Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Wed 4th April 2012 - 4:53 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:

1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there’s something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you’re an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or you’ve seen …

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Posted in Site news | Leave a comment
The Voice

The Independent View: A note to the Liberal Democrats on university access and information

By The Voice | Wed 4th April 2012 - 12:50 pm

A child’s fate is often decided very early on in its development. That is why government intervention must happen early. Liberal coalition policies such as parenting classes and the pupil premium will help us move away from what Nick Clegg calls a “closed society” where people’s circumstances at birth haunt them for the rest of their life.

The most effective intervention happens before the age of 11, but this mustn’t be where it ends. A lack of decent careers advice and university guidance at some secondary state schools means that many talented pupils are failing to meet their potential.

Just as worrying …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged | 11 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #267

By The Voice | Sun 1st April 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 267th 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 (25-31 March, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 30 March 2012

By The Voice | Fri 30th March 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

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Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment
The Voice

Brian Paddick to be questioned live on Guardian website TODAY 1-2 pm

By The Voice | Wed 28th March 2012 - 9:53 am

Liberal Democrat London Mayoral Candidate Brian Paddick will be answering questions live on the Guardian website between 1 and 2 pm today.

If you have anything you want to ask Brian about what he stands for and what he wants to do for London, head here and put your question in the comments.

We’ll bring you news of how he got on tomorrow.

PS It’s a busy day for the London campaign.  Don’t forget about the tweetathon to launch Caroline Pidgeon’s One Hour Bus Ticket campaign which she wrote about last night here.

Posted in News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #266

By The Voice | Sun 25th March 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 266th 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 (18-24 March, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 23 March 2012

By The Voice | Fri 23rd March 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

Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #265

By The Voice | Sun 18th March 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 265th 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 (11-17 March, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 16 March 2012

By The Voice | Fri 16th March 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

Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment
The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Mon 12th March 2012 - 1:54 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:

1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there’s something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you’re an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or you’ve seen …

Continue reading »
Posted in Site news | 2 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #264

By The Voice | Sun 11th March 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 264th 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 (4-10 March, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment
The Voice

Text of Nick Clegg’s speech to the Lib Dems’ 2012 spring conference

By The Voice | Sun 11th March 2012 - 12:15 pm

Nick Clegg is currently speaking to the Lib Dems’ spring conference at NewcastleGateshead — here’s the text of his speech:

This year will show the best of Britain. The Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee, a nation proud of our past, but with our face to the future. A nation that treasures liberty, honours hard work and values fair play and fair chances. That is the character of our country: strong, confident, united.

And our character as a nation is being tested, because even in this year of celebration families are under pressure, worrying about paying their bills, about keeping their jobs,

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 4 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 9 March 2012

By The Voice | Fri 9th March 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

Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment
The Voice

Lynne Featherstone criticises marriage tax breaks

By The Voice | Mon 5th March 2012 - 1:54 pm

PoliticsHome reports:

Lynne Featherstone has criticised the idea of giving married couples a tax break, saying such a move would be “extremely unfair”. In an interview with The Times(£), the Equalities Minister said a reduction in tax for couples who tie the knot was a “bizarre concept… and wrongly aimed” and warned it was unfair on those couples and single parents who were unmarried.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 13 Comments
The Voice

James Graham leaves the Liberal Democrats

By The Voice | Mon 5th March 2012 - 1:22 pm

Winner of the 2007 Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year award, James Graham has announced he has resigned from the Liberal Democrats.

Writing on his blog, Quaequam Blog!, under the title “Pressing reset”, James says:

Last night I formally resigned as a member of the Liberal Democrats, effective immediately. To answer some likely questions:

1) No, I’m not joining another party. As if.
2) No, I’m not making a protest or resigning because of a specific issue.
3) No, I’m not planning to write a self-aggrandising article about my personal reasons for resigning, at least not this week (and when I do I’ll

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 40 Comments
The Voice

LDVideo: Jo Swinson’s Political Slot: The Liberal Democrats are in government on your side

By The Voice | Mon 5th March 2012 - 1:07 pm

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Posted in Lib Dem TV and News | Tagged , , , , and | 6 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #263

By The Voice | Sun 4th March 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 263rd 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 (26 February – 3 March, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | 2 Comments
The Voice

Tonge: Clegg acted “very hastily and ill-advisedly” in issuing apologise-or-resign ultimatum

By The Voice | Sat 3rd March 2012 - 12:41 pm

Here’s the Press Association report of Baroness (Jenny) Tonge’s BBC interview following her resignation this week over controversial remarks about the future of Israel:

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Tonge has claimed her party leader Nick Clegg acted “hastily” in quickly disowning her after she said Israel “would not be there forever”. She was forced to give up the party whip after the Deputy Prime Minister told her to apologise or resign hours after her comments to students at Middlesex University were revealed.

During a talk at the university, she claimed Israel would “reap what it has sown” if the United States

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 17 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 2 March 2012

By The Voice | Fri 2nd March 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

Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment
The Voice

Jenny Tonge resigns

By The Voice | Wed 29th February 2012 - 5:34 pm

Baroness Jenny Tonge has resigned from the Liberal Democrats after refusing to apologise over her remarks about Israel.

According to Nicolas Watt of the Guardian, this follows Nick Clegg’s ultimatum that she should apologise for her remarks or resign.

HuffpoUK has the story:

Baroness Tonge has resigned the Lib Dem whip in the House of Lords, according to reports, after refusing to apologise for claiming that Israel would not “last forever”.

The Liberal Democrat peer, who once said she would consider becoming a suicide bomber if she were Palestinian,

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 15 Comments
The Voice

Paddick accuses Met of leaking confidential witness information

By The Voice | Tue 28th February 2012 - 9:50 am

Yesterday former policeman Brian Paddick gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry, including these claims about the Met Police:

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Posted in London and News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #262

By The Voice | Sun 26th February 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 262nd 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 (19-25 February, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 24 February 2012

By The Voice | Fri 24th February 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

Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment
The Voice

LDVideo: Lib Dem MP Andrew George calls for NHS risk register publication

By The Voice | Thu 23rd February 2012 - 9:45 pm

Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George voted on Wednesday to publish the NHS “risk register”, a document containing a detailed analysis of what could go wrong with the proposed changes in the health service in England. Here he explains why, and that though the Health Bill is now “less bad” he is yet to be persuaded it should go through:

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
The Voice

How to get your picture to appear next to your comments

By The Voice | Tue 21st February 2012 - 4:25 pm

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.

  1. Visit Gravatar.com, create an account and upload a picture.
  2. Post a comment, ensuring the email address that you’ve used on Gravatar is the same

…

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Posted in Site news | 20 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #261

By The Voice | Sun 19th February 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 261st 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 (12-18 February, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 17 February 2012

By The Voice | Fri 17th February 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

Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment
The Voice

Survey: LibDems are hopelessly romantic

By The Voice | Mon 13th February 2012 - 10:24 am

The Liberal Democrat Voice team is normally very circumspect about surveys. But, it being Valentine’s Eve, our romantic natures got the better of us on this occasion…

UK Dating site FreeDating.co.uk has carried out a survey which reveals differing attitudes to Valentine’s Day, based on political persuasion. According to the survey, Liberal Democrats are particularly positive to Valentine’s Day.

The site says:

Liberal Democrats are hopelessly romantic – along with lawyers, Christians, and women who don’t read books.

Both Tory and Labour voters

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 10 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #260

By The Voice | Sun 12th February 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 260th 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 (5-11 February, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
The Voice

Bristol launches own currency to boost local business

By The Voice | Sun 12th February 2012 - 8:05 am

The Financial Times reports an innovative new development in Bristol designed to help local businesses:

A Bristol credit union is launching its own bank notes with which traders in the city will be able to pay their business taxes. The Bristol pound, which is supported by the Liberal Democrat-led city council, will be accepted tender in the city by businesses that sign up to the project. … The plan is to encourage more local trading – as the pounds will only be accepted by other shops or businesses in the city.

“One of the ways we can protect independent traders

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 2 Comments
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