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Category Archives: Online politics

Can you give 5 minutes of your time to improve discussion within the Liberal Democrats?

By Jeremy Hargreaves | Sun 17th February 2008 - 12:05 pm

One of the things we’re most proud of as a party is that it is representatives of our local parties across the country, who make our policy at conference. It’s one of the many things that makes us stand out from the other major parties.

But away from Conference, how much discussion of the key political and policy questions facing us, does go on around the party?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that in recent years the number of “Pizza and Politics”-style events run by local parties has increased – as a quick glance at the excellent Flock Together website shows. And …

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Also posted in Conference | 6 Comments

I wonder if they’ll be asked about their approach to setting computer passwords?

By Mark Pack | Tue 12th February 2008 - 10:45 pm

See here.

Tagged grant shapps | 2 Comments

The power of Facebook demonstrated across 160 cities

By Mark Pack | Sun 10th February 2008 - 12:50 pm

This is truly impressive:

A new Facebook group called “A Million Voices Against FARC” has been making headlines in Colombia in the first weeks of 2008. The group was created by Colombian engineer Óscar Morales, out of indignation over the conditions of hostages held by the paramilitary Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia / Farc). Its staggering growth-rate – it gathered some 3,000 supporters in the first twenty-four hours, and at the time of writing has 261,236 virtual members – sufficed to encourage Morales to back up this cyber-protest with physical ones on 4 February 2008.

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Climate change: 60% is not enough

By Steve Webb MP | Sat 9th February 2008 - 8:55 am

We are at a crucial stage in the Parliamentary process for campaigners who want to see the UK sign up to realistic targets on climate change, and a new Facebook campaign has been launched to muster support.

The Government’s Climate Change Bill, which proposes a statutory target of a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050, is currently being considered by the House of Lords. Most environmental campaigners, leading scientists and even the Prime Minister, seem to accept that 60% is likely to be too little, too late.

The Liberal Democrats are therefore arguing that the Bill should be amended to give a statutory target of 80%, and we are seeking to build a coalition of MPs of all parties who share our concern in order to get the Bill amended when MPs consider it later in the Spring.

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged facebook | 2 Comments

Fox news… from Bridget

By The Voice | Thu 7th February 2008 - 7:12 pm

Congratulations to Bridget Fox, Lib Dem candidate for Islington South and Finsbury, on earning a berth at The Guardian’s politics blog.

Bridget, an occasional contributor to LDV’s comments threads, missed out on being elected in the 2005 general election by just 484 votes. Her Labour opponent, Emily Thornberry MP, is of course no stranger to LDV’s pages.

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Nick Clegg in the media: ID cards and crime

By Mark Pack | Thu 7th February 2008 - 10:40 am

Nick Clegg’s done an interview with Reuters – ‘Clegg sees ID card vote a decade away’ – and has also got coverage in Bradford for his views on tackling knife and gun crime.

All of which is nicely timed to highlight a new (RSS) feed available from the party:

http://feeds.libdems.org.uk/nickcleggmedia

You can subscribe to this feed in the same was as any other RSS feed, e.g. through a feed reader such as Bloglines or through most web browsers, and you can also display it on your website. It’ll be regularly updated with a selection of the latest media coverage from …

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Also posted in News | 1 Comment

When videos go viral

By Stephen Tall | Mon 4th February 2008 - 10:23 pm

It was YouTube’s top video for the weekend, and has been the talk of the political blogosphere today: a musical remix of Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech from New Hampshire, featuring will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Scarlett Johansson, rapper Common, Kareem Abdul Jabar, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, and a host of other celebrity supporters.

Obama-inclined as I am, I’m afraid it does nothing for me. Perhaps it’s the overtones of Bob the Builder’s theme-song; or perhaps it’s that I want to listen to Obama’s rhetoric not will.i.am’s rhyme. You’re far better off watching the speech on which it …

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Also posted in LDVUSA | 6 Comments

Take part in the Lib Dems’ online health policy Q&A this Tuesday

By The Voice | Fri 1st February 2008 - 5:52 pm

An email reaches The Voice from party chief exec M’Lord Chris Rennard, intended for all Lib Dem members, which we’re sure he wouldn’t mind us further publicising…

Dear The Voice,

The party’s spring conference will see a major debate on a set of new health policy proposals, which were published by the party’s health policy working group in January.

Norman Lamb, our Shadow Secretary of State for Health, will be taking part in an online discussion next Tuesday to enable members to raise any questions ahead of the conference debate.

You can read about the proposals, and also get a copy of the full

…

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Tagged chris rennard and norman lamb | 4 Comments

Have you signed up to Brian’s Facebook Friday yet?

By Stephen Tall | Fri 1st February 2008 - 5:46 pm

So far the Lib Dems’ London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick has 648 supporters listed on his Facebook page, Brian Paddick – Serious About London. Not signed up yet? Why not make today – officially Brian’s Facebook Friday – the day you do? These bloggers have:

Lynne Featherstone
Will Howells – No Geek is an Island
Colin Ross
Mary Reid
Duncan Borrowman

Also posted in London | Tagged brian paddick and facebook | 2 Comments

How you can win £200: update

By Mark Pack | Fri 25th January 2008 - 1:55 pm

Smiles all round in Cowley Street Towers as the party’s WordPress plugin competition is taking off with several very interesting submissions so far. Remember: you have until 29 February to submit your own plugin(s) for the chance to win £200.

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“Ken aide breaks rules over election website”

By Mark Pack | Tue 22nd January 2008 - 4:04 pm

The Evening Standard has the story:

A Standard investigation reveals that the 2008 website Re-elect Ken was registered in the name of Mark Watts, a senior publicly-paid adviser to the Mayor.

The site gives its registered address as the offices of a design consultancy given more than £260,000 worth of contract work by the Greater London Authority since 2003 …

The Standard investigation found that three website addresses – londonforken.org, londonforken.org.uk and londonforken.co.uk, all of which link to the same site – were registered to Mr Watts, the Mayor’s adviser on climate change.

Mr Watts’s mobile phone number is

…

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Also posted in News | 2 Comments

Nominate your International ePolitician

By Mary Reid | Mon 21st January 2008 - 10:53 am

I have a dream that the International ePolitician Award will go to a Brit, and a Lib Dem at that.

Since I am involved with ICELE, which is sponsoring the awards, I can’t nominate anyone. The rest of you have got until next Wednesday to do the right thing.

To quote:

ePolitician – making a difference on the ground
This award will be given to the politician who can demonstrate how, by engaging online, they have made a difference to their electorate, and how online engagement has improved local people’s lives.

You can nominate any elected representative, or if you are one, you can …

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Paddick launches online advertising campaign

By Mark Pack | Sun 20th January 2008 - 2:40 pm

A news story from the Liberal Democrats:

Liberal Democrat Mayor candidate Brian Paddick has launched an online advertising campaign targeted at voters in London to mark the fourth anniversary of Ken Livingstone’s statement about reducing crime by 50%.

Livingstone said he hoped the massive increase in his portion of council tax would result in crime being reduced by 50% but the British Crime Survey, the most reliable measure of crime trends, shows no reduction in crime at all over the past four years.

Brian Paddick said: “This isn’t a happy anniversary for Ken. Not only …

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Also posted in London and News | Tagged boris johnson and brian paddick | 7 Comments

Government consults on petitions

By Alex Foster | Sat 19th January 2008 - 1:50 pm

The Government is currently consulting on how petitions should work with local government.

As Lib Dems, much of our campaigning revolves around petitioning as a means of finding people with common cause with us. We’re bound to have views on what should happen as a result of petitions. Should they be binding on councils if you can rabble rouse to a significant degree? Would they be a tool of tyrants unaware of the bigger picture?

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1 Comment

Campaign for Gender Balance Awards: best Lib Dem blog?

By Jo Swinson MP | Sat 19th January 2008 - 9:02 am

The nominations deadline for the Campaign for Gender Blog Awards is 1 February, so you still have time to tell us your favourites.

Last week I highlighted the nominations we’ve received so far for best non-Lib Dem blog and best Lib Dem blog post. While with those we’ve received a wide range of different nominations, the best Lib Dem blog category is much more competitive amongst relatively few nominees. As such, rather than list every single one, I thought I would restrict this article to blogs that have received multiple nominations.

The nominations we receive for this category …

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4 Comments

Tim Ireland takes on SOCPA

By The Voice | Fri 18th January 2008 - 7:53 am

Blogger Tim Ireland has submitted his response to the Labour Government’s consultation document on Sections 132 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005… via YouTube. He suggests (and we agree):

Grab yourself a coffee or a nice hot cup of tea and settle in for a little over 7 minutes of me sharing a few things the Home Office – and you – should be aware of:

A transcript is available here.

Also posted in Lib Dem TV | 7 Comments

Campaign for Gender Balance Awards: best blog post?

By Jo Swinson MP | Thu 17th January 2008 - 8:53 am

The nominations deadline for the Campaign for Gender Blog Awards is 1 February, so you still have time to nominate your facvourites.

We’re particularly keen to hear your suggestions for the best blog post. Of the three categories, this is the one we have had the fewest nominations for, and while it is a less eclectic list than the best non-Lib Dem blog category it is still a very open contest. Nominations received so far are listed below.

Once again, the three most popular blog posts in terms of received nominations are guaranteed on the shortlist, with each member of the judges panel (myself, Ros Taylor, Ros Harper, Baroness Jane Bonham-Carter, Olly Grender and James Graham), allowed to add another entry of their own choice if they wish. So even if your favourite blog has already been nominated, nominating it yourself will still improve its chances of getting onto the shortlist.

We have received nominations for the following:

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Tagged jo christie-smith and Jo Swinson | 9 Comments

Write a WordPress plugin and win £200

By Mark Pack | Tue 15th January 2008 - 7:23 pm

WordPress is increasingly widely used by Liberal Democrats, whether it is to run websites or blogs. One of WordPress’s strengths is the huge range of plugins available. The party has made a small number of Liberal Democrat specific plugins available too (see www.libdems.org.uk/tools), however there is scope for many more.

Hence this official party competition:

The competition will run until 29 February.
You can submit as many WordPress plugins as you wish.
They must all be original, and not have been published previously.
A prize of £200 will be paid to the plugin which, in the views of the judges, is most helpful for

…

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10 Comments

Red Box blog: one to watch

By Mark Pack | Mon 14th January 2008 - 1:55 pm

The Red Box blog has recently started over at The Times. It’s looking like it will turn out to be quite a good blog. I say that not just because it’s got both this site and Lib Dem Blogs mentioned in its blogroll (thanks Sam!) but also because of stories like today’s – where the blog provides the full exchange of emails over the George Osborne donations story. Providing that sort of background detail is one of the areas where political news blogs can really shine.

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Hold the front page! Massive response to Liberal Democrat Voice campaign!

By Mark Pack | Fri 11th January 2008 - 3:40 pm

As James Graham has pointed out, Peter Hain’s internet operation has verily been shaken to its foundations and, er…, changed his website. The taxpayers of Britain will be sleeping more easily tonight.

Warning: this posting may contain traces of irony.

2 Comments

Has Peter Hain misused taxpayer funds for Labour party purposes?

By Mark Pack | Fri 11th January 2008 - 11:43 am

Looks like when I said Peter Hain had four problems at the moment, I should have said five.

His website – www.peterhain.org – says at the bottom, “This website is funded by the Communications Allowance”. Now that’s ok in itself – MPs are allowed to use the funds they receive to communicate online. However, what they’re not allowed to do is to use the money for party politics.

So it’s a bit of a problem, that the site says “please use this site to join the debate about Labour’s future.” …

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10 Comments

New kids on the block: Lib Dem blogs you may have missed

By Mark Pack | Wed 9th January 2008 - 10:55 am

Perhaps spurred on by the party’s leadership contest, there has been a flowering of new Liberal Democrat blogs over the last couple of months along with several former bloggers starting up once more.

In no particular order, here are the five new or renewed blogs from the last two months that have most caught my eye:

Jo Anglezarke: already a veteran of The Voice’s Golden Dozen round-ups, Jo’s blog ranges more widely across politics than many Liberal Democrat blogs – reaching beyond the confines of the latest Liberal Democrat news to frequently talk about policy and rarely penning a boring sentence.

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2 Comments

The top five local Liberal Democrat websites in 2007

By Mark Pack | Sat 5th January 2008 - 8:50 am

Based on the amount of traffic they’ve passed on to www.libdems.org.uk in 2007, the top five local Liberal Democrat sites were:

Congratulations to Brent on once again pulling in such heavy levels of traffic. No great surprise that the Ealing and Sedgefield Parliamentary by-elections propelled those sites into the top five, nor that Vince Cable’s high profile as acting leader lifted his site too, but impressive that Lorley Burt’s site has shot up the rankings.

In the second-half of 2006 the top five were:

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The five blogs nicest to the Lib Dems in 2007

By Mark Pack | Fri 4th January 2008 - 2:55 pm

Based on the amount of traffic they’ve passed on to www.libdems.org.uk during 2007, the top five blogs were:

Although LDV and Ming’s site regularly had links through to the party’s site, none of the others did. Iain Dale’s presence at number two isn’t though simply a reflection of his traffic levels: something I’ve noticed on other sites too is that links from Iain Dale often drive far more traffic relative to Iain’s readership than links from other people. Not sure though what it is about readers of that site that …

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Tagged guido fawkes, iain dale, jonathan calder, lynne featherstone, Ming Campbell and recess monkey | Leave a comment

How powerful a campaigning tool is Facebook?

By Mark Pack | Sun 23rd December 2007 - 9:53 am

Pretty powerful, at least in Canada it seems.

Tagged facebook | 7 Comments

Nominations open for Campaign for Gender Balance Blog Awards

By Ros Taylor | Thu 20th December 2007 - 7:53 am

I was delighted when the Campaign for Gender Balance asked me to help judge the first Gender Balance Blog Awards – and relieved, because the dearth of women blogging about politics has had an uncivilising effect on the internet. Too many established bloggers, unconsciously or otherwise, consider the web a perfectly egalitarian place where women suffer no discrimination and should not expect special treatment.

Unfortunately, like every other utopia, that meritocracy simply doesn’t exist. Call it an innate unwillingness to pronounce on subjects in which we don’t have a doctorate, blame it on a lack of time, point to the lack …

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Tagged Jo Swinson | 16 Comments

Should Simon Hughes know the value of your home?

By Mark Pack | Sat 15th December 2007 - 7:26 pm

I only ask because of this intriguing Google Ad I came across on the Daily Telegraph’s website. The first two adverts I can understand, but the third seems a little desperate…

Google Ads oddity

2 Comments

Are you using the Liberal Democrat extranet?

By Mark Pack | Fri 7th December 2007 - 7:55 am

Extranet screenshot The party’s extranet is a resource for party activists, elected representatives (including councillors) and staff and the home for artwork, campaign materials, policy briefings and also resources to accompany the party’s big national campaigns, such as the crime and health ones.

Access is open to all party councillors, staff, approved Parliamentary candidates, local party Chairs, EARS officers and Membership Secretaries, trainers and up to eight other nominated people per local party.

Full access details are on the site and if you’ve not yet registered, you can kick off the registration process online too.

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The perils of blogging: it’s rather hard to delete what you wrote

By Mark Pack | Tue 27th November 2007 - 11:01 am

From the Sunday Herald:

SCOTTISH LABOUR’S new spin-doctor made a series of damning criticisms of his colleagues weeks before he accepted the job as the party’s head of communications. Gavin Yates used his blog to describe Wendy Alexander as “abrasive”, labelled shadow health minister Andy Kerr as “simply uninspiring”, and blasted Jack McConnell for being a “lame duck leader” when in office…

His comments featured on his WordPress-hosted blog, GYmedia. A message on the blog page now states: “The authors have deleted this blog. The content is no longer available.”

But the Sunday Herald has uncovered a number of Yates’s postings, many

…

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Also posted in News | 3 Comments

How important is Liberal Democrat Voice in the leadership election?

By The Voice | Fri 16th November 2007 - 7:55 am

Of course, the team here at The Voice would like to think we’re essential. But in the spirit of scientific enquiry, we’ve got out our slide rules and graph paper and been analysing various statistics.

There are several different routes to take, but they all end up with us estimating that around 10-15% of people who vote in the leadership election will be readers of this site.

But is that a large number of readers? Or is that a small number of readers? And how many of our readers will talk to other voters and possibly influence them?

P.S. If you think it’s …

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Also posted in Leadership Election | 5 Comments