Category Archives: News

Paul Walter

On pandemics and health, we need to look to South Korea – Phil Hammond “MD” in Private Eye

By Paul Walter | Fri 8th May 2020 - 9:40 am


Dr Phil Hammond
Dr Phil Hammond

Throughout the Coronavirus crisis, the “MD” column, written by Dr Phil Hammond, in Private Eye has provided a refreshingly astute and wise commentary on the crisis.

The latest issue of Private Eye is out now. I have recently subscribed to it, so I receive my copy without leaving home. Sheer luxury! (As an aside, someone once asked me to name the thing or service which I had bought or used for the longest period in my life. I came up with Lloyds Bank and Private Eye, of both of which I have been a customer since I was 17 years old. Some 43 years. Crikey – that makes me feel old.)

MD’s latest commentary covers two pages and is very interesting, as always.

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David McKenzie

Consistency in Devolution

By David McKenzie | Wed 6th May 2020 - 12:00 pm

I saw first-hand growing up in Scotland the ability Devolved Government has to impact and change lives. Growing up in Inverclyde in the late ’90s and early 00’s we had ranked consistently among the highest rates for drug and alcohol abuse. At one point regarding the ‘Heroin Capital’ of the UK, with overwhelming numbers in the area registering an addiction problem.

The reality then was depending on the area you grew up in; it was more likely for you to encounter hard drugs than go on to further education. The reality was the area was hit by a long-term economic depression brought on by the dismantling of traditional industries in the 1980s, with little to no alternatives and a brain drain elsewhere.

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Minimum Income, job guarantees and basic rental income

By Joe Bourke | Tue 5th May 2020 - 8:15 am

The Daily Telegraph reports today that between furlough subsidies, benefit claimants, public sector workers and pensioners more than  half of all adults are now bankrolled by the state

As the prospect of an end to the easing of the lockdown draws nearer thoughts begin to turn to dealing with the fallout from the economic damage and what needs to be done to sustain households over the coming year.

YouGov has undertaken a  survey  that finds strong public support for three economic policies – paying people a universal basic income (UBI) to ensure their financial

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Tackling everyday sexism in the Lib Dems

By Ruth McElroy | Sun 3rd May 2020 - 11:00 am

I love Emma Walker. I really do, and not just Emma the badass who stunned the Scottish Party with the first known use of the word “vulva” on the conference stage or her tales of intrepid recruitment adventures, including everyone’s favourite bra fitter. The Emma I love is someone who in the two years I’ve known her has stood beside me in every step I’ve taken in my Chairship of Scottish Liberal Democrat Women, who has bought me more pizza than I’ve ever returned, and who’s dried my tears so many times whenever I’m overwhelmed or heartbroken, no matter what she was dealing with in her own life.

It’s that Emma who has stunned so many this week with her brave video detailing some of the gender discrimination she has faced within the party, ranging from the mundane to the allegedly criminal. Her post has now been viewed thousands of times and has triggered an avalanche of support.

It’s hard to describe how I’ve felt watching women and men comment on the post expressing their shock, sadness and support. Too many have said they have experienced similar problems within politics. The bravery of the women who have sent me their stories, insisting I use them to do anything in my power to effect change has had me crying over my laptop more than once. Truly, the #GirlsSupportingGirls spirit is out in force.

Our party has done so much good work on gender equality, and I have been proud to watch Lib Dem legislation such as Shared Parental Leave and Pay Gap Reporting make a real difference to people’s lives, and I know that our party is bursting at the seams with principled and passionate intersectional feminists willing to do the hard work to make our society fairer and more equal for everyone.

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Steve Castree

Climate change is real!

By Steve Castree | Sun 3rd May 2020 - 9:00 am

At a risk of writing another article about a topic we have heard a lot about in the past few years, this one, again, focussed on climate change. Why? It is abundantly clear to all who read from a scientific perspective, that climate change is happening. We have seen wildfires destroying large swathes of land in Australia and the USA, we are seeing weather changes causing flooding and destruction in the UK, and an ever increasing magnitude of storms. We have been warned by scientists, the United Nations and many international governments that the time to take action is NOW.

At our own Liberal Democrat conference, whilst making our statement that we were going to cancel Article 50 as our leading policy in September 2019, we did also approve our policy as it pertains to climate change. Reducing the amount of pollution is one thing and we need to get the entire planet to be carbon neutral and the carbon negative, and we need to do it as quickly a physically possible.

As of last year, we added 33 gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere, that is 33,000,000,000,000 tons. This is an enormous number and there are only two ways to adjust for it, we put less, or we take more out, and a combination is key. Governments can, and should, be leading the way, encouraging use of re-usable power sources, promoting eating that is good for the individual and good for the environment, car-pooling discounts, cheaper public transport; there are ways. If we consider that in the wake of COVID-19, which is hopefully a shorter term initiative, we have mobilised entire countries and the entire world to stay home, to socially distance, and to change their behaviour, why are we so inept to deal with what is, ultimately, a challenge to every species and the very future of our planet?

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The Voice

Rennie calls for UBI summit to help those who can’t get government support

By The Voice | Sun 3rd May 2020 - 7:00 am

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today called for an intergovernmental summit on a universal basic income to take place to ensure that support is urgently made available for those who have fallen through cracks of the current furlough and income support measures.

He highlighted the plight of self-employed workers who were not trading for the entirety of the last tax year, PAYE freelancers,  self-employed workers who are paid in dividends, people who work from home and those who have recently changed jobs as examples of people who have experienced a sudden and dramatic loss of income as well as those struggling to access existing anti-poverty measures.

Across the UK, the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimate that roughly 675,000 people will be ineligible for the government’s Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, which mirrors the 80% wage subsidy scheme for the employed.

The IFS says another 1.3 million people with some self-employment income are likely to be ineligible because they received less than half of their income from self-employment last year.

His call comes as the The Poverty Alliance, Scotland’s anti-poverty network, has identified a number of shortcomings in the current crisis responses, including a lack of targeted social security support for families with children at either the UK or Scottish level, limited access to community care grants and gaps in employment protection programmes.

Willie said:

I fully understood and supported the decision to use the existing tax and spend apparatus to help people financially. Time was short and we needed to act fast. Now that those schemes are getting into place we need to take the next steps.

With economic uncertainty destined to loom for the foreseeable future, we need to ensure that everyone can afford to keep a roof over their head and a meal on the table.

We should be adopting the principles of a universal basic income: no one should be left behind. The UK Government has acted swiftly to back businesses and support furloughed workers but too many are slipping through the cracks and there’s a real risk that furloughed staff will lose their jobs when the current scheme ends.

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The Voice

Dick Newby: Individual stories of Windrush victims shame politicians who use pejorative language and stoke up resentment

By The Voice | Sat 2nd May 2020 - 1:00 pm

In the Lords recently, Dick Newby talked about the lives of Windrush Generation people damaged because of the actions of the Home Office and the need for a compensation scheme.

His whole speech is below:

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The Voice

Christine Jardine won’t stand for Lib Dem leadership

By The Voice | Sat 2nd May 2020 - 11:00 am

In a post on Facebook on Thursday, Christine Jardine told Scottish Lib Dem activists that she wasn’t going to go for the Lib Dem leadership.

The Edinburgh West MP’s remarks were reported in the New Statesman:

“After considering all the suggestions and requests, I have opted not to go for the leadership,” Jardine wrote. “Perhaps it’s lockdown but I realise my personal and family life has taken quite a hit in the past three years, and perhaps the people around me deserve a wee bit more of my time. I also don’t have a burning desire to be leader. I got into this to make a difference and I don’t have to be leader to do that.”

The current declared candidates are Wera Hobhouse and Layla Moran with current interim co-leader Ed Davey also expected to stand.
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Katharine Pindar

Advancing society’s wellbeing after the health crisis

By Katharine Pindar | Thu 30th April 2020 - 7:00 pm

What kind of transformational changes can we propose to deal with our society’s ills, after the health crisis?

First of all, a change of attitude is needed. We should demand that our government accept that its duty and purpose is to serve our whole national community and restore its total wellbeing. There should be no more specially privileged groups, whether hedge-fund or Union party donors and no more disadvantaged groups mainly told to fend for themselves. In the post-Brexit Britain of national sovereignty, the government must remember that everyone has a right to share this sovereignty and so all are equally entitled to have a chance of a good life. There should be a new understood Social Contract between government and people: that each government expecting and getting the co-operation of citizens in times of national crisis should commit to serve and care for them perpetually – in sickness and in health.

Among the foremost of the great ills of our society is the poverty of 14 million people, including many children. Liberals believe that to live in poverty is to live without freedom, and poverty may now hang over many more, with the loss of jobs and businesses during the health crisis. The Tory government’s mantra that people must work to get out of poverty rings even more hollowly now.

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James MacCleary

New leader should be banging on Starmer’s door on day one

By James MacCleary | Wed 29th April 2020 - 12:00 pm

The election of Kier Starmer as leader of the Labour Party, and therefore the leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition, presents a challenge for us as Liberal Democrats. On the one hand, it’s good news for our democracy that there’s now a serious Leader of the opposition who will be asking probing questions of this terrible Conservative government.

On the other hand, it presents a threat to us. A Starmer-led Labour Party will be fishing in the same pond of voters that we hope to seek support from. Some who had fled Corbyn’s Labour may now return to them. Our chances of making inroads into Labour-held seats that voted Remain in 2016 will have significantly diminished.

We are probably never going to see an overall Labour majority in this country again. They’ve lost Scotland to the SNP, and the Tories have breached the so-called ‘red wall’ in the north of England. It seems unlikely that many of those seats are coming back to them any time soon.

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Layla Moran MP

Layla Moran writes: Campaign for Coronavirus Compensation Scheme gathers momentum

By Layla Moran MP | Sun 26th April 2020 - 3:12 pm

Over the last four weeks, the numbers of NHS workers losing their lives to Coronavirus have risen. The figure now stands at well over a hundred. And then there are the other frontline workers: bus drivers, carers, teachers, to name but a few, who are risking their lives to help others.

I want to ensure that the Government recognises their bravery and courage. I’ve been calling on them to introduce a Coronavirus Compensation Scheme, to look after the families of frontline workers should the worst happen.

Over 8000 people and 50 cross-party MPs have supported the campaign so far. And this week, I unexpectedly teamed up with The Express, who to their credit, put their weight behind this campaign and are proving instrumental in helping drive this forward.

You can help too. Please sign the petition and share it far and wide.

My campaign has clear asks. This new scheme should mirror the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and include:

  • a lump sum upfront
  • a guaranteed income for their family
  • child payments to eligible children under 18

This would be in addition to pension benefits. Furthermore, given the extraordinary nature of this crisis, the state should also contribute to funeral costs.

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Bernard Aris

Parliamentary scrutiny of a Unitary Cabinet government during the coronavirus crisis – Part 3

By Bernard Aris | Sun 26th April 2020 - 10:40 am

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Even in the society of the independent-minded Dutch, a distinct “rallying around the flag” effect can be seen. The leaders of the populist parties questioning established politics (Geert Wilders, PVV, and Thierry Baudet, Forum for Democracy) or the capitalist aspects of Dutch health care and general government (the Socialist Party) used the first new-style plenary Corona debates for sharp, often ad hominem, attacks with overblown rhetoric on Prime Minister Rutte and his ministers. The debate lasted from 14.00 until around 22.00. The Health minister collapsed at the rostrum from overwork and resigned the next day. That scene had a sobering effect on the three attack dogs and when PVV and Forum lost badly in the next weekly poll they toned down the rhetoric and joined the more practical, factual line of arguing of all other parties.

With that toning down of parliamentary politics after the first dramatic debate, the parliamentary party leaders appear to have started a Whatsapp or Zoom group to regularly consult on Corona and other issues.

The Second Chamber Presidium had asked the government around 20 March to supply a list of all Bills (on non-Corona-related issues) they wanted to see being debated and adopted in the coming months. The government sent back a list with 84 Bills; President Khadija Arib immediately saw that 41 of those Bills hadn’t even been introduced to parliament. She sent the list on to the specialist parliamentary committees, who very soon let it be known that there was an impression that, in some cases, the Government was trying to get some controversial big laws passed. President Arib thereupon asked Rutte for Government to review this list, pointing to the limited parliamentary time in Corona times, and asked for a justification for every Bill that the Government really wanted debated.

Reviewing the list of Bills saw parliamentary committees (re)start meeting online, but journalists soon complained they weren’t able to see what happened in those meetings. The Presidium forwarded written summaries of those meetings to the media. But commentators and parliamentary sketchwriters pointed out that in principle all parliamentary sessions should be open to the public and media. And sketchwriters pointed out that every Prime Minister, however popular, even in “interesting times” of high crisis should be subjected to the same parliamentary and media scrutiny as always.

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The Voice

Lib Dem peers highlight problems with social care

By The Voice | Sat 25th April 2020 - 8:55 am

The House of Lords debated how Covid-19 affected social care this week and Lib Dem peers made several contributions on such issues as DNRs being inappropriately proposed to local authority financing and the needs of charities helping seriously ill children and PPE in care homes.

Sal Brinton as Health and Social Care spokesperson summed up the Lib Dem stance on these important issues.

Here is her speech in full:

On behalf of the Liberal Democrat Benches, I also thank all the staff and volunteers working across the wider social care and community sector. Frequently low paid but definitely not low skilled, these amazing people show us their professionalism and big hearts, day after day.

Back in mid-February, we on these Benches asked the Minister repeatedly about care. On 26 February, the noble Lord, Lord Bethell, said in Hansard that

“we are planning … a massive communications campaign on how to protect people, particularly vulnerable people, in our population.”—

The evidence of recent weeks shows that those most vulnerable in our communities and care homes have been seriously and tragically let down.

Others have covered plenty of the detail, which is symptomatic of the centralised way in which Whitehall, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the NHS have treated anything not in hospitals as a second or even third order of priority. My noble friend Lord Shipley explained the problems that have arisen since Whitehall took over the supply chain for the social care sector and then decided to create a separate system, known as Clipper, that we were told was due to come online on 6 April, but yesterday discovered is still three to four weeks away from going operational.

Worse, where providers and local resilience forums have ordered their own PPE, it has been confiscated by government and rerouted centrally for hospitals first, leaving community settings high and dry. This includes lorries being stopped at border ports and drivers being rerouted. Consequently, a lack of PPE and a policy of moving patients from hospital into care homes without any testing has meant that Covid-19 has spread rapidly in the social care sector.

I support my noble friend Lady Jolly’s call for clarity on DNRs and echo her concerns about GPs asking disabled and learning-disabled people completely inappropriate questions. It is very clear from the government advice, NICE advice and all good palliative care advice that the way in which this happened was inappropriate. I hope that this DNR factor will be examined as part of any inevitable public inquiry. It seemed to happen in groups. Were CCGs asking GPs to ring their patients and find out whether they wanted to go to hospital? To do it all in one conversation is completely inappropriate. For many disabled people, it was completely inappropriate to even ask them this, if they do not have the clinical frailty that my noble friend Lady Jolly spoke of.

However, the Government’s lack of understanding of the wide range of other disabled people, and extremely fragile people, living within our community extends ​completely in the opposite direction. As a result, people who have ventilators or tracheostomies, for example, have found that their care support is entitled to only the most simple and flimsy face masks, because they are regarded as exactly the same as the standard care in residential homes. The Government’s PPE for the social care sector is almost always designed for the elderly.

Matt Hancock said last week that health and social care workers should not overuse PPE. The gasp that went through the social care community when he said that could be heard across the country. Most community orders are receiving a tiny fraction of what is ordered and needed. My noble friend Lady Barker summarised well the problem between the department and local government.

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Mark Valladares

Daily View 2×2: 24 April 2020

By Mark Valladares | Fri 24th April 2020 - 7:30 am

We’ve almost staggered to the end of another week, and there’s a weekend to look forward to…

2 big stories

The Government, having missed every target for Coronavirus testing that they’ve set, have upped the ante by setting a new, even bigger target – 100,000 tests per day. Of course, the question of how you get to one of the testing centres, especially if you’re ill, hasn’t really been addressed. Keir Starmer slowly, and patiently, shredded Dominic Raab’s attempts to deflect their failure thus far at PMQs on Wednesday – but the news that Matt Hancock is looking to recruit 18,000 …

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Peter Cocks

Why Starmer’s arrival can benefit the Liberal Democrats

By Peter Cocks | Wed 22nd April 2020 - 6:15 pm

From speaking to many Lib Dem activists since the election of Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party, one would have assumed this was the end of the Liberal Democrats. Starmer is expected to shift Labour closer to the centre, thus closer to the Lib Dems, rendering us sitting ducks, our voters to automatically assimilate into their ranks. However, I would argue this is not the case.

Firstly, it is wrong to assume that the Labour party under Starmer will drastically swing closer to the centre of the British political spectrum. Starmer himself is named after ardent socialist Keir Hardie and has a long-standing involvement in socialist groups, namely the East Surrey Young Socialists and the youth wing of the labour party, inherently democratic-socialist organisations. Indeed, Starmer has not booted all aspects of Corbynism from his shadow cabinet. Rebecca Long-Bailey, Tony Lloyd and Nick Brown all maintained influential posts, albeit alongside figures who would not have stepped near a Corbyn cabinet, namely David Lammy, Ed Miliband and Jim McMahon.

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NewsHound

Dr Phillip Lee slams government for failing to act on pandemic exercise report

By NewsHound | Mon 20th April 2020 - 11:00 am

Embed from Getty Images

The Guardian reports:

The government is under pressure to reveal how it responded to four key recommendations made three years ago after a major simulation exercise found the NHS would not cope in the face of a flu pandemic.

The recommendations are revealed in the June 2017 minutes of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group – Nervtag – which advises the government on pandemics.

They were made after Exercise Cygnus, a three-day simulation involving national, regional and local government bodies, conducted in October 2016. Little is known about the exercise – or the confidential recommendations that followed from it – other than it confirmed alarming gaps in the country’s preparedness.

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Hina Bokhari

#LibDemIftar – a first for us! 

By Hina Bokhari | Sun 19th April 2020 - 12:30 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Would you like a date with a LibDem? Not in the romantic sense. This is the fruit you can eat as Muslims do when they end their fast for the day, the Iftar.

Next week, Muslims will be observing the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan and this year, the Liberal Democrats will be joining them! Acting leader Sir Ed Davey, MP Layla Moran, Siobhan Benita and other high profile Lib Dems, will join Muslim communities this Ramadan by fasting alongside them on Saturday the 25th of April. They will be taking this opportunity to raise money for a charity of their choosing – many that tackle hunger in the UK, an issue which has become more prevalent in the recent weeks, as our foodbanks come under greater pressure during the coronavirus outbreak.

During Ramadan, Muslims seek to focus on their faith and compassion for others, through abstaining from food and drink from dawn until dusk. They don’t even lie. This is also a time of great community spirit, as people gather together in mosques and each other’s homes, to take part in communal meals and prayers. This year of course, that won’t happen. Mosques in this country closed their doors just as churches, synagogues and temples did. Nonetheless, after weeks of minimal social contact, the curtailment of Ramadan festivities will come as a further blow for many who feel isolated from their communities. This is something that many faith groups relate to.

Our party deciding to fast with our Muslim neighbours, is therefore a significant display of solidarity during a difficult time for all of us. Muslims, and indeed many others, will be feeling a loss of community spirit. By taking part in this fast, and sharing our experiences over social media, we can help re-create the Ramadan spirit online.

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How can the economy work for the benefit of all?

By Joe Bourke | Sat 18th April 2020 - 8:00 am

I received the sad news this week that Dr. Peter Bowman had been taken by COVID-19 in the prime of his life. Peter was Head of Economics at the School of Economic Science (SES).

The SES was founded in 1938 by Labour MP Andrew McLaren to teach courses on economics with a focus on Land Value Taxation policies. McLaren’s political hero was Campbell-Bannerman, and he often repeated CB’s pledge “… to make the land less of a pleasure ground for the rich, and more of a treasure-house for the nation …”.

The MP was firmly against the welfare state, believing it merely appeared to be necessary due to the prevailing inequities in the economic system. When not in parliament he poured his effort and talent into education, hoping to make people see how land value taxation could relieve society of many unhelpful economic tendencies, and provide economic freedom for the common people.

Dr. Peter Bowman followed in the footsteps of McLaren in giving freely of his time and energy in trying to make this world a better place. Peter was instrumental in developing the work of the All-Party Group on Land Value Capture under the Chairmanship of Vince Cable and overseeing the preparation of the group’s first report.

Social justice was Peter’s passion. Speaking in this ten-minute video Changing Paradigms in Economics: Economics as Relationships, Peter emphasises that a just economy is about relationships in society and how we treat fairly with people. Justice prevails in an economy that is based on honesty; trust’ loyalty; a sense of service and satisfaction. Too often what we have is the opposite.

Peter gave the 2015 School of Economic Science Annual Economics Lecture How can the economy work for the benefit of all? The lecture asks how can the economy work for the benefit of all and gives some simple propositions.

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Dave Hodgson

Mayor Dave Hodgson writes: How Bedford is responding to the crisis

By Dave Hodgson | Fri 17th April 2020 - 11:18 am

Over the Easter bank holiday weekend, Bedford Borough Council’s Community Hub delivered its 1,000th food parcel as part of its support to vulnerable residents during the COVID-19 restrictions. The hub was set up in double quick time and other major changes have also been implemented rapidly – in our case almost 1,000 members of staff working from home.

Very early on we identified that the biggest risks were in social care, particularly adult social care. Several weeks ago we went out to recruit more staff for both Council and non-Council providers, which has been very successful, but PPE for carers remains a major concern.

Within 10 days we transferred £10m in business grants to business bank accounts. We acted quickly to support those least able to pay their council tax. Residents on the lowest income already do not pay any Council Tax due to our Council Tax Reduction Scheme. We are automatically applying the reduction in line with the government’s COVID-19 Council Tax Hardship Fund to those already receiving some support and are encouraging those whose circumstances have changed to apply for Council Tax Support and Free School Meals.

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Merlene Emerson

Interview with Chair of Covid19 Anti-Racism Group (CARG)

By Merlene Emerson | Wed 15th April 2020 - 6:00 pm

Dr Yeow Poon

ME: Dr Yeow Poon, you have been the Chair of the Chinese Community Centre in Birmingham since 1995, founded the England China Business Forum in 2013 and are also a trustee of the Chinese Welfare Trust national charity. Why was it necessary to set up the Covid19 Anti-Racism Action Group (CARG)?

YP: The spread of COVID-19 in the UK has led to an increase in racism and hate crime towards British Chinese, East and Southeast Asians. Incidents ranged from children being taunted in schools to international students being violently attacked. The insistence of some political leaders and media commentators calling COVID-19 the Chinese virus, and attempts to deflect blame to China, has also further inflamed racism. CARG was set up to counter these negative narratives in the media.

ME: As of today, COVID-19 has infected nearly 2m people globally, and the UK is in lockdown with over 10,000 deaths. Why would the British public be concerned with the rise in hate crime against the Chinese and East Asian communities?

YP: Hate crime towards any community should never be tolerated. COVID-19 does not discriminate ethnically. On the frontline in the NHS, in care homes and the community, we are working together to combat and mitigate the effects of COVID-19. These selfless acts by individuals from diverse backgrounds should be applauded. Also, the many examples of mutual help and research collaboration between the UK and China should be encouraged and strengthened.

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Wera Hobhouse MP

Civil Liberties and Ending the Lockdown

By Wera Hobhouse MP | Wed 15th April 2020 - 8:45 am

In the weeks ahead, as the government seeks to loosen the lockdown while containing the COVID-19 pandemic, it is likely to introduce measures that in ordinary times would constitute serious violations of our civil liberties. For example, the government is likely to introduce extensive COVID-19 testing, enforce quarantine for those who test positive and compulsory trace, everyone; they have come into contact with.

As Liberals, a fundamental test we apply to any state action that restricts civil liberties is the one set out by John Stuart Mill: a person should be free to behave as they choose as long as they do not infringe the freedoms of others. The COVID-19 pandemic is a situation where civil liberties can, in principle, legitimately be restricted because if a person spreads COVID-19, they clearly infringe the freedoms of others.

However, in practice, great care must be taken that our civil liberties are restricted to the smallest possible extent.
It is not yet clear exactly what the government intends to introduce. But there are some key issues that we should consider now, so we can scrutinise whatever measures the government proposes.

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Coronavirus Bonds: Why we all need them

By Joe Bourke | Sun 12th April 2020 - 4:06 pm

The World Bank issued pandemic bonds in 2017 after the outbreak of the Ebola Virus in West Africa. They are a form of emergency aid to the health systems of the poorest countries eligible for funding from the International Development Association. However, as Bloomberg reports Pandemic Bonds these take a long-time to pay out and the sums are relatively small and nowhere near enough to deal with the scale of the crisis in third world countries.
What is required in developed nations now both for their own needs and to aid the poorest countries are Coronavirus bonds.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems join calls for virtual recall of Parliament

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 12th April 2020 - 9:30 am

This week, Nicola Sturgeon took First Minster’s Questions from Scotland’s party leaders in virtual form.

Holyrood is again leading the way on showing how a modern Parliament can continue to scrutinise a government even in these unprecedented times.

Willie Rennie asked about care homes, particularly about how they accepted new residents who may be discharged straight from hospital and about mental health – especially the trauma that NHS workers are being exposed to. You can see him at about 30 minutes in.

It was a really good and thoughtful session with difficult questions being asked and answered in a manner that people are entitled to expect of their elected representatives.

It’s almost a fortnight since Ed Davey first called for a Coronavirus Select Committee to be set up by some manner of internet magic in order to question the government.

MPs from all opposition parties (and even some Conservatives) are now ramping up the pressure on the government to ensure that there is some scrutiny of their decisions.

Most Liberal Democrat MPs have signed a letter to Dominic Raab asking for an immediate recall of Parliament in virtual form.

With public and political unease mounting about the government’s handling of the crisis, people rightly expect these issues to be debated by their elected representatives fully and publicly.

One of the hallmarks of this Government is that it is not really up for being subjected to any sort of scrutiny, but as questions build about the lack of PPE for medical staff, and the millions of people left high and dry without income at this time, we need MPs to be able to hold them to account.

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Coranavirus and the Minimum Income Guarantee

By Joe Bourke | Fri 10th April 2020 - 8:00 am

As the economic impact of the Covid-19 lockdown becomes clearer day by day the necessity of ensuring that millions are not left destitute by gaps in support systems becomes ever stronger.
The UK was already teetering on the edge of recession, as business confidence dried up in the face of a potentially hard Brexit.
Now, with a global recession underway, economists are predicting a slump in GDP of between 7.5% and 24% this quarter and we have already seen over 1m new claimants for registering for Universal Credit.
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) has published a policy document for a new proposal to …

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Peter Cocks

Why this is the toughest post-war challenge to liberalism

By Peter Cocks | Wed 8th April 2020 - 2:30 pm

The coronavirus holds a firm grip around the neck of liberty in this new world we have found for ourselves in. No longer can we shop, gather, meet family or friends, embrace those we love. We are living within the tight confines of the perfect dystopian novel.

Although these measures are paramount to people’s survival and the continuation of our public services, they must only serve short-term survival, not the long-term rule. Indeed, many of these global measures look to be the tools of authoritarianism, for example in China ( and Israel as well), who are using the location of one’s phone to monitor compliance to quarantine. Even within the EU, Viktor Orban of Hungary has been granted the right to rule indefinitely by decree, excusing it as a response to coronavirus.

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Richard Kemp

Looking into the future – How will Coronavirus change our policies?

By Richard Kemp | Sun 5th April 2020 - 11:00 am

So, we can’t go delivering, canvassing or envelope stuffing at the moment so what can we do? What about a bit of thinking!?

The coronavirus is making huge changes to the way that the Government, councils, businesses and individuals are doing things. Some of those are good. We welcome increased support to social care and health organisations, more support to emerging businesses and enhanced recognition of the role of councils in terms of service delivery. We welcome the greater respect that is being given to those who work in public services that we are relying on to keep us fed and safe. We deplore the anti-society behaviour of people like Dyson and Martin who have thought only of themselves and not of the needs of their staff or society as awhole as they have apparently sought to maximise their own position in all the societal turmoil.

Some food things have flowed from the lock down. Families spending more time together (not always but usually a good thing!); more exercises for many; less consumerism after the first mad dash at the supermarkets; cleaner air; the sound of birds; goats reclaiming Llandudno!

Many of these changes are very much on the line of Lib Dem polices. The question now is do we lie back and wait for business as normal or do we seize the initiative and get our thinking done now so that we emerge from lockdown with policies that accentuate the good things that have happened and deal with the bad things.

As you may imagine I prefer the latter approach. There is no need for us to sit and do nothing we can get ready. I challenge the Acting Leader of the Party; the President and the FPC Officers to set up discussion streams which can pull together thoughts on the key issues and be ready to come out fighting. This is no time to be waiting for the sclerotic processes of the FPC. Now is the time for virtual discussion and a rapid presentation of papers for approval and sue by our MPs, Peers and Councillors.

I think these are the key areas we should be looking at now:

Work in the future

I suspect that many people, having been given the opportunity to work from home will want to carry on doing so. This should be supported because:They will be more productive if they are not facing long and nasty commutes;

They will be more family oriented and strong families are a corner stone of our society;

There will be a huge environmental saving as people cut down on travel although there will be some environmental losses as more individual homes will need to be heated etc during the day.

Pleasure in the future

So, we now can’t get smashed until 05.00 in the morning. I’ll miss this terribly (not!)

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The Liberator Collective

New issue of Liberator free online

By The Liberator Collective | Thu 2nd April 2020 - 10:34 am

We’d intended to announce at York that Liberator will become a free online only publication in September.

Given the pandemic though, with potential readers stranded at home, we’re doing this a bit early with our 400th issue, which also marks Liberator’s 50th anniversary.

Go to: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk and you can download a pdf onto any device.

We will soon announce arrangements for those who’d like to sign up to be notified of when new issues come out.

Also now available on the website is our post-election review in Liberator 399.

Subscribers have been sent Liberator 400 by post and subject to how the present restrictions pan out we intend to produce Liberator 401 and 402 in print and then Liberator 403 will be online only. That was intended to coincide with the September conference but as that is in limbo we may have fortuitously picked the right time to go online only.

Liberator 400 includes:

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The Voice

WATCH: Kingston Lib Dem councillors supporting their community

By The Voice | Wed 1st April 2020 - 8:37 pm

Kingston’s Lib Dem councillors have put out a wonderful video showing what they are doing during lockdown to support local residents and to get through these very stressful times.

Enjoy.

It’s lovely to watch – emphasises the importance of staying at home, but has lots of suggestions for ways to get – and give – help.

And our councillors have some really, really cute animals.

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Zachary Barker

COVID-19 vs liberal values

By Zachary Barker | Wed 1st April 2020 - 12:00 pm

Where do liberal values stand in a time of national crisis? During a time of crisis or upheaval, the natural instinct of many is to look towards their government and the forces of the state it commands. People look for reassurance and firm direction from the paternalistic state to protect them.

As CODVID-19 has made it’s determined advance across the world, much firmer state direction, than in the UK, has been broadcast to concerned Britons. Chinese propaganda has lauded a massive mobilisation effort where the state has effectively been weaponised to track, quarantine and treat the virus. South Korea’s Government has mobilised an impressive effort against COVID, using round the clock mass testing and an Artificial Intelligence system to drive contact tracing. Both the Chinese and South Korean Governments have authorised the tracing of citizens phones to augment contract tracing to effectively isolate not only those who are confirmed as infected but those at risk from coming in contact with them. The UK Government has hinted that the next phase of its strategy in tackling the virus may include some contact tracing system.

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Caron Lindsay

LIb Dems mark Transgender Day of Visibility

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 31st March 2020 - 9:42 pm

31st March every year is the Transgender Day of Visibility. Liberal Democrats have been marking the occasion at a time when the transgender community continues to face a toxic atmosphere of hostility in the media and beyond.

The resilience of this community in the face of such discrimination is quite remarkable.

This year, as the much-needed reform of the Gender Recognition Act looks likely to be shelved in England and is in jeopardy in Scotland due to splits in the SNP, there are even greater challenges ahead.

This year there is no colourful and exuberant trans pride in Scotland as there has been for the past couple of years, but there will be again once all this is over.

Liberal Democrat policy on trans rights is clear. Trans rights are human rights, trans men are men, trans women are women and non binary identities are as valid as everyone else’s.

It was great to see parliamentarians, starting with one of our acting leaders, show solidarity:

Christine Jardine said that we need to keep fighting against the discrimination that trans people face.


A lovely message of solidarity from Jane Dodds, too:

Jamie Stone added his support:

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