Liberal Democrat Voice

The weirdest criticism of Gordon Brown, ever – FACT

By Mark Pack | Tue 10th November 2009 - 8:55 am

Weirdness is in the eye of the beholder of course. But I think I’m on safe ground on this one.

Cast your mind over the many things Gordon Brown has and hasn’t done. Plenty to criticise. Plenty of criticisms made.

But what did The Sun wheel out yesterday? In amongst the story about his letter-with-spelling-mistakes to a dead soldier’s mother was this:

He also wrote the letter “i” incorrectly 18 times – mostly by leaving the dots off them.

Yes, verily – The Sun decided to criticise Gordon Brown for not dotting all his i’s. Let’s hope he crosses his t’s or we are all …

Posted in News | Tagged gordon brown and the sun | 5 Comments

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Daily View 2×2: 10 November 2009

By Richard Huzzey | Tue 10th November 2009 - 5:09 am

2 Big Stories

Every phone call, email and internet click stored by ‘state spying’ databases – The Telegraph

Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower – The Guardian

2 Must-read Posts

It’s a think tank reaction special…

Jonathan Calder compared the Taxpayer’s Alliance to a dead duck:

They are obviously very bright over at the TaxPayers’ Alliance. Because they are absolutely right. Animal rescue is not the central job of the fire service.

James Schneider praised a Tory plan for social housing, and noted its origin in a more radical scheme:

Tim Leunig’s original paper for Policy Exchange goes a

…

Posted in Daily View | 2 Comments

Should Apple sell copies of Mein Kampf?

By Mark Pack | Mon 9th November 2009 - 7:32 pm

The Jerusalem Post is one of several with the story:

Apple Inc. on Friday approved for sale a Spanish-language eBook version of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, complete with a swastika application icon.

A day later, presumably due to the blogosphere uproar, the $1.99 offering disappeared from the Apple’s Application Store…

9to5Mac, a Apple Intelligence site, questioned Apple Inc.’s policy, saying, “We know the App Store won’t sell overt erotica – even eBooks carrying the ancient love manual, the Kama Sutra, have been banned from the store – so we’re really, really keen to know how come the company approved a Spanish App containing Adolf Hitler’s Mein

…

Posted in News | Tagged apple and microsoft | 21 Comments

Mystery emailer targets Cllr Jo Crotty

By Mark Pack | Mon 9th November 2009 - 7:24 pm

The Warrington Guardian reports:

AN e-mail has been sent to every councillor in the town claiming that one of them is trying to recruit unpaid workers – ignoring national minimum wage guidelines.

Clr Jo Crotty is the target of the e-mail claiming that the Warrington South Lib Dem MP hopeful has been advertising for an intern to work for her without pay.

But the Bewsey and Whitecross member says that the mystery e-mailer’s allegations are incorrect as not only does she not have any interns working for her but it is also within legal guidelines to take on interns.

She said: “The party

…

Posted in News | Tagged jo crotty | 3 Comments

How Mike Hancock saved George Osborne

By Mark Pack | Mon 9th November 2009 - 7:22 pm

The FT has the story:

Now here is a heart-warming tale of goodwill and political selflessness to start this cold winter day, a story of how a Lib Dem turned away an extraordinary piece of Tory intelligence and helped scupper Gordon Brown’s election plans.

Who is the man of honour in this a place of skulduggery and low politics? Arise Mike Hancock, the maverick Lib Dem MP for Portsmouth South.

Posted in News | Tagged george osborne and mike hancock | 1 Comment

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Alan Johnson rejects Evan Harris’ claim that he misled MPs over Nutt

By Helen Duffett | Mon 9th November 2009 - 5:47 pm

Alan Johnson has rejected Evan Harris’s claim that he misled MPs in his statement over the sacking of government drugs adviser Professor David Nutt.

From the Guardian:

Johnson conceded that the Home Office and secretariat for the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs had been warned in advance about a paper published by Nutt in an academic journal in January and a presentation he later gave at King’s College London. Johnson cited the paper and the speech when explaining his decision to sack Nutt as chairman of the advisory council. Harris said Johnson was wrong to suggest Nutt

…

Posted in News | Tagged alan johnson, david nutt and evan harris | 8 Comments

Academics say airbrushed images do harm girls and boys

By Helen Duffett | Mon 9th November 2009 - 2:48 pm

A group of 44 academics is lobbying the Advertising Standards Authority to change the rules on ads featuring airbrushed models, following the publication of a research paper which says that such ads encourage eating disorders and self-harm.

The paper was organised by the Liberal Democrats as part of their Real Women campaign, which calls for a ban on airbrushed advertising images aimed at children, and for ads aimed at adults to carry a disclaimer.

Posted in News | Tagged ASA, emma halliwell, helga dittmar, Jo Swinson and real women | 12 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #142

By Stephen Tall | Mon 9th November 2009 - 1:55 pm

Welcome to the 142nd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (1st – 7th 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:

Posted in Best of the blogs | 2 Comments

Opinion: No to All-Men Shortlists‏

By Jo Swinson MP | Mon 9th November 2009 - 11:25 am

At our 2001 party conference I donned a shocking pink t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “I am not a token woman” and spoke in opposition to all-women shortlists.

Eight years on, I am still opposed to the use of single gender shortlists, but I wonder if I was then taking aim at the wrong target.

Research done by the party in advance of Nick Clegg’s recent appearance before the Speaker’s Conference showed, as I argued back in 2001, no evidence that our party discriminates against women in candidate selections.

Far from it: analysis of 237 selections shows that two thirds of the time where a woman is on the shortlist, a woman is selected.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged all-women shortlists, campaign for gender balance, equalities and Jo Swinson | 57 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 9 November 2009

By Stephen Tall | Mon 9th November 2009 - 10:30 am

2 Big Stories

Brown apologises for mis-spellings in condolence letter

Here’s a deeply uncomfortable story to start the week:

Downing Street has defended the way the prime minister writes to bereaved families after a dead soldier’s mother said Gordon Brown misspelled his name. Guardsman Jamie Janes, 20, from Brighton, East Sussex, was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan in October.

The Sun newspaper said his mother Jacqui had described Gordon Brown’s letter as a “hastily scrawled insult”. Mr Brown has personally contacted Mrs Janes to assure her he did not mean any offence. In a statement, Number 10 said the prime minister “would never knowingly misspell anyone’s name”. Mr Brown has previously admitted problems with his eyesight after a childhood rugby injury.

Sky News has produced an image from the letter for you to judge for yourselves. On the one hand, then, we have a grieving mother upset at what she sees as an insult; on the other, we have a partially sighted Prime Minister with famously bad handwriting. It’s hard not to feel sympathy on boths sides. But I can’t help wondering how many parents will look at the letter, and realise the wording is identical to the one they received from the Prime Minister? Such are the risks you run with the personal touch.

20 years ago today

Posted in Daily View | 4 Comments

Glenrothes by-election marked register set to rise from the dead

By Mark Pack | Mon 9th November 2009 - 10:20 am

A week today, starting at 10am on Monday 16th November, an act of political record keeping resurrection will commence as the lost marked register from the Glenrothes Westminster Parliamentary by-election is recreated.

The lost of the Glenrothes marked register caused more controversy than such loses usually do both because it happened at a Parliamentary by-election and because the result in that election was, to many people, a surprise.

The Goverment’s reaction to the loss of marked registers after the 2005 general election was underwhelming. As I described it in February:

In other words : ‘we don’t know on what dates records were

…

Posted in Election law and News | Tagged andrew reeves, glenrothes by-election and marked registers | Leave a comment

Lib Dem peer admits exploiting expenses loophole

By The Voice | Sun 8th November 2009 - 3:50 pm

From The Sunday Times:

A HEREDITARY peer whose ancestor gave his name to the Falkland Islands has admitted “exploiting a loophole” in the rules to claim more than £140,000 in expenses from the House of Lords. Lord Falkland, the 15th viscount, designated a converted oast house in Kent as his main residence so he could collect allowances. Yet neither he nor his wife owns or rents the property. It actually belongs to his wife’s aunt, who also pays the utility and telephone bills. By saying his main residence was outside London, he was able to claim £174 a night

…

Posted in News | 36 Comments

Sopel on Sunday: Afghanistan

By Mark Pack | Sun 8th November 2009 - 3:49 pm

Today’s round-up from Jon Sopel of the morning political shows is now up on the BBC website, complete with clips. You can read and watch here. It’s mainly about Afghanistan, but MPs’ expenses also feature.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

LDV readers say: no to all-women short-lists and quotas, yes to better training and support

By Stephen Tall | Sun 8th November 2009 - 1:45 pm

Three weeks ago, LDV posed the following question – How should the Lib Dems increase their number of female MPs? – in the wake of Nick Clegg’s frank admission to the Speaker’s Conference that the Lib Dem Parliamentary Party is “woefully unrepresentative of modern Britain”.

Here’s what you told us:

8% (23 votes) – All women shortlists and/or quotas in ALL seats
7% (22) – All women shortlists and/or quotas in winnable and held seats
44% (133) – No short-lists and/or quotas, but invest in getting more, better-trained and supported candidates
14% (42) – No short-lists and/or

…

Posted in Voice polls | Tagged all-women shortlists and equalities | 30 Comments

And in LDV parish news …

By Stephen Tall | Sun 8th November 2009 - 1:20 pm

The Lib Dem Voice editorial colective is descending upon the Big Smoke today to plan ahead how to improve the site – so advance apologies for the slack blogging this afternoon. We will, of course, all be online and contactable via Twitter @libdemvoice if anyone has suggestions for items to add to our already over-long agenda.

In our survey following this year’s party conference, we asked LDV-reading party members for their views on our content – what you appreciate, what you don’t, and suggestions for improvements. Here are the features you told us you enjoy most, in descending order:

Opinion articles

…

Posted in Site news | Tagged alix mortimer | Leave a comment

Lest we forget

By Mark Pack | Sun 8th November 2009 - 10:31 am

What do we forget when we remember
What are the stories left untold
What do we think each November
As we march down that glory road
As we march down that gory road

One hundred million
Don’t come home from war
Another eight hundred million
Who lived to bear its scar
Who lived to bear its scar

Lest we forget
What they were dying for
Lest we forget
What they were killing for
Lest we forget
What the hell it was for

What do we forget when we remember…

Owen Griffiths

The British Legion’s Poppy Appeal is here.

Posted in News | 1 Comment

Daily View 2×2: 8 November 2009

By Mark Pack | Sun 8th November 2009 - 7:00 am

It’s Sunday. It’s 7am. It’s time to find out how peanut butter is made. But first, the news.

2 Big Stories

Gordon Brown floats idea of tax on financial transactions

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s idea of a financial transactions tax has received a lukewarm response from G20 countries.

The proposal, which took delegates by surprise at the meeting in St Andrew’s overshadowed other items on the agenda.

The US said it would “not support” a transaction tax and Canada added it was “not an idea we would look at”.

The Conservatives said that Downing Street had previously “poured cold water on this proposal” and that the Treasury had called it “unworkable”.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said the leaders had agreed the International Monetary Fund should now consider the possibility of introducing an international transactions tax, which would be used to create a fund for bank bailouts. (BBC)

Posted in Daily View | Tagged alistair darling, banking, germany, glasgow north east and gordon brown | Leave a comment

MPs expenses: the details that you’ve probably missed

By Mark Pack | Sat 7th November 2009 - 3:57 pm

The headline recommendations from Sir Christopher Kelley’s review of MPs’ expenses have been widely covered. Despite this coverage, there is a series of detailed proposals which have been largely overlooked – including one which may yet put the leaders of political parties on the spot over cases involving their own MPs which they thought they had dealt with.

You can read the full report here, but these are the details I have in mind:

Travel: “MPs should expect to be treated in the same way as their constituents in this regard, unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary. That …

Posted in Election law and Parliament | Tagged christopher kelly, jacqui lait, malcolm rifkind and mps expenses | 6 Comments

How to handle comments

By Paul Walter | Sat 7th November 2009 - 8:50 am

Welcome to part five 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 Paul Walter, who looks at the question of how to handle comments which appear on your blog.

There are a number of approaches on handling comments. It’s a question of finding a method which you are comfortable with.

It’s probably best, at …

Posted in Blogging guide | Tagged blogging and featured | 4 Comments

The LDV Friday Five (ish): 6/11/09

By Stephen Tall | Fri 6th November 2009 - 6:55 pm

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

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. David Nutt: why was he sacked? (49) by Mark Pack
2. Introducing the all-new LibDems.org.uk website (37) by David Loxton
3. Watford’s liberal Lib Dem Mayor – what Iain Dale didn’t report (36) by Stephen Tall
4. “No one in Norfolk knows how to use Google” (13) by Mark Pack
5. Your Caroline Righton reader (1) by Mark Pack

5 recent Lib Dem tweets

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

John Pugh MP writes … Twitter ye Not – why Frankie Howerd was right

By John Pugh | Fri 6th November 2009 - 11:25 am

I’m deeply wounded to hear that a website referred to me as an analogue MP after I attacked the over-use of BlackBerries and iPhones during the House of Commons proceedings.

Wounded – because I could be thought a techno-geek. I build my own PCs, maintain and set up my office networks, buy books on Linux, and hold endless, sad conversations about interoperability. I am not a technophobe.

I just notice that (1) sometimes people pay more attention to the virtual world in their hand than the real world around them; (2) sometimes it’s rude to do …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged twitter | 15 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 6 November 2009

By Iain Roberts | Fri 6th November 2009 - 7:08 am

2 Big Stories

Guy Fawkes Killjoys

The Guy Fawkes celebrations started yesterday and, as we look forward to the next round of bonfire and firework celebrations tonight and tomorrow, it wouldn’t really be the bonfire season without some daft health and safety stories in the press.

A nice example appears in the Daily Express, which rails against “health and safety killjoys” who

have forced a rugby club’s Guy Fawkes revellers to watch a film of a bonfire on television rather than enjoy the real thing.

Posted in Daily View | 1 Comment

Tories called on to disown councillor for pro-apartheid article

By Mark Pack | Thu 5th November 2009 - 11:08 pm

This in from Dover & Deal Liberal Democrats:

A Conservative Councillor from Dover who earlier this year was condemned for publishing racist jokes on the internet has re-published an article suggesting Apartheid in South Africa should have been extended.

Councillor Roger Walkden copied onto the DoverForum website a story supposedly written by a Nigerian saying that prosperity evident in South Africa today is attributable to “the white man” and asks “why were the Nelson Mandelas of this world complaining?”

Liberal Democrats have called on the Conservative Party to expel Councillor Walkden.

Antony Hook, Chair of Dover & Deal Liberal Democrats, said,

Posted in News | Tagged antony hook, conservative party and roger walkden | 8 Comments

Imagine having a well-paid job for life

By Mark Pack | Thu 5th November 2009 - 9:07 pm

So starts Nick Clegg’s comments in the latest Channel 4 Political Slot film from the party, featuring himself and Sarah Teather talking about changing our political system:

Posted in Lib Dem TV | Tagged electoral reform, nick clegg and sarah teather | 1 Comment

Cambridge MP David Howarth to stand down

By The Voice | Thu 5th November 2009 - 5:11 pm

The party has just issued the following press release …

Liberal Democrat MP David Howarth today announced that he would be standing down from Parliament at the next election to concentrate on his career as an academic.

David Howarth said:

“After nearly 22 years of elected public office, the time has come for me to concentrate on my other life, as an academic. It has been a privilege to serve the people of Cambridge over that time, both in local government and in Parliament.

“I would like to thank the very large number of people who have helped me in politics over the past

…

Posted in Selection news | Tagged cambridge and david howarth | 15 Comments

Party Election Broadcasts: BBC Trust consults on new complaints procedure

By Mark Pack | Thu 5th November 2009 - 9:20 am

The BBC Trust is running an online survey asking for views on its plans for a new complaints procedure for Party Election Broadcasts. Although the BBC generally steers clear of the content of PEBs – leaving that to the parties in question – there are often issues around who gets how many and when they are shown.

Therefore it is good to see the BBC Trust proposing a clearer and more rigorous process – and also asking for views on these proposals.

(Controversies over the content of PEBs also sometimes rears its head, though these proposals do not cover the system for …

Posted in Election law and News | Tagged bbc and party political broadcast | Leave a comment

Daily View 2×2: 5 November 2009

By Alex Foster | Thu 5th November 2009 - 8:10 am

Good morning and welcome to the Voice’s early morning roundup of news and views. It’s 5th November, an anniversary we can all remember, when Guy Fawkes didn’t quite manage to get his suggestions for MPs’ expense reform through Parliament. It’s also Art Garfunkel’s birthday – he’s 68 today.

2 Big Stories

Bloody betrayal raises fresh doubts about Britain’s campaign in Afghanistan

The Times carries the story most papers are leading with this morning.

The killing of five British soldiers by an Afghan policeman raised fresh doubts yesterday about Britain’s mission in Helmand.

Senior political, diplomatic and military figures warned that public support for the British presence was in danger of collapse without a clear and freshly defined strategy.

Meanwhile, the Guardian has one of the more startling headlines I’ve read recently:

Posted in Daily View | Tagged afghanistan, alastair campbell, art garfunkel, autism, cannabis, caron lindsay, charlotte gore, david cameron, guy fawkes, james graham, jenny willott, nicolas sarkozy, pierre lellouche, state pension and william hague | 2 Comments

Cameron’s Euro line addresses all the wrong problems

By Alex Foster | Wed 4th November 2009 - 10:40 pm

I listened to BBC reports of David Cameron’s speech on Europe with increasing bafflement as it appeared that the Conservatives set out a complicated set of policies that to my mind addressed all the wrong problems.

Granted, by many standards, and certainly by Tory standards, I’m a rabid pro-European. But here are two obvious flaws in the Conservative position.

No more treaties without referendums

So for each new treaty, the Tories will make sure there’s a referendum. Awuga, wrong question alert. Ask people if they wanted the Lisbon treaty, and most often what you get in answer is why they don’t like …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | 11 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #141

By Stephen Tall | Wed 4th November 2009 - 10:35 pm

Welcome to the 141st of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (18th – 24th October 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:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

Ros Scott writes… Party President’s report to members, October ‘09

By Baroness Ros Scott | Wed 4th November 2009 - 5:15 pm

October was a month which began for me in India and ended in Cairo. I had been invited to India by the Indian High Commission along with a small delegation of Parliamentarians who are “Liberal Democrat Friends of India”. We were led by Lord John Alderdice through a week’s visit which was split between Delhi and Pune and included a number of meeting and visits to reflect India today, politically, socially and economically.

I was in Cairo for three days to attend the Congress of Liberal International, which is held every 18 months. The Lib Dem delegation is led by the Party President, but all the work is done by the Chair of the International Relations Committee, who is Robert Woodthorpe Brown. It’s a pretty humbling experience to hear from campaigners who risk their life and liberty for working to make democratic change in oppressive regimes, and certainly puts domestic politics into perspective.

In between the two, Parliament resumed after the summer recess, and I’ve been busy in the Lords with voting, select committee work and a few speeches. The expenses issue continues to rumble.

Posted in Op-eds and Party Presidency | Tagged bedford, chief officers group, dave hodgson, expenses, federal executive, federal policy committee, international relations committee, Parliament and robert woodthorpe brown | 1 Comment

Vince Cable writes: Drill, baby, drill…or not

Lib Dems must do better on Burnham

Britain should be proud, but never afraid of the stranger

Lib Dem Women: Amplifying women’s voices at Conference

2 Big Stories

2 Big Stories

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

5 recent Lib Dem tweets

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