Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: Government must act to encourage healthier diets

By Oliver Sidorczuk | Thu 7th February 2013 - 4:53 pm

Yesterday, Chris Rennard and John Sharkey raised the important and inter-connected issues of sugar consumption and childhood obesity, respectively, during Oral Questions in the Lords.

These related topics prompted fifteen minutes of debate from a packed Chamber, as the responding Minister – Earl Howe – spelt out what the Government is doing to encourage healthier eating and prevent the problems associated with poor diet and lack of exercise, from worsening.

John Sharkey began proceedings by pointing out that not one of the companies signed up to the responsibility deal for calorie reduction is a fast-food operator. He …

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Tagged chris rennard, john sharkey and public health | 21 Comments

Norman Lamb MP writes…The government will act in response to the Francis Report

By Norman Lamb MP | Thu 7th February 2013 - 10:34 am

Over the course of four years at Mid Staffordshire hospital, hundreds of patients suffered from appalling neglect and mistreatment. Relatives that voiced concerns were ignored; staff that tried to speak up were silenced. It was a shocking betrayal of trust of patients and their families.

Yesterday Robert Francis QC published his report into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. The public inquiry lasted more than two years, heard over 250 witness statements, considered over one million pages of documentary evidence, and has produced a report nearly two thousand pages long. It makes 290 separate recommendations.

The story of Mid Staffs, the report …

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Tagged robert francis qc | 5 Comments

Jeremy Browne MP writes…There is no opt out clause for equality for women and girls in a liberal society

By Jeremy Browne MP | Wed 6th February 2013 - 7:15 pm

In my lifetime, the role of women and girls in British society has been transformed. There has been an emancipation revolution.

Many of these changes have been legal. It seems remarkable today to reflect that, until 1975, women were not allowed to buy a house without financial guarantees being provided by a man, typically their father or husband.Other changes have been cultural. It is extraordinary, for example, that until 1972 a female diplomat in the Foreign Office was required to resign if she got married.

As each of these barriers to female attainment has been removed, women have capitalised on the opportunities …

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Tagged female genital mutilation, jeremy browne mp and women and girls | 6 Comments

Lunchtime debate: Should we ban domestic violence offenders from drinking alcohol?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 6th February 2013 - 12:57 pm

The Chief Constable of the new Scottish single police force has suggested that men who are convicted of domestic violence while drunk should be banned from drinking alcohol.

I wondered what Lib Dem Voice readers thought of this proposal. In England, Drinking Banning Orders have been around for 7 years but the guidance on their use suggests that they may not be appropriate if an individual is subject to domestic violence proceedings.

I’d be interested to see if anyone has any knowledge of how these orders work in practice, and whether they are effective in reducing offending. Are they too illiberal, …

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Tagged domestic violence, drinking banning orders, lunchtime debate and stephen house | 7 Comments

Opinion: Rights for cohabiting couples

By Roger Crouch | Wed 6th February 2013 - 11:41 am

The progress of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill through Parliament, with its Second Reading in the House of Commons, should be a cause of celebration amongst Liberal Democrats. As a party we have been, on the whole, united behind these proposals and we should applaud the leadership that Nick Clegg, Lynne Featherstone and, let’s give credit where it is due, David Cameron have demonstrated on this particular issue.

Working in Coalition, Liberal Democrats have introduced legislation which will secure equal marriage in law. I doubt very much whether a single party government, whether Conservative or Labour led, would have dared …

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Tagged cohabiting couples, inheritance law and law | 49 Comments

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 6th February 2013 - 10:15 am

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

Green Deal

In my constituency I know that energy prices are a key concern for local people. It has been one of the UK Government’s top priorities to help tackle this issue by improving the energy efficiency of people’s homes, reducing the confusing number of tariffs available and making it easier for people to switch. The Green Deal, launched last week, will help with the first part by enabling people to insulate their homes or install …

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Also posted in Parliament and Scotland | Tagged green deal, Michael Moore, Scotland, Scottish independence referendum, unemployment and Westminster Notes | Leave a comment

Norman Lamb writes: Tackling gun and knife crime – hospitals and police working together

By Norman Lamb MP | Tue 5th February 2013 - 2:10 pm

Trying to make different departments work effectively with each other is a challenge that all Governments face, and this one is no different. It could be all too easy for objectives that fall between two departments to end up falling through the cracks.

That is why I am pleased to report on the efforts we are taking in the Department of Health to roll out the ‘Cardiff model’. This is a very simple measure that can have a dramatic impact on knife crime in an area.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto included …

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Tagged gun crime, knife crime and NHS | Leave a comment

Opinion: Michael Gove’s plans are a disaster for schools

By Helen Tedcastle | Tue 5th February 2013 - 9:01 am

The publication last week of the All-Party Parliamentary Select Committee’s damning report into changes in qualifications at 16, signals a step-change in attitudes towards Michael Gove’s so-called ‘Education Revolution.’

The report makes for unsettling reading from a Liberal Democrat point of view. And even Tory MP Graham Stuart, Chair of the Education Committee warns:

We have serious concerns about the Government’s proposed timetable for change. Ministers want to introduce a new qualification, require a step-change in standards, and alter the way exams are administered, all at the same time. We believe

…

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Tagged EBacc, education, english baccalaureate, gcse and michael gove | 60 Comments

Huhne – human frailty and the family

By Paul Walter | Mon 4th February 2013 - 4:53 pm

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17 Comments

Opinion: Boundary nonsense

By Neville Farmer | Mon 4th February 2013 - 1:23 pm

On the face of it, the boundary change proposals were about cutting costs by having less MPs and strengthening democracy by having each MP represent roughly identical numbers of voters. Neither of these claims bear close scrutiny.

Our democracy is not a simple thing – it struggles its way through the conflicting needs of the nation and the individual. It is unrealistic to base our representation on population statistics alone. It’s true that there are a few Parliamentary seats with fairly sparsely populated

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Tagged boundary commission | 9 Comments

Opinion: UK sets the right example on same sex marriage

By Daniel Russell | Mon 4th February 2013 - 11:23 am

It’s been a week of ups and downs with regard to marriage equality and I am not just talking about in Britain. This week the Polish parliament voted down a bill that would have introduced civil partnerships. Despite an impassioned plea by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a significant part of his governing party voted against the bill, teaming up with conservative members to destroy any chance it had of becoming law. Indeed, one member declared that she would be voting against the bill because gay people “are of no use whatsoever to society.” From this position, equal

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Tagged same sex marriage | 14 Comments

Opinion: Tackling homophobic bullying in schools

By Richard Giddings | Mon 4th February 2013 - 9:53 am

Liberal Democrat colleagues may remember that one of Liberal Youth’s big campaigns was to stop homophobic bullying.

As the former Liberal Youth Chair in Northamptonshire it was a campaign that is very close to my heart. Too many LGBT young people are subjected to terrible abuse and bullying – just because of who they are.

When I was elected to the County Council in 2009 I wanted to do

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Tagged bullying, featured and homophobia | 6 Comments

Budget: No tax break for married couples

By Joe Otten | Sat 2nd February 2013 - 9:33 pm

The BBC and Comedy Central are carrying news that there will be no new tax break for married couples in this year’s budget. The measure is in the coalition agreement, with Liberal Democrat MPs free to abstain. The BBC also reports significant unrest on the Conservative backbenches where many are calling for a new tax break to sugar the “pill” of equal marriage. However there are still plans to introduce a limited transferability of the personal allowance between partners this parliament.

I find the idea that the government knows the best way for you to define your relationship supremely …

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16 Comments

Opinion: We feel the handbrake of history on our Liberal reforming.

By Andrew Tennant | Sat 2nd February 2013 - 5:30 pm

I doubt it’s gone unnoticed, but there are rather a lot of Tories in parliament.

Some 306 Tory MPs were elected in May 2010 (47% of the total on 36.1% of the vote), compared to a meagre 57 Lib Dems (only 9%, despite the party actually getting 23.0% of the vote).

And so the Lib Dems in parliament have had quite a battle to achieve their successes so far in government.

First Past the Post is neither a fair, nor a kind system …

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Tagged electoral reform and equal marriage | 45 Comments

Israel/Palestine: trying to find some balance

By Charles Beaumont | Fri 1st February 2013 - 2:21 pm

Writing about Israel and Palestine is a bit like that bit in Great Expectations when Pip asked whether it was a good idea to lend money to a friend. The cynical Mr Wemmick responds “choose your bridge and pitch your money into the Thames over the centre arch”. Or put another way, don’t waste your time.

I think that, at our best, Liberal Democrats are fair-minded people who try to accept that most arguments have two sides. So what follows is not my opinion on who is right, but five things that have

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Tagged israel and palestine | 20 Comments

Putting the party’s message in a distinctively liberal context – Part 3: a fairer society

By Nick T | Fri 1st February 2013 - 12:50 pm

This is the third of three posts looking at the party’s messaging. The introductory post was published here, and yesterday’s on the economic part of the message is here ; this last and final post concentrates on the second part of the message: social justice.

The second part of the party’s message is “building a fairer society”. Fairness was, of course, the theme of the party’s 2010 manifesto, linking the four key policy platforms on which we fought the election (fairer taxes, a fair start for every child, fairer politics and a fairer, more balanced economy).

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Tagged fairer taxes, fairness and featured | 28 Comments

Baroness Thomas writes… Getting Personal Independence Payments right

By Celia Thomas | Thu 31st January 2013 - 3:53 pm

This afternoon the Department of Work and Pensions announces a significant change on the new Personal Independent Payments following significant Lib Dem pressure. Celia Thomas, the Lib Dem peer who has campaigned tirelessly on the issue, explains why it’s a major win.

Getting the rules governing Personal Independence Payments right is vital. The new benefit, which will begin to replace Disability Living Allowance later this year, will have a huge effect on disabled people up and down the country.

I’m broadly in favour of the change to PIP, which seeks to clarify the eligibility of disabled people to this benefit, the purpose …

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Tagged greg mulholland, mike german, personal independence payment, stephen lloyd and steve webb | 15 Comments

Opinion: The hidden costs of pushing parents to conform

By Karen Wilkinson | Thu 31st January 2013 - 2:00 pm

I heard odd things yesterday. Talk of getting women back into the workplace by subsidising childcare for all parents – and this after means testing child benefit.

Then someone proposed that all child carers should have good GCSE Maths & English whilst increasing ratios! How did the human race survive before academic qualifications? Here we have another narrowing of work opportunities for people who are not so hot at academic stuff.

To add to my indignation, I heard someone say on the radio that only working parents provide a positive role model for children and that “non-working” parents don’t contribute to the …

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Tagged community and parenting | 14 Comments

Putting the party’s message in a distinctively liberal context – Part 2: the economy

By Nick T | Thu 31st January 2013 - 12:37 pm

This is the second of three posts looking at the party’s messaging. The first was published here yesterday; the last and final post will appear tomorrow.

The first half of our message emphasises economic competence: bringing back (as David Laws once put it) Gladstonian Liberalism to the Treasury and setting us up to be competitive in a fast-changing, globalised economy.

So far, much of the focus has been on our willingness to take “tough decisions”. Here, for example, is David Laws speaking to the Independent recently: “in the past people have known we stood for a fairer society but have …

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Tagged doha trade talks, economy, featured, free trade and party strategy | 64 Comments

MEPs call for review of funding for European far-right

By Paul Haydon | Thu 31st January 2013 - 11:56 am

Last year, for the first time, the far-right Alliance of European National Movements (AENM) organised itself into a pan-European bloc, and has therefore recently been allocated almost £400,000 in public funding from the European Parliament. This group includes the BNP, the Front National in France and Jobbik, a far-right political party in Hungary renowned for its racist and anti-semitic views. Of particular concern is the possibility that public money could now end up being used to incite racial hatred.

Under EU regulations, parties must observe fundamental principles such as liberty, democracy and respect for human rights in order to …

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Tagged andrew duff and european parliament | 2 Comments

David Heath MP writes… The future of our forests

By David Heath MP | Thu 31st January 2013 - 10:54 am

I was delighted when I was asked to take on ministerial responsibility for our forests. If I had any doubt about what forests offer, and I didn’t, I would have been even more convinced as I’ve had the opportunity to travel around the country. Our woodlands are places where people can get out in the fresh air and enjoy walking, bike riding and picnicking. But they’re also important for public health, preserving wildlife, storing carbon dioxide, and have huge potential to provide sustainable employment in some of our most rural areas.

That’s why I have worked hard over recent months …

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Tagged forests | 2 Comments

Opinion: Gove’s A Level reforms risk pushing many universities out of reach

By Chris White | Wed 30th January 2013 - 12:30 pm

I am not from the educational establishment and, having seen two daughters through state schools, I have plenty of zeal for major reform.

But that reform does not encompass sending a copy of the King James Bible to every school nor yet banishing the Arts from the nation’s principal academic qualification.

In so many ways Michael Gove uses the same techniques as his colleague Eric Pickles: pander to the right wing press, eschew evidence based thinking, make a splash.

The AS level announcement this week is just one more example. I didn’t have the option of AS levels. I sat O-levels in a …

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Tagged A levels and education | 32 Comments

Putting the party’s message in a distinctively liberal context – Part 1

By Nick T | Wed 30th January 2013 - 11:24 am

In my New Year review of the party’s position, I emphasised the need to get the basics right; political competence before all else. I touched on the party’s messaging only perfunctorily, because my view was (and to an extent still is) that there are more pressing concerns than the message itself (we can have the best message in the world, but if we are failing when it comes to the basics of political strategy and tactics it is next to useless). Here’s is what I did say, in my concluding remarks:

There’s already been talk over the Christmas break of

…

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Tagged party strategy | 10 Comments

Opinion: War on Weltschmerz

By Anthony Hawkes | Tue 29th January 2013 - 1:28 pm

When friends have lost their belief in religion, they usually describe not the freeing of bonds, but the emptiness left without a moral compass to guide them.

My youngest daughter popped in after work today looking rather sad. When I asked her the problem she described herself as feeling weltschmerz. Never having heard of this before, I got her to elaborate. She told me of the alienation, the resignation and the overwhelming sense of the cruelty of the world. This is not a woman prone to melancholy, …

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Tagged weltschmertz and young people | 15 Comments

I apologise for my lack of enthusiasm for HS2. It’s been unavoidably delayed owing to the lack of evidence

By Stephen Tall | Tue 29th January 2013 - 9:45 am

‘All aboard!’ exhorts the email I received last night from Lib Dem transport minister Norman Baker, hailing his announcement of the Coalition’s plans for Phase Two of Britain’s High Speed Rail Network (aka HS2). I’m afraid, though, I’m going to have to apologise to Norman for the delay in arrival of my goodwill owing to what I suspect is the wrong type of investment on the lines.

HS2, we are told, will cut journey times, help the environment, heal the North-South divide and boost growth. Each of these arguments is less …

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Tagged christian wolmar, featured, HS2, john tomaney, madrid, railways, seville and trains | 45 Comments

Ed Davey MP writes… The Green Deal goes live

By Ed Davey | Mon 28th January 2013 - 2:55 pm

Today marks a very significant achievement of our party in Government. The Green Deal is being launched.

After two and half years of toil the pledge in our manifesto to, “offer a home energy improvement package … paid for by the savings from lower energy bills” has become reality.

Chris Huhne started the ball rolling way back in 2010 and Nick Clegg and I are visiting a college in Sheffield today to mark the opening of a brand new market in home energy efficiency and meet trainees in home insulation.

Millions of homes do not have full double-glazing. More than half do not …

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Tagged chris huhne, featured, green deal and nick clegg | 10 Comments

Norman Baker MP writes… High Speed 2: Transforming our national rail network

By Norman Baker MP | Mon 28th January 2013 - 1:53 pm

In the two centuries since the Golden Age of British railways, from the opening of the Stockton and Darlington line in 1825, Stephenson’s Rocket and the railway boom of the 1840s, Britain has tumbled from the position of being the envy of the world, to lagging sadly behind. The busiest sections of our old Victorian railways are now struggling to cope as the railways become increasingly popular. As anyone who travels regularly by train as I do will know, the West …

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Tagged featured and high speed 2 | 20 Comments

Nick Clegg’s son’s schooling is none of your business

By Nick T | Sun 27th January 2013 - 11:58 am

Appearing on the Andrew Marr Show this morning, Nick Clegg was asked once again which secondary school he would send his eldest child too. He quite rightly dismissed the question as a personal one – he and Miriam have strived to keep their children out of the public eye, so why should they change that now?

As I tweeted at the time:

Anybody who thinks it’s any of their business which school Clegg’s children go to is one of the problems with our political culture.

— Nick Thornsby (@NickThornsby) January 27, 2013

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Tagged featured and nick clegg | 138 Comments

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