Author Archives: The Voice

Opinion: what living on benefits really means

By The Voice | Fri 25th January 2013 - 12:51 pm

Suel writes:

Every time I hear the phrase “a life on benefits”, it’s like a slap in the face to my brother, who lives in my spare room while looking for a job. He’s not lazy or a scrounger, he just can’t find a job. As Sarah Teather said two weeks ago

the term “scroungers” has become so pervasive in social consciousness that even those on benefits do not attempt to debunk the entire category, only to excuse themselves from the label.

I asked my brother if he was willing to share what his life on benefits was like:

Her brother writes:
I have …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged benefits uprating bill | 91 Comments

LDVideo: Clegg – “Overwhelming priority of the British people is jobs, growth and a strong economy”

By The Voice | Wed 23rd January 2013 - 7:45 pm

Caron Lindsay reported here earlier today Nick Clegg’s initial reaction to David Camern’s announcement there will be an in/out referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. Here’s what he told the BBC:

And here’s the transcript of his interview with Sky News:

Posted in YouTube | Tagged eu referendum and nick clegg | 3 Comments

LDVideo: Liberal Democrats: coalition, polls and 2015 election

By The Voice | Tue 22nd January 2013 - 8:55 pm

Today’s BBC Daily Politics looked at the Lib Dems’ electoral fortunes.

In clip 1, they interview Lib Dem peer Lord (Tony) Greaves, former Lib Dem turned Labour councillor James Allie, and Gareth Epps, of the Social Liberal Forum…

Posted in YouTube | Tagged daily politics (bbc), gareth epps, james allie, tim farron and tony greaves | Leave a comment

LDVideo: Tim Farron – It would be “completely mad to have a referendum now” on EU

By The Voice | Tue 22nd January 2013 - 8:25 pm

Lib Dem party president Tim Farron — who resigned from the Lib Dem front-bench in 2008 to vote in favour of a referendum on the Libson Treaty — explained today why he thinks it would be “completely mad” to hold a referendum while the UK is tryng to get out of the biggest recession in living memory. You can watch the 2-minute video here:

Posted in YouTube | Tagged European referendum, european union and tim farron | 5 Comments

The LDV Saturday Six: 12 Jan 2013

By The Voice | Sat 12th January 2013 - 12:10 pm

~~It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock.~~ Sorry, let’s try that one again… It’s Saturday. It’s 12 noon (ish). Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

6 most-read stories on LDV this week

++ Government wins vote on Benefits Uprating Bill; 6 Lib Dem MPs rebel (83) by Stephen Tall
So, about that Lib Dem wipeout in 2015 then… (84) by Stephen Tall
LibLink… Nick Clegg: Labour need to tell us what they would cut (90) by The Voice

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

How to get the most out of your Lib Dem Voice comments

By The Voice | Tue 8th January 2013 - 1:55 pm

How to get a photo to appear next to your comments

You may have noticed that next to some people’s comments is a small picture of themselves, such as:

If you want a picture to appear next to your comments you need to do two things.

Posted in Site news | 3 Comments

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Sun 6th January 2013 - 4:55 pm

The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that’s fine, we’re grateful for people taking the time to read the site.

You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways:

Posted in Site news | 4 Comments

LibLink: Tim Farron – A party of both competence and compassion is in a unique position in British politics

By The Voice | Sun 6th January 2013 - 12:15 pm

In today’s Observer, party president Tim Farron begins the year in chipper mood, pointing out that the political pundits are quick to predict the deaths of political parties, including the Lib Dems — yet we’ve endured it all to become now a party of government:

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s landslide, after which serious political commentators, including those writing for the Observer, speculated that Labour could never win again.

In March, we will observe the 10th anniversary of

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged tim farron | 14 Comments

The LDV Friday Five: 4 January 2013

By The Voice | Fri 4th January 2013 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year? (25 comments) by Stephen Tall
So you think Ukip are the new third party? Let’s have a look at the data… (75 comments) by Stephen Tall
Which Lib Dem minister had the worst year? Here’s what party members think… (9 comments) by Stephen Tall

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

LibLink… Nick Clegg: Labour need to tell us what they would cut

By The Voice | Wed 2nd January 2013 - 2:41 pm

Nick Clegg has issued a challenge to Labour in today’s Times. Rather than, he says, oppose every single cut the Coalition has made, Labour should be saying what they would cut to pay for their policy priorities. If Labour want benefits to rise at the rate of inflation, then they need to spell out exactly how they would pay for it.

Firstly, he talks about what the Coalition has achieved for economic growth, and how it has been pragmatic on cutting the deficit, changing its plans as the global economic circumstances changed:

Here in the UK we have now paid off around

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged benefits, economy, labour, nick clegg and the times | 90 Comments

The 7 most-read posts of 2012

By The Voice | Mon 31st December 2012 - 5:55 pm

As 2012 draws to a close, here are the 7 most-read posts published on Lib Dem Voice this year. Thank you to the hundreds of thousands of readers who’ve joined us in the last 12 months; we look forward to seeing you again next year.

Posted in News | Tagged featured | Leave a comment

Nick Clegg’s New Year’s resolutions 2013

By The Voice | Fri 28th December 2012 - 3:00 pm

Here is Nick’s New Year message:

Posted in News | Tagged new year and nick clegg | Leave a comment

LibLink: Richard Reeves – Have yourself a merry liberal Christmas

By The Voice | Fri 28th December 2012 - 11:00 am

Over at the CentreForum blog, the liberal think-tank’s associate director, Richard Reeves, takes a look at the “communitarian dream” that is Christmas through a liberal lens:

Christmas combines in one package a number of elements that make us bristle. Religion, especially of an organised variety. Tradition for the sake of itself. The insanity of present buying. And semi-tyrannical familial expectations. … One liberal reaction to all this is to simply grin and bear it. … But bristling and bearing won’t really do. Liberal hostility to faith, family, community and tradition is well founded; they can all inhibit individual freedom. But the

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged christmas and richard reeves | 5 Comments

Happy Christmas!

By The Voice | Tue 25th December 2012 - 8:00 am

Posted in News | Tagged christmas | Leave a comment

Christmas confessions from the Lib Dem Voice team

By The Voice | Mon 24th December 2012 - 4:53 pm

As the Christmas sherry loosens us all up a bit, here are some confessions from the Liberal Democrat Voice team.

To turn it into a bit of a quiz, no names appear against each confession. So you’ll have to guess who the confessor is in each instance. By all means use the comments field below to have a stab at the identity of the owner of each revelation.

To make it a bit more interesting, there is an unspecified number of

Posted in Humour | Tagged featured and liberal democrat voice | 10 Comments

The political year reviewed by Stephen Tall, Tim Montgomerie and Hopi Sen

By The Voice | Mon 24th December 2012 - 3:53 pm

LibDemVoice co-editor Stephen Tall guested alongside ConservativeHome‘s Tim Montgomerie and Labour blogger Hopi Sen on BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour last night, reviewing the political year with presenter Carolyn Quinn through the rear-view mirror. Issues dissected in the 20-minute discussion included Andrew ‘Gate-gate’ Mitchell, Coalition differentiation, Nick Clegg’s future, welfare reforms and secret courts. You can listen here:

Posted in News | Tagged carolyn quinn, hopi sen, stephen tall, tim montgomerie and westminster hour | Leave a comment

A Christmas Carol, as sketched by Bodz. All 5 Staves Omnibus.

By The Voice | Mon 24th December 2012 - 8:45 am

Over the past five days, LibDemVoice has been delighted to bring you a contemporary updating of Charles Dickens’ classic story, A Christmas Carol, penned for us by Andy Boddington.

If you missed any, or simply want to sit back in a comfy chair with a glass of mulled wine and enjoy the whole saga again from start to finish, here are all five staves of the story as sketched by Bodz. God bless them, every one…

Stave One: Mensch’s Ghost;

Stave Two: The Ghost of …

Posted in Humour | Tagged featured | Leave a comment

The LDV Friday Five: 21 December 2012

By The Voice | Fri 21st December 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

A Christmas Carol. Stave One: Mensch’s Ghost (5 comments) by Andy Boddington
Y’know those stories about the death of the Lib Dems? Turns out, they might’ve been exaggerated… (57 comments) by Stephen Tall
Did you know the Lib Dems have lost half a million voters to Ukip? Here’s what I think it means. (48 comments) by Stephen Tall

Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment

A Christmas message from the President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe

By The Voice | Fri 21st December 2012 - 9:48 am

It is that time of year when Christmas messages start appearing, and here at Liberal Democrat Voice, we are no exception. And so, for your delight, here is a message from Sir Graham Watson, Liberal Democrat MEP for the South West, and President of ALDE…

Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged ALDE and graham watson | 11 Comments

LibLink: Richard Reeves on stepping away from the Tories

By The Voice | Mon 17th December 2012 - 5:47 pm

On Comments is Free, Richard Reeves argues that, in 2013, Nick Clegg needs to establish a more assertive identity and win voters over for bold, new reasons:

The coalition will be a play in two acts. Act one had the parties acting largely in tandem – reforming public services, reversing Labour’s

Posted in News | Tagged coalition and liberal democrats | 12 Comments

Nick Clegg’s speech: Governing Britain from the centre ground: building a stronger economy in a fairer society

By The Voice | Mon 17th December 2012 - 11:25 am

Nick Clegg gave a keynote speech at the Royal Commonwealth Society on the eve of his 5th anniversary of his election as Liberal Democrat leader. This is what he had to say:

I don’t suppose it’s exactly controversial to suggest that I and my party have changed over that period. Today I will argue that we’ve changed for the better.

Because my purpose here today is to explain, clearly and simply, what the Liberal Democrats offer the people of

Posted in News | Tagged liberal democrats, nick clegg and welfare reform | 50 Comments

LibLink: Nick Clegg declares the ‘war on drugs’ lost

By The Voice | Fri 14th December 2012 - 12:51 pm

It’s unlikely that many of our readers also take The Sun, but it’s probably equally unlikely that a Liberal Democrat would ever give an interview to it in which they spoke so freely about drug policy.

So, today’s headline in the Sun, “Nick Clegg: time to re-think drugs” will be an unexpected one, made more so by the rather supportive polling carried out by YouGov for it and the general tenor of the piece.

Here’s a snippet from the article;

If you

…

Posted in LibLink and News | Tagged drugs policy and nick clegg | 8 Comments

In other news…

By The Voice | Sun 9th December 2012 - 6:30 pm

Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes faces probe over donation (BBC News)

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is to consider whether the MP breached rules by failing to fully declare a £10,000 donation received by his local party in south London. Mr Hughes’s spokesman said the money, from a scrap metal firm, was registered with the Electoral Commission. There is no suggestion that Mr Hughes benefited personally from the donation.

Lib Dem leader stands down (ThisIsBristol)

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Councillors’ home attacked and death threats – all because of a flag

By The Voice | Sat 8th December 2012 - 11:35 am

ITV reports:

Two Alliance councillors in Bangor, Northern Ireland have spoken of their shock after their front window was smashed following a controversial vote on future of the Union flag at Belfast City Council.

Posted in News | 47 Comments

Rather better day at Black Rock… and Vale of White Horse, Brentwood, Sutton…

By The Voice | Fri 7th December 2012 - 10:43 am

We keep being told that, where we work, we can win. And it’s still true, no matter how gloomy the opinion polls are, as this week’s by-election results demonstrate.

The Liberal Democrats have gained two seats from the Conservatives in a stunning by-election win in Oxford West & Abingdon constituency. Elizabeth Miles and Val Shaw won on a 17% swing from the Tories in Sunningwell & Wootton ward, and their double victory reduced the Conservative majority on the Vale of White Horse District Council to just three.

Speaking after …

Posted in Local government and News | Tagged brentwood council, stephen gilbert, sutton council and vale of white horse | 12 Comments

Danny Alexander: “We are delivering on our number one election pledge”

By The Voice | Wed 5th December 2012 - 3:12 pm

Danny Alexander has just emailed Liberal Democrat members about the Autumn Statement, emphasising that the Liberal Democrats have delivered on their key election pledge, to raise the tax threshold to £10,000. From next April, workers will be able to keep the first £9440 they earn, meaning that someone on the minimum wage has had their tax bill halved by the Liberal Democrats.

Danny asks members to share the picture on your right on Facebook. Already the Voice’s timeline is full of them.

The Autumn Statement set out the tough decisions Liberal Democrats are taking in government to build a stronger economy and fairer society.

Posted in News | Tagged Danny Alexander, featured and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 18 Comments

Danny Alexander: Your money, back where it belongs, in your pocket

By The Voice | Wed 28th November 2012 - 4:56 pm

Posted in Lib Dem TV | Tagged Danny Alexander and income tax | 3 Comments

Cyril Smith: The decision made in 1970 would not be made today

By The Voice | Wed 28th November 2012 - 10:11 am

On 13th November Lib Dem Voice covered an article by Paul Waugh in the Spectator which publicised allegations of child abuse against the former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith.

Yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service issued a statement about Cyril Smith.

It begins by describing decisions that were made in 1970 about a file of evidence handed to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The file, from Lancashire Constabulary, contained allegations made by eight men that they had been subjected to indecent assaults by Cyril Smith as teenagers. The allegations were very similar in nature, and were allegedly conducted on the pretexts of either

…

Posted in News | Tagged cyril smith and sexual abuse | 28 Comments

In other news… Teather’s non-defection, Mulholland on beer price-fixing & MEPs on Irish abortion law

By The Voice | Sun 25th November 2012 - 5:00 pm

Sarah Teather Would Rather ‘Poke Her Eyes Out’ Than Join Labour (Huffington Post)

Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather would rather “poke her eyes out” than defect to the Labour Party despite being sacked from the government, according to the party’s chief enforcer. After the New Statesman noticed Teather had voted against the coalition plans to cap benefits, a policy she decried as “immoral and divisive”, rumours swirled that this meant she was about to defect to Labour. However the speculation was shut down by Lib Dem whip Alastair Carmichael, who tweeted: “I just asked her, says she would rather poke

…