Ten days ago, in the dying days of the last decade, LDV launched our search for the Liberal Voice of 2009, to find the non-Lib Dem individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in this country in the past 12 months.
Our thanks to all who put forward nominations, all of which were considered carefully by the LDV editorial collective, which has agreed to short-list the following (in no particular order):
- Guy Herbert, general secretary of NO2ID, for his campaigning work against the database state;
- Peter Tatchell, for his tireless and fearless international human rights campaigning;
- Joanna Lumley, for her campaigning for justice on behalf of Gurkha veterans;
- Rory Stewart, for his straight-talking common sense on Afghanistan;
- Terry Pratchett, in recognition of the liberal, tolerant philosophy within his works of fiction;
- Henry Porter, co-founder of The Convention on Modern Liberty, for his campaigning work on liberty and civil rights;
- Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science, for his satirical criticism of scientific inaccuracy;
- Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, and Twitter for defeating Trafigura’s super-injunction.
To vote, please use the poll on the right-hand side of the page. And please feel free to use the comments thread to debate the relative merits of the short-listed Liberal Voice of the Year candidates …
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22 Comments
Argh, if only we could choose more than one!
*goes off to write an STV plugin for WordPress*
Oooh, yes please Dave.
Is this supposed to be based on what they’ve done in the last year, as the name of the award suggests, or is it a lifetime achievement award?
Glad to see Pratchett there…..
Another great demolition today by Ben Goldacre – of a truly crap Sunday Times story claiming public sector employees earn more than the private sector. The story is entirely based on crap statistics & no-nothing ‘journalism’ by rightwing fuckwits.
http://www.badscience.net/2010/01/if-you-want-to-be-trusted-more-claim-less/
know-nothing ‘journalists’
This poll appears to have closed on the day it opens – wtf?!
Lorna – erm, you sure? Still open when I look at it (unless you’ve already voted).
My vote was just accepted.
How is Ben Goldache Liberal? He pulled out of an event put on for free to increase public understanding of science simply because it was hosted in a Humanities department (they had a free room), and he has an intolerant illiberal attitude towards Humanities graduates even when they may be perfectly scientifically literature.
I’ll be voting for Guy Herbert, a man who has worked tirelessly to protect our liberties.
Ben Goldacre is an ‘orthodox’ writer. In other words, he follows the ‘orthodox’ consensus – regardless of whether or not it is a true consensus and regardless of whether or not it truly refelcts the science – which, in the case of ‘climate science’, it does not. The CRU and the UEA sre demonstrable proven frauds. Al Gore is a scientific illiterate who appears to think that (his own words) the centre of the earth is ‘millions of degrees’ hot. Does Goldacre challenge this? No. He is a waste of space.Porter is the most eloquent voice currently opposing the imposition of technologically-driven tyranny upon the people. The rest are trivial. Porter gets my vote.
Remember the words of Martin Niemoller
“They came first for the communists, and I didn’t speak up
For I was not a communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up
For I was not a Jew
Then they cam for the trade unionists and I didn’t speak up,
For I was not a Trade Unionist
Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up
Because I was a Protestant
Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up”.
Aghhh.. Following my post above I will be voting for Guy Herbert the reason should be obvious but I omitted the obvious!
There is a fine selection of candidates to choose from, but my vote has to go to Guy Herbert who has worked so tirelessly for NO2ID. It was Guy who coined the phrase “database state”, which so succinctly describes one of the main battle lines between liberals and our authoritarian-minded government.
Peter Tatchell. Genuinely inspiring, and I was so upset he’s had to withdraw from the election.
Henry Porter is streets ahead of the other candidates in my book – he really gets it regarding the pantechnicon state that so many, the Labour top brass and Murdoch among them, want to inflict on the public. I’ve a lot of time for Guy Herbert and No2ID, but I’m sure he wouldn’t relish winning a “Liberal Voice of the Year award”. Libertarian, maybe.
Tatchell should not be on this list, what with his having thrown in his lot with the Eustonites and then the Greens; and God knows why ex-spook Rory Stewart is there – that’s a name you’ll be hearing plenty of if the Tories come to power, and it won’t be for any services to liberalism either.
Rory Stewart? (no relation)
hold on a minute folks…..this is the former Labour Party member who is Tory PPC for Penrith & the Borders.
It might be somewhat strange to see him on this list. So he has a view on Afghanistan that is at variance with most in his party…………..one swallow a spring does not make!
Caveat emptor.
I have never voted Tory in my life, but Rory Stewart gets my vote as the only British politician I know who speaks any sense on Afghanistan. The current policy of the government, unfortunately supported to some extent by the leadership of the party, although not by the motion we passed at the last Lib Dem conference, is doing more harm than good.
However I did previously suggest including Adair Turner for speaking out against the excesses of the banking sector and suggesting a Tobin Tax. May not be to everyone’s taste, but Shirley Williams was impressed enough invite him onto the Today programme.
This is a confusing list – there are only 2 liberals on it, Pratchett and Porter. Goldacre, whilst being brilliant, exposes cant and misinformation. That just makes him objective, not liberal. And Alan Rusbridger may well edit the most popular left leaning paper but that doesn’t make him a liberal, does it?
Why not have Damian Green? It is possible to be right of centre and liberal, isn’t it?
Subjective. But in any case the Liberal Voice award is not for the most liberal person/group, but for whoever has contributed most towards liberal society in the past 12 months (according to LDV’s readers). Doesn’t mean they have to be a liberal all the time.
Because no-one nominated him. Nominations were open to all LDV readers to submit, and were open for 10 days.
Rory Sterwart is on the list.
I have huge respect and gratitude for all the people who bravely campaign for the protection of others and there seems to be good reason to vote for each of the candidates. However I have voted for Guy Herbert for his work for NO2ID which aims to safeguard our liberties from insidious erosion in the guise of the government ID scheme, so that people in our society can continue to campaign, straight talk and write books without fear from our own government.
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