Stephen Tall

Vince’s revamped Mansion Tax gets ‘twumbs-up’ from Susan Kramer

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th November 2009 - 3:05 pm

Ever since the Lib Dems shadow chancellor Vince Cable launched his proposed Mansion Tax on an unsuspecting world in September, there has been a suspicion that neighbouring Richmond Lib Dem MP Susan Kramer – who faces a tough battle against trustafarian Tory Zac Goldsmith – was, how shall we put this?, a little less than enamoured of the proposal that those living in houses worth £1m would be taxed more.

In a BBC interview, Susan declined the opportunity to support the tax as originally proposed, while the Hounslow Chronicle summed it up bluntly, and I suspect accurately: …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , and | 21 Comments
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Stephen Tall

Zac Goldsmith’s non-dom tax status: your LDV reader

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th November 2009 - 12:15 pm

Plenty of coverage – both in the national media and on Lib Dem blogs – of the Sunday Times’ revelations that multimillionaire Tory candidate for Richmond Park Zac Goldsmith has ‘non-dom’ status to avoid paying tax in the UK on any of his offshore wealth.

Here’s what Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, said:

He’s not fit to sit in Parliament when he’s claimed non-dom status all his life to keep his offshore hundreds of millions free of income, capital gains or inheritance tax.”

Here’s a round-up of some of the news coverage:

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Posted in News | Tagged | 20 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg announces new Lib Dem tax policies with emphasis on fairness

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th November 2009 - 11:35 am

As I write, Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are setting out the framework of ‘the party’s tax policies, the philosophical basis that underpins them and the contrast between the Liberal Democrats’ policies and those of the other two parties.’

This has been well trailed in the media this morning, with Nick conducting a series of media interviews. Much focus so far on the tweak to the ‘mansion tax’ proposals that Vince mooted at conference to public acclaim, but some disquiet among his own Parliamentary colleagues (many of whom knew nothing about it in advance).

The party has responded to criticisms made of the tax, especially in marginal seats in the south of England, by lifting the threshold at which the annual levy is paid to cover all houses worth more than £2m, and doubling the levy from 0.5% to 1% to ensure even more money is raised by the new tax.

The revenue raised from this and other measures (such as green taxes) will be ploughed back into the party’s spending priorities, including raising the tax threshold for the poorest in society.

Here’s some of the media coverage so far:

BBC Online:

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 5 Comments
Alex Foster

Jo Swinson’s video from the UN

By Alex Foster | Mon 30th November 2009 - 11:15 am

Last Saturday at the Bloggers’ Unconference, our final interview of the day was with Jo Swinson MP – which was particularly kind of her, since she’d flown back from New York the day before, and must have been jet-lagged.

Falling at the end of the day, the discussion we had with Jo was one of the most informal of the day, but was all the better for that. Her enthusiasm for finding new ways of communicating really shone through, and she talked to us about creating the video below. In particular, she was really keen to show us her new Flip video camera, which is extremely portable and can be used by just the one person, without needing fancy lights, an off-camera microphone or an extra person working as camera operator.

Jo used her Flip to make a series of mini videos about the work she was doing at the UN, and quite simply to give some basic impressions of what visiting the UN buildings in New York are like. The buildings are iconic, but not particularly fancy. Working in the main office block is like working in any slightly old fashioned tower block. She also takes time out of her schedule to show us a moving statue rescued from the rubble of Hiroshima – on the face, undamaged and intact; on the rear, scraped raw by the heat and debris of the nuclear explosion.

If you follow LDV’s twitter feed, you may also have seen this message promoting a short audio interview with Helen Duffett asking Jo the questions.

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Posted in Blogger Interviews and Online politics | Tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

Those Lib Dem donation figures in full (Q3, 2009)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th November 2009 - 10:30 am

The Electoral Commission has published the latest donation and borrowing figures for the political parties this week, and its website allow us to gain a picture of the Lib Dems’ fundraising efforts over the years. Below is the full breakdown of cash and non-cash donations received by quarter since 2005, and annually between 2001 and 2004.

Lots of familiar names on the 2009 Q3 list, with five/six-figure gifts coming from the following: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (£231k), Bloomberg Tradebook Europe Limited (£25k), Mr Christopher Nicholson (£21.5k), Professor John Howson (£10k), Mrs Joan Ramsden (£10k), and Philip Young (£10k).

Fewer Parliamentarians than normal contributed this quarter – the most generous I spot-checked were:

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Stephen Tall

Daily View 2×2: 30 November 2009

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th November 2009 - 7:45 am

Welcome to a new week, and the anniversary of the end of the invasion of Iraq … first time round, that is – Operation Desert Storm officially finished in 1995. And happy birthday to David Mamet, Billy Idol, Lorraine Kelly and Gary Lineker and Gael García Bernal. On with the day …

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

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

Richmond Park: Lib Dem Hold (Jonathan Calder)

… some will ask how extraordinary personal wealth can be squared with [his’ talk in an

…

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Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , , , , , and | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

Has Conservative candidate Margot James been breaking the law?

By Mark Pack | Sun 29th November 2009 - 11:10 pm

The BBC reports:

The Electoral Commission will be asked whether a Conservative Vice Chair has broken the law in the marginal constituency she is contesting at the next election.

Margot James is the Conservative candidate in Stourbridge – one of the most marginal seats in the country.

The seat’s current Labour MP, Lynda Waltho, is to ask the Electoral Commission for clarification of the law on “treating”.

At issue is whether Ms James might have committed an offence by hosting a lunch for a group of pensioners at her constituency home and some receptions for the local Muslim community.

I don’t know more about …

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

What’s up on Act?

By The Voice | Sun 29th November 2009 - 5:10 pm

Chris Keating and Sam Lockwood from party HQ have penned this piece about the new LibDem social network, Act:

Launching a social network is a step into the unknown. If you open something up to thousands of Lib Dems then, frankly, the only thing you can expect is surprises. So those of us in Party HQ who are involved with online campaigning and supporter relations have been watching closely to see the kind of use people are making of this new tool.

We’ve been pleased so far with the response – over a thousand people registered in the last week, and a …

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Latest turnout news: bring on the curate’s egg

By Mark Pack | Sun 29th November 2009 - 4:36 pm

A rather mixed tale from the latest election turnout figures I’ve been looking at. Given how I’ve previously blogged about how figures showing turnout on the up usually get overlooked or misquoted by the media, it is only fair to present the less good evidence too.

First, Glasgow North East. Widely reported as having the lowest turnout ever in a Scottish by-election, the 33% turnout figure is certainly not good. The fall on the last general election, at 11%, puts it in the mid-range of Scottish by-elections this Parliament though, with the other changes having been -4, -6, -12 and -20. …

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The Voice

‘Who is Nick Clegg?’ Find out tonight on BBC Radio 4

By The Voice | Sun 29th November 2009 - 3:45 pm

Tune in tonight, at 10.45 pm, to BBC Radio 4 if you want to hear Richard Reeves, director of think-tank Demos, examine the intellectual and philosophical roots of the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, for the Political Roots: Liberals programme. (Repeated on Wednesday 2 December at 8.45 pm).

The BBC website carries an article by Richard, trailing the programme, with some revealing quotes from Nick – for example on the influence of his family in creating a liberal within him:

There was something floating around in my family … I don’t want to make it sound as earnest as it does –

…

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Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #145

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th November 2009 - 10:50 am

Welcome to the 145th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22nd – 28th November 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, partly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget, by the way, you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Mark Pack

Daily View 2×2: 29 November 2009

By Mark Pack | Sun 29th November 2009 - 7:00 am

It’s Sunday. It’s 7am. It’s time for cats, but first blogs and the news.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here’s 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

Apologies for those of you, such as the editors of our rolling news TV channels who believe that a sportsman having a minor car accident should be the top story in the news with specially extended coverage. Apparently there is other stuff going on in the world, involving minor matters such as nuclear weapons and global climate change negotiations. And so…

Iranian lawmaker: Iran could leave nuclear treaty

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Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Lord Roger Roberts

Lord Roberts writes … Our Electoral System – not fit for purpose

By Lord Roger Roberts | Sat 28th November 2009 - 6:45 pm

The need to reform the Electoral System was underlined by a number of us on the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords.The possibility of it being included in the Queen’s Speech was always minimal but we dared to hope..

We are still living in an age with a system that goes back 200 years. We are trying to run a modern democracy on a dinosaur of a system. In 1832, the Great Reform Act just doubled the electorate from half a million to 1 million. In 1867, the electorate was increased to 2.5 million. In 1884, agricultural workers were added and the electoral total went up to 5 million.

In 1918, the great leap forward came when women aged over 30 were given the vote and the total electorate became 21 million. This was further increased to 28 million in 1928 when women and men aged 21 and over could vote. In 1960, 18 year-olds were added and today the total electorate is in the region of 45 million.

We are using a system devised for half a million people for an electorate that is now 45 million. The system goes back to the time when there were only two parties, Whigs and Tories, later Liberals and Conservatives. There were straight fights in every constituency apart from those with unopposed returns.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
The Liberator Collective

New edition of Liberator

By The Liberator Collective | Sat 28th November 2009 - 5:45 pm

Liberator subscribers have already received the latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.336 – November 2009). For those of you not yet subscribing, here’s a summary of the contents:

• The editorial column Commentary predicts that the Liberal Democrats will soon have to clarify whether they believe Britain should pull out of Afghanistan.
• The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin analyses the context of the ‘mansion tax’ debacle.
• Our lead article ‘Happier, healthier… Why equality matters’ is written by Richard Wilkinson (emeritus professor of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham Medical School). He summarises the arguments in his latest book, written with Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better.

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Posted in News | Tagged | 2 Comments
The Voice

If Vince is the Lib Dems’ Santa Claus, what does that make the rest of our MPs?

By The Voice | Sat 28th November 2009 - 4:30 pm

That’s the contention of Helen Rumbelow in Friday’s Times:

… although Vince has been popping up in the news all week — as the Liberal Democrat’s Shadow chancellor has for most weeks of the year — soon his duties will take him to the North Pole. The children’s gain is our loss.

For in our turbulent times, Vince brings comfort. We put our collective faith in Vince. I see it everywhere. In worrisome debates on the credit crunch TV presenters get tetchy with bankers, party leaders and financial gurus. But as soon as the bald grandpa with the twinkly current

…

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Posted in News | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

The LDV Saturday caption competition – the Nick ‘n’ Vince show

By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th November 2009 - 12:10 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader …

nick and vince

Here’s the Lib Dem leadership duumvirate of Nick Clegg and Vince Cable – what do you think they might be saying to each other, or thinking about each other?

The winner of last week’s caption competition, Nick Clegg’s microscope, (according to The Voice’s judging panel of one) – was Alex Foster, with a highly commended placing to Joe Taylor Condliffe.

Posted in Caption Comp | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDVideo … Mandy, Clegg and Coulson

By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th November 2009 - 10:30 am

Welcome to the latest LDVideo instalment, featuring three of the most memorable video clips doing the rounds on the blogosphere.

First up, is a rather catchy little email ditty in honour of Lord Mandelson’s implausible-but-deadly-serious Digital Econmy Bill, courtesy of Dan Bull:

As Dan would wish me to add: If you disapprove of the Bill, sign the petition, or write your own message to Lord Mandelson.

Second up, here’s Nick Clegg’s second question from this week’s PMQs – and it’s a real barnstormer, which has earned Nick deserved acclaim from across the political spectrum:

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Mary Reid

How to blog successfully as a councillor

By Mary Reid | Sat 28th November 2009 - 8:55 am

Welcome to part eight of our “Introduction to blogging” guide for Liberal Democrat bloggers or would-be bloggers. It’s appearing each Saturday between now and Christmas, with all the posts available via this page. The series will then be revised and collated into an e-book, so please do post up your comments as the series progresses. Today it’s the turn of Kingston councillor Mary Reid.

Young woman, blogging by windowYou probably already know that 7% of Liberal Democrat councillors have a website/blog, compared with 2% of Tory …

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Stephen Tall

Even top Tory admits their shadow cabinet “haven’t run a piss-up in a brewery”

By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th November 2009 - 7:30 am

The Public Finance website reports the comments of Stephen Greenhalgh, Tory leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and head of the Conservative councils’ innovation unit, at a debate two days ago:

‘My mates are all in the shadow Cabinet, waiting to get those boxes, being terribly excited. I went to university with them, they haven’t run a piss-up in a brewery,’ he said.

‘They’re going to get a department of state, in one case running the finances of the nation.’

Greenhalgh pointed to other countries, such as France and the US, where members of the government had typically

…

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The Voice

Lib Dem councillor expelled over police assault charges

By The Voice | Sat 28th November 2009 - 1:06 am

The Isle of Wight County Press Online has the story:

CALLS for a Lib Dem councillor to be expelled from the party have been made this week after it was confirmed 37-year-old Adrian Whittaker was alleged to have assaulted a police officer.

The calls were led by Island party vice-president and long-serving executive member Morris Barton. He said: “It is the party’s AGM tomorrow (Friday) and I am sure Cllr Whittaker’s expulsion from the party will be on the agenda. If Cllr Whittaker is subsequently convicted we will be seeking the Isle of Wight Council leader Cllr David Pugh’s support for

…

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Posted in Local government | Tagged | 11 Comments
Mark Pack

Winterval: the Christian media has more questions to answer than local councils

By Mark Pack | Fri 27th November 2009 - 10:19 pm

It’s become a seasonal cliché of British journalism. In the run-up to Christmas there is a flurry of stories about political correctness gone mad as the word Christmas is left to one side by local councils in particular as festive lights get switched on, celebrations run and greetings cards sent out. Following hard on the heels of the flurry of stories is a series of much less noticed debunking of many of them. But why let the facts get in the way of the annual season of such stories?

This year, in fairness to the media (and perhaps partly a reflection of the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

The LDV Friday Five (ish): 27/11/09

By Stephen Tall | Fri 27th November 2009 - 8:55 pm

What could be simpler: five categories, each with five links. And it’s Friday.

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. Lib Dem HQ: read what Nick said, not what the press reported! (67) by Stephen Tall
2. Lib Dem Voice publishes exclusive general election prediction (54) by Mark Pack
3. +++ OFFICIAL: Lib Dems cleared by Electoral Commission over Michael Brown’s £2.4m donation (33) by Stephen Tall
4. Clegg asserts Lib Dems’ ‘hung parliament’ equidistance. (The headline you won’t read in today’s papers). (28) by Stephen Tall
5. Prime Minister removes all Christmas imagery from official Christmas cards (9) by Mark Pack

5 recent Lib Dem tweets

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Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Nick Clegg’s Eid greeting message

By Mark Pack | Fri 27th November 2009 - 7:06 pm

Via the LibDem website, here’s the text of Nick Clegg’s Eid message:

Eid Al-Adha is preceded by the day of `Arafah and is one of the important days of Hajj. Eid Al-Adha is a joyous time and reminds us of all of the importance of hard work, togetherness and family.

I send my warmest wishes at this very special time.

Posted in News | Tagged | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Probably the most inappropriate Christmas card ever sent …

By Stephen Tall | Fri 27th November 2009 - 3:25 pm

The year is 1938, and you’re looking for a suitably seasonal picture for the front of your Christmas cards. A festive image which will convey seasonal goodwill to all humanity.

What could better symbolise those eternal truths than an international peace treaty signed by the two major European powers which had once been at war? And so it came to pass that this Christmas card was produced and exchanged some seven decades ago:

Chamberlain & Hitler

And here’s what it said inside:

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Posted in Europe / International | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Big increase in the number of people who say they can name their MP

By Mark Pack | Fri 27th November 2009 - 12:05 pm

A new survey out from the British Computer Society / Chartered Institute for IT says that “Only 53% of Britons can name their MP”.

Whilst it’s not a number to make democrats cheer to the rafters, the use of “only” is rather misleading as this figure is in fact a substantial increase on previous research. For example, an Electoral Commission / Hansard Society report in 2004 found that 42% could name their MP. Other previous research has also found figures under 50%.

If anything, the 53% finding is cautious (because of issues around details of research and margins of …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

How will ACT and Facebook sit together?

By Mark Pack | Fri 27th November 2009 - 11:20 am

As we covered earlier this week, the Liberal Democrats now have a new social network – ACT. Unsurprisingly one of the most common comments made since its launch has been, “how does this fit with Facebook?”. The party’s previous decision to have a heavy emphasis on using Facebook, both for its centrally inspired social networking activities and also as the tool recommended and supported for widespread use at the local level, was one largely made by myself when working there, so it’s a question that interests me too.

I’m glad to say that the move to set up ACT …

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Helen Duffett

Jonathan Fryer selected for Lib Dems in Poplar and Limehouse

By Helen Duffett | Fri 27th November 2009 - 10:50 am

Jonathan Fryer has been selected as PPC for the new seat of Poplar and Limehouse.

Jonathan is an experienced candidate, having fought three General Elections (Chelsea 1983, Orpington 1987 and Leyton 1992) as well as several European Parliamentary elections. He was number 2 in the Liberal Democrat London list this year, but narrowly missed being elected.

Jonathan writes about Poplar and Limehouse on his blog:

It’s an extraodinary seat, illustrating both the huge diversity of London and also the yawning gap between rich and poor.

It also looks like being a right royal battleground at the forthcoming general election, not only

…

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Posted in Selection news | Tagged , , and | 5 Comments
Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 27 November 2009

By Helen Duffett | Fri 27th November 2009 - 10:26 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:

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

Hacker Gary McKinnon to appeal after extradition blow
The BBC reports that Gary McKinnon’s lawyers are to make a “last-ditch” attempt to prevent his extradition to the US. They are issuing judicial review proceedings next week after Home Secretary alan Johnson decided not to block his extradition on medical grounds.

Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon, 43, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is accused of breaking into US military computers. He says he was seeking UFO evidence.

Now of Wood Green, London, he faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

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Posted in Daily View | Tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Huhne slams “shameful” Johnson over McKinnon extradition: “stop being an American poodle and start being a British bulldog”

By Stephen Tall | Fri 27th November 2009 - 10:15 am

Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne has slammed the decision of Labour’s Alan Johnson to refuse to block the extradition of Gary McKinnon – the self-confessed computer hacker with Asperger’s – to the US on medical grounds.

It is appalling that this Government places a higher value on a deeply unfair extradition agreement than it does on the welfare of a British citizen. Alan Johnson has shamefully turned down the opportunity to demonstrate his faith in British justice and save a vulnerable man from a lifetime in prison or worse.

“The Home Secretary must now step in and ensure that

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Liberal Democrat victory in St Austell Bay by-election

By Helen Duffett | Fri 27th November 2009 - 12:26 am

John Oxenham after the St Austell Bay by-election countLib Dems in St Austell and Newquay are celebrating another win: John Oxenham has been elected Liberal Democrat councillor for St Austell Bay in the first ever Cornwall Council by-election.

This comes two weeks after their victory in the Newquay South by-election.

The result this time – with an estimated swing of 13% from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats:

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged , , and | 9 Comments
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