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Category Archives: Op-eds

Word of mouth election? That’s so 1997

By Mark Pack | Sun 21st March 2010 - 10:16 pm

Douglas Alexander’s soundbite about wanting to make 2010 the “word of mouth” election has got a fair amount of coverage in the last few days, such as in this mostly thoughtful piece by Andrew Rawnsley.

Why do I only say “mostly thoughtful”?

That’s because it’s a good piece, but also displays a weakness so common in contemporary British political commentary. It’s the feeling that it’s more important to talk about what an American did a couple of years ago than how the British political system has worked over the last few elections.

Because if you want “word of mouth”, and you know …

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Tagged andrew rawnsley and douglas alexander | 2 Comments

The Leaders’ Wives obsession: why it’s missing the point

By Helen Duffett | Sun 21st March 2010 - 9:23 pm

Tonight it’s Nick Clegg’s turn for a Sunday evening party leader’s interview – with Mary Nightingale on ITV1 at 10:15pm.

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez (Nick’s wife) also appears in the programme. At first I was dismayed that Miriam might be wheeled out as yet another politician’s wife, dreading revelations about socks or other foundation garments…

Until I watched her in this extract :

I don’t like that name: “political wife”. I’m the wife of a politician… I don’t have a role. I’m just married to him…

…It’s a personal choice and I think it’s perfectly possible to have a normal life

…

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Also posted in Lib Dem TV | Tagged Jo Swinson, lynne featherstone, mary nightingale, miriam gonzalez durantez, nick clegg and ros scott | 14 Comments

Pollwatch – State of the Parties: Lib Dems 18%, Labour 31%, Tories 38% (Mar. 2010 so far)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 21st March 2010 - 4:45 pm

With 15 polls already published so far in March, it’s time for a mid-month reality check on the state of the parties. Some parts of the media watch the polls with breathless excitement, investing even the smallest fluctuations with a significance well beyond what they can bear: a bad-tempered PMQs, a 24-hour Westminster Village row, an ad campaign – any and all of these are sometimes said to have affected the polls.

Well, maybe. But most poll movements are within the margin of error, so it is only looked at over a reasonable period of time that you can detect whether there has really been any significant movements between the parties. So let’s look at the polls published in March to date, in chronological order of publication, to see if we can detect any trends:

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Also posted in Polls | 6 Comments

The Independent View: A new electoral system

By Robert Draper | Sun 21st March 2010 - 12:50 pm

We all understand the disproportionate effects of first past the post (FPTP), but what about the distance it puts between voters and politicians?

The size of constituencies used in FPTP, and the even larger ones used in STV, mean that politicians can’t hear the voices of individual communities clearly. The link between voters and MP gets weaker the larger the size of the constituency they are elected in.

There is only one electoral system that will make the gap smaller and deliver proportional results, non-contiguous first past the post. For an explanation on how this works, click here.

…

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Also posted in The Independent View | 19 Comments

The Independent View: A Lib-Con coalition? Don’t hold your breath

By Julian Astle | Fri 19th March 2010 - 9:20 am

In the past week, the Conservatives have been talking up their chances of doing a deal with the Liberal Democrats if the forthcoming general election fails to deliver them a working majority. Conservative shadow business secretary Ken Clarke has even suggested that “Nick Clegg is a conservative”. David Cameron meanwhile regularly describes himself as a “liberal Conservative” and has claimed that on a range of policy issues, “there’s barely a cigarette paper between us”.

But in a new report from CentreForum, the liberal think tank, we argue that the two parties’ similarities …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged centreforum, david cameron, ken clarke and nick clegg | 5 Comments

Opinion: Today is a good day to be a Lib Dem

By Jack Holroyde | Thu 18th March 2010 - 11:35 am

As dawn broke over Bronte House, South Kilburn, I realised.
I realised that with this beautiful sight (the dawn, not Bronte House!), change was coming.

My local MP will soon cease to be Sarah Teather (Lib Dem, Brent) and soon will be Ed Fordham (Lib Dem PPC, Hampstead & Kilburn). Boundary changes mean that the tiny triangle of estate that I call home is being cut and pasted into the new Hampstead & Kilburn constituency. So, it feels a little like moving home.

But looking at the wider picture – change is coming.
Let …

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Tagged brent central, ed fordham, hampstead and kilburn and sarah teather | 5 Comments

The Independent View: The Digital Economy Bill should not be pushed through without proper scrutiny

By Jim Killock | Wed 17th March 2010 - 12:50 pm

Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, writes about the Digital Economy Bill:

The Open Rights Group would like to thank the Lib Dems for taking a strong policy stance against the Digital Economy Bill’s disconnection and web blocking proposals.

The biggest danger now is that Parliament will not debate or amend the Bill at all. After the budget, the Bill could be passed with little or no debate, as the election must be called within the next few weeks. The result could be that the Bill becomes law in very bad shape.

The Lib Dems have a very significant role …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged digital economy bill | 12 Comments

Was 6th October the day it started going awry for the Tories?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 16th March 2010 - 7:40 pm

The opinion polls are up-and-down day-in-day-out at the moment, making it almost impossible to say with any confidence whether we are firmly in hung parliament territory, or whether the most likely result is still a Tory victory at the coming general election. But one thing is beyond doubt: the last six months has seen a substantial narrowing in the Tories’ opinion poll lead.

In October 2009, the Tories were polling at around 42%, Labour at 28% – a convincing Tory lead of 14%. Last month, the Tories were at 39%, Labour at 31%, a 3% swing from the …

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Tagged bagehot, conservative party, david cameron, george osborne, nick clegg, opinion polls and philip stephens | 4 Comments

Opinion: Time for Lib Dem members to unite against UNITE’s Labour propaganda

By Amanda J Taylor | Tue 16th March 2010 - 1:45 pm

The Guardian reported last Friday that the uber-union UNITE is to get its members canvassing one another on behalf of the Labour Party.

In spite of justified criticism of the Government throughout the parliamentary cycle, UNITE always comes out for Labour when an election’s nigh – it never learns! Its members’ publication (paid for out of the political levy, or not?) is full of pro-Labour propaganda.

I believe it behoves a trade union to campaign for policies that would help its members, not nail its colours to the mast of just one political party, regardless of whether …

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Tagged trade unions and UNITE | 6 Comments

A reply to Tom Harris: Lib Dems wait for the voters to speak. (It’s called democracy, and we kind of like it).

By Stephen Tall | Mon 15th March 2010 - 7:45 am

Labour MP Tom Harris, bless him, is clearly feeling a little bit insecure, as the Lib Dems enjoy a successful conference with a spring in their step and the full glare of the media spotlight. Tom’s blog is a good, fun read – but like his Tory equivalent Iain Dale, he has a bit of a tribal blind spot when it comes to the Lib Dems.

Here’s what Tom has to say about Lib Dem shadow schools secretary David Laws declining to take the media bait asking whether the party would back Labour or the Tories in the …

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Also posted in General Election | Tagged hung parliament, iain dale, nick clegg and tom harris | 33 Comments

Nick Clegg’s speech delivers on all fronts

By Stephen Tall | Sun 14th March 2010 - 4:45 pm

If Nick Clegg sounded a little hoarse from a sore throat throughout his leader’s speech to the Birmingham spring conference then it’s not surprising: he has been omnipresent in the media this week, winning the Lib Dems more coverage than I can remember outside of an election campaign.

The first responsibility of any Lib Dem leader’s speech is to forget that he is talking to the party faithful in the conference hall – they will vote for the party regardless – and to pitch directly to the wider public watching the speech live or on news bulletins.

The second …

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Also posted in Conference and General Election | Tagged featured and nick clegg | 12 Comments

Lib Dems and the #debill

By Alex Foster | Sun 14th March 2010 - 11:58 am

I don’t want to be excessively partisan, but for the second time this weekend at conference, I’m getting a really good feeling about the Liberal Democrats.

The first was when we heard that a senior, experienced MEP thought our party was the best way forward.

But the second has been our response to the Digital Economy Bill and a huge online campaign from internet activists within the party and of no party.

Yes, it’s true that our team in the Lords invited the anger of the online activist fraternity. A lot of resentment has been brewing about the Digital Economy Bill as a …

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Tagged bridget fox, cory doctorow, Danny Alexander, digital economy bill and peter mandelson | 6 Comments

Can conference exhibitors find a little sparkle?

By Iain Roberts | Sat 13th March 2010 - 8:10 pm

The exhibition hall is an important part of conference, along with the debates in the main hall, fringe events, training and, of course, the conference bar.

So why are so many of the stands so dull?

(not necessarily these ones, I hasten to add).

I know it’s not easy to come up with a novel and interesting stand, especially on a limited budget, and I’ll certainly plead guilty to being as unimaginative as the next man (probably more). But conference after conference the stands look much …

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged #ldconf | 9 Comments

Opinion: Make politics fit women’s lives, not vice-versa

By Dinti Batstone | Fri 12th March 2010 - 1:50 pm

For today’s women “motherhood, not sexism, is the issue”. So says The Economist (“We Did It”, 30 December 2009), noting that “women who prosper in high-pressure companies in their 20s drop out in dramatic numbers in their 30s and then find it almost impossible to regain earlier momentum”.

Could the same be true in politics?

Nearly 80% of current male Lib Dem MPs first entered Parliament in their 30s and 40s. Yet our female MPs were overwhelmingly elected in their 20s or 50s, and not one was first elected while raising young children. Achieving the same age spread as the men could …

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Tagged azita qadri, campaign for gender balance, catherine bearder, female candidates, Jo Swinson and sharon bowles | 9 Comments

‘Why I’m standing against Nick Griffin’ – Dominic Carman

By Dominic Carman | Fri 12th March 2010 - 11:50 am

There are many different reasons why I’m standing as a Liberal Democrat against Nick Griffin in Barking.

Here is just one of them.

My bus stop on the way home is outside Brixton station, next to Iceland supermarket. Waiting there, I recall what the BNP’s message of hatred can bring. For it was exactly at this spot on Saturday April 17th 1999 that the London nail bomber David Copeland planted his first bomb. The following Saturday, he planted another bomb in Brick Lane. A week later, his final bomb exploded inside a Soho pub, killing three people. Altogether 129 people were injured. …

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Tagged barking, david copeland and nick griffin | 13 Comments

Opinion: The BBC – Snog, Marry or Avoid?

By Chris White | Thu 11th March 2010 - 2:20 pm

It has been open season on the BBC of late.

We all have our reasons for criticism: the incompetent decision to close 6 Music, the failure to manage budgets, the excessive salaries of performers and especially of senior managers create a climate of anger which serves only to underline the perhaps more important failures to deliver quality public service broadcasting.

I have long been a critic of the ‘Today’ programme, which is overlong, too pleased with itself and too inclined to slide into its comfort zone of two party politics. Andrew Neil’s political vehicle ‘This Week’, a weekly genuflection before the …

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Tagged bbc and mark thompson | 9 Comments

Opinion: Poverty, equality and solutions

By Stephen Marshall | Thu 11th March 2010 - 10:50 am

Politicians talk constantly about “lifting people out of poverty”, mending our “broken society”, giving people “equality of opportunity” and, more rarely “creating a more equal society”.

What none of them seem to be prepared to face is the fact that people are poor principally because they have less money than others; and that when poverty goes along with a feeling that it is not going to be possible, whatever one does, to get out of poverty, it does not matter what “opportunities” are provided – poor people will see through the pretence that the opportunities apply to them …

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Tagged kate pickett, richard wilkinson and the spirit level | 7 Comments

‘Save the Net’ emergency motion submitted … now what?

By The Voice | Wed 10th March 2010 - 6:47 pm

Bridget Fox (PPC Islington South & Finsbury), Julian Huppert (PPC Cambridge) and filmmaker Obhi Chatterjee write:

Several of us have submitted an emergency motion on Freedom, creativity & the internet for the Spring Conference. It concerns an issue which affects the daily lives of almost everyone on which the party appears to have no defined or consistent policy: the internet. A BBC poll shows that 75% of UK adults think access to the internet should be a fundamental right of all people.

Our Parliamentary DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sport) Team has been doing a great job tackling the worst …

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Tagged digital economy bill | 29 Comments

The Fawcett Society asks Lib Dems: What About Women?

By Ceri Goddard | Wed 10th March 2010 - 5:25 pm

Ceri Goddard is Chief Executive of The Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading campaign for equality between women and men. Fawcett’s aim during the coming general election is to get women and the impact on women considered as part of mainstream policy development by the parties. Ceri explains more here …

This week Fawcett, with more than 40 other organisations are launching our pre-election campaign. Instead of the usual “manifesto” of policies we’re turning the tables on the parties and literally asking What About Women?

All the leaders, Nick Clegg included, have been courting women voters – noted by the mainstream media, this …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged equalities and fawcett society | 5 Comments

Opinion: And there was no more sea … (Revelations 21:1)

By Bill le Breton | Wed 10th March 2010 - 1:15 pm

Have a look at this cutting I found from the Wall Street Journal, 2nd March:

Market has encountered resistance since hitting new highs Tuesday, natural in view of the sweeping rally up to then. Previous pauses in early Jan. and mid-Feb. were followed by renewed rallying; evidence this is a similar period of consolidation seen in pattern of declining volume on recessions, indicating line of least resistance remains upward.

With the Dow today on 10,500 and the FTSE around 5,500, are we moving onwards and upwards towards a recovery?

Nope! The date line on that cutting was 2nd March 1931. That’s about …

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Tagged george osborne, japan and nikkei | 1 Comment

David Laws on faith schools and the Liberal Democrats

By David Laws | Wed 10th March 2010 - 11:45 am

As the issue of faith schools has often been debated on this site, and it’s been back in the news with the question of sex and relationship education, we’ve asked David Laws to explain the party’s approach to these issues:

The recent Government climbdown over sex and relationship education in state funded faith schools has prompted further debate amongst liberals about what role, if any, faith schools should have in English education.

Some liberals argue that in a free society faith groups should be free to deliver a faith education, and that parents should be free to send their children to such …

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Also posted in News | Tagged education and faith schools | 116 Comments

5 reasons Nick Clegg should rule out a coalition now

By Stephen Tall | Wed 10th March 2010 - 8:45 am

With most polls showing the next election could result in a hung parliament, there has been various speculation about what the Lib Dem position would be. I think it’s time for Nick Clegg to make an unambiguous statement that the party would not enter a coalition with either Labour or the Tories. Here are my five reasons why Nick should spell this out clearly and simply now …

1. A coalition is a non-starter, so let’s just rule it out now

It’s quite simple: the majority of party members will not for a single moment entertain the idea of a coalition with …

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Tagged coalition, hung parliament, nick clegg, triple lock and vince cable | 31 Comments

The Independent View: International development beyond aid – an opportunity to change the political debate

By Sarah Mulley | Tue 9th March 2010 - 4:15 pm

Sarah Mulley is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr). Before joining ippr, she was coordinator of the UK Aid Network.

A major shift in political attitudes to international development has occurred in the UK during the last decade. There is now strong cross-party commitment to meeting the UN target to give 0.7% of GDP as aid, and DFID’s place in government as an independent department now seems secure.

But the cross-party commitment to aid, and to DFID, is not as clear cut as it might first seem.

First, the question of what counts as aid is crucial. …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged international development | 1 Comment

Opinion: Another Greek tragedy? Time for Europhiles to admit the dream is over

By Mike Guillaume | Tue 9th March 2010 - 11:50 am

In case you wouldn’t have noticed, another crisis has come on top of the big one.

For those who understand French, read carefully this article in the March 5 edition of French daily “Le Monde” . A former German finance vice-minister buries the euro as it is now and advises all Southern-Europe economies (including France) to get out of the Eurozone if they don’t clean up their act, behave more like Germany and adopt many unacceptable social measures. Some German backbenchers have suggested these might include selling off some islands (who would buy these? You guess).

That doesn’t yet …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged euro, european union, eurosceptic, france, germany, greece, iceland, republic of ireland and single currency | 56 Comments

Opinion: How to make QE into good Liberal Democrat policy

By Giles Wilkes | Tue 9th March 2010 - 10:20 am

In the last week, there has been a silly fuss about the risk posed by a hung parliament following the next general election. Nick Clegg has scotched the idea that the Liberal Democrats would undermine stability. In fact, his party has taken far more steps than the others to demonstrate credibility to the markets. Cherished policies have been sidelined in the interest of stablity.

The UK’s leading economics writer, Martin Wolf, agrees that there is nothing to fear from minority government, adding: “I cannot be the only person who believes that Vince Cable is far better qualified …

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Tagged bank of england, centreforum and quantitative easing | Leave a comment

Opinion: Who can trust Cameron?

By Ed Randall | Mon 8th March 2010 - 4:25 pm

In June 2006 Professor John Curtice, commenting on opinion polls and shifts in the UK political environment said: “It looks as though we may have entered a new political era”. Andrew Grice, The Independent on Sunday’s Political Editor, observed that the Independent’s ‘poll of polls’ showed “David Cameron’s rejuvenated Conservative Party a seven-point lead over Labour.”

The focus of their political analysis was the impact of a recently elected Conservative Party leader on UK party politics. Here was a leader who had set out to detoxify the Tory brand, and he and his party appeared to be making significant headway.

David Cameron had, according to Andrew Grice, called on …

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Tagged andrew grice, david cameron, david davis, david willetts, george osborne and john curtice | 2 Comments

Pollwatch – State of the Leaders: Clegg +14%, Brown -24%, Cameron +9% (Feb. 2010)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 7th March 2010 - 4:25 pm

Yesterday, Pollwatch looked at the state of the parties in January; today it’s the turn of the party leaders.

As with all polls, what follows comes with caveats. Only two polling companies – YouGov and Angus RS – this past month asked questions specifically to find out the public’s views of the three main party leaders. And each asks variants on the basic question – do you think Clegg/Brown/Cameron are doing a good job – to come up with their figures, so comparison ain’t easy. But, still, we don’t indulge in polls often, so here goes …

Here, in chronological order, are the results of the three polls published in February asking for the public to rate the three major party leaders:

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Also posted in Polls | 4 Comments

The Independent View: Poverty can and must be made history

By John Madeley | Sun 7th March 2010 - 2:15 pm

Ten million people bought Make Poverty History campaign armbands in 2005. Some would hold that voters give development issues a low priority. But those armbands showed that a lot of voters care.

More and better aid, debt relief and trade justice were the demands of campaigners. Five years later, how is the government doing? Brilliantly if you fall for Labour’s spin. Mediocre if you analyse the facts.

An OECD report says that Britain is expected to devote 0.56% of national income to development aid this year. That hides a few things. The government arrives at this figure by including …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged fair trade, free trade, gordon brown and international development | 3 Comments

Pollwatch – State of the Parties: Lib Dems 19%, Labour 31%, Tories 39% (Feb. 2010)

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th March 2010 - 4:15 pm

A total of 19 (count ’em!) polls were published during February. Now, as our readers know, LDV doesn’t cover them with the same breathless excitements as other parts of the media. Most poll movements are within the margin of error, so it is only looked at over a reasonable period of time that you can detect whether there has really been any significant movements between the parties. Well, the past few weeks has certainly shown some movement, so let’s get down to business …

Here are February’s polls in chronological order of publication:

* Con 39, Lab 30,

…

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Also posted in Polls | 4 Comments

Opinion: Why the mansion tax runs against liberal principles – but a land value tax wouldn’t

By David Thorpe | Sat 6th March 2010 - 2:20 pm

One of the more appealing characteristics and strengths of the Liberal Democrats is the room there is within the party for genuine debate, and the freedom members have to hold views which differ from those of the leadership.

There are of course certain principles which all who hold the Liberal banner aloft share however; principles around the freedom of the individual from the unreasonable constraints of the state into their personal lives, and these principles bound us together and make the party the pleasant place to be that it is.

The Liberal tradition goes back to the enlightenment, with figures such as …

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Tagged land value tax, mansion tax, nick clegg and vince cable | 27 Comments