Category Archives: Op-eds

Chris White

Queen’s speech not much fun for local government either

By Chris White | Thu 19th November 2009 - 5:32 pm

The Government has long had a knack of turning a good idea into an operational nightmare. One case in point is the Queen’s Speech proposal for personal care at home. The Prime Minister has given an undertaking to find a way of ensuring that older people with the highest needs can remain at home, regardless of means.

The bill will attempt to help 400,000 people (‘guaranteeing’ free personal care for 280,000 and providing assistance to 130,000 others). Difficult to argue with? In the small print not covered by the nationals screaming about the General Election is the fact that this will …

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Also posted in Local government | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment

2,133 days of active service but no fuel allowance

By Michael Andrewes | Thu 19th November 2009 - 4:15 pm

“It’s bureaucracy gone mad!” is a familiar cry from Lib Dem MPs, councillors and activists across the country. But I think in Portsmouth we probably have something that takes the biscuit in that regard.

Here, Mike Hancock has been taken up the case of a 94 year-old Second World War veteran, Mr Bob McGowan who was denied his winter fuel payment by moving one day too late. He is now threatening to hand back his war medals in disgust at the way that he has been treated unless, at the very least, he gets an apology and a donation to Help …

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Lynne Featherstone

The majority of voters are female, so does it matter that the majority of MPs are men?

By Lynne Featherstone | Tue 17th November 2009 - 11:20 am

Women now have the vote on the same terms as men. With the majority of the electorate female – and indeed the majority of actual voters at the last general election female too – what’s there left to worry about, one might ask?

Well – with only around one in five MPs female, there’s a big difference between what goes in to the electoral system (majority: female) and what comes out (overwhelming majority: male).

So what I want to address in this piece head on why I believe this matters.

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Stephen Tall

NEW POLL: Who do you least want to be Prime Minister in a year’s time: Gordo or Dave?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 16th November 2009 - 9:00 pm

Oooh, here’s a nasty ‘forced choice’ question to thrust upon LDV’s readers … let’s assume for a moment that, by some quirk of electoral fate, the Lib Dems do not storm to victory at the next general election, and Nick Clegg is not asked by Her Maj to form the next government. A far-fetched scenario, I know, but go with me on this. If those were the circumstances, who would you rather have as Prime Minister: Gordon Brown or David Cameron?

And, yes, those are your only two choices in this poll. We’re not giving you an easy ‘neither of …

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Also posted in Voice polls | Tagged , and | 55 Comments
Patrick Watt

24,000 children will die today – support our campaign

By Patrick Watt | Mon 16th November 2009 - 12:50 pm

More than 8.8 million children each year – more than the population of Greater London – die before their fifth birthday. That’s 24,000 every single day. Our government, in common with governments around the world, has committed to cut the rate of deaths by two thirds by 2015. But a lack of political will and focus means that we’re well off track for hitting this target. Immediate action is needed to turn this situation around.

A report we have released today shows that ninety nine in every hundred child deaths happen in the world’s poorest developing countries. The changes that are needed to confront this challenge need to come first and foremost from within these countries. Next year, world leaders will gather to review progress on the eight UN ‘Millennium Development Goals’ for tackling poverty and its underlying causes by 2015.

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged | Leave a comment

Opinion: Six months to make the difference in Oxford East and across the UK

By Steve Goddard | Mon 16th November 2009 - 11:00 am

I’m writing this in the wake of Nick Clegg’s 54th Town Hall meeting since he became leader – held in fact in the Wesley Memorial Church in Oxford East. It’s always good to be reminded just how good Nick is when performing in front of an audience of any size: he was articulate, passionate and persuasive.

It was striking, chatting to people afterwards, that Nick was felt to be at his best when speaking with a little bit of passion – when he gets slightly riled, he articulates a liberal approach very effectively indeed. I’m pleased that we can …

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Julian Huppert

The DNA Database: Making faking easier

By Julian Huppert | Mon 16th November 2009 - 10:30 am

So, the government has decided that it should keep DNA data for six years on people who have not been convicted of any crime, despite most consultation respondents disagreeing with retention.

Why is this a problem? Is it just that we have some strange out-moded belief that people should be treated as innocent until proven guilty? It’s certainly true that the government’s argument is precisely that people who have been arrested are more likely to offend in the future (‘re-offend’ was the revealing term used on radio). We are therefore saying to people that although they have not been convicted, we …

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Fraser Macpherson

Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #11: Lessons from Glasgow North East

By Fraser Macpherson | Sun 15th November 2009 - 11:38 am

Labour’s crushing victory in the Glasgow North East By-election was hailed by the victor Willie Bain as a resounding endorsement of Gordon Brown and a “a resounding ‘No’ to David Cameron.” Well, maybe in Glasgow North East, but I suspect extrapolating the Labour victory in this constituency as having huge implications across the UK political scene would be foolish.

The SNP said throughout the Glasgow North East campaign that the by-election was a two horse race and, after the nationalist victory in Glasgow East last year, victory for them was possible. A case of all too predictable SNP hope over reality. Over the years, the SNP has had a bit of a habit of sensing victory where none exists. Remember the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, so comprehensively won by Willie Rennie? If you’d have believed Alex Salmond a day or so before polling day, SNP victory was certain. In fact, they came a poor third.

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Also posted in Parliamentary by-elections and Scotland | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
Helen Duffett

Interning for MPs: exploitation or experience?

By Helen Duffett | Fri 13th November 2009 - 5:24 pm

Donal MacIntyre and Hannah Barnes have reported on MPs’ interns for BBC Radio 5 live:

MPs could be breaking the law by not paying their parliamentary interns. Hundreds of young graduates are putting in thousands of hours of unpaid work at Westminster. This practice is excluding many young people without independent financial support from a route that many see as the first step on the ladder to a political career. But, this is not just a question of pushing the bounds of fairness. Minimum wage regulations require that some of these interns should be paid.”

You can listen to the podcast of last Sunday’s show “Parliament’s unpaid workers” here.

Among Liberal Democrat MPs, practices vary: Phil Willis and Alistair Carmichael pay their interns the national minimum wage while others pay only travel and lunch expenses.

I spoke to Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, who puts his interns on a contract as part-time researchers:

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Chris Davies

Opinion: Pull out our troops

By Chris Davies | Thu 12th November 2009 - 4:25 pm

It’s time that Liberal Democrats called for British troops to be pulled off the front line in Afghanistan. The justifications for their continuing presence vary with the day of the week and the desperation of the advocate.  I am not convinced by any of them.  I don’t know how we would recognise ‘success’ if it were to be claimed, and I don’t believe that our involvement is making the streets of Britain any safer.

Alone amongst the three party leaders Nick Clegg has voiced concerns not simply about shortages of helicopters (in the Great War the call was always for more …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged , , , , and | 8 Comments

Opinion: Back to the future: why 2009 is really 1832

By John Ward | Tue 10th November 2009 - 3:36 pm

Not that many people accept the idea of reincarnation. But as a descriptor of what British politics needs, it’s absolutely spot-on: a very old and decrepit man needs to die, and turn into a new-born being.

Even the terms we use to describe political division are ancient. ‘Left’ harks back to mass labour and command economies, while ‘Right’ conjures up pictures of bosses in grimy towns, Mosleyites in England and Falangists in Spain.

In that context, contemporary politicians too often remind me of George III’s doctors wondering why the King is hallucinating and peeing blue: they’re no better than quacks faced …

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9 Comments
Mark Pack

When is it ok to ban a journalist?

By Mark Pack | Tue 10th November 2009 - 1:50 pm

Portsmouth FC have banned a local newspaper journalist from their ground after taking  dislike to a piece that he wrote. Although the club has neither suggested the article broke any law nor is libellous, it has decided to ban Neil Allen for an “indefinite period” from home matches, press conferences, speaking to the players and coaching staff or visiting the club’s training ground.

As Hold The Front Page reports,

News sports editor Howard Frost told HTFP: “It seems a bit petty. If (manager) Paul Hart wants to take exception, that’s his prerogative.

“It’s generally normal for managers and journalists to fall out

…

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Jo Swinson MP

Opinion: No to All-Men Shortlists‏

By Jo Swinson MP | Mon 9th November 2009 - 11:25 am

At our 2001 party conference I donned a shocking pink t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “I am not a token woman” and spoke in opposition to all-women shortlists.

Eight years on, I am still opposed to the use of single gender shortlists, but I wonder if I was then taking aim at the wrong target.

Research done by the party in advance of Nick Clegg’s recent appearance before the Speaker’s Conference showed, as I argued back in 2001, no evidence that our party discriminates against women in candidate selections.

Far from it: analysis of 237 selections shows that two thirds of the time where a woman is on the shortlist, a woman is selected.

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Tagged , , and | 57 Comments
John Pugh

John Pugh MP writes … Twitter ye Not – why Frankie Howerd was right

By John Pugh | Fri 6th November 2009 - 11:25 am

I’m deeply wounded to hear that a website referred to me as an analogue MP after I attacked the over-use of BlackBerries and iPhones during the House of Commons proceedings.

Wounded – because I could be thought a techno-geek. I build my own PCs, maintain and set up my office networks, buy books on Linux, and hold endless, sad conversations about interoperability. I am not a technophobe.

I just notice that (1) sometimes people pay more attention to the virtual world in their hand than the real world around them; (2) sometimes it’s rude to do …

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Alex Foster

Cameron’s Euro line addresses all the wrong problems

By Alex Foster | Wed 4th November 2009 - 10:40 pm

I listened to BBC reports of David Cameron’s speech on Europe with increasing bafflement as it appeared that the Conservatives set out a complicated set of policies that to my mind addressed all the wrong problems.

Granted, by many standards, and certainly by Tory standards, I’m a rabid pro-European. But here are two obvious flaws in the Conservative position.

No more treaties without referendums

So for each new treaty, the Tories will make sure there’s a referendum. Awuga, wrong question alert. Ask people if they wanted the Lisbon treaty, and most often what you get in answer is why they don’t like …

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Also posted in Europe / International | 11 Comments
Baroness Ros Scott

Ros Scott writes… Party President’s report to members, October ‘09

By Baroness Ros Scott | Wed 4th November 2009 - 5:15 pm

October was a month which began for me in India and ended in Cairo. I had been invited to India by the Indian High Commission along with a small delegation of Parliamentarians who are “Liberal Democrat Friends of India”. We were led by Lord John Alderdice through a week’s visit which was split between Delhi and Pune and included a number of meeting and visits to reflect India today, politically, socially and economically.

I was in Cairo for three days to attend the Congress of Liberal International, which is held every 18 months. The Lib Dem delegation is led by the Party President, but all the work is done by the Chair of the International Relations Committee, who is Robert Woodthorpe Brown. It’s a pretty humbling experience to hear from campaigners who risk their life and liberty for working to make democratic change in oppressive regimes, and certainly puts domestic politics into perspective.

In between the two, Parliament resumed after the summer recess, and I’ve been busy in the Lords with voting, select committee work and a few speeches. The expenses issue continues to rumble.

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Also posted in Party Presidency | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Paul Elgood

LDV USA: No surprises in Nov 3rd US state and city elections – Obama gets a bloody nose

By Paul Elgood | Wed 4th November 2009 - 3:45 pm

In a followup piece to his preview of US Elections ’09, Paul Elgood updates us on the results of yesterdays voter ballots across America.

Somewhat predictably President Obama got a wake-up call last night in the 3rd November elections. Attention focused on a handful of contests, most notably for the Virginia and New Jersey Governor’s Mansions. Both unsurprisingly went to the Republicans – in Virginia by a wide margin, closer in New Jersey.

However, it wasn’t all bad news for the Democrats. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg got an unexpected tougher ride, with a far closer than anticipated …

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Also posted in LDVUSA | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 5 Comments
Prateek Buch

Opinion: The Nutt affair – or, the thin line between evidence and policy

By Prateek Buch | Wed 4th November 2009 - 2:35 pm

Firstly, a disclaimer: I am a scientist, who is also interested in governance and politics, so the following post may come across as somewhat heated. Apologies, but I do feel that the recent furore over Prof. David Nutt’s sacking as Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) goes right to the heart of why I took up both science and politics as profession and interest respectively.

We begin with Prof. Nutt’s most recent criticism of the government’s drugs policy, which attracted headlines for claiming that alcohol, despite being legal and freely available, was more harmful than the Class A narcotic ecstasy (MDMA). At first sight this may seem like an outlandish statement to make, but the evidence, collated by Prof. Nutt, suggests otherwise; granted, the recent publication from Nutt’s The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) at King’s College London wasn’t peer-reviewed, but the methodologies used to calculate his ‘harm index’ were so, and published in one of the most respected medical journals, The Lancet in 2007 (the full article is behind a paywall, contact me if you want the pdf…). Just to repeat this – using what seems to me to be a robust method, taking into account everything from physical harm to the user to social harms at large, ecstasy does indeed seem to be less dangerous than alcohol, and it’s using this tried and tested method of enquiry that Nutt used to conclude that cannabis should remain a class C drug.

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Introducing the all-new LibDems.org.uk website

By David Loxton | Wed 4th November 2009 - 1:33 pm

If you’ve visited the Liberal Democrat party website in the last 24 hours, you’ll have noticed quite a dramatic change. Here, David Loxton, the party’s director of marketing, fundraising and members’ services explains the thinking behind the new site, and previews some of the other exciting new changes emerging within the party’s web strategy.

The new Liberal Democrat web strategy has been launched with a redesigned libdems.org.uk as its first stage. The new version is much more focused on setting out what the Liberal Democrats stand for, who we are and what visitors to the site can do to …

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Also posted in Online politics | Tagged and | 39 Comments
Ed Randall

Opinion: Cast-iron Conservatism – brittle promises obtained from a flexible friend

By Ed Randall | Wed 4th November 2009 - 11:45 am

On 26th September 2007 David Cameron gave what he called a cast-iron guarantee. The guarantee appeared in a piece published under his name in Mr Murdoch’s Sun. Liberal Democrats, who set some store by their own political education and haven’t read the piece, really should take the opportunity to read it in its entirety.

The aspiring party leader explains that it is an article of faith for him that: “No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum.” And, because of that, he promises, any Conservative government led by him will “hold a referendum on any EU treaty.”

Mr Cameron explains, in the same piece, that his determination to hold a referendum isn’t simply a reflection of his deepest political beliefs but a practical matter too. It is integral to Conservative economic policy making. Why should that be? The explanation seems straightforward. It is vital because: “One of the great challenges rolling back the tide of bureaucracy.” And, Mr Cameron continues, “you can’t do that without targeting one of the main sources of this bureaucracy – Brussels.”

Without the referendum he’d promised Mr Cameron makes it clear it will not be possible to free UK businesses from red tape; the kind of European regulation which makes it impossible for the UK economy to succeed. Of course what most of us call regulation – and Mr Cameron calls red tape – isn’t quite the easy target that it once was. And Mr Cameron’s cast-iron guarantee has almost completely rusted away.

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 3 Comments
Bill le Breton

Opinion: Why this is no time for “Savage Cuts”

By Bill le Breton | Mon 2nd November 2009 - 12:15 pm

Those concerned that the drive to lower the deficit by cutting government spending in the near term will stall recovery and lead to the so-called double dip recession have had their views strengthened by the publication of Slash and Grow? Spending cuts and economic recovery by liberal think-tank Centre Forum.

The big hint is in the little question mark of the title. After twenty-eight pages of detailed analysis, Centre Forum summarises i its news release:

Osborne’s plan for cuts imperils Britain’s recovery.

George Osborne’s determination to cut the deficit at all costs risks leaving the economy sluggish and the government still mired

…

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29 Comments
Andy Mayer

Opinion: Consumer Politics‏

By Andy Mayer | Sun 1st November 2009 - 2:48 pm

Working in public affairs means I get to travel outside the tribe and visit other Party Conferences, if exhausting after 3-4 weeks, it’s never a bad experience. In the main they are not dissimilar; set pieces in the conference halls, fringe meetings where the real debates happen, training sessions, social events with plenty of opportunity to end your career if you enjoy them too much, and halls full of exhibitors.

Within those halls one of highlights is the opportunity to engage in a little shopping. We have Lib Dem Image, Labour have their Campaign Shop, the Conservatives have Shop for Change… and as an innovation a mall of other suppliers from Harvey Nichols to Crombie, to novelty Christmas decorations.

Liberal Democrat Image was set up by the party in 2000 to supply a range of branded campaign goods. It’s a franchise operation run by Stuart and Leola Card, and the arrangement requires them to provide activist essentials but with the option to broaden the range should they wish.

This they do. Around 75% of the expanded product range has come from member suggestions, and some come from third parties like Bob Russell’s MP playing cards and Clegg and Cables Credit Crunch Chocolate. The only time LDI have hesitated to sell a product was a proposed range of party underwear “for reasons of good taste”*.

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Mark Pack

The plans to cut election expenses may be dead but there are still lessons to learn

By Mark Pack | Sun 1st November 2009 - 1:49 pm

Blink and you might have missed it: first details of a discussion about ways to cut the costs of running elections are leaked and then Jack Straw promptly disowns them and kills off the discussion.

Given how weak the proposals were – and the relatively small sums involved – I think that was the right decision by Straw and, although he and Liberal Democrats are usually not the best of friends, I think there’ll be widespread agreement in the Lib Dems with his comment, “Democracy has to be paid for”. Ideas such as replacing the general election freepost leaflets with one booklet would go quite against the current appetitie from the public to hear more from individual candidates about what the believe and what they want to do.

There are, though, three lessons to learn from the ideas that were floated.

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Also posted in Election law | Tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

David Nutt: why was he sacked?

By Mark Pack | Fri 30th October 2009 - 6:13 pm

Earlier today Home Secretary asked the Government’s chief drugs advisor, Professor David Nutt, to resign. The government line is that he was “asked” to resign but, outside the world of pedantic spin doctors who watch too much of The Thick of It, being “asked” to resign is the same as being sacked.

But what’s more concerning is the reason for him being removed. The Home Secretary has said the reason for sacking him  is that, “I cannot have public confusion between scientific advice and policy”.

But David Nutt isn’t being accused of getting evidence wrong (even though some of it gets into …

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The Voice

More power for cities over skills budgets

By The Voice | Thu 29th October 2009 - 9:20 am

This week The Voice is running a four part series from the Centre for Cities, a think tank that works on analysis and policy to boost city economies. They launched their ‘Cities Manifesto’ at the Bournemouth Lib Dem Conference and this series looks in more detail at its main planks. You can also find out more at http://www.citiesmanifesto.org.

UK business leaders have become so fed-up with our skills system that they’re now refusing even to discuss it. Asked what the priorities for skills reform should be over the next five years …

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Also posted in Local government and The Independent View | Tagged | 2 Comments
Andy Darley

Opinion: Campaigning for F1

By Andy Darley | Thu 29th October 2009 - 9:18 am

Somewhere around 2003, after almost 20 years of ALDC-approved campaigning and concentrated Rennardism, I burned out and resigned from every bit of Libdemmery I was involved in bar party membership.

Goodbye campaigning, I thought, and went off to do quieter things, like setting up a motorsports website supporting British drivers, www.BritsOnPole.com.

All went well until a chancer named Simon Gillett met a bigger chancer named Bernie Ecclestone and won a deal to take the Formula One British Grand Prix to cosy old Donington Park. Quite how the necessary redevelopment work would be paid for was unclear.

Since then, the slow, painful, but wholly predictable collapse of Gillett’s plans have led to worried fans of British motorsport arriving in droves at our site in search of news and reassurance.

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Also posted in News and Online politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 11 Comments
Susan Gaszczak

Opinion: Here comes the giant ‘house-swap’

By Susan Gaszczak | Wed 28th October 2009 - 4:40 pm

This morning I wake to news that MPs will be banned from paying mortgages under the new rules that will be suggested by Sir Christopher Kelly. My first reaction was ‘great’ – but how do poor people who do not live within commuting distance become MPs?

As I read the further detail of the suggestions given to the press I realised that, yet again, we are facing a sticking plaster solution to cover up a rotten system. Sir Christopher Kelly is said to be recommending that no MP should be able to claim for a mortgage for their second home …

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Tagged | 16 Comments
The Voice

Building the houses we need in Britain’s cities

By The Voice | Wed 28th October 2009 - 9:20 am

This week The Voice is running a four part series from the Centre for Cities, a think tank that works on analysis and policy to boost city economies. They launched their ‘Cities Manifesto’ at the Bournemouth Lib Dem Conference and this series looks in more detail at its main planks. You can also find out more at http://www.citiesmanifesto.org.

In our cities, some of the most visible effects of the credit crunch are the housebuilding projects and plans that have ground to a halt. The regeneration of York Northwest …

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Also posted in Local government and The Independent View | Tagged | 14 Comments
The Voice

More financial power for cities

By The Voice | Tue 27th October 2009 - 9:20 am

This week The Voice is running a four part series from the Centre for Cities, a think tank that works on analysis and policy to boost city economies. They launched their ‘Cities Manifesto’ at the Bournemouth Lib Dem Conference and this series looks in more detail at its main planks. You can also find out more at http://www.citiesmanifesto.org.

All the major parties spent party conference season trying to advance their localist credentials. However, there’s more the Liberal Democrats could do to reassert their radical localist credentials – most significantly, by …

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Also posted in Local government and The Independent View | Tagged | 3 Comments
The Voice

Opinion: Metro Mayors for UK’s largest cities

By The Voice | Mon 26th October 2009 - 9:20 am

This week The Voice is running a four part series from the Centre for Cities, a think tank that works on analysis and policy to boost city economies. They launched their ‘Cities Manifesto’ at the Bournemouth Lib Dem Conference and this series looks in more detail at its main planks. You can also find out more at http://www.citiesmanifesto.org.

At party conference last month, I was struck by just how many of the UK’s biggest cities are run by the Lib Dems. You now control virtually every big city outside London – that means that, taken together, 25 million people …

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Also posted in Local government and The Independent View | Tagged | 12 Comments
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