Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

Tory tangle over non-white candidates

By The Voice | Sun 21st March 2010 - 8:20 am

The Observer today carries a story about the curious lack of photos of the Conservatives’ black and asian candidates in Barking and Dagenham.

The candidates exist (to the Tories’ credit) and their names and contact numbers are on the leaflets, but the photos are all white.

The Conservatives denied that the move amounted to deliberate “airbrushing” of ethnic minority candidates. They insisted that the lack of photographs of their non-white candidates on all campaign calendars dropped through letter boxes was because their list of candidates had not been completed when the material was published. But they could

…

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The Voice

Donna Boffa RIP

By The Voice | Fri 19th March 2010 - 6:10 pm

Sad news has reached us here at Lib Dem Voice that Islington Councillor Donna Boffa died today after a long illness.

From the Islington Tribune:

Cllr Boffa, 43, was first elected to represent Bunhill ward in 2003, in a by-election following the death of Lib Dem Cllr Rose Wooding. She leaves behind five children.

Islington Council leader Lib Dem Cllr Terry Stacy said: “Donna was a fighter right through to the end. From the day she was elected a councillor, Donna never forgot where she came from or who she was there to represent. Donna was all about helping the people without

…

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The Voice

Nick’s privacy pledge: only the Lib Dems will “bring an end to the endless snooping on innocent people”

By The Voice | Thu 18th March 2010 - 6:05 pm

Nick Clegg will be speaking tonight at the 20th annivesary celebrations of human rights group, Privacy International, and will stress the importance of this coming general election as an opportunity to win back privacy.

Here are some extracts from his speech:

Labour has spent 13 years trampling over people’s privacy. From allowing children’s fingerprints to be taken at school without their parents’ consent; to making us a world leader in CCTV; to wasting vast sums of taxpayers’ money on giant databases that hoard our personal details. And now we hear that ministers want pensioners to swap their bus passes for ID cards.

“The Government’s staggering record on losing private data – leaving it in pub car parks and on commuter trains – just makes matters worse.

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The Voice

Want to catch up on LDV’s Lib Dem conference coverage? Look no further … #ldconf

By The Voice | Mon 15th March 2010 - 11:50 am

It was packed weekend here at Lib Dem Voice, just as it was for conference delegates – so if you missed our coverage because you were in Birmingham, or simply want to re-live it all again, here’s the Voice’s handy guide to the conference-related posts published this past weekend …

Nick at conference:

…

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The Voice

+++ Exclusive: MEP has change of heart – now happy to have penis

By The Voice | Sun 14th March 2010 - 4:33 pm

News reaches us in LDV Towers that Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has had a change of heart and will be allowing his name to go forward for the Flying Golden Penis trophy for Politician of the Year at the Erotic Awards 2010.

Last month, as we reported, Chris Davies wrote:

It’s an honour to be considered but it’s not justified. I organised a fringe meeting to give sex workers a voice at last year’s party conference, and more recently I put out a press release defending sex workers from prohibitionist government policies. But it’s not enough

Whether Chris has been …

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The Voice

Nick Clegg’s #ldconf speech: read it in full here

By The Voice | Sun 14th March 2010 - 12:20 pm

A hoarse-sounding Nick has just started adressing the Lib Dems’ spring conference in Birimingham. Here’s what he’s saying …

Shall I tell you the one phrase that bothers me more than any other? It’s this. “That’s just the way things are”.

No.

The way things are is not the way they have to be. We do not have to live in a country where the poorest pay the biggest chunk of their income in tax. We do not have to live in a country where politics is the plaything of wealthy donors and corrupt MPs. We do not have to live in a

…

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

LAUNCHED TODAY: new Lib Dem Voice website – How Liberal / Authoritarian is your MP?

By The Voice | Fri 12th March 2010 - 7:05 pm

In just under an hour’s time, the Lib Dem Voice spring conference fringe takes place in Birmingham, marking the official launch of our new website: How Liberal / Authoritarian is your MP? The site’s web address is http://rank.libdemvoice.org.

(We will be uploading the podcast of the Lib Dem Voice fringe meeting here as soon as possible.)

How Liberal / Authoritarian is your MP? has a very simple aim: to provide an easy way for the public to find out online how liberal or authoritarian are the views of their MP according to his or her voting record in parliament.

Here’s …

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The Voice

What’s the Liberal Democrat position on homeopathy?

By The Voice | Thu 11th March 2010 - 9:20 pm

As the issue has been debated several times recently on this site, here’s the latest statement of the party’s position:

A recent report by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee examined the provision of homeopathy through the NHS and called for funding by the NHS to be stopped. The Committee did recognise that many users derive benefit from its use and did not argue that such treatments should be banned.

The Liberal Democrats believe that, as a basic principle, individuals should have maximum freedom about how they choose to get treated, so long as the therapy is safe.  When it

…

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The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Thu 11th March 2010 - 9:20 am

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 three 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 | 1 Comment
The Voice

‘Save the Net’ emergency motion submitted … now what?

By The Voice | Wed 10th March 2010 - 6:47 pm

Bridget Fox (PPC Islington South & Finsbury), Julian Huppert (PPC Cambridge) and filmmaker Obhi Chatterjee write:

Several of us have submitted an emergency motion on Freedom, creativity & the internet for the Spring Conference. It concerns an issue which affects the daily lives of almost everyone on which the party appears to have no defined or consistent policy: the internet. A BBC poll shows that 75% of UK adults think access to the internet should be a fundamental right of all people.

Our Parliamentary DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sport) Team has been doing a great job tackling the worst …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 29 Comments
The Voice

Student visas – Sir Les Patterson’s message of thanks to everyone Down Under

By The Voice | Tue 9th March 2010 - 7:16 pm

Last month Labour home secretary Alan Johnson announced tougher rules for students wishing to gain visas to study in the UK. Lib Dem Voice reader Ian Lawrence has passed us this thank you message from Australia’s Cultural Attache aka Sir Les Patterson …

G’day. Just heard my little possums that ahead of Labour’s March Visa rules, one group of Turkish students has decided not to go to Bournemouth but to spend tens of thousands in Australia instead – makes a change from Indians. The first of many groups I hope

…

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The Voice

Vince lays down the gauntlet to Alex Salmond

By The Voice | Mon 8th March 2010 - 9:45 pm

Lib Dem shadow chancellor, Vince Cable tonight addressed Reform Scotland on the action that needs to be taken to reform banking and protect the economic recovery. LDV is publishing extracts from Vince’s speech, below, including his call to SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond to follow the Lib Dems’ lead and state clearly how the Scottish government will live within its budget in the years ahead:

Banking
We need to rethink our approach to banking. Successive Labour and Conservative Governments have left Britain vulnerable to an over-inflated financial services sector, where institutions became too big to fail.

On a UK level – where British banks are 4.5 times bigger in terms of their liabilities than the country’s economy – this is bad enough. But in Scotland, this has been still more pronounced. At the time they got into trouble, RBS’ and HBOS’ liabilities were 25 times the size of Scotland’s economy.

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

Lib Dems launch Campaign for Body Confidence

By The Voice | Mon 8th March 2010 - 7:15 pm

Congratulations to Lib Dem MPs Lynne Featherstone and Jo Swinson for helping to organise a panel debate this afternoon in Parliament – to coincide with International Women’s Day – on measures to tackle the harm caused by pressure to conform to unrealistic and unhealthy body image ideals. The event marked the launch of the Campaign for Body Confidence.

The panel featured Lynne (the party’s shadow equalities minister), Clothes Show presenter Caryn Franklin, psychotherapist Susie Orbach and Dr Helga Dittmar of the University of Sussex. Other attendees included Girlguides, Linda Papadopoulous and the world’s leading body image experts.

Here’s what Lynne had …

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The Voice

Nick: schools should raise their game in exchange for funding and freedom

By The Voice | Sat 6th March 2010 - 6:40 pm

Here’s how the BBC reports Nick Clegg’s speech today to the Association of School and College Leaders conference:

Head teachers have been asked to “raise their game” as part of a £2.5bn funding deal proposed by the Liberal Democrats. Party leader Nick Clegg called on schools to reinvent the curriculum, raise results and close the attainment between rich and poor.

He told the Association of School and College Leaders conference: “We will find you extra funding, even while elsewhere there are cuts.” In return, the “greatest expectations” will be placed upon them, he said. The Liberal Democrats are proposing a

…

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The Voice

Web blocking and the Lords

By The Voice | Thu 4th March 2010 - 10:57 am

The amendment to do with web blocking and copyright from Tim Clement-Jones and Tim Razzall in the House of Lords has generated much discussion online. Yesterday we ran a piece from Lord Clement-Jones explaining his reasoning:

There are websites which consistently infringe copyright, many of them based outside the UK in countries such as Russia and beyond the jurisdiction of the UK courts. Many of these websites refuse to stop supplying access to illegal content.

It is a result of this situation that the Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment in the Lords which has the support of the Conservatives that enables

…

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The Voice

Nick puts schools at heart of vision for fairness

By The Voice | Mon 1st March 2010 - 10:45 pm

Nick Clegg today set out the importance of early years education in tackling inequality in a speech to the Salvation Army. Here’s how Politics.co.uk reports it:

Nick Clegg has placed inequality firmly at the centre of the Liberal Democrat’s education policy and attacked the Tories for not costing their plans for schools. In a keynote speech on education, Mr Clegg said his party’s ‘pupil premium’ policy would see disadvantaged children receive as much funding for education as private school pupil. Headmasters would then be able to spend that money on reducing class sizes.

Nick’s speech has earned the praise of Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers union:

The approach the Liberal Democrats have taken to education reform in a tough financial climate is genuinely refreshing. It would appear that the Liberal Democrats have understood that the last thing you do in times of financial hardship is cut back on the opportunities to boost support for education. Internationally the most far sighted countries are using their education system to prepare for the economic upturn. Nick Clegg appears to have understood this.”

Nick’s speech in full appears below:

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The Voice

Green Party candidate abandons Westminster bid to help Lib Dems win in Weston

By The Voice | Mon 1st March 2010 - 6:45 pm

The Weston Mercury has the story:

THE Green Party’s Weston candidate has withdrawn from the General Election contest before it has even begun – because he wants the Liberal Democrats to win. Dr Richard Lawson had been nominated by his party to fight the Weston seat currently held by Conservative John Penrose. But Dr Lawson has today announced his decision to withdraw his candidacy ‘to increase the chance of the Liberal Democrats taking the seat’. …

said: “”My candidature was founded on the idea that Weston was a safe Conservative win. That platform becomes shaky if Weston becomes vulnerable to

…

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Posted in General Election | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
The Voice

Lib Dem MEP spurns Golden Penis

By The Voice | Wed 24th February 2010 - 6:16 pm

North West Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has blogged about how he’s rejected a nomination as Politician of the Year for the 2010 Erotic Awards.  The Flying Golden Penis award will, it would seem, be flying elsewhere this year.

It’s an honour to be considered but it’s not justified. I organised a fringe meeting to give sex workers a voice at last year’s party conference, and more recently I put out a press release defending sex workers from prohibitionist government policies. But it’s not enough.

Whether this spurs Chris to even greater heights to be worthy …

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The Voice

By the way, the word you’re looking for is, “Whoops”

By The Voice | Tue 23rd February 2010 - 5:35 pm

Or there’s the alternative headline the Voice decided not to use: The six Lib Dem MPs who were in favour of devolution before they were aginst it …. The BBC reports:

Liberal Democrats say an “error” led to several of their MPs supporting an attempt to block new powers for the Welsh assembly. Six signed an amendment to a new law that would have stopped the assembly acquiring powers over home education.

The Lib Dems are in favour of more devolution, and their Welsh education spokeswoman Jenny Randerson said her colleagues had signed in error. They will now remove their names

…

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The Voice

Vince: the Lib Dems’ plan for the banking sector

By The Voice | Tue 23rd February 2010 - 1:35 pm

Vince Cable has today set out the Lib Dems’ plan for the banking sector. We’re publishing his speech in full below, but for those who just want the skinny, Vince:

  • Confirmed that the Liberal Democrats are not anti bank or anti banker.
  • Stated that his day one, hour one objective as Chancellor would be to devise a fresh and consistent mandate for the nationalised and semi nationalised banks.
  • Argued that RBS and Lloyds are key to supporting the British economy and are currently falling well short of their lending agreements.
  • Challenged Alistair Darling to give a full public account of these agreements on their respective anniversaries.
  • Reiterated the Liberal Democrat commitment to splitting up the banks, unilaterally if necessary.
  • Argued that so long as Northern Rock was re-mutualised in such a way to guarantee that it would continue to repay the Government, there is no reason – at least in principle – why it could not do so as a Building Society.

The full text of the speech is below:

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The Voice

The LDV Saturday caption competition – the “Lembit pops his cork” edition

By The Voice | Sat 20th February 2010 - 1:45 pm

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

Here’s Lib Dem MP for Montgomeryshire Lembit Opik celebrating the saving of Abermule Post Office from closure. What do you think Lembit, or those surrounding him, might be saying to each other, or thinking about each other?

The winner of our most recent caption competition, the “mine’s a large one” edition a fortnight ago – according to The Voice’s judging panel of one – was this one from Andy Mayer; with …

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Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged | 10 Comments
The Voice

Lamb’s challenge to Lansley: let’s get to grips with social care

By The Voice | Wed 17th February 2010 - 4:20 pm

Lib Dem shadow health secretary Norman Lamb has today written to his Tory opposite number Andrew Lansley to urge him to attend this Friday’s conference on social care.

The Tories are refusing to attend the cross-party conference – following last week’s tribal spat – on the basis that the Labour Government will not rule out a compulsory levy. This is despite earlier indications that Mr Lansley accepted that the issue of voluntary versus compulsory schemes was one of the key points to be resolved in a consensus building process.

Norman has also called for the talks to be held in the open, …

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The Voice

Conservatives get the numbers wrong – again

By The Voice | Mon 15th February 2010 - 8:20 am

Getting the numbers wrong seems to be becoming a habit among Conservatives.

First we had those dodgy crime statistics, with the Conservatives claiming wrongly that violent crime had massively increased over the last decade.

Today we discover the Conservatives have inflated tenfold the number of girls getting pregnant in deprived communities. What’s a tenfold increase between friends?

As the Guardian reports:

The Conservatives launched the attack document, called Labour’s Two Nations, to try to show the rise in inequalities under the current government. It claimed – three times – that women under 18 are “three times more likely

…

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The Voice

Clegg sacks Jenny Tonge

By The Voice | Fri 12th February 2010 - 9:35 pm

The BBC has the report:

The Liberal Democrat leader has sacked his health spokeswoman in the House of Lords after comments she made about alleged organ trafficking in Haiti.

Jenny Tonge told the Jewish Chronicle there should be an inquiry into claims that Israeli troops sent there after the earthquake were trafficking organs.

Nick Clegg said the comments were “wrong, distasteful and provocative” and dismissed her from her post.

He said she apologised “unreservedly” for any offence she had caused.

Full story here.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 75 Comments
The Voice

Clegg on torture allegations: this goes “to the very top of Government”

By The Voice | Fri 12th February 2010 - 8:34 pm

As The Guardian reports:

The political storm over allegations of MI5 complicity in torture escalated tonight after Alan Johnson, the home secretary, accused the media of publishing “groundless accusations” and commentators of spreading “ludicrous lies” about the Security Service.

As defence lawyers prepared to challenge the government’s success in suppressing severe criticism of MI5 officers made by one of Britain’s most senior judges, the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, pointed the finger at the “very top of government” saying senior ministers had probably known about claims of Britain’s involvement in torture but failed to take action to stop it.

Here’s Nick’s statement …

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The Voice

Wide backing for radical reform of Parliamentary scrutiny function

By The Voice | Thu 11th February 2010 - 2:20 pm

So reports a news release from Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris:

An amendment to the Government’s resolutions on reform of parliament following the report of the Wright Committee due to be debated on the 22nd of February, which calls for the establishment of a House Business Committee has attracted widespread support, including that of Sir George Young, its backers announced today.

The Select Committee on Reform of Parliament (the Wright Committee) was set up in July 2009 as a response to the expenses scandal to bring forward recommendations on how Parliament could be reformed to carry out its functions better. The Government …

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

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Wed 10th February 2010 - 1:50 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 three 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 | Leave a comment
The Voice

Nick’s challenge to Labour/Tories: sign up to to restore public faith in politics

By The Voice | Tue 9th February 2010 - 8:15 pm

Nick Clegg’s metaphors are on fire. At the weekend we filletted some of the great quotes from his Telegraph interview – and yesterday he came up with another … Speaking of Gordon Brown and David Cameron’s joint refusal to sign up to real political reform, Nick commented:

Listening to the two of them anyone would think they were powerless backbenchers rather than the leaders of the two parties in Parliament which have proved to be the real roadblocks to reform. It’s like a couple of cowboy builders coming back to your house to tell you how bad their workmanship is.”

The …

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The Voice

Electoral Reform Bill must give voters real choice – Howarth

By The Voice | Sun 7th February 2010 - 12:19 pm

A news release from the party reports:

The Liberal Democrats have tabled amendments to the Government’s proposals for a referendum on electoral reform that would:

  • Offer voters a real choice between first-past-the-post and a truly proportional system (Single Transferable Vote), rather than AV
  • Bring forward the date of the referendum to next May
  • Close a loophole allowing the next Government to kill the proposals without an Act of Parliament

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary, David Howarth said:

“Voters deserve a real choice – between the discredited status quo and a system where every vote matters and there are no safe seats.

“The Alternative Vote system is …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged and | 2 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Saturday caption competition – the “mine’s a large one” edition

By The Voice | Sat 6th February 2010 - 3:15 pm

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

Here’s Nick Clegg on a recent visit to cheer on Burnley Lib Dems and their candidate Gordon Birtwistle, as they attempt to unseat Labour and stop the BNP. (With thanks to Hywel Morgan for the picture). What do you think they might be saying to each other, or thinking about each other?

The winner of our most recent caption competition, the ‘never work with children’ edition just six weeks ago (ahem) …

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Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged , and | 14 Comments
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