmouth News reports:

THREE Liberal Democrat gains saw the party grow in Gosport.

Now the party has nine councillors, after plucking two wards from the Conservatives and one from Labour.

New councillors Dawn Kelly, Richard Earle and Angela Prickett were victorious as the Tory majority shrank.

Lib Dem leader Peter Chegwyn said: ‘I’m over the moon.

‘It’s a fantastic night for us.’

Posted in News | 3 Comments
Paul Walter

Lib Dems keep huge majority in Eastleigh

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 6:42 am


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Paul Walter

Lib Dems gain two seats to win over half of the seats contested in Portsmouth

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 6:39 am

Well done to Gerald and the team!



The full results are here.

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Paul Walter

Lib Dems win every council seat in Southport for the first time since 1858

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 4:05 am

I think this should say “Lib Dems or predecessor parties”….


Posted in News | 10 Comments
Paul Walter

19.9% vote increase for Tavish Scott in Shetland

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 3:54 am
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Posted in News | 2 Comments
Paul Walter

Lib Dems gain seat in Rochdale from Labour

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 3:50 am


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Paul Walter

Lib Dems gain Portsmouth’s Nelson ward from Labour

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 3:48 am


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Paul Walter

Lib Dems gain seat in Sunderland

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 2:26 am


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Paul Walter

Lib Dem gain from Labour in Bury

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 2:25 am


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Paul Walter

Lib Dems hold control of Eastleigh

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th May 2016 - 2:23 am


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