Category Archives: Op-eds

Martin Horwood

Martin Horwood MP writes…Putting people with disabilities into the international development picture

By Martin Horwood | Tue 3rd December 2013 - 11:59 am

One year after her appointment as the first ever Liberal Democrat minister at the Department for International Development (DfID), Lynne Featherstone has already earned a reputation for picking up difficult subjects and setting ambitious goals. In her first year, she put the issue of female genital mutilation on the national and international agenda and famously declared that she wanted to see it gone within a generation and then started to take the practical steps to make that happen.

Now Lynne has taken up another challenge for some of the world’s most vulnerable people: to champion the inclusion of people with disabilities. …

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Evan Harris

Opinion: Child taken from womb by social services. Really?

By Evan Harris | Mon 2nd December 2013 - 7:43 pm

Yesterday Caron Lindsay blogged on the case of what some are describing as the “Forced Caesarian and Child Abduction” case. In her article she reached certain judgments that I think displayed a degree of unjustified faith in accuracy of newspaper reports.

This is especially unwise in cases where those who are criticised can not answer back due to medical confidentiality and/or legal restrictions designed to protect the privacy of a child (and possibly the patient).

I felt the quickest way to “put the other side” is to look at and respond to some of the points made by Caron in her post.  In …

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Opinion: Liberalism is radicalism

By Anonymous Liberal | Mon 2nd December 2013 - 5:42 pm

Though cheered by Nick Clegg’s letter on Liberal principles, I balked at being “slap, bang in the liberal centre”.

Though not his intention, “centre” always suggests equidistance between left and right. It implies reasonableness. And everyone knows politics is a contest for the centre ground. We live there. We win.
Except this conflates two unhelpful metaphors.

When Labour and Conservatives contest the centre ground it doesn’t make them Liberals. Rather they’re engaging with popular (often illiberal) sentiment, metaphorically located somewhere between them, in order to succeed electorally. If strong, they cajole that sentiment towards a programme. If weak, they appease it.

Our supposed …

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John Whitehouse

Opinion: The Opportunity Costs of HS2

By John Whitehouse | Mon 2nd December 2013 - 4:21 pm

HS2 Brick WallToday’s publication (pdf) by the Liberal think tank Centre Forum, “Build the infrastructure: bin the wish list”, ought to make every Liberal Democrat stop and think again about the wisdom of spending £50 billion on HS2.

The report concludes that “projects must be prioritised with full consideration of opportunity costs”, saying:

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The Voice

Christmas present ideas from the LDV team and friends – Day 2

By The Voice | Mon 2nd December 2013 - 2:45 pm

On this Mega Monday, here are two Christmas present suggestions from our own Nick Thornsby.

letters of arthur schlesingerThe letters of Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

Edited by his two sons, this collection of Arthur Schlesinger’s letters gives a fascinating insight into many of the key events in 20th century American history. And unlike most historians, Schlesinger often found himself mixed up in those events, particularly where they involved the Democratic party. He famously spent time working as an adviser in the JFK White House, so there is interesting material from before, during and …

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Ed Davey

Ed Davey writes… Lower energy bills – with good deal for the fuel poor, green energy and the green deal

By Ed Davey | Mon 2nd December 2013 - 12:44 pm

Energy-bills-006Energy bills are a hot political topic. Since 2005, energy bills have almost doubled at a time when many people’s incomes have barely risen. The cause of these rises has been almost entirely rising wholesale gas prices on international markets. Yet despite that and even though the cost of government policies only represents 9% on the average bill, it is right the Government has closely scrutinised our policy costs, and found a way to reduce them, to deliver an average saving of £50.

The fact we have done so whilst protecting …

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Paul Stocker

Opinion: Demonstrations in Ukraine demonstrates the importance of European unity

By Paul Stocker | Mon 2nd December 2013 - 10:33 am

Within the confines of our islands, during the protracted debates over Britain’s relationship with the EU, it is perfectly easy to forget what is patently obvious to the majority of continental Europe – European unity matters. As Ian Traynor at the Guardian has pointed out, the mass demonstrations in Ukraine show that the EU still offers hope to many on the peripheries of the continent. Indeed, it is probably extremely difficult for Nigel Farage or indeed any British Eurosceptic to understand the waving of the EU flag as an act promoting national self-determination …

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Caron Lindsay

Christmas present ideas from the LDV team and friends…Day 1

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st December 2013 - 2:15 pm

We are very strict at LDV Towers. There must be no mention of Christmas before 1st December, but now that we’re here, the holly, baubles and tinsel are being dusted off. Rumours that we were going to have a lights display spelling out Stronger Economy, Fairer Society have proved wide of the mark, though.

We thought we might help you with some of your Christmas shopping with a few suggestions. The first suggestion comes from Stephen Tall:

An officer and a spyBook: An officer and a spy, by Robert Harris available here.

This …

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Caron Lindsay

Botched deportation of dying man highlights need for humanitarian overhaul of asylum system

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st December 2013 - 10:05 am

On Wednesday, Roger Roberts wrote an extremely moving article about the fate of Isa Muaza, a Nigerian asylum seeker who had been on hunger strike for 90 days in protest at the conditions in which he was being kept at an immigration detention centre. His removal from the UK, even in his frail, close to death condition, was planned for Friday morning.

Through Thursday, many of our readers signed the petition asking for Theresa May to reconsider her decision to deport Muaza. Huge effort was put in by Liberal Democrats including Sarah Teather, Julian Huppert and Tim Farron as well …

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Claire Tyler

Baroness Claire Tyler writes…A victory for public health (and cross-party working)

By Claire Tyler | Sun 1st December 2013 - 9:00 am

Moving amendments to legislation in the Lords can often feel like an interesting and worthy – but ultimately pointless – activity as often nothing changes. Not so this week!. I was one of the cross party group of peers who moved an  amendment to the Children and Families Bill last week to introduce powers to bring in regulations on standard packaging for cigarettes. My fellow peers were Ilora Finlay (crossbench), Richard Faulkner (Labour), and Ian McColl (Conservative). In the Commons it has also been genuinely cross party endeavour, the campaign being led by MPs including Paul Burstow and Stephen Williams …

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Paul Stocker

Opinion: Pro-Europeans should not fear an EU Referendum

By Paul Stocker | Sat 30th November 2013 - 10:30 am

James Wharton’s EU referendum bill finally passed through the Commons on Friday. Whilst this is seen as a significant victory for the Conservative Party and indeed all Eurosceptics, there is still some way to go before a 2017 EU referendum is enshrined in law. The bill must now get through the Lords, and even Wharton seemed unconvinced that it would pass, at least not without significant amendment. However, the Tory MP for Stockton South warned the Lords, ominously stating “For an unelected House to deny the British people a say on a bill which has been passed by the …

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Rebecca Taylor

Rebecca Taylor MEP writes…Can you help me campaign against e-cigs being regulated as medicines?

By Rebecca Taylor | Sat 30th November 2013 - 9:02 am

The EU is currently deciding how best to regulate e-cigarettes. Opinion is divided, with many public health organisations and most national governments – including the UK – pushing for the regulation of e-cigarettes as medicinal products, while consumers, manufacturers, along with some doctors and public health experts asking for a less stringent approach.

The European Parliament also voted against medicines regulation, adopting instead a Liberal amendment drafted by Frédérique Ries, myself and Chris Davies which aims to guarantee essential safeguards without resorting to medicines licensing.

E-cigarettes are a new and increasingly popular product used almost entirely by existing or former smokers (see …

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb MP writes…My view on cigarette standardised packaging

By Norman Lamb MP | Fri 29th November 2013 - 1:45 pm

Yesterday the Government announced that it is launching an independent review of the public health evidence on standardised packaging for cigarettes.

As a Liberal I will always defend an individual’s right to smoke when they can do so without this having an impact on those around them, but I have made clear in the past my personal view that we should introduce standardised packaging.

This is a product, after all, which kills something in the region of 100,000 people a year. Is it really that unreasonable to argue that, given this death-rate, we should be able to restrict, in all ways, the …

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Paul Burstow

Paul Burstow MP writes…Standardised cigarette packaging – reviewing the evidence, or just kicking the can down the road?

By Paul Burstow | Thu 28th November 2013 - 4:13 pm

The news today that the Coalition Government is launching an independent review of the evidence for standardised packaging is welcome. It marks an important shift from the position Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt took in July that he would wait until the “emerging impact of the decision in Australia can be measured”. Australia of course led the world when the previous Government, with all Party support, introduced standardised packaging in December last year.

More welcome still is that news that the Government will take the legal powers to introduce standardised packaging in the Children and Families Bill

A four month review …

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John Pugh

John Pugh MP writes…Lessons from Bulgaria

By John Pugh | Thu 28th November 2013 - 11:46 am

There is something strange happening. This week we have seen the British Prime Minister question whether the free movement of labour is necessarily a good thing. The prospect of potentially socially disruptive Bulgarian and Rumanian immigration is concentrating his mind while all across the EU pray devoutly that the worst of tabloid fears will not come to pass.

The banking collapse in 2009 made all of us question whether the unfettered, free movement of capital was invariably a good thing. Currently the merits of the free movement of capital and labour are up for debate.

What we are seeing is the collapse …

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Graham Watson

Sir Graham Watson MEP writes…Welcoming ALDE Party Congress to London

By Graham Watson | Thu 28th November 2013 - 9:54 am

This week the Liberal Democrats are playing host to the wider European Liberal family – the ALDE Party’s big annual congress, which is taking place in London on today, Friday and Saturday.

Over 900 Liberals from across the EU and beyond will gather in Canary Wharf to draw up the common manifesto for the 2014 European Parliament elections and consider nominees for the Liberal candidate for European Commission President.

The European Liberal family includes three current Prime Ministers: Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, Andris Ansip of Estonia and Alenka Bratušek of Slovenia, and they will soon be joined by Xavier Bettel in …

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Andrew Emmerson

Opinion: Selling off the student loan book isn’t such a bad idea

By Andrew Emmerson | Thu 28th November 2013 - 8:55 am

Josh Dixon has written about why he feels selling off the student loan book from the 90’s is a worrying prospect for graduates. Whilst there are rightful concerns raised, the piece fails to clarify some important points about the working of debt and the economic sense behind the most recent sale

The article specifically alludes to the face value of the last student loan book which was around £900 million which was then sold off for £160 million. Whilst this may seem like a massive loss on the most superficial of levels, it is important to understand the other facts …

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Lord Roger Roberts

Lord Roger Roberts writes…Please try to prevent the imminent death of a seeker of sanctuary

By Lord Roger Roberts | Wed 27th November 2013 - 4:55 pm

Yesterday I met Mr Isa Muaza who, until last night, was due to be forced on to a plane to Nigeria this evening. Though his removal directions have been moved – and set – for 29 November he remains at death’s door.

Isa is a failed asylum seeker who has been held in detention at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre. The case is one of enforced removal, although very little real force will be necessary in his case. He has been on hunger strike and has lost 40% of his body mass. He is close to death.

Isa was not well when …

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Caron Lindsay

Clegg: Shoving new mums aside is unfair and bad for the economy

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th November 2013 - 2:34 pm

From Monday’s Scotsman:

MOTHERS often feel “shoved aside” in the workplace because they have had children, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has warned.

He said the problem was “far too common” and was not only unfair but also bad for the economy.

The Liberal Democrat leader said there was a need to dramatically change working practices to adapt to the realities of modern family life.

Mr Clegg’s comments came as a survey showed three quarters of women who returned to work after having a child thought it made it harder to progress in their career.

He went on to say:

It is sadly still far

…

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Andrew Stunell MP

Andrew Stunell MP writes…Keep free EU movement and end the dodges

By Andrew Stunell MP | Wed 27th November 2013 - 11:12 am

I signed up to the ‘European project’ a decade before I joined the Liberals. It was an instinctive reaction to working on refugee resettlement schemes in Germany and Austria. Even in the early ’60s there were still a million “displaced persons” living in camps in western Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. That should remain a stark reminder to complacent euro-sceptics that spending time grizzling about straight bananas risks a lot more than a million or two British jobs and our country’s shrinkage to a world micro power. That’s what makes being the Party of “In” a …

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Joshua Dixon

Opinion: Why the student loan privatisation is a worrying prospect for graduates

By Joshua Dixon | Wed 27th November 2013 - 8:57 am

For the first time in five years, the UK has seen a 4% rise in unsecured borrowing – the figure now amasses to an eye-watering £216bn. A report by Price Waterhouse Coopers revealed that this £8.5bn rise was almost entirely due to the rise in student borrowing. Students starting University, on average, are set to be straddled with debt that of £40 – 50,000.

As a graduate, already worrying about clearing my debt, the Government has given me more cause for worry. This week, the sale of the mortgage-style student loans taken out between 1990 and 1998 took place. …

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David Gray

Opinion: Which side are we on?

By David Gray | Tue 26th November 2013 - 8:53 am

RBS logoAllegations have recently come to light that RBS engaged in a programme of ‘deliberately wrecking small businesses’ in order to seize their assets on the cheap and boost their own profits. The case is another story in which we, the public, are shocked but not surprised. The response of the government and, in particular, Vince Cable will be watched very closely indeed.

It is interesting to view this story in the light of other recent events.

Take the sale of a student loans book to an investment consortium at a price …

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Michael Moore

Michael Moore writes… Hullabaloo Tuesday

By Michael Moore | Mon 25th November 2013 - 2:24 pm

Heard much about the referendum lately?

I only ask because there is a curious phenomenon at play in Scotland at present.

Never mind “Will you be voting ‘Yes’ or No’ next year?”: the real divide in Scotland seems to be between those who think they have heard too much from politicians already and those who think they have heard nothing at all.

To campaigners on both sides of the ‘great debate’ this latter camp is intensely frustrating.

At my last count (I am in recovery now), the UK government had published over 600 pages of analysis and argument. The slackers at …

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Elizabeth Adams

Opinion: Remember, remember the 25th of November

By Elizabeth Adams | Mon 25th November 2013 - 11:26 am

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and is also White Ribbon Day.

It has been just over 2 months since we passed my motion at conference that called for further and stronger measures to tackle domestic violence. This set out our commitment to standing up for victims and making tackling domestic abuse a priority for Liberal Democrats for beyond 2015.

Today is a day to recognise the huge fight we still have ahead of us in stamping out, what is an abuse of human rights. Many local organisations will be carrying out days of activism and …

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Opinion: Let many flowers bloom (though not too many Flowers)

By Anonymous Liberal | Mon 25th November 2013 - 9:51 am

The Cooperative scandal, it’s got the lot.

Sex + drugs + religion + money = media feeding frenzy.

Liberals mustn’t join in too much. Especially where mutual ownership and public services are concerned.

Like the Cooperative Bank, most mutuals and co-ops operate in market conditions. Unlike it, most are small. In public service, as free collaborations, mutuals provide an alternative to collective state monoliths. In commerce, properly run, they avoid public companies’ shareholder short-termism. Indeed, in some ownership models, they confer real power on consumers. The Cooperative Party gives Labour significant reach across mutual enterprises. But it doesn’t control all …

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Richard Wingfield

Opinion: Why Liberal Democrats should support lowering the age of consent

By Richard Wingfield | Sat 23rd November 2013 - 2:30 pm

Liberal Democrats have long-championed the rights of young people. We were the first major party to call for the voting age to be lowered to 16. We were the only party in 2010 which committed to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law. In government, we have ended the detention of children for immigration purposes. But in one area of personal freedom and development, we remain distinctly illiberal: the age of consent.

In response to the recent calls from Professor John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, to lower the age of consent …

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb writes… How Liberal Democrats are promoting safety and openness in the NHS

By Norman Lamb MP | Sat 23rd November 2013 - 8:45 am

nhs sign lrgAs a Liberal Democrat, my priority for the NHS is simple. I want patients to have the best possible care. When people are ill and vulnerable, they deserve safe and compassionate care provided by doctors and nurses with the best possible training and medical expertise. And people need to know that, when mistakes are made, doctors will be open with them – and that lessons will be learnt.

What happened at Mid Staffs Hospital was a shocking scandal. The stories of neglect sent shock waves across the country. This Government …

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Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes… EU budget boost secures UK’s position as world leader in science

By Julian Huppert | Fri 22nd November 2013 - 3:35 pm

Europe Day - European Union - Some rights reserved by Niccolò CarantiI heard some good news this week. It may not have grabbed the headlines, but the UK economy was given a colossal shot in the arm thanks to the European Union.

Lib Dem MEPs on Tuesday voted for an EU budget, which was overall lower – a 6.5 per cent cut – but crucially included a 30 per cent increase in funding for research and innovation. This is important funding, and a clear sign of what can be achieved to help …

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Willie Rennie

Willie Rennie MSP writes…Equal marriage is an important step to a fairer society

By Willie Rennie | Fri 22nd November 2013 - 1:49 pm

Most people know that politicians can sometimes talk up goings on in Parliament in the hope of gaining a bit of newspaper coverage. Observers of Scottish politics will be familiar with claims that this or that debate marks a momentous change from what has gone before.

But this week at Holyrood we discussed legislation that can legitimately be described as historic. There is no need to exaggerate the impact it will have because it is plain to see that this Bill will change the lives of thousands of Scots around the country.an act that offers same-sex couples the same protections and …

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Phil Bennion

Phil Bennion MEP writes… Anti-Bullying Week: The EU has a duty to share best practice on Autism-related bullying

By Phil Bennion | Fri 22nd November 2013 - 10:26 am

This week is Anti-Bullying Week, now an annual UK event. It aims to raise awareness of bullying of children and young people and people with conditions such as autistic spectrum disorders which make them particularly vulnerable to abuse. Organised by the Anti Bullying Alliance (ABA) in England, which is made up of sixty member organisations, the week is an important opportunity for policy-makers to take stock of efforts to stamp out this social evil and evaluate new approaches.

As MEP for the West Midlands region, I have always believed that the European Union has an important role to play in …

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  • Mick Taylor
    @DavidRaw. To be strictly accurate, the Church in Wales and the Church in Scotland play no state role since they were disestablished by the 1906-14 Liberal Gove...
  • Jonah Weisz
    Hi Paul, I thought you might be interested to know that we have an ME/LC Lib Dems group where we discuss and coordinate our advocacy efforts - just drop me a li...
  • Judy Abel
    @Geoff thank you for your comments. Unfortunately those experiences sound familiar. Because the NHS is free at the point of use we maybe don’t think we can ex...
  • David Evans
    Mick I'm not at all sure that the Lib Dems sold out in 2010 over student fees. The leadership did, and carried on in that vein whenever it deemed it necessary ...
  • Tristan Ward
    @ David Raw "I’m glad to see you say that the opposition to abolishing slavery was bought off" One interpretation is that majority opinion in 19th cen...