Stephen Tall

BBC Question Time (10/12/08): open thread

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th December 2008 - 10:20 pm

Lembit Opik, the Daily Sport’s new political columnist – and Lib Dem MP for Montgomeryshire – is the party’s representative on tonight’s BBC Question Time (BBC1 and online, 10.35 pm GMT).

Lembit will be appearing alongside Labour’s Schools Minister Jim Knight, Conservative MP ‘Mad’ Nadine Dorries, one-man polymath Will Self, and broadcaster (and Lembit’s fellow reality TV stand-by) Esther Rantzen.

And for those who are staying up extra late for BBC1’s This Week, John Bird (the Big Issue one, I think, rather than John Fortune’s pal) and Jenni Murray (from BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour) will be on hand …

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Posted in Lib Dem TV | Tagged | 27 Comments
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Stephen Tall

Michael Brown: Electoral Commission resumes investigation into Lib Dem donations

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th December 2008 - 8:25 pm

As disclosed by Sir Peter Viggers MP (Con., Gosport), who represents the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission:

The Electoral Commission informs me that following the recent conclusion of criminal proceedings against Mr. Michael Brown, it has now resumed its investigation into the permissibility of donations made to the Liberal Democrat Party by Mr. Brown in 2005.

The Commission further informs me that it will now aim to conclude the investigation as quickly as possible, but that its priority must be to ensure that the process is fair and thorough.”

Hat-tip to ConservativeHome, though they somehow omitted to quote the …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – ‘Freedom is taking a battering under kneejerk New Labour’

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th December 2008 - 6:51 pm

Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free blog yesterday, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg wrote about Jack Straw’s attack on the Human Rights Act. (An issue which has also today provoked the ire of Lib Dem peer Lord Lester). Read it in full here, but here’s an excerpt of Nick’s trenchant critique:

The justice secretary is picking a meaningless fight to generate a favourable headline, while conning opponents of the Human Rights Act into believing that he’s saying something of greater significance. In short, it’s sly populism of the worst kind. …

At a time of acute national economic crisis,

…

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David Howarth

David Howarth MP writes… How to reform party political funding

By David Howarth | Thu 11th December 2008 - 5:45 pm

This country faces a crisis of confidence in democracy just as profound as the crisis of confidence in the financial markets. Both are ultimately about trust – trust in the quality of what is being sold in the one case, trust in what political leaders say, and what their motives are, in the other.

The series of scandals about party funding – from cash for honours to the Ashcroft affair – damage democracy deeply by sending the constant message that politics is not about values and ideas, but about buying power and access, and if you are not a rich donor …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 16 Comments
The Voice

Lembit to become Daily Sport political columnist

By The Voice | Thu 11th December 2008 - 2:22 pm

File under ‘You couldn’t make it up’ – the Guardian reports:

Former Cheeky Girl beau and Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik is to rejoin the Daily Sport as its political columnist this week. Opik, who alongside his regular TV appearances represents Welsh constituency Montgomeryshire, will pen a weekly Friday column for the paper.

Posted in News | Tagged | 34 Comments
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Stephen Tall

Davey: Iraq war inquiry needed now

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th December 2008 - 12:35 pm

Lib Dem shadow foreign secretary Ed Davey has renewed the party’s call for an immediate public inquiry into British involvement in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the role played by UK troops in Iraq since 2003. Ed put the question direct to Foreign Secretary David Miliband in the Commons yesterday, following strong hints from the Ministry of Defence that it expected the 4,100 British troops left in Basra to be withdrawn from Basra during the course of 2009.

Mr. Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD): Given that both the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister have said that there will

…

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Lord Lester lambasts Labour on human rights

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th December 2008 - 12:19 pm

A month after Lord (Anthony) Lester quit his role as unpaid adviser to Gordon Brown on constitutional affairs, he’s broken his silence on the reasons for his resignation. In fact, ‘broken his silence’ doesn’t really do justice to his excoriation of Labour’s “dismal” failure to provide political leadership on human rights, branding Justice secretary Jack Straw as “lamentable”.

Lord Lester’s interview with The Guardian was published today to mark the 60th anniversary of the UN’s declaration of human rights. It’s well worth reading in full, but here’s an extract:

singled out the justice secretary, Jack Straw, for failing

…

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Posted in News | 8 Comments
Alex Foster

Buy our book!

By Alex Foster | Thu 11th December 2008 - 6:42 am

readingbook

The Liberal Democrat Voice Annual 2008 The Tangerine Book is now available for purchase through the Lulu.com self-publishing site.

Click here or use the button below


Support independent publishing: buy this book on Lulu.

The 153-page paperback features nearly 80 articles taken from Lib Dem Voice from last December to this November. The book costs £5.99 and Lulu want another £6.30 P&P. LibDemVoice make a small profit on each book which contributes towards our running costs.

We think that the

…

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Posted in Books and News | Tagged | 8 Comments
Ed Fordham

Neil Trafford’s memorial celebration

By Ed Fordham | Wed 10th December 2008 - 10:16 pm

Last Friday saw the memorial celebration of Councillor Neil Trafford in Manchester Town Hall.

The memorial celebration was recorded and is now available on YouTube at www.youtube.co.uk/russelleagling. Part I is below:

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Posted in News | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

votewise.co.uk: it’s genuine and worth taking part in

By Mark Pack | Wed 10th December 2008 - 4:20 pm

The Votewise website is a non-partisan service which advertises council by-elections, giving candidates a chance to set out their case and the public a chance to ask questions of all their candidates.

For each council by-election they contact all candidates asking them to supply copy for the site. Usage of the site varies a lot from by-election to by-election, but there are a growing number of Liberal Democrat by-election candidates who have had good exchanges with members of the public through the site and even found new supporters who have ended up as members or helpers.

It’s worth emphasising that it’s …

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Posted in News and Online politics | Tagged and | 3 Comments
James Graham

Lib Dig Pig #3

By James Graham | Wed 10th December 2008 - 1:55 pm

Welcome to the third edition of Lib Dig Pig, being a roundup of non-Lib Dem oriented gems on the internet, as voted by Lib Dem members using Lib Dig (if you aren’t one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk).

The rules for inclusion here are simple: they must have been “dug” for the first time in the last seven days and they can’t be Lib Dem-related or come from a Lib Dem blog. The top rated article of each category will be listed, along with three runners up, will be listed here. And finally, for the purposes of this column, my votes will be discounted. Finally, I may bend or break any of these rules as I see fit (this is absolutely terrible and I am dreadfully sorry about it).

This week’s Lib Dig Pig is brought to you by Karen Matthews, Twitter, Jacqui Smith, Peter Cook and John Barrowman (well, part of John Barrowman anyway).

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Alex Foster

PMQs – Nick Clegg, the single mother’s friend

By Alex Foster | Wed 10th December 2008 - 12:46 pm

Our usual insightful team of commentators are away from their desks this lunchtime so it falls to me to report PMQs,

Questions from Cameron about recapitalisation allowed the PM to patronise him on economic answers. A slip of the tongue for the PM led to him telling the house he had saved the world.  Chutzpah much?

Alan Simpson, the Labour rebel for Nottingham South (including the ward I represent) pointed out the value of saving the world when you have an opposition that can’t even save face. He went on to ask whether now is the time to introduce a Tobin …

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Posted in News and PMQs | Tagged and | 72 Comments
Ryan Cullen

Channel S fined £40,000 for LibDem Advert

By Ryan Cullen | Wed 10th December 2008 - 12:09 pm

Ofcom have announced that Channel S World Limited, Channel S Plus Limited and Channel S Global Limited have been fined a total of £40,000 for breaching the TV Advertising Code by repeatedly broadcasting a political advertisement.

The Bengali stations aired an advert 44 times during April this year urging people to “Vote Brian Paddick for Mayoral candidate, and Jalal for GLA candidate…”

Ofcom concluded that the material was in breach of the following Sections of the TV Advertising Code:
4(a), which prohibits advertisements by or on behalf of any body whose objects are of a political nature; and
4(b), which prohibits advertisements …

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Posted in News | 4 Comments
Alex Foster

Tangerine Book: Good news and bad news

By Alex Foster | Wed 10th December 2008 - 7:13 am

Good News: it is with an enormous sense of relief that I can announce the book is now available for publication, and can be bought directly from the lulu.com website. Here, finally, is the link you need.


Support independent publishing: buy this book on Lulu.

Bad News: if you want a guaranteed copy for Christmas, you need to hop along to Lulu on or before Friday and fork out six quid for postage (the express option).

Other Good News:  the surprisingly expensive postage seems to apply whether you buy one copy or 20.

…

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Posted in Books | Tagged | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Chris Fox appointed new Lib Dem Director of Policy & Communications

By Stephen Tall | Wed 10th December 2008 - 6:50 am

After a six-month search, the party has finally been able to appoint a successor to Jonny Oates in the key role of Director of Policy and Communications: Chris Fox will be joining the Lib Dems in the New Year.

Chris has spent 20 years leading communications in international and FTSE100 companies, and is currently employed by engineering firm Smiths Group. Prior to that he was Director of Corporate Relations at Tate and Lyle plc.

Chris stood for the Lib Dems for Parliament in 1997, in Windsor, finishing runner-up, with 29% of the vote. In 2000, he stood unsuccessfully for election …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #94

By Stephen Tall | Tue 9th December 2008 - 9:08 pm

Welcome to the 94th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (30th November – 7th December), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

And just one story accounts for all seven of the top places from the Lib Dem blogs this last week: Nick Clegg’s comments about members of the party’s shadow cabinet, as reported by the Sunday Mirror. As you might imagine, many of the postings were critical of Nick; so, in the interests of balance, can I highlight Lib Dem chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard’s comment on the LDV thread here.

And now on with the show, starting with most popular post, and working our way down.

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Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Your starter for six, Dave: what’s your “credible plan”?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 9th December 2008 - 8:22 pm

The Daily Mail’s political blogger Ben Brogan begins a post today, “Some great stuff in David Cameron’s LSE speech today.” So far, so Daily Mail, you might think. But there’s a sting in the tail for Young Dave:

… he’s left a bunch of questions to which he needs to find some quick answers if he is to avoid Labour accusations that he is a younger version of Michael Howard, ready to draw up a James Review MkII. Anyone reading Mr Cameron’s speech will want to know:

* Since he’s calling for an immediate election, what would

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

LDV readers say: Labour’s PBR will have virtually no effect

By Stephen Tall | Tue 9th December 2008 - 6:27 pm

It’s all of a fortnight since Labour chancellor Alistair Darling unveiled the Government’s Pre-Budget Report. On the day it came out, LDV posed the following question for our readers: What do you think will be the overall impact of the Government’s Pre-Budget Report?

Here’s what you said:

* 7% (23 votes) – The Government’s financial stimulus is spot-on, and will get the economy moving again
* 41% (134) – Some of the Government’s measures are welcome, but overall the impact will be too small and the cost too great
* 49% (159) – The Government’s measures will have virtually no effect, and

…

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Posted in News and Voice polls | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Online exhibition: Three Key Elections of the Twentieth Century

By Stephen Tall | Tue 9th December 2008 - 6:12 pm

Lib Dem Voice readers might like to know that a new exhibition, Turning Points: Three Key Elections of the Twentieth Century, was opened by Baroness (Betty) Boothroyd in Parliament last night. The bad news is it’s not open to the public. The good news is that it’s all available to view online at www.turningpointsexhibition.info. Here’s the teaser for it:

The 1906, 1945 and 1979 general elections are arguably the most significant elections of the 20th century. Each ushered in a distinct new era in British politics, the impact of which still resounds to the present day.

1906 brought in a reforming

…

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Posted in News | 3 Comments
Darrell Goodliffe

Opinion: Secularise education

By Darrell Goodliffe | Tue 9th December 2008 - 12:20 pm

At our Spring conference we are going to be debating two highly contentious issues around education policy: tuition fees and how we should approach the question of faith schools.

With the latter in mind it is interesting to look at the recent report published by The Runnymede Trust. Entitled ‘Right to Divide?’. It is a comprehensive report which consulted parents, teachers,education experts, religious leaders, local authority officials and pupils. So, it cannot be easily dismissed as reflecting the experiences or biases of one particular grouping.

Rather than try and cover all 76 pages of the report in this piece I intend to focus on the 6 key recommendations. Let’s start at the top with the headline grabber:

(1) End selection based on faith.

The report rightly justifies this thus:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 69 Comments
Stephen Tall

Kirsty’s win – what folk are saying

By Stephen Tall | Tue 9th December 2008 - 11:36 am

Congratulations from all at Lib Dem Voice to Kirsty Williams on becoming the first elected female leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. There’s more coverage over at the Welsh Lib Dems website, but here’s a few brief snippets from today’s papers:

Kirsty Williams makes political history (WalesOnline.co.uk)

KIRSTY WILLIAMS made history yesterday as she won the battle to become the new leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats – and with it the first woman ever to lead a major party in Wales.
She defeated former acting Deputy First Minister Jenny Randerson by 910 votes to 612 to succeed Mike German.

Ms Williams, 37, responded to her victory by vowing to fight all three of the Lib Dems’ rival parties. The Brecon & Radnorshire AM said: “My message to the other political parties is ‘Watch out – we are coming to get you’.”

Williams election ‘breaks mould’ (BBC.co.uk)
Kirsty Williams said she had “broken the mould” after being elected Wales’ first female party leader in the Welsh Liberal Democrat leadership contest. … Ms Williams, aged 37, launched her leadership bid saying she wanted to embrace the party’s talent to achieve success “in all parts of Wales”. … She said her party had to reach out to people who felt let down by politics and the assembly and she had “something unique to offer the people of Wales”.

“As a party we have broken the mould today by electing a woman,” she said. “If you have been turned off by politics, by the way the Labour Party has let Wales down, or the Conservatives’ attitude, or Plaid’s abandonment of principles, then come. We will re-ignite the flame of liberalism that once burnt so bright in this country. I am determined as leader of this party that the Welsh Liberal Democrats will blaze a trail for a new politics in Wales.”

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Posted in Leadership Election and Wales | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Dictionary of Liberal Thought

DLT: Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-97

By Dictionary of Liberal Thought | Tue 9th December 2008 - 10:55 am

Duncan Brack and Ed Randall, authors of the Dictionary of Liberal Thought, have kindly agreed to let us publish extracts on Lib Dem Voice. Last month the Henry George Foundation; this month Mary Wollstonecraft. The entire book is available on Amazon here and can also be bought at the Westminster Bookshop.

Mary Wollstonecraft 1759–97

An English radical, whose advocacy of equal rights for women and men attracted considerable attention in her lifetime, Wollstonecraft has subsequently acquired a reputation as the pre-eminent feminist polemicist of her age. The range and quality of her literary work helps to explain much of the contemporary interest in her life and thought.

Key ideas

• The ability to reason should be accepted as the foundation of human political community.

• Women and men cannot be distinguished in terms of their inborn capacity to reason.

• Women and men should, therefore, be treated as equals.

• All need to learn how to employ reason in their own and one another’s best interests.

• Equality of educational opportunity is, therefore, an essential requirement for a fair and a decent society.

• Men – as well as women – will be the beneficiaries if women are no longer subjugated and degraded by men.

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Posted in Dictionary of Liberal Thought | 3 Comments
Alex Foster

Tangerine Book – G-H

By Alex Foster | Tue 9th December 2008 - 9:07 am

With any luck, the news that LDV are publishing a book will now come as no surprise to you.

It’s paperback book with luridly coloured covers and 153 pages. 6.14″ x 9.21″, perfect binding, white interior paper (55# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (90# weight), full-colour exterior ink.

Here’s another glimpse at the index. We’ll be promoting this all week so if you wanna see particular letters in the index, shout up in the comments.

We are self-publishing through lulu.com and are currently waiting confirmation from them that the …

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Posted in Books | Tagged | 7 Comments
Alix Mortimer

Lib Dems to boycott Commons police raid enquiry

By Alix Mortimer | Tue 9th December 2008 - 6:52 am

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Alix Mortimer

Leak of precautions against leaks

By Alix Mortimer | Tue 9th December 2008 - 6:18 am

Here’s another so-terrifying-it’s-funny twist in the ID cards saga. No government likes leaks – as if we need reminding – and it seems our current lords and masters believe that leaks surrounding the ID cards scheme could be especially damaging. A fresh leak has revealed that they are taking precautionary measures against possible leaks (o! the irony) from the five companies currently involved in bidding for work on the ID cards scheme.

The Times has the story:

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, has suffered fresh embarrassment from a new Whitehall leak disclosing that ministers are

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 2 Comments
The Voice

LIVE: Q&A with Steve Webb MP

By The Voice | Mon 8th December 2008 - 6:20 pm

Welcome to our live Q&A session with Steve Webb, the climate change and energy spokesperson. It’s dead easy. Click into the box below to get started with your questions, or just to read what others are asking. The chat will go live from 6.30pm.

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Posted in News | 15 Comments
The Voice

And the winner is … Kirsty Williams

By The Voice | Mon 8th December 2008 - 3:26 pm

News just in: Kirsty Williams, AM for Brecon and Radnorshire, is the new leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

Posted in News | Tagged | 5 Comments
Alex Foster

EXCLUSIVE: a peek at Tangerine Book’s index!

By Alex Foster | Mon 8th December 2008 - 2:30 pm

Yesterday, we gave you a sneak peek at the back cover of The Tangerine Book, Lib Dem Voice’s answer to the Blue Peter Annual.

Now, in an attempt to get you to BUY BUY BUY! here’s a peek at part of the Index:

A peek at the index of LDV's The Tangerine Book

Hopefully, it’s a good taster of the book as a whole.  Yes, there’s a comprehensive index.  Yes, there are a mix of quirky and serious stories from the blog this year.  Yes, there are at least 140 pages, …

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Posted in Books | Tagged | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

Two MPs, two complaints upheld: Richard Benyon and Bridget Prentice

By Mark Pack | Mon 8th December 2008 - 12:08 pm

As blogged about previously (here, here and here), Conservative MP for Newbury Richard Benyon looked to have broken the rules over Parliamentary funds with his website, using Parliamentary money for party-political work. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has now written back to the constituent who lodged a complaint, saying that Richard Benyon:

has accepted that the content of the articles identified was in breach of the rules of the House in respect of the Communications Allowance … Mr Benyon has, therefore, apologised for his breach of the rules of the House and he has taken effective

…

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Stephen Tall

62% turnout in Welsh Lib Dems’ leadership contest

By Stephen Tall | Mon 8th December 2008 - 12:04 pm

The first all-female leadership contest within the Lib Dems – to replace outgoing Welsh leader Mike German – has attracted a 62% turnout among the c.2,600 party members eligible to vote.

That suggests either Jenny Randerson AM or Kirsty Williams AM, the two contenders for the post, will need at least 800 votes to win. The result will be announced this afternoon, c.3.15 pm.

Both Jenny and Kirsty wrote articles for LDV during the campaign, which you can read here:


Jenny Randerson AM: why I want to lead the Welsh Liberal Democrats
Kirsty Williams AM: why I want to lead the

…

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Posted in Wales | Tagged | 1 Comment
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