Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #220

By The Voice | Sun 8th May 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 220th 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 (1st-7th May, 2011), 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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The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 6 May 2011

By The Voice | Fri 6th May 2011 - 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

  1. Homophobic smears hit Leicester South by-election (37 comments) by Mark Pack
  2. Lib Dem members say: AV referendum result irrelevant to Coalition’s future (16 comments) by Stephen Tall
  3. How to vote – and what to do once you’ve voted (1 comment) by Mark Pack
  4. Greens would pick up most Lib Dem 2nd preferences under AV: LDV members survey (14 comments) by Stephen Tall
  5. LibLink: Chris Huhne – AV referendum: why progressives must unite to vote yes (64 comments) by Nick Thornsby

5 sample LDV Members’ Forum threads

  1. Time to hold our nerve
  2. Essential Information for any Lib Dem tellers today
  3. Bollocks!
  4. What does a yellow rosette mean to the voter?
  5. Rowan Williams “Powerful should volunteer” idea

5 from the LDV archive

(6th May, 2007-10)

  1. The Lib Dem 2010 general election campaign: punching above our weight (6 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2010
  2. Why the Lib Dem surge was at just the right time (11 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2010
  3. PMQs: education (5 comments) by Alix Mortimer, from 2009
  4. Opinion: A performance to be proud of, but not to settle for (45 comments) by Neale Upstone, from 2008
  5. Lib Dems say it’s SNP or no-one for coalition partners (5 comments) by the founding editor, from 2007

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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The Voice

The LDV election results open thread

By The Voice | Thu 5th May 2011 - 10:20 pm

Here are the starting positions (as Stephen’s already described):

Scotland: the party is defending 16 seats (11 constituency MSPs, and five regional list MSPs), which was a drop of one compared to 2003. There are 129 contested seats for the Scottish Parliament.

Wales: the party is defending six seats (3 constituency AMs, and three regional list AMs), which was the same as in 2003. There are 60 contested seats for the Welsh assembly.

In the English local elections:

1,876 of the 3,948 Liberal Democrat councillors (48%) have been defending their seats today in –

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Posted in Local government, Scotland and Wales | Tagged and | 29 Comments
The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Thu 5th May 2011 - 8:24 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

LibLink – Chris Rennard: AV myths are behind MPs’ opposition

By The Voice | Wed 4th May 2011 - 4:55 pm

Chris Rennard, Liberal Democrat peer and the party’s former Chief Executive, writes today at the Guardian’s Comment is Free about the myths behind MPs’ opposition to AV.

The first myth, Chris says, is that the alternative vote system could lead to more hung parliaments, which has led to the Conservative hierarchy ferociously defending first-past-the-post:

The major misconception about the alternative vote system was expressed by former Tory minister Peter Lilley in the debate on the Queen’s speech that followed the coalition agreement. He supported the coalition “because a hung parliament makes it necessary”. But he said: “I would not support changes

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 6 Comments
The Voice

Video: The answer is AV. The answer is YES!

By The Voice | Mon 2nd May 2011 - 8:53 am

Paddy Ashdown explains why:

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged and | 3 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #219

By The Voice | Sun 1st May 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 219th 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 (24th-30th April, 2011), 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
The Voice

Dee Doocey slams Merton Council for buying VIP Olympics tickets

By The Voice | Thu 28th April 2011 - 9:26 am

The Evening Standard reports,

Council bosses came under fire today for taking £4,000 of VIP Olympic tickets at taxpayers’ expense.

Merton Council asked for two tickets – for the Mayor and a companion – for each of the opening and closing ceremonies at a total cost of £3,980.

At £995 a time, they are the most expensive of the tickets offered to London boroughs, which are each entitled to buy 100 prime seats worth £50,000 from Games organisers. Details of Merton’s move comes just weeks after the borough ordered…

Lib-Dem London Assembly member Dee Doocey said: “I am astonished that Merton council plans

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 6 Comments
The Voice

LibLink: Nick Clegg… AV got the Mayor elected – now he’s voting against it

By The Voice | Wed 27th April 2011 - 3:28 pm

Nick Clegg wrote an article for the Evening Standard yesterday aimed at London voters, who’ll only be voting in the AV referendum on May 5th as London does not have council elections* this year.

As well as outlining the reasons for voting Yes to Fairer Votes, “I believe most Londoners want a new way of electing MPs that cleans up politics, makes MPs work harder and makes every vote count,” Nick busts the myths about AV: “vote-counting machines that don’t exist and won’t be needed. Claims that the alternative vote is too complex for the British people to understand, as …

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Posted in London and News | Tagged , , , , , , and | 24 Comments
The Voice

Nick Clegg’s message to Labour YES supporters

By The Voice | Tue 26th April 2011 - 3:41 pm

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 25 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #218

By The Voice | Sun 24th April 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 218th 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 (17-23 April, 2011), 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
The Voice

Go and see Nick Clegg’s electoral reform speech tomorrow morning

By The Voice | Wed 20th April 2011 - 4:49 pm

Tis the day for tickets for events in London it would seem, as the IPPR have been in touch about a few spaces left for tomorrow’s speech on electoral reform from Nick Clegg:

The Shape of the New Politics
Keynote speech by Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Thursday 21 April 2011, (9.45am for) 10 – 11am
ippr offices, 14 Buckingham St, 4th Floor, London, WC2N 6DF

Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg MP, will give a keynote speech at ippr outlining the case for the Alternative Vote as part …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 4 Comments
The Voice

Opinion: Vickers report on banking does not go far enough

By The Voice | Mon 18th April 2011 - 2:25 pm

Naomi Smith and Prateek Buch of the Social Liberal Forum write about the Vickers Commission on Banking…

At Lib Dem Spring conference in Sheffield last month, delegates overwhelmingly supported the Social Liberal Forum (SLF) motion Tougher Action on Banks and Bonuses. The interim report published recently by the Vickers Commission on Banking went some way to addressing the problems within the industry , but as we predicted in our speeches to the SLF motion, falls far short of Liberal Democrat policy which calls for:

  • A break up of banks deemed ‘too big to fail’ into smaller, safer

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 15 April 2011

By The Voice | Fri 15th April 2011 - 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

  1. Norman Lamb writes… The NHS: safe in our hands (27 comments) by Norman Lamb MP
  2. Opinion: Why Labour members should defect to the Liberal Democrats (58 comments) by George Kendall
  3. LibLink: Chris Davies – Be angry, be proud – and campaign hard (40 comments) by Nick Thornsby
  4. Steve Webb writes: working for pensioners, now and in the future (20 comments) by Steve Webb MP
  5. Let Clegg be Clegg (just not toooo much) (12 comments) by Stephen Tall

5 sample LDV Members’ Forum threads

  1. LDV editorial line
  2. Gillian Duffy II
  3. Warren Bradley email
  4. It is not just the state that can take away freedom
  5. What’s it like on the doorstep in your area?

5 from the LDV archive

(15th April, 2006-09)

  1. LDVideo #GE2010 #GoNick – Nick anticipates tonight’s televised debate. But how are we all feeling? (0 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2010
  2. Okay, we can breathe again: who do you think won? (32 comments) by The Voice, from 2010
  3. CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – A greater test is to come (3 comments) by The Voice, from 2009
  4. Was Nick Clegg a student Tory? (46 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2008
  5. Autumn Conference timing: tell us your views (1 comment) by Duncan Brack, from 2007

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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The Voice

Lib Dem MP Stephen Gilbert sticks up for first-time buyers

By The Voice | Fri 15th April 2011 - 7:45 am

Stephen Gilbert, Lib Dem MP for Newquay and St Austell, has spoken about his difficulties in getting a foot on the housing ladder in his own constituency. Despite earning over £65k, Stephen is renting a flat until he can build up the higher deposit now needed — usually £25k or more — to secure a first home.

The Cornish Guardian reports:

“This is the double whammy first-time buyers have been affected by,” said the 35-year-old Liberal Democrat. “If I can’t afford a deposit on £65,738, what about the thousands on lower incomes?”

Mr Gilbert said: “I think the Government needs to

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 31 Comments
The Voice

Simon Hughes on the Coalition: “We have started so we’ll finish”

By The Voice | Thu 14th April 2011 - 10:20 pm

Deputy Lib Dem leader Simon Hughes has signalled in the clearest possible langauge his belief that the party’s coalition with the Consevatives can and will run its full five-year course. In a speech today in Bradford, Simon took the opportunity to state how the Lib Dems are delivering results in government:

Just this month nearly one million low income people stop paying income tax altogether. In the metropolitan borough of Bradford alone, 166,000 basic rate taxpayers will receive a tax cut. And this is entirely because of a policy which was campaigned for by Liberal Democrats in opposition and delivered by Liberal Democrats in government.

You can read Simon’s speech in full below:

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Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
The Voice

The Independent Banking Commission publishes its interim report

By The Voice | Mon 11th April 2011 - 6:23 pm

Via the BBC:

UK banks’ retail operations should be “ring-fenced” from their investment banking arms, the Independent Commission on Banking has recommended.

However, in its interim report the commission stopped short of recommending the two should operate as separate entities.

It said more competition was needed in retail banking, including the sell-off of more Lloyds branches.

The commission’s final recommendations will be published in September.

Robert Peston adds,

The big banks will claim that putting their retail banks into subsidiaries would impose significant extra costs on them – because it would force them to raise and retain more capital (which is expensive), and it

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 4 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #216

By The Voice | Sun 10th April 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 216th 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 (3-9 April, 2011), 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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The Voice

PODCAST: AV referendum debate at Gladstone Club

By The Voice | Sun 10th April 2011 - 3:27 pm

On Monday 4th April, in the run-up to the AV referendum, the Gladstone Club hosted a debate in the National Liberal Club on electoral reform which featured Lib Dem Voice’s co-editor Mark Pack and the Chairman of the Edmund Burke society, Ian Alston. Both took a look at the lessons which can be learnt from history by those deciding how to vote in the referendum.

Posted in Podcasts | Tagged , , , and | 5 Comments
The Voice

Clegg: “AV is a very British reform”

By The Voice | Sat 9th April 2011 - 11:15 am

In a month’s time we will know the result — will the British people have voted to modernise our electoral system? The next three and a bit weeks will see some frantic campaigning in the first national referendum in a generation.

Tim Farron is leading the charge for the Lib Dems, as he described here on Lib Dem Voice yesterday. And today Nick Clegg, who as deputy prime minister steered through the legislation to give the public their say, will deliver a speech on the merits of the ‘alternative vote’ in London. You can read the full text below. The …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 3 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 8 April 2011

By The Voice | Fri 8th April 2011 - 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

  1. Major changes at Lib Dem Voice (30 comments) by “Lord Ashcroft”
  2. Opinion: What the hell have the Lib Dems done? (59 comments) by William Summers
  3. Tebbit admits ‘I admire Clegg more than Cameron’ (16 comments) by Stephen Tall
  4. Grassroots pressure stepped up over NHS plans (56 comments) by Mark Pack
  5. Eight words from Ed Balls on the structural deficit (15 comments) by Mark Pack

5 sample LDV Members’ Forum threads

  1. Question Time
  2. Internships
  3. Facebook Page
  4. LibDem Vice
  5. New Zealand referendum on the voting system in 2011

5 from the LDV archive

(8th April, 2007-2010)

  1. LibLink: James Graham – Digital economy bill exposes broken system #DEbill (1 comment) by NewsHound, from 2010
  2. The ‘Digital Economy Bill Saints’: the MPs who voted against Labour’s internet freedom clampdown #DEbill (52 comments) by Richard Flowers, from 2010
  3. Ian Tomlinson – full Lib Dem blog round-up (11 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2009
  4. What’s going on in Maidenhead? (1 comment) by Adam Bell, from 2009
  5. A century ago today… (12 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2008

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment
The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Wed 6th April 2011 - 3:27 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 | 1 Comment
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #215

By The Voice | Sun 3rd April 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 215th 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 (27 March -2 April, 2011), 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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The Voice

New questions over the police’s relations with the News of the World

By The Voice | Fri 1st April 2011 - 10:53 pm

The Independent reports:

The police chief who headed Scotland Yard’s inquiry into phone-hacking dined with the News of the World at the height of his criminal investigation into the newspaper.

The sensitively timed meeting between then Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman and the NOTW was left off lists of contacts between senior officers and the paper’s owner sent to the Metropolitan Police Authority. Its disclosure in a Freedom of Information request prompted claims that the force had an unduly “cosy relationship” with Rupert Murdoch’s print empire News International (NI)…

Liberal Democrat MPA member Dee Doocey said: “It is extraordinary that when serious allegations about

…

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

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #214

By The Voice | Sun 27th March 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 214th 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 (20th -27th, 2011), 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 | 2 Comments
The Voice

LDVideo: Earth Hour

By The Voice | Sat 26th March 2011 - 4:11 pm

Further to WWF’s earlier post about Earth Hour, here is their campaign video on the subject.

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The Voice

The weekend debate: Does the Prime Minister’s pay make a useful yardstick?

By The Voice | Sat 26th March 2011 - 8:55 am

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

The level of the Prime Minister’s pay has become a widely used yardstick for other public sector pay – which suggestions of extra scrutiny for the pay deals of people who are paid more than the PM and counts or complaints about how many people are paid more.

But does the Prime Minister’s pay (or rather salary and pension, for the benefits in kind such as accommodation are rarely factored in) make for a sensible yardstick? And if not, is there an alternative …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 7 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 25 March 2011

By The Voice | Fri 25th March 2011 - 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

  1. Parmjit Singh Gill withdraws as Lib Dem candidate for Leicester South (7 comments) by Helen Duffett
  2. Nick Clegg on Libya: “This is not Iraq” (57 comments) by Helen Duffett
  3. Parmjit Singh Gill selected for Lib Dems in Leicester South (12 comments) by Helen Duffett
  4. Dominic Carman writes… Why I want to be the Liberal Democrat London mayoral candidate for 2012 (63 comments) by Dominic Carman
  5. Opinion: How 295 losers could have been winners (26 comments) by Mark Reckons Thompson

5 sample LDV Members’ Forum threads

  1. Royal wedding mugs
  2. Parmjit to fight Leicester South
  3. Cost of Living
  4. Roads in some trading estates for cutting congestion
  5. Changing education paradigms

5 from the LDV archive

(25th March, 2007-10)

  1. Electioneering the social networking way (3 comments) by Jennie Rigg, from 2010
  2. Guardian readers switching to Lib Dems in droves (11 comments) by Alex Foster, from 2010
  3. LibLink: Steve Webb – There has been no rightward shift by the Liberal Democrats (4 comments) by NewsHound, from 2010
  4. Nick Clegg launches Liberal Youth (21 comments) by Alex Foster, from 2008
  5. Unsubstantiated rumour (6 comments) by The Founding Editor, from 2007

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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The Voice

The Budget: discussion thread

By The Voice | Wed 23rd March 2011 - 11:54 am

Discuss away…

Posted in News | Tagged | 17 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #213

By The Voice | Sun 20th March 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 213th 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 (13th – 19th March, 2011), 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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