Liberal Democrat Voice

Richmond Lib Dems apologise for “liar liar pants on fire” website photo

By The Voice | Tue 27th October 2009 - 6:55 pm

The Liberal Democrat leader of Richmond Council has apologised after a photograph of a child swearing appeared on his party’s website.

The image was used following Serge Lourie’s decision to postpone the signing of a contract to develop Twickenham Riverside. It shows a young boy sticking up two fingers, alongside the caption ‘liar liar pants on fire’ and accompanies an article attacking the borough’s Conservative group and residents’ group Richmond United Group (RUG).

It claims they have spread lies about the controversial proposals, which include allowing developer Countryside to build 32 homes on the site of

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Novel post office campaign

By Alex Foster | Tue 27th October 2009 - 4:20 pm

It’s not just UK post offices that are at risk of closure and taking steps to campaign to keep themselves open, as this story from Florida reveals:

Residents of a Florida town are sending coconuts to the U.S. postmaster general as postcards asking him to reconsider the closing of their post office.

Locals in Lantana and surrounding areas said they are mailing coconuts, which cost about $4 postage, to Postmaster General John Potter with marker messages asking him to reconsider the planned closing of the small Lantana post office, one of three in Florida’s Palm Beach County marked for closing by the Postal Service, the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported Thursday.

Posted in LDVUSA and News | Tagged florida and post office | 1 Comment

Illegal file-sharing: what does the public think?

By Mark Pack | Tue 27th October 2009 - 12:30 pm

The latest Ofcom survey of internet users in the UK shows that less than half believes downloading shared copies of copyright music and films should be illegal. 42% say it should be illegal, against 33% who believe it shouldn’t be illegal and 25% who don’t know.

I’m not aware of comparable figures for other laws, but 42% strikes me as being a very low figure. It highlights another problem with the Government’s dalliance with taking tough (sounding) measures to enforce the law. Though Labour now is backing away from the idea that someone could be cut off from the internet …

Posted in News | Tagged internet piracy and ofcom | 9 Comments

More financial power for cities

By The Voice | Tue 27th October 2009 - 9:20 am

This week The Voice is running a four part series from the Centre for Cities, a think tank that works on analysis and policy to boost city economies. They launched their ‘Cities Manifesto’ at the Bournemouth Lib Dem Conference and this series looks in more detail at its main planks. You can also find out more at http://www.citiesmanifesto.org.

All the major parties spent party conference season trying to advance their localist credentials. However, there’s more the Liberal Democrats could do to reassert their radical localist credentials – most significantly, by …

Posted in Local government, Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged centre for cities | 3 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 27 October 2009

By Richard Huzzey | Tue 27th October 2009 - 3:41 am

2 Big Stories

Police trainee fights for life after homophobic attack – Telegraph

Brown fights to save Blair’s EU Presidential hopes – Guardian

2 Must-read Posts

Politicians must chatter clearly in the age of twitter, thinks Mark Thompson:

Perhaps what will start to happen is that politicians will realise that being vague about something in a speech and then “clarifying” it in a briefing afterwards will not work in the world of Twitter and blogs.

Camden councillor Alexis Rowell’s mission to turn his borough green from top-to-bottom has reached the Town Hall roof:

Our green roof is little more than a blanket as

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Posted in Daily View | Leave a comment

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Better late than never

By Stephen Tall | Mon 26th October 2009 - 8:20 pm

Some positive news today in the fight for justice for Gary McKinnon, the Asperger’s sufferer and alleged computer hacker who is facing extradition to the USA, a fate which it is believed could jeopardise his health:

The Home Secretary confirmed today that he had “stopped the clock” on proceedings to extradite the British alleged hacker Gary McKinnon to the United States. Alan Johnson told MPs that he was examining new medical evidence in the case, and would allow Mr McKinnon’s lawyers more time to consider medical reports and make legal representations.

Mr McKinnon, from North London, is wanted by US prosecutors

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Posted in News | Tagged alan johnson, extradition laws, gary mckinnon and home office | 5 Comments

John Stuart Mill symposium – Saturday 14 November, LSE, London

By Duncan Brack | Mon 26th October 2009 - 6:40 pm

One hundred and fifty years ago, in 1859, the great Liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill published his most important and enduring work, On Liberty. Used today as the symbol of office of the President of the Liberal Democrats, On Liberty emphatically vindicated individual moral autonomy and celebrated the importance of originality and dissent. It set out the principle, still acknowledged as universal and valid today, that only the threat of harm to others can justify interfering with an individual’s liberty of action.

Mill himself was not only a philosopher, but also an economist, journalist, political writer, social reformer, and, briefly, …

Posted in Events | Tagged british liberal political studies group, john stuart mill, liberal democrat history group and london school of economics | Leave a comment

Mark Littlewood resigns Lib Dem membership for IEA Director job

By Richard Huzzey | Mon 26th October 2009 - 4:54 pm

Mark Littlewood, the party’s former Head of Media and director the libertarian Liberal Vision group, has been appointed Director General of the “free-market think tank” IEA (Institute for Economic Affairs). The press release relating his appointment states that Mark has resigned from the Liberal Democrats in order to maintain the IEA’s non-partisan stance.

Posted in News | Tagged mark littlewood | 179 Comments

British Muslims for Secular Democracy plan counter demonstration

By The Voice | Mon 26th October 2009 - 3:29 pm

News reaches the Voice about a demo planned for next Saturday.

British Muslims for Secular Democracy today announces the launch of its plans to organise a demonstration on Saturday 31st October to counter a demonstration by Al Muhajiroun, at which they will call for the abolition of democracy in Britain and the imposition of Shariah Law on all.

Posted in Events | 4 Comments

What is slavery?

By Richard Huzzey | Mon 26th October 2009 - 1:47 pm

For many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century abolitionists, slavery was easily defined as the ownership of one human being by another. But any technical definition of enslavement is problematic, given the messy realities of coercion in practice. Forced labour exists on a spectrum from slavery to freedom, with debt labour often very similar to slavery.

The BBC reports that Anti-Slavery International and Liberty are hoping the House of Lords will pass an amendment on indentured servitude later today, with the support of Lib Dem peers:

The campaign groups argue existing employment laws and legislation covering offences such as false imprisonment

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Posted in News and Parliament | 12 Comments

David Lammy and Quentin Davies provoke warning from Treasury over ministerial behaviour

By Mark Pack | Mon 26th October 2009 - 11:50 am

Rapid criticism of Public Accounts Committee reports from Quentin Davies (defence minister) and David Lammy (higher education minister) have resulted in the Treasury issuing a memo warning that such behaviour can result in ministers being censured.

As the November edition of Public Servant reports:

An attack by two ministers on parliamentary reports revealing waste and incompetence in their departments has provoked the Treasury to warn that ministers will face public censure if they make immediate statements to the media on future reports.

Statements by defence minister Quentin Davies and higher education minister David Lammy have led to a new Whitehall member to accounting

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Posted in News | Tagged baby p, david lammy, iain dale, lynne featherstone, public servant, quentin davies and sharon shoesmith | Leave a comment

Opinion: Metro Mayors for UK’s largest cities

By The Voice | Mon 26th October 2009 - 9:20 am

At party conference last month, I was struck by just how many of the UK’s biggest cities are run by the Lib Dems. You now control virtually every big city outside London – that means that, taken together, 25 million people …

Posted in Local government, Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged centre for cities | 12 Comments

Nick Harvey condemns “poor taste” Jimmy Carr

By Stephen Tall | Mon 26th October 2009 - 8:45 am

The celebrity website eleven reports:

He’s never been known for his politically correct sense of humour, but comedian Jimmy Carr has incited the rage of MPs over a joke about wounded soldiers. … Audible gasps could be heard when Carr quipped: “Say what you like about the servicemen amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan, we are going to have a f**king good Paralympics team in 2012.” …

… Lib-Dem Nick Harvey exclaimed: “Most people will think it in completely poor taste to try to extract humour from what are catastrophes.”

A smart-arse quip too far; or deliberately provocative humour designed to get …

Posted in News | Tagged jimmy carr and nick harvey | 22 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 26 October 2009

By Stephen Tall | Mon 26th October 2009 - 7:30 am

2 Big Stories

Miliband backs Blair as EU President

Well, here’s a turn-up for the books – the man who was Tony Blair’s head of policy is now backing his former boss for the new post of President of the European Union. Who’d have thunk it? The BBC reports:

David Miliband has ruled himself out of taking a senior role within the EU, while endorsing Tony Blair for the new post of European president. … it would be “good for Britain and good for Europe” if Mr Blair became the president of the European Council. Although Mr Blair is seen as frontrunner

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Posted in Daily View and Europe / International | Tagged david miliband, ed davey, european union, jon ault, peter black, royal mail and tony blair | Leave a comment

Tories’ St Austell & Newquay candidate in ‘Dhd!!!’ smear storm

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th October 2009 - 11:15 pm

Lib Dem blogger Matt Davies reports on a clumsy attempt by Tory PPC for St Austell & Newquay, Caroline Righton, to extract political advantage from her Lib Dem opponent, Stephen Gilbert – but, unfortunately, without trying to check her facts first.

Ms Righton accused Stephen of calling her a ‘D***h***d!!!’ on Twitter in an email to residents. Except that he didn’t. And as Matt explains, it’s hard to know how Ms Righton could have failed to realise this before broadcasting her allegation:

She might not have liked Steve highlighting their different priorities when it comes to helping local residents

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Posted in News | Tagged caroline righton, matt davies, st austell & newquay, stephen gilbert and twitter | 8 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #140

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th October 2009 - 5:45 pm

Welcome to the 140th 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 | 1 Comment

Sopel on Sunday: best of the Sunday political shows

By Mark Pack | Sun 25th October 2009 - 3:36 pm

Here it is.

Posted in News | Tagged jon sopel | Leave a comment

Is it time for the Scottish Lib Dems to back an independence referendum?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th October 2009 - 3:05 pm

The Sunday Times reports:

Senior Liberal Democrat figures will hold talks in an attempt to halt a growing rebellion within the party’s ranks over its opposition to Alex Salmond’s Referendum Bill. Party managers will meet on Monday to decide the best way of tackling the revolt, which could seriously undermine Tavish Scott’s leadership of the party.

Strategists have yet to decide whether they will allow the issue to go to a vote at a special conference being held in Dunfermline next Saturday to confirm the party’s stance. It is understood that several of the party’s Westminster candidates are preparing to join

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Posted in Scotland | Tagged Alistair Carmichael, Scottish independence referendum and tavish scott | 20 Comments

LibLink … Vince Cable: Economic recovery? It’s vanished into a yawning gap between a rich capital and the rest of the country

By The Voice | Sun 25th October 2009 - 12:04 pm

Over at the Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable examines the “trickiest problem” facing Government: “to rein in public borrowing without making recession worse or damaging the useful things government does”. Here’s an excerpt:

The grim news that the economy is still in recession makes this dilemma more acute. It also reminds us that Britain is a deeply divided country. In the inflated metropolitan bubble of the City, there is a lot of excited talk about recovery based on a bounce-back in the stock market, city bonuses and rising house prices in posher parts of London.

This is a different world

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged recession and vince cable | 10 Comments

Welcome to Iain Roberts

By Mark Pack | Sun 25th October 2009 - 10:52 am

A parish notice from the team here at The Voice. Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that a new person has recently joined the team in the LDV Towers – Iain Roberts.

Iain was elected a councillor earlier this year for Cheadle & Gately, in north west England. You can follow his local work as a councillor here, but he’s been active in the party for many years prior to this election. Indeed, back in 1992 he founded Hairnet, an email discussion list for the then Liberal Democrat Youth and Students (LDYS, the forerunner to Liberal Youth). That makes him one …

Posted in Site news | 4 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 25 October 2009

By Mark Pack | Sun 25th October 2009 - 7:00 am

Morning all. Clocks changed? Good. Now it’s time to catch up on the news including, as it’s a Sunday, another in my occasional series of “Forget Obama; forget West Wing – now THIS is what we should be copying from US politics”.

It’s the political ad that is just bursting to be copied for our next party political broadcast. Send you lobbying email to Cowley Street now. (Probably best do that now rather than after watching the ad. In case you don’t agree with me. But you’d be mad not to. This is quality political advertising at its very best.)

2 Big Stories

Pakistani army takes Taliban chief’s hometown

Pakistani soldiers captured the hometown of the country’s Taliban chief Saturday, a strategic and symbolic initial prize as the army pushes deeper into a militant stronghold along the Afghan border. An army spokesman said the Taliban were in disarray, with many deserting the ranks.

The 8-day-old air and ground offensive in the South Waziristan tribal region is a key test of nuclear-armed Pakistan’s campaign against Islamist militancy. It has already spurred a civilian exodus and deadly retaliatory attacks.

Washington has encouraged the operation in the northwest because many militants there are believed to shelter al-Qaida leaders and are also suspected to be involved in attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. military has also kept up its own missile strikes in the lawless tribal belt, including a suspected one that killed 22 Saturday. (Associated Press)

Posted in Daily View | Tagged nuclear power, pakistan, royal mail and taliban | 3 Comments

Tory councillor defects to Lib Dems in Somerset

By The Voice | Sat 24th October 2009 - 5:48 pm

Just four months into Somerset being ruled by a Tory administration, and all is not well, as the local paper reports:

A BRIDGWATER county councillor has defected to the LibDems just four months after being elected as a Conservative – slamming the new Tory administration as ‘disastrous’.

Cllr Stephen Gill narrowly fought off Labour leader Pat Parker to gain the Bridgwater South seat in June, but has now crossed over party lines to join the side he helped to oust from County Hall. Explaining his decision to the Mercury, Cllr Gill said the amount of money spent to find a

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Posted in News | Tagged defections and somerset county council | 1 Comment

Opinion: Why vote Liberal?

By Adam Gillett | Sat 24th October 2009 - 3:30 pm

There is an election approaching and, as ever, the British electorate will make a binary decision when it arrives at the ballot box.

But what decision will it be? This is something of a lateral thinking test, and the wrong answers include several schools: the Marxist ‘people vs. elite’ and the Old School Tie ‘posh anarchy vs. taxation’. Both views are simplistic and dated, but will inevitably dominate the debate.

Those taking a more modern approach will face a different choice – one between progression and decay. This is more difficult to qualify, but the nature of the main parties makes for a clear choice – Labour and the Conservatives on one side, the Liberals on the other.

This is not a rash delineation. It is the vastly different and advocative nature of the Liberal Democrats which places them, with consummate ease, onto an entirely different plane from their larger cousins. And it is this advocative heart which must be the focus of the thinking voters. It is a heart which is, frighteningly, missing from the two largest political parties in Britain.

Posted in Op-eds | 24 Comments

Labour’s Dawn Butler’s “strange” complaint: BBC should have invited me on before BNP’s Griffin

By The Voice | Sat 24th October 2009 - 1:30 pm

Poor Dawn Butler, the Labour MP for Brent South, whose plight – on expenses, her voting record and media outbursts – Lib Dem Voice has covered before. Now she is making the news for lambasting the BBC for inviting BNP leader Nick Griffin onto Question Time.

What’s wrong with that, you say, no more than Peter Hain did? Ah, but Dawn’s complaint is not so much that Mr Griffin appeared, as that she didn’t. Here’s an excerpt from the rather extraordinary letter, written ~~by Dawn~~, I mean, by Brent’s Labour council group leader Ann John, and 19 of …

Posted in News | Tagged ann john, bbc, bbc question time, brent council, dawn butler and sarah teather | 9 Comments

The LDV Saturday caption competition – egging on the BNP’s Nick Griffin

By The Voice | Sat 24th October 2009 - 12:15 pm

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

nick-griffin

Here’s BNP leader Nick Griffin, whose controversial appearance on the BBC’s Question Time has dominated the headlines this week, getting splattered by an egg missile – what do you think he might be saying/thinking?

The winner of last week’s Bedford mayoral sensation caption competition (according to The Voice’s judging panel of one) – Ruth Bright, with a highly commended placing to Andy H.

Posted in Caption Comp | 5 Comments

LDVideo – Nick, Nick and Nickers

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th October 2009 - 11:15 am

Okay, I’ve bowed to popular opinion – the Hazel Blears-inspired title for our occasional video round-ups, YouTube ‘cos we want to, is no more. Instead you’re getting the drably named LDVideo. BUT just because you’ve made me drop my punning motif doesn’t mean the videos that follow are anything less than scintillating.

First up, we have Cassettboy’s Nick Griffin / BBC Question Time mash-up which was being re-tweeted like nobody’s business yesterday. Childish but fun:

Earlier this week, Nick Clegg pitched up on Absolute Radio to be interviewed by Christian O’Connell – here’s a little bit of what happened:

Posted in YouTube | Tagged make votes count, nick clegg and nick griffin | 2 Comments

Where to get ideas for blogposts

By Mark Thompson | Sat 24th October 2009 - 9:00 am

Welcome to part three 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 Mark Thompson (the one with the blog rather than the one with TV empire) addressing one of the problems that befalls many would be bloggers: how do you keep on coming up with ideas for new posts?

Posted in Blogging guide | Tagged andrew mackay, blogging, featured and nich starling | 6 Comments

Vince – this “could yet become the deepest recession on record”

By The Voice | Fri 23rd October 2009 - 7:30 pm

The BBC reports the bleak economic news:

The UK economy unexpectedly contracted by 0.4% between July and September, according to official figures, meaning the country is still in recession. It is the first time UK gross domestic product (GDP) has contracted for six consecutive quarters, since quarterly figures were first recorded in 1955.

Here’s what Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable had to say:

For all the hopes of a quick recovery, these figures make it clear we are still in the longest and what could yet become the deepest recession on record.

“For all that has been thrown at

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Posted in News | Tagged recession and vince cable | 8 Comments

The LDV Friday Five (ish): 23/10/09

By Stephen Tall | Fri 23rd October 2009 - 6:40 pm

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

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. Bedford Mayoral Election … Lib Dems’ Dave Hogdson WINS! (30) by Stephen Tall
2. Jan Moir: the dilemma for the PCC (and what you should say in your complaint) (17) by Mark Pack
3. Bedford mayoral election … Lib Dems’ Dave Hodgson ahead on 1st preferences (3) by Stephen Tall
4. +++ Parliamentary authorities clear Lord Rennard of breaking expense rules (28) by Mark Pack
5. The police get a bit of a surprise when they try to stop someone taking photos (7) by Mark Pack

5 recent Lib Dem tweets

Posted in Friday Five | 3 Comments

Tory frockgate unravels further

By Alex Foster | Fri 23rd October 2009 - 5:07 pm

On Monday I reported that a scandal was unfolding concerning Samantha Cameron’s “£65 M&S dress” worn at Conservative party conference.

On one level, it really doesn’t matter what the spouses of party leaders wear, and, within reason, how much they pay for it, particularly since the Camerons are well remunerated for David’s parliamentary work, as well as being privately wealthy.

On another, when strenuous efforts are made for one thing to appear as something else entirely, that’s hypocrisy and it should be exposed. So when, as the Mirror reported last Sunday, strings are pulled to obtain an off-the-shelf dress that …