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Opinion: A real respect agenda

By Alex Dingwall | Wed 3rd September 2014 - 3:59 pm

As we near 18^th September and the Independence referendum vote the language of some commentators and politicians on both sides has become less respectful and in some cases quite febrile.

Unfortunately that has included our own party where in the last few weeks we have seen speeches reported on Liberal Democrat Voice using the language of:

Standing on street corners, dripping poison about the NHS into the ears of passers-by

and

nationalist thugs

It’s a language that has been compounded by our agreement to adverts that suggest the only way to demonstrate your love for your children is to vote No.

The Yes Scotland …

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Posted in News | Tagged Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 9 Comments

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Sex and Power 2014 – Six recommendations to improve representation of women in public life

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 3rd September 2014 - 2:33 pm

Last week, the annual Sex and Power report was published. This is produced and researched by a coalition of organisations, Centre For Women and Democracy, the Electoral Reform Society, the Fawcett Society, the Hansard Society and Unlock Democracy which asks the question Who runs Britain?

It made no less grim reading than usual. This handy infographic shows exactly what we are dealing with in terms of the under-representation of women at all levels of public life.

The figures for the proportion of women amongst elected representatives are bad enough but there are precious few women in positions of power in the media to care about it and few in the higher echelons of the Civil Service. The report draws the depressing conclusion that a baby girl born today would be drawing her pension before there is any hope of equal representation if progress continues at its current glacial pace.

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Posted in News | Tagged gender equality and sex and power 2014 | 10 Comments

Former Clacton UKIP candidate ousted by Douglas Carswell resigns and backs local Liberal Democrat Councillor

By The Voice | Wed 3rd September 2014 - 2:03 pm

This time last week, Roger Lord was looking forward to facing Conservative MP Douglas Carswell in the General Election next May. He might not have expected to trouble his majority too much but he was secure in his position.

That didn’t turn out so well for him when he heard that he was being ousted as candidate in the same way that we all did.

He’s not very happy about it and has quit his Council seat. He has given his rather unexpected backing for the ensuing by-election to Liberal Democrat District Councillor Gary Scott whom he described as a “genuine person”. Gary is not putting himself forward for the by-election.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged gary scott, roger lord and ukip | 31 Comments

Opinion: Federalism and hypothecation do not mix

By Energlyn Churchill | Wed 3rd September 2014 - 12:45 pm

I was dismayed to read in Mohsin Khan’s recent piece calling for an NHS contribution that the leadership is, again, considering an NHS tax.

How history repeats itself. Ten or so years ago, when working for the Welsh Party, I opposed plans for what the Federal Policy Committee was then also referring to as an NHS contribution. My contention was, and remains, that a commitment to a Federal UK is not compatible with hypothecated taxation.

Whilst taxes are collected at a UK level, spending priorities are determined by devolved institutions. In our devolved context, any claim that a tax is truly hypothecated is simply dishonest. We could not guarantee that a centrally collected NHS tax would be spent on the NHS in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. It is impossible to require a particular portion of taxation to be spent in the devolved nations on specific areas without requiring them to do so by law. This would laugh in the face of the liberal principle of subsidiarity and is clearly a non-starter.

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Posted in News | Tagged federalism, hypothecation, tax and uk | 4 Comments

The Independent View: Free school meals is universalism at its best – all children benefit, but low-income children benefit most

By Alison Garnham | Wed 3rd September 2014 - 11:15 am

So the summer is over and it’s back to school time. But there is a silver lining to the autumnal clouds: free school meals. On their first day back at school, all infants school pupils (4 to 7 year olds) should be able to sit down to enjoy a free, nutritious meal.

This is one of the rare occasions when politics visibly touches normal family life, saving harassed parents the need to make a packed lunch and saving them money at the same time. Families will save almost £10 a week on average for every child benefiting from the policy.

Families up and down the country for years to come will benefit from the leadership of local and national politicians of all parties in helping to make this happen. From the previous government and local authorities for piloting and taking it forward at a local level, to Michael Gove for backing the idea in principle, to Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats for getting the Coalition to implement it. And now the Liberal Democrats have gone even further pledging to extend it to all primary school children if they are in government post-election.

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged education, free school meals, school food plan and schools | 12 Comments

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Postponed: Lib Dem pre-manifesto launch delayed owing to international situation

By Stephen Tall | Wed 3rd September 2014 - 10:00 am

The news of a further murder of a US hostage by ‘Islamic State’ broke last night. The Lib Dems have, therefore, decided to postpone today’s scheduled launch of the party’s pre-manifesto.

The pre-manifesto is the document agreed by the Lib Dems’ elected federal policy committee (FPC) to be submitted to this autumn’s conference for approval. Its contents have been heavily trailed throughout the summer. By my count, 19 policies (mostly policies already agreed by conference, and listed at the foot of this post) have been unveiled, as the party gears up the publicity machine to try and get its key messages heard by the voters ahead of May’s general election.

Party process purists won’t much like the publicity preceding the official conference vote, but the reality is unless the Lib Dems take every opportunity to hammer our policy messages home then what we have to say won’t ever be heard. A bit like leaflet delivery in an election campaign, it’s only when we’re sick and tired of hearing the message that there’s a slim chance the electorate might have noticed it even once.

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Posted in News | Tagged general election 2015 and liberal democrat manifesto 2015 | 32 Comments

Opinion: Charles Kennedy asks “What should we tell the Scots?”

By Matt Gallagher | Wed 3rd September 2014 - 9:20 am

On Monday I received an e-mail from Charles Kennedy and the Scottish Liberal Democrats. It asked Lib Dems across the UK to help the No campaign by completing a brief survey entitled,”What do you think we should be telling voters in Scotland?” The survey was indeed brief (3 questions), and the answers were pre-loaded, so I thought that I would compose my own response to my fellow Scots.

The preamble to the Liberal Democrat Federal Constitution states that ‘we look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely.’

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged charles kennedy and Scottish independence referendum | 13 Comments

Danny Alexander says EU membership would not be possible with Salmond’s “bonkers” sterlingisation plan

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 2nd September 2014 - 7:40 pm

I wrote last night that Alex Salmond’s plan to use the pound come what amy after independence would lead to higher personal credit costs as well as higher national debt costs. According to Danny Alexander it might also compromise Scotland’s EU membership. He has a letter from the former EU Commissioner Oli Rehn who told him that it would “not be possible” for Scotland to join the EU while using someone else’s currency.

Rehn said in a letter sent to Danny today:

As to the question whether ‘sterlingisation’ were compatible with EU membership, the answer is that this would simply not be possible, since that would obviously imply a situation where the candidate country concerned would not have a monetary authority of its own and thus no necessary instruments of the EMU.

This certainly puts more doubt as if there wasn’t enough already on the Yes Campaign’s currency plans. No doubt they will have whole load eminent people lined up in the morning to tell us that it’s all going to be fine and we shouldn’t worry about it, but people aren’t daft. In fact, they will probably say that it strengthens their case for a currency union and surely the nasty UK wouldn’t deny them that, especially when they would have a mandate for it from the referendum. Except that the mandate wouldn’t apply to the rest of the UK.

Danny announced this a little while ago in a speech at Chatham House. He probably showed a little too much glee to be honest. A more thoughtful “look, we did try to investigate to see if it would be possible but regrettably it isn’t” tone might be a little more appropriate. We don’t really need more aggression and dissonance in all of this. People are turning off. The most common reaction of my Facebook friends to last week’s ill-tempered debate between Darling and Salmond was to switch of. A “more in sorrow than anger” approach might keep them listening.

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Posted in News | Tagged currency, Danny Alexander, eu, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 34 Comments

Jim Murphy returns to Scottish independence campaign trail, promises more powers for Scottish Parliament

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 2nd September 2014 - 6:15 pm

Never let it be said that I’m not good to my niece. This morning I took her into Edinburgh to see the return of Labour’s Jim Murphy and his Irn Bru crates to the Independence Referendum trail. You may remember he had to call his “100 town in 100 days” tour off at the end of last week after encountering angry mobs of Yes campaigners.

A much friendlier crowd, estimated by the BBC to be around 300, turned up to see him today in one of the most beautiful locations in Edinburgh outside the National Gallery which has the Castle behind and views down to the Scott Monument and Waverley Bridge.

I have to say I’m not Murphy’s biggest fan. I don’t like the language he has used in the past, saying that he is a patriot, not a nationalist. Everyone involved in this campaign has the best interests of Scotland at heart. There is just a fairly fundamental disagreement on how to deliver the best future and I think that using words like patriotic raises the toxicity level of the debate unnecessarily. I may be alone in this. I know Tim Farron used the word a lot during the European elections – and I told him exactly the same thing. There was a marked softening of that nationalist/patriot rhetoric from Murphy today. He used the word patriotic much more often than I am comfortable with, but he did acknowledge that it applied to everyone who loved Scotland.

It was standard campaign stuff with a bit of humour. He said that we could heckle him all we liked so long as we didn’t play with his crates. He’s also learned early on in the campaign not to give questioners the microphone because the first time he did that, they ran off with it. He looked very comfortable on the stump. As my niece wryly remarked, “It’ll be doing wonders for his ego.” There were a couple of heckles, and someone unfurled a big saltire with YES on it at the back. Oh, and there was a Sun journalist in a chicken suit for some reason best known to themselves. No eggs, though, this time.

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Posted in News | Tagged jim murphy, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 5 Comments

Opinion: Cherish the independence of elected members

By Matt Burrows | Tue 2nd September 2014 - 4:38 pm

I was alarmed initially by the title of Mark Pack´s piece “Lessons from Rennard #4: who gets the party whip is a matter for the whole party”. As it turns out I find myself in agreement with much of it.

Rightly he points out that the smaller the group the more disproportionate influence one person will have. I like his suggestion of referring decisions of removal of the whip to the Federal Appeals Panel. Some scrutiny of the decision from outside parliament will be beneficial to Party and the individual. If adopted, I hope this would apply only to cases of personal misconduct.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Parliament and whip | 8 Comments

Nick Clegg calls for Ashya King to be reunited with his parents

By Joe Otten | Tue 2nd September 2014 - 3:09 pm

The case of Ashya King, the little boy with a brain tumour, brings into sharp focus an ethical dilemma where expert, official, police and parent may come into conflict while each trying to do their best for a desperately ill child. When he disappeared, the hospital was rightly concerned for his safety, knowing that he needed specialist care. As it seems to have turned out, the Kings took every precaution to provide Ashya what he needed while seeking what they believe to be a better treatment in another country.

Nick Clegg has now called for Brett and Naghemeh King to be allowed to see their son, and that it is not appropriate to throw the full force of the law at them, for trying to do what is best for their child.

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Posted in News | 20 Comments

The Airports Commission says ‘no’ to a Thames estuary airport, but Boris hasn’t given up

By Mary Reid | Tue 2nd September 2014 - 1:04 pm

Boris Johnson’s proposal for a new London airport on the Isle of Grain in the inner Thames estuary, to replace Heathrow, is not dead in the water despite being rejected by the Airports Commission. The Commission’s decision on the proposal was published today.

Whilst acknowledging that a new (‘ITE’) airport on the Thames estuary would provide extra capacity and improve noise impact, the report cites the loss of protected habitats, the issues with being sited next to a Liquid Natural Gas storage facility, plus the costs of infrastructure, housing and access improvements. The cost of the airport could be anything from £67 billion to £120 billion depending on whether it had three or four runways.

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Posted in News | Tagged boris johnson, heathrow airport and thames estuary airport | 16 Comments

The Chancel Repairs Bill 2014 (more interesting than you might imagine)

By Michael Hall | Tue 2nd September 2014 - 11:03 am

I am delighted that Lord Eric Avebury has moved the first reading in the House of Lords of the Chancel Repairs Bill. Eric ( the former MP, Eric Lubbock – the famous Orpington Man) must be our longest serving Parliamentarian. Having been elected as MP for Orpington in 1962, with a massive swing from the Conservatives, he succeeded to the Peerage as Baron Avebury in 1971, and has held his seat as one of the 93 elected hereditary peers.

Over the years he has continued as a keen and active supporter of the Liberal Democrats in Orpington, and one of our most hard working peers.

He has also published an Explanatory Note with the Bill.

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Posted in News | Tagged chancel repairs bill and church of england | 8 Comments

Opinion: If an NHS Tax is a step too far, let taxpayers make an optional “NHS Donation”

By Mohsin Khan | Tue 2nd September 2014 - 9:09 am

Liberal Democrats have committed to protecting the NHS Budget in the next Parliament. But over the next 6 years, we will need to fill a £30 billion deficit to maintain the level of quality we expect from our NHS. Social care faces a £7 billion shortfall.

There have been recent reports that senior party figures are looking at a hypothecated “NHS Tax”.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged national insurance and NHS | 23 Comments

An email on counter-terrorism measures from a Liberal Democrat should not make me despair…

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 1st September 2014 - 10:03 pm

Nick Clegg has sent the following email to party members this evening about the new counter terrorism measures taken by the Government. There is no doubt that had he not been constrained by Liberal Democrats, David Cameron would have gone much, much further and what has emerged is as liberal as it is likely to get. But I don’t have to like it. Here is what Nick said:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged civil liberties and terrorism | 112 Comments

Of course sterlingisation and debt default would lead to Scots paying more for loans, mortgages and credit

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 1st September 2014 - 8:39 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has been taking a bit of a pasting on social media from nationalists who don’t like what he said in a tv interview yesterday. He argued what I thought was a pretty obvious point that in a Scotland where we were using the pound without the protection of a lender of last resort and where Alex Salmond had led us to inglorious default on our share of the UK debt, our mortgages, car loans and credit cards would be more expensive than they are now.

There are several reasons for this. First of all, if we have no lender of last resort, the banks have to keep more money in their reserves which mens they have less to lend out. That will push up their interest rates to start with. We would all end up paying more. Think about the effects that would have on already stressed household budgets. We’ve so far avoided the huge spike in repossessions that we saw in the 1990s recession. That could change rapidly.

Remember when Vince Cable was complaining that viable businesses were really struggling because banks wouldn’t lend to them in the wake of the last recession? We’d have that to deal with as well.

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Posted in News | Tagged currency, default, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 17 Comments

Opinion: Why I rejoined the Liberal Democrats

By Anthony Vaughan | Mon 1st September 2014 - 4:18 pm

I sit here having just rejoined the Liberal Democrats. I was previously a member and considered getting active in my local area. I left because I felt dismayed by the type of politics that I was seeing happening around the country. UKIP were making gains in the European elections, every politician I hear or representative blamed other parties for the failures of the past. In 2010 I was very active within my personal capacity to do so. I delivered campaign material on the doors in all weathers. I had conversations with lifelong Conservative voters in an attempt to highlight the reasons why more Liberal Democrats in Parliament would be good for society. However, since then it seemed that even 4 years on everyone blames someone else for things not getting better.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged liberal democrats and membership | 18 Comments

Mike Thornton MP writes…Don’t commit to no increase in runways

By Mike Thornton MP | Mon 1st September 2014 - 2:45 pm

The prospect of airport expansion is hugely controversial. It sparks an inevitable tug-o-war between those who see larger airports as key to economic growth, and those worried about the impact on the environment.

Many people, including in my own party, are rightly concerned about the potential damage increased airport capacity could cause. These feelings can be particularly acute in London, especially around Heathrow, where residents endure noise and dread the prospect of more flights.

Our Liberal Democrat pre-manifesto – set by our party’s working groups and committees – looks set to include a commitment to no net increase in runways across the UK. But I believe Lib Dem’s ambitions for a greener future must also fit with our vision for a stronger economy and a fairer society – and that means looking for opportunities for growth across the whole country. Our concerns about pollution and noise from today’s aeroplanes may be less relevant to the next generation of cleaner and quieter aircraft in twenty, thirty and forty years’ time.

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Posted in News | 25 Comments

Danny Alexander sets out vision for more powers after a No vote in the Scottish referendum

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 1st September 2014 - 1:15 pm

On Friday night, Danny Alexander, Willie Rennie and Charles Kennedy held a public meeting in Inverness on the independence referendum. A key theme was what would happen in the event of a No vote. For Highland communities, rule from Edinburgh is every bit as dangerous as rule from London. Nowhere has this been as keenly demonstrated as through the centralisation of the Scottish police force. This has now led to armed police being present on routine duties on the streets of peaceful Highland towns and communities with the wishes of residents and the local authority being casually disregarded.

I was quite impressed to see even a central belt Labour MP get the need for making the A9 dual carriageway the other week. Michael Connarty and I were on the panel at a Better Together event in Bathgate and he was slating the SNP’s centralisation agenda so you can tell how bad things are getting up here.

While the specifics of Danny’s speech were Highland related, there is a lot in there for anyone who’s interested in the general question of more powers. He used the F word, too, saying that federalism was much more radical and liberal than independence.

I think we are definitely within touching distance of being able to get a good bit down the road towards the Federal UK that Liberal Democrats want. It’s clear that the outcome will be close enough that if there is no noticeable change, we will be here again within a decade. Obviously full federalism needs the rest of the UK’s agreement but there is much that could be done, as set out in the report of Sir Menzies Campbell’s Home Rule Commission.

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Posted in News | Tagged Danny Alexander, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 19 Comments

Liberal Democrat Voice Awards 2014 – get your nominations in NOW, and never let it be said that we don’t listen to feedback, Mr Calder

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 1st September 2014 - 11:45 am

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards will take place with its usual glamour and fun on the Saturday evening of the Glasgow Conference.

Here’s all the details:

There will be a fantastic selection of Liberal Democrats presenting the awards. You can read about last year’s ceremony, where Nick Clegg called us infuriating and inspiring here.

We revamped the Awards last year and people seemed to like what we have done, so we’ve kept the format the same with one wee tweak. We think that we should give your imaginations free rein with the photoshopping and the parliamentarians so there’s a separate category for them.

This year’s awards are as follows:

Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year

Liberal Democrat Blog-post of the year

Liberal Democrat Tweeter/Facebooker of the Year

Best use of social media by an elected representative (Tim Garden award)

Best online campaign run by a Liberal Democrat

Lib Dem Councillor of the Year

The Lib Dems’ Favourite Tory MP award

The Lib Dems’ Favourite Labour MP award

Best online campaign of the year (non Lib Dem)

Best photograph of a Liberal Democrat Parliamentarian or senior Councillor or party figure (real life)

Best photo-shopped photo of a Liberal Democrat Parliamentarian

We are asking for nominations by email to me at [email protected] for the shortlists for these awards. They will then be judged by our esteemed panel of judges. Liberal Democrat Voice and any official blogs run by the party aren’t eligible either. We are extending the deadline to midnight on 15th September, so you have an two weeks.

Send us your nominations plus a very brief – and I’m talking no more than a sentence – reason why. We will then compile the shortlists from those and poll to our members’ forum.

Send in your nominations by email to [email protected] and remember to state which award category you’re nominating for, in each case.

The shortlists will then be put to a vote of our forum of party members. That’s right. This year, we are giving our readers who are members of the party the chance to choose the majority of our winners.

There are other awards that you will have the chance to vote for:

Lib Dem Minister of the Year

Lib Dem MP of the Year

Lib Dem parliamentarian (non-minister) of the Year (open to MSPs, MEPs, Peers, AMs GLAMs

All will be eligible for these categories.

And there’s even more than that…

Best Political Commentator (print/online) of the Year

Best Political Broadcaster (TV/radio) of the Year

These last two awards are being decided slightly differently. They will be chosen form a shortlist based on the answers in our pre-Conference survey. Again, all members in our members’ forum will have the chance to vote.

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Posted in News | Tagged featured and liberal democrat voice awards 2014 | 1 Comment

Opinion: How about some real fairness in our tax system?

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 1st September 2014 - 10:15 am

On 27th August as a party of the new Liberal Democrat media strategy of Manifesto by a Thousand Statements, in the name of the party it was announced that The Liberal Democrats have set out plans to introduce a trio of wealth taxes which will help to cut the deficit whilst ensuring fairness in our tax system. I fully understand the need to wipe out the deficit, and the need for the wealthiest to bear the greatest burden in achieving that, but let us not confuse that with making our tax system fairer.

National Insurance is a tax on income. It is paid at a rate of 11% on earnings between £7,956 per year and £ 41,865 per year above which it drops to just 2%. Surely integrating NI into Income Tax, thereby raising the basic threshold to the proposed £12,500 and reducing the rate of payment substantially (we are always told that the richest 10% pay the highest burden in tax) would be a way of ensuring fairness in our tax system. This is a measure that would have a direct impact on the daily lives of the majority of our citizens, rather than just playing to the politics of envy.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged liberal democrat manifesto 2015 and tax | 29 Comments

RIP Simon Titley

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 1st September 2014 - 9:00 am

Just two and a half months ago, we had to report the desperately sad news that Simon Titley, stalwart of the Liberator collective, was seriously ill.

Simon passed away yesterday morning. The thoughts of the LDV team are with all who were close to him.

At this time of year, the Liberator Collective are busy preparing for Conference, putting together the Liberator Song Book and their pre-Confeernce magazine. The Glee Club will be full of emotion this year.

Simon wrote several articles for this site as well as his regular Liberator previews which you can read here. I want to highlight just two.

In 2012, just after that dazzling Olympics opening ceremony, Simon told us to basically stop being so craven and to get out and shout our liberal message because we clearly had support out there for it:

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Posted in News | Tagged liberator and simon titley | 23 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #388

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 31st August 2014 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 388th 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 (24-30 August, 2014), 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

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

By The Voice | Sun 31st August 2014 - 5:07 pm

Many thanks to the 13,200 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Alison Goldsworthy quits party saying it’s no place for women who “want to deliver change” (78 comments) by The Voice

Nicola Sturgeon challenges Nick Clegg to do the Ice Bucket Challenge (7 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Coup for UKIP as Tory MP Carswell defects, triggers by-election in Clacton (79 comments) by Stephen Tall

Yes Scotland is a bit late to realise that Wings over Scotland is bad news (21 …

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Posted in Best of the blogs and Site news | Leave a comment

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown: Britain’s best defence to the terror threat is international action

By NewsHound | Sun 31st August 2014 - 12:38 pm

In today’s Observer, Paddy Ashdown cautions against knee-jerk reactions to the prospect of radicalised Jihadists returning to Britain and wreaking havoc on our streets:

He says, basically, that we’ve dealt with this before, in more difficult circumstances and we know how to do it:

On Friday, the government announced that the imminent danger of jihadi attack meant Britain’s threat level should be raised to “severe”. Then, from the prime minister downwards, Tory ministers took to every available airwave to tell us how frightened we should be and why this required a range of new powers for them to exercise. For the record, the threat level in Northern Ireland has been “severe” for the past four years – as it was in all Britain for many years in the 1980s and 1990s, when the IRA threat was at its greatest.

I say this not to deny the threat from returning jihadis – though as the former head of counter-terrorism for MI6, Richard Barrett said on Saturday, this should not be overestimated. But rather to make the point that this is not a new threat. It is one we have faced before and one we know how to deal with – effectively, without panic and without a whole new range of executive powers that could endanger our liberties. Indeed, when it comes to facing threats, it was surely far more difficult to cope with IRA terrorists slipping across the Irish Sea than it is to stop jihadis returning from Iraq?

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged civil liberties, observer, paddy ashdown and terrorism | 16 Comments

LibLink: Sam Ghibaldan: Put people, not nations first

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 31st August 2014 - 11:08 am

Sam Ghibaldan was Special Adviser to Jim Wallace and Nicol Stephen throughout the Liberal Democrats’ 8 years in coalition with Labour at Holyrood from 1999 and 2007.

He’s written an article for the Scotsman outlining the importance of liberalism in securing us the rights we hold for granted and comparing it with nationalism in the context of the Scottish independence referendum.

First he outlines what liberalism has done for us:

But at their core is the liberal belief that gradually took root during the 19th century, and was brought to fruition in response to the lives squandered during two world wars, that every individual mattered. Once that dangerous, radical idea became established, so did the concept that the state should nurture people, equipping them with education, healthcare and other support. As it turned out, these were just the things needed to promote personal liberty, which exploded into the 1960s as deference fell out of fashion and choice became an expectation instead of a luxury.

Liberalism’s contribution to human wellbeing, in the form of happiness and self-fulfilment, has been immense. We are free. Free to make our own career choices, to enjoy ourselves as we wish, to believe – or not – in whatever we want, to live comfortably regardless of our sexuality without fear of society’s censure.

Personal choice, freedom, liberty – however you describe it – is more important than nationality, religion or any tribal identity. It allows us to be who we are, and who we want to be. People may choose allegiances, identities, whether related to football teams, musical tribes, religions or nations. But in a society that allows and facilitates such diversity, the important thing is that people can do just that – choose – and the state does not define them, or their rights, by those choices. First and foremost, they are human beings, individuals and fellow citizens.

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged liberalism, nationalism, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 2 Comments

Caron’s Sunday Selection: Must-read articles from the Sunday papers

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 31st August 2014 - 9:47 am

It’s almost September, and, let’s face it, now that the X Factor’s back, tithe countdown to Christmas has begun, so I should probably forget all these leisurely Sunday morning lie-ins and actually start having a look at what’s in the papers again.

When terror threats are raised, for me the first question is not “Is something awful going to happen on our streets?” It’s “Which of our precious freedoms are the Government planning to take from us?” With Liberal Democrats in Government that anxiety is considerably less than it would be if there were none, but it is still there. Scotland on Sunday tells us how David Cameron and Nick Clegg are having talks today to finalise the Government’s response. The Observer reports that Paddy Ashdown warns against knee jerk reactions, which is a good sign. We’ll cover that separately.

In the Observer, Catherine Bennett cites the recent dire Better Together commercial and Austin Mitchell’s comments to argue that it really is time for All Women Shortlists:

Without Labour’s all-women lists, parliament would resound, indefinitely, to the grunts of its Mitchells, Soameses and Fabricants. Unrecorded in the YouGov poll are people who dislike all-women shortlists but dislike yet more the reason for their continued existence: the very culture that just created the execrable, the relentlessly mocked Woman Who Made up Her Mind.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged press review | 23 Comments

What if… David Davis had won the Tory leadership contest in 2005?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 31st August 2014 - 8:18 am

What-ifs are, as Peter Snow would say, just a bit of fun: a counter-factual parlour game for historians. It is impossible to know exactly how one event ricocheting off in a different direction would have altered the subsequent reality.

This one does genuinely intrigue me, though: What if David Davis had won the Tory leadership contest in 2005, rather than David Cameron? Davis did, after all, begin as favourite. His disastrous 2005 party conference – a dud photo-op and a lacklustre speech – coupled with David “let sunshine win the day” Cameron’s triumph meant his second leadership attempt sank without trace. He was trounced 68%-32% in the all-member ballot that followed.

But what if he’d won? Would David Davis have been a more effective leader of the Tories than David Cameron has turned out to be?

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged david cameron, david davis and featured | 12 Comments

In the next month 32 seats will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs

By The Voice | Sat 30th August 2014 - 5:30 pm

Here’s the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates’ list, together with the closing date for applications.

The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates:

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Posted in Selection news | Tagged general election 2015 | 5 Comments

Opinion: Liberal Democrat Fairtrade Future welcomes hospital food announcement

By Mathew Hulbert | Sat 30th August 2014 - 3:30 pm

One of the things that makes me proud to be a Liberal Democrat is our belief in fairness.

The very first line in the preamble to our Party’s Constitution states ‘The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a free, fair and open society…’

I also love that we are an internationalist party.

Indeed the preamble goes on to state, ‘We look forward to a World in which all people share the same basic rights…’

For me these two elements of our founding principles come together the Fairtrade movement which I’ve long since championed.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged fairtrade and tim farron | 3 Comments