Category Archives: LibLink

For highlighting articles by Lib Dems that have appeared elsewhere in the media.

The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV… Paddy Ashdown: What we must do to win this war in Afghanistan

By The Voice | Wed 22nd July 2009 - 12:15 pm

Over at The Independent, former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown argues that the history of the Afghan war is one of continuous mistakes, and outlines the key factors which can transform defeat into success. Here’s an excerpt:

I start from the proposition that the war in Afghanistan is one we have to fight and must win. The cost of failure there is just too great. It includes the certain fall of Pakistan and the possible emergence of the world’s first Jihadist Government with a nuclear weapon; the re-creation in Afghanistan of a lawless space open for the preparation and export

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV… Vince Cable: Some banks have not acknowledged their near-death experience

By The Voice | Tue 21st July 2009 - 1:30 pm

Over at The Independent, Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable’s speech to the London Stock Exchange is excerpted:

I stand here to outline the Liberal Democrat proposals for significant changes to the regulatory structure of the City and its future direction. These proposals build on ideas we set out over a year ago in our New Deal for the City. Some of those ideas – macroprudential regulation of bank capital; linking bonuses to long-term stock performance; reform of rating agencies – have become part of the conventional wisdom and I don’t need to rehearse them.

You can read more excerpts from …

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV… Lembit Opik: This much I know

By The Voice | Mon 20th July 2009 - 2:00 pm

Yesterday’s Observer feature – the revealing ‘This much I know’ – featured ubiquitous Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik. Here’s a couple of excerpts:

The press has created for me a persona as a wacky guy who goes out with beautiful women, and there were times in my life when I would have paid for that image. But it really annoys me when people ring up and say: “What are you doing going out with so and so?” I could be banging Adam Price and it wouldn’t affect my ability to do my job.

I joined the Liberal Democrats when they

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV… Nick Clegg and Merlene Emerson write for Operation Black Vote blog

By The Voice | Sat 18th July 2009 - 1:45 pm

Over at the new Operation Black Vote (OBV) blog, two Lib Dems – Nick Clegg and Merlene Emerson – have published articles, excerpts below…

Believing in our children, not criminalising them (Nick Clegg)

Nick argues that dealing with crime needs a completely new approach to the counter-productive policies of New Labour:

In these difficult times, the prospect of rising youth offending is a serious one. But fear mustn’t now give credence to the New Labour way, which is to bang up our children the moment they divert from the straight and narrow. Britain now has 3,000 children in prison – more than

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV… Nick Clegg: An end to the duopoly that dominated 20th-century Britain

By The Voice | Fri 17th July 2009 - 10:00 am

The Independent today publishes an extrract from Nick Clegg’s speech to the National Liberal Club, marking the 150th anniversary of the first Parliamentary Liberal Party caucus. Here’s an excerpt from the excerpt:

… in the battle of ideas the Liberal Democrats are winning. The first party to identify the dangers of an overleveraged banking system. The first to advocate radical political reform. Consistent in our defence of civil liberties. Principled in our defence of the international rule of law. Outspoken in correcting our woefully imbalanced tax system. Radical on the need to make Britain environmentally sustainable. Brave in standing up to

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Chris Huhne – Fresh questions for the News of the World

By The Voice | Tue 14th July 2009 - 6:30 pm

Over at The Guardian, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne argues that fresh evidence in the News of the World hacking scandal should compel the Met to re-open its inquiry. Here’s an excerpt:

The surveillance state has rightly become a matter of great public concern, which is why the Guardian’s scoop that the use of private investigators who phone hacked was apparently widespread on the News of the World was so sensational. This is not something that can be brushed aside, because it strikes at the heart of the privacy any individual can expect in a civilised society. If the

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – This vulnerable man has been hung out to dry by a government desperate to appease America

By The Voice | Fri 10th July 2009 - 2:41 pm

Over at the Daily Mail, Nick Clegg picks up Lib Dem colleague Lord (Alex) Carlile’s support for Asperger’s sufferer Gary McKinnon, who faces health-threatening extradition to the US to face charges of computer hacking. Here’s an excerpt:

Despite what the U.S. authorities say, Gary McKinnon is no cyber-terrorist. He is a computer whiz with a serious medical condition. That is not to say he isn’t a criminal. His hacking into American military computers and leaving messages was foolish and illegal. No one, not even his supporters, are suggesting that his crimes go unpunished. … But Gary McKinnon has been hung

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – Afghanistan: We’re asking our troops to do the impossible

By The Voice | Thu 9th July 2009 - 5:30 pm

Over at the Daily Telegraph Nick Clegg argues is time for a new strategy and fresh commitment to Afghanistan. Here’s an excerpt:

As leader of the Liberal Democrats, I have been keen to maintain the cross-party consensus on Afghanistan that formed after September 11, and has not faltered since. But recent events have led me to question, for the first time, whether we’re going about things in the right way. I am concerned that we are simply not giving our troops the means to do their difficult job. We must not will the ends without being prepared to will the means.

I am a Liberal interventionist, who believes military action is justified when supported by reason and the law. I support the aim of our mission wholeheartedly: to stop Afghanistan reverting to a haven for terrorism, with its people oppressed and impoverished. To achieve that, military forces need to create enough space for stability and good governance to take root.

But we need to ask whether the Government has the will, strategy or tactics to do the job properly.

You can read the article in full HERE.

And you can watch Nick’s BBC interview on the issue below:

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – We’re the masters of the banking universe

By The Voice | Wed 8th July 2009 - 11:30 am

Over at The Times, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable argues that government should stop being so polite and lay down the law: free up lending, regulate risk and don’t sell the taxpayer short. Here’s an excerpt:

There is a battle royal being fought out over the scale and scope of regulation. There is some common ground: mindless, bureaucratic box-ticking has to give way to a form of supervision that identifies systemic risk; there is also agreement around the concept of “macro-prudential” regulation, with the Bank of England in the lead.

There are powerful forces arguing for the return to the status

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Claire Rayner – The only way to win back votes

By The Voice | Tue 7th July 2009 - 9:06 pm

Over at The Guardian Lib Dem supporter (and former ‘agony aunt’) Claire Rayner argues that only electoral reform can break the cycle of cynicism over politics and politicians by encouraging people to vote again. Here’s an excerpt:

So, the right to vote was fought for, and everyone over the age of 18 in the UK is able to choose their representative for minor and important matters of state. Do they? Do they, hell. We have the most feeble of democracies because people do not bother exercising their right to vote. A disappointing number of eligible Britons turned up to vote for

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Anthony Lester – End the legal uncertainty over assisted suicide

By The Voice | Mon 6th July 2009 - 6:04 pm

Over at the Indpendent, Lib Dem peer Lord (Antony) Lester argues that citizens are entitled to know if their conduct is criminal. Here’s an excerpt:

The Suicide Act 1961 changed the law so that suicide is no longer a crime, but it remains a crime to encourage or assist suicide, and the current state of the law is not as certain as criminal law should be. Criminal liability depends on the way a particular Director of Public Prosecutions decides what is in the public interest.

Like many others, I believe that we need a legal framework which would allow doctors and nurses

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Alex Carlile – Why it would be cruel not to put Gary McKinnon on trial in Britain

By The Voice | Mon 6th July 2009 - 10:00 am

Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem peer Lord (Alex) Carlile, the independent reviewer of British anti-terrorist laws, takes up the case of Asperger’s sufferer Gary McKinnon, who is under threat of potentially health-threatening extradition to the USA after he hacked his way methodically into protected documents. Lord Carlile argues he should be tried in the British courts:

Gary McKinnon is immature, vulnerable and sadly without insight into the effect he sometimes has on others. He suffers from a severe form of Asperger’s Syndrome. He is obsessive and can be difficult. He hates any changes of routine. Medical evidence shows him

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – Government cannot wash its hands of tax

By The Voice | Mon 6th July 2009 - 9:49 am

Over at The Independent, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable argues that progressive taxation will not, of itself, neutralise the problem, which has to be dealt with at source. Here’s an excerpt:

I am not surprised to discover that leading accountants are advising high earners in the City how to reduce the tax they pay on their bonuses. That is what tax accountants do. And that is what bankers do. Neither profession is affiliated to the Boy Scouts. It is the Government which needs to explain why tax revenue is disappearing. One major reason is that the 50 per cent top

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Stephen Tall

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – While the Conservatives try to appear gay-friendly, they now stand shoulder with march-banning bigots

By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th July 2009 - 10:30 am

Over at LabourList, Nick Clegg pens a powerful post in favour of the strides taken in recent years to enshrine equal rights for gay people. Here’s an excerpt:

Like many people, in 1997 I hoped that with the right cast into the political wilderness a permanent victory for gay rights was in sight. But discrimination still lingers in the statute book, and homophobia still festers in homes, offices and classrooms. Gay rights, like all minority rights, should by now have become unquestionable. But in practice they are still too often treated like privileges, falling in and out of favour with politicians.

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Paddy Ashdown – The age when the powerful can act unilaterally is over

By The Voice | Fri 3rd July 2009 - 12:30 pm

Over at The Independent, there is an extract from former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown’s speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House examining the situation in Afghanistan. Here’s an excerpt:

… the chief reason for the fact that we are losing lives is not in the ineffectiveness of the Afghan government, who we love to blame, but in our own complete failure to have any coordinated international plan; in our inability to work together between the nations of the coalition; in our determination to see Afghanistan solely through the prism of the place in which we

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Paddy Ashdown – The Cold War is over. We must move on, fast

By The Voice | Tue 30th June 2009 - 11:41 am

Over at The Times, former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown has co-authored an article with former Labour defence secretary George Robertson – they were co-chairs of the IPPR’s Commission on National Security in the 21st Century, whose report was published today – arguing that old-fashioned thinking is hampering British security policy today. Here’s their all-encompassing introduction:

The global recession is likely to worsen the international security environment considerably. It is already making many weak and poor states weaker and, as both 9/11 and recent events in North Korea have shown, the consequences flowing from weak, fragile and pariah states are

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – Our next test of courage: to cut public sector pensions

By The Voice | Mon 29th June 2009 - 6:00 pm

Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable argues that the vast scale of government debt means we must tackle public sector pensions. Here’s an excerpt:

Gordon Brown’s continual squirming and denials can’t conceal the truth: public finances are in a truly terrible mess. People know that nasty spending cuts and tax increases are on the way. They want political leaders to be frank and spell it out. What, when and how?

They will not be convinced by George Osborne’s alternative: to win an Election and then get Ministers round a table behind closed doors to decide what the

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – Peril of barking bankers tugging at leash

By The Voice | Tue 23rd June 2009 - 2:15 pm

Over at the Daily Mirror, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable writes about the “dangerous mood building up in the City. Bankers are straining at the leash. They sniff a chance to get back to business as usual.” Here’s an excerpt:

Last week the Governor of the Bank of England warned that banks which are “too big to fail” are simply too big. The UK taxpayer cannot stand behind global banks and the casinos, the big investment banks. These make their profits from speculative trades. Casinos are legal but are not banks. They have to be split off. …

Bankers think

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – This recession is very far from over

By The Voice | Wed 17th June 2009 - 10:25 am

Over at The Independent, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable pours cold water on the idea the economy is bouncing back, arguing that we are seeing an economists’ and financiers’ recovery rather than a real one. Here’s an excerpt:

The mother of all economic crises seems mysteriously to have vanished in the face of a determined counter-offensive by the forces of optimism. There are daily accounts of returning confidence in financial and property markets and bodies like the National Institute of Economic and Social Research are forecasting an early return to growth. Perhaps those government ministers who spotted the “green

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – My lost appendix – and what it taught me about the NHS

By The Voice | Mon 15th June 2009 - 12:24 pm

Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable reflects on his recent brush with A&E after he had his appendix removed. Here’s an excerpt:

My short experience told me that there is now excellent quality care in the NHS provided by some first-class people. I also sensed that the services are potentially fragile if put under financial stress.

My own adventure began when I collapsed in a heap several times after dinner at a friend’s house. The initial theory was food poisoning – a House of Commons crayfish sandwich eaten earlier in the day was chief suspect. When

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Stephen Tall

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Sirs Ming & Alan publish their Speaker manifestos

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th June 2009 - 3:30 pm

Over at The Times, the two Lib Dem candidates for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons – Sir Menzies Campbell and Sir Alan Beith – set out their manifestos, stating what reforming credentials they would bring to this most historic of offices. Excerpts below:

Ming Campbell:

What is needed is a Speaker who imposes their authority on the House of Commons, not their politics; a Speaker who will stand up for all MPs and when necessary stand up against the Government of the day; a Speaker who will not be intimidated.

The primary purpose of the House of Commons is

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – The torch of progress has passed to us

By The Voice | Wed 10th June 2009 - 10:54 am

Over at The Times, Nick Clegg argues that Labour has run out of steam and of ideas, and that its supporters are turning to the Liberal Democrats. Here’s an excerpt:

have heard people claim that the local and European elections were a missed opportunity for the Liberal Democrats. I disagree.

Of course, as in all elections, there were losses as well as gains. In a contest when the voters wanted to give the Establishment a kicking, it is hardly surprising that we suffered some losses in the South West, where we have been the governing party for 20 years.

And in a

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Ross Finnie – Devolution ‘mistakes were made’

By The Voice | Tue 9th June 2009 - 3:50 pm

Over at BBC.co.uk, Lib Dem MSP Ross Finnie reflects on some of his personal highs and lows in the run-up to the 10th anniversary of Scottish devolution on 1st July. Here’s an excerpt:

For Liberal Democrats, the election itself was an achievement. Due to our advocacy of proportional representation, the political parties won the number of seats in the new parliament that reflected the number of votes cast by the people of Scotland.

The Liberal Democrats entered into coalition government for the first eight years of devolution and were pleased to introduce ground-breaking social health policies like free personal care for

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – Governments that can’t be scrutinised will always turn oppressive

By The Voice | Tue 9th June 2009 - 11:10 am

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg’s speech to celebrate the 75th anniversay of Liberty is excerpted over at the Independent. Here’s his sombre conclusion:

for all the complaining Liberal Democrats and other liberty campaigners do about the misuse of power by government, the truth is, nowhere near all of the powers available to police and government are used – yet. Legal instruments with devastating potential are ready and waiting, all of which have been passed by a supine Parliament that misguidedly assumes government will always be benign. These powers are like the silent machines in a darkened factory, waiting for the

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – Oil – the next shock waiting in the pipeline

By The Voice | Mon 8th June 2009 - 12:58 pm

Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable examines how to cope with another surge in oil prices, during a time of recession and rising unemployment. Here’s his conclusion:

It is more obvious than ever that the future lies with fuel-efficient and low-carbon cars. Those who are able to switch now will save a lot of money. The Government should therefore be more intelligent when it comes to helping the car industry.

Labour’s scrappage scheme for old bangers is largely a waste of taxpayers’ money. It would be more useful to concentrate on swaps for the new generation of

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: James Graham – The party of potholes

By The Voice | Sat 6th June 2009 - 12:19 pm

Over at the Guardian’s CommentIsLinked blog, Lib Dem blogger James Graham analyses the current situation for the party, asking what the future holds for us, post-Rennard. Here’s an excerpt:

Now the elections are out of the way, Clegg and party president Ros Scott must turn their attention to finding a new chief executive for the party. … it is impossible to over-estimate how he has transformed the Lib Dems’ prospects. Indeed, he has changed our whole political culture by developing and perfecting a method of populist pavement politics that can be applied almost anywhere in the country. His method is so

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable triple-bill

By The Voice | Mon 1st June 2009 - 7:30 pm

Yesterday’s Mail carried Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable’s clarion call for his opposite number at the Treasury, Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling, to resign. (He was later joined by Nick Clegg – you can hear the interview with him HERE – who is looking for another scalp after taking Speaker Michael Martin’s a fortnight ago). Here’s an excerpt from Vince’s article:

It’s time to get MPs off the front pages and the economy back on. This cannot happen when key figures in Government (and Opposition) are tainted by scandal themselves and lack moral authority.

There is a danger that the public’s

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The Voice

Clegg unveils 100-day plan to abolish Lords and reform voting

By The Voice | Wed 27th May 2009 - 10:39 pm

The Guardian splashes with the story:

Britain’s politicians should be barred from taking their summer holidays until the constitutional crisis sparked by the expenses row is resolved and “every nook and cranny” of the political system is reformed, Nick Clegg declares today. …

Clegg, who regards the proposals floated by the two main parties as too timid, attempts to assume the mantle of Britain’s boldest reformer when he sets out a week-by-week, 100-day plan to achieve the “total reinvention of British politics”.

In the first two weeks parliament would agree to accept the recommendations of the review into MPs’ expenses and allowances

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – Voters’ trust in democracy is shattered. We must restore it

By The Voice | Sun 17th May 2009 - 11:43 am

Over at The Observer, Nick Clegg argues, after a tumultuous week in politics, that the public must be given more power than the politicians. Here’s an excerpt:

We are in the eye of the perfect storm: an economic crisis followed by a total collapse of public faith in politicians. One way or another, MPs’ self-serving expenses will now, thankfully, be changed for good. But this must be a moment for fundamental change, not just tinkering to eliminate the worst excesses of the past. The uncomfortable truth is that these revelations are merely the tip of an iceberg – our whole political

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Vince Cable – Arthur, Delia and another rotten bubble

By The Voice | Mon 11th May 2009 - 6:14 pm

Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable examines the disconnect between the have-nots and the ‘haves and have-yachts’ in the sporting world, and asks if ‘The Storm’ will close the gap:

First it was debt, then property. Now I sense another bubble waiting to burst. While some of Britain’s key wealth-generating activities – construction, manufacturing, finance – are in terrible shape, one industry sails serenely on apparently oblivious to the recession: football’s Premier League. Britain’s leading banks may have bitten the dust but our top clubs dominate Europe and, arguably, the world. …

I can’t see this party

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