Katie Ghose

The Independent View: Direct democracy in Wales

By Katie Ghose | Fri 14th November 2014 - 1:45 pm

The idea of recall caught Welsh media attention on Monday, when Kirsty Williams, Welsh Lib Dem leader, made the case for this form of direct democracy to apply to Assembly Members if 20% of local voters signed a petition.

Direct democratic methods such as recall, referendums and petitions are increasingly popular, especially among those who least trust politicians. For many of these citizens, taking control into their own hands is preferable to either creating more politicians (mayors; assemblies) or giving the existing crop more powers. So as Westminster continues to debate a (limited) form of recall, it makes sense for Wales to consider similar measures. After all, Wales suffers a similar disconnect from formal party politics as other parts of UK and actually has the lowest turnout in any devolved elections. Kirsty Williams’ model is an improvement on the current proposal before Westminster, which puts the recall trigger in politicians’ rather than citizens’ hands.

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Vince Cable

Vince Cable writes… Remembering Alan Turing

By Vince Cable | Fri 14th November 2014 - 12:02 pm

IMG_0923Today sees the general release of the film The Imitation Game, a dramatic portrayal of the life and work of Alan Turing.

By all accounts the film, with the leading role played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is set to be a great success. Oscars are already being talked about.

But why am I drawing attention to this specific film?

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Caron Lindsay

Clegg and Wallace highlight need for Lib Dem approach to foreign policy and criticise Conservative coalition partners

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 14th November 2014 - 11:05 am

There’s a fair bit of “differentiation” in the air at the moment. Last week we had Norman Baker’s resignation over difference in Home Office policy. Yesterday both Nick Clegg and Foreign Office Minister Lord William Wallace took time to highlight the fundamental differences in approach between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to international affairs.

First, more casually, on his Call Clegg phone-in, Nick had a good go at the Tories on international development after Philip Hammond’s comments in opposition to Michael Moore’s Private Member’s Bill which aims to enshrine the 0.7% aid target in law:

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Stephen Tall

Two pieces of good Lib Dem news from Cambridge

By Stephen Tall | Fri 14th November 2014 - 10:09 am

Here’s the first piece of good news… Viki Sanders gained a seat from Labour in a crucial city council by-election last night (comparison with 2012 result):

    Viki Sanders (Liberal Democrats): 933 votes (36%, +1%)
    Labour: 790 votes (31%, -9%)
    Conservatives: 614 votes (24%, +5%)
    Green: 222 votes (9%, +3%)

cambridge lib dems

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Stephen Tall

Iain Dale to host political fundraiser for Lynne Featherstone

By Stephen Tall | Fri 14th November 2014 - 9:30 am

Lynne FEatherstone 2007 Brighton conference by Liberal DemocratsIain Dale, former Conservative candidate and blogger turned LBC Radio broadcaster, made the shock revelation this morning on his ConservativeHome diary:

Next week, shock horror, I’m doing another political fundraiser. Brace yourselves. It’s for Lynne Featherstone – yes, the Liberal Democrat MP. She’s a mate and did sterling work on equal marriage, so I’ve decided to do it – and hang the consequences. All I need now is to do one for a Labour and UKIP MP or candidate, and I will truly

…

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Paul Tyler

Paul Tyler writes… Voter engagement and Votes at 16: progress!

By Paul Tyler | Fri 14th November 2014 - 8:10 am

Today, the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee is doing something I don’t recall any other Committee doing before it. It is publishing a report in draft, and asking for public feedback before making final recommendations.

In announcing this initiative Graham Allen, the Committee’s Chair, writes, “we raise issues around re-building our political parties, their funding, conduct of MPs, how the Media can work to improve public involvement, and how we can restore a sense of excite around our democracy”. These are all clearly crucial issues for Liberal Democrats.

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Caron Lindsay

What’s your first Conference or campaign memory?

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 13th November 2014 - 10:04 pm

I had meant to write about something else this evening but time has run away with me. Never mind. That’ll keep for tomorrow.

So this is really just a quick post inspired by the fact that my nephew is heading off, all fired up and full of anticipation to his first political conference. Sadly, it’s the SNP one in Perth, but I’m sure he would want me to say that he did join earlier in the Summer, before the referendum and before it became cool to do so.

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Giles Goodall

Opinion: EU court gives lie to Cameron’s free movement scaremongering

By Giles Goodall | Thu 13th November 2014 - 4:25 pm

It’s probably fair to say that the European Court of Justice is unused to tabloid adulation. But this week’s ruling in Luxembourg on the case of a jobless Romanian woman in Germany led even the arch-anti-EU Daily Express to hail ‘a rare outbreak of common sense’.

The judgement by the EU’s highest court that the right to free movement does not equate to a right to free access to benefits was warmly welcomed all round, including in Germany – which has higher rates of migration than the UK. Even David Cameron called it ‘good news’.

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Jim Forrest

Opinion: Have we forgotten the basics of community politics?

By Jim Forrest | Thu 13th November 2014 - 2:55 pm

Do we still do community politics? “Of course we do,” all Lib Dems will say, particularly after press comments on Lorely Burt’s “dog poo” speech at a conference fringe meeting. But I’m not so sure.

A while back when I advised residents to use the local Text the Council number to report flytipping etc, my colleague, a hard working ex-councillor was horrified. ‘Don’t do that,” he told me, “get them to text you so that we get the credit for reporting it.”

And of course we do that all the time and it earns us votes.

But wasn’t part of the point of community politics, as set out in the 1970s by the ALC and the Young Liberals, to create an empowered citizenry, to help residents to take responsibility for their neighbourhoods and hopefully absorb Liberal values in doing so?

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Ed Davey

Ed Davey MP writes….The politics of renewables

By Ed Davey | Thu 13th November 2014 - 1:25 pm

Yesterday I was in Manchester speaking at the RenewableUK Annual Conference, and then on to see a fascinating energy efficiency project led by students in Parrs Wood School in John Leech’s constituency.

My Manchester speech focused on the politics of renewables – both the good news and the bad.

The good news is that renewables investment is in great shape. Since 2010, an average £7 billion a year has been invested – more than double that under Labour’s last term in office.  We are now seen as No.1 in the world for attracting investment in offshore wind, wave and tidal.

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Laura Gardiner

The Independent View: Will 2015 be the turning point on wage growth?

By Laura Gardiner | Thu 13th November 2014 - 11:54 am

image001Another Bank of England inflation report, another set of rosy forecasts for earnings next year. Just as 2014 was supposed to be the year of the pay rise, now it seems 2015 will be the year when things turn positive.

And, according to the Bank, wages won’t just creep into positive territory next year, they are going to take something of a jump upwards. In the last quarter of 2015 the Bank expects nominal wage growth of 3.25% at a time of inflation of 1.4% – so a gear shift from the current position of at best flat-lining real pay to healthy growth of roughly 1.8% in a year’s time.

How sceptical should we be?  The Bank’s Chief Economist has been admirably forthright in highlighting his organisation’s own habit of promising sunshine tomorrow, with spring always just around the corner but never coming to pass, as the chart below from his recent speech illustrates. At some point, though, things have to brighten. And every passing month in which unemployment continues its fall and GDP continue to rise makes a degree of optimism about the following year that bit more plausible.

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Caron Lindsay

One of my favourite broadcasting moments of the year…

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 12th November 2014 - 9:10 pm

It was very satisfying to see Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis demolish Daniel O’Reilly, the so-called comedian behind the controversial Dapper Laughs character. O’Reilly was axed from ITV2 following highly inappropriate material in a stage show in  which the character appeared to be encouraging violence towards and rape and harassment of women.

I’ve seen a few people suggest that his comments, while distasteful, were not beyond the pale and that too much fuss has been made about it. They were men, funnily enough. I wonder how they would feel if they lived in a world where most of the powerful characters were women, where men were routinely treated as decoration for the titillation of women. Imagine how it would then feel if a woman, as part of a comedy routine, talked about forcing them to take part in sexual acts, tying them down with tape if necessary, if he said that no didn’t really mean no. If you are sceptical you should maybe try reading Laura Bates’ Everyday Sexism book which was this week placed on Waterstone’s Book of the Year list.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Ibrahim Taguri: It’s time for the truth: it’s time to publish the Chilcott Inquiry

By NewsHound | Wed 12th November 2014 - 5:54 pm

Brent Central Liberal Democrat candidate Ibrahim Taguri has called for the speedy publication of Sir John Chilcott’s report into the decision to go to war in Iraq. “How can we have trust without truth?” he asks in an article for the New Statesman. He asks how on earth we can contemplate taking military action (a decision he is not happy with) again in that part of the world without learning the lessons from last time:

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb writes… NHS needs an extra £1.5 billion

By Norman Lamb MP | Wed 12th November 2014 - 4:54 pm

nhs sign lrgFor too long mental health has been seen as a second-class issue in the NHS and I am determined to change that.

Today I’ve called for up to an extra £1.5 billion to be invested in the NHS next April. A significant amount of that money would go towards improving mental health services, especially for children and young people.

At our party conference in Glasgow, Nick Clegg said the Liberal Democrats will spend at least £1bn extra on health and care in each year of the next parliament, including £500m each year for mental health.

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Newsmoggie

Ed Davey: Onshore windfarm opposition risks UK jobs

By Newsmoggie | Wed 12th November 2014 - 3:54 pm

Wind turbine - Some rights reserved by thomas vlThe Guardian reports:

Energy secretary Ed Davey has warned that the Conservative party’s opposition to onshore wind turbines risks undermining the creation of British jobs as new data showed 15,400 people are now employed in the wind power industry.

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Paul Walter

++BREAKING NEWS: Judy Murray’s Strictly success is due to a Scot Nats plot

By Paul Walter | Wed 12th November 2014 - 2:54 pm

I have a confession to make. I buy the Daily Express nearly everyday. There. I said it. Believe it or not, I get it to do a nine letter puzzle on page 43 in the presence of a nonagenarian relative who has done the same quiz each day for decades. Nonetheless, it gives me a forced insight into the right-wing press. So, here’s a summary of what they normally say:

DAILY EXPRESS

EAT A TOMATO AND TAKE AN ASPIRIN EVERYDAY AND YOU WILL LIVE TO BE A HUNDRED
(If your stomach survives the aspirin onslaught).

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Paul Walter

Let yourself go on the 303

By Paul Walter | Wed 12th November 2014 - 1:54 pm

A303 photo by κύριαsityThe A303 is quite a legend amongst roads. It must be one of the few British roads that has its own song (which includes the words of the title of this post) and had a television programme devoted to its history.

But it has also been a recurring feature in the parliamentary career of David Heath MP.

When the Prime Minister addressed the CBI annual conference yesterday, he made reference to the A303 when talking about a need to ‘improve some of the most important arteries in our country’. Responding, David Heath said:

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Catherine Bearder

Catherine Bearder MEP writes… We need to act now to protect elephants

By Catherine Bearder | Wed 12th November 2014 - 12:54 pm

ELephants Bostwana Sedudu Photo by Mp3iefEvery 15 minutes an elephant is killed for its ivory. This rapid rate of human destruction has seen the population of African elephants plummet from 10 million in 1910 to a low 434,000 now.

If we want to protect elephants from being confined to the history books we need to act now.

That’s why this week I called for an EU Action Plan to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade in a letter to the new European Commission, co-signed by 82 fellow MEPs from 24 countries.

The joint campaign with the Sunday Mirror and Born Free has already attracted broad-based support from all of the party groupings in the parliament. Many of my colleagues can see that we can no longer dilly-dally if we want to halt and reverse the terrifying trend which sees many creatures firmly on the road to extinction.

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Opinion: The High Street Is Dead…Long Live the Retail Park!

By S | Wed 12th November 2014 - 11:54 am

Retail park by crabchickThe high street, as we know it, is in its death throes and I, for one, will not be mourning this loss. The reason for its demise is not, as many may think, the capitalist bad boys of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s et al. but the refrigerator. Yes, you heard me correctly, the humble fridge. My grandparents didn’t own a fridge for most of my mother’s childhood. My grandmother walked to the nearest town (just under 2 miles away) most days, except Sunday, and then back again with her shopping. She would deliberately plan and buy different food for Sunday to account for a lack of means to store perishables.

Women were not freed from this daily task until refrigerators became widely affordable, which meant women were able to get jobs instead.

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Antony Hook

Opinion: Why the First World War matters for government for,and by, the people

By Antony Hook | Wed 12th November 2014 - 10:54 am

Lloyd george public domainIn this 100th year since the Great War’s outbreak, and especially around Remembrance Day, we have all been united in sorrow for the pain and loss of life, respect for the ultimate subordination of self to a common good, and gratitude that war on such a scale has been unknown to us for decades and may, with wise leadership, never be seen again.

There is sometimes a view that the First World War was a pointless slaughter. That analysis is too simplistic, in my view. At university, I was privileged to spend a whole year looking at primary sources on British political, economic and military strategy in the First World War. The strategic picture reveals what was at risk in 1914-18. Beyond the pain there was a reason and a purpose.

Today, we see the First World War through the prism of the Second World War, which appears a blatant struggle between good and evil.

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Paul Walter

LibLink: Vince Cable on why we need the EU and immigrants

By Paul Walter | Wed 12th November 2014 - 9:54 am

Vince Cable Social Liberal Forum conference Jul 19 2014 Photo by Paul WalterWriting in the Mail to coincide with Remembrance Sunday, Vince Cable made a heartfelt plea for tolerance of a united Europe and immigration, citing personal experience:

I am astounded when people say they have never been allowed to talk about immigration and that politicians ignore it. I remember it differently: a continued, sometimes angry, political debate going back to the 1950s. There was not an immigration issue as such. Until the late 1990s, net immigration was negative. More people left than arrived. But those leaving were white and most arriving were black or Asian.

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Stephen Tall

Labour’s Mili-madness is over. Now what?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 11th November 2014 - 8:50 pm

Labour’s moment of Mili-madness is over: Ed will lead his party into the next election. Alan Johnson’s re-re-re-confirmation that he has no appetite for the job has thwarted any chances that he might be drafted into the post as caretaker leader to see his party through the remainder of the season.

It was a plan borne of desperation. Alan Johnson is admirable in many ways — he’s had a life before politics, he speaks human — but he has ruled himself out too often, too categorically, to be a credible potential Prime Minister. His is not the modest, aw-shucks-if-I-must reluctance of an ambitious politician who knows better than to look too ambitious: it is genuine. That many in Labour have been so keen to promote a man unwilling to be promoted says much about the incumbent.

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Caron Lindsay

Is John Hemming right to seek guidance on when children can be left home alone?

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 11th November 2014 - 5:36 pm

I was interested by this report in this week’s Sunday Times (£) concerning John Hemming, a long-standing campaigner against overbearing child protection policies and practices and secretive family courts. I’ve seen enough instances in my time where social workers have made serious errors, causing horrendous distress, to make me glad that he’s on their case.

He’s tabled a Parliamentary Question asking the Government for guidance on the age at which a child can be left at home alone after being approached by a mother who was given a police caution some years ago for leaving her then 6 year old in the house while she went for a driving lesson. That caution has been held against her as she now wishes to train as a mental health nurse.

I have to say that I have absolutely zero sympathy with anyone who thinks that it’s ok to leave a 6 year old in the house rather than cancel a driving lesson. The last time ROSPA had the funding to collect statistics on home accidents, they found that 120 children died in a year as a result of an accident in the home. The whole list makes sobering reading. More recent research looks at the reasons behind child hospital admissions and deaths.  So I think it was right that she received a police caution. Whether that should stop her becoming a nurse now, many years on, is a different matter. One stupid mistake shouldn’t automatically blight a whole career choice.

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Lord Roger Roberts

Lord Roger Roberts writes: Peers must resolve crisis of democracy in Wales

By Lord Roger Roberts | Tue 11th November 2014 - 3:24 pm

This afternoon, with the full support of all the main parties in the Welsh Assembly, the House of Lords will debate cross-party amendments to the Wales Bill, designed to radically improve voter engagement in Wales. The UK Government will instruct Coalition Peers to vote against them. How can we arrive at such a situation?

There is a crisis of democracy in Wales which the UK Government and The Electoral Commission have stubbornly, and repeatedly, refused to acknowledge.

Despite the sterling efforts of some Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), only 51% of our youngest citizens are registered to vote. And, in 2011, only 35% of 18-24 year olds voted in Welsh Assembly elections. If this status quo persists much longer, than less than half of young people in Wales will have an opportunity to voice their opinions at the ballot box on 7 May 2015.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Julian Huppert: Politicians can’t afford to look tough any more. We need to embrace drugs reform

By NewsHound | Tue 11th November 2014 - 2:54 pm

Writing in the Independent, Julian Huppert makes the case for drugs reform in the wake of the Parliamentary debate brought by he and Caroline Lucas. They were debating the Home Office report instigated by Liberal Democrat ministers which provided evidence that the prohibitionist approach simply doesn’t work. Unsurprisingly, the Tories did everything they could to suppress it. Julian writes about the debate and the Liberal Democrat perspective:

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Caron Lindsay

New report highlights need for action against homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 11th November 2014 - 12:55 pm

If I saw a transgender person, I’d kill them.

That happened. A young transgender person heard that fall casually from the lips of a classmate one day in class. The classmate didn’t know they were talking about someone not three feet away from them, but that’s not the point.

Even though my young acquaintance knew that they weren’t in the wrong, it was still a huge dent to their confidence. A blatant attack on your right to exist is never going to be easy to deal with. All school pupils, staff and parents should know that homophobic, transphobic or biphobic abuse will never be tolerated. That threat of physical harm in that example of hate speech was particularly appalling but those phrases like “You’re so gay” are just the stop of a slippery slope and need to be challenged by education from the earliest age.

It’s been good to see the Government, in a move personally championed by Nick Clegg and Jo Swinson, ensure that £2 million has been allocated specifically to combat this abuse. Jo said:

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The Voice

Stephen Gilbert to introduce Bill calling for National Defence Medal

By The Voice | Tue 11th November 2014 - 11:35 am

St Austell and Newquay Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Gilbert will introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill into the House of Commons today, Armistice Day. He seeks to shame the Government into awarding a National Defence Medal to all veterans of the Armed Forces who served for more than two years whether they saw armed conflict or not.

He talked to the Sunday Telegraph about why he thinks this is important:

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NewsHound

Kirsty Williams calls for right of recall for AMs

By NewsHound | Tue 11th November 2014 - 10:25 am

rally kirsty williams 1What happens when Parliamentarians misbehave? Not a lot unless they are sent to prison for over a year, apparently. The clamour for a right of recall, to make errant parliamentarians face their electorate if found to have been involved in serious wrongdoing, has been growing since the MPs’ expenses scandal five years ago. Last year the case of Bill Walker, the MSP convicted of violent assaults on three wives, showed why such a law was necessary.

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John Kelly

Opinion: Jewish and Muslim voting intentions

By John Kelly | Tue 11th November 2014 - 8:55 am

The Independent on Sunday headline on 9 November suggested that Jewish donors were deserting Labour because Miliband and Alexander have been so forthright in their criticism of Israel over the Gaza invasion this summer and their strong support for recognition of the state of Palestine.  A day earlier Jewish News published the results of a poll carried out within the Jewish Community.

The headline was that Jewish voters were 30% less likely to vote Labour because of its leadership’s stance.  What was much more interesting was that 19% say they would vote Labour compared with 15% who actually voted Labour in 2010 – i.e. at a time when the Brown/Blair governments had been pretty slavish in their support of Israel even during previous Gaza conflicts and the invasion of Lebanon.  Could this perhaps show that the most vocal leaders of the Jewish Community are out of step with the masses and that significant numbers in that Community in fact would rather support a Party that is highly critical of the present government of Israel?

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Stephen Tall

European Arrest Warrant: I’m a sceptic (but not a Eurosceptic)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 10th November 2014 - 8:41 pm

As I write, the House of Commons is debating the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).

Well, sort of. In fact, the Speaker, John Bercow, has already pointed out that “there will not today be a vote on the specific matter of membership of the European arrest warrant”. But Home Secretary Theresa May and Justice Secretary Chris Grayling say there will. In the Tories’ Alice in Wonderland world, when they use the word vote it means just what they choose it to mean, neither more nor less.

As with any debate involving Europe, there is a danger of it being used as …

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