Author Archives: The Voice

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From today’s Lib Dem News

By The Voice | Fri 26th October 2012 - 1:00 pm

Posted in Humour and News | Tagged david cameron | Leave a comment

Police Commissioner candidate’s team quits after allegations over funding

By The Voice | Thu 25th October 2012 - 7:50 am

The Telegraph reports:

Mervyn Barrett has flooded Lincolnshire with expensive leaflets, free DVDs and full-page newspaper adverts in his bid to be elected as its policing supremo next month.

Posted in News | Tagged elected police commissioners and Mervyn Barrett | 7 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #296

By The Voice | Sun 21st October 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 296th 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 (14-20, 2012), 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.

Posted in Best of the blogs | Tagged featured | Leave a comment

In other news…

By The Voice | Sun 21st October 2012 - 5:50 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

Disabled benefits: Tanni Grey-Thompson and Steve Webb (BBC News)

The paralympian and cross-bench peer Tanni Grey-Thompson tackled the Liberal Democrat work and pensions minister Steve Webb over government changes to benefits. … minister Steve Webb told her the changes, which will be phased in over a number of years, would mean “spending more money overall”, adding that the amount of cash disabled people get will be protected.

…

Posted in News | Leave a comment

LDV Caption Competition: “Knowing Me” Nick Clegg, “Knowing You” Steve Coogan Edition

By The Voice | Sun 21st October 2012 - 2:10 pm

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

(Photo by Dave Radcliffe from Lib Dems’ Flickr photostream.)

Here’s Nick Clegg meeting comedian, actor and Hacked Off campaigner Steve Coogan. What do you think might be being said or thought here?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Clegg meets Bono “Not U2″ Edition.

Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged dave radcliffe, nick clegg and steve coogan | 11 Comments

The LDV Friday Five: 19 October 2012

By The Voice | Fri 19th October 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

Vince Cable MP writes… My view on George Osborne’s employee ownership scheme (73 comments) by Vince Cable MP
Opinion: Clegg’s cock-up over Page 3 – he should sign the “No More Page Three” petition now (58 comments) by Daisy Cooper
Opinion: Britain should join the Euro (157 comments) by Geoff Crocker

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

From today’s Lib Dem News

By The Voice | Fri 19th October 2012 - 1:00 pm

“And I thank Big Chief Boris and all his tribe for their gestures of support…”

By Howard from Liberal Democrat News

Posted in Humour | Tagged lib dem news | 2 Comments

Clegg on McKinnon: “A day for celebrating”

By The Voice | Tue 16th October 2012 - 7:25 pm

Nick Clegg has just emailed Liberal Democrat members about today’s announcement that Gary McKinnon will not be extradited to the US:

In opposition, we were unequivocal: Gary McKinnon should not be extradited. I said at the time that he was too vulnerable to be uprooted from his friends and family and sent across the Atlantic, and if there was a case to answer it should be here in the UK.

So today I am absolutely delighted by the Home Secretary’s

Posted in News | Tagged extradition, forum bar, gary mckinnon, janis sharp and nick clegg | 5 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #295

By The Voice | Sun 14th October 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 295th 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 (7-13 October, 2012), 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

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

LDV Caption Competition: Clegg meets Bono “Not U2” Edition

By The Voice | Sat 13th October 2012 - 2:15 pm

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

Here’s Nick Clegg meeting U2 frontman Bono. What do you think might be being said or thought here?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Jeremy Browne “Wiff Waff’s Coming Home” Edition.

Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged bono, jeremy browne and nick clegg | 16 Comments

The LDV Friday Five: 12 October 2012

By The Voice | Fri 12th October 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

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

From today’s Lib Dem News

By The Voice | Fri 12th October 2012 - 1:00 pm

“We’re still compassionate, I still say “Hug a hoodie” – but you can blow their brains out if you find one in your house after midnight…”

Posted in Humour and News | Tagged Cartoon and lib dem news | 4 Comments

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

By The Voice | Thu 11th October 2012 - 11:55 am

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 | 6 Comments

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Tue 9th October 2012 - 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 | Leave a comment

Paddy, Olly and Max on the art of speech-making

By The Voice | Sat 6th October 2012 - 5:45 pm

Here’s a forthcoming event to anticipate…

On Wednesday 21 November, from 6.30pm, as part of Parliament Week 2012, Lord Ashdown, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, and his former speechwriter, Dr Max Atkinson, will share their experiences of how party leader and speechwriter worked in synchrony at the highest level, and the specific techniques they used to inspire their audiences through the power of the spoken word.

The meeting

…

Posted in Events | Leave a comment

Nick Clegg: “Turkish entry into the EU is a strategic necessity”

By The Voice | Wed 3rd October 2012 - 3:23 pm

Nick Clegg is on a trade mission to Turkey today, and has announced £500m of business deals and £1m of funding for the Turkish Red Crescent in Syria.

He wrote this morning in Turkey’s Sabah newspaper, on the Turkish economy, trade between Turkey and the UK, visas for Turkish travellers, and the the response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. You can read the article in Turkish over at Sabah; the English translation is below:

This summer for a few, glorious weeks the United Kingdom became the centre of the world as we hosted the London Olympic and Paralympic

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged eu, nick clegg, syria, trade and turkey | 20 Comments

LibLink: Stephen Tall – Lib Dem conference is this week’s liberal hero

By The Voice | Sun 30th September 2012 - 8:45 am

Over at CentreForum’s blog, Stephen Tall has proposed the Lib Dem conference as the think-tank’s latest ‘Liberal Hero of the Week’ for its stance in opposing the Coalition’s plans for secret courts. Here’s an excerpt:

It’s not the fact that David Cameron doesn’t know the translation of ‘Magna Carta’ that worries me. It’s that he doesn’t appear to understand its central tenet:

No free man shall be taken or imprisoned, or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go or send against him except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged centre forum and stephen tall | Leave a comment

The LDV Friday Five: 28 September 2012

By The Voice | Fri 28th September 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

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

Jo Shaw’s speech to Lib Dem conference opposing secret courts

By The Voice | Fri 28th September 2012 - 2:20 pm

Stephen Tall writes: The best and most important debate at this week’s Lib Dem conference was on the motion opposing the extension of secret courts proposed in the Coalition’s justice and security bill. Jo Shaw’s opening speech was acclaimed by many as the best of the week and helped ensure the overwhelming rejection of ‘secret courts’. For the benefit of those who weren’t able to hear it, and for those who want to remind themselves of the clarity of Jo’s arguments, we’re delighted to publish the full text below.

***

Full text of Jo Shaw’s speech to Lib Dem conference, 25th September 2012

Conference, this motion is clear in what it calls for as Liberal Democrat party policy – the rejection of secret courts in civil claims. Claims that could arise, for example, from victims of Hillsborough, families of friendly fire victims in Afghanistan, or victims of torture and extraordinary rendition. Victims of negligence just as much as victims of abuse. This is about their ability to expose the truth through a civil case.

The motion asks for two policy outcomes in the unamended lines 41-48:

1) For Part II of the Justice and Security Bill to be rejected, by Liberal Democrats in government and on the back benches
2) For the current system of Public Interest Immunity to be put on to the statute book.

Posted in Conference and Op-eds | 2 Comments

From today’s Lib Dem News

By The Voice | Fri 28th September 2012 - 1:00 pm

By Howard of Lib Dem News

Posted in Humour | Tagged lib dem news | 5 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #292

By The Voice | Tue 25th September 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 292th 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 (16-22 September, 2012), 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:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

The LDV Friday Five: 21 September 2012

By The Voice | Fri 21st September 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

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

Polls and predictions: The Chris Rennard Interview

By The Voice | Tue 18th September 2012 - 2:25 pm

Liberal Democrat News has just published extracts from an interview with Lord (Chris) Rennard, former Lib Dem Chief Executive, and Director of Campaigns and Elections. The interview appears in full below.
Journalist York Membery is a regular contributor to the nationals. He is also a contributing editor to the Journal of Liberal History.

Chris is credited with masterminding a string of past by-election victories as well as the target seat strategy that increased our number of MPs from 19 to 63. He tells York Membery that we should look to the future with hope not fear…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged andrew stunell, chris rennard, tony greaves and york membery | 4 Comments

David Laws: “An exam for all abilities”

By The Voice | Mon 17th September 2012 - 7:11 pm

Here’s the text of the email from Lib Dem education minister David Laws to party members today setting out the Coalition’s proposed reforms of the GCSE exam system:

The Coalition has today announced our plan to replace GCSEs with new, reformed qualifications.

Our proposals will restore rigour to the exam system, allow us to compete on the international stage, and end years of grade inflation under Labour.

When some Conservatives suggested that we could bring back the 1950s O-Level, Nick Clegg immediately made it clear that Liberal Democrats would not tolerate such a move. Liberal Democrats will never accept a return

…

Posted in News | Tagged david laws, EBacc, education, gcses and schools | 44 Comments

The LDV Friday Five: 14 September 2012

By The Voice | Fri 14th September 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

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

From today’s Lib Dem News

By The Voice | Fri 14th September 2012 - 12:52 pm

By Howard of Lib Dem News

Posted in Humour | Tagged lib dem news | 46 Comments

Less than 21 hours to get your BOTY nominations in…..

By The Voice | Thu 13th September 2012 - 8:35 pm

It’s almost two weeks since Helen Duffett invited us to submit our nominations for the prestigious Liberal Democrat Voice Blog of the Year. Nominations close at 5pm tomorrow so if you haven’t done yours yet, you had better get your finger out. You are allowed to nominate your own blog – and nobody will ever know that you did. All the relevant details and the categories are reproduced below. If you are at Conference, the winners will be unveiled at an every expense spared ceremony at Conference. Better get that tux dry cleaned….

Make your choices and get them in …

Posted in Conference and News | Tagged 2012 Brighton Conference, alan muhammed, blog of the year awards, helen duffett, kirsty williams, nick thornsby and stephen tall | 2 Comments

Cable and Balls cosy sofa body language – while Cable is (reportedly) at loggerheads with his Tory minister

By The Voice | Mon 10th September 2012 - 3:04 pm

There is wall-to-wall Cable in the papers today.

Vince Cable will make a statement in the Commons this afternoon about industrial strategy.

The Telegraph says he will “hold the hand” of certain growth industries and encourage them to have a “Team GB” mentality – Learn from Team GB’s success, Cable tells businesses.

The FT says Cable will light a “red tape bonfire“.

Posted in News | Tagged vince cable | 4 Comments