Author Archives: Stephen Tall

Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall. He writes a fortnightly column for ConservativeHome and 'The Underdog' column for Total Politics magazine. He edited the 2013 publication, The Coalition and Beyond: Liberal Reforms for the Decade Ahead, and is a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum. He was awarded the inaugural Lib Dem ‘Blogger of the Year’ prize in 2006, was a councillor for eight years in Oxford, including a year as Deputy Lord Mayor, and appears frequently in the media in person, in print and online. Stephen combines his political interests with his professional life as Development Director for the Education Endowment Foundation, though writes here in a personal capacity.
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem conference to be asked to approve gay marriage proposal

By Stephen Tall | Sun 8th August 2010 - 11:00 am

Today’s Independent reports:

The Liberal Democrats are to use their first party conference in government to adopt a radical new policy calling for gay marriage.

The paper points out the tensions such a policy could spark with the socially conservative right-wing among the Tories. However, I’m intrigued by the paper’s suggestions that it also “risks causing deep divisions with … the traditional Methodist wing of the Lib Dems”. As a nonconformist myself (albeit not Methodist), I’d never realised that defined me as being part of a clique within the Lib Dems. Nor that my religious views would prevent me from supporting …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 34 Comments
Stephen Tall

Vince: Cameron is “100% behind” my graduate tax proposals

By Stephen Tall | Sun 8th August 2010 - 10:00 am

Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable is interviewed in the Sunday Telegraph (“in open-neck pink shirt and slippers”, intriguingly).

The paper chooses to headline it, Vince Cable: ‘I’m not having fun in government’, trying to feed into the narrative that Vince is a semi-detached member of the coalition government, though he’s certainly loyal in all his utterances. Incidentally, the headline quote set in context reads rather more uncontroversially: “People sometimes ask me ‘are you having fun?’ ” he says. ” No! It’s hard work and it’s tough, but it’s important.”

The paper largely ignores what seems to me a …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Does Tony Blair support the Coalition (and would it matter to Lib Dems if he does)?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 7th August 2010 - 6:05 pm

This was a story which entirely passed me by, but throws up a couple of intriguing questions. I tip my hat to the Independent’s John Rentoul for highlighting Tony Blair’s address to the Institute for Government entitled, How to Be Prime Minister, held at the end of June. In it Mr Blair commented,

The British people have again elected a centrist government, and that’s what they decided to do in that extraordinary way they do, they decide they will put in the Conservatives and put the Lib Dems alongside them.

As Mr Rentoul notes,

… this rather goes against the attempt

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV Saturday caption competition: “Paddy swings to the left” edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 7th August 2010 - 4:15 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader …

Here’s former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown out campaigning. What caption do you think might adorn this becoming image?

The winner of our most recent caption competition, the “Kramer vs Zac” edition – according to The Voice’s judging panel of one – was this one by John Ruddy, with an honourable mention to this one by Chris Squire.

Got a photo of a prominent Lib Dem you think would work …

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Posted in Caption Comp | 14 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDVideo: Conservative Party conferences down the years … the funny bits

By Stephen Tall | Sat 7th August 2010 - 10:55 am

If the Daily Mail is to be believed Conservative Party foreign secretary William Hague is to address this year’s Lib Dem conference, offering (apparently) “a ‘witty’ address, rather than focusing heavily on policy” – which seems right up Mr Haugue’s street.

In eager anticipation of this event, we at Lib Dem Voice have dug out some of the highlights of Tory conferences from yesteryear right up to the present to illustrate quite how far David Cameron’s party has travelled in the last three decades.

First up, here’s Rowan Atkinson slipping into the role of Golfing Tory under Mrs T:


(Also available on YouTube here.)

Secondly, here’s Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry enjoying the Young Tory of the Year contest during John Major’s reign:

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Posted in YouTube | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Saturday Debate: Should Turkey be admitted to the EU?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 7th August 2010 - 8:45 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate:

In all the recent controversy surrounding David Cameron’s recent foreign policy pronouncements some of the substance has perhaps been lost: here was the leader of a major European country unequivocally urging that Turkey be admitted as a member of the European Union.

This has tended to be an uncontroversial view among the British political classes, who regard Turkey as a vital fulcrum in reconciling the West and the Islamic world. It is far less popular among the voters of Europe, as a …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 33 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MP Stephen Lloyd to be sued by defeated Tory rival

By Stephen Tall | Fri 6th August 2010 - 9:00 pm

The BBC reports:

Lawyers for Nigel Waterson, who was Eastbourne MP until 2010, confirmed he was to sue Stephen Lloyd for libel. The action is to centre on a leaflet produced by his Liberal Democrat successor during the 2010 general election campaign.

The Corporation notes that “Mr Waterson was cleared of any wrong-doing over his expenses claims”, so let’s remind ourselves of his expenses record:

Nigel Waterson claimed mortgage interest/rent payments and food bills at his second home in Beckenham, Kent. Also billed taxpayer £1,055 to paint house and garage

And Mr Waterson also had problems retaining the support even …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV doesn’t do statporn, but if we did (July ’10)

By Stephen Tall | Thu 5th August 2010 - 8:55 pm

… We’d say a big thank you to the 50,627 ‘absolute unique visitors’* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in July.

That’s 5% up on our June figure of c.48,000, and up some 129% on the equivalent figure for July ’09 of c.22,000.

This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 Aug 2009 – 31 July 2010) to 608,812, some 84% higher than the equivalent figure for 2008-09 of 330,218.

The 5 top-read stories during the month were:

  1. Have you seen Zac Goldsmith’s Channel 4 News car-crash interview yet? (75) by Stephen Tall
  2. Opinion: I admit it,

…

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Posted in Site news | Tagged | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Cameron admits foreign policy gaffe, mis-speaks that “Iran has got a nuclear weapon.”

By Stephen Tall | Thu 5th August 2010 - 7:55 pm

There will be red faces in Number 10 tonight after the latest foreign policy gaffe from David Cameron. Speaking today at his one of his PM Direct events, the Conservative leader stuck up for Turkey’s application to join the EU, stating it would be able to help Europe address a number of issues:

I think be a good political influence because they can help us solve some of the world’s problems like the Middle East peace process, like the fact Iran has got a nuclear weapon.”

Except Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon. His advisors later clarified that Mr Cameron …

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Posted in Europe / International | Tagged , and | 28 Comments
Stephen Tall

Swinson: We need to make girls feel confident about their own body

By Stephen Tall | Wed 4th August 2010 - 3:35 pm

Almost exactly a year ago, Lib Dem MPs Jo Swinson and Lynne Featherstone were among those in the party’s Real Women group leading the campaign to “Ban airbrushing in children’s adverts”, a view later endorsed by an independent Home Office report.

They’ve been joined in their campaign now by Girlguiding UK, which is today launching a petition to introduce compulsory labelling on airbrushed images.

Jo comments:
 

I am delighted that Girlguiding UK is taking up this issue. I co-founded the Campaign for Body Confidence out of concern that people of all ages are feeling so much pressure

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 19 Comments
Stephen Tall

Hughes on Cameron’s council tenancies plans: “It is not a Liberal Democrat policy, it is not a coalition policy.”

By Stephen Tall | Wed 4th August 2010 - 2:02 pm

Lib Dem Voice’s Sara Bedford reported here this morning her reaction to David Cameron’s suggestion that he wanted to look at fixed-term tenancies to help solve the issue of scarce council housing.

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes has been quick to make plain his outright opposition to the proposal, telling the Evening Standard’s Paul Waugh:

“The ideas put forward by David Cameron this week in no way represent the policy of the coalition and certainly do not represent the policy of the Liberal Democrats.

“We will not let anybody have their homes taken away. We must continue to suppport established

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 46 Comments
Stephen Tall

David Miliband adopts Lib Dem mansion tax policy

By Stephen Tall | Tue 3rd August 2010 - 10:05 am

The Guardian reports today:

Owners of homes worth more than £2m should pay an annual “mansion tax” to help the poor, Labour leadership contender David Miliband said today. The shadow foreign secretary said the levy would raise £1.7bn to restore housing benefit for the least well-off.

The proposal – outlined in an interview with the Evening Standard – appears designed to drive a wedge between the coalition partners, as well as appealing to Labour grassroots.

Business secretary, Vince Cable, put the idea in the Liberal Democrat general election manifesto – but it was lost during negotiations with the Tories. Under the plan,

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #180

By Stephen Tall | Mon 2nd August 2010 - 7:15 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 180th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (25th – 31st July, 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

Huhne on Lib Dem poll ratings: “Frankly, it doesn’t worry me”

By Stephen Tall | Mon 2nd August 2010 - 9:40 am

We’re into August, the dead political season, so doubtless we can expect plenty more media stories about the collapse of the Lib Dem vote, the imminent collapse of the Coalition, the collapse of Nick Clegg’s ratings etc, etc.

The latest miniplosion of noise has been sparked by YouGov’s latest poll, showing the Lib Dems polling 12% (compared to the Tories’ 42% and Labour’s 38%). For some, strange reason the papers seem much keener to report this poll finding than they were to report ICM’s 19% rating for the party a few days ago. We’ll be looking back fully on July’s polls …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 80 Comments
Stephen Tall

Can you predict what people are thinking based on analysis of online debate?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 1st August 2010 - 10:45 am

That’s the question a company called, somewhat improbably, Onalytica have set out to answer in their paper, Using the Internet as a Market Research Database.

They’ve summarised their key findngs thus:

1. Changes in daily election poll results could be estimated by measuring the changes in the relative amount of online discussion
2. We find that ‘traditional media’ maintains a high level of influence, and that the influence of ‘social media’ was small
3. The Lib Dem’s performance was similar to that of

…

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Posted in General Election and Online politics | 28 Comments
Stephen Tall

“When two ride astride, one must ride behind”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 1st August 2010 - 9:45 am

Okay, the poster’s exactly 100 years old – and the issue highlighted here is Asquith’s Liberal government’s attempts to reform the House of Lords – but somehow it was the caption which to me seemed to resonate down the years into these Coalition days:


(From the LSE archives: COLL MISC 0519-053).

For others it may bring to mind Ming Campbell’s nag in Five Days that Changed Britain: “If you have a dog… for long enough, eventually you begin to look like your pet. Well, if you have a coalition …

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Posted in Humour | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

NEW POLL: Is the Coalition right to allow us to work beyond 65?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 31st July 2010 - 4:35 pm

This was the statement issued by Lib Dem Employment Relations Minister Ed Davey this week when announcing the end of the default retirement age of 65, and give people the freedom to choose their own retirement date:

With more and more people wanting to extend their working lives we should not stop them just because they have reached a particular age. We want to give individuals greater choice and are moving swiftly to end discrimination of this kind. Older workers bring with them a wealth of talent and experience as employees and entrepreneurs. They have a vital contribution to make

…

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Posted in Voice polls | Tagged and | 15 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV Saturday caption competition: “Kramer vs Zac” edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 31st July 2010 - 1:45 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader …


(Image courtesy: FromPlay.com).

Here’s former Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park Susan Kramer with her Tory successor Zac Goldsmith. What do you think they might have been saying or thinking about each other?

The winner of our most recent caption competition, the “Jeremy Browne passes the hat” edition – according to The Voice’s judging panel of one – was this one by Andrea Gill.

Got a photo of a prominent Lib Dem …

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Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged , and | 21 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Saturday Debate: What do we mean by middle-class?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 31st July 2010 - 9:25 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate:

Class has always been an intangible concept in the UK.

While most countries would define it quite simply as a function of income, in our class-hungover country there are all manner of other factors: state or privately educated, your profession, whether you have a degree, your postcode, your family circumstances (‘where you came from’), even your accent. So while carpenters and plumbers may well earn more than university lecturers there’s no doubt which of those would be regarded as the middle-class occupation.

How …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

Is the Coalition Government’s honeymoon really over?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 27th July 2010 - 7:25 pm

Forget the Lib Dems’ current poll-ratings for a moment – though today’s 19% from ICM will have done a fair amount to repair nerves frayed by YouGov’s poorer recent scores – and let’s focus on the Coalition Government as a whole.

Last week, YouGov’s Peter Kellner stated categorically: The honeymoon is over. His logic was simple enough:

Over the past four weeks, the coalition’s approval rating has slipped slowly but remorselessly. Our latest figures report a net rating of plus four (approve 41%, disapprove 37%). In just over two months, the coalition’s rating has declined to levels that were not

…

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Posted in News, Op-eds and Polls | Tagged , , , and | 39 Comments
Stephen Tall

Paywall vs ‘Freemium’: why Parris, Finkelstein et al may rue Rupe’s decision

By Stephen Tall | Tue 27th July 2010 - 3:20 pm

Will The Times’s paywall work? It’s the question that’s been asked ever since Rupert Murdoch’s News International announced its intention to place The Times and The Sunday Times websites behind a paywall, blocking any user not prepared to pay a subscription for access.

Last week saw publication of early unofficial statistics which were extrapolated at length in The Guardian and suggest The Times’s website now attracts somewhere between 84,800 and 195,700 daily unique users – compared with c.1.2 million daily unique users pre-paywall.

It’s stating the obvious to point out that’s a huge drop: after all, the point of the exercise is to make money from the few, not be free to the masses. So far, it’s understood there are 15,000 paying users – though whether that figure includes those who signed up for cheap one-month trial offers is not certain – in addition to 12,500 iPad users.

Assuming The Times can retain all those paying customers (which is a big assumption), it’s estimated the paywall could attract revenues of £1-2m a year. I’ve not yet seen, though, a reliable figure showing what the cost in lost advertising revenue associated with a fall in online circulation will total – which make it difficult as yet to work out if News International will generate an immediate net profit from the paywall. That, after all, would be Mr Murdoch’s ultimate response to the naysayers.

What I don’t understand is why News International decided to go all out for the paywall at The Times without at least first testing the market by adopting a ‘freemium’ model, making basic content available free, but charging for premium content.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Six Lib Dem MPs rebel on Coalition’s Academies Bill

By Stephen Tall | Tue 27th July 2010 - 10:20 am

The BBC reports:

MPs have approved legislation which paves the way for a radical overhaul of the school system in England. The Academies Bill, allowing schools to opt out of local council control as early as September, is now due to receive Royal Assent on Tuesday.

However, the Bill sparked a revolt among some Lib Dem MPs, with five defying the whips to back an amendment proposed by Southport MP (and former teacher) John Pugh allowing parents to be balloted if a school governor objected it to becoming an academy.

The five Lib Dems who supported John’s amendment were Annette Brooke …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , , and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

Can you design a poster to win the AV “Yes” campaign?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 26th July 2010 - 7:22 pm

TakeBackParliament.com has launched a competition to crowd-source the design talent of bloggers who support abolishing first-past-the-vote and replacing it with the Alternative Vote in readiness for next May’s referendum.

Andy May – occasional contributor to LDV – has mocked up this effort to get the ball rolling:

AV Poster


But he’s asking for readers’ assistance:

What do you think? Could you do better?

We’re looking for your poster designs and ideas – post your design on your blog and paste the link in the comments or send them to

…

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged , and | 29 Comments
Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #179

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th July 2010 - 7:20 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 179th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (18th – 24th July, 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Mark Pack on election cost rules: “important that the rules are robust and that the rules are properly enforced”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th July 2010 - 6:15 pm

LDV Co-Editor Mark Pack – who has written here and here about the Channel 4 News reports of MPs allegedly stretching their election exenses – has been interviewed by the channel about the complex rules.

You can watch one clip here:

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV Sunday caption competition: “Jeremy Browne passes the hat” edition

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th July 2010 - 2:45 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader …


(Credit: UK in Indonesia, hat-tip Andrea Gill).

Here’s Jeremy Browne, Taunton Deane Lib Dem MP and Minister of State at the Foreign Office, marking the launch of the Indonesian Embassy’s new hybrid car “Prius” at the Ambassador’s residence. What do you think Jeremy or the Ambassador might have been saying or thinking?

The winner of our most recent caption competition, the “Mark Pack points at pothole” edition – according to …

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Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

Tory MP Rory Stewart labels his constituents “primitives”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th July 2010 - 9:45 am

The Cumbrian News and Star reports on rising star Tory MP Rory Stewart’s fulsome apology following some bizarrely gauche comments about his constiutuency to a journalist, including the remark: “Some areas around here are pretty primitive, people holding up their trousers with bits of twine and that sort of thing.”

His local paper says that the Tory MP’s put-downs:

… have been branded as arrogant and crass and the 37-year-old has since admitted he was ‘extremely foolish’. He said his remarks were merely meant to illustrate how some areas of the county were living in real poverty.

I have some, limited sympathy …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames delivers his Mpinions

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th July 2010 - 6:45 pm

Duncan Hames, the Lib Dem MP for Chippenham is the second of our newbie MPs to take part in a viral video campaign called ‘Mpinions’. Here’s the spiel from its creators:

Mpinions is allowing new MPs to properly introduce themselves to you and all in a few easily-digestible minutes! Consider it the speed dating of the political world! The video campaign itself will be running until the end of August and is being sponsored by The Electoral Reform Society and supported and promoted online by the Hansard Society, Operation Black Vote, Dod’s Parliamentary Communications and The British Youth Council. Videos

…

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV TwtPoll – right or wrong to deny Nick Griffin entry to the Buckingham Palace garden party?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th July 2010 - 4:45 pm

A couple of days ago, Lib Dem Voice tweeted an instant poll asking the question, “Was it right or wrong for BNP leader Nick Griffin to be denied entry to the Buckingham Palace garden party?”

The poll’s still open, and you can vote here – here’s how voting currently stands:


All in all, pretty close, with 39% saying it was right, 33% saying it was wrong to deny him entry, and 26% saying he shoudn’t have been invited in the first place.

Posted in Voice polls | Tagged | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Williams: Coalition has done more for Equitable Life victims in 10 weeks than Labour did in 10 years

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th July 2010 - 3:25 pm

Here’s an important story that Lib Dem Voice omitted to give the space it deserves this week:

    Commenting on the Coalition Government’s announcement that it has introduced a Bill to compensate Equitable Life policyholders, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Treasury Policy Committee, Stephen Williams said:

    “The Labour Government had 10 years to help the those who had their lives ruined by the collapse of Equitable Life and did nothing. In just 10 weeks the Coalition Government has taken real action to ensure that those who saw their pensions and life savings hit hard get the compensation they deserve.

    “Liberal Democrats have long

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 6 Comments
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