Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: So what’s really wrong with the economy?

By Geoff Crocker | Mon 10th December 2012 - 9:54 am

The autumn statement was reminiscent of the 1961 Sid James film ‘Carry on Regardless’. Austerity policy is not working, and the claim that it will work is constantly pushed to the far future. What’s wrong? There is nothing wrong with the real supply side economy. But there are two crucial things wrong with the financial economy, meaning that we have a crisis of demand, not of supply. These are:

1. Disposable income has grown significantly less than GDP

2. Financial orthodoxy insists on balancing government accounts

Between 2001 and 2007 when the crisis hit, GDP grew by 19.5% but disposable income by only …

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Tagged economy | 61 Comments

Opinion: It’s time for Nick Clegg to make the liberal case on drugs policy

By Mark Thompson | Mon 10th December 2012 - 8:00 am

The Mail on Sunday yesterday reported that the Home Affairs Select Committee report into drugs policy, reporting this morning, is going to recommend that the option of legalisation should be seriously considered and a Royal Commission should be set up to report on the issue prior to the 2015 general election.

As readers of my blog will know, I am a long standing supporter of liberalisation of our drug laws. So this report is a breath of fresh air as far as I am concerned. – A sensible pragmatic look at the problems with

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Tagged drugs policy and featured | 32 Comments

Libby Local, Episode 6: “Kickstart”

By Libby Local | Sun 9th December 2012 - 2:15 pm

It had been raining for days. A flood warning had already been issued for the River Libby. It was raging more than a metre above its normal level and had still not peaked.

As I hurried along Libbyside Terrace towards the rail station, I met Mary. Wet, dishevelled and very upset, she was hauling sandbags across the pavement.

“I’ve just got a text from the Environment Agency,” she told me. “We’re on flood alert now.” She was all but in tears. I stopped a while to help pile sandbags against her front door. “With the new kerbs, it should not be as …

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7 Comments

Stephen Gilbert MP writes… Equal marriage: a step towards a fairer society

By Stephen Gilbert MP | Sat 8th December 2012 - 12:59 pm

So, there we have it: equal marriage for same-sex couples in the civil law and the chance for religious groups to choose to offer same-sex religious marriage if they want to. It’s another step toward equality in front of the law for the LGBT community. The community has come a long way in the 43 years since the Stonewall riots in New York City.

And the Liberal Democrats have led the way in the UK. We were the first party to commit to a policy of civil partnerships, in a Private Members Bill, and at our conference in 2010 we were …

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Tagged equal marriage and featured | 6 Comments

In praise of people with drawn curtains in the morning

By Mark Pack | Sat 8th December 2012 - 10:25 am

Night time workers. Work at night, sleep at day. That’s not being a scrounger. Shame so many Conservatives and so-called populists crudely label them all as scroungers with their blunderbuss rhetoric for having the temerity to draw the curtains at home when they’re sleeping after a long session at work.

UPDATE: In other curtain commentary news… Jennie has highlighted in the comments her own post. Here’s the link to it; the comments are well worth a read for a mix of the serious and the very funny. And here’s an Olympian …

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Tagged featured and welfare | 21 Comments

Opinion: the case for intervention in Syria

By Mike Green | Fri 7th December 2012 - 3:51 pm

Being up all night does give me somewhat of an advantage as far as news goes. As I’m writing this even the BBC has not yet covered what’s been seen on NBC, CNN, Russia Today and others. Namely, the reports that Assad has had chemical and biological weapons prepared for use. Obviously, at this point we’re unable to establish if this is fact, what we do know however is that Syria is in possession of these weapons and Assad’s regime is clawing along on its last breaths.

I don’t need to establish how devastating chemical and biological weapons like these can …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged chemical weapons and syria | 7 Comments

It’s not just this Government that’s unpopular: it’s the idea of Coalition. Here’s what Lib Dems need to do about that.

By Stephen Tall | Fri 7th December 2012 - 8:15 am

There are many arguments the Lib Dems are winning in government. But there is one very big debate we’re currently on the losing side of with the public: that coalition government is capable of working. And it’s not surprising that voters are unpersuaded given we Lib Dems look a whole lot less than convinced by the experience.

The known knowns of Coalition

Let’s get two pieces of mitigation out of the way:
1) Coalition government is always tougher on the junior party: we lack the democratic mandate and …

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Tagged coalition, david cameron, ed miliband, featured, john kampfner and populus | 62 Comments

William Powell AM writes… Why we must protect rural banking

By William Powell | Thu 6th December 2012 - 11:23 am

Almost every week brings news of the closure of bank branches in rural areas. As an Assembly Member in Wales representing a large rural region, I know at first hand the real effects of bank closures on local communities and businesses. Latest figures from the Campaign for Community Banking Services, published in September, show that in the last ten years just under 2,000 bank branches have closed. There are now 900 communities that have only one bank branch and 1,200 communities with no bank branch at all. The traditional ‘Big 4’ banks closed 178 branches in 2011. Estimates

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Tagged banking, featured, Wales and william powell | 3 Comments

Opinion: The autumn statement was constrained by a lack of both ambition and funds

By Daniel Wright | Thu 6th December 2012 - 9:59 am

Today we witnessed a government and a chancellor with a lack of wiggle room writhing around to the best of their ability. George Osborne was on surprisingly good form compared to the blundered budget, and Ed Balls was insipid in a response that seemed to ignore the forecasts and measures just outlined before him. Nevertheless, even with the chancellor on song and his opposite number off-key, it will be difficult for the coalition to use the statement as much of a turning point in the narrative of this government.

Whilst both parties would like the press and the public to be …

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Tagged Autumn Statement 2012 | 13 Comments

LibLink: Christine Jardine..A coffee with a sweeter taste

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th December 2012 - 11:27 am

Christine Jardine was until this Summer a Liberal Democrat Special Adviser at the heart of Government. She is now back working full time in politics in Scotland and writing occasionally for the Scotsman.

This week she’s turned her attention to the fact that large corporations like Starbucks don’t pay tax in the UK and reflects on the good that local, independent coffee shops bring to the community:

As I sat there enjoying my Americano, eyeing up the chocolate cake and cinnamon swirls, I began to think about the value that the entrepreneur behind the counter had brought to my community.

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Tagged christine jardine, economy, scotsman, small business and tax | Leave a comment

Michael Moore’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 5th December 2012 - 10:22 am

Every week, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here’s this week’s edition.

St Andrew’s Day

Last week, as Secretary of State for Scotland, I gave the inaugural speech in the annual St Andrew’s Day Address which is being established this year at the Scotland Office in London. This annual Address will see individuals in business, education, politics, media, charities and the arts speaking to an audience in London …

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Tagged leveson, Michael Moore, st andrew's day and Westminster Notes | 2 Comments

Opinion: Will Leveson changes bring about more factual EU coverage?

By Willis Pickard | Wed 5th December 2012 - 8:57 am

Buried away in the Leveson Report is a denunciation of those parts of the press which systematically misrepresent the European Union.

Pro-Europeans like the Liberal Democrats will welcome this recognition of a chronic irritant.

Editors of the offending papers rarely if ever give the opportunity to correct errors. Now, although the anti-Europe

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11 Comments

Euro 2014 – a cause to fight for, not to hide from

By Mark Valladares | Tue 4th December 2012 - 4:55 pm

So, we’ve selected our candidates for Europe in England and Scotland, and a pretty good bunch they are too – people who are committed to the concept of a Europe of twenty-seven (soon to be twenty-eight) nations pooling some sovereignty for a greater good. So far, so good. But what are they going to do for the next eighteen months?

Past experience says, “not much to do with Europe”. Yes, they’ll be campaigning to a lesser or greater extent, but what will they be

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged euromyth and european elections | 50 Comments

Opinion: Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with ordinary exploited people

By Bill le Breton | Mon 3rd December 2012 - 5:10 pm

The McCanns, the Dowlers, and the Gurkhas threatened with deportation are ordinary people thrown into exceptional situations, their lives tossed from one side to the other not just by fate but, like ‘cargo’, to be exploited for cash and credit by the powerful and the acquisitive.

Liberal Democrats in general and Nick Clegg in particular have always been at their best when standing shoulder to shoulder with ordinary people against a conniving, power-hoarding Establishment, be that Fleet Street, corrupt local officials, or self serving bureaucracies. That was the message that connected him to a huge audience watching the first …

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Tagged leveson inquiry | 14 Comments

Leveson: a devastating case for changing the status quo

By Mike Biden | Mon 3rd December 2012 - 3:53 pm

Leveson has made a devastating case for changing the status quo of press regulation. A system which abuses many innocent people in an “outrageous” way must be reformed.

History shows us that this is a repetitive problem. In their pursuit of sensational stories, in order to sell more copies, editors and journalists eventually go too far, their behaviour sinks so low that there is a scandal, and action is taken to restore the rule of law and acceptable standards. The system works but at a terrible price including many individuals whose lives are ruined.

The challenge issued by Leveson is to improve the system, to introduce an innovation that retains the integrity of the press and yet provides the protection of the law to individuals.

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Tagged leveson inquiry | Leave a comment

Hussein-Ece and Brinton on stalking, under-representation of women and gender-based violence

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 3rd December 2012 - 2:28 pm

November 25th saw the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This occasion was marked by a debate in the House of Lords last Thursday.

Just reading the Hansard account of the debate made me feel sick. There was a former surgeon describe the hours of surgery it took to reconstruct one woman’s face after a violent attack by her partner. There were descriptions of how girls as young as 12 were subjected to Female Genital Mutilation in this country despite laws against it. Where is the worst place in the world to be a woman? Reputedly …

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Also posted in News | Tagged human rights, Meral Hussein-Ece domestic violence, sal brinton, un and violence against women and girls | 2 Comments

Gordon Birtwistle writes…Making the industrial strategy work in Burnley

By Gordon Birtwistle MP | Mon 3rd December 2012 - 12:59 pm

Aerospace manufacturing is a huge contributor to the economic make up of Burnley, a town steeped in manufacturing tradition. International aerospace manufacturers Aircelle are at the forefront of high tech manufacturing for the aerospace industry and are a great provider of jobs and wealth to the local and national economy.

Burnley has benefited well from all three rounds of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF). The government has awarded £1.8m to the redevelopment of the old Michelin site into a brand new state of the art Aerospace Supply Chain Park. The bid was put forward by a consortium headed up by Aircelle …

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Tagged industrial strategy, liberal democrat campaign for manufacturing and manufacturing | 3 Comments

If Leveson is a slippery slope, I’m a teapot

By Paul Walter | Mon 3rd December 2012 - 9:53 am

It’s funny, but before two weeks ago, I can’t remember the last time I heard the phrases “slippery slope” or “crossing the Rubicon”. In the run up to, and immediately after, the publication of the Leveson report we have heard of little else. – That and “underpinning”, another phrase not otherwise in general use.

Hopefully, the weekend has allowed people to actually read some of Leveson’s report and we may now hear less of slopes slippery and rivers Rubicon.

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Tagged featured and leveson inquiry | 21 Comments

Libby Local, Episode 5: “Angst”

By Libby Local | Sun 2nd December 2012 - 2:15 pm

Melissa was gentle in her criticism. She is after all my campaign manager – despite being born a Tory. As we supped glasses of Pinot Grigio in the Market Tavern, she spoke softly to ensure that no one else can hear.

“You are my best mate, Libby. But these days you talk about nothing other than the next election. It has begun to take over your life!”

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Tagged featured | 29 Comments

Lynne Featherstone writes… Royal Mail plans fail to deliver!

By Lynne Featherstone | Sat 1st December 2012 - 11:00 am

International Development minister Lynne Featherstone writes a monthly column for one of her local newspapers. Here is the latest one…..

When I get in and find a little card saying ‘we tried to deliver but you were out’ – I am always annoyed – because it means extra bother. Currently that bother is either re-organising delivery on another day, organising for it to go to a neighbour or popping into Archway Road post office to collect it at my convenience. With my schedule – only the last of those is a real possibility. But that small bother is about to get a whole lot worse!

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Tagged haringey and royal mail | 9 Comments

Energy – where we are and what we need to do

By Lucy Care | Fri 30th November 2012 - 12:51 pm

Our society is energy hungry. Cutting carbon from this diet is vital. And we mustn’t forget gas!

Decarbonising our electricity supply is an on-going hot issue, and challenging too. For example, the technology is not yet all proven – like the uncertainties of carbon capture and storage (CCS) – and for some technologies the reality is harsh – like maintaining wind turbines and tidal barrages in marine environments. There’s also the big challenge of matching a variable supply of power with actual demand.

If we don’t decarbonise our electricity effectively, then transferring from diesel locomotives and petrol cars to electric …

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Tagged energy policy | 13 Comments

The Fourth Estate needs a makeover – what would Borgen do?

By Kirsten de Keyser | Fri 30th November 2012 - 11:20 am

Who said: “In the old days men had the rack. Now they have the Press. That is an improvement certainly. But still it is very bad, and wrong, and demoralizing. Somebody — was it Burke? — called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time no doubt. But at the present moment it is the only estate. It has eaten up the other three. The Lords Temporal say nothing, the Lords Spiritual have nothing to say, and the House of Commons has nothing to say and says it. We are dominated by Journalism”.

No, not Hugh Grant. Oscar …

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Tagged denmark, leveson inquiry and press regulation | 2 Comments

How to damage rural communities in several easy stages…

By Mark Valladares | Fri 30th November 2012 - 10:22 am

Yesterday, I waxed unlyrical about the effects of government on rural life, and today, I want to look at some of those effects…

The Department for Education, under Michael Gove, has changed the funding arrangements for schools, with unfortunate side effects for rural schools. This means that schools such as the one I visited recently in Norfolk will lose grant funding, and be forced to lay off staff as a result. Given that rural counties already receive less grant per pupil than …

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Tagged defra, education, post offices and pubs | Leave a comment

Press regulation – something a liberal party can support?

By Alex Paul Shantz | Fri 30th November 2012 - 8:50 am

My reaction to the report of the Leveson Inquiry today was mixed to say the least. On the one hand, any intrusion of Parliament into our free press seems fundamentally illiberal to me – the heavy weight of bureaucracy coming smashing down to dampen our fiercely independent media, which has shown itself more than capable of exposing the very worst excesses in recent times. After all, it was Nick Davies at the Guardian whose reporting exposed the phone-hacking scandal that led to the Leveson Inquiry in the first place. And it was the Daily Telegraph that reported on the …

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Tagged leveson inquiry and press regulation | 19 Comments

The Independent View: Cross-party amendment to decarbonise power by 2030 needed to stop Osborne

By Will Straw | Thu 29th November 2012 - 6:50 pm

The Independent reports this morning that pro-green Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs are considering a rebel amendment to the Energy Bill to create a target to decarbonise the power sector by 2030. The policy is critical to reducing carbon emissions and energy bills in the long run and creating jobs and growth.

Last week, Ed Davey revealed the details of the Government’s much anticipated Energy Bill which will be introduced to Parliament today. In exchange for an extremely positive and welcome outcome for the renewable sector up to 2020, Davey lost his battle to include a 2030 decarbonisation target …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged ed davey and energy bill | 15 Comments

Ed Davey writes…The Energy Bill: A vital step for a greener, more secure and affordable energy policy

By Ed Davey | Thu 29th November 2012 - 1:22 pm

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Tagged ed davey and energy bill | 6 Comments

Opinion: A fresh look at China’s road to revival

By Andy Yau | Thu 29th November 2012 - 10:52 am

On 14 Nov 2012, Xi Jinping was elected as the new Communist Party of China (CPC) General Secretary in the 18th CPC National Congress of the People’s Republic of China.

In his first speech to the press on 15 Nov, Xi Jinping, together with the 6 new elected members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, put his focus on continuous open reform and strong CPC governance responsive to the Chinese people’s needs. Also, he mentioned that China’s revival (China’s rejuvenation) will be a continuous important national goal in …

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Tagged china | Leave a comment

Opinion: What free press?

By Neville Farmer | Thu 29th November 2012 - 8:54 am

Stand strong, Nick. Do not cave to Cameron over Leveson because if you do so, you go against your party’s wishes and, according to the polls, those of 86% of Daily Mail readers!

As a journalist, I have long defended the principle of a free press as a vital plank of democracy. The protests of journalists that we are facing the abyss are not unfounded. Yet there is a myth about the British press that is more fantastic than many of the stories it publishes; the myth that we have a “free” press, at all. The sheer quantity of coverage across …

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Tagged leveson inquiry | 17 Comments

Opinion: Focusing on the size of the EU budget is side-lining the wider issue of what it is spent on

By Paul Haydon | Wed 28th November 2012 - 2:47 pm

The outcome of the EU budget summit last week was not as bad as it could have been. Cameron did not wield his veto, as he was threatening to just a few days before. And while EU Leaders did not reach a final agreement, progress was made towards reaching a compromise at the next Council meeting in early 2013. Crucially, the UK was able to drum up support for a real-terms freeze amongst like-minded member states such as Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. This is …

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Tagged common agricultural policy, eu budget and european union | 10 Comments

Opinion: A Comprehensive Middle East Peace Settlement

By Joe Bourke | Wed 28th November 2012 - 1:10 pm

Simon Hughes said this year, “We are near to the end of the opportunity of being able to get a peaceful two-state solution because of the extent of the settlements. The separation of Gaza from the West Bank and the increasing encroachment of the settlements mean that an alternative to the two-state model must be explored. We need to be honest and realistic about having a Plan B and a Plan C as well as a Plan A, as an international community.”

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Tagged featured, israel, jerusalem, palestine and simon hughes | 21 Comments