David Faggiani

Liberal heroes in pop culture Part 3: Mary Poppins

By David Faggiani | Thu 13th August 2015 - 4:00 pm

This is the third of a series of pieces that we will publish over the summer. Please do nominate further entries in the comments! This one was suggested by Cathy Thompson! See here for a link to Parts 1 and 2.

This latest liberal icon is different in several ways from our prior picks. She isn’t a military captain or commander, but she’s arguably a greater source of authority than that. She’s an educator. And she’s practically perfect, in every way. She is the one and only Mary Poppins.

As portrayed by Julie Andrews in the classic film, Mary Poppins is a shamanistic governess who enters the staid world of 1910 London, and turns it upside down. The political scene of 1910 is worth several articles in itself. For one thing, the plot of Mary Poppins takes place during a Hung Parliament, and just after a legitimate constitutional crisis. Of course, none of this is mentioned. But we do get the Suffragettes. Maybe Disney thought kids weren’t that interested in Herbert Asquith. Shame on them…

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Paul Walter

When a cabinet minister can’t open a door – from our archive

By Paul Walter | Thu 13th August 2015 - 2:15 pm

Liberal Democrat Voice has a fantastic archive of posts going back to our establishment in 2006. Here’s an interesting article from The Voice, which was published in October 2006. You can read the post in its original form, with comments, here:

There is a set of stairs in the mother of all Parliaments. At the top is the committee corridor, and the office of the leader of the Liberal Democrats. In the middle, is the MP’s tea room, and at the bottom, is the most popular restaurant in the palace. It is a busy set of stairs.

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Paul Walter

New members declare why they are liberal on Twitter #libdemnewbies #imliberal

By Paul Walter | Thu 13th August 2015 - 12:42 pm

This is a great sort of viral sort of thing. You can join in with the hashtag #imliberal and/or #libdemnewbies.

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Paul Walter

LibLink: Norman Baker – with the LibDems reduced to a “pile of rubble”, we’re in danger of sleepwalking into a one party state

By Paul Walter | Thu 13th August 2015 - 11:15 am

Writing in the Independent, Norman Baker details a number of reasons why we are “sleepwalking into a one-nation state”, concluding as follows:

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Paul Walter

Shirley Williams predicts Labour MPs could come together with Lib Dems if Corbyn wins

By Paul Walter | Thu 13th August 2015 - 9:42 am

Speaking to the Huffington Post, Shirley Williams recalls the formation of the SDP in 1981, a key reason for which was the decision of left-wing Labour to campaign to take Britain out of the EEC:

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Ian Hurdley

No replacement of Trident

By Ian Hurdley | Wed 12th August 2015 - 4:21 pm

 

Members and supporters of the  Libdems against Trident group have proposed a motion calling for the like-for-like replacement of Trident to be scrapped.  The motion will be debated at Bournemouth in September. I am not able to get to Bournemouth, but the motion has my full support.

This does not mean that I am anti-nuclear; I am not. What I am is anti-waste on a nuclear scale, which is what I believe the replacement of Trident to be. It takes us back to 1930s thinking which saw Britain prepare to fight the previous war, not the next one or the one after that. The days of Mutual Assured Destruction, and the Cold War are behind us thankfully. The Soviet Union has collapsed and whatever its posturing, Russia is a much weaker opponent. China is no threat to the UK and the nuclear powers outside Europe have regional not global ambitions.

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Henry Fisher

On drugs, protests and direct action

By Henry Fisher | Wed 12th August 2015 - 3:05 pm

 

On 1st August I attended my first ever protest outside the houses of Parliament. There was no kettling, shouting, or even any placards. Instead, there were balloons, balloons filled with nitrous oxide – laughing gas. This was the protest against the Psychoactive Substances Bill, organised by The Psychedelic Society to highlight the idiocy of the Bill, both in its principle and in its wording.

I could fill this entire post, and a few more, with criticisms of the Bill itself, from its illiberal premise, to its impact on medical research, to its utter unworkability, but I won’t.

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Antony Hook

Lib Dems are the natural party for Eastern Europeans in Britain

By Antony Hook | Wed 12th August 2015 - 1:34 pm

Britain’s always changing. That is one of the best things about our country.

Liberal Democrats, and before us Whigs and Liberals, have long supported outsiders seeking to make this place their home.

Whigs supported Huguenots – religious refugees from France. In the nineteenth century Liberals supported equality for Jews and Catholics, who were denied basic civil rights.

It is well documented in history that the arrival of new people has made our country greater. Immigrants have brought new talents and energy.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 43 Comments

On liberalism and NIMBYism

By Max Parish | Wed 12th August 2015 - 10:26 am

 

I was delighted to see Tim Farron taking on housing as a personal campaigning priority. In order to do this effectively, though, he will sooner or later need to take on a culture of expedient NIMBYism in his own party.

Local campaigns against new development are often highly effective in garnering media attention and engaging people who might join or support the party. At times, they are also the right thing to do for an area. At other times, however, they can be opportunistic and exaggerated: in a recent example I came across, a local party deliberately misinterpreted a proposal in a non-party, think-tank style report on the housing crisis for a concrete, Conservative plan to pave over a large swathe of the district. Local campaigns which proudly ‘see off’ developers may leave a legacy of usable sites remaining derelict for years, and seek to spin this as some sort of victory over vested interests, when in fact it is anything but.

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James Harper

The Conservatives and asylum seekers

By James Harper | Tue 11th August 2015 - 3:27 pm

Anti-immigrant feeling is one of the oldest prejudices in the book. We have rightly come to expect to hear it with wearying regularity from the right-wing press and certain parts of the Conservative party.  But there is something different about the latest round of comments and policy proposals from Theresa May and co – something darker and altogether more troubling.

Until now, even the Conservatives, who have attacked ‘economic’ migrants (including students) with every kind of financial and regulatory penalty imaginable since 2010, have maintained an attitude of respect towards asylum seekers and refugees. ‘Britain has a proud and historic tradition …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Cllr Jayne McCoy: Council intervention drives housing market

By NewsHound | Tue 11th August 2015 - 12:28 pm

Cllr Jayne McCoy chairs the London Borough of Sutton’s Housing, Economy and Business Committee. She has written for the Local Government Association’s First magazine about how Sutton Council have set up a development company to build the right sorts of houses at the prices key workers can afford:

In Sutton we have seen numerous private developments of one bedroom flats, however what we need are two and three bedroom family homes. We also see both the private for sale and private rented sector out of the price range of most of our residents.

In response we have sought to take control and lead the delivery of housing ourselves by setting up a council-owned development company. This will allow us to take advantage of preferential borrowing rates to invest in the housing market across all tenures.

The development company gives the council the flexibility to build homes for private ownership, private rent or to build council houses in the traditional sense. The company will also seek to unlock sites where development has stalled.

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Andrew Chamberlain

Liberal Democrats should commit to abolition of all global borders

By Andrew Chamberlain | Tue 11th August 2015 - 10:25 am

The upcoming referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union is both an opportunity and a threat for the Liberal Democrats.  The party has an opportunity to define itself clearly as the most forward-thinking, internationalist force in British politics.  However, if it fails to do this then it risks looking like an irrelevant, also-ran defender of the status quo.

The 2014 European election campaign shows the threat that the party faces.  It was insufficient to simply argue that the European Union must be retained because it preserves jobs and helps our on-going effort to prevent climate change.  If we want to galvanise support then we have to offer a vision of the future, not simply a defence of the present.

Similarly, the Better Together campaign in the Scottish independence referendum ended up creating the impression in far too many voters’ minds that the Liberal Democrats and the other unionist parties were simply interested in defending the UK as it exists now.  That vote might have been won, but it was won in a fashion that did the victorious parties no good at all in Scotland.

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged and | 60 Comments
Sal Brinton

Sal Brinton writes: Consultation on party governance

By Sal Brinton | Mon 10th August 2015 - 6:17 pm

Over the last two years members have made it clear that they feel that the party is out of touch, often unaccountable and our complex structures unintelligible to all but those heavily involved in them. Reform was a key issue raised by members in the Presidential campaign in 2014 and again in the Leadership campaign earlier this year.

In answer to this, I promised during my Presidential campaign that I would be a reforming President, tackling the difficult issue of party governance head on by carrying out a full review of the party’s governance, followed by a root and branch restructuring …

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British Politics is in a constant battle with the youth and the Lib Dems should be on the frontline

By Jamie Dwan | Mon 10th August 2015 - 4:11 pm

 

As a party we have, despite recent results, a lot going for us. We have thousands of enthusiastic members, a huge amount of dedication and heaps of potential. Potential is the key word. The key values that the Liberal Democrats stand for are: liberalism, freedom and equality for all. These match very closely with what today’s young believe. So why in the last election did UKIP (10%) and the Greens (9%) perform better with the youth vote than the Lib Dems (8%)?

We are living in a liberal age. People have internationalist, democratic and progressive views. Yet the Lib Dems achieved only eight MPs in May. This is clear evidence that we have failed to spread the message of progressive liberalism to young voters. We need to accept as a party that we are no longer the campaigning powerhouse that we once were. The policies are there, the framework is there, the people are there but the clear concise message to young people is not.

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Judy Abel

The Lib Dems: We need to fight back for the many, not just the few

By Judy Abel | Mon 10th August 2015 - 2:49 pm

 

I am really pleased that Tim Farron won the leadership election, because of his energy, commitment and strong sense of social justice – and I am really impressed that Tim went to Calais to see for himself what is going on there – but I do have some concerns about where the Party may be heading. Of course, it is early days, but over the summer the coverage of the Lib Dems in the media has been mostly around ‘fringe’ issues such as Tim’s comments about the SNP and his faith perspective. That may fit in nicely with the media’s ‘Lib Dem agenda’, but we shouldn’t be boxed in as a minority party that has little to say to the wider electorate. Having just read Tim’s policy priorities in Caron Linday’s article posted a few days ago, with the exception of housing, I remain concerned.

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Stuart Bonar

Daily Mail exposes scandal that isn’t

By Stuart Bonar | Mon 10th August 2015 - 1:24 pm

Daily MailIf you’ve glanced at the front page of the Daily Mail today, you’ll have seen that those scheming, sneaky foreigners are at it again. This time, according to the Daily Mail, “foreigners charge NHS for care in their own country.”

The full report is here, but let me summarise it for you. A Hungarian journalist living in Hungary – and working for the paper – lied and used a forged tenancy agreement to obtain a UK-issued European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), to which she had no legal entitlement. An EHIC allows residents of certain European countries to obtain emergency medical treatment when visiting other European countries. The journalist then visited health providers in Hungary to confirm that they accepted the EHIC. She states in the paper that she did not use the card to obtain any care, but if she had done so the authorities in Hungary would have been entitled to claim the cost of that care back from the UK Government.

Cue outrage at soft touch Britain, etc.

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Cara Jenkinson

Working together in North London

By Cara Jenkinson | Mon 10th August 2015 - 12:01 pm

haringey lib dems

The campaign in Hornsey and Wood Green this year to keep the wonderful Lynne Featherstone as MP was the biggest we in Haringey have ever fought.  One of the really gratifying aspects of the campaign, despite the disappointing results was the way in which other North London parties came to help. Whether it was knocking on doors, writing blue envelopes or running fundraisers for Lynne, the support from our neighbouring parties was fantastic.

After Lynne’s defeat came the depressing task of closing down the constituency office and laying off staff. The local party looked hard at party finances and decided that the only way forward was for us to pool resources with other parties nearby. So we started discussions with Camden and Islington about sharing office space and an organiser. Three months later we have a new office, smaller but better located than our previous office and a new organiser who is shared between the three local parties.

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Bryn Jones

Let’s defend the underdog – Channel 4

By Bryn Jones | Mon 10th August 2015 - 10:16 am

Underdog

If you’ve tuned your telly to Channel 4 recently, there’s a good chance you would have seen a dog in a suit, interviewing Channel 4 stars about the virtues of the channel. You can see the ‘Underdog’ advert here.

The underdog hears from the likes of Adam Hills and Jon Snow about how Channel 4 is able to offer alternative views and take risks, because of its not-for-profit status as a publically owned station.

So why does Channel 4 feel the need to advertise to justify its own existence?

The privatisation of Channel 4 is a genuine worry under a Tory government. The current culture secretary is right-winger John Whittingdale, who actually proposed privatising the channel as far back as 1996 with an amendment to the broadcasting bill. Reporting of Whittingdale’s appointment as culture secretary has focused on what this might mean for the BBC, but it is likely Channel 4 is firmly in his crosshairs too.

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The Voice

Liberal Democrat Voice editor replies to Lord Greaves

By The Voice | Sun 9th August 2015 - 11:33 pm

From Twitter tonight:

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Posted in Site news | 171 Comments
Paul Walter

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #426

By Paul Walter | Sun 9th August 2015 - 7:41 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 426th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (2-8 August, 2015), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can 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:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | 2 Comments
The Voice

LDV’s Sunday Best: our 7 most-read articles this week

By The Voice | Sun 9th August 2015 - 6:25 pm

7 ver 4 fullMany thanks to the  visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

An open letter to Nick Clegg (119 comments) by Mark Argent

Sad news: Sutton and Cheam’s organiser David MacDonald dies at 28 (9 comments) by Caron Lindsay

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Paul Walter

Calais: a sharp contrast in approach

By Paul Walter | Sun 9th August 2015 - 1:37 pm

Philip Hammond, the British Foreign Secretary, has made some comments about the Calais situation, reported in the Telegraph:

Millions of African migrants pose a threat to the standard of living and social structure of the UK and the rest of Europe, the Foreign Secretary has warned.

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The Liberator Collective

What’s in Liberator Issue 373?

By The Liberator Collective | Sun 9th August 2015 - 11:10 am

Issue 373 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers and this one’s free sample online content is the Commentary on Tim Farron’s election as Lib Dem leader, and Tony Greaves’ article in which he argues that the party has forgotten how to campaign and must avoiding wasting the potential of its thousand of new members. The full version of Liberator 372 is now also online. See: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk

The new issue also includes:

THE PATH TO PADDY’S HAT – the general election exit poll should not have surprised those who had followed what the market research industry was doing, says Alex Dee

WELLBEING WORKS – Looking at wellbeing provides liberals with route to express their commitment to redistribution, and they should accept the need for state involvement, says Claire Tyler

PLACES THAT DON’T MATTER – The wave of migrants trying to reach Europe is driven by corruption and poverty in misgoverned African states, says Rebecca Tinsley

POWER CHANGES IN NIGERIA – A first peaceful change of power between civilian parties shows Nigeria’s democracy has finally established itself, says Donald Inwalomhe

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The Voice

LAST CHANCE to nominate for party awards

By The Voice | Sun 9th August 2015 - 9:18 am

As Sal Brinton reminded us on Wednesday, the deadline to nominate people for this year’s Party Awards is 9 am tomorrow morning. Who do you think deserves to be recognised?

Sal wrote:

The deadline for this year’s Party Awards has been extended to Monday at 9am – don’t forget to nominate! I know there are people all over the country who deserve to be rewarded for all the hard work they put in during the election period, not to mention the invaluable ongoing work which so many party officers and others have been carrying out.

As a reminder, please see below the various categories, and how to apply.

President’s Award – any member elected to public office.

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The Voice

McInnes presses for Holyrood enquiry into Police spying claims

By The Voice | Sat 8th August 2015 - 3:26 pm

Another month, another scandal involving Police Scotland.

Alison McInnes has called for an enquiry that could see senior police officers and government ministers  brought before a Holyrood committee to provide answers on Police Scotland’s involvement in accessing the communications data of journalists without judicial approval. 

Alison has written to Convenor Christine Grahame to ask that the parliamentary committee investigate the claims. If agreed, an inquiry could result in senior figures from Police Scotland and the Scottish Government being asked to provide evidence.

It emerged last month that two un-named UK police forces had been involved in spying on journalists and their sources.

The Sunday Herald newspaper has claimed that Police Scotland is one of those forces and yesterday an investigative journalist told BBC Scotland he believes the national force may have been monitoring his communications illegally.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem Jobwatch Special: Fancy being a Parliamentary Adviser?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 8th August 2015 - 1:37 pm

The Liberal Democrats are setting up a more streamlined parliamentary policy team as befits our new circumstances and, for the first time, one team will serve both Commons and Lords. Applications close at 5 pm this coming Wednesday.

The job description for the three parliamentary adviser posts is as follows:

The PAU is a dynamic, exciting and fast paced team working to support and promote the efforts of Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians in both the House of Commons and House of Lords.

The Parliamentary Adviser will specialise in one of six key policy areas, supporting all Parliamentarians in carrying out their duties.  We are currently advertising for three of these policy areas.

Working with the Leaders and Chief Whips of both Houses, the post holders will support the design and delivery of key parliamentary campaigns, which promote the ideals and aims of the Liberal Democrats in Westminster. As such a detailed understanding of parliament, ability to identify and engage with key external stakeholders and experience of policy communication are essential.

The PAU will be based in the Liberal Democrat HQ in Westminster.

The portfolio areas to be recruited are:

  • Human Rights, Policing, Justice and Security
  • Housing, Sustainability and Environment
  • Europe, Foreign Affairs, Defence and UK Devolution (including devolved Parliaments)

There are also two Parliamentary support and correspondence officer positions available:

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Sarah Noble

Amnesty should support decriminalisation of sex work

By Sarah Noble | Sat 8th August 2015 - 11:18 am

This month, Amnesty International delegates will vote on a proposal to make decriminalisation of sex work a campaigning matter for the human rights organisation. This, understandably, has raised ire from many people, but none so large as parts of the feminist movement.

Just last week, we saw several Hollywood actors – ordinarily staunch allies of Amnesty’s work – sign an open letter promulgated by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women calling for Amnesty to reject the policy. One notable signatory was Anne Hathaway, who received an Oscar two years ago for her portrayal of Fantine in Les Miserables.
Fantine’s story is one that resembles that of many sex workers – after losing her job at Valjean’s factory, and being unable to make ends meet, she turns to selling sex at the docks of Montrieul. Eventually, after she is assaulted by a client, Javert arrests her and sentences her to prison. Only through Valjean’s intervention is Fantine able to die a free woman. Would criminalisation have helped Fantine? Obviously not; solicitation was highly illegal in 19th century France. In addition, like many of these laws, it was a law only ever utilised against the poorest workers. Hugo’s message in telling Fantine’s story was not one against prostitution; it was one of moral judgement failing the most in need.
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Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie puts us all to shame – is it time he challenged Farron?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 8th August 2015 - 9:06 am

Willie Rennie certainly is a pretty good role model for a healthy lifestyle.

This is the sight that greeted me when I arrived at Scottish Lib Dem HQ for a meeting yesterday morning.

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Caron Lindsay

Tim Farron’s seven campaign priorities

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 7th August 2015 - 5:56 pm

Just before heading off on holiday, Tim Farron has announced his seven campaign priorities. As they cross departmental boundaries, he’s put together a campaign team to lead on each issue. It’s a sign of how much importance he attaches to housing that he has taken the lead role on that issue himself.

The team will be responsible for taking our campaign messages and making sure that they get out on the ground. The seven priorities and the lead people responsible are as follows:

 

Chaired by Greg Mulholland MP, the Parliamentary Campaigns Team will consist of:

  • Rural Communities and Vice Chair – Mark Williams MP
  • EU referendum – Catherine Bearder MEP and Lord Jim Wallace (Deputy)
  • Mental Health – Norman Lamb MP
  • Immigration – Shas Sheehan
  • Civil Liberties – Alistair Carmichael MP
  • Green Economy – Baroness Susan Kramer
  • Housing – Tim Farron MP

Tim said:

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Stephen Tall

How to enter the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League

By Stephen Tall | Fri 7th August 2015 - 5:30 pm

LDV FANTASY FOOTBALLThe English Premier League kicks off this Saturday and LibDemVoice has revived its Fantasy Football League to mark the occasion. So if you fancy pitting your soccer selection skills against fellow party members, here’s your chance.

To enter all you have to do is click on this link. Simply register your details, pick your team, and away you go. If you need the joining code at any point, it’s 271576-231936.

And for those who don’t feel they have the insider knowledge to compete, you can always choose the ‘auto-complete’ option …

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