Category Archives: Op-eds

Book Review: Austerity: the history of a dangerous idea

By Geoff Crocker | Sun 2nd June 2013 - 1:34 pm

Mark Blyth delivers a masterful, blistering, devastating, and totally convincing critique of austerity in his book Austerity: the history of a dangerous idea. It’s impossible to read this book and still believe that austerity is the right policy. Blyth writes engaging, powerful economic history of economies applying austerity, including the US, UK, Sweden, Germany, Japan and France in the 1920s and 1930s, Denmark and Ireland in the 1980s, and the Baltic states in 2008, demonstrating in each case that austerity does not work. It does not generate growth or reduce debt. He shows that the current hot spot crises …

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Tagged book reviews and mark blyth | 45 Comments

Andrew George MP writes…Liberal Democrats must defend green promise

By Andrew George | Fri 31st May 2013 - 1:46 pm

It’s crunch time for parties across the political spectrum: will parliamentarians do the right thing for our climate and the UK economy or will they let the sceptics drive investors overseas?

The Energy Bill returns to the Commons next week, just as the Conservatives are retreating to their traditional political stomping grounds in the face of competition from the right. Writing in Lib Dem Voice last month, Nick Clegg noted that: “Compassionate conservatism has been sidelined…the blue team used to claim to have gone green, yet have now publicly denounced the importance of environmental protections”. It’s up to the Liberal Democrats to …

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Tagged chris huhne, climate change, decarbonisation, ed davey, energy bill, environment and nick clegg | 3 Comments

Opinion: It’s time to prioritise electoral reform for local government

By Crispin Allard | Thu 30th May 2013 - 11:16 am

As Liberal Democrats, we all know First Past the Post is a terrible voting system. But in this year’s local elections it has sunk to new depths.

With the arrival of genuine four-party politics in England, the proportion of votes that actually make a difference to the result has reached an all-time low. And of the 16 county councils that returned a single party majority, not one of those ruling parties gained a majority of votes – in fact most got less than 40%.

This is not just a dry academic point or a moan about unfairness. It makes a real …

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Tagged electoral reform and Local government | 22 Comments

Thoughts on a windy moor

By Mary Reid | Tue 28th May 2013 - 6:40 pm

Yesterday afternoon I was standing on a windy moor in Scotland and reminding myself that, over 250 years ago, my ancestors, the Prices, had stood directly opposite my husband’s ancestors from Clan Donnachaidh, preparing for what was to become the last full-scale battle in Britain. After one hour of intense fighting, 1250 Jacobites lay dead on the moor alongside 50 Government troops. The field of battle is still honoured as a war grave.

My memories from school history had romanticised Culloden as a confrontation between the Scots – Bonnie Prince Charlie and …

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Tagged better together, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 10 Comments

The Independent View: Government must do more on youth unemployment

By Lottie Dexter | Tue 28th May 2013 - 8:55 am

More than a year has passed since Nick Clegg launched his flagship £1 billion Youth Contract. The Deputy Prime Minister pinned his hopes on the scheme, hailing it as “a major moment for Britain’s young unemployed people”. Clegg’s scheme, it was promised, would set young people on “the path to work” before the long term damage is done.

Yet one year on and youth unemployment remains one of the biggest challenges we face as a nation. The number of young adults seeking a job continues to cling to one million – and it has done for nearly four years. There is …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged lottie dexter, million jobs and youth employment | 9 Comments

Eric Schmidt’s perplexity – a challenge to governments

By Joe Otten | Mon 27th May 2013 - 5:45 pm

Google’s Eric Schmidt has been reported as being perplexed by the UK’s debate on tax avoidance.

I view that you should pay the taxes that are legally required. It’s not a debate. You pay the taxes.

If the British system changes the tax laws then we will comply. If the taxes go up we will pay more, if they go down we will pay less. That is a political decision for the democracy that is the United Kingdom

There’s a contrast here with the case of Starbucks, volunteering a little extra tax in a failed attempt to head …

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Tagged tax avoidance | 40 Comments

Is it time for retailers to lose the lads’ mags?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 27th May 2013 - 3:56 pm

Every time you go into a supermarket or newsagent to buy a magazine, you are likely to be confronted with the following:

A women’s section, which contains magazines on, mainly, celebrity froth, sewing, cooking and child-rearing;
Everything remotely interesting,like current affairs, photography, fishing, sport, computers and science fiction being displayed elsewhere;
Magazines with pictures of half naked women prominently displayed in a way that you can’t miss.

What does this tell children about the world in which they are growing up? The message seems to be that women are there to keep everyone else fed (while keeping themselves unrealistically thin, of course), …

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Also posted in News | Tagged Jo Swinson, lose the lads' mags campaign, lynne featherstone, nick clegg and sexism | 38 Comments

Opinion: TTIP – whose freedom will it promote?

By Gordon Frankland | Mon 27th May 2013 - 2:34 pm

Few things press Liberal Democrat buttons like the promise of free (or freer) trade. So, London MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford’s recent post for LDV noting that the European Parliament has just given the go-ahead for negotiations towards the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP, a.k.a. TAFTA), a free trade treaty that will be the biggest in history, was generally welcomed in comments.

But what exactly is proposed? Tariffs on both sides of the Atlantic are already low – averaging only about 4% – so the possible gains from further reductions are modest. A quick root around …

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Tagged free trade | 11 Comments

Ed Davey writes… Europe must stay ambitious on climate change

By Ed Davey | Mon 27th May 2013 - 12:56 pm

There has been a lot of talk over the last few weeks about Britain’s place in Europe, but there’s one thing that I hope we can all agree. We need the EU to help prevent climate change.

We are an island nation, a trading nation, dependent on the global market for prosperity – for food, for energy, for many of the products we rely on in. It is unsurprising that the UK was one of the first countries to recognise that significant climate change will directly affect our way of life. And we were the first country to bind …

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Tagged carbon emissions, climate change, energy and renewable energy | 9 Comments

Opinion: The 2015 manifesto – the need for a certain … clairvoyance

By Paul Reynolds | Mon 27th May 2013 - 10:55 am

Political parties the world over are often accused of ‘re-fighting the last election’ when they develop their manifestos. This is by way of a plea to all UK LibDems to be mindful of the need to avoid this tendency.

In practical terms this means thinking about the ‘record in government’ we wish hypothetically to be able to put together at the end of 2019, ready for presentation to the electorate in the run up to a 2020 election.

But hold on a minute – that means predicting issues in 2019 and the preceding 4/5 years. Exactly. I will suggest a few.

Constitution
By …

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18 Comments

Opinion: Liberal Democrats for a republic

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 27th May 2013 - 8:52 am

Liberal Democrats believe in democracy. Indeed ‘Democrats’ is in our title.

We believe in representative democracy, from parish councils to (though we’re still fighting for it) the House of Lords.

We believe those who make the laws of our land should be voted for by the people of our land.
Government of, for and by the people.

We believe this should be extended to those occupying the highest positions in British Government.

If we believe, as we rightly do, that no peer of the realm should be able to be a legislator just because of who they were born to or who …

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Tagged monarchy | 52 Comments

Simon Hughes and Alex Carlile debate Snoopers’ Charter on Murnaghan

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 26th May 2013 - 12:05 pm

It’s been like Snoopers’ Charter Central this morning.

It didn’t take very long after the brutal murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich for politicians of a more authoritarian outlook to be falling over themselves to condemn Nick Clegg for vetoing sweeping measures on Communications data and call for their immediate introduction. LDV’s Stephen Tall dealt with two of them, John Reid and Alex Carlile, by making them his Liberal Villains of the Week, saying:

And then comes the next inevitability: politicians striking a pose as authoritarian strongmen by cravenly giving the jihadists the glory they seek. Two of the usual

…

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Tagged alex carlile, communications data bill, julian huppert, murnaghan, simon hughes and snoopers charter | 21 Comments

Opinion: UKIP vote against EU tackling tax evasion

By Richard Davis | Sat 25th May 2013 - 10:25 am

UKIP frequently describe the EU as a large, expensive, bureaucratic nightmare, stating that we pay into the EU more than we get out. Yet at a time when the EU seeks to change that, by tackling tax evasion and avoidance, potentially saving member states in total 7 times the EU’s annual budget, UKIP vote en masse against it.

This week the EU Parliament voted to halve the €1 tn lost due to tax evasion and avoidance by 2020 by closing tax loopholes and tax havens. This is to be achieved by tightening some of the agreements between tax havens such as …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged eu, tax and ukip | 21 Comments

An open letter to Tim Farron on unpaid internships

By Sam Barratt | Fri 24th May 2013 - 4:00 pm

Dear Tim,

We are writing to you to express our feelings on the subject of unpaid internships.

There can be all sorts of barriers for people who wish to undertake internships and it is crucial that the Liberal Democrats, and our Parliamentarians, do all we can to make sure that the internships we offer are as open as possible. This is about minimising barriers, one of which is affordability. Some of us have worked in the past as unpaid interns; we know that sometimes people are happy to work for free, or feel they have to in order break into a profession.

…

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Also posted in News | Tagged internships, liberal youth and tim farron | 24 Comments

Don Foster writes: A powerful meeting where all faiths spoke with one voice

By Don Foster MP | Fri 24th May 2013 - 3:08 pm

Today I attended an interfaith meeting, chaired by Nick Clegg and attended by representatives of the other political parties, following the terrible events in Woolwich on Wednesday where soldier Lee Rigby was brutally murdered. The event was incredibly positive, with representatives of many faiths coming together to denounce the attack, condemn those who bring terrorism to our streets, and agree that we have to stand together in the face of it.

I’ll warn you up front that I’m not going to use this post to make political …

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Tagged nick clegg and woolwich attack | 10 Comments

Simon Hughes MP writes…My vote on the Same Sex Marriage Bill

By Simon Hughes MP | Fri 24th May 2013 - 11:53 am

I want to say a few personal words to my party friends and colleagues, straight and gay, after this week’s debates and votes on the same-sex marriage bill.

I voted for the second reading of the bill but abstained at third reading. I tried to make clear my reasons in my three speeches on the bill in February and this week. Please read them carefully. Some of you may be pleased or relieved that some Liberal Democrat MPs, including me, voted for amendments and against third reading or abstained on third reading. You may share our beliefs on this issue or …

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Tagged same sex marriage bill and simon hughes | 111 Comments

Report on internet pornography highlights need for education, not restriction

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 24th May 2013 - 10:28 am

One of my biggest concerns in recent years has been the effect of access to easily available internet pornography on the next generation of young people. Every time I ask an expert in the field to reassure me and tell me that I’m panicking too much, they shake their head and tell me that my fears are spot on.

It just takes a couple of clicks to arrive at free videos which depict women in a subjugative role, as little more than receptacles. The language used about those women is demeaning and deeply misogynistic. The expectations of a generation of boys …

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Tagged children's commissioner, education, internet pornography, iSPs and sex education | 12 Comments

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Fri 24th May 2013 - 8:56 am

Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore MP, writes a regular column for newspapers in his Borders Constituency. Here is the latest edition.

Apprenticeship Week

Last week was Apprenticeship Week in Scotland, which is a week to recognise and celebrate the commitment of employers and the talent of apprentices from all over the country. The Week also helps raise the profile of apprenticeships and encourage young people and local businesses to get involved. They are a vital way for young people to gain the skills they need to break into the job market and it has been good to see …

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Also posted in Parliament and Scotland | Tagged Michael Moore and Westminster Notes | Leave a comment

Opinion: The media have failed the public over the Woolwich atrocity

By Ewan Hoyle | Thu 23rd May 2013 - 4:03 pm

At least two brutal and disturbing hate crimes have been carried out this month. Each of the two I will draw your attention to left an apparently innocent man dead from knife wounds. And each victim was apparently selected on the basis of what they were wearing (a Help for Heroes t-shirt) or what they looked like.

These attacks differed in only one important feature, in that one of the attackers had something to say and sought help from passers by in order to communicate his message to as many people as possible.

Without the assistance of others, the ambitions at …

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Tagged hate crime, terrorism and woolwich attack | 51 Comments

Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP writes…An EU-US trade deal would be good for Europe and for Britain

By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP | Thu 23rd May 2013 - 1:23 pm

Today the European Parliament gave the go-ahead to negotiations for an ambitious comprehensive EU-US ‘transatlantic trade and investment partnership’ agreement – or T-TIP in the jargon. The EU and US combined account for over half the global economy, making this by far the biggest free-trade agreement in history. Existing protectionist restrictions in America as well as in Europe mean that the full potential of our economic relationship is not realised. While the abolition of remaining tariffs on goods will bring worthwhile gains, the greatest benefits will be in removal of non-tariff barriers to achieve a much more integrated transatlantic marketplace.

…

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Tagged free trade and transatlantic trade and investment partnership | 14 Comments

Opinion: An EU exit would be bad for Britain; it is our job to explain why

By Richard Davis | Thu 23rd May 2013 - 10:59 am

When Lord Lawson argued in The Times for a UK exit from the EU (reported in the Guardian; no pay wall! ), he said his arguments had nothing to do with being “anti-European”, but it appears they were nothing but. Filled with emotion and political zeal there was little relevance or fact based on economic evidence. Which is extremely disappointing from an ex-chancellor.

He stated that UK exports to the EU have risen by 40% while exports to the EU from countries outside of it have risen by 75%. If we were to leave the EU we would have to start paying …

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Tagged europe and nigel lawson | 13 Comments

Opinion: Some thoughts on the NHS from a recent patient

By William Hobhouse | Thu 23rd May 2013 - 9:12 am

I’ve just spent 3 weeks on a trauma ward in a northern hospital after a nasty accident, and coming from an industrial background, here are some thoughts on the NHS and a Lib Dem approach.

First and most importantly, hospitals are large, high tech and high skill businesses. They are continually investing in equipment, and the best hospitals will have motivated doctors, nurses and managers who take ownership of their jobs and are part of the process to continually improve the clinical excellence and effectiveness of the hospital. Hospitals share many of the challenges of excellence with manufacturing businesses.

What are the …

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Tagged NHS | 4 Comments

“Is the coalition government doing enough to encourage social mobility?”

By Stephen Tall | Thu 23rd May 2013 - 8:45 am

That was the question I was asked to answer for a new magazine, The New Idealist (available online here). Here’s what I said…

Social mobility: it’s a phrase much-beloved by politicians from all three parties. Who, after all, can possibly disagree with the fine sentiments of Nick Clegg in his social mobility strategy paper, Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers (April 2011)?

In Britain today, life chances are narrowed for too many by the circumstances of their birth: the home they’re born into, the neighbourhood they grow up in or the jobs their

…

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Tagged education, featured, john goldthorpe, nick clegg, social mobility and vince cable | 28 Comments

Nick Clegg says coalition “staunch opponents” will work together till 2015

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 22nd May 2013 - 6:30 pm

Much attention has been given in the news to Nick Clegg’s and David Cameron’s remarks on the future of the Coalition. Both were keen to emphasise that the Government would stick together until 2015. I’m never sure it’s wise to assert these things so strongly when there was never a realistic prospect of a split anyway. The attempts of some in the Conservative Party to deflect attention from their own torrid internal relations by spreading nonsense about a plot to unseat Nick Clegg, or suggesting his jacket is on a shoogly peg if the European elections don’t go well are …

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Tagged coalition, economy and nick clegg | 5 Comments

Opinion: Referendum debate is a sideshow: the countdown to Britain’s real EU vote starts today

By Giles Goodall | Wed 22nd May 2013 - 4:18 pm

In or out? With or without? Will they, won’t they? The sound and fury over a referendum on Britain’s EU membership has become almost deafening over the past few days. It is a confused debate driven by a small and virulent band of anti-Europeans. Their success lies in a dual strategy of shackling the issue to others of much wider public concern (such as immigration), while simultaneously blackmailing one of Britain’s great pro-European parties (the Conservatives) into adopting ever more anti-European positions – against their own traditions, intuition and better judgement.

Around Europe, the ‘British question’ is also furrowing brows – …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged european elections 2014 | 27 Comments

The Independent View: An invitation to ORGCon 2013: the UK’s leading digital rights conference

By Peter Bradwell | Wed 22nd May 2013 - 10:28 am

It becomes clearer every year how technology affects our rights and civil liberties in all sorts of ways. Businesses or governments try to block access to more information online. States make ever more demands for powers to surveil their citizens. Some of the laws governing what we can say on the Internet are too strict, with people punished severely for saying something online that would not be an offence if it was said in the local pub.

Open Rights Group’s national conference ‘ORGCon’ is the place to learn about, discuss and debate how technology affects our freedoms and democracy in these …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged digital rights, open rights group and ORGCon | Leave a comment

Opinion polls yadda yadda. OR “Does Nate Silver mean nothing to you? Did he write in vain?”

By Stephen Tall | Tue 21st May 2013 - 8:45 am

Two new polls last night: the daily YouGov tracker and the first post-local elections poll from Survation. The spread is interesting:

Labour:

Conservatives:

Lib Dems:

Ukip:

As Anthony Wells points out, Survation asks whether people will vote Ukip (most other firms just ask about the main three parties and ‘Others’) so usually gets the highest Ukip poll numbers. This latest survey is in line with the bounce other firms have shown and which the perceived winner of an election often records.

Unsurprisingly, it’s Survation’s poll which has attracted most interest because it shows a gap if just 2% between the Tories and Ukip. Cue cries of ‘Tory meltdown!, ‘Cameron in crisis!’ and every other journalistic cliche.

At the risk of precipitating on the parade of those who love nothing better than to indulge in over-excited hyper-speculation, can I make the following point. Or rather can I ask the following question: Does Nate Silver mean nothing to you? Did he write in vain?

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Also posted in Polls | Tagged featured, nate silver, survation, ukip and yougov | 24 Comments

Mike Crockart MP writes… Reducing reoffending and cutting crime

By Michael Crockart MP | Mon 20th May 2013 - 3:33 pm

3 years ago Liberal Democrats entered into the Coalition to put our nation’s economy back on track; building a fairer society and a stronger economy. But it wasn’t just about doing things in the national interest, we also went into Government to put Liberal Democrat policies into action.

At conference last year I moved a motion on reoffending so I am pleased that today Nick Clegg has set out many of the ideas passed by conference to rebuild our criminal justice system. Our …

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Tagged crime and rehabilitation | 1 Comment

Opinion: Lib Dem MPs: Vote for equality, human rights and love today

By Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett | Mon 20th May 2013 - 12:58 pm

The culmination of more than three years of heartfelt campaigning by the LGBT+ Lib Dems finally comes to the final hurdle in the House of Commons battle for equal marriage this week, with votes today and tomorrow.

It will sadly see the ultimate opportunity for those MPs who remain implacably behind the times in opposition to equality and fairness in the United Kingdom to block progress. It is also the opportunity for the sun to shine on those MPs who vote in favour of equality, fairness, human rights, respect and love. LGBT+ people want to celebrate and share their love just …

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Tagged equal marriage, lgbt+ lib dems and same sex marriage bill | 32 Comments