Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – We need to clean up our act … now!

By The Voice | Mon 23rd February 2009 - 2:09 pm

Over at the Mirror’s website, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has an article (submitted, the Voice assumes, before his paternity leave started!) calling on politicians from all parties ‘to get together and give politics a proper Spring-clean.’ Here’s an excerpt:

Politicians are the least trusted people in the country, and restoring people’s faith will be a big task. So we can’t do it like a succession of governments have always wanted – bit by bit, issue by issue, crisis by crisis. We need to think big on the way politics works.

If we have flimsy rules for expenses, people will always

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – Let’s make a virtue out of thrift again

By The Voice | Sun 22nd February 2009 - 12:47 pm

Over at the Mail on Sunday, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable ponders the question he is asked every day: why are profligate borrowers being rewarded by lower interest rates while thrifty savers suffer? Here’s an excerpt:

Interest rate cuts were unavoidable, though they have reached their limit and other policies are now more important – especially getting credit flowing to sound companies. Of course, it is necessary for the economy that people should spend, sensibly, since this also creates production and employment for others. There is a danger that fear is leading many people, and companies, to hoard excessive cash

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – Why our economy is trapped in a time warp of tribal politics

By The Voice | Sat 21st February 2009 - 11:30 am

Over at the Yorkshire Post, Lib Dem deputy leader and shadow chancellor Vince Cable marks the first anniversary of the nationalisation of Northern Rock with his account of ‘one of the most tumultuous years in the history of the financial sector and the British economy.’ Here’s an excerpt:

Eighteen months into the credit crunch and six months into a recession, the Conservatives and the Labour Party are still rehearsing the same arguments. The Conservatives have one message: “It’s all your fault, Gordon.” The Government, on the other hand, endlessly repeats its claim: “It’s nothing to do with us; it is a

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Norman Baker – It might be legal, but it’s not right

By The Voice | Fri 20th February 2009 - 6:22 pm

Over at the Mirror, crusading Lib Dem MP Norman Baker writes (briefly) about the damage that the ‘drip, drip, drip of stories about MPs’ expenses’ is doing to Parliament. Here’s an excerpt (actually, it’s pretty much the whole piece):

We can’t continue to have revelations that the public find so shocking. Jacqui Smith’s homes are a prime example. It’s not acceptable that she can claim her main home is her sister’s spare room. Saying it is within the rules is not good enough. House of Commons officials must be able to veto MPs’ declarations. They need to ask questions like where

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The Voice

Duwayne Brooks: “The smart young man with a clipboard in one hand and Liberal Democrat leaflets in the other”

By The Voice | Tue 17th February 2009 - 9:50 pm

Last month, LDV brought you the news that Duwayne Brooks, one of the best friends of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, will be fighting a council by-election for Lewisham Lib Dems on 19th February. Today’s Times carries a feature article about Duwayne:

Ten years ago Duwayne Brooks was known mainly for being the best friend of Stephen Lawrence. As a witness to the murderous attack on his friend, he found himself on a collision course with the police, the courts and even the Lawrence family. Now he is seeking a title that is decidedly more establishment-friendly: councillor.

This month marks not only

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – There’s a job at home for out-of-work dads

By The Voice | Tue 17th February 2009 - 7:34 pm

Over at the The Times, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg suggests the recession is an opportunity to shake off our preconceptions about men’s and women’s roles. Here’s an excerpt:

As this recession bears down on thousands of communities and families we must again be open to reinventing ourselves. Many men will be forced to let go of their earlier identities and try something new – like the unemployed car worker in the West Midlands who explained on Newsnight last week that he was retraining to become a social worker. And many women may become the only family breadwinner for the first

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – Bewildered for now, but there’s anger to come

By The Voice | Mon 16th February 2009 - 6:06 pm

Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader and shadow chancellor Vince Cable writes about the ‘financial aristocracy’ of Sir James Crosby (‘affable, very bright and self-confident’) and Glen Moreno (‘a Gold Card member of Tax Dodgers Anonymous’). Here’s an excerpt:

Surely, now that the Government has taken over and rescued several big banks using taxpayers’ money, they must be run in the public interest, not as bolt holes for the financial aristocracy. By contrast, I see more and more ordinary people being ground down by the recession and by the banks. I was visited this week by a lady

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Tim Leunig – Co-ordinated inflation could bail us all out

By The Voice | Sun 15th February 2009 - 10:40 pm

Over at the Financial Times, Tim Leunig – occasional contributor to LDV, and reader in economics at the London School of Economics – considers the unusual financial origins of the current recession. Here’s an excerpt:

The global economy would benefit from a pre-announced, temporary, globally co-ordinated bout of moderate inflation. Since it takes about two years for central-bank policy fully to influence inflation, a sensible policy would be to target 4 per cent inflation for the five years from 2011, followed by 2 per cent thereafter. … An increase in inflation by an extra 2 percentage points for a period

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The Voice

And the moral of the story is…? Energy efficiency begins at home

By The Voice | Sun 15th February 2009 - 9:26 pm

From Friday’s Guardian, Lib Dems unveil plan for energy-efficient households:

Every UK home will be made energy-efficient within 10 years in a compulsory revamp of British housing stock equivalent to the “digital switchover”, the Liberal Democrats will promise today. … The party’s ambitious pledge increases pressure on the government, which will today announce its own plans to offer voluntary eco-makovers to one in four British homes. … It is estimated that carbon emissions from British homes account for a quarter of the country’s total. Under EU agreements, the government has 42 years to cut emissions by 80%. …

Announcing his party’s

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The Voice

Lamb criticises “MMR scaremongering”

By The Voice | Thu 12th February 2009 - 10:40 am

Norman Lamb has tabled Early Day Motion 754, “MMR vaccine and the media“.

This follows a public dispute between award-winning blogger Ben Goldacre and radio station LBC over a broadcast by Jeni Barnett that Goldacre describes as a “44 minute tirade against MMR”.

According the party’s press release, Norman said:

“Suggesting that the MMR vaccine is dangerous in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary is massively irresponsible and could put children’s lives at risk.

“This kind of scaremongering has had a serious impact on public health in the last decade.

“Cases of measles have risen dramatically in the

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The Voice

Brake: fears Olympics will turn into new Millennium Dome

By The Voice | Wed 11th February 2009 - 7:50 pm

The Times reports:

Taxpayers face a multimillion-pound maintenance bill at the Olympic Park after organisers admitted that they had failed to find a commercial operator to take over the main venue after 2012. … The Times has learnt that the Olympic stadium will cost at least £800,000 a year to keep open. Projected revenues from athletics events and a proposed sports academy will leave a big funding shortfall at the venue, where building costs have already spiralled from £282 million to £547 million. There are fears that the final bill could be much higher.

As Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrats’ Olympics …

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The Voice

Laws: schools focus on average pupils to ‘flatter league tables’

By The Voice | Wed 11th February 2009 - 6:26 pm

The Telegraph reports:

Schools are increasingly focusing on average pupils in an attempt to “flatter” official league tables, according to research by the Liberal Democrats. They are prioritising teenagers on the cusp of getting C grades – officially a good pass – at the expense of the very brightest, it is claimed. Figures show the number of pupils getting these grades in GCSEs has increased quicker over the last decade than in other areas. Focusing on so-called “borderline” candidates can dramatically improve schools’ positions in national rankings.

David Laws, the Lib Dems shadow secretary of state for schools and children, is …

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The Voice

Do you fancy being Vince’s voice to the press?

By The Voice | Tue 10th February 2009 - 1:49 pm

What more fun job could there be currently than to brief an agog media on the latest eminently quotable words of wisdom from the Lib Dems’ deputy leader and shadow chancellor, Vince Cable? If your answer to that is, ‘No job could be more fun’, then why not consider applying for the vacant post of Lib Dem Deputy Head of Media /
Press Officer for Shadow Chancellor:

This senior position strengthens our 24-hour media operation, supervises staff and their work rotas, promotes the Liberal Democrats as part of the duty rota cover team including acting as Press Officer for Shadow Chancellor on

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The Voice

Lembit reveals all to the Mail (Part II)

By The Voice | Mon 9th February 2009 - 1:46 pm

After a year of reading about himself in the press, Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik has decided to open up to the Daily Mail about last year’s annus horribilis by writing an exclusive two-part feature article. The first part focused on Lembit’s relationship with Gabriela Irimia; the second part recounts their split-up, his unsuccessful bid for the party presidency, and how the year ended with Lembit beginning to discover himself – here’s an excerpt:

As 2008 passed into 2009, everything went quiet. Work returned to its weekly rhythm. The photos of lost loves faded from the pages of the Press

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The Voice

Evan wins Secularist of the Year 2009

By The Voice | Sun 8th February 2009 - 6:46 pm

We may be only five weeks into 2009, but Lib Dem MP Evan Harris has already won an award – Secularist of the Year. The BBC reports:

The Liberal Democrat was named joint winner, with Lord Avebury, for their work in abolishing the blasphemy libel law in England and Wales. Dr Harris called the law “ancient, discriminatory and illiberal” as well as not compliant with human rights and against free speech. The offences of blasphemous libel and blasphemy were abolished last summer. …

Dr Harris has also campaigned to separate religion and the state claiming the current system has a number

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The Voice

The Indy asks The Big Question of Lib Dem class sizes proposal

By The Voice | Fri 6th February 2009 - 6:28 pm

Yesterday LDV reported on Nick Clegg’s announcement of the Lib Dems’ radical new education policies to fix inequalities in Britain’s ‘class-based education system’. In today’s Independent newspaper, there The Big Question feature has a very fair and balanced look at the issue, which you can read here – here’s an excerpt:

Why are we asking this now?

Because the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has announced that, if elected, his party would dramatically reduce class sizes for children aged five to seven – to just 15. it would be part of a £2bn cash injection into education spending.

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The Voice

Lembit reveals all to the Mail

By The Voice | Tue 3rd February 2009 - 1:20 pm

After a year of reading about himself in the press, Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik has decided to open up to the Daily Mail about last year’s annus horribilis by writing an exclusive two-part feature article. The first part focuses on his relationship with Gabriela Irimia – here’s an excerpt:

Frankly, I had no expectation of anything romantic happening between us, although I must admit that I was secretly hopeful. When, two months later, we became more than just friends, cynics derided our alliance. To them it just had to be a stunt, after all I was 41 and she was

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The Voice

The Future Shape of Capitalism – Vince Cable & Andrew Neil

By The Voice | Tue 3rd February 2009 - 11:00 am

21st Century Challenges is the flagship public engagement series at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). Their next event, and one possibly of particular interest to our readers who are within reach of London, will be ‘The Future Shape of Capitalism’, on 17 March 2009, 7pm at the Society’s headquarters in South Kensington.

An expert panel, including Vince Cable MP, writer and broadcaster Andrew Neil, and John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist will discuss whether the current financial crisis and the downturn in the global economy will change the shape of capitalism as we know it today.

Tickets are £10 / £7 …

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The Voice

Forthcoming PPC selections

By The Voice | Sun 1st February 2009 - 9:10 am

The Lib Dems 4 Parliament site brings news that there are seven selections closing during February:

DURHAM NORTH – PPC (6th Feb 2009).

DURHAM NORTH WEST – PPC (6th Feb 2009).

TYNEMOUTH – PPC (14th Feb 2009).

NORTH TYNESIDE – PPC (14th Feb 2009).

BRENT NORTH – PPC (20th Feb 2009).

BLAYDON – PPC (21st Feb 2009).

BEACONSFIELD – PPC (27th Feb 2009).

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The Voice

Are there more ex-SDP members on the Tory front-bench than the Lib Dem front-bench?

By The Voice | Fri 30th January 2009 - 6:40 pm

Danny Finkelstein asks the question over at The Times’s Comment Central here. Scores on the doors (allegedly) so far show it to be a draw…

Tory shadow cabinet ex-SDPers: Greg Clark, Chris Grayling, Andrew Lansley and David Mundell.
Lib Dem shadow cabinet ex-SDPers: Vince Cable, Chris Huhne, Tom McNally and Paul Burstow

Or can LDV readers point out more…?

Posted in Humour and News | Tagged , , , , , , and | 13 Comments
The Voice

Duwayne Brooks to stand for Lib Dems in Lewisham

By The Voice | Fri 30th January 2009 - 1:50 pm

The Mirror today reports what visitors to Lewisham Lib Dems’ website knew last week – that Duwayne Brooks, one of the best friends of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence is fighting a council by-election for the Lib Dems:

Liberal Democrats have selected two people committed to working hard on behalf of Downham residents to fight the Council by-elections on February 19th, Duwayne Brooks and Jenni Clutten. They hope to join Cllr Julia Fletcher as the representatives for the area on Lewisham Council.

Duwayne, 33, is well known in Lewisham as a campaigner against knife crime and, if elected, will be working

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The Voice

Lembit: “Time to talk to al-Qaeda”

By The Voice | Fri 30th January 2009 - 1:20 pm

The BBC reports on Lembit Opik’s plea for the West to speak to al-Qaeda:

It is time to talk to al-Qaeda. Having been through this in the past, I know this is right. Declaring war on terror does not deliver peace. The random killing of hundreds of civilians has obviously secured headlines from the perpetrators. As long as this cycle is repeated, we have relatively little chance of achieving closure on the terrorist methodology.

“For those people that want revenge, it’s hard. But then the crime will have created its own ricochet. That would distract from any chance of strategic solutions

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The Voice

Guest post: Peter Luff MP on an innovative online consultation

By The Voice | Thu 29th January 2009 - 3:38 pm

Peter Luff is the Conservative MP for Mid Worcestershire and Chairman of the Business and Enterprise Committee.

Politicians in the UK are often criticised for not using modern technology and communication methods effectively to engage with the public. This is a fair criticism – we should be doing so much better.

Sure, there are MPs who flirt with blogs and ministers who ‘twitter’, but there’s still an overwhelming sense that parliamentarians are using new media to be seen to be using new media, and that we actually still don’t know our dongles from our floppies.

In stark contrast to the US, we have …

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The Voice

Norman Lamb and the ‘prince of grime’

By The Voice | Thu 29th January 2009 - 10:13 am

The Guardian’s Patrick Barkham has the story of the strange connection between Tinchy Stryder “a 22-year-old grime artist from east London, enjoying the highest new entry at No 3 in this week’s singles chart” and Norman Lamb “a middle-aged Liberal Democrat MP from Norfolk”:

Stryder’s tiny independent record label was created by Lamb’s son, Archie, when he was just 17, after his Lib Dem dad remortgaged their home to loan him £10,000. Archie and his friend Jack Foster dropped out of school after booking Stryder – then completely unknown – for their urban music nights in Norwich and persuading him to

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The Voice

Scottish Lib Dems offer to “get round the table” with SNP over budget

By The Voice | Thu 29th January 2009 - 9:49 am

Tavish Scott, Lib Dem leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, has offered to open discussions with the SNP government in Scotland to resolve the budget breakdown triggered by the Holyrood parliament’s rejection of the SNP’s budget for 2009-10.

Though the Tories fell in line with the SNP, the 16-strong Lib Dem group, together with Labour and the Greens, voted against – the budget was ultimately defeated on the casting vote of the presiding officer. But this morning the BBC reports:

The Liberal Democrats want discussions with the Scottish Government about what concessions might gain their support for a revised budget.

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Chris Huhne – Cleaning up the house

By The Voice | Tue 27th January 2009 - 3:20 pm

Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free blog, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne argues that the cash-for-influence scandal is evidence that the House of Lords requires major reform – and a police investigation. You can read it in full here, but here’s an excerpt:

There are no adequate safeguards within the House of Lords to bring the matter to justice, as there is no easy means of suspending or expelling peers. Unlike the Commons, which was cattle-prodded into reform by Tory sleaze in the 1990s, the Lords has never had a crisis. … That is an important reason

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The Voice

More on the party’s technology plans: Lynne Featherstone interviewed

By The Voice | Mon 19th January 2009 - 5:43 pm

Lynne Featherstone has been interviewed by the Wardman Wire blog on the party’s plans for a new Technology Board, answering the questions:

1) What is the Technology Board for the Party for, and what is your remit as its Chair?

2) The Liberal Democratic Party is a federation of organisations. How does the Technology Board fit in locally and regionally?

3) How does your role compare to that played by Mark Pack?

4) What do you think needs to be done differently in the UK to Obama’s online campaign, and (briefly) why?

5) Would you list 3 specific things you would like to achieve during

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The Voice

The Tory reshuffle in full

By The Voice | Mon 19th January 2009 - 12:02 pm

Following the news this morning of Ken Clarke’s return to the Tory front-bench, PoliticsHome lists all the changes:

The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Mark Francois MP
Shadow Minister for Europe

Alan Duncan MP
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons

Chris Grayling MP
Shadow Home Secretary

The Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

Nick Herbert MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Shadow Minister for Women

Eric Pickles MP
Chairman

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The Voice

Lib Dem MP to put down motion against expenses cover-up

By The Voice | Sun 18th January 2009 - 1:32 pm

Yesterday David Heath said that both he and Nick Clegg opposed plans to exempt MPs from having to publish full details of their expenses. Now fellow Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson has said she will be putting down a Parliamentary motion supporting this opposition:

Jo Swinson, will on Monday table a parliamentary motion against the Government’s decision to exempt MPs from publishing full details of their expenses.

The motion criticises the “regressive effect” of the move on Parliamentary transparency.

Commenting, Jo Swinson said: “Ministers should not be cooking up plans to keep MPs’ expenses hidden from public view. With this

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The Voice

Clegg: only the Lib Dems “can truly change Britain for the better”

By The Voice | Sat 17th January 2009 - 12:29 pm

Speaking to the Lib Dems’ one-day policy conference in London today, Nick Clegg has highlighted the party’s policies to address the UK recession, and attacked the Labour/Tory “cosy consensus” for ignoring the needs of ordinary people and communities:

Our problems are systemic. Take a look at the problems in Britain today, from the economic crisis to the lack of social mobility, from disengagement with politics to our failure to get the best out of the European Union. The blame lies squarely at the feet of Labour and the Conservatives.

The Conservative adulation of the City of London, replicated by the Labour party: supplicants each in turn to the Square Mile’s masters of finance. That’s what’s made our economy so vulnerable to the global financial crisis. Both parties’ dependence on special interests, their centralising, micro-managing ways, that ignore the needs of ordinary people and local communities. That’s what’s sucked the life out of our politics.

The two old parties have been running Britain, turn and turn about, making the same mistakes, for longer than most people can remember. A cosy cabal, not wanting to change too much.

His speech concluded:

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Posted in News and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 7 Comments
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