NewsHound

LibLink: Kirsty Williams: Cancer care in Wales

By NewsHound | Sun 17th April 2016 - 12:55 pm

Kirsty Williams 2All the parties in Wales have been asked to write a blog for the Tenovus Cancer Care charity’s website. This is what Kirsty Williams had to say:

Cancer is something that will touch the life of everyone in Wales at some point. So when it does, the system needs to be ready to step up and give the treatment and care patients, and their families, need.

Yesterday the Welsh Liberal Democrats launched our manifesto for the next Welsh Government which contained a number of commitments that would transform cancer care. Cancer causes more than one in four deaths, yet Wales is the only UK nation without a cancer awareness campaign and there are huge variations in cancer outcomes within Wales, we must address this.

In government we would develop an all-Wales Individual Patient Funding Requests panel and remove the ‘exceptionality’ hurdle which prevents many patients’ access to drugs that their clinician thinks could help them. Your clinician should choose your medication, not your postcode.

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Vinous Ali

Visiting the Northern Greece refugee camps with Tim Farron

By Vinous Ali | Sun 17th April 2016 - 10:55 am

Refugee camp Northern GreeceOn Monday I flew out to Greece with Tim ahead of his visit to the camps in the North on Tuesday. Hours earlier UNHCR informed us they would no longer be able to facilitate the visit of a ‘high-profile’ individual given the security concerns after the clashes the day before. I tried desperately to reassure them that it was not exactly a ‘high profile’ visit, there would be no security team, huddle of staff and no media crew following him around– something that I don’t think they really believed.

So we flew into Greece with ‘fluid’ plans let’s say.

I spent Monday night manically emailing all the contacts I had working in the field to see if we could line up briefings for Tim the next day and had a surprising response. Everyone was very keen to meet Tim to tell him what they were doing and what they needed from the UK Government. One organisation who wasn’t even currently in Idomeni, the informal camp we visited on Tuesday morning, came over especially to give Tim and an overview of what was happening on the ground day in, day out.

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York Membery

In conversation with David Laws

By York Membery | Sun 17th April 2016 - 8:55 am

The former Liberal Democrat MP and government minister discusses his new book about the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government, says what he would do differently in hindsight, and looks into his crystal ball to see what the future holds for the party…

Your new book about the Coalition has certainly made a few waves following its Sunday newspaper serialisation – the right kind of waves?

I think inevitably there is a temptation in the press to shed light on things which are currently topical, such as Tory divisions on the referendum. But the primary reason I wrote the book was to give an accurate, historic account of the Coalition and a proper explanation of our part in it – and if the serialisation results in more people reading the book, so much the better.

It sounds like you’re, by and large, proud of what the Lib Dems achieved in government?

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Paul Walter

Is being an MP a rubbish job?

By Paul Walter | Sat 16th April 2016 - 7:54 pm

Nigel Morris in the i reports:

Lonely MPs are finding it almost impossible to balance their jobs with ordinary family life, according to a survey of politicians who quit Parliament at last year’s election.

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Paul Walter

Timely reminder – when the Guardian’s attempt to influence US politics backfired spectacularly

By Paul Walter | Sat 16th April 2016 - 11:54 am

Owen Jones in the Guardian recently wrote an article entitled: “I signed an open letter to Donald Trump, and you should too”:

Trump’s unapologetic embrace of racism, xenophobia and misogyny vindicates all of those ugly prejudices the world over. And millions of Americans are horrified about Trump. They deserve our solidarity and support. There is, after all, another United States, one forged by immigrants and transformed by courageous Americans who fought racism, sexism and homophobia. That is a United States millions of us believe in. And that is why we should sign this letter.

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The Voice

Nick Clegg chairs meeting on educational inequality in Sheffield

By The Voice | Sat 16th April 2016 - 10:25 am

Back in January, the Social Market Foundation, a think tank, established its cross-party Commission on Inequality in Education. It wants to tackle the disparity of attainment and break down barriers it identified relating to where you live, your family’s income and your ethnicity.

Yesterday, Nick chaired a meeting  of the Commission at Sheffield Hallam University.

Nick said:

On launching the commission, our research showed that where young people live now has more impact on their performance at school than used to be the case.

It is not just the relative wealth of parents that holds lots of bright kids back: it is postcode inequality too. What part of the country a child grows up in has a real impact on their life chances.

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NewsHound

Norman Baker’s Reform Club band plays London

By NewsHound | Sat 16th April 2016 - 8:55 am

Norman Baker hit the stage in London recently with his band. Buzzfeed, and a whole load of Lib Dems, were there.

“Where are all the Lib Dems?” one bearded fan heckled at him at one point. Baker replied: “He’s over there.” That prompted some wry chuckles from my Lib Dem companions, perhaps tinged with a hint of sadness. Baker didn’t shy away from politics during the gig. “We wrote this one before May 2015 but it’s a good song to play afterwards,” he said, introducing “Never Yesterday”.

“But the road to the past is just another dead end / And so, my friend, think about today, never yesterday,” he sang with feeling. The band also enjoyed belting out “Give War a Chance”, an incredibly unsubtle takedown of Tony Blair. It begins: “I am an envoy for peace / But I’ve got war on my mind.”

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Stephen Tall

LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League: how it stands after Week 33

By Stephen Tall | Fri 15th April 2016 - 5:55 pm
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Caron Lindsay

The “trailblazing, hell-raising rule breaking Rennie”

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 15th April 2016 - 4:28 pm

Another Friday, another day Willie Rennie wins the internet.

I don’t think there has ever been such fun at a manifesto launch ever.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats’ manifesto is centred around opportunity in so many ways. Children are at the very heart of it, so it seemed appropriate that the event took place in a soft play event in Edinburgh. And if you are going to go there, you need to get into the spirit of the place. You can’t afford to look too stiff and sober. And Willie didn’t.

The team got three specific things right. First a bit of humour, reminding everyone how you won the internet last week too.

And, let’s be honest, it’s a bit of a treat to imagine hard-nosed political hacks being asked to wait in a room like this:

Finally, if you have a leader who can do a 3 second pitch while going down a slide, then that’s a talent you have to exploit.

Jamie Ross from Buzzfeed absolutely loved it:

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The Bearing Group – helping to build a more liberal UK

By Anonymous Lib Dem | Fri 15th April 2016 - 3:00 pm

In the wake of the electoral wipe out of the Liberal Democrats in May 2015 I was thoroughly disappointed. Disappointed by a national election campaign that was lacklustre and had lost the pulse of the British public. Disappointed by the voters so easily caught up in the scaremongering of a Labour/SNP alliance. Disappointed at those who ran to the Conservatives in blind hope of a stable economy that had been achieved not through Tory cuts but Liberal Democrat moderation.

In all honestly I lost faith in the ability of the Liberal Democrats to deliver the liberal Britain we need. The PR disaster was so staggeringly absolute that it seemed to sound the death knell for liberal politics at a national level for years to come. I was delighted that my expectations were exceeded by the surge of membership and a new leader who seems to have real change on his mind.

However, in that gap I decided to take a step myself – towards doing my best to personally shift public discourse back towards liberalism in a way not bound to the fortunes of political parties and the party political tactics which grow increasingly divisive as more parties join the fray. That initiative created The Bearing Group.

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The Voice

Farron: Rise in UK deaths related to hunger a “national scandal”

By The Voice | Fri 15th April 2016 - 1:30 pm

The Huffington Post reports a rise in the number of deaths in which hunger is a factor in the UK. It’s up from 255 in 2005 to 375 in 2014. In 2013, that figure was even higher at 392.

Tim Farron was horrified to hear this, saying:

This shouldn’t be happening in 21st century Britain and the Government’s response is hopelessly complacent.

We seem to be creating ‘Breadline Britain’ for some of the most vulnerable people in society.

People are living under greater pressure and hearing thousands of people have died, in part, due to malnutrition is a national scandal.

We wonder if there …

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Baroness Emma Nicholson

Baroness Emma Nicholson writes…We must maintain momentum to end sexual violence in conflict

By Baroness Emma Nicholson | Fri 15th April 2016 - 11:59 am

On a ferociously hot day in Baghdad a few months ago, I listened as a young Yazidi girl slowly and carefully told me her horrific story.

Captured by the monstrous Daesh when her village in Northern Iraq was overrun, Nadia had been sold to the highest bidder, an elderly thug called Selman, who proceeded to rape this poor girl on a daily basis. Any resistance was met with fists and boots.

As we finally abandoned the sweltering heat of the garden for the cool of the hotel lobby, Nadia burst into floods of tears as she told me about one particularly gruesome day.

Selman had become outraged at her attempted resistance to his vicious sexual assaults which left her battered and bruised. So in revenge he allowed all six of his bodyguards to drag her into the bedroom and rape her. One after the other, over and over again.

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Fionna Tod

Contrasts of Cologne and Kent

By Fionna Tod | Fri 15th April 2016 - 10:24 am

Tim Farron in CologneLast month I accompanied Tim Farron on a visit to a British Red Cross centre in Gravesend, Kent to learn about the projects they run for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASCs). Home to the British end of the Channel Tunnel, Kent has always had a high proportion of UASCs, but 2015 brought an unprecedented number, with over 1000 new children entering into the care of the Local Authority. During our visit we met young people from Sudan and Eritrea who spoke about their experiences both in transit and since they’ve arrived in the UK.

In many ways it was similar to the visit I took with Tim and Catherine Bearder to Cologne in February, but there were also startling differences, and the starkest difference was in access to language courses and education.

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Caron Lindsay

Scottish Liberal Democrats to launch manifesto – a plan to make Scotland the best again

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 15th April 2016 - 8:10 am

Willie Rennie will today unveil the party’s “bold, positive and progressive plans to make Scotland the best again” as he launches the Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto.

He will set out ambitious proposals for a transformational investment in education, a step-change in mental health services, the protection of our environment and guaranteeing Scots’ civil liberties.

Speaking ahead of the launch, Willie said:

Scottish Liberal Democrats offer an ambitious, positive and uplifting programme for Scotland.

The Liberal Democrats are back to our best. Scotland should be the best again too.

Our programme for Scotland is ambitious and progressive. We are offering the biggest investment in education since devolution, new plans for mental health services, new laws to guarantee our civil liberties and new investment so we can exceed our climate change targets.

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Caron Lindsay

Breaking..A duo of by-election wins, one strong hold, one great gain

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th April 2016 - 11:58 pm

Well, well. Only three by-elections tonight and we’ve won two of them

One was a solid hold in Taunton Deane, where we lost the parliamentary seat last May.

Our vote went up despite the presence of a Labour candidate, The Greens have really fallen out of favour.

But better news was to come. We gained a seat in Cornwall.

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The Voice

Welsh Lib Dems launch manifesto – A Wales that works for you

By The Voice | Thu 14th April 2016 - 10:03 pm

At a Penarth health centre, Kirsty Williams launched the Welsh Liberal Democrats’ manifesto:

Kirsty talked about its “relentless focus” on public services:

People want good schools, good hospitals and a vibrant economy – a strong future for Wales. After 17 years in office, people recognise that the Labour Government still fails to get the basics right.

We are launching our vision today in a GP surgery to send a clear message: we are relentlessly focused on better public services.

Our manifesto is a roadmap for an ambitious, optimistic and pioneering Wales, based on our values and our nation’s needs. Our priorities are the people of Wales’ priorities: more nurses on hospital wards, smaller class sizes for our children, and an Opportunity Economy so that people can get on in life.

It’s time Wales had a government that actually listened to people – this is a manifesto that will deliver a Wales that works for you.

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Caron Lindsay

It’s postal vote polling day!

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th April 2016 - 3:30 pm

Postal vote Scottish Lib DemsAs postal votes start hitting doorsteps in our elections, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have compiled a list of things people should know.

Here are 6 of them:

  1. We’re the only party with a plan to invest half a billion in schools, colleges & nurseries (find out more here: scotlibdems.org.uk/education).
  2. We’ll get serious about mental health (find out more here: scotlibdems.org.uk/health).
  3. We’re the only party with a credible plan to tackle the GP crisis (find out more here: scotlibdems.org.uk/health).
  4. We’ll take real action to make sure Scotland finally meets its climate change targets (find out more here: scotlibdems.org.uk/environment).
  5. We’re the only party that will protect your civil liberties, in Westminster & in Holyrood (find out more here: scotlibdems.org.uk/freedom).
  6. We’ll free public sector workers from top-down targets (find out more here: scotlibdems.org.uk/public sector)
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Claire Tyler

Claire Tyler writes…We need to invest in all our young people

By Claire Tyler | Thu 14th April 2016 - 2:02 pm

When it comes to the big debates on education, invariably the focus is on schools and universities. It’s all about academic success, exam league tables and access to higher education. On the rare occasions that the focus isn’t on institutions, it’s on apprenticeships. The attention governments of all hues have paid to these flagship policies have obscured one very important fact: the majority of young people—53%—do not follow the ‘traditional’ academic route into work.

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Alice Thomas

Offshore 101, or: Can we please stop asking David Cameron to resign?

By Alice Thomas | Thu 14th April 2016 - 12:56 pm

One of my favourite things about the Liberal Democrats is members don’t just get stuck into debates – they go looking for the evidence to back up what they’ve got to say. That’s why this week’s furore around what David Cameron did or didn’t do has been so frustrating.

The Panama Papers are fascinating to me, as a lawyer and a would-be tax specialist. It looks likely that when the dust has settled there will be evidence of money laundering, of tax evasion, of tax avoidance and of regulatory failings. But so far most journalists and commentators are throwing around words like fund and trust as if they’re the same thing, and treating tax avoidance, tax evasion and money laundering as equivalent acts. Unfortunately, much of the social media discussion so far has accepted these red herrings.

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Caron Lindsay

Watch: Christine Jardine in BBC Health debate “Let medical professionals do their job”

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th April 2016 - 11:30 am

On Tuesday night, Aberdeenshire East candidate Christine Jardine took part in a BBC Scotland debate on health. This is one area in which the SNP has consistently failed. We are going to be 700 GPs short by the end of the decade, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to get a GP appointment, there are no mental health beds for children north of Dundee, and there’s a LOT of Scotland north of Dundee and mental health care is even worse than it is south of the border. In addition to all of that, health professionals often find that top-down targets get in the way of them doing their job.

Watch Christine take on the SNP Health Minister on all these points. The Minister at one point suggested that criticising the SNP’s health policy was in some way talking the NHS down – their usual refuge when they know they are on the losing side of an argument.

Here are Christine’s highlights:

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Antony Hook

EURef: What can the EU make law on (hint: it is not “anything it feels like”)

By Antony Hook | Thu 14th April 2016 - 10:30 am

Travelling the South of England, speaking for Remain at debates and public meetings it has been fascinating to hear the arguments of speakers for Leave.

Phrases I have heard include “remember the English civil war” and “Enoch Powell was right” from speakers from the right of politics and “we owe the Red Army our security” and “we don’t want any free trade” from more left wing Leave speakers. These points are entertainment and have no real traction or credibility with undecided voters.

Another suggestion sometimes heard from Leave speakers, and from Leave-inclined attendees at debates, is that the European Union can makes law about anything it pleases.

This is completely wrong.

The Union’s power to make law is limited to certain areas (technically called “competences”) delegated to it by the 28 States.

If the Union exceeds the powers given to it by the States the law in question would have no effect.

The limited powers of the Union are set out in the Treaties that create the Union. If you want to be technical they are in Title 1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

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The Voice

LibLink: Vince Cable makes the case for TTIP and free trade

By The Voice | Thu 14th April 2016 - 9:36 am

Vince Cable, who was involved in negotiations over the proposed EU-US trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, in his role as business secretary, has been writing about the issue, and that of free trade more generally.

Vince first summarises the rationale for TTIP:

The European Commission has prioritised a bilateral agreement with the USA: TTIP, which is proving a source of unexpected controversy, although negotiations are still at an early stage. The underlying objective is to apply, on a transatlantic basis, the same approach that helped to create the EU Single Market. Since, as within the EU, tariffs and quotas are no longer a major issue the emphasis has been on preventing differences in standards, mainly technical, acting as a barrier to trade. There are, for example, different specifications for seatbelt design and testing that make it difficult to export in both directions. In effect, a different production line is required to sell into the USA, which can be prohibitive, especially for low volume manufacturers.

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The Voice

Tim Farron launches blueprint for UK to take 3000 unaccompanied refugee children

By The Voice | Wed 13th April 2016 - 5:22 pm

Tim Farron has this afternoon published his blueprint for how the UK could take 3000 unaccompanied refugee children.

Earlier he spoke to the Daily Politics about the plan and his visit to Northern Greece yesterday.

The plan has been drawn up in consultation with the charities and NGOs who attended his recent summit on the issue. The main recommendations are as follows:

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NewsHound

Caroline Pidgeon: With me as Mayor, London would work for everyone

By NewsHound | Wed 13th April 2016 - 4:45 pm

 

Caroline Pidgeon has been talking to London 24 about her plans. Most of the interview is policy stuff that we are all aware of – her plans for more affordable childcare, more houses, better transport and half price tube fares before 7:30 am.

She was asked what London would be like after 4 years of her as Mayor:

London would be a far more family-friendly city, and a city that really works for everyone. We’d have more homes to help deal with the housing crisis, we’d have targeted fare measures to really help get people get around, we’d have more cycling infrastructure and improvements for pedestrians, we’d have cleaner air because I’d bring in electric buses and taxies, and less traffic because I would bring in changes to the congestion charge to get some of those private vehicles off the road. Alongside that, I’d be fighting to improve childcare in London, so more wraparound childcare for parents in the mornings, evenings and school holidays. We’d have a city that just works better for everyone.

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Keith Aspden

Bosnia’s Nasa Stranka visits York

By Keith Aspden | Wed 13th April 2016 - 3:20 pm

Nasa Stranka in YorkOne of the highlights of this year’s Spring Conference for us as a Local Party, led by our deputy group leader Cllr Ann Reid, was hosting some representatives of our Bosnian sister party, Nasa Stranka.

Nationally links between our two parties are already well-established, with joint working around campaigns, training and promoting women in politics. But for anyone who doesn’t follow Bosnian politics as closely as we do….

Nasa Stranka (‘Our Party’ in Bosnian) was founded in 2008 to offer an alternative to the dominant nationalist parties, and over the past six years has established itself as the leading socially liberal and progressive voice in Bosnian politics. Nasa Stranka is also a shining example of achieving gender equality, with 46% female representation at the local level.

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Paul Walter

Is Leeds showing the way forward on prostitution?

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th April 2016 - 1:50 pm

Considering our own forward-thinking policy on prostitution, I wonder if readers approve of the scheme currently being run in Leeds. The BBC reports:

A suburb in Leeds is the first place in the UK where it is permitted for women to sell sex between specified hours. The “managed approach” was introduced to try to control the trade.

…in this specified network of roads, street prostitutes can sell their services from 19.00 to 07.00 BST, without being stopped by police.

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Caron Lindsay

A surprising gap in David Laws’ knowledge

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 13th April 2016 - 1:20 pm

Last night, Biteback Publishing held a party to celebrate the launch of David Laws’ book, Coalition.

The Times (£) has an amusing anecdote from the event:

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Paul Walter

Africa’s Super Sunday

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th April 2016 - 12:20 pm

Recently on holiday in West Africa, I was somewhat torn. There was a strong temptation to leave my political conscience in a left luggage locker at Gatwick. Indeed, I think I did to an extent. I was, after all, on holiday and, being in a rural “eco lodge”, I was able to mix with ordinary Africans and provide some support to the local economy.

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Paul Walter

St Ives referendum – Is this the way forward to stop seaside idylls being ghost towns?

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th April 2016 - 10:50 am

The idyllic, but seagull-dive-bombed, seaside town of St Ives is holding a referendum, as the BBC reports:

On 5 May, the council will ask residents to vote on a new town plan, which includes a promise to restrict second home ownership.
If the vote is passed, new housing projects will get planning permission only on condition that the homes are reserved for people to live in full-time. Developers will not be allowed to sell the buildings to anyone who has a residence elsewhere.

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Paul Walter

The government’s EU “remain” booklet hits the doormats…and it is spookily reminiscent of its 1975 counterpart

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th April 2016 - 9:50 am

P1010392 (2)Here’s the very booklet I received yesterday from Her Majesty’s government. It’s a rather dry looking document, but the message is clear, as it is repeated, more or less, three times on the cover of the booklet:

Why The Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is in the best decision for the UK.

…on the front and:

The Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK.

and

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