Opinion: Time to debate Trident

By Kevin White | Fri 10th July 2015 - 8:55 am

TridentThe Lib Dems Against Trident group was formed on Facebook at the end of October. Its objective is to get a motion on Trident onto the Agenda for September’s Party Conference. It currently has some 450 members. This is a quite remarkable tally for a Party Facebook group on one issue, and leaves one wondering how much support there is in the Party as a whole for scrapping Trident.

The group began by discussing the possible format of a motion. It eventually voted to promote the following motion:

“Conference notes that the go-ahead for building Successor submarines for the Trident system is scheduled to be decided upon in 2016.

Conference believes that British possession of nuclear weapons is inappropriate and unhelpful to today’s needs.

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Caron Lindsay

Some thoughts on the tube strike

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 9th July 2015 - 5:19 pm

Just about now, people across London will be thinking about how on earth they are going to get home. The underground system, on which so many rely, is shut down for the day due to a strike. What is the liberal approach to sorting the situation?

I am not often out late partying in London. Just over a year ago, I was down for the fantastic wedding of Ed Fordham and Russell Eagling. I was really shocked that the tube stopped running as early as it did on a Saturday night. I mean, public transport doesn’t usually run 24/7, but this was London, for goodness sake. I had a bit of a panic when I thought I’d missed the last Piccadilly Line train back to my hotel, but, thankfully, one turned up.

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The Voice

New Leader to be announced on social media ahead of members’ rally

By The Voice | Thu 9th July 2015 - 4:00 pm

tim farron norman lamb square5 by Paul Walter

Historically leaders have been announced very formally, with an audience of party grandees listening to the party president read the results.

Not this time. Next Thursday, about this time, we’ll all be refreshing our Twitter like idiots waiting for news for this time the result will be announced on social media at some point in the “late afternoon.”

Then, at 6pm, there will be a members’ rally at a Central London venue where the new leader will make his first speech. As I write, members are being emailed details of how to register.

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The Voice

Willie Rennie on the roar of the Ginger Rodent

By The Voice | Thu 9th July 2015 - 3:30 pm

Never forget what Chris Grayling said to SNP MP Pete Wishart on Tuesday night. Here’s the exact quote from Hansard:

Let me also say to him and his colleagues that I regard their presence in the House as a great asset. I would much rather have them than 57 Liberal Democrats.

That would have nothing to do with the Liberal Democrats spending five years making life very difficult for the Tories and stopping them from brining in the sorts of measures that give to the rich while taking from the poorest and youngest at the most difficult stages in their lives as they did in yesterday’s budget.

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Caron Lindsay

Alistair Carmichael 1 Chris Grayling 0

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 9th July 2015 - 2:30 pm

So, after Alistair Carmichael’s use of a parliamentary device to deliver  a whomping defeat on the Government over their attempt to railroad through English Votes for English Laws, Chris Grayling has announced that he’s not going to put the matter to a vote on Tuesday after all. During the 3 hour debate instigated by Alistair, the Government’s case became even more incoherent. The Herald has the story:

Ministers were facing potential defeat in the Commons vote on ‘English votes for English laws’ – due to be held next week.

Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems and the DUP were all expected to vote against the proposals, which also caused disquiet on the Tory backbenches.

Chris Grayling, the leader of the House, told MPs the proposals would be redrafted and reintroduced later this year.

This is not over by any manner of means, but Alistair’s victory is important because it means that a major constitutional reform has not been brought in on the say-so of just one parliamentary chamber. This should be properly scrutinised. A draft bill examined by both Houses of Parliament would seem sensible to me – a bit like we had for the Snoopers’ Charter, or, indeed, just bring a proper bill through Parliament in the usual way.

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Tobie Abel

Opinion: Generational strife – where’s the fairness?

By Tobie Abel | Thu 9th July 2015 - 1:30 pm

The budget does make clear where society’s priorities lay. Cuts to incomes and services of the youngest and poorest, yet tax breaks and protected services for many of the oldest and wealthiest. Tax credits, housing benefit, student grants all sacrificed to reduce the deficit, yet inheritance tax, fuel allowances and state pensions are deemed too important to feel the knife. Why?

The answer of course, is that old people vote in record numbers. None of us who spend time trying to win elections doubt the wisdom of bending to the grey vote, but it is hard to defend. Today’s retirees worked through years of rapid wage and house price inflation, benefited from unsustainably generous final salary pension schemes, and enjoyed the full flowering of the welfare state. In contrast today’s graduates face years of paying off student debts before even dreaming of owning a home, will have to work longer for lower pensions, and are in competition with often better educated people from the four corners of the globe. And to top it all the older generation has bequeathed a national debt that now tops £1.5 trillion, on which the younger generation must pay interest for the next 40 years.

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NewsHound

Guy Verhofstadt tells it to Greece and the EU like it is

By NewsHound | Thu 9th July 2015 - 12:28 pm

Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament, has set out a potential solution to the Greek crisis in an article for Politico. He makes it clear that there are faults on both sides and both sides need to take constructive action to resolve the crisis fairly for everyone.

We are in this mess because the Greeks never made a real reform package, or a clear break with their mistakes from the past. But also because Europe has followed wrong policies — policies of pure accountancy that slowly but steadily choked the Greek economy. Everybody can make the wrong policy choices, but we have been clinging on to them far too long.

He implores people to stop the scaremongering:

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Nick T

Surprises are not the same as radicalism – or where George Osborne went wrong

By Nick T | Thu 9th July 2015 - 10:42 am

Yesterday’s budget certainly had plenty of surprises. But it says something about the state of our politics that not allowing sensitive information leak ahead of the budget speech counts as a political success. Because surprises — rabbits out of hats — are not the same as radicalism, whatever much of the media, or Osborne himself, would have us believe this morning. The budget, when looked at more closely, was notable for its timidity, not its profundity.

In identifying the nonsense of those on low wages paying relatively large amounts of tax, only to receive it back with interest in tax credits, the chancellor identified a genuinely ridiculous (and illiberal) legacy of Gordon Brown’s time at the Treasury.

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Ed Goncalves

Opinion: Why we need to overhaul the organ donor system

By Ed Goncalves | Thu 9th July 2015 - 10:16 am

In a couple of weeks time, my 11 year old son and I will be competing in the UK Transplant Games for the very first time. As my friends among LDV readers will know, my son is a remarkable boy in many respects. Some say he is a ‘chip off the old block’. I rather think he’s in a league of his own.

His story is dramatic, yet sadly not unique. Three years ago, around his 8th birthday, he was suddenly diagnosed with kidney failure. It was the second time in that he faced a battle for life. As a baby, he and his twin brother were extremely ill with severe twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. They are one of only a small number of twins to have both survived this condition.

Most of the following year was spent in Great Ormond Street Hospital, including birthdays and Christmas. He suffered multiple major infections, complications and assorted emergencies, and underwent 10 operations in as many months. An attempted transplant was aborted at the last minute due to liver problems.

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Caron Lindsay

Greg Mulholland’s row with the Speaker – the obvious solution

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 8th July 2015 - 10:00 pm

Yesterday, Leeds MP Greg Mulholland tried to ask a question about the availability of a drug to treat a constituent’s rare disease – and was prevented from doing so by the Speaker for being “long-winded.”  ITV News has the story:

Speaker John Bercow had warned Mr Mulholland to be quick in his statement but after referring to missed decision dates given to families by health authorities, the Lib Dem was told to resume his seat.

Six-year-old Sam Brown from Otley. Sam, who has Morquio syndrome needs Vimazim treatment, mentioned by Mr Mulholland, but NHS England deferred a decision over whether to provide the drug, then last week announced it would wait for guidance from NICE, the health body consulting on the drug.

There is a video of the exchange on the ITV site and, to be honest, I’m quite annoyed with John Bercow. Greg was no more long-winded than many of the other questions that day – Hansard has the details so you can see for yourself. All Greg had said before he was interrupted was this:

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Caron Lindsay

Senior Lib Dems react to Budget

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 8th July 2015 - 3:45 pm

This post will be updated during the day as more people respond.

First of all, what did the leadership candidates make of the budget?

Norman Lamb:

Update: 5:35: He has released a fuller statement:

In government under the Coalition, the Liberal Democrats took difficult decisions to tackle our deficit and get our public finances in order. Our financial discipline over five years means that under Coalition spending plans, national debt is set to start falling next year as a proportion of our economy.

But today the Chancellor has set out a wave of new cuts that are ideologically driven, and unnecessary. The idea that you would slash £12bn from support for the poorest working families and in the same breath cut inheritance tax bills for millionaires is beyond belief, and morally reprehensible. This will impact on some of the most disadvantaged people in our society, affecting millions of children and reinforcing disadvantage.

And we have seen vividly how David Cameron’s Conservative government has failed to grasp the existential threat we face as a society from global climate change. Plans to scrap the tariff exemptions that support our investment in tackling climate change and securing the future of our planet are depressingly short-sighted. If the Conservatives are worried about mass migration and instability in the Middle East and North Africa, they need to get serious about action against climate change.”

Finally, this Budget failed to mention mental health once. In government the Liberal Democrats made equality for mental health one of our top priorities, working to rectify the historic discrimination and under-funding suffered by mental health services in the NHS. The Conservatives have discarded equality for mental health along with tackling climate change, supporting working families, and helping children from disadvantaged backgrounds go to university in an ideological mission to cut the size of the state.

Tim Farron:

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Callum Delhoy

Opinion: SLF Conference – a brilliant day focused on social liberal ideas

By Callum Delhoy | Wed 8th July 2015 - 2:54 pm

img_8090The Social Liberal Forum is, sadly, a point of contention in the Liberal Democrats for some. The candidate who went first at the leadership hustings towards the end of the conference was chosen by how fast they could name the former special advisor to Nick Clegg who made the case that all Social Liberals in the Lib Dems should join Labour (it was Richard Reeves, by the way, & he said it here). Reeves’ comments  show how far up in the party those critical of SLF are & how scathing their attacks can be. Nevertheless, I do wholeheartedly identify as a Social Liberal, so despite claims of the SLF attempting to turn the Lib Dems ‘socialist’ that I had heard from other members, I attended the conference & discovered I couldn’t have made a better decision.

Firstly, I was struck with how damn trendy the conference building was. It was hosted in the Amnesty International Human Rights Centre, & with all its exposed black bricks & flat-white-selling cafe’s I had to check if I was in the right building for a Lib Dem event. Thankfully it was, so I was escorted into the main room for the famous SLF Annual Beveridge Memorial Lecture, this year presented by Baroness Claire Tyler, but not before a quick remembrance to that champion of Social Liberalism, Charles Kennedy. It was done not with a 1 minute silence, but a 1 minute applause to recognise his achievements, which definitely captured his spirit & energy better than any mourning could have done. The Beveridge Lecture itself was intensely interesting, going over Beveridge’s 5 great evils in the modern day (squalor, ignorance, want, idleness & disease – the antiquated language of which was a large point of the lecture) & reminding us that a higher & higher GDP can’t alone tackle these issues, but national wellbeing should always be a priority too.

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The Voice

Budget Live Blog as Osborne helps rich – but casts young and poor adrift.

By The Voice | Wed 8th July 2015 - 12:35 pm

Caron Lindsay 12:30 pm

“A budget for working people” says George Osborne. We’ll see.  I guess if you are a rich working person, maybe.

I’ve had an official hiding behind pillow for all budgets in the last five years. I need it more than ever today.

So, let the budget live blog kick-off.

The measures we do know about seem very much about giving to the rich and taking to the poor.

People struggling to get by, stuck in private rented accommodation, will find it hard to see Inheritance Tax thresholds being lifted to more than £1 million while their entitlements to tax credits are being limited.

It’s worth pointing out that those are exactly the sorts of measure that the Liberal Democrats spent the last five years stopping or at least limiting. Everything announced today would have been done by now if it hadn’t been for us.

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Opinion: Lessons from Greece: why Liberal Democrats need to rethink their enthusiasm for the Euro

By Energlyn Churchill | Wed 8th July 2015 - 11:50 am

I can’t help but sympathise with Greece. In responding to the Eurozone’s latest debt offer, its people found themselves choosing between a rock and a hard place. The referendum was a bit like asking a vegetarian to choose between beef or chicken. The overwhelming rejection of the Eurozone’s proposals is the act of a nation with nothing left to lose: vote ‘yes’ and you sign up to breathtaking austerity and misery; vote ‘no’ and you take a huge step into the unknown that may take you down the same path, but one which also causes your creditors some pain, too.

The whole debacle clearly underlines why currency union without fiscal union does not work. It was something that Danny Alexander seized upon during the Scottish Independence referendum when he rightly pointed out that Scotland would have limited control over the direction of its economic policy if it kept Sterling in a post independence scenario.

And so it has proven to be the case with Greece. Faced with a single currency, and member countries with varying credit ratings under their old currencies, the banks concluded that all member nations should be offered the same one as the higher-rated nations. The seduction of cheap credit proved too much for Greece, which borrowed way beyond its means. A credit crunch later, and the wheels have well and truly come off.

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Caron Lindsay

Why My Sexy MP is not just a bit of harmless fun

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 8th July 2015 - 11:05 am

My heart sank yesterday when I saw courtesy of the Telegraph that reality TV star Francis Boulle had updated his My Sexy MP site for the new Parliament.

This horrible site gives you pictures of two MPs and asks you to choose between them. As the title suggests, it’s not their good works, values or key speeches you are being asked to judge. It’s not even just their looks. This site takes creepiness and objectification to a whole new level, asking its readers “Which MP would you rather have sex with?”

No doubt some readers will just dismiss me as …

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Maelo Manning

Opinion: SLF Conference: Why social justice must be at the heart of re-booting liberalism

By Maelo Manning | Wed 8th July 2015 - 10:15 am

social liberal forumThe Social Liberal Conference was held on one of the hottest days of the year so far but not even good weather could have kept me away from joining fellow Liberal Democrats for a day termed as ‘Re-booting Liberalism’. I am a social Liberal because I believe strongly in social justice as a means of addressing the problems of inequality. This must be our fight as a party if the Liberal Democrats are to gain relevance and support from the electorate in the coming years.

The keynote speech was a William Beveridge memorial lecture and was delivered by Baroness Claire Tyler. The whole speech can be found here. Her words as follows set the tone for the day:

I think it is entirely appropriate to be revisting Beveridge at a conference entitled ‘Rebooting Liberalism’. It’s neither regressive nor intellectually lazy to be looking to the past as we seek to move forward. Far from it – we are fortunate to have an incredibly strong intellectual tradition within the party and in seeking to both clarify and communicate exactly what we stand for, we could do much worse than draw on the ground-breaking work of one of the grandfathers of modern Liberalism.

The morning sessions were split into roundtable discussions, open sessions and two fringe events. A very generous and yummy lunch was served. It was a great time to network, catch up with friends and be canvassed for GLA votes.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Norman Lamb and Julian Huppert: Defeating radicalisation and extremism, a battle we must win

By NewsHound | Wed 8th July 2015 - 8:43 am

On the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings, Norman Lamb and Julian Huppert looked at what should and should not be done in order to tackle the radicalisation and extremism that leads to such awful attacks. They wrote for Politics Home and outlined first the measures we should not take, because they don’t work and are just wrong in principle:

But the 7/7 bombings also presented an existential threat to the sort of liberal society we want to live in – raising questions that many will have asked again in light of last week’s terrorist attack in Tunisia.

Do we address these threats by giving government the power to snoop indiscriminately on every citizen, and the vast resources needed to sift through all that information?

Do we target “at risk” communities and faith groups with increasing scrutiny, limit their freedom of speech, and intervene aggressively in an attempt to clamp down on potential extremism?

Internationally, is it right to believe can we combat terrorism by bombing some of the most volatile regions in the Middle East, particularly if it may be contrary to international law?

To each of these, as Liberal Democrats our answer must be – emphatically, no.  Firstly, it doesn’t work.  In 2005 the Security Services were already faced with too much information, on too many threats, to see the wood from the trees. Remember that if we tread roughshod over disenfranchised faith communities we will earn ourselves more enemies than friends.  And if we spend the next year bombing Syria all we will have to show for it are craters, innocent casualties, and a rising defence bill.

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Caron Lindsay

Grayling: I’d rather face 56 SNP MPs than 57 Liberal Democrats

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 7th July 2015 - 6:48 pm

Yes, you read right. Chris Grayling did say that, not on lobby terms to a journalist but in front of the entire world in the Commons this afternoon.

His comments came during the debate on the Government’s plans to railroad through English Votes for English Laws secured by our Alistair Carmichael. He used an obscure Commons device to discuss the process rather than EVEL itself.

The Government basically chickened out of the vote today. They were heavily defeated by 291 to just 2. The vote isn’t binding but the Government’s plans sounded more ill-considered and incoherent as the debate wore on.

A vote is scheduled to take place on amendments to Commons standing orders which would prevent MPs from outside England voting  on matters deemed by the Speaker to be English only. This, Carmichael and many other speakers argued, was tantamount to foisting a massive Constitutional reform on the UK without proper scrutiny.

The Government is doing it this way because it knows that its plans would come unstuck in the Lords if it tried to do it by primary legislation.

But back to Grayling’s comments about preferring the SNP to the Liberal Democrats. It’s hardly a surprise. If the Lib Dems had 57 MPs, the Tories wouldn’t have a majority and would not be able to inflict this and many other types of prejudice-stirring measures on us.

This is what he said to the SNP’s Pete Wishart:

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Darren Grimes

Opinion: Britain’s Liberal Youth Can Flourish In a Lamb-Led Liberal Democrats

By Darren Grimes | Tue 7th July 2015 - 4:33 pm

NormanLambBritain’s young liberals aren’t only more liberal than their elders, they are more liberal than any previous generation before them. That said, they are a liberal cohort not yet identifying as Liberal Democrats – this could and should change.

My liberty loving generation cannot comfortably sit within statist parties like Labour or the Conservatives, which is why the Liberal Democrats need to prove themselves to be the party offering this generation a truly liberal voice in British politics. We need to be more radical in our thinking, we need intellectual evidence-based liberal policy that grabs the attention of the electorate and exasperates right-wing media like the Daily Mail and Breitbart. We must be the defining intellectual powerhouse for British liberalism, and there is only one candidate who throughout this leadership election has offered just that.

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Catherine Bearder

Catherine Bearder MEP speaks… Britain after Brexit

By Catherine Bearder | Tue 7th July 2015 - 2:51 pm

Bearder Oxford UnionCatherine delivered the following speech to the Oxford Union, painting a picture of what life would be like after Brexit.

I want to take you to a land, not so far away. Close your eyes and think of Britain after Brexit.

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged | 14 Comments
Liz Makinson

Opinion: Why I am backing Tim Farron

By Liz Makinson | Tue 7th July 2015 - 12:14 pm

Tim Farron MP speaks at the rallyI heard Tim Farron speak at Conference this year. In a debate run by the Centre Forum his ideas and enthusiasm sparkled and I left with new inspiration and hope. I was feeling pretty deflated, not by the undoubted achievements of the Liberal Democrats in office, and as a teacher in an inner city comprehensive I know the great benefit of the pupil premium, but by the things that had gone through Parliament which I felt to be wrong and unjust. The bedroom tax stands out among them and it is to Tim’s credit that he did not support it. Improvements to schools can make such a difference but only by levelling the gap in our unequal society can you really transform life chances.

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Peter Jones

Opinion: Five suggestions for our new leader

By Peter Jones | Tue 7th July 2015 - 8:49 am

nick clegg-baby-bournemouthAs one of the newly-joined members of the party it might be presumptuous of me to offer advice to our new leader, whoever he turns out to be. Then again one of the great attractions of the Lib Dems is that each member is invited to contribute to policy making. So, here are a few ideas for Tim Farron or Norman Lamb to consider.

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Paul Walter

Geeky Alistair Carmichael secures Commons debate on English votes

By Paul Walter | Mon 6th July 2015 - 8:58 pm

Just over an hour ago on his Facebook page, Alistair Carmichael wrote:

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Jamie Shaw-Stewart

Opinion: Who will be paying if the government drops free over-75s TV licences: the BBC or the over-75s?

By Jamie Shaw-Stewart | Mon 6th July 2015 - 7:54 pm

 

Tuning in briefly on Sunday to the Andrew Marr Show, appropriately belatedly via the iPlayer, I was amused and appalled in equal measure by what lay ahead (I didn’t actually watch it all, partly out of fear of what I would see, but mainly out of fear of boredom).

I was greatly amused by the format of the program. I’ve got used to listening to the Today program’s political correspondent “cut through the crap” immediately after a political interview, which I like to hear. However, it is a little odd when that correspondent does this before the interview is complete, which seems to have become more common, particularly when the politician doesn’t seem to challenge the interpretations of their spin.

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The Voice

LibLink: Claire Tyler delivers the William Beveridge Memorial Lecture

By The Voice | Mon 6th July 2015 - 5:56 pm

Baroness-Claire-Tyler-1Baroness Claire Tyler is our spokesperson for mental health in the Lords, and on Saturday she gave the William Beveridge Memorial Lecture at the Social Liberal Forum conference. The full text has now been published, but we can give you a taster here.

The title of the lecture was ‘Wellbeing – a modern take on Beveridge’ and she began by saying:

I think it is entirely appropriate to be revisiting Beveridge at a conference entitled ‘Rebooting Liberalism’. It’s neither regressive nor intellectually lazy to be looking to the past as we seek to move forward. Far from it – we are fortunate to have an incredibly strong intellectual tradition within the party and in seeking to both clarify and communicate exactly what we stand for, we could do much worse than draw on the ground-breaking work of one of the grandfathers of modern Liberalism.

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Jim Williams

Opinion: Regaining lost trust – the five-year campaign trail ahead

By Jim Williams | Mon 6th July 2015 - 4:35 pm

 

We all know the gloomy picture: I don’t need to re-hash the scale of our losses, or present you with the same statistics you know so well. Let’s leave it like this: we don’t just have to win back seats and votes.

We have to find a way to win back lost trust, in the face of anger, disappointment and – perhaps worst of all – plain disinterest.

That means finding a way to signal a clear break with the past, but without disowning the party’s achievements in government. It means offering a distinctive alternative to the Tories and Labour, but without chasing after protest votes. And above all, it means working out what we can say to make people listen, when many don’t even want to give us the time of day.

So – how should we go about it?

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Stephen Knight

Opinion: Building homes has never been more important  

By Stephen Knight | Mon 6th July 2015 - 2:54 pm

 

Conservatives claim that extending the so-called ‘Right to Buy’ policy to housing association tenants will give the possibility of home ownership to 1.3 million families.

But at what cost? And is this the right policy priority, given our housing crisis?

What isn’t explicit in the name of this policy (‘right to buy’) is that it involves selling off homes at a very large discount to their market value – over £100,000 per home.  This amounts to a huge give-away of public assets to the new owner-occupier of the homes in question – who are likely to be amongst the better-off housing association tenants and already benefitting from a secure affordable home.  The Institute of Fiscal Studies has estimated that the total cost of the policy is likely to be of the order of £11.6 billion over the next five years.  As Boris Johnson correctly warned on the 25th March, the policy “would involve massive subsidies.”  His scepticism of the policy has subsequently been revised, but he was of course spot on.

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Mark Argent

Opinion: Should we bomb ISIS positions in Syria?

By Mark Argent | Mon 6th July 2015 - 12:46 pm

 

Thursday’s news reported Michael Fallon’s statement to the House of Commons raising the possibility of another Commons vote on bombing Syria. Friday’s zoomed in on the one minute of silence to honour the victims of the shooting in Tunisia.

Quite how bombing ISIS positions in Syria would prevent a gunman doing crazy things near the other end of the Mediterranean is not quite so clear. Announcing this just before a public marking of the deaths sounds like a plea for revenge.

Later on Thursday Radio 4 interviewed two Conservative MPs about the possibility of bombing Syria, one who voted for this and one who voted against in 2013 — overlooking the idea that the proposal now is to bomb the positions of ISIS, who oppose President Assad’s regime.

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Toby MacDonnell

Opinion: Revolution is not a dirty word

By Toby MacDonnell | Mon 6th July 2015 - 11:21 am

 

Revolution is not a dirty word: it is the honorific given to moments of dramatic change by their benefactors, which became suspicious in its connection to the prophecies of Marx’s illiberal inheritors who wished to usher in an era of benevolent totalitarianism.

Constitutional change is a common revolutionary cause. The American Revolution founded the world’s first Democratic Republic out of the writings of Publicus and Thomas Payne; the Revolution in France turned an agrarian feudal monarchy into an Empire in the mould of Rousseau’s Social Contract; and the Glorious Revolution established the supremacy of our Parliament in the vein of Hobbes’s Leviathan, until today.

Devolution, multi-party politics, European governance, and the tide of frustration that has risen since the financial crisis all call into question Britain’s constitutional settlement. Whether EVEL, the EU referendum, fiscal autonomy for Scotland, or electoral reform, Britain’s constitutional settlement has become its most contentious political battlefield.

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Opinion: A life discarded

By Richard Edwards | Mon 6th July 2015 - 9:36 am

 

Mr K. had arrived on the wing at Brixton Prison on the Friday. By Monday morning he was dead. He had managed to hang himself using a sheet tied around the window bars. No-one knew what time he had died. It would be interesting to know whether the inquest showed up the notoriously lax attitude of Brixton night duty staff to night time cell checks.

No-one really remembered speaking to him and all anyone amongst the prisoners could really say was that he had arrived on Friday, was short and slight, had an Irish accent and kept himself to himself. He had stayed in his cell – one of the few on the wing for single occupancy – except for when he collected his food.

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