Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: Taking minimum wage work out of tax would deliver the Living Wage

By Adam Corlett | Tue 6th November 2012 - 3:30 pm

With greater ambition, the Liberal Democrats’ policy of increasing the personal allowance would equalise the Living Wage and the minimum wage, without risking jobs.

It was announced yesterday that the national ‘Living Wage’ for 2013/14 will be £7.45. This compares to the National Minimum Wage of £6.19. Boris Johnson has urged more companies to adopt the Living Wage, and Labour are even considering giving tax incentives for firms to pay the Living Wage.

Few would argue with the benefits of higher pay for employees, or with other Living Wage benefits such as lower staff turnover. But evidently most employers …

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Tagged living wage and minimum wage | 15 Comments

Norman Lamb writes: The Liverpool Care Pathway and end of life care

By Norman Lamb MP | Tue 6th November 2012 - 1:06 pm

I imagine many people had not heard of the Liverpool Care Pathway before it hit the headlines a couple of weeks ago with allegations of patients denied drugs, liquid and sustenance and families experiencing real distress. Set up in the late 1990s, its intention was to help spread elements of the hospice model of care into other settings: hospitals, care homes and people’s own homes. We all want to know that our loved ones – no matter where they are – will receive dignified and appropriate care in the last hours and days of their life.

Used properly, the Pathway ensures that individuals receive whatever treatments are right for them in their final days. The Liverpool Care Pathway itself is very clear that patients should be involved in decisions about their care if possible, and that carers and families should always be included in the decision-making process.

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Tagged care, end of life, health and liverpool care pathway | 7 Comments

Opinion: Tough Choices – Yes, but local politicians must grasp opportunities as well as challenges

By Shaffaq Mohammed | Tue 6th November 2012 - 11:49 am

I doubt that there are many councillors who are unaware of the scale of the country’s financial difficulties. Yet whatever your prescription for resuscitating the British economy, politicians of all parties agree that reducing the deficit is a crucial piece in the puzzle.

Regardless of your views on the Government’s strategy, it is clear that reductions in council budgets are a reality. The challenge for councillors is to best adjust to the new climate and mitigate the impact on the services that people care about most.

I do not believe that the way forward is to abandon all council services, leaving local government as a sole provider of social care. Rather, local government should be taking the lead in innovative ways of thinking – taking bold steps to cut waste, not just services.

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Also posted in Local government | Tagged economy, local councils, sheffield and sheffield council | 4 Comments

A postcard from… China: a fly on the Great Wall

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 6th November 2012 - 10:25 am

It was not my first visit to China (in fact my third time climbing the great wall) but certainly the most intense: ten days from 22nd October to 1st November. Along with 26 other Overseas Chinese delegates involved in politics from eight nations in Europe and Africa, I was on a study visit at the invitation of the Chinese Government on the eve of the 18^th Peoples’ Congress.

Amongst our number were an MP from South Africa, an ex-Minister from Mauritius, a special advisor to the Mayor of Cologne, Germany (twinned with Beijing), Councillors from the Netherlands and France, as well as representatives from all 3 major parties in the UK. Other Liberal Democrats included Councillor Sam Li from Lewes, Jerry Cheung from Sheffield and Anna Lo from our sister Alliance party in Northern Ireland.

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Also posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged a postcard from and china | 3 Comments

Opinion: Will Special Branch be knocking on the Old Lady’s door?

By Bill le Breton | Tue 6th November 2012 - 9:09 am

Today three reports have been published into the operations of the Bank of England. None of these pose the killer question: why, when for month after month in 2008 the UK’s Gross Domestic Product in money terms (the NGDP) fell from its stable long term annual growth rate of +5% to -5% a year, did the Monetary Policy Committee stubbornly maintained the Bank’s interest rate at 5%?

This excellent blog by Britmouse details, details the quarterly falls in NGDP and the inertia of the Bank which has the power to set the level of aggregate demand in the economy.

It is …

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Tagged bank of england and economy | 10 Comments

The living wage is fine as far as it goes, but the Lib Dems can be bolder

By Nick T | Mon 5th November 2012 - 8:00 pm

There we have it. Miliband’s big idea: the living wage. Only it is not Miliband’s idea. And more to the point it is not a very big idea. In fact, it seems to me extraordinarily unambitious.

We presently have a system in which somebody earning the national minimum wage – which for most is not sufficient to live in any comfort even before tax – and working full time pays income tax at 20% on about a third of their salary, national insurance, VAT on the goods they buy, fuel duty and road tax on the car that gets them to …

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Tagged ed miliband and living wage | 16 Comments

Opinion: Supporting local businesses – the Sutton story

By Jayne McCoy | Mon 5th November 2012 - 12:23 pm

In Sutton we have supported our high streets by investing in them. This strategic commitment has not only helped businesses to survive the recession and thrive, it has stimulated additional private investment which has helped to further unlock potential.

Our first project was the refurbishment of our main town centre in Sutton, initiated before the recession took hold, out of the London Mayor’s Great Spaces scheme. This was not an unqualified success as there were issues around implementation and design, which lost resident buy-in. However, it has succeeded in improving the area. Most importantly it was welcomed by the town centre businesses, who appreciated our

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Tagged economy | 2 Comments

Opinion: Stop all extraditions to the USA

By Geoff Crocker | Mon 5th November 2012 - 10:53 am

Nick Clegg is celebrating the UK decision not to extradite Gary McKinnon to the USA. The extradition of Abu Hamza then sparked controversy and discussion on LDV. But last week the Guardian reported on the case of Christopher Tappin, the Kent businessman extradited to the US on charges of selling batteries to Iran. Tappin has entered a plea bargain, pleading guilty in return for a 33 month sentence to be served in the UK.

The Guardian reports Tappin’s UK solicitor, Karen Todner, saying

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Tagged extradition | 24 Comments

Libby Local, Episode 2: “The selection panel and Mad Max”

By Libby Local | Sun 4th November 2012 - 2:15 pm

Last Wednesday I was up before the selection panel. Beforehand I was experiencing that curious mix of feelings that is at once confidence and nervousness. I had no idea how to dress. What does a typical Lib Dem wear? A bit of lippy and my poshest high heels? My usual casually crumped look, replete with a hat that Dr Seuss would be proud of? A business suit? Lipstick and high heels won.

The day began badly with an encounter with Maxwell Tarmac-Smyth – the “Mad Max” of Libbyshire politics. He’s second peg in the Tory oligarchy that runs Libbyshire. He’s the …

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Tagged featured | 21 Comments

Opinion: Parish pump politics and apple pie undermine Police Commissioner elections

By Andy Boddington | Sun 4th November 2012 - 9:50 am

Sometimes having a microphone thrust under your nose instantly crystalizes your thoughts. As you hear yourself speak, you realise you have strong opinions when a moment before you didn’t know what to think.

On Thursday night, as I left a Police and Crime Commissioner hustings in Shropshire, I was struggling to gather my thoughts. A reporter from BBC Radio Shropshire, gloriously named James Bond, thrust a microphone at me. “Andy. What did you think of the candidates?”

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Tagged elected police commissioners | 14 Comments

Opinion: Slower traffic saves lives

By Shas Sheehan | Fri 2nd November 2012 - 2:22 pm

The sad fact is that the UK has the highest proportion of pedestrian road deaths of any European country – followed closely by Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece. An even sadder statistic is that the most common cause of death among 5-14 year olds (more boys than girls) is being a pedestrian hit by a motor vehicle.

All the evidence suggests that moving from a 30mph to 20mph limit on residential roads will reduce the death toll. A recent PACTS (Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety) report found that child casualties fell by 67% where 20mph schemes were introduced.

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Also posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged speed limits | 18 Comments

Opinion: Heseltine report puts the State back on the hook for helping lead economic recovery

By Graeme Henderson | Fri 2nd November 2012 - 11:52 am

The lack of a joined-up growth strategy has been this Government’s Achilles heel. This week’s report from the Heseltine Review finally provides one. Some on the Tory backbenches will urge David Cameron and George Osborne to ignore many of the recommendations, and the swathes of evidence standing behind them, in favour of abdicating responsibility for the economic recovery to the private sector. Jacob Rees-Mogg predictably caricatures the findings as favouring a 1960s approach to regional development – his preferred course being deregulation. The Heseltine Review embodies …

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Tagged lord heseltine and regional development | 3 Comments

Judging Jimmy Savile

By Mark Pack | Fri 2nd November 2012 - 7:50 am

OK, I know due legal process and all that is important. Innocent until proven guilty and all that.

But sometimes you don’t have to wait until the police and legal systems have done their stuff to have a firm view.

And when you look at all the evidence the media has been reporting, it’s pretty clear he’s guilty, isn’t it?

It’s even become a standing joke that you just have to look at him to know he’s just the sort of person who would commit those crimes. Perhaps like me you heard the jokes on the last episode of the News Quiz and …

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Tagged jimmy savile | 32 Comments

Opinion: Heseltine is calling for return to cap in hand culture

By Andy Boddington | Thu 1st November 2012 - 12:24 pm

I take my hat off to Michael Heseltine for producing a report on growth that has passion, commitment and vision. It is far cry from the usual dry as dust, Treasury reports that obsessively tinker at the economic margins. Alas, despite its punchy prose the Heseltine report is flawed.

There is a lot to celebrate in this report. Heseltine condemns a dysfunctional Whitehall for neutering local leadership: “As Whitehall has taken more powers so its distrust of local decision makers has increased. At the first sign of trouble, further powers are wrested back to the centre.” But like Eric Pickles, he does not trust

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Tagged michael heseltine | 6 Comments

I don’t agree with Nick. We should be in Europe to reform the EU

By Stephen Tall | Thu 1st November 2012 - 9:20 am

Nick Clegg will today make the kind of speech which makes it very hard for Lib Dems to push the idea that our party is serious about reform of the European Union. According to the BBC, he will dismiss the chances of any significant changes to the EU’s budget:

In a speech to be delivered to the Chatham House international affairs think-tank, Mr Clegg will say Labour is well aware there was “absolutely no prospect” of achieving a real-terms cut. “Their change of heart is dishonest, it’s hypocritical.

…

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Tagged chatha house, david cameron, eu, europe, featured and nick clegg | 52 Comments

Opinion: Canvassing – a few steps to success

By Phil Ling | Thu 1st November 2012 - 9:06 am

Dundonald ward, in Merton, was awarded the “most canvassed ward in London” at the London Liberal Democrats regional conference. As one of the people co-ordinating the campaign in the ward, it was great that the hard work was recognised, but I was also a bit surprised.

Not surprised as in “can’t believe we’d won”, but surprised in the fact it didn’t feel like hard work, once the initial groundwork had been done. In reality, although there were times where we were out doing surveys, recruiting or canvassing twice a week, it averaged about once a week. The canvass teams were never huge, 3-5 people, with the

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Tagged canvassing and featured | 4 Comments

Opinion: Debate around mental health must be in the political mainstream

By Tim Purkiss | Wed 31st October 2012 - 2:25 pm

On Monday Ed Miliband made a speech to the Royal College of Psychiatrists concerning the taboo surrounding mental illness. He spoke about the devastating human and economic consequences of failing to address the under- provision in mental health treatment and promised that, amongst other things, a Labour Government would re-write the constitution of the NHS in order to address this under provision.

In my previous post on this website I wrote about the motion concerning mental health which was passed at the Lib Dems autumn conference in Brighton.

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Tagged ed miliband, mental health and nick clegg | 6 Comments

Opinion: The importance of party unity over the economy

By Paul Reynolds | Wed 31st October 2012 - 11:15 am

There has been a rise in factionalism across the Liberal Democrats during their time in the Coalition Government – with the Liberal Left, Social Liberal Forum, Liberal Reform and other groups, all promoting their different perspectives. At Party Conference a left/right divide over economics and fiscal policy was very noticeable.

My thesis is that this divide is a serious one which is widening, not narrowing, and without measures to halt the fragmentation,

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Tagged economy and party policy and internal matters | 127 Comments

Opinion: A mansion tax that is fair and seen to be fair

By Ben Tyler | Wed 31st October 2012 - 8:55 am

The natural mechanism for raising a mansion tax on high value UK property is not Council tax. Councils lack a home by home market valuation database and the means to build one. HMRC can raise a tax far more effectively and then might distribute it to councils.

Current Conservative policy will block a mansion tax based upon the rich contributing more but might accept a new tax targeted solely at non-owner occupied homes. Not only do these homes

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Also posted in News | Tagged mansion tax | 10 Comments

Opinion: The Savile row – why paedophile scandals continue to haunt society

By Oranjepan | Tue 30th October 2012 - 3:55 pm

The stunned response that has crystalised around the proposed inquiries into alleged abuse at public institutions following the broadcast of ITV’s Exposure investigation is perfectly understandable/

Yet after decades of scandal, alarm and outrage, controversy after controversy, following numerous inquiries and reports, and despite the best efforts of huge numbers of dedicated staff, one conclusion is inescapable: Britain has created, in the words of Nick Davies, “an elaborate and sophisticated failure, a child protection system which does not protect children.”

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Tagged jimmy savile | 5 Comments

Opinion: Farewell to Lib Dem News

By Philip Young | Tue 30th October 2012 - 10:56 am

As a former Editor, I’m sad to see that Liberal Democrat News is now compiling its final issue.

The idea of a weekly newspaper began in 1947.There were numerous attempts to axe it. I fought off at least two, and it was only thanks to the likes of David Steel, John Pardoe, and the ALC, that the treasurer was persuaded otherwise in the 1970s. Then, the party was financially bust, despite Trevor Jones delivering a string of remarkable by-election successes that

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Tagged david steel, featured, john pardoe, Liberal Democrat News and party policy and internal matters | 6 Comments

Opinion: Let’s unite against George Osborne’s employee rights grab

By Tracy Connell | Tue 30th October 2012 - 9:54 am

George Osborne has many faults, but we have to thank him for one thing – uniting the Liberal Democrats. There are groups within the Lib Dems holding different, even opposite views. However, many Lib Dems are united in their opposition to Osborne’s idea of exchanging workers’ rights for shares in their company. If you agree, please help us by taking part in the consultation on these proposals which ends on 8^th November.

Whilst the Lib Dems are fully behind the idea of Employee Share

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Tagged consultations, employment rights and george osborne | 16 Comments

Opinion: The doping scandal that wasn’t

By Ewan Hoyle | Tue 30th October 2012 - 8:57 am

Two doping scandals hit the headlines last week. One was very serious, apparently very long-running, and seemingly ignored by the sport’s governing bodies for a great many years. The other culminated in Lance Armstrong finally being stripped of his 7 Tour de France titles.

In case you’re puzzled, I should inform you of the apparently entrenched practice of dosing up on an addictive stimulant drug before top level football matches. Glen Johnson, Rio Ferdinand and Phil Neville have all admitted recently that they take this drug before matches and have been doing so for some time. They don’t seem to think

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3 Comments

A headline I didn’t expect ever to write: Tory right-wing calls for affirmative action in public sector

By Stephen Tall | Tue 30th October 2012 - 7:45 am

I did a bit of a double-take on reading Fraser Nelson’s latest column in the Telegraph complaining that David Cameron has been ‘strikingly relaxed’ about appointments to government-funded bodies.

‘His allies say that he has been too much of a gentleman to play Labour’s game and start stuffing quangos with Tory placemen,’ says Fraser, whose tone suggests he’d like nothing better than for the Prime Minister to start stuffing quangos with Tory placemen.

His plea for greater patronage was taken up with alacrity by Tim Montgomerie at ConservativeHome who …

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Tagged affirmative action, featured, fraser nelson, saint augustine and tim montgomerie | 1 Comment

Opinion: The Mansion Tax is unfair and illiberal

By David Thorpe | Mon 29th October 2012 - 4:23 pm

Since 2010 the word ‘fairness’ has been deployed on an industrial scale across the political spectrum.

To want ‘fairness’ is to want a distribution of the spoils which reflects the value of the contribution of each to the economic and social resources of society. A fair tax system should seek to tax according to capacity to pay. It must also act to discourage those, such as polluters, whose economic choices negatively impact on society.

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Tagged mansion tax | 61 Comments

Opinion: A storm in a jam jar – my top 5 Euromyths

By Giles Goodall | Mon 29th October 2012 - 11:53 am

Those of us familiar with the EU are used to its complicated processes, obscure acronyms and often unfathomable procedures. We sometimes forget that it is still a hybrid project that no-one has ever tried before: a multinational, multilingual experiment in international cooperation where countries decide by common accord to pool decision-making in certain areas and under certain conditions for their own mutual benefit.

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Tagged euromyth and european union | 30 Comments

How leaflets used to look: Labour’s Citizen leaflet from 1929

By Mark Pack | Mon 29th October 2012 - 10:53 am

Today’s leaflet in my series on old election leaflets is a centrally produced Labour party 4-pager from 1929. As with the Conservative leaflet from 1931 which I previously featured, the design may be very different from good modern leaflets, but the content has some very familiar overtones.

The May 1929 contest was the first general election in which women under 30 could vote and also one of only three elections in the modern era where the party with the most votes did not also win the most seats. Despite being slightly out-polled by the Conservatives, Labour won more seats in …

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Tagged david lloyd george, featured, history, how leaflets used to look and Ramsay MacDonald | 3 Comments

Opinion: Awesome?

By David Allen | Sun 28th October 2012 - 4:50 pm

We went to the Tate Modern recently. We saw early twentieth century art which explored ambiguous, disturbing images and dreams. Female sculptors depicted fantastical women as drinking vessels, or as Diabolo players entwined by their own diabolical game. The horror of war was a subject for art and contemplation, not just another brief film of routine carnage on the nightly news.

The mood was shattered by the eight-year-old whose T-shirt was loudly emblazoned with a twenty-first century slogan, “AWESOME!” It took me a while to work out just why this felt so incongruous. Being in an art gallery, I had time. Bear with me, please. The

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7 Comments

Opinion: Hug a Hoodie or Mug a Hoodie? What would Borgen do?

By Kirsten de Keyser | Sun 28th October 2012 - 9:25 am

It’s really rather a good feeling being a Danish Brit nowadays. Repeated requests for jumper-knitting instructions are admittedly a drawback, but one I can live with. More interesting are daily questions about policy matters as practised Borgen style. (For those who’ve been living under a stone for the past several months, “Borgen” is short for Christiansborg, the Danish Parliament building as well as the title of the appointment-to-view Danish version of the West Wing).

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Tagged Borgen, crime, david cameron and denmark | 20 Comments