Lib Dem Bloggers Christmas stocking fillers … Part III

If you could choose up to three items for your Christmas stocking, what would they be? That was the question LDV posed to a group of Lib Dem bloggers. All this week we’re revealing what they told us, with all their choices added to the Amazon carousel widget featured on our home-page, referral fees from which will help support Lib Dem Voice: so get clicking and ordering. You can read Part I here and Part II here. In the final part, three more bloggers – Mark Thompson, Mark Valladares, Linda Jack and, erm, me – give …

Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Advert

Warning: do not read this photography post if you are prone to dizziness

ITN film crew is stopped by police whilst filming in central London’s financial district, the City. So much, so usual as far as “police stop innocent, legitimate use of cameras” stories go.

But in a touch of genius, it turns out that the ITN crew was filming a story … about someone who had three cars and a van of anti-terrorism police descend on him after taking photos of a church near a bank. I hope this circularity isn’t making you dizzy.

Oh, and he was wearing an “I’m a photographer not a terrorist” badge, just to add to the fun.

Posted in News | Tagged , and | 9 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 11 December 2009

Welcome to December 11th – only 20 days to go until the end of the year. Four years ago today the top story was the fire at the Buncefield oil depot which injured 43 people and was said to have been the biggest fire of its kind in peacetime Europe.

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:

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

Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , , , , , and | Leave a comment

Liberal Democrats hold Kingsbrook, Bedford Borough Council

Newly elected Councillor Andy Gerard
Andy Gerard has been elected the new Councillor for Kingsbrook ward in Bedford. (Pictured above with Councillor Anita Gerard, Bedford Mayor Dave Hodgson and PPC for Bedford and Kempston, Henry Vann.)

The results in full:

Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged , , , , , and | 7 Comments

Lib Dem Bloggers Christmas stocking fillers … Part II

If you could choose up to three items for your Christmas stocking, what would they be? That was the question LDV posed to a group of Lib Dem bloggers. All this week we’re revealing what they told us, with all their choices added to the Amazon carousel widget featured on our home-page, referral fees from which will help support Lib Dem Voice: so get clicking and ordering. You can read Part I here. In part two, four more bloggers – Jonathan Calder, James Graham, Alix Mortimer and Paul Walter – give us the low-down on their Xmas faves.

Jonathan

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Advert

Opinion: But is it really time for a change?

Party strategists have bet heavily on their assessment that voters think it is time for a change.

Perhaps simplistically, they hold to the notion that British political fortunes are governed by a pendulum. You often hear them criticise what they term the blue/red red/blue swings, but privately they accept it as a fundamental ‘law’ of political physics and have allowed themselves to be governed by this supposed law these last two years.

2010 will be one of those ‘Time for a Change’ elections, they have deduced.

From that deduction they moved on to suggest that the Conservatives (to whom in their estimate the pendulum has swung) have won the argument among the British public that they, the Conservatives, are the party of change.

The next step in the analysis was to presume that attacks on Conservatives or Conservative policies would thus position the Liberal Democrats as against change and therefore implicitly pro the status quo and, deep down in voter consciousness, pro-Labour.

Among leading Liberal Democrat MPs this conclusion may have been conveniently close to their political preferences, for others – and I think we may include Cable in this – it makes for an agonising and uncomfortable position.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 21 Comments

Chamali Fernando shortlisted by Cambridge Conservatives

Former Lib Dem London Mayoral selection candidate Chamali Fernando, who defected to the Conservatives in July, will take part in an Open Primary selection in Cambridge this Saturday, 12 December.

At the General Election the winning candidate will face whoever succeeds the Liberal Democrat MP David Howarth, who is standing down to concentrate on his career as an academic. The Liberal Democrats’ selection is also currently underway.

Billed as “more than just a Cameron cutie!” you can read Chamali’s pitch on Cambridge Conservatives’ website, as well as the biographies of the other five shortlistees.

12 December UPDATE: Nick …

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 14 Comments

Vince Double-Bill: PBR video response and LibLink Times article

Here’s the video response Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable recorded yesterday in response to Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report yesterday. (It is him, promise: you can make out the outline of his hat in the evening gloom – it might be worth filming Vince nearer a street-lamp next time.)

Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment

Daily View 2×2: 10 December 2009

Good morning and welcome to Daily View. 10th December is the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death and the first awards of the Nobel Prize in 1901. Today we also sing happy birthday to Emily Dickinson and Ada Lovelace.

The numerical elements of this post break down a little, as you’ll see.

Must-Read Blog Posts

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

OnePlace to rule them all

As we reported yesterday, the Audit Commission launched One Place, a website listing government inspection results of all local authorities. And reviews of their own councils have been exercising some Lib Dem bloggers since the site came back up yesterday afternoon:

Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and | Leave a comment

Local blogger turns local election candidate in Barnet

Excellent news from Barnet, where Roger Tichborne – who has run an excellent blog about local issues and the council – has decided to join the Liberal Democrats and will be standing in Mill Hill.

The local newspaper reports:

Roger Tichborne, who writes the BarnetEye blog as RogT, is one of the three candidates named to fight the Mill Hill ward seats, along with standing councillor Jeremy Davies and businesswoman and Times Series blogger Kim Checchetto.

Mr Tichborne was a member of the Labour party for more than 20 years, but said recent policy decisions by the government had caused him to change

…

Posted in News | Tagged and | 5 Comments

Government U-turn leaves thrifty families better off

The Government has today made a U-turn over plans that could have left low-income families £780 a year worse off, after proposed changes to the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) were scrapped in today’s Pre-Budget Report. 

Quietly sneaked into the last budget was a proposal to claw back £780 per year from some of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable families. At present, households receiving Local Housing Allowance (LHA) are able to keep up to £15 a week if they choose a home with a rent below the maximum payment for their area.  Alistair Darling’s plan to prevent this excess payment being kept by the claimant would have left some of those already struggling to get by on the lowest incomes losing up to 20% of their income. The Government’s own figures calculated that around 300,000 of the poorest households would have been affected.

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | Leave a comment

Lord Pearson as a Tory party whip and Griffin v. Maloney

UKIP have got themselves into a right pickle recently, poor things! It emerged last week that their new leader Lord Pearson a number of months ago made a somewhat controversial offer to the Conservative party. Pearson allegedly (The Times, 30 November, UKIP’s planned deal with Tories causes outrage in anti-Europe party) approached Lord Strathclyde, the leader of the Tories in the House of Lords, with an offer to disband the party and withdraw all UKIP candidates if the Tories agreed to hold a referendum on EU membership. Lord Strathclyde himself has confirmed that the meeting with Pearson, who is in fact a former Tory, took place.

Although Nigel Farage has since changed the story slightly saying that the offer only included withdrawing all candidates, this is still a pretty hefty political gamble.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 15 Comments

Vince on the PBR: “A good budget for bingo and boilers but not much else.”

Here’s what Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable had to say in response to Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report statement:

What we needed was a national economic plan but what we got was a weak party manifesto. There has never been a deficit like this and we need a sensible and coherent plan for dealing with it.

“The Chancellor has ducked the hard choices on spending and cuts. Instead of facing up to reality he has chosen to move the goal posts by relying on fanciful growth forecasts. He could have used this Budget to make the tax system fairer. But

…

Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , and | 21 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 9 December 2009

A late Daily View today as I try to get out all my Christmas cards (37,000 of the blighters).

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:

A notable shortage of female Lib Dem bloggers posting yesterday – and the blogosphere is poorer for it.

2 Stories

What are the odds?

Posted in Daily View | Leave a comment

What makes a ‘good’ MP?

Well, there has been plenty in the news recently about what makes a ‘bad’ MP so we at Yoosk thought that it might be a good idea to focus for a while on the qualities of a ‘good’ MP. End the year on a positive note.

And that is why we started our ‘Britain’s Best MP’ campaign two weeks ago. We want to find out who the good MPs are and what differentiates them from the rest. We asked our users at Yoosk to nominate their candidates and these are the people they put forward:

Gisela Stuart (Lab)
Lynne …

Posted in The Independent View | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 9 Comments

Book review: British Electoral Facts

For decades, FWS Craig was the doyen of British electoral statistics. His reference works were widely used and often contained facts and figures that he had created from original sources. Yet today he is almost completely unknown.

The reason? He died just before the internet took off. His hard work was locked away in reference volumes either sat on the shelves in libraries beyond the reach of an internet connection or available to purchase – at eye-wateringly expensive prices.

Posted in Books | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

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 | Leave a comment

OnePlace to rate them – shame it’s down

The Government’s new OnePlace site, where you can find out all about the performance of your local authority and its partners, had gone down within minutes of being plugged on Radio 4’s Today programme and, if the Conservatives win the next election, may be down permanently.

The rating system marks a significant break with the previous star ratings awarded to local authorities.

One outcome is that old and new ratings can’t be compared – they measure different things about different organisations. The new assessments are largely in the form of a narrative. Instead of long tables …

Posted in Local government and News | 3 Comments

Boris Johnson gets a touch of the Gordon Brown

The Guardian, today:

Boris Johnson today signed City Hall up to the 10:10 climate change campaign.

Mayor’s Question Time, two months ago:

I supported the 10:10 campaign when it was launched in September, and have signed up City Hall to the initiative.

Re-announcing something you’ve already announced previously? How very Gordon Brown.

Mind you, it’s often been rumoured that Boris Johnson has his eyes on 10 Downing Street, so perhaps he’s just putting in some practice 🙂

Posted in London | Tagged and | Leave a comment

Peter Tyzack selected for Lib Dems in Filton and Bradley Stoke

South Gloucestershire councillor Peter Tyzack has been selected as the Liberal Democrats’ Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the new constituency of Filton and Bradley Stoke.

From the South Gloucestershire Gazette:

At the next General Election, to be held in the spring, the existing Northavon constituency is to be divided into two new constituencies, Filton and Bradley Stoke, and Thornbury and Yate.

Cllr Tyzack said: “I am honoured to have been chosen by the party to represent the people in this new constituency for the next General Election. I would like to say thank you for the support that I have

…

Posted in Selection news | Tagged , , , and | 3 Comments

Book review: Total Politics Guide to the 2010 General Election

One of the first publications from Iain Dale’s new Biteback publishing imprint dedicated to political books, The Total Politics Guide to the 2010 General Election (Eds, Greg Callus and Iain Dale) weighs in at just under 300 pages divided into two (unequal) sections: the first is a series of 14 articles examining different aspects of the coming election; the second non-half comprises over 200 pages of regional and constuency profiles. As you might guess, this is a for-geeks-only book. But, then, if you’re reading this review that label probably applies.

Posted in Books and General Election | Tagged , , , and | 4 Comments

Winston Churchill: your Lib Dem Voice reader

Unsuspecting reader, you may be thinking that Winston Churchill was a fine Prime Minster, a great wartime leader, a patriotic Englishman and an inspiration to millions of Britons and generations of tabloid newspaper editors.

You would, of course, be quite wrong.

For if we apply the standards of tabloid newspaper editors to Winston Churchill, you find that the shocking truth is:

Churchill disgracefully insulted wartime heroes (by not dotting the letter i properly – just as The Sun criticised Gordon Brown for).

Churchill outrageously mocked our history (by removing any trace of Christianity or winter from the cover of his Christmas cards).

And, …

Posted in News | Tagged | 5 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 8 December 2009

A year ago today, Kirsty Williams was elected Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats – the first female leader of a political party in Wales.

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:

  • Our fishy democracy
  • Duncan Stott’s worked out that in roughly 87% of seats, more people didn’t vote than voted for their MP. He proposes a visual way to remind “politicians to engage more with their constituents, and also the public to engage with politics.”

  • No trifling matter
  • Haringey Councillor Richard Wilson on patronising name-calling in the council chamber.

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

A long walk to victory
The Guardian’s Dave Hill on an issue which affects not only London pedestrians, but those living in any urban area:

Here are some useful facts. There are 2,244 signalled junctions in Greater London that include pedestrian crossing facilities, and 2,477 “stand alone” pedestrian crossings that have lights. Eleven percent of all signalled crossings lack either bleeping noises or tactile aids, which make them less safe for blind or partially sighted people. At the last count around 400 did not comply with the Department for Transport’s most recent design standards, which TfL adopts, though work on correcting this seems to have accelerated in recent months.

These stats have been unearthed thanks largely to the persistence of London Assembly Liberal Democrat Caroline Pidgeon, who also chairs the assembly’s transport committee. She has remorselessly pursued the issue of road-crossing safety with TfL and Boris Johnson, and I’m grateful to one of her press office colleagues for bringing the fruits of her labours to my attention so comprehensively.

Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , , , , and | Leave a comment

Boundary Committee recommends new unitary authorities

The Boundary Committee for England has just published its report into local government arrangements in Devon (including the Lib Dem minority control council of Exeter), Norfolk and Suffolk.

It says:

In Devon, the Committee has put forward a single unitary council for the current Devon county area.

In Norfolk, the Committee has put forward a single unitary council for the whole of Norfolk.

In Suffolk, the Committee has made two proposals: a unitary county of Suffolk (the Committee’s preferred alternative proposal for Suffolk); and a two-unitary pattern comprising an Ipswich & Felixstowe authority and a Rural Suffolk authority.

Posted in Election law and Local government | Tagged , , and | 5 Comments

Millennium’s Credit Crunch Diary: October and November… Worst! Recession! Ever!

This week sees the Government reveal its Pre-Budget Report, usually a review of spending in advance of the budget where the Chancellor says how he’ll be paying for it all though, traditionally, the run-up to a general election is the time for the Chancellor to play Santa, showering presents on favoured voters in key marginals, and with all the indications now pointing to a March General election, chances are we’ll never quite get to Hard Labour facing the BILL.

This year, of course, there is considerably less room for LARGESS. So let’s start with a look at where we’re …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 4 Comments

Opinion: Climate change – a final chance to act

Catherine Bearder MEP at the Wave climate march

So it has finally arrived, the first day of the Copenhagen Climate Change summit. We have been led to believe that it’s going to fail, then it’s going to succeed and then it will fail again, it’s been quite a rollercoaster. This has really tested the participating countries’ resolve to tackle this issue. This is made tougher because of the economic crisis which has caused hardships for so many people and so it’s understandable that the economy …

Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | Leave a comment

Quangos Quake but Tories Trim

One of the least surprising pieces of news last week was that Caroline Spelman had abandoned the Tory Party’s pledge to abolish Regional Development Agencies: these will now ‘evolve’ into Local Enterprise Partnerships.

Yet only a few short weeks ago, Lord Hanningfield was telling people that the Tories would ditch RDAs by Order in Council (legally impossible but heh – we’ll be a new government, so why worry?).

To be fair, Spelman does little to conceal the u-turn: no pretence here that RDAs will be abolished to be replaced by Something Totally Different but Much Better. No: it’s straightforward evolution.

This is what

…

Posted in Local government and Op-eds | 2 Comments

NHS IT – has Labour wasted £12 billion?

The NHS is part way through one of the world’s biggest IT projects, a colossal £6.2bn programme which won’t be completed until the end of the decade.

So said Business IT website Silicon.com back in January 2006 – nearly four years ago when it reviewed the nine projects making up the Government’s NHS IT revolution, from Choose and Book to the NHS Spine.

As the end of the decade approaches, not only are the NHS IT projects far from completion, but the cost has more than doubled to over £12 billion.

We now hear that the project is to be scaled back, …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 4 Comments

Rwandans set to get vote in UK elections (updated)

Back last year I asked the question “Rwandans set to vote in UK elections?” The answer has now arrived and it is ‘yes’.

As I blogged last November:

One of the quirks of Britain’s imperial past is that Commonwealth citizens living here are able to vote, including in Parliamentary elections. This includes Mozambique residents who are able to vote because, although Mozambique was not part of the British empire, it was admitted to the Commonwealth in 1995 for political reasons.

As with Mozambique previously, Rwanda has now joined the Commonwealth despite not having been part of the British empire. In Rwanda’s …

Posted in Election law | Tagged | 3 Comments

Times: Tories “give up” on Cheadle with Lib Dems digging in for victory

Mark Hunter, Lib Dem MP for the  Cheshire seat of Cheadle since 2005, could be forgiven for smiling like his county’s proverbial cat this morning.

Today’s Times reports that the Tories are scaling back their expectations of election victory in the light of a slew of polls showing the party’s support dipping:

The Conservatives are digging in for a six-week election campaign and are quietly withdrawing resources from some “landslide” seats to maximise David Cameron’s chances of winning a workable majority.

The well-sourced article highlights just one example of a constituency where the Tories are giving up the fight:

Cheadle, currently held by

…

Posted in General Election and News | Tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Jack Meredith
    @Matt (Bristol( WOW, you literally did call it!...
  • PM
    @ Mick, We agree that the triple lock should be maintained . We disagree that the burden should fall mainly on the younger generation. This is what your " w...
  • David Allen
    Selfish comment: I'm 76, healthy for now, live in a small village, couldn't easily cope without a car. One day, I might become unable to drive. Then, despite ...
  • Peter Davies
    Driverless cars are not just a replacement for Black Cabs which make up a small proportion of the hire market. They will replace minicabs first but expect them ...
  • Peter Davies
    "A 2025 study in Traffic Injury Prevention found Waymo’s San Francisco any-injury crash rate was 0.88 per million miles against a human benchmark of 8.02, an ...