Category Archives: Op-eds

Chris White

Opinion: MPs should keep out of local rag debate

By Chris White | Wed 27th January 2010 - 6:41 pm

MPs were debating what are sometimes called ‘council newspapers’ last week. None was supportive.

At first sight it is easy to see why. Administrations exploit the legislation which forbids party political propaganda on the rates. So long as the rag doesn’t actually say ‘Vote Conservative’ it is usually quite within the letter of the law. So a publication featuring mainly the leader of the council and only positive stories may irritate the opposition (and the voter) but will not cause the monitoring officer to stir.

But this isn’t why it is open season on these publications. Trinity Mirror and other regional publishers …

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John Cross

The Independent View: Close the Freedom of Information loophole

By John Cross | Wed 27th January 2010 - 1:50 pm

John Cross from the MySociety team writes about their latest campaign:

On New Year’s Day 2005, when the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into force it was described in the Government Press Release as “one of the most generous Freedom of Information regimes in the world.” The reality has been mixed, information released has lead to thousands of news stories but there are still too many loopholes that can be used to avoid or delay the release of information that really ought to be made public.

I recently wrote to MP about one of the worst of the loopholes which …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged | 2 Comments
Iain Roberts

Tip: if you want to be credible, avoid claiming the NHS is a Nazi/Communist plot

By Iain Roberts | Tue 26th January 2010 - 11:40 am

There are times when it’s difficult to get a handle on where a pressure group is coming from. Do they have sensible ideas (even if you disagree with them)? Are they based on good evidence and research? Is there an intelligent debate to be had?

On other occasions it’s just that little bit simpler.

Say you wanted to reform British healthcare. Fair enough – you’d be hard-put to find anyone who thought it was perfect.

So you and your colleagues, full of reforming zeal, get together for a bit of brainstorming.

“How shall we get our message across, and persuade …

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Tagged and | 4 Comments
Iain Roberts

100 days to work, 100 days to win

By Iain Roberts | Tue 26th January 2010 - 9:05 am

One hundred days until the local elections and the most likely date for the General Election: May 6th.

And, whilst blogs, websites, Facebook and the rest of it will play a supporting role, our real battles will be fought on the ground in Liberal Democrat held and target seats up and down the country. It will be fought with leaflets, target mailings, canvassing, posters, phone calls and getting the vote out on polling day. Even email – extremely effective at reaching local audiences in marginal seats – needs that ground work to build up the list of addresses in the first …

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Also posted in General Election | Tagged | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

The Saturday debate: we need more ideology

By Mark Pack | Sat 23rd January 2010 - 8:50 am

Here’s your starter for ten as we experiment with a new Saturday slot posing a view for debate:

Disdainful comments about political motivations and ideological fixations abound. But what Britain needs is more ideology, not less. Because it’s having a core of ideological beliefs that gives those in power a plan for action that is more than simply responding day to day to events or taking on board completely the agendas, assumptions and perspectives of those running the machinery of government. Ideology provides a model that can make different ideas hang together in a coherent whole that is more than the …

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Tagged | 13 Comments
Iain Roberts

Was Britain more broken under the Tories?

By Iain Roberts | Sat 23rd January 2010 - 8:05 am

Britain is broken, David Cameron tells us, and of course he claims a Conservative government will mend it.

How can we tell if he’s right?

Crime is still a problem, certain crimes in particular. But – like pretty much every western nation – the UK has seen a big fall in crime since the ’90s.

Having grown sharply through the Thatcher years, crime peaked in the UK in 1995 and has been falling since – quickly at first and more slowly in recent years, but still falling.

So not crime in general.

Cameron raised the horrific case of two young …

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Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

So George, tell us, when exactly did you decide to back Obama’s banking reforms?

By Stephen Tall | Fri 22nd January 2010 - 7:25 pm

The Tories’ shadow chancellor George Osborne was proud to declare on this morning’s BBC Radio 4 Today Programme that he had been in favour of banking reforms now being championed by President Obama – to break up the big banks – “since last July”. This will come as something of a surprise to anyone who’s been following Tory policy on the banking industry over the past six months.

In fact, let’s take a look at what the Tories were saying last July, the month the party launched its white paper on financial regulation. Mr Osborne put forward six policy …

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Tagged , and | 2 Comments
The Voice

Opinion: UK Border Agency plunges colleges into crisis

By The Voice | Fri 22nd January 2010 - 2:20 pm

I wrote recently about the train-wreck that is happening before our eyes with the new student visa rules.  Well, there has been a new development. The UK Border Agency has abruptly suspended the visa-sponsoring licences of more than 50 private colleges without giving reasons. All over the place, crisis talks are taking place in the colleges affected, as people try to work out what on earth is happening. Is this more of the deep-rooted incompetence that we have all come to expect from the Home Office, or has a political decision been taken to expel lots of dark faces and …

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Tagged , , and | 34 Comments

The Independent View: Holocaust Memorial Day 2010

By Carly Whyborn | Fri 22nd January 2010 - 12:50 pm

Carly Whyborn is Chief Executive Officer, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

On the 27th of January hundreds of events across the country will commemorate the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp. Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) remembers the victims and honours the survivors of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution and those affected by subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Sixty-five years on it is clear that the myriad of lessons and hopes for the future have not freed the world from hatred and atrocity. This new decade offers us a new challenge …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

When should the state intervene? RBS, Kraft & Cadbury and the Eternal Liberal Dilemma

By Stephen Tall | Thu 21st January 2010 - 7:00 pm

US firm Kraft’s proposed takeover of Cadbury’s has made headlines in recent days. First, because it’s a major, historic British brand being snapped-up by a non-UK business (or ‘foreign predator’, as Vince Cable labels them). Secondly, because of the fear that job losses will result. And, thirdly, because of the role of the Royal Bank of Scotland – in which the British government has a majority stake-holding – in lending the money to Kraft which will fund its acquisition of Cadbury’s.

The Lib Dems – in the shape of Nick Clegg and Vince – have sharply questioned the role of the Government in the takeover. At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Nick asked Gordon Brown:

… there is a simple principle at stake. Tens of thousands of British companies are crying out for that money to protect jobs, and instead RBS wants to lend it to a multinational with a record of cutting jobs. When British taxpayers bailed out the banks, they would never have believed that their money would be used to put British people out of work. Is that not just plain wrong?

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Also posted in PMQs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 11 Comments

Peter Tatchell writes … Is Museveni the new Mugabe?

By Peter Tatchell | Wed 20th January 2010 - 3:45 pm

Peter Tatchell reports on Uganda’s drift to authoritarianism …

Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, was once seen as the country’s great democratic saviour. Increasingly, he is becoming ever-more tyrannical, repeatedly violating the democratic and human rights principles of the African Union, United Nations and the Commonwealth. The international community is mute. It colludes with his regime.

How odd. World leaders readily condemn President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan – but they happily fund and support Museveni. Why the double standards? How can they justify such silence and inaction?

President Museveni’s Ugandan critics say his regime is a constitutional …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged and | 16 Comments
Chris White

Opinion: a salty problem for local lovers

By Chris White | Wed 20th January 2010 - 1:50 pm

I have made myself unpopular in some quarters this week by refusing to back a motion to Federal Conference which would create two new statutory duties: on local authorities to stockpile a certain quantity of salt and on householders to clear snow from the pavements in front of their homes. This, I am assured (and believe) is common in other parts of Europe.
 
There are two problems here: one is liberalism and the other is localism.
 
The potential legal obligation to clear snow from the pavements actually falls to pieces in practical terms long before it becomes an issue of principle: is …

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12 Comments
Simon Davies

The Independent View: How do we stop the growth of the surveillance state?

By Simon Davies | Wed 20th January 2010 - 12:50 pm

From any dispassionate view, it’s clear that the Liberal Democrats have consistently believed that the protection of our right to privacy is vital for a free and open society.

However, protecting that fragile right is a complex process that requires genuine and tangible policy objectives that will make a real difference. To reverse the rise of surveillance is a task that goes to the heart of how we are governed. Making a real difference will require a courageous agenda of change that reaches deep into the powerful institutions of parliament and government.

There is no doubt in the …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged , and | 6 Comments

Opinion: Who to Blame for the Democrats’ Loss In Massachusetts? Blame Me.

By Karin Robinson | Wed 20th January 2010 - 11:45 am

Last night Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate for Massachusetts Senate, lost by 5 points a race that just weeks ago everyone was declaring hers by right. And even before the polls closed it seemed like everyone was playing the blame game.

Coakley’s team and the White House pointed the fingers at each other. Some are blaming the economy, the excellence of Republican candidate Scott Brown (our first centrefold Senator, history should note), or Coakleys repeated Red Sox related gaffs. There’s even a “Drunk Electorate” theory. All of these factors surely played some part.

I’d add in that to …

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Also posted in LDVUSA | Tagged , , , , and | 13 Comments
Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert writes … Campaigning in Cambridge

By Julian Huppert | Tue 19th January 2010 - 4:45 pm

Liberal Democrat members in Cambridge met last Friday evening to select the person to succeed David Howarth – as candidate, and we hope, as the city’s MP at the next election. Julian Huppert was the winner, and we invited him to introduce himself to LDV’s readers …

Being selected to stand for Parliament is always an honour. Being selected for Cambridge is especially so for me; it’s where I grew up, went to school and university, and still live.

And, of course, it’s a seat we hold, and have great hopes of continuing to hold. This is in no …

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Tagged | 2 Comments
Sara Bedford

Brown rediscovers his middle class roots

By Sara Bedford | Tue 19th January 2010 - 12:15 pm

Last weekend, the Fabian Society held their New Year conference, entitled ‘Causes to fight for’. I was fortunate to attend the conference on behalf of Liberal Democrat Voice, at the invitation of the Fabians. Over the next week, I will share with readers of LDV some of my thoughts and observations from the day. Today: the keynote speech from Gordon Brown.

Just over 30 months ago, Tony Blair made an over-emotional and stage-managed resignation speech. But as Brown’s long march to his inevitable anointment as party leader began, behind the scenes at Labour HQ a more rapid changeover took place, …

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Mark Pack

If you want to understand modern government, understand the Office of the Public Guardian

By Mark Pack | Tue 19th January 2010 - 11:20 am

The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) neatly encapsulates much of how modern government is run, its weaknesses and the problems our democratic systems face in trying to control or improve bureaucracy.

The Office of the Public Guardian was created for the best of reasons following the 2005 Mental Capacity Act in order to administer a new Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) process by which people can lay down what should happen to them and who can make decisions for them if they lose the ability to decide for themselves.

Giving people more and clear control over their own lives is what government should do. Moreover, the OPG is, in theory, an accountable public body with annual reports, performance standards laid down by the Ministry of Justice and its operations open to questioning in Parliament.

But the reality of how it works also reveals the dark side of modern government.

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Tagged , , , , , , , and | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

A challenge to the Press Complaints Commission to improve its code

By Mark Pack | Mon 18th January 2010 - 8:32 pm

The Press Complaints Commission is currently reviewing its Editors’ Code of Practice so a group of bloggers, including myself, have got together to propose five changes – and we’re running an online petition which you can sign too.

Amongst any group of people, the exact reasons for supporting the suggestions will vary but for myself they are:

(a) All the suggestions are obvious and easy ones which ask no more of newspapers than to meet the sorts of standards many journalists and editors have long since said they should meet.

(b) They pass the “what if your kids asked…?” test, by which …

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Tagged and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

It’s “Let’s Make Nice Month”: experimental change to LDV’s comments policy

By Stephen Tall | Mon 18th January 2010 - 7:45 am

The Internet is a fantastic place. It can also be an angry place. Lib Dem Voice has a high quality of passionate-but-reasoned debate in our comment threads, with many of our 30,000+ readers contributing their thoughts and enjoying LDV’s role as “Our place to talk”.

However … it’s not unknown for debate on LDV to get heated, for commenters sometimes to get personal with the authors of articles, or with each other. The editorial collective has generally adopted a laissez faire moderating policy: save a handful of exceptional circumstances, comments are left untouched.

Partly this policy has been driven of …

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Also posted in Site news | Tagged , and | 48 Comments
Bill le Breton

Opinion: “Si, se puede”

By Bill le Breton | Sat 16th January 2010 - 2:40 pm

In 2006 two filmmakers decided to document the first term of a little known US senator called Barack Obama. Within nine months their rookie was running for president.

The resulting two hour HBO documentary was shown on BBC Two last Saturday (9th Jan). If you didn’t see it, do all you can to track it down somewhere, somehow. It is clear that the film-makers formed a trusted relationship with Barack, Michelle and his team so the access to the deeds, the techniques, the emotions and the inspiration of the whole cast from candidate to ten year …

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Also posted in LDVUSA | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

The Saturday debate: Choice is a poor way of improving public services

By Mark Pack | Sat 16th January 2010 - 8:50 am

Here’s your starter for ten as we experiment with a new Saturday slot posing a view for debate:

The enthusiasm across the political spectrum for using choice to raise standards in public services is misplaced because:

  1. For many public services, it’s vital to get the service right first time – for everyone. Children only get to go through school once. You don’t want to discover after a botched operation that you should have chosen a different surgeon.
  2. Choice requires surplus capacity to be meaningful – but it’s hard enough to fund minimum capacity in public services without also building in surplus capacity.
  3. Choice is

…

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Tagged | 20 Comments
Andrew May

Opinion: Power2010 gives a unique form of democracy a chance to blossom

By Andrew May | Fri 15th January 2010 - 11:50 am

Statutory instruments. A Bill of Rights. Freedom of Information. Proportional Representation.

Such ideas are not ones you hear bandied about by your average man or women on the street. Yet they were among those chosen by members of the public to try and mend the lack of trust in Britain’s political system.

For those of you who’ve not yet heard of Power2010 it’s a campaign which launched in the wake of the expenses scandal, with public trust in politics at an all time low. It’s a campaign for political and democratic reform, but with …

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Mark Pack

Lib Dems and Labour headed in opposite directions on health and crime

By Mark Pack | Thu 14th January 2010 - 9:52 pm

Earlier this week I highlighted how Nick Clegg’s speech laying out the foundations of the Liberal Democrat general election manifesto was based around four steps in which health and crime did not feature. Those two policy areas have been dominant in the party’s campaigning over the previous three general elections – in particular in marginal seats.

However, whilst the party seems to be at least dallying with downplaying the emphasis on those two issues from the key national headlines, Labour is headed in the opposite direction. Labour’s 1997 five pledges included one each on health and crime, whilst their likely …

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Stephen Tall

First-Past-The-Post: the ‘safe seats’ system that breeds lazy, corrupt MPs

By Stephen Tall | Thu 14th January 2010 - 10:20 am

Calls for the First-Past-The-Post voting system to be abolished in the UK were given a real kick-start last year after it became clear – thanks to the work of Lib Dem blogger Mark Thompson – that it was MPs with large majorities who were more likely to be implicated in cheating the expenses system.

It’s obvious if you think about it: if you were given life tenure in a safe seat where the Labour/Tory majorities are weighed not counted, how concerned would you be with the irksome business of being transparent and accountable? To put it bluntly – as …

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Tagged , , , , , and | 21 Comments
Mark Pack

What do we want? Section 63 of the Metropolitan Paving Act 1817 of course

By Mark Pack | Wed 13th January 2010 - 1:45 pm

What do we want? Section 63 of the Metropolitan Paving Act 1817 to be restored.

When do we want it? Before the next snow fall of course.

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Tagged | 22 Comments
Mark Pack

The 2010 general election: it’s a game of three halves

By Mark Pack | Wed 13th January 2010 - 10:20 am

Political coverage and blogging in the UK has a rather odd love-hate relationship with electoral numbers. On the one hand, the latest opinion poll figures get reported, re-reported and mis-reported at length, with the mere fact that a change in ratings is well within the margin of error not being reason enough to stop a cavalcade of comment.

Yet despite this love of talking electoral numbers, those that are talked about come from a fairly narrow range of sources.

So here instead are three other numbers – all simple in concept, but interesting in implication.

First, since 1970 49% of Parliamentary …

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Also posted in General Election | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Chris White

Opinion: Snow’s here – watch out for the Russians

By Chris White | Tue 12th January 2010 - 11:41 am

So: whose fault is it? The winter chaos I mean.

It was fun before Christmas but we have all grown heartily sick of it and there is now rumour of crisis. The Independent on Sunday’s front page was a bumper crop of statistics: £690 million in lost production, 14,188 cancelled trains, 25 deaths and so on. The Army is on standby in Kent, the fire brigade is delivering meals on wheels and farmers report that they can’t get crops out of the ground. Meanwhile there are warnings of gas shortages.

Locally people are cursing councils for failing to grit roads and pavements. …

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Also posted in Local government | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

The Guardian’s approving verdict on the Lib Dems’ manifesto principles is correct … but for the wrong reasons

By Stephen Tall | Tue 12th January 2010 - 10:10 am

Nick Clegg will have enjoyed reading this morning’s Guardian editorial (Nick Clegg: Liberal parenting) over his breakfast porridge today. The paper commends Nick for yesterday’s launch of the principles which will underpin the Lib Dems’ election manifesto.

At the same time it betrays the Guardian’s usual unawareness of the party’s democratic decision-making principles. According to the Grauniad, Nick “ordered his party to drop some of its favourite policies”, issuing “instructions” in order to transform the Lib Dem manifesto from “a third-party wishlist” into “a credible agenda for directing a government”.

Hmmm, not so much.

In fact, all that …

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Stephen Tall

What David Miliband could have learned from Chris Huhne

By Stephen Tall | Mon 11th January 2010 - 10:50 pm

David Miliband’s reputation has taken a bit of a knock over the past week. Today Labour MP Geraldine Smith went on the record to give her withering assessment, as noted by The Guardian’s Andrew Sparrow:

David Miliband needs to display a more mature attitude, really. … I think he’s yet to prove himself in any capacity. … I think David Miliband is probably finished as a potential leadership candidate. … he hasn’t covered himself in a glory. I think he’s behaved in quite an immature way. Labour party members are very angry about what’s gone on in the last few days.

Strong stuff, even in a backbiting party hellbent on imploding this side of the general election. But I don’t feel much sympathy for Mr Miliband, who has brought his woes on himself.

The big decisions in life are nearly always binary: you either choose to do something, or you choose not to do it.

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Iain Roberts

Mrs Robinson – an Internet campaign too far?

By Iain Roberts | Mon 11th January 2010 - 6:20 pm

There was no little schadenfreude, especially amongst LGBT folks, when news of Iris Robinson’s indiscretions broke last week.

Back in June 2008, in the same week as a particularly nasty homophobic attack, she declared that homosexuality was an abomination, and that homosexuals could – with help – be turned around. Stonewall voted her the UK Bigot of the Year 2008.

So the reaction to her fall from grace is hardly surprising – a woman who was only too happy to attack what she saw as the moral lapses of others turned out to have sizeable feet of clay herself – in …

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Also posted in Online politics | Tagged | 27 Comments
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