By Stephen Tall
| Wed 21st September 2011 - 10:15 am
At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…
By Stephen Tall
| Wed 21st September 2011 - 7:55 am
At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…
It was Lib Dem energy secretary Chris Huhne’s day in the limelight yesterday, with his speech to the party’s Birmingham conference generating acres of coverage. Here’s how the BBC reported it.
By Stephen Tall
| Tue 20th September 2011 - 7:10 am
At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…
Clegg welcomes Jaguar jobs boost; Cable warns of economic equivalent of war
By Stephen Tall
| Mon 19th September 2011 - 10:45 am
At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…
Hugh Grant presses phone hacking issue at Lib Dem conference
By Stephen Tall
| Sun 18th September 2011 - 12:10 pm
Whether you’re one of the thousands of Lib Dem members busy at this year’s conference, or you’re one of those (like me) who’re having to sit this one out, Lib Dem Voice will try and make sure you don’t miss out on the action. Here’s how Day 1 of the party conference has been making news…
Nick Clegg: Lib Dems ‘imposing will’ on government
By Stephen Tall
| Sat 10th September 2011 - 8:45 am
The Chancellor George Osborne has been left red-faced by his controversially potty-mouthed acceptance speech at the GQ awards when picking up a gong.
His references to the magazine’s adult content, and use of the word ‘wankers’, has attracted widespread criticism for crudeness, and conduct unbecoming the dignity of his office — even his usual supporters in the Tory party, such as ConservativeHome’s Tim Montgomerie, have turned on Mr O. See what you think here:
By Stephen Tall
| Sat 3rd September 2011 - 6:15 pm
The party political broadcast (PPB for short) divides the anoraks from the average. Here at Voice Towers we try to cater to both, but this post’s most likely to pique the inerest of the former, as we rewind more than half a century, and recall some of the PPBs of yesteryear…
1951: Viscount Samuel (alas, this one’s brief and with poor sound quality)
Welcome to the fourth instalment of our scavenge through the video archives for footage from bygone elections. We’ve trawled the 1960-70s, 1980s, and 1992 — which can only mean that today’s the turn of the 1997 landslide general election…
Last weekend — in a desperate attempt to offer our readers an alternative to The X-Factor — we highlighted some clips from elections of yesteryear: first, the 1960-70s, then the 1980s. Today, we’re scrolling forward to the video footage of the 1992 general election…
Everything you needed to know about the current ‘epiphenomenal imbroglio’ ((C) Will Self at 0:48 here) engulfing the US economy, courtesy series 6 of The West Wing:
Below you can see a video produced by the national party of Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, Julian Huppert, talking to the deputy prime minister about the phone-hacking scandal.
There’s no doubt about the big story this week: Rupert Murdoch being forced to close the biggest-selling British newspaper in a brazen bid to ride out the illegal hacking story that threatens his media empire.
Vince Cable’s prophetic powers first came to prominence during the economic storm that came close to collapsing the banking system. Last December, he accidentally went on the record to make clear his wish to clip Rupert Murdoch’s wings. Ironically, it was the Telegraph’s widely condemned subterfuge which stopped Vince in his tracks, and prevented his ability to hold to account the company where illegal hacking was rife. Here’s what he inadvertently revealed to the Telegraph last year:
Poor Ed Miliband. The Labour leader would have been hoping public attention today would be focused on his his party’s defence of its Inverclyde stronghold — instead, everyone’s watching his car-crash TV interview in which he reformulates a soundbite repeatedly in order to insert the words ‘negotiating table’ and ‘these strikes are wrong’ into every sentence.
The result? A distinctly odd, unnatural, automated interview which fuels the ‘Awkward Ed’ media meme.
Part of me feels a little sorry for Mr Miliband. Clearly he was under the impression that only one line would be extracted from the interview; not unreasonably he was keen to ensure that it was the line which conveyed his key message rather than the news editor’s. Such is the challenge for all politicians in our ‘say it in 7 seconds’ media culture. But, as Iain Duncan Smith found to his cost as Tory leader when he nervously chuckled his way through a Radio 4 Today Programme interview, it’s these kinds of moments which stand out in the public consciousness.
Anyway, enough analysing: just sit back and enjoy.
To US liberals, he’s something of a hero; to conservatives he’d be a bête noire if they could stomach the use of a foreign label. Jon Stewart’s satirical The Daily Show has become a cultural institution in America (and something of a cult hit here) because of the host’s pin-sharp riffs against politicians and the media.
And what better, more deserving, target could there be than News International’s conservative polemical shock-jock channel, Fox News? Jon Stewart recently agreed to go toe-to-toe with Chris Wallace, one of its more intelligent interviewers.
The result is a vigorous and surprisingly nuanced 15-minute debate, which touches on issues just as relevant to the UK — especially the 24×7 news media’s destructive sensationalising of issues needing balance, regardless of whether their agenda is driven by liberals or conservatives. In the light of this week’s Milly Dowler case, or the recent character assasination of Christopher Jefferies, it’s more important than ever.
A hip-hop musical based on Nick Clegg’s role in forming the Coalition government is to be staged later this year.
The show (working title: “Nicked”) also features David Cameron in a “rap-off” with his backbenchers as well as the student demonstrations and the run-up to the AV referendum.
Here’s a preview of one of the numbers: Tinderbox, featuring “Nick Clegg” and “David Cameron” singing about AV. (Don’t miss “Ed Miliband” beatboxing in the background.)
Here’s a preview of the Yes campaign’s second broadcast which will be shown tonight – it’s on at the following times:
17.55 – BBC 2
18.25 – ITV 1
18.55 – BBC 1
19.25 – Five
19.50 – Channel 4
Dan Snow presents a demonstration of how AV is “a common-sense solution to find out the result that the majority are happy with”, illustrated by a bunch of friends deciding where to go for a night out. It’s a new version of Dan’s previous – and very successful – video along the same lines, highlighting the point that First Past the Post is suited to binary choices, and doesn’t work for multiple choices:
As long as there are only two choices – the coffee shop and the pub – the old voting system works fine. But the trouble starts when there are more than two choices.
The ‘Yes to Fairer Votes’ campaign has issued a new video highlighting how the first-past-the-vote system can turn an epic fail into a win, with MPs elected with less than 30% of the popular vote:
The No2AV Campaign has been all too delighted to parade has-been politicians to back up its arguments — the Yes2AV Campaign has rather more wisely stuck to letting the public have its say in this first UK referendum in 35 years.
Here members of the public explain why they’ll be choosing the Alternative Vote this May:
Hello from Liberal Democrat Conference in Sheffield.
Many of you will have been to party conference before. Many of you will have experienced the delights of the goody bag attendees receive. To help Liberal Democrat Voice bring you the true conference experience even if you can’t make it here yourself, Will Howells – you may remember him from such blogs as this one – has made us a quick video checking out his junk. Enjoy.
By Stephen Tall
| Mon 27th December 2010 - 5:45 pm
A festive edition of the Voice’s occasional round-up of political videos, with three Lib Dem politicians showing, erm, quirkier sides of their personalities.
M’colleague Helen Duffett has already brought you the delights of Vince’s turn on the Strictly Come Dancing floor. But he’s by no means the first Liberal politician to hit the mainstream — here’s Sir Cyril ‘Nice One’ Smith’s famous Access ad from the 1980s:
Meanwhile, Lib Dem leader of Sheffield City Council Paul Scriven shows off his ‘Perfect’ singing skills in the service of a hotel’s internal training video. It’s attracted the ire of critics, but Paul is unrepentant:
By Stephen Tall
| Sat 25th September 2010 - 8:35 pm
Anyone starting to get conference withdrawal symptoms? For those of you who were there, here’s a few videos from the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool to help you catch up with what you missed by, erm, being there. And for those of you who weren’t there and saw it all on telly anyway… well, here’s another chance to enjoy some of the highlights.
(Please note, as most of these are BBC videos it’s not possible to link to them: they will therefore only be visible to readers viewing Lib Dem Voice directly through your web browser.)
Chris Webb 1 State procurement teams being outwitted / outhought by sector experts (paid more and with greater specialist knowledge) is not exclusive to MoD - i only have ...
cim @David Allen
Absolutely agreed. Incremental changes, fully-costed policies, a focus on "competence" as opposed to "ideology". It's not necessarily a bad offe...
Alex Macfie "stopping the tech companies harming their users" which should mean regulating the tech companies not the users, i.e. forcing the companies to change their busi...
Edward A PhD is really the most meaningless qualification that there is, you really can't judge the worth of a PhD without reading the thesis. For some subjects you h...
Chris Cory While I agree with every word, I am at the same time, more than a little discombobulated. If we believe all this fine "power to the people" stuff, then isn't...
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Chris Webb 
cim 
Alex Macfie 
Edward 
Chris Cory 