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Category Archives: Op-eds

The 12 Op-Eds of Xmas (Day 4)

By The Voice | Tue 28th December 2010 - 6:45 pm

Throughout the festive season, LDV is offering our readers ~~a load of repeats~~ another chance to read the 12 most popular opinion articles which have appeared on the blog since 1st January, 20109. The ninth most-read LDV op-ed of 2010 was by LDV co-editor Stephen Tall, and originally appeared on 7th May …

The morning after the night before: 10 questions we need to answer (but maybe not today)

Here’s a few to ponder … Or perhaps best to sleep on them.

1. What happened to the predicted Lib Dem surge? Did people change their mind at the last minute? Did young people not turn out? Did floating voters turn their back on us?

2. How did the opinion polls get the Lib Dem share of the vote so badly wrong? They were pretty accurate in terms of the Labour/Tory vote, but all nine of the final polls put the Lib Dems in the 26-29% range when in fact we scored 23%.

3. What happened to our targeting strategy? Given our share of the vote was higher than in 2005, how did we lose so many seats? Did we over-reach ourselves? Or did we underestimate the residual Labour/Tory vote?

4. Why were there such differences between results in individual Lib Dem seats, sometimes making gains against the Tories (eg, Wells, Eastbourne), sometimes suffering horrendous swings (eg, Oxford West & Abingdon, Montgomeryshire). Incumbency seems to have helped in some places, not in others: why?

5. Should Nick Clegg have ruled out any form of coalition before the election to avoid a week of the campaign getting bogged down in the usual hung parliament media process stories? Was it a mistake to state openly the party wouldn’t work with Gordon Brown if Labour came third?

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2 Comments

Opinion: The tyranny of the state and my conversion to social liberalism

By David Warren | Tue 28th December 2010 - 2:25 pm

I came into politics thirty years ago believing that the abolition of nuclear weapons, private education, health care and a massive expansion of the public sector represented a socialist programme that if implemented would make Britain a fairer country.

All these were Labour party policy and as a socialist I was an active member of the party that was happy to use the ‘s’ word. In fact it looked for a while as though the socialist left were going to take total control of the party driving out the remaining social democrats.

What actually happened was the party moved in the other …

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60 Comments

The 12 Op-Eds of Xmas (Day 3)

By The Voice | Mon 27th December 2010 - 7:45 pm

Throughout the festive season, LDV is offering our readers ~~a load of repeats~~ another chance to read the 12 most popular opinion articles which have appeared on the blog since 1st January, 20109. The tenth most-read LDV op-ed of 2010 was by party member Mat Smith, and originally appeared on 15th November …

Opinion: Clegg has not betrayed us!

Many left-leaning liberals in the media are outraged at what they consider to be broken pledges on the part of Nick Clegg.

Johann Hari writes in The Independent, “In just a few days after the election, he cleared a space in his …

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6 Comments

Opinion: How Lib Dems make policy – or fail to – and the consequences

By Geoff Crocker | Mon 27th December 2010 - 3:25 pm

Causal chains can be very long, with surprising connections between initiating events and final outcomes. Severe violence between protesters and police on the streets of London resulted from the debacle over student fees, broken pledges, and continuing double talk as to whether this is a coalition compromise, or has now somehow magically become best policy. But it has its roots further back in a faulted policy making process in the Lib Dem party. How did an intelligent political party get such policy so wrong less than a year ago, when it already knew all the current economic issues? To understand …

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Also posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged mansion tax and vince cable | 40 Comments

The 12 Op-Eds of Xmas (Day 2)

By The Voice | Sun 26th December 2010 - 8:55 pm

Throughout the festive season, LDV is offering our readers ~~a load of repeats~~ another chance to read the 12 most popular opinion articles which have appeared on the blog since 1st January, 2010. The eleventh most-read LDV op-ed of 2010 was by LDV co-editor Mark Pack, and originally appeared on 17th April …

Poll surge continues: is this 2003 or 1974?

“I will only really believe it when I see it in print!” – so read a text message to me from one of the party’s senior campaign strategists after news started spreading about the latest poll:

BPIX/Mail on Sunday: Lib Dem …

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9 Comments

Opinion: In pursuit of excellence

By Merlene Emerson | Sun 26th December 2010 - 12:45 pm

Earlier this month David Lammy MP highlighted the problem of the low number of black students admitted to Oxford and Cambridge Universities and called it the ‘Oxbridge Whitewash’. He wrote in the Guardian (6 Dec):

“Just one British black Caribbean student was admitted to Oxford last year. That is not a misprint: one student. Merton College, Oxford, has not admitted a single black student for five years. At Robinson College, Cambridge, a white applicant is four times more likely to be successful than a black applicant. Last year, 292 black students achieved three A grades at A-level and 475 black

…

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Tagged admissions, cambridge, david lammy, GEEMA, higher education, oxbridge and oxford | 15 Comments

The Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011: defining and explaining economic fairness

By Mark Pack | Sun 26th December 2010 - 10:25 am

This is the final piece in a series of posts on the main Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011. You can find all the posts in the series here.

Having started this series with the economy and then moving on to more internal issue in latter posts, it seems fitting to return to economic issues for the final post in this series.

Getting the substance on economic fairness right is and should continue to be a top priority for the party. In addition, getting the messaging right will help differentiate not only the Liberal Democrat contribution to the coalition from that of …

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Tagged alex wilcock, jonathan calder, lib dem challenges 2011, nick clegg, paddy ashdown, richard grayson and social mobility | 6 Comments

The 12 Op-Eds of Xmas (Day 1)

By The Voice | Sat 25th December 2010 - 5:45 pm

Throughout the festive season, LDV is offering our readers ~~a load of repeats~~ another chance to read the 12 most popular opinion articles which have appeared on the blog since 1st January, 2010. The twelfth most-read LDV op-ed of 2010 was by LDV co-editor Stephen Tall, and originally appeared on 1st September …

Half a defence of Paul Staines (aka @guidofawkes)

My Voice colleague Iain Roberts has already blogged about this afternoon’s big political news that William Hague’s special advisor Christopher Myers has quit his post following allegations — vehemently denied by both — that they might be having an affair. …

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Opinion: for the want of a nail

By Alex Feakes | Fri 24th December 2010 - 11:42 am

Joining the traditional Nativity story of revelation followed by deliverance, this festive season we have been able to enjoy even more revealed truths about our world courtesy of Wikileaks, the Daily Telegraph and more or less any senior Army officer near a microphone.

Although there are moral and technical differences between these sources of information, they have each attempted to lift the veil to reveal the ‘truth’ behind the public face of diplomacy, coalition governance and military strategy. But have we liberals been consistent in our responses to these revelations?

With the diplomatic cables released through Wikileaks, there’s been a strong …

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Tagged afghanistan, armed forces, daily telegraph and wikileaks | 5 Comments

The Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011: using members and supporters as a campaigning resource

By Mark Pack | Fri 24th December 2010 - 10:25 am

Over the festive season we’re running a series of posts on the main Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011. You can find all the posts as they appear here.

Looking back through the emails I have received from the party centrally since the formation of the coalition, very few have asked me to do anything. Some have asked for money, requested I come to conference or suggested I go and help in elections – but even those, whilst being good stuff, have been drawn from a very narrow conception of what members and supporters can do. When it comes to policy areas, campaigning …

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Also posted in Online politics | Tagged gordon lishman, john prescott, lib dem challenges 2011 and nick clegg | 4 Comments

Chris White writes: a chance meeting

By Chris White | Thu 23rd December 2010 - 2:39 pm

I bumped into a young council official yesterday. I was wearing an ID tag so she could see who I was and knew that I was a Liberal Democrat.

It turned out that she had voted Lib Dem in the General Election and had in fact joined the Party under Charles Kennedy because of our clear and unbending stance on the Iraq War. She had recently resigned over tuition fees (quite a rare event but still disappointing). One of the benefits of leaving was that she no longer receives the centrally produced emails to party members justifying (for instance) the position …

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Tagged achievements, minister, revelation and telegraph | 48 Comments

Opinion: dark Tory reasons surround Clegg for Commission idea

By Antony Hook | Thu 23rd December 2010 - 12:53 pm

The Sunday Times(£) has played echo for anonymous “Downing Street sources” briefing that “if it looks like he will lose his Sheffield Hallam seat, there will be an emergency exit strategy which could see him land one the big jobs in Brussels” namely becoming a Member of the Commission.

The “Downing Street source” behind this must not have Nick Clegg’s or the Liberal Democrats’ interests at heart. It feeds the narrative of “Nick Clegg under siege” of which “Nick Clegg may lose his seat” is the hyperbolic epitome.

Nick Clegg would be extremely well qualified for the Commission, although …

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Tagged european commission, european commissioner, graham watson and nick clegg | 24 Comments

The Independent View: Tackling tobacco – a New Year’s resolution for the government

By Jean King | Thu 23rd December 2010 - 12:25 pm

Christmas is the time for parties and fun – a last blast before turning over a new leaf in the New Year. Stopping smoking is the classic New Year’s resolution for good reason: those who give up can gain up to 10 years’ life expectancy and quitting is always worthwhile at any age.

Smoking is an addiction most smokers will come to bitterly regret. No one wants to be lectured or nannied but we cannot simply sit back and hope things will get better. The Liberal Democrat consultation on health, drawn up by Paul Burstow in the autumn, puts the argument …

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Also posted in The Independent View | 79 Comments

The Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011: showing the difference Liberal Democrats make

By Mark Pack | Thu 23rd December 2010 - 10:25 am

Over the festive season we’re running a series of posts on the main Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011. You can find all the posts as they appear here.

When it comes to getting public support in return for making a positive impact on the coalition government, there are two requirements for the party. It has to have achievements that people know are down to the Liberal Democrats and also to have achievements which add up to more than a scattering of interesting details. Unless there is a clear thread running through them, the details will get lost in the non-political noise …

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Tagged ken clarke, lib dem challenges 2011 and tim farron | 6 Comments

Opinion: It is time to get out of the Coalition

By Paul Elgood | Thu 23rd December 2010 - 8:55 am

The time is now right for the Coalition to come to a natural end. It has given the country a period of stability in difficult economic times, however Tories and Lib Dems are not natural long term bed fellows.

We have done our duty in the national interest to pick up the economic mess left by Labour, which I agree was vital at the time.

My call comes in the light of comments by Ministers in the last few days, including Vince Cable. Here in Sussex, Norman Baker has spoken of the toll on his family being in government has taken. …

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173 Comments

John Pugh MP writes… “Calm Down, Calm Down!” – keeping Coalition partners happy

By John Pugh | Wed 22nd December 2010 - 5:45 pm

Perhaps it comes naturally to someone born a Liverpudlian but — without donning a shell suit (a la Harry Enfield) to cry “Calm Down, Calm Down” — the media village, so anxious for a scrap and the possible downfall of the Coalition, need to do just that.

The remarks of Vince Cable and other Lib Dem ministers (whether public or private), the rumblings of back-benchers, the cracks in cabinet unity – they all come with the territory.

There are those in the Whips’ offices of all parties who dream of …

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24 Comments

The problem that drove Tube privatisation is still with us

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd December 2010 - 3:35 pm

One of the great strengths of Christian Woolmar’s highly readable account of Gordon Brown’s drive to part-privatise the London Underground, Down The Tube, is that although he is very hostile to the policy he explains why so many transport managers were really keen to see it introduced. They may have had many second thoughts since, but at the time involving private firms in long-running legal contracts seemed to many the solution to the regular problem of short-term decision making over transport infrastructure.

Cutting investment in transport was often a popular option at times of cutbacks and the swings from grand plans to big cuts and back again resulted in much wasted effort on plans that never materialised and higher costs for those that did. Long-term legal contracts which politicians could not just axe come the next budget round seemed the answer.

Excavator bucket London’s PPP may have turned out to be a really bad answer, but the problem it failed to answer is still very much there – as this week’s Infrastructure Cost Review report from HM Treasury / Infrastructure UK reveals. (It was on your Christmas reading list, wasn’t it?).

The review found that infrastructure work in the UK costs more than in comparable countries, for reasons including, “stop-start investment programmes and the lack of a visible and continuous pipeline of forward work”. In total, the extra costs in the UK amount to around 15% of what is spent on infrastructure work, making this issue a significant one – getting the same value for money as in other countries would in itself be the equivalent of a major boost in government spending on our infrastructure.

The lack of long-term commitment and planning isn’t the only problem the report identifies, but it does make the report a reminder that though PPP may have failed in London the original problem still needs fixing: how to get more long-term planning on subjects where consistency is needed for more than one Parliament, even if it is a five-year fixed-term one.

Infrastructure Cost Review – HM Treasury and Infrastructure UK

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Opinion: Vince wasn’t just wrong to say it. He was just wrong

By Mark Littlewood | Wed 22nd December 2010 - 1:20 pm

It was an extraordinary day. In front of two total strangers, Vince Cable, still the nation’s Business Secretary, had declared he’d gone to war – and was going to win – against Rupert Murdoch. He also pontificated about how he might use the “nuclear option” against his own cabinet colleagues. To be sure, such extreme militaristic hubris is deeply odd behaviour from a Liberal Democrat. But in the fog of a curious day at Westminster, liberals must not lose sight of the serious policy implications facing British broadcasting.

Rupert Murdoch is an easy hate figure for the centre-left. He is …

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Tagged rupert murdoch and vince cable | 61 Comments

Robert Peston nails the Cable story

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd December 2010 - 12:38 pm

I was going to write a post about the Cable / Telegraph / other Lib Dem ministers story, but reading Robert Peston’s post I see he’s said what I was going to say – but said it first and said it better. So over to him:

What I still feel bemused about is why the Telegraph, for which I used to work, did not publish the one story that would have unquestionably legitimised its under-cover exercise to elicit the private views of Lib Dem ministers.

Pretty much everything these Lib Dems have been caught saying about their Tory colleagues is what one

…

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Tagged robert peston, rupert murdoch and vince cable | 27 Comments

The Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011: making progress on core LibDem beliefs

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd December 2010 - 11:45 am

Over the festive season we’re running a series of posts on the main Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011. You can find all the posts as they appear here.

Getting economic policy right may be at the heart of the government’s long-term fate, and crucial for the country, but even if everything goes right the benefits are long-term ones – so to keep the coalition working well over the next year will require a steady supply of other good news and much work on internal communications.

Ask Liberal Democrat activists why they are active in politics and why for the Liberal Democrats …

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Tagged chris huhne, civil liberties, constitutional reform, control orders, house of lords, lib dem challenges 2011 and parliamentary reform | 7 Comments

Opinion: what Ed Miliband should put on his blank sheet of paper – part 2

By George Kendall | Wed 22nd December 2010 - 9:10 am

Ed Miliband has invited Lib Dems to make suggestions for his 2015 manifesto. Though I’m suspicious of his motives, and I’m a supporter of Nick Clegg and the coalition, I think we should respond to this invitation with a public discussion of what Liberal Democrat policies should be from 2015.

If he takes up the suggestions, so much the better. If not, public discussion of Liberal Democrat ideas is always a good idea.

In part 1, I’ve already made suggestions on the economy, the deficit, and on local government finance. Part 2 covers other policy areas.

Reducing the poverty trap

Income tax is …

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Tagged blank piece of paper, ed miliband, free bus passes, pupil premium, universal credit and winter fuel allowance | 16 Comments

Opinion: Wikileaks – Time for Liberal Democrats to act

By Lembit Öpik | Tue 21st December 2010 - 3:55 pm

Recent revelations from Wikileaks have revealed comments about Nick Clegg that I made at a private event. That might be a problem for some but I personally don’t want to see Assange end up in jail for what he has revealed about me or anyone else. To paraphrase a British diplomat talking to Hilary Clinton about other Wikileaks revelation “You should hear what he says about me in private!”

Disclosure is far more important than that in a democracy which seeks to keep its public servants accountable. Revelations may be awkward for some, but those who have most to fear …

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Tagged extradition laws, julian assange and wikileaks | 31 Comments

Opinion: RBS bonuses this year. Don’t.

By David Boyle | Tue 21st December 2010 - 2:25 pm

If there is one issue where destiny seems be demanding the Liberal Democrats to be bold, it is the issue of Britain’s dysfunctional banking system. Ninety per cent of the banking industry goes through the Big Six in the UK, some of which are not actually UK banks at all – and, in those circumstances, it is hardly surprising that they don’t do the job that needs doing. Funding local enterprise.

A fortnight or so ago, things were looking quite bleak, at least for the coalition’s will to act. George Osborne had indicated that he wasn’t going to force the banks to be transparent …

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Tagged banking, george osborne and rbs | 7 Comments

Opinion: Address wars – an armistice?

By Bob Barr | Tue 21st December 2010 - 12:24 pm

We take addresses for granted. How hard an issue can they be? Put an address on an envelope and it gets there, a gratifying proportion of the time. Stick a postcode in a satnav and it shows you a route which usually gets you to your destination. Add an address to a name and you usually have an unambiguous reference to a single person.

The problem lies with the word ‘usually’. Get an address wrong and a parcel doesn’t get delivered; the ambulance or fire engine arrives too late to save a life; a Council Tax isn’t collected; a household gets …

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Tagged ed davey, eric pickles, ordnance survey, postcodes and royal mail | 9 Comments

Opinion: the lone maverick won’t change drugs policy. An army of moderates might.

By Ewan Hoyle | Tue 21st December 2010 - 11:23 am

As a passionate advocate of drugs policy reform, I was very excited on Wednesday evening about the prospect of a former drugs and defence minister coming out in favour of regulated drug supply. I thought someone with such experience could blow the debate wide open, and we could really start getting to grips with the issue as a nation. Sadly the debate that resulted was again loose and ill-defined. Was he talking about legalisation of all drugs, decriminalisation, prescription of heroin to addicts? Because the debate was poorly defined, it was allowed to spin out into sensationalism and I quickly got the sense that this wasn’t going to be the breakthrough I had hoped.

I have therefore come to the conclusion that drug policy reform is not going to happen soon if we are going to continue this trickling pattern of lone mavericks each proclaiming different varieties of the sensible, progressive message. What we need instead is for all these mavericks to get together with respected stakeholders and work to produce ONE message, one set of policies which can be held up as the first step. Reformers need to engage with other lobby groups outwith the major political parties whose activities aren’t closely monitored by the Daily Mail for any sign of intelligent (and therefore reprehensible) thought. We need to engage children’s charities and talk through how best reform can tackle issues of child neglect and abuse. We need to talk to police associations about how best to reduce serious organised crime and petty thefts. We should talk to retailers about the potential to massively reduce shoplifting. We should invite the teacher’s unions in to talk about how we close off criminal career opportunities for disadvantaged children and help them engage in education as their best means of advancement. Mental health charities can make vital inputs into breaking the links between depression and addiction or between cannabis and psychosis. The list of sensible influential groups who can contribute to the development of and subsequently support a single message of moderate reform could go on and on.

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Tagged bob ainsworth, cannabis, drugs, lddpr and legalisation | 20 Comments

The Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011: winning elections

By Mark Pack | Tue 21st December 2010 - 10:25 am

Over the festive season we’re running a series of posts on the main Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011. You can find all the posts as they appear here.

Yesterday I took a look at the economy, an issue on which Conservatives and Liberal Democrats will sink or swim together. Where the parties will be directly fighting each other will be in the ballot box, both in the big round of scheduled elections in May, in by-elections all through the year and in the AV referendum, where most Conservatives will be lined up on the ‘no’ side.

The combination of huge …

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Tagged av referendum, lib dem challenges 2011 and oldham east and saddleworth | 6 Comments

Opinion: what Ed Miliband should put on his blank sheet of paper – part 1

By George Kendall | Tue 21st December 2010 - 9:15 am

Ed Miliband has invited Lib Dems to make suggestions for his 2015 manifesto. In doing so, he is treading a well-worn path: from Tony Blair, who borrowed Alan Beith’s proposal for an independent Bank of England and a chunk of our policy on constitutional reform, to David Cameron, who borrowed a lot of our policy on civil liberties.

Imitation is a form of flattery, but it isn’t always sincere. I believe Ed Miliband spoke from the heart in his campaign for the Labour leadership, when he said that he would like to make us extinct. I’ve no doubt he would like …

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Tagged blank sheet of paper, council tax, deficit, ed miliband and labour party | 11 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

Observations of an Expat: Post Election Worries (Tom Arms)
How Liberal Democrats can ride Britain’s youth wave on the pro-EU shift (Rupinder Singh)
Just growth by lowering deadweight losses through tax (Tony Vickers)
Local democracy should not be an excuse to stop building homes (Massimo Ricciuti)
The need for a nationally relevant message (Mark Corner)

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