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Opinion: Councillors Commission report – why it shouldn’t be ignored

By Tim Pickstone | Sat 22nd December 2007 - 10:02 am

The launch of the report of the Councillors Commission earlier this month was largely knocked out of the media by larger news stories, but the report deserves more than to be relegated to a gather dust on a Whitehall shelf.

Before I saw the report it was described to me as “one third brilliant, one third bizarre and one third barmy” – and I wasn’t disappointed. There are some strange ideas in the report – such as the suggestion that Parties should nominate “reserve councillors” to take the place of those elected should a Councillor resign or die in office …

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Posted in Op-eds | 5 Comments

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Conservative councillor sacked after accusing council of corruption

By The Voice | Sat 22nd December 2007 - 8:55 am

It’s happened in the London Borough of Sutton:

A Cheam councillor has been disqualified for a year after being found guilty of breaching the councillors’ code of conduct.

Eleanor Pinfold was stripped of her title today after a councillors’ watchdog found she had used brash and offensive language when communicating with council officers and Sutton Police.

She was also found to have brought the council into disrepute by claiming its planning department was corrupt…

Supt Shadbolt made a complaint about her after she had also accused him of being politically biased towards the Liberal Democrats and of skewing crime figures.

(Read full local …

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Posted in News | 28 Comments

Craig Brown’s Lib Dem 2008

By Richard Huzzey | Sat 22nd December 2007 - 8:49 am

Satirist Craig Brown has been sharing his premonitions for 2008 with readers of the Telegraph. It turns out the second-half of the year will feature positive revelations on a major new pool of Liberal Democrat support:

Marine biologists who have spent years studying the click-and-whistle sounds made by dolphins have at last cracked the code, and can now reveal what these fascinating creatures are saying to one another… Scientists working on the project admit that, up until a few months ago, they had “no idea” that dolphins were such committed Liberal Democrats.

Posted in Humour | Leave a comment

What’s happening in Iowa?

By Mark Pack | Fri 21st December 2007 - 10:11 pm

The Mystery Pollster blog has a good summary of the latest poll findings in Iowa, the first state to vote in the procedure for selecting Democrat and Republican candidates for next year’s American Presidential election.

Posted in LDVUSA | Leave a comment

Who’s Who in Team Clegg

By The Voice | Fri 21st December 2007 - 6:58 pm

At least according to today’s Telegraph:

The key man in Nick Clegg’s inner circle is Danny Alexander, who was elected to Parliament with him in 2005. Mr Alexander, 35, is a former PR executive who is now Mr Clegg’s chief of staff and will be responsible for drawing up the party’s election manifesto. Married with one daughter, his hobbies include fishing and hill-walking.

Although Mr Clegg is still putting the finishing touches to his top team, other key figures will include Polly MacKenzie, his former home affairs policy adviser and Euan Roddin, Sir Menzies Campbell’s former speech writer. They will be

…

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Posted in News | Tagged Ming Campbell | 5 Comments

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Lib Dems on air over the weekend

By Stephen Tall | Fri 21st December 2007 - 6:48 pm

Quick alert for those wanting to see/hear Lib Dem MPs live on air in the next three days:

• Tonight (Fri), Sarah Teather, the Lib Dems’ new shadow secretary of state for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, will be on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions at 8.00 pm (repeated Saturday, 1.10 pm);
• On Sunday night, David Laws will be on BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour at (some point from) 10.00 pm.
• And on Monday lunch-time, Sarah Teather (again) will be appearing on BBC Radio 5 Live at around 12.30 pm.

You can catch up with all the forthcoming Lib …

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Posted in News | Leave a comment

Opinion: What should the new leader do in his first 100 days? #5

By Mark Valladares | Fri 21st December 2007 - 10:23 am

We now have a new leader, Nick Clegg. For the last couple of weeks, Lib Dem Voice has been inviting party members to tell us what you think should be his top priorities. Four have so far taken up the challenge: Paul Walter, Linda Jack, David Morton and Mary Reid. Today it’s Mark Valladares’ turn…

So far, the suggestions that have come forward have been focused on what Nick needs to do with regard to the wider world. Don’t think for one moment that this bureaucrat dissents from much of what has been said thus far, but …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged nick clegg | 5 Comments

Reshuffle reactions: your essential guide

By Stephen Tall | Fri 21st December 2007 - 8:50 am

Much reaction on the blogs and elsewhere to yesterday’s Lib Dem shadow cabinet announcements. Here are the links:

* Home Affairs for Huhne on Peter Welch’s Eastern/European blog.

* Clegg keeps Compo! on Martin Land’s New Model Army blog.

* Steve Webb given environment role on David Nikel’s The Golden Side of the Moon

* Great role for Chris Huhne on Paul Walter’s Liberal Burblings blog.

* A strong team astrologically on John’s Liberal Revolution blog.

* The New Shadow Cabinet – The Scottish Perspective on Stephen Glenn’s Linlithgow Journal

* All change please on The Bombastic Bedouin.

* …

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Posted in Best of the blogs and News | Tagged jonathan calder, paddy ashdown and paul walter | 3 Comments

Clegg’s new Shadow Cabinet

By Mark Pack | Thu 20th December 2007 - 1:33 pm

Leader
Nick Clegg

Deputy Leader
Vince Cable (unchanged)

Chief Whip
Paul Burstow (unchanged)

The economy and business
VINCE CABLE (unchanged)
Shadow Chancellor

Jeremy Browne (was Julia Goldsworthy)
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Sarah Teather (was Lembit Opik)
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Home Affairs
CHRIS HUHNE (was Nick Clegg)
Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department

David Heath (unchanged)
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor

The Rt Hon the Lord Thomas (unchanged)
Shadow Attorney General

David Howarth (unchanged)
Shadow Solicitor General

International affairs
ED DAVEY (was Michael Moore)
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Chair of Campaigns and Communications

Nick Harvey (unchanged)
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

Mike Moore (was Lynne Featherstone)
Shadow Secretary of …

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Posted in News | 56 Comments

Clegg to unveil Lib Dem shadow cabinet today

By Stephen Tall | Thu 20th December 2007 - 11:06 am

New Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is expected to announce later today who will get which post in the party’s shadow cabinet. The Guardian speculates here about some of the likely winners from the shake-up.

Posted in News | 2 Comments

Opinion: Why Labour can’t square the circle in Basra

By Geoffrey Payne | Thu 20th December 2007 - 10:23 am

Bob Ainsworth the defence minister had a torrid time on The Today Programme this week. He tried to persuade us that the British troops leaving Iraq today was a “success story”. John Humphreys put to him a quote from the police commander that “They have left me militias, they have left me gangsters, they have left me all the troubles in the world”.

On behalf of the government, Bob had to waffle on in response that “things were not perfect but they are better than before …”. Patently this was not the case, but the pretence had to be maintained in …

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Posted in Op-eds | Leave a comment

Nominations open for Campaign for Gender Balance Blog Awards

By Ros Taylor | Thu 20th December 2007 - 7:53 am

I was delighted when the Campaign for Gender Balance asked me to help judge the first Gender Balance Blog Awards – and relieved, because the dearth of women blogging about politics has had an uncivilising effect on the internet. Too many established bloggers, unconsciously or otherwise, consider the web a perfectly egalitarian place where women suffer no discrimination and should not expect special treatment.

Unfortunately, like every other utopia, that meritocracy simply doesn’t exist. Call it an innate unwillingness to pronounce on subjects in which we don’t have a doctorate, blame it on a lack of time, point to the lack …

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged Jo Swinson | 16 Comments

Top of the Blogs: the Golden Dozen #43 (Leadership special)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 19th December 2007 - 9:04 pm

Welcome to the 43rd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (9th-15th December), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

The final full week of the leadership contest… Here are the top-rated stories in descending order:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

A word from our Director of Campaigns & Elections

By The Voice | Wed 19th December 2007 - 8:35 pm

Hilary Stephenson, the party’s Director of Campaigns and Elections has been in touch with The Voice to express her satisfaction with the way the party has been welcoming its new leader.

I’m delighted that we have got Nick Clegg’s leadership off to a flying
start. Party campaigners across the country seem to have been eager to get their hands on the latest campaign materials to promote Nick’s leadership – even in the midst of the Christmas preparations.

Yesterday and today Lib Dems have been busy across the country handing out fliers introducing our new leader Nick Clegg. The first went out just a

…

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Posted in News | Leave a comment

Nick Clegg: Together, we can build Britain’s liberal future

By Nick Clegg MP | Wed 19th December 2007 - 7:06 pm

I would like to thank all Liberal Democrat members whose support led to my election yesterday as Party Leader. Now is the time for our party to come together to work for a more liberal Britain. Politics is out of step with the liberal instincts of the British people: we must change that.

When I look at Britain today I see a country stifled by the policies of successive illiberal governments – both Labour and Conservative. Our civil liberties have been casually cast aside, our public services are run by giant, faceless and often incompetent government bureaucracies, and our poorest communities suffer with security and opportunity in short supply. Britain is a rich society full of ambitious people with energy and drive, but where families nonetheless struggle to meet their monthly bills and achieve a good balance between the demands of work and family time.

I am determined that our party will point the way to a better future for Britain: the liberal country that the British people want it to be. We can do that by trusting the citizen, taking radical action, and ending the stifling grip of the two-party system.

I want to open up my party, Westminster, and British politics as a whole. I intend to hold regular and public Town Hall Meetings, and to spend at least one day every week listening and campaigning outside Westminster, reaching out and engaging with families and individuals throughout Britain who feel disconnected from politics.

I started that process today.

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Posted in News | 26 Comments

Clegg ‘Doesn’t believe in God’

By Alex Foster | Wed 19th December 2007 - 6:36 pm

In news that will surely delight Lib Dem Voice’s resident militant atheist (and at least one fluffy elephant), our new leader does not count himself amongst the nation’s theists, according a report over at the BBC.

The revelation came as part of a Radio 5 ‘rapid fire’ interview when he was asked whether he believed in God, and he replied no.

He later qualified his remarks, saying he had enormous respect for people with a faith (unlike LDV’s RMA) and that his wife and children were Catholic:

I myself am not an active believer, but the last thing I

…

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Posted in News | Tagged nick clegg | 58 Comments

Leader article: United in Europe

By Graham Watson | Wed 19th December 2007 - 11:33 am

Across Europe we have entered the age of drawbridge politics. What do I mean by this? That the dividing line between left and right, which for years divided those favouring a free market economy (generally on the right) from those favouring a planned or social market economy (generally on the left) – and which estranged economic liberals from social liberals though they belong together – is disappearing fast.

Most of the left has now recognised the need for a globally competitive economy and a less costly welfare state, as evidenced in the manifesto of the Party of European Socialists adopted in Oporto in Dec 2006 (though a few have joined the ‘stop the world I wanna get off’ camp). In an almost conciliatory gesture, many on the right now discuss the impact of massive shifts in investment and jobs on desirable and necessary levels of social cohesion. If we are sacrificing some social cohesion for economic dynamism, what happens to what we used to call ‘the common good’? A new social contract, capable of reconciling the competing demands of flexibility and fairness in te post-industrial age, is actively sought.

Their is a new dividing line in politics, however, no less clear than the old left-right division over the management of the economy. It reflects our response to the challenges of globalisation.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged graham watson | 6 Comments

And the winner is…

By Ryan Cullen | Wed 19th December 2007 - 9:45 am

…nope, not Nick Clegg, but Steve Comer who got the closest in our Leadership Contest Competition only being out by 0.7% of the vote share for Clegg and Huhne and only 0.6% out on the turnout. He will be shortly sent an exclusive LibDemVoice mug in the post. A special mention goes to Alex who was short on the turnout by only 0.1%, and commiserations to Charles Anglin who was actually the closest, but failed to provide a valid email address as required in the rules.
A full break down on the results can be …

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Posted in Leadership Election | 12 Comments

Opinion: Now’s your chance, Nick

By Stephen Tall | Wed 19th December 2007 - 1:35 am

Dear Nick,

I know you’re knackered, and that you’ve spent the last two months running yourself ragged in this leadership campaign. God knows why. Well, I guess there are 511 reasons why (though it’s mainly ‘cos the party exec reckons leadership campaigns should be run like by-elections, frantically keeping the party four-square in its comfort zone, appealing to its own electorate).

But, whatever the margin, you now have your mandate. You have been democratically elected leader of the Liberal Democrats. Now you must lead.

You must grab the agenda, and make it your own. As Vince Cable has, both with Northern Rock …

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Posted in Leadership Election and Op-eds | 18 Comments

You want Lib Dem blog reaction? You got it

By Stephen Tall | Wed 19th December 2007 - 12:27 am

Bless Iain Dale. He’s worried that if Lib Dems don’t speak through Lib Dem Voice they have nothing to say. Here’s a hint, Iain: cast your eyes down the Lib Dem Blogs Aggregator, and you’ll see we party members have plenty to talk about. There have been (by my count) seventy-three – yes, count ’em, 73 – leadership blog postings since the result was announced just 10 hours ago.

But, ’tis true, unlike the Tory party we don’t rely on one lone mouthpiece, Tim Mongomerie, to give all Lib Dem activists a home in which to spout off: …

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Posted in Site news | Tagged ConservativeHome and iain dale | 4 Comments

Embarrassment for Cameron over invalid donations

By Mark Pack | Tue 18th December 2007 - 6:49 pm

David Cameron’s constituency party has admitted receiving £7,000 in donations that, er…, it wasn’t allowed to receive. The money has now been forfeited.

Posted in News | 7 Comments

He’s leader, he’s on YouTube

By Mark Pack | Tue 18th December 2007 - 5:50 pm

Posted in Leadership Election and Lib Dem TV | Leave a comment

Nick Clegg is the new Leader

By Ryan Cullen | Tue 18th December 2007 - 2:39 pm

The results are in:
Nick Clegg – 20,988 (50.6%)
Chris Huhne – 20,477 (49.4%)
Turnout – 41,465

Nick Clegg
Credits Alex Folkes/Fishnik.com

Standby for further updates, including the winner of our Leadership Election Prediction Competition

EDIT 00:34am: The fullest information on results is available here. From this, we now know that turnout was 64.4% and there were 222 spoiled ballot papers. The winner of our election prediction competition… will still need to wait for Ryan’s spreadsheet to be completed. – Alex Foster

Posted in Leadership Election | 54 Comments

The Elephant Interviews…

By Millennium Elephant | Tue 18th December 2007 - 9:55 am

Hello, fluffy friends.

So… who wants to interview the Leader of the Liberal Democrats with me?

Such a lot has happened since last I wrote to you.

Sir Mr the Merciless has taken the LONG WALK; Mr Frown has shot himself in BOTH FEET; and Mr Balloon is still RUBBISH.

The Liberal Democrats will soon have a NEW Party Leader, either Mr Chris or Mr Nick, and you may have already read that I (OK, and some other people) went along to INTERVIEW both of them. I think that the interviews went RATHER WELL, and certainly showed both candidates at their …

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Posted in Blogger Interviews | 33 Comments

Opinion: What should the new leader do in his first 100 days? #4

By Mary Reid | Tue 18th December 2007 - 8:55 am

We all know that our real power base is in local government. And it is here that some of the most interesting initiatives in community politics are being played out by Lib Dem run councils.

So I want to challenge the new leader to capitalise on our distinctive style of leadership out beyond Westminster.

He could begin by a fact-finding tour of the country, and, guided by local knowledge, align himself with the greenest or most citizen-centric initiatives that have been introduced by our councillors. Each one will be accompanied by a challenge to the other parties to show whether they have …

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Posted in Leadership Election and Op-eds | Tagged nick clegg | 7 Comments

New Jersey abolishes the death penalty

By Mark Pack | Tue 18th December 2007 - 8:11 am

The state of New Jersey has become the first US state to abolish the death penalty in over thirty years.

In an interesting footnote to this news, one of the people who has as a result had their death sentence turned into life imprisonment is Jesse Timmendequas, whose murder of Megan Kanka resulted in the so-called “Megan’s Law” which some people have often campaigned for in Britain.

CNN has more.

Posted in LDVUSA and News | Leave a comment

Are you on your way to the Forum?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 18th December 2007 - 7:50 am

Don’t forget, if you’re a party member you can register for the Lib Dem Voice members’ forum – in which case you get to read and post on a rich variety of topics which don’t always make it into the public blog. Here’s a selection of the currently active threads to whet your appetites:

* Traffic: a liberal approach
* PPCs for the next General Election
* Creationist Theme Park – Is science under attack in Britain?
* Leadership Results
* The official ‘Thanks Vince’ thread
* The Problem with Gordon
* post Iraq – foreign policy

(Disclaimer: though LDV’s forum moderators do our best to ensure membership …

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Posted in Site news | 2 Comments

How you can help promote this site

By Mark Pack | Mon 17th December 2007 - 11:55 am

Traffic levels here at The Voice have grown sharply all through the year.

We estimated last month that around 10-15% of those who will vote in the party’s leadership election are readers of this site – which is significantly higher than most (if not all) other Liberal Democrat blogs.

On the other hand, it still leaves plenty of room for growth. Which is where you come in, dear reader…

Alex Foster has put together a series of adverts and articles suitable for including in members and supporters newsletters. So (if you are a …

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Posted in Site news | 12 Comments

Are you smarter than a pair of Iain Dales?

By The Voice | Mon 17th December 2007 - 7:55 am

There is still time to enter our Leadership Election Prediction Competition. Entrants so far include both the Iain Dales (the Lib Dem and the Conservative one), so here’s your chance to show that you’re a smarter reader of the political scene than not one but two Iain Dales. Go on, you know you want to.

Posted in Leadership Election | Tagged iain dale | Leave a comment

Vince snubs Cameron courtship

By Richard Huzzey | Sun 16th December 2007 - 10:33 am

David Cameron has made a cheeky bid for warmer relations with the Liberal Democrats and the Green party, in a posting on his blog. Vince Cable has already snubbed this cheap publicity stunt. He says:

The Liberal Democrats will continue to work with other parties on issues where we have common ground and can work together in the national interest. However, this is not a serious proposal and David Cameron clearly lives in cloud cuckoo land.

Posted in News | 16 Comments