David Boyle

Opinion: The future isn’t so much local, it is small

By David Boyle | Mon 2nd February 2015 - 12:27 pm

people powered prosperityDanny Alexander started all this.  He asked me, back one day in 2012, about how local economies could find levers to regenerate themselves – rather than waiting around hopelessly for outside investment that never came (that isn’t how he put it).

The result was a dialogue between the Treasury and the local economic regeneration activists – local bankers, local energy organisers, local procurement advocates, local currencies – which revealed, it’s fair to say, something of a gulf between them.

As a result, and thanks to some funding from the Friends Provident Foundation, I have been organising a project to translate between the two – so that they at least understand each other.

I hope it will also form a narrative, once cities and places have more power, which can support their own economic efforts.  If you devolve powers from Whitehall, it makes no sense for them to carry on handling your whole economic destiny on your behalf.

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Kirsten Johnson

Opinion: Valuing Carers and Respecting Older People

By Kirsten Johnson | Mon 2nd February 2015 - 11:00 am

 

I think valuing carers and respecting older people go hand-in-hand.  Do you know that there is a ‘Respect for the Aged Day’ in Japan each year in September?  It is a national holiday (Keirō no hi) – can you imagine devoting one of our Bank Holidays to celebrating older people?  I think it would be a good idea, and raise awareness of the value and contribution older people have made and continue to make in society.

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The Voice

Nick Clegg on Sky News Ask the Leaders event today

By The Voice | Mon 2nd February 2015 - 10:09 am

AsktheleadersUpdate: After some confusion it seems that Nick will now be appearing later. David Cameron has also agreed to appear later today.

Sky News is running an Ask the Leaders event today, with young people asking the questions. The Q&A sessions with each leader (Miliband, Clegg and Bennett, but not Cameron, it seems) will be shown live on Sky News for 30 minutes followed by 15 minutes on Facebook. Nick Clegg’s turn comes at 12 noon.

You can watch live updates or get involved on #AskTheLeaders or on the Stand Up Be Counted …

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The Voice

Today’s workers, tomorrow’s retirement problem

By The Voice | Mon 2nd February 2015 - 9:32 am

 

Here at LDV Towers we’ve received an invitation to an event organised by the Resolution Foundation on Wednesday 11th February, when Steve Webb will be speaking. Most of us are unable to attend, so we are passing the invitation on to you, our dear readers.

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #409

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st February 2015 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 409th 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 (25 – 31 January, 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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Caron Lindsay

So, the Labour Party pledge a positive campaign

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st February 2015 - 5:59 pm

Oh look, the Labour Party is pledging not to get personal during the election campaign.

From the BBC:

Labour has vowed not to feature Prime Minister David Cameron on billboards ahead of the general election.

The party said it would focus on issues rather than personalities. and not use negative personal campaigning.

Its election strategist Douglas Alexander said the Conservatives were preparing to spread “fear and smear”.

This is in response to poorly photo-shopped Conservative posters of Ed Miliband costing up to Alex Salmond.

It’s always nice to see a pledge of positive campaigning, even if it does come from masters of the dark arts of the real, nasty, personal stuff. I mean, could this possibly be the same Labour Party who, just 9 months ago, devoted an entire Party Election Broadcast to doing a hatchet job on Nick Clegg? “The un-credible shrinking man” they called it. Stephen Tall gave a run down of the plot at the time:

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 1st February 2015 - 4:30 pm

7 ver 4 fullMany thanks to the 16,800  visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Surely it’s time for the Liberal Democrats to part company with Alex Carlile (100 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Clegg on The Last Leg – first thoughts (14 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Open Doors: All 3 versions of the first Lib Dem broadcast of the year (71 comments) by The Voice

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Caron Lindsay

18 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds in England 72% more likely to apply to university than they were in 2006

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st February 2015 - 3:00 pm

One of the worries many people had about the new system of university tuition fees was that it might put people off from deprived backgrounds from going to university. If you listened to the Labour Party or the Guardian at the end of 2010, you’d have thought that nobody from such a background would be able to ever go to university again.

The facts, though, tell a different story. UCAS figures this week show that an 18 year old from a poorer background is now 72% more likely to apply to go to university than they were in 2006. It’s still not where it needs to be, but it shows a steady improvement. The Guardian has the story:

The gap between the numbers of rich and poor students applying to university has narrowed, with disadvantaged teenagers more likely than ever before to want to enrol.

New figures, published by admissions service Ucas, show that the application rates of 18-year-olds living in poor areas in all four countries of the UK have increased to the highest levels recorded.

What’s striking is that the rates in England are higher than Scotland where tuition remains free. It shows that the SNP Government have much to do in terms of increasing accessibility. They have recently, at long last, improved student financial support, but this has yet to show dramatic improvement. 

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The Voice

Lib Dems raise £50k for General Election in just one day

By The Voice | Sun 1st February 2015 - 1:30 pm

Good news from Lib Dem Chief Exec Tim Gordon in our inbox this morning. Yesterday, the party raised £50,000 in just one day from members and supporters. That’s half as much as it raised during the whole of January. Nick Clegg’s appearance on The Last Leg may well have stimulated a good old shot in the bank balance for the party.

What’s particularly good is that the £150,000 raised from members and supporters will be matched by major donors, giving the campaign a £300,000 boost.

This news, combined with the recent news that Liberal Democrat membership rose for the sixth quarter in a row shows steady progress.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Norman Lamb: Let’s ditch the rhetoric and do a deal on the NHS

By NewsHound | Sun 1st February 2015 - 11:30 am

Norman Lamb takes to the pages of today’s Independent on Sunday to make a plea to replace political heat with non-partisan light in the debate over the future of the NHS. He outlines what is currently happening:

Labour is pulling out all the stops to convince voters that the NHS is in crisis – a basket case run by private firms working to destroy it; the party searches for negative statistics and hospital horror stories to fit its narrative. On the other hand, the Conservatives have failed to come up with a plan to meet the £8bn shortfall by 2020 identified by Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the NHS.

But the NHS is far too important to be treated as a political football. The truth is that it’s neither on the verge of disintegration, nor is everything perfect. There are problems, but also triumphs. The majority of patients, for the majority of the time, receive world-class care from dedicated staff.

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The Voice

Lib Dem campaigners in the snow #2

By The Voice | Sun 1st February 2015 - 10:25 am

Following on from our post on Thursday night, here are some more pictures of Liberal Democrats campaigning in the snow. Keep sending them in.

Danny Alexander went for a walk (remember #dannyswalks) in the streets of Aviemore:

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Annette Brooke MP

Annette Brooke MP writes…Choice at the end of life is vital – free social care can make that happen

By Annette Brooke MP | Sun 1st February 2015 - 8:55 am

Annette BrookeThere are no dress rehearsals when it comes to where we are and who we are with when we die – so it’s crucial that people have as much choice and control over the situation as possible.  This is important not only to the person who is at the end of their life, but also those close to them. A person’s last days will stay with family and friends forever, so it is important that they should be left with a lasting, positive memory of their loved one receiving good quality care in a place of their choice.

What is not acceptable is for someone to end their days against their wishes in an expensive hospital bed, purely because they did not have the right support to die at home. Sadly, we know far too many people currently do not die in a place of their choosing. Macmillan Cancer Support found that 36,000 people with cancer who wanted to die at home died in hospital in England in 2012. In fact, 73 per cent of people living with cancer would prefer to die at home, but figures show only 30 per cent are currently able to do so. We cannot continue to have final experiences and enduring memories shaped by the absence of choice for people at the end of life.

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Caron Lindsay

How does Clegg build on the success of The Last Leg?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 31st January 2015 - 11:40 am

Nick Clegg on The Last Leg 6I’m so glad I hadn’t watched The Last Leg ahead of Nick Clegg’s appearance last night. It would not have been good for my health because I’d have been worrying about how he’d fare in that pretty brutal, blokey environment. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hilarious, but a massive risk for a politician. Even the next morning, in the light of day and the absence of red wine goggles, I still think, as I did last night, that he did very well.

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The Voice

Edgbaston PPC Lee Dargue takes part in debate with Birmingham University students

By The Voice | Sat 31st January 2015 - 9:20 am

Lee Dargue, Lib Dem PPC for Edgbaston, recently met students from the University of Birmingham to discuss the party’s policies and their concerns. The student website Redbrick described him as an MP. We can but wish. It would not be a bad thing to have the chair of the Lib Dem Mental Health Association in Parliament.

It was inevitable that tuition fees would come up:

Dargue stated, ‘It has caused us a lot of damage.’ He did highlight the fact that ‘not all Lib Dem MPs voted in favour of the tuition fee rise.’ However, he stressed the positive realities of the new system, comparing it to a ‘Graduate Tax’ and reminded students that these loans are ‘no longer tied to your credit rating.’

To continue the discussion, a student asked what the Lib Dems believe is the greatest student problem. In response, Dargue stated that ‘Tuition fees are a red herring.’ He added that his party were more concerned about ‘the cost of student accommodation and transport’ since these are more immediate factors that affect students.

Redbrick also has a report of the event as it happened. Lee said he wanted to see  16 year olds and prisoners have the right to vote, he questioned the need for LGBT only schools, saying:

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Stephen Tall

LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League: how it stands after Week 22

By Stephen Tall | Sat 31st January 2015 - 7:50 am

After the FA Cup hiatus, Premiership football returns this weekend – and so does our latest round-up from the LDV Fantasy Football League.

Congratulations to George Murray, whose Marauding Fullbacks continue to lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 22, just ahead of Jon Featonby and Sam Bowman.

But let’s also hear it for three players outside the top 10: Michael Brown (Mike’s Dream Team v4) had the best week’s performance, with 88 points. Honourable mentions go to James King (Kings Park Rangers) and Richard Sealy (Coolcat69 United), with 87 and 86 points respectively.

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Caron Lindsay

Clegg on the Last Leg – first thoughts

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 30th January 2015 - 11:55 pm

Nick Clegg on the Last Leg2Well, I’d never seen The Last Leg before. I’ll be watching it again, though. It was very, very funny. And it’s not only trending on Twitter in the UK, it’s number 3 in the World.

There are two contradictory truths about Nick Clegg’s appearance on the show. His natural manner and willingness to engage in the banter while holding on (just) to his dignity has won him a lot of friends but I predict acres of snooty, disapproving newsprint tomorrow from people using words like “unbecoming for a Deputy Prime Minister.” Quentin Letts will probably have worked himself up into  a frenzy. I think the Cleggster has done himself a few favours though. A quick look down the #cleggleg thread on Twitter showed that he had impressed:

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Ibrahim Taguri

Opinion: MPs’ pay rises

By Ibrahim Taguri | Fri 30th January 2015 - 5:42 pm

The country is going through a painful and difficult adjustment as we seek to rebalance our economy.

For politicians to make the case about being underpaid is inappropriate given the sacrifices being asked of the British public and its work force.

Let’s not forget it is because of the actions of the last Labour government that the country is in the state it finds itself in. How anyone can therefore justify that politicians should be entitled to a larger salary is beyond me. Regardless of whether they caused the crash or are fixing the mess, it is outrageous to think they should be awarded a hefty pay rise at this time.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Andrew George on renewable energy

By NewsHound | Fri 30th January 2015 - 4:14 pm

andrew georgeAndrew George, Lib Dem MP for St Ives, has been writing for The Cornishman on renewable energy in the county.

I consistently pressed for Cornwall to become the ‘Green Peninsula’ – the UK exemplar for environmental policy, renewables and energy security – coining the phrase in an economic strategy paper for Cornwall ‘Rediscovering our distinctiveness’ in 1998.

I’m pleased that Cornwall has made good progress, but there’s still more to do. Cornwall now has thousands more jobs and millions of pounds more in turnover and is exporting its know-how and talents worldwide, in geothermal, offshore renewables infrastructure, etc.

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ALDC

ALDC’s by-election report, 29th January 2015

By ALDC | Fri 30th January 2015 - 2:34 pm

ALDC Master Logo (for screen)

This week once again saw two principal council by-elections.

On Wednesday, the Conservatives held one of their two seats in Purley-on-Thames ward in West Berkshire (UA), with their candidate polling 68.1% to take victory with a comfortable majority of 764 votes. Liberal Democrat candidate Steve Brown finished fourth with 7.6% of the vote.

Two seats were available in yesterday’s by-election in the St Albans (DC) ward of Marshalwick South. The Conservatives held on to both seats with their two candidates collectively averaging 33.5% of the vote. Lib Dem candidates …

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Mary Reid

Nick Clegg on The Last Leg tonight

By Mary Reid | Fri 30th January 2015 - 12:36 pm

last-leg204Nick Clegg will be appearing on The Last Leg at 10pm on Channel 4 this evening.

I will certainly be watching – in fact, I have been a fan of the programme since it first appeared during the 2012 Paralympics. After tiring but exhilarating days spent working as a Gamesmaker, it was great to flop down and watch this totally refreshing and irreverent take on the day’s events with disability at its heart. It cleared away a lot of misconceptions through its #isitok feature and the regular joshing between the three presenters, two of whom have …

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Sam Phripp

Opinion: Open doors and open minds

By Sam Phripp | Fri 30th January 2015 - 11:00 am

yellow door ppb

So then, we all saw it, did we? The starting gun for the Liberal Democrats election campaign was well and truly fired on Wednesday with the airing of three different versions of a very similar Party Political Broadcast.

‘Open Doors’ puts a focus on the LibDems as a campaigning force, but importantly for me, it also makes a very clear point about how we operate as a party – we listen to our communities, and we work with them to achieve change. Rather than it being Nick standing around …

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Harriet Shone

International Office promotes women’s and LGBT rights in the Balkans

By Harriet Shone | Fri 30th January 2015 - 8:58 am

Belgrade LGBT training

In the run-up to Christmas, the International Office worked with liberal sister-parties in Serbia and Bosnia to promote LGBT and women’s rights across the Balkan region.

In early December, I travelled to Belgrade with Ed Fordham, a leading Lib Dem LGBT campaigner, to meet with our sister-party, the Liberal Democrat Party (LDP). With our support, the LDP has set up a Human Rights Council modelled on the Lib Dem LGBT+ Group, as a champion of the LGBT community in Serbia.

Ed and I held a workshop with representatives of the Human …

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Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrats campaign all year round – even in the snow

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 29th January 2015 - 10:09 pm

When I woke up to an icy white blanket in my garden this morning, my first thought was for all those Liberal Democrat campaigners who are out and about in the freezing cold risking life and limb to talk to voters and get our message across.

I will never be one of them. I am a total wuss where snow and ice are concerned.  Or, to be more accurate, a chionophobic. Ever since a fall on ice meant that I wasn’t able to walk for five months, I don’t do snow or ice if I can possibly avoid it.

My admiration for those who do go out in the horrible white stuff knows no bounds. I had presumed if we had snow in the central belt, that the North East would be under feet of the stuff, but both West Aberdeenshire and Gordon reported bak that they were enjoying beautiful weather. However, Christine had posted a photograph of some lethal looking local pavements last Saturday:

Dyce death trap pavements

South of the border, we find our own Joe Otten  out with a team in Sheffield. They looked very happy in their work:

Joe in Hallam Snow

 

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Caron Lindsay

Some notes on Nick Clegg’s Breakfast TV performance this morning

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 29th January 2015 - 9:03 pm

Nick Clegg appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning. He was in Bristol handing out money as part of the drive to give greater powers to communities and cities.

I have a few words of unsolicited advice for him on his performance.

First up, I do get decentralisation. I’m a liberal. Of course I do. I am not, however, that happy about Nick’s rather melodramatic description of what he was doing as “Taking money out of the clammy hands of bureaucrats in Whitehall and giving it to local communities.” It’s the sort of hyperbolic language that we would rightly have a go at if it came from Farage. These people Nick sees in offices in Whitehall every day presumably take pride in their work and have feelings – and votes. The language is slightly reminiscent of the way he used to speak of our friends in the House of Lords – you remember, the “they just turn up and get £300” line when actually our lot were working their behinds off.  It’s a bit counter-productive. He actually had a half decent line that he didn’t really need to add to:

Every day in government I’ve been trying to end “Whitehall knows best” culture which has been holding country back for far too long.

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The Voice

A first glance at the agenda for Spring Conference

By The Voice | Thu 29th January 2015 - 5:20 pm

The outline agenda for the Liberal Democrats’ Spring Conference in Liverpool has been published.

Spring Conference outline agenda

 

On Friday, a series of policy consultations, and a consultation on the plans to take forward One Member One Vote take up the afternoon before the rally.

On Saturday, there are speeches by Danny Alexander, Vince Cable and Jo Swinson with a question and answer session with Nick Clegg. Policy debates include mental health, the manifesto (surprisingly titled Stronger Economy and Fairer Society), green laws and workforce rights.

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Catherine Royce

Opinion: Time to dump the 4 hour A & E target

By Catherine Royce | Thu 29th January 2015 - 3:49 pm

To be frank, as a doctor, I have been underwhelmed by our Liberal Democrat offering on health issues over the years; certainly we are not as strong on health as we should be.

The almost daily drip feed from the right wing press on NHS shortcomings and failures is demoralising to staff and frightening to patients and designed to be so. It serves no-one except those who want to undermine the public’s confidence in the NHS. The service treats three quarters of a million patients every day of the year, and for most people there is no alternative.

So I am  relieved that at last we have something distinctive to offer with Norman Lamb’s ideas on mental health; parity of access and delivery, more  research and funding. This is important, and we need to ‘own’ it as Liberal Democrat policy.

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Caron Lindsay

You can’t really imagine Ed Miliband and David Cameron joking with each other over Twitter…

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 29th January 2015 - 2:30 pm

Normally on a Thursday morning, Scotland’s political leaders are thinking of how they will tackle the gladiatorial environment of First Minister’s Questions.

This morning, Andy Murray, playing in the Australian Open semi-final, provided them all with a distraction. Tory leader mentioned it on Twitter and look what happened next:

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Chris White

Opinion: Housing – yes, we can

By Chris White | Thu 29th January 2015 - 12:58 pm

It is probably (I am sticking my neck out here) the belief of most councillors that the power to build council houses was abolished by Margaret Thatcher. This, coupled with right to buy, has led to a crisis in social housing which governments fail to tackle and councils can’t.

But a report commissioned by the Government as part of the Autumn Statement in 2013 has challenged local councils to have more confidence in what they can already do.

The Elphicke-House Report (pdf) published earlier this week, following a review by Natalie Elphicke, chair of Million Homes, Million Lives, and Keith House, Leader of Eastleigh Borough Council, contains 30 recommendations to both Government and Councils.

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Cara Jenkinson

Opinion: Insulation not fossil fuel subsidies

By Cara Jenkinson | Thu 29th January 2015 - 10:38 am

Earlier this week parliament overwhelmingly rejected an amendment to the Infrastructure Bill calling for a moratorium on fracking.

The challenge that the UK faces is that we are particularly dependent on natural gas. The vast majority of us have gas boilers and heating makes up much of the gas used in the UK. Weaning ourselves off gas boilers isn’t easy. There are renewable alternatives such as heat pumps but these only work in very well insulated homes. And there’s the rub. Around 70% of homes in the UK are still not well insulated, and a good portion of those have solid walls which are difficult and expensive to insulate.

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The Voice

Open Doors: All 3 versions of the first Lib Dem broadcast of the year

By The Voice | Wed 28th January 2015 - 5:55 pm

The Liberal Democrats’ first crack at the General Election broadcasts is being shown as you read this.

With the theme of Open Doors, it’s about listening to voters and majors on how the Liberal Democrats would make a difference compared to Labour and the Conservatives.You may not be surprised to find that the phrases “stronger economy”, “fairer society” and “opportunity for everyone” feature.

Here is the English version. The Scottish and Welsh will follow below when they are available.

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