Liberal Democrat Voice

Telegraph: country’s first female director of adult films selected as Lib Dem parliamentary candidate

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th March 2010 - 10:20 pm

Here’s the story, Female adult film director runs for parliament with Lib Dems, which presumably earned its place in the Torygraph thanks to the titillating headline it teed-up:

Anna Arrowsmith, managing director of adult film company Easy on the Eye, will stand for the party in Gravesham, Kent. Under her pseudonym Anna Span the 38-year-old has produced around 300 pornographic films. She has specialised in “women friendly” films, with titles like Where’s the Rent Boys aimed at female erotica enthusiasts.

Mrs Arrowsmith asked the people of Gravesend not to judge her on the sins of her industry and pointed to her

…

Posted in News | Tagged alex wilcock, anna arrowsmith, gravesham and pornography | 19 Comments

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Is this a Google Street View first?

By Mark Pack | Thu 11th March 2010 - 9:59 pm

Take a look at this. To you it may be a smudge, but to the eagled-eyed politico it’s Google Street View showing a political campaign poster (for the Burnley Liberal Democrats’ campaign to save the local hospital). Is this the first time a political campaign poster has been caught on Google Street View?

Posted in Online politics | Tagged burnley and google | 10 Comments

Did someone make this National Nick week?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th March 2010 - 9:35 pm

This morning, up with the larks, LDV covered Nick Clegg’s feature interview in The Independent. But we’ve been hard-pressed to keep up with the Lib Dem leader’s media appearances: Nick is also in this week’s Spectator, as well as The Economist. That, plus a forthcoming one-hour ITV special and the leaders’ debates: truly, the media are spoiling us with this surfeit of Cleggyness.

The Spectator interview has stirred up Sunder Katawala at the left-leaning Liberal Conspiracy, who speculates that Nick’s comments will “be a major talking point at the LibDem spring conference in Birmingham this weekend, where …

Posted in News | Tagged nick clegg | 9 Comments

What’s the Liberal Democrat position on homeopathy?

By The Voice | Thu 11th March 2010 - 9:20 pm

As the issue has been debated several times recently on this site, here’s the latest statement of the party’s position:

A recent report by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee examined the provision of homeopathy through the NHS and called for funding by the NHS to be stopped. The Committee did recognise that many users derive benefit from its use and did not argue that such treatments should be banned.

The Liberal Democrats believe that, as a basic principle, individuals should have maximum freedom about how they choose to get treated, so long as the therapy is safe. When it

…

Posted in News | Tagged homeopathy and james graham | 106 Comments

For the love of chocolate, if you’re going to take an action photo read this

By Mark Pack | Thu 11th March 2010 - 8:32 pm

Now, don’t get me wrong.

I like photos of potholes. Or even empty pavements.

I like photos of candidates.

I like photos of candidates and potholes.

Looking glum or not.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

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Nick Clegg’s Lib Dem conference Q+A #ldconf

By Mark Pack | Thu 11th March 2010 - 4:50 pm

In addition to his speech on Sunday, Nick Clegg is doing a Q+A session on Saturday at the Liberal Democrat spring conference in Birmingham – and this time with an added online twist:

Straight after he comes off stage, he’s keen to answer questions sent in from people who are unable to attend the conference.

When: 13 March at 15.25

Where: Online, answers will be posted on his website, Facebook and Tweeted shortly after.

How to take part: Post your …

Posted in Conference | Tagged nick clegg | Leave a comment

What happens if you fail to include an imprint in an online advert?

By Mark Pack | Thu 11th March 2010 - 3:20 pm

One for the techno-legal-political geeks amongst us (hello? anyone still there…?).

Last year when writing about the issues with online imprint rules in the UK I made reference to Florida where:

the Florida Election Commission has banned the use of Google Ads because they necessarily do not include the Florida equivalent of an election imprint – as there isn’t enough room. That ruling is being contested, and may yet trigger a change in the law but it shows the risk of doing nothing and hoping all will come out okay.

The ruling was indeed contested and it was decided that the candidate …

Posted in Election law and Online politics | Tagged google | 2 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 …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged bbc and mark thompson | 9 Comments

Why Vote? Book review

By Mark Pack | Thu 11th March 2010 - 1:20 pm

Why Vote? by Jo Phillips and David Seymour is one in a series just published by biteback. Whilst the others promote voting for a particular party, such as the Liberal Democrat title reviwed here, this book is simply about encouraging people to take part in elections. It takes a rather curious approach because, as the book itself explains:

wants to persuade you to vote but gives dozens of very good reasons why you shouldn’t.

On the positive side, it should give you a few laughs and provide enough trivial information to amaze your friends … What we hope it might do is persuade you to influence how the country is run.

Posted in Books | Tagged david seymour and jo phillips | 2 Comments

Pornography and violence: what does the evidence show?

By Iain Roberts | Thu 11th March 2010 - 12:45 pm

Is there a link between the availability of pornography in a society and sex crimes like rape? And does watching more pornography lead men to see women as mere sex-objects?

It’s a debate that’s bounced back and forth for decades. Both sides have plausible explanations as to how their claims can be true.

Perhaps, after watching pornography, men are more likely to feel agressive and commit sex crimes. If the increased availability of pornography over the last thirty years has led to more rapes and sexual assaults, surely there’s a good case for our society being more censorious.

Or maybe …

Posted in News | Tagged hawaii and pornography | 4 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 …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged kate pickett, richard wilkinson and the spirit level | 7 Comments

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Thu 11th March 2010 - 9:20 am

The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that’s fine, we’re grateful for people taking the time to read the site.

You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are three simple ways:

1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there’s something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you’re an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or you’ve seen …

Posted in Site news | 1 Comment

Daily View 2×2: 11 March 2010

By Alex Foster | Thu 11th March 2010 - 7:34 am

Good morning, and welcome to Daily View.

Today is notable as the day before LDV’s fascinating fringe event on how to make authoritarian MPs pay at the ballot box – do join us tomorrow in Birmingham to find out how.

302 years ago today, Queen Anne was the last British monarch to withhold Royal Assent from a bill of Parliament.

In 1864, Sheffield saw a Great Flood when a dam under construction burst. The ensuing inundation wrecked a number of bridges, destroyed 800 houses and killed 270 people.

People born on March 11th include Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, Harold Wilson and Douglas Adams; and deaths include Alexander Fleming, John Wyndham and Slobodan Milošević.

2 Big Stories

Parties battle over high speed rail

Will Labour’s Y or the Conservative Reverse-S win the day? Find out in The Times

Posted in Daily View | Tagged Alexander Fleming, Douglas Adams, great sheffield flood, Harold Wilson, high-speed rail, iraq, John Wyndham, Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, queen anne, railways, sex positive feminism, Slobodan Milosevic and transport | 1 Comment

LibLink: Nick Clegg’s demands for a post-election deal

By NewsHound | Thu 11th March 2010 - 6:06 am

As reported in today’s Independent, Nick Clegg has been talking about what the Lib Dems would do in the event of a hung parliament, and flags up some of the announcements due at the party’s spring conference in Birmingham this weekend.

the Liberal Democrat leader also revealed that his party would try to calm jitters in the financial markets about a hung parliament by calling for a £10bn “repayment” to cut Britain’s public deficit. It would be found from £15bn of spending cuts to be outlined this month.

Mr Clegg declined to speculate whether his party would

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged liberal democrats, nick clegg and vince cable | 12 Comments

Make authoritarian MPs pay at the ballot box

By Mark Pack | Wed 10th March 2010 - 10:03 pm

There’s only one place to be at 8pm on Friday. It’s in Hall 8b at the Birmingham ICC for the latest in the legendary series of Lib Dem Voice fringe meetings*:

Many MPs have a record of repeatedly voting for authoritarian measures in Parliament. But will they suffer for that at the ballot box?

Come and hear how we can make authoritarian votes in Parliament a vote loser for MPs on general election day – and see the new Liberal Democrat Voice website which will help do just that.

Speakers:
Paul Burstow MP (Chief Whip)
Bridget Fox (PPC Islington South and Finsbury)
Mark Pack (Co-editor, Lib Dem Voice)
Alex Wilcock (Former Vice-Chair, Federal Policy Committee)

Chair: Helen Duffett (PPC Romford, Lib Dem Voice Contributing Editor)

Posted in Conference | Tagged alex wilcock, bridget fox, helen duffett and paul burstow | 6 Comments

John Kampfner backs the Lib Dems – your LDV reader

By Stephen Tall | Wed 10th March 2010 - 9:40 pm

As LDV reported early yesterday, former New Statesman editor John Kampfner – author of the fantastic Blair’s Wars – has declared his intention to vote for the Lib Dems at the coming general election, and called on all fellow progressives who might once have voted Labour to join him.

Later in the day, the party issued an email from John to all members and supporters explaining his decision:

Today I launched my pamphlet, Lost labours, with Nick Clegg.

As somebody who has a long involvement with the Labour party, including editing the New Statesman magazine, I have been

…

Posted in News | Tagged holborn and st pancras, jo shaw and john kampfner | 1 Comment

‘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 …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged digital economy bill | 29 Comments

LibLink: James Graham on the Digital Economy Bill

By NewsHound | Wed 10th March 2010 - 6:39 pm

On Comment is Free, James Graham asks:

Have the Liberal Democrats been taken over by the Flat Earth Society?

To find his answer read here.

Posted in News | Tagged digital economy bill and james graham | Leave a comment

General election timetable: 6 May 2010

By Mark Pack | Wed 10th March 2010 - 6:05 pm

Today’s setting of the budget for 24 March means it’s all but certain that the general election will be on 6 May, the date of the scheduled local elections. What that means in terms of deadlines for nominations, applying for postal votes and so on is detailed in this general and local elections 2010 timetable I’ve put together.

Posted in Election law and General Election | 3 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 …

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged equalities and fawcett society | 5 Comments

Power2010 ups its local campaigning

By Mark Pack | Wed 10th March 2010 - 3:45 pm

When I covered the results of the Power2010 consultation on what political reforms it should promote, there was a brief discussion on this site and elsewhere about whether Power2010 would have the campaigning muscle to really make an impact.

Today brings news of how Power2010 is trying to ensure that. Their news release says:

MPs were put on notice today as democracy group Power2010 announced its plans to target those MPs who have consistently opposed cleaning up and reforming our political system.

The Power2010 campaign, which has received almost £1 million from the Rowntree Trusts and now has paid organisers across the

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Posted in News | Tagged power2010 and tony mcnulty | 3 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 …

Posted in Op-eds | 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 …

Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged education and faith schools | 116 Comments

Official: records that would show full extent of Ashcroft donations have been destroyed

By Mark Pack | Wed 10th March 2010 - 9:50 am

Hundreds of local records which would reveal the extent of Lord Ashcroft’s donations to Conservative Party candidates during the crucial last few weeks of the 2005 general election campaign have been destroyed the Electoral Commission has confirmed.

Although the Electoral Commission publishes records of donations made to political parties, donations made specifically to individual candidates during an election campaign are recorded separately.

Those separate records are submitted with candidates’ election expense return forms and stored locally after an election before subsequently being destroyed by the local council. The Electoral Commission also takes in copies of all these returns for its national analysis …

Posted in Election law | Tagged electoral commission and lord ashcroft | 3 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 …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged coalition, hung parliament, nick clegg, triple lock and vince cable | 31 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 10 March 2010

By Iain Roberts | Wed 10th March 2010 - 8:11 am

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Tories in Devon and Cornwall set themselves a target of raising £13,000 in an Obama-style online donate-now campaign, perhaps in an attempt to wean themselves off the Ashcroft millions. How much did they raise?
Stephen Glenn picks up on the news that Lord Paul has said he will voluntarily end his non-dom status from April, whether required to or not, and asks what it means for the Tory “they do it too” defence.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Short term prison sentences don’t work

Posted in Daily View | Tagged conservative party, daily mail, facebook, lord ashcroft and non-doms | Leave a comment

Pro-Lib Dem bias at the BBC shocker

By Mark Pack | Tue 9th March 2010 - 10:51 pm

Of course, I read that caption from earlier today as a mark of praise rather than of exasperation:

Posted in Humour | Tagged bbc and chris huhne | 4 Comments

How good is Ashcroft’s marginal seats operation?

By Mark Pack | Tue 9th March 2010 - 8:24 pm

With the question of how well Lord Ashcroft’s marginal seats campaign for the Conservatives really is doing back in the news, now seems a good time to remind people of this which I wrote in 2007:

How good is Ashcroft?

Well, here’s his own account of his record supporting target seats at the 2005 general election:

The national swing from Labour to Conservatives was 3.2 per cent, yet the swing in the seats which we supported was 3.8 per cent.
Dirty Politics, Dirty Times by Michael Ashcroft, p.296

You read that right: by his own admission, all his expertise and money achieved was a

…

Posted in News | Tagged conservative party and lord ashcroft | 3 Comments

Student visas – Sir Les Patterson’s message of thanks to everyone Down Under

By The Voice | Tue 9th March 2010 - 7:16 pm

Last month Labour home secretary Alan Johnson announced tougher rules for students wishing to gain visas to study in the UK. Lib Dem Voice reader Ian Lawrence has passed us this thank you message from Australia’s Cultural Attache aka Sir Les Patterson …

G’day. Just heard my little possums that ahead of Labour’s March Visa rules, one group of Turkish students has decided not to go to Bournemouth but to spend tens of thousands in Australia instead – makes a change from Indians. The first of many groups I hope

…

Posted in Humour | Leave a comment

Parties select their “star performers” for General Election campaign

By Helen Duffett | Tue 9th March 2010 - 6:22 pm

From the FT:

The Liberal Democrats will centre their campaign on joint appearances by Nick Clegg, leader, and Vince Cable, Treasury spokesman, in an attempt to project a blend of youth and experience.

A clutch of former Lib Dem leaders will be deployed in the regions. Paddy Ashdown is taking a hands-on role directing the Lib Dem’s defence of the south-west heartlands. Sir Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy will be touring seats in Scotland and the north.

The article also lists Chris Huhne (“pugnacious, quick-footed”) and Lynne Featherstone (“sound media performer”) as ones to watch in the Liberal Democrat campaign.

Read the …