Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: What is with the Lib Dem love affair with leaflets?

By Former Organiser | Tue 29th October 2013 - 10:43 am

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and am convinced that I am the only Liberal Democrat to feel this way. Nonetheless, I have to share my feelings with a group of people that will understand, perhaps in the declining, yet desperate hope that I will find someone else who feels this way. Therefore, I must ask exactly what is with the Liberal Democrat love affair with leaflets?

I haven’t always hated the things. I remember happily putting yellow leaflets through doors as a 4 year old with my parents, but since growing up I’ve developed an intense hatred of the things. From printing them, to pulling paper out of a jammed Riso, then folding them, and finally delivering them in the mist, and rain.

Continue reading »

Tagged campaigning and connect | 43 Comments

Paul Burstow writes… The care bill must deliver for carers

By Paul Burstow | Mon 28th October 2013 - 5:25 pm

Across the country today, almost a million people are selflessly caring for friends and family with cancer. Their work is incredible and inspiring, and not only means the world to those they care for, but makes a massive contribution to our society. For far too long their role has been overlooked. It is why while I was Care Minister I made sure that the Care Bill enshrines new rights for carers in England.

The Bill rightly puts carers at the centre of care – as equal partners in care planning who, for the first time, will have clear …

Continue reading »

Tagged carers | 1 Comment

Opinion: It’s not just about Nuclear, it’s about Finance

By Steve Coltman | Mon 28th October 2013 - 2:39 pm

It’s been a week since Ed Davey announced the deal to build a new nuclear power station. After a week’s reflection the financing of this deal, especially by the Chinese, has become the biggest talking point. The cheapest way to generate electricity is with coal-fired power stations fuelled with open-cast coal from North America. Cheap, that is, if you ignore the environmental cost. …

Continue reading »

Tagged foreign direct investment and nuclear power | 12 Comments

Opinion: Russell Brand – a turgid mess of a manifesto

By Jack Williams | Mon 28th October 2013 - 8:58 am

On Friday this week I was challenged by a friend to read Russell Brand’s article in the New Statesman, after I went on Facebook to casually eviscerate his interview with Jeremy Paxman. I cursed my friend for making this request, which seemed too reasonable to refuse yet to tiresome to enjoy. Below is an edited version of my response.

I have now read the piece and I think it is self-referential to the point of narcissism. Brand’s intellectual ambitions literally reach for the stars. But his self-congratulatory ignorance is exposed by his failure to provide evidence beyond …

Continue reading »

Tagged featured, new statesman, revolution and russell brand | 57 Comments

A Sunday afternoon read – Rosie Wallace: The Sisters

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 27th October 2013 - 4:15 pm

Earlier this year, I talked to Rosie Wallace about her first two novels which I’d devoured in a couple of days over last Christmas.

Her third novel is still a work in progress but the Scotsman featured her short story The Sisters as part of its The Write Stuff series. Here’s a snippet:

The younger one has always been a chatterer. Silence is a vacuum to be filled with whatever thoughts are passing through her mind. As she wraps a china lamp base in old newspaper, she explains how her daughter could have been a doctor if the physics teacher

…

Continue reading »

Also posted in Books | Tagged rosie wallace and the scotsman | Leave a comment

Is Nick Clegg looking at all-women shortlists for 2020?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 27th October 2013 - 10:29 am

From today’s Independent:

Nick Clegg is planning to introduce all-women shortlists for the Liberal Democrats if not enough female candidates are selected in winnable seats in 2015.

The radical policy change, which will upset many activists who believe it would go against the party’s constitution, would be introduced in the next Parliament as many candidates have already been selected for the election in 18 months’ time.

Only 12 per cent of Lib Dem MPs are women, and there are none at all from ethnic minorities. Lib Dem sources said a number of “excellent” female and ethnic minority candidates have already been selected

…

Continue reading »

Tagged all-women shortlists, gender balance, nick clegg and the independent | 43 Comments

The Tour De France is great news for York but also needs a business case

By Keith Aspden | Sun 27th October 2013 - 9:30 am

Hosting the Tour De France is a huge opportunity for York and Yorkshire, but a time of cuts to local government budgets the delivery plans must be watertight.

When it was announced last year that York was to host Stage 2 of next year’s Tour De France, I was excited. So were most residents of the city.

The Tour is the most prestigious cycle race in the world and reckoned to be the biggest annual sporting event on the planet. With 188 countries broadcasting the event, the media exposure is probably only beaten by the Summer Olympics and the Football World Cup.

Anyone who has watched the event, either in France or when it last crossed the Channel in 2007, will know size of the event and the passion of the fans.

I could go on… for the bigness of the race and the glory of the event is indisputable. However, it appears that in the excitement of ‘the biggest race in the world’ coming to town many key questions and issues have been overlooked.

Continue reading »

Tagged sport | Leave a comment

Liberal Conspiracy is dead – and so too’s the amateur blogger (more or less)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 27th October 2013 - 8:15 am

Sunny Hundal announced on Friday that left-of-centre blog Liberal Conspiracy is coming to an end:

I no longer have the time to maintain Liberal Conspiracy as a daily-updated news and opinion blog, so as of today I’m going to stop. This site will become an occasionally updated personal blog, with the odd guest-post.

It’s fair to say LibCon received an underwhelmed response from Lib Dems when it was launched six years ago, mostly on account of it including the word Liberal in its title but not so much in its outlook. Sunny himself was sport enough to respond to …

Continue reading »

Tagged blogging, charlie brooker, dan hodges, george eaton, iain dale, isabel hardman, john rentoul, Liberal Conspiracy, Mark Pack, paul staines, rafael behr, sunny hundal, tom chivers and total politics | 4 Comments

Boris Johnson is not the only politician to stand up for immigration

By Andy Boddington | Sat 26th October 2013 - 10:15 am

The Telegraph reports Boris Johnson’s claim that he is the only politician to stand up for immigration.

I’m probably about the only politician I know of who is actually willing to stand up and say that he’s pro-immigration.

Nonsense. I can only guess that Boris doesn’t know many politicians. He even jokes that the only party backing immigration is the Greens. That’s not right and I am sure he knows it. The Lib Dems are the party that takes a positive attitude to immigration, and unlike the Greens, we are part of the government.

Continue reading »

Also posted in News | Tagged immigration | 4 Comments

George Lyon MEP writes… not a single Liberal Democrat voted for extra spending from Brussels

By George Lyon MEP | Fri 25th October 2013 - 6:21 pm

Earlier this year, Nick Clegg said that when we are having to tighten our belts at home it would be wrong for the EU to press ahead with big spending increases. He was right then and he is right now. This is why Liberal Democrats in Brussels backed moves to cut the EU budget by 8bn Euros.

Despite this fact, this week our friends at the Daily Mail reported that Lib Dem MEPs voted for an increase in the EU budget. The truth is that not a single Liberal Democrat voted for more spending from Brussels.

Liberal Democrats are committed to …

Continue reading »

Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged daily mail and eu budget | 3 Comments

Time to do away with Lib Dem Friends of Israel and Friends of Palestine

By Leon Duveen | Fri 25th October 2013 - 3:03 pm

Why, in a liberal and democratic party that “seeks to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community”, do we allow two groups to flourish in the party, when they should share a common aim? I refer of course the Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine and Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel.

Let me be clear and open. I have Israeli nationality and look back fondly on the ten years of my life spent living in Israel. That doesn’t mean I am uncritical of the Israeli governments, past and present, and of many of the actions and policies they have implemented over the years. I have been calling for a two state solution for nearly 40 years since I first saw at first hand the degradation and suffering in the refugee camps in Gaza. The occupation of Palestine harms both the occupied and the occupiers.

Continue reading »

41 Comments

Delivering affordable homes and new jobs in London

By Stephen Knight | Fri 25th October 2013 - 11:03 am

Last month house prices in London rose by 10 per cent – yes you read that correctly. Yet affordable homes, not over-inflated house prices, are what we need.

For an overseas investor in London’s housing market – and there are many – the price rises are wonderful news. They will be equally welcome by someone who has cleared their mortgage and is looking to sell up and move out of the capital. However, for most people who live in the capital or plan to move to the capital, such price rises are far from welcome.

It is not sustainable for people to ‘earn’ far more from rising house prices than working. As Vince Cable has rightly said these soaring house prices in London as “dangerous and unsustainable”. Vince is also right to express his misgivings about the Help to Buy scheme, which will almost certainly contribute to the over-inflated housing market in London and the South East.

Continue reading »

Tagged affordable housing, housing and london | 7 Comments

The Independent View: Planning out Poverty

By Kate Henderson | Fri 25th October 2013 - 10:03 am

Planning has become increasingly disconnected from peoples’ lives because it no longer deals with many of the issues people care about. At the same time much of the political and media debate about the future of planning has become a largely sterile discussion of the merits of continued deregulation. Everyone should have a right, irrespective of earnings, to a decent home

Planning has played a transformational role in improving the quality of life of all of our communities. It has a critical responsibility, along with wider public interventions, to tackle entrenched poverty. Planning has the potential to enhance our wellbeing by ensuring access to high quality environments and economic opportunities and to give communities a voice in their future.

Continue reading »

Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged planning | 2 Comments

Lord Greaves writes… We must make the Lobbying Bill work

By Tony Greaves | Fri 25th October 2013 - 9:03 am

It is rightly said that this Bill has had a disgraceful lack of scrutiny, and I agree with that. But we are where we are. The Government are not going to withdraw it, and it is not going to stop. If we can work together as a House and the Government can work with us, we can make a much better fist of this Bill than we have at the moment.

Tony Greaves writes on the Transparency of Lobbying, Third Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act, commonly known as the Lobbying Bill, drawing on his statements during the Second Reading on Tuesday. The committee stage begins on Tuesday 5th November, at which amendments will be tabled.

Continue reading »

Also posted in Parliament | Tagged featured and lobbying bill | 13 Comments

Adrian Sanders MP writes…The Universal Declaration of Animal Welfare should be taken up on an international level

By Adrian Sanders | Thu 24th October 2013 - 10:52 am

Last May the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) was granted General Consultative status at the United Nations. This is the only international animal welfare organisation with such status, and the decision represented a positive development for animal welfare on the global agenda.

However, more needs to be done. By encouraging the support of international organisations, we can ensure that effective animal welfare strategies are not just kept to the west and within the European Union. Instead, bodies like the United Nations can help support animal welfare improvements in …

Continue reading »

Tagged animal welfare | 8 Comments

LibLink: Stephen Tall – Lib Dems recontaminating the Tory brand? No, the Tories do it to themselves

By NewsHound | Wed 23rd October 2013 - 4:16 pm

Our Stephen Tall has been moonlighting over at Conservative Home again, this time pointing out that it’s the Liberal Democrats who are the good cops in the Coalition and that may not be the case in any future deal with Labour. Some of his comments will controversial amongst Liberal Democrats…

We’re lucky to be in coalition with the Conservatives:

Yet we are lucky and here’s why: we disagree with the Conservatives enough to protect our own identity within Coalition. The politicos call it differentiation. Most people would recognise it as “good cop, bad cop” politics. And it suits us Lib Dems down to the ground. It means that on many of the issues that matter most to the voters – especially tax-cuts for the low-paid and safeguarding the NHS, according to this YouGov finding– the Lib Dems are considered to have been a civilising influence on the Conservatives.

Continue reading »

Also posted in LibLink | Tagged conservative home and stephen tall | 11 Comments

Opinion: Thanks to Simon Hughes and Liberal Democrat Voice for helping get Florence Nightingale back in history lessons

By Dr Lynn McDonald | Wed 23rd October 2013 - 2:49 pm

The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, has announced that Florence Nightingale will remain in the National Curriculum after all, reversing a decision earlier this year to boot her out.

I want to offer my hanks to Liberal Democrat Voice for letting me state my reasons why Nightingale should stay in earlier this year. Thanks also to Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, for his efforts in getting the decision re-examined. Liberal Democrats can take a particular pleasure in seeing a fellow Liberal re-instated. Florence Nightingale was a lifelong Liberal supporter, at a time when political allegiances were …

Continue reading »

Tagged florence nightingale, history, mary seacole and simon hughes | 5 Comments

“Move over Nick” says Telegraph as Miriam Gonzalez Durantez launches women’s network

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 23rd October 2013 - 1:45 pm

Liberal Democrats have known that Miriam Gonzalez Durantez has put considerable time and effort into supporting women within the party. She has now moved on to the national stage to launch a campaign, Inspiring Women, which aims to send 15,000 women to talk to 250,000 girls in schools about their careers and to encourage them to aim high.

Earlier this month, we covered her article in the Telegraph in which she explained why she wants to do this:

The new generation of girls are clever, engaged and curious; they are ambitious, but in a realistic way; they are not afraid of

…

Continue reading »

Tagged inspiring women, miriam gonzalez durantez and telegraph | 3 Comments

Opinion: Love food, hate waste

By Tim Pickstone | Wed 23rd October 2013 - 9:05 am

I cannot be the only Liberal Democrat who was appalled by the scale of the food waste which had been calculated earlier this week by our largest food supplier, Tesco.

According to Tesco’s research something like 40% of apples, or half of bagged salad, or half of bakery items end up in the bin, either put there by the stores themselves (because they’ve decided it’s not fit to sell), or put there by us the consumer (because we’ve decided it’s not fit to eat).

Similarly I cannot be the only Lib Dem councillor …

Continue reading »

Tagged food waste and tesco | 7 Comments

David Laws writes… Nick Clegg and I have always been clear that Free Schools must also be fair schools

By David Laws | Tue 22nd October 2013 - 8:51 pm

On Thursday this week, Nick Clegg will set out the Liberal Democrat approach to improving standards in schools.

He will set out what parents and pupils should expect from schools. This is an issue we have worked on together for some time, and which was debated and agreed at our party’s conference this Spring.

The Liberal Democrats are instinctive supporters of freedom, diversity and choice. We believe in giving schools more autonomy and teachers more freedom.

That’s why we have supported extra powers to innovate for free schools and academies and have taken steps in government to extend autonomy for all schools. We …

Continue reading »

Tagged david laws, education, featured, free schools, michael gove, nick clegg and schools | 31 Comments

Tim Farron writes… A liberal win on ‘Go Home’ vans

By Tim Farron MP | Tue 22nd October 2013 - 6:39 pm

Since I have been President I have worked hard to try and make sure members views are heard in the heart of government. Banging on ministerial doors to try and make policy after policy better and more liberal.

Over the summer the ‘Go Home’ vans came onto our streets. At the time I joined Sarah Teather and, oddly, Nigel Farage to oppose them. (Who says politics doesn’t give you strange bedfellows!)

My view was clear both then and now: The vans represented the worst kind of divisive politics and …

Continue reading »

Tagged featured, go home vans, immigration, nigel farage, sarah teather and theresa may | 5 Comments

Opinion: Clinical Commissioning Groups – don’t hold your breath

By Geoff Crocker | Tue 22nd October 2013 - 2:13 pm

We are now 6 months into the much touted reorganisation of the health service, with the advent in April this year of Clinical Commissioning Groups to replace Primary Care Trusts, the only real difference being that GPs run the Clinical Commissioning Groups.

The reorganisation did ensure a reduction in cost by the simple expedient of setting Clinical Commissioning Group administrative budgets one third below historic Primary Care Trust administrative cost, yielding a Clinical Commissioning Group admin cost of £25/head of population. There are 211 Clinical Commissioning Groups. The adjusted population figure is 53.8m, and so total Clinical Commissioning Group admin spend is £1.345bn. Clinical Commissioning Groups are administering a total health budget of £60bn, averaging £284m per Group. Clinical Commissioning Group admin costs are therefore 2.24% of total health service expenditure.

Continue reading »

Tagged clinical commissioning groups, healthcare, NHS and primary care trusts | 8 Comments

Paul Tyler writes… Transparency not gagging

By Paul Tyler | Tue 22nd October 2013 - 12:30 pm

I have spent much of the last week meeting with NGOs to discuss the Transparency Bill, in advance of the first debate on it in the Lords today. It’s striking that only the most strident can now use the term “gagging bill” with a straight face, and I think even they now realise that the Bill is nothing of the sort.

Readers of Lib Dem Voice, more than most, are well used to accounting for spending in elections. For the parties, it is clear that their purpose in life is to influence election outcomes. Candidates and agents have accepted the need …

Continue reading »

Tagged lobbying bill | 10 Comments

Two questions journalists aren’t asking about Nick Clegg’s free schools speech

By Stephen Tall | Tue 22nd October 2013 - 10:15 am

Nick Clegg’s speech on free schools – setting out the policy approved by the Lib Dem conference last March – has ruffled feathers. Apparently he and David Cameron even had lunch yesterday to discuss this ‘bombshell’ announcement (which in fact won’t be made until a speech this Thursday).

My view (as I set out here on Sunday) is that schools should have the freedom to appoint teachers who lack formal qualifications, though I’d expect these to be the exceptions not the rule in the vast majority of state-funded schools. But I don’t think it’s at all surprising that Nick …

Continue reading »

Tagged david laws, education, free schools, iain martin, nicholas watt, nick clegg and schools | 40 Comments

Open letter to Lib Dem MPs: The Immigration Bill is illiberal

By Issan Ghazni | Mon 21st October 2013 - 5:51 pm

Dear Lib Dem MPs,

We Liberal Democrats have long been proud of our internationalism and compassionate stance towards refugees and immigration. Not an ‘open borders’ party, but a party which believes controlling our borders does not conflict with welcoming newcomers or upholding their human rights.

By contrast the Conservatives care little for rights, European or otherwise. Theresa May is engaged in creating a “hostile environment” made so unpleasant for “irregular migrants” will simply pack up and leave, and minority ethnic British citizens could end up being racially-profiled if they ‘look foreign.’ This approach is diametrically opposed to the values I …

Continue reading »

Tagged featured, immigration, immigration bill and theresa may | 24 Comments

Our politicians should be dull, worthy and never seen wearing a leopard print bra

By Andy Boddington | Mon 21st October 2013 - 1:02 pm

Writing in today’s Daily Mail, Dominic Sandbrook rages against the cult of celebrity and declares that “the lines between politics and show business have become dangerously blurred.” Is he right?

Today is Trafalgar Day, a celebration of the victory of our nation’s greatest celebrities, Horatio Nelson. Many may be surprised to hear Nelson described as a celebrity rather than a hero, but a celebrity he was, and he so knew it.

When, on 14 September 1805, Nelson arrived at Portsmouth to board the Victory, he could not make his way to the ship due to the pressure of crowds who wanted to cheer off their national hero. Nelson did not misjudge his own fame. He was loved by the nation and he loved their adulation. He told Thomas Hardy as he left English soil for the last time:

I had their huzzas before, I have their hearts now.

Continue reading »

Tagged celebrity culture and history | 6 Comments

Ed Davey MP writes… Hinkley Point C – a big step forward for energy decarbonisation

By Ed Davey | Mon 21st October 2013 - 11:59 am

Today I announced that we have reached an outline commercial agreement with EDF to build the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset.

I know this will cause a wide range of reactions within the party. Most will welcome this very significant step forward in our plans to decarbonise our energy sector. A substantial minority I know will be disappointed. Before outlining the terms of what I believe is a good deal for the British consumer let me repeat what I said at the Glasgow conference as to why I have changed my mind and now believe that nuclear has …

Continue reading »

Tagged energy, featured, hinkley point and nuclear power | 55 Comments

Opinion: Yin and Yang in China

By Merlene Emerson | Mon 21st October 2013 - 8:58 am

Images of Mayor Boris Johnson and Chancellor George Osborne in China have featured large in the media over the last week. They have been dubbed Yin and Yang: Boris must be Yin, the softer, cuddlier one, the one that makes school girls giggle over references to Harry Potter and his first girl friend, and Osborne, Yang as he tackles tougher subjects, such as going nuclear with China.

In fact critics such as Will Hutton have been less kind and have instead suggested that the duo have sold out and opened the UK to all manner of risks …

Continue reading »

Tagged china and tory leadership | 4 Comments

Clegg on free schools and National Curriculum: no more, no less than party policy. And that’s for better and worse.

By Stephen Tall | Sun 20th October 2013 - 11:05 am

No-one should be that surprised by Nick Clegg’s decision to distance the Lib Dems from Michael Gove’s schools policies — specifically that every teacher should be qualified and that every school should teach the national curriculum. After all, what Nick is due to set out in a speech this week is the policy that was voted for overwhelmingly by the party’s conference in March this year.

Here’s what the adopted policy – Every Child Taught by an Excellent Teacher – says about teachers in all schools having qualifications:

All classroom teachers, including in academies and free schools and Further Education

…

Continue reading »

Also posted in News | Tagged al-madinah, david laws, education, featured, free schools, national curriculum, nick clegg, peter hyman, school21 and schools | 31 Comments