Caron Lindsay

Revenge porn: A modern, legal form of abuse

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th May 2014 - 2:23 pm

Instagram and other Social Media AppsImagine you’re in a loving relationship with someone. In the context of that relationship, you allowed some personal, intimate photographs to be taken that were only for your private enjoyment. Then you split up and, to your horror, find that those private photographs have been put up on the internet for all to see as an act of revenge by your former lover.

That’s got to be illegal, right? Effectively, it’s a form of abuse perpetrated mainly but not exclusively) by men against women, after all. Actually, …

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Greg Mulholland MP

Greg Mulholland MP writes…Support my gruelling 20,000 ft climb to raise £10k for Royal British Legion rehabilitation centre

By Greg Mulholland MP | Wed 14th May 2014 - 1:31 pm

Cotopaxi in the clearAt the end of May, I am joining serving and former soldiers and two other MPs in trying to tackle one of the world’s highest volcanoes, Cotopaxi in Ecuador at 19,347 feet. I am taking on this tough challenge to raise awareness of the Royal British Legion Battle Back Centre, the national rehabilitation centre which provides adaptive sports and adventurous training for injured servicemen and women.

The Battle Back Centre helps achieve the best possible recovery and either return to service duty or make a smooth transition to …

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg on the benefits of being in the EU, cheese, football and UKIP fruitcakery

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th May 2014 - 12:55 pm

FruitcakeNick Clegg did a further Twitter Town Hall session yesterday. I did a quick Storify thingy. The order is not quite right because of some technological gremlins I am not clever enough to sort, but I think all the questions are there. There’s also a beautifully illustrated piece in the Independent which you might like to have a look at.

There’s quite a good balance between banter and serious questions and he’s actually quite good with the quick fire summarising in 140 characters. It’s not easy to do, especially as he can be over-wordy at other times.

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Toby Fenwick

The Independent View: Scotland, vote no and let’s all move towards a Federal UK

By Toby Fenwick | Wed 14th May 2014 - 11:50 am

Brazil v Scotland 22As an outsider, analysis about September’s Scottish Independence Referendum is something of a minefield. There is space to constructively critique the SNP’s proposals, but needs to recognise that I don’t have a vote, and that Lord Robertson-style hyperbole about a Scottish “cataclysm” is not just offensive – and for unionists, counterproductive – it is inaccurate, too.

So let me begin by making clear that in my CentreForum paper analysing Scottish independence published today, I believe that Scotland is perfectly capable of becoming an …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Norman Lamb: Dementia, loneliness and how we can help

By NewsHound | Wed 14th May 2014 - 11:29 am

My motherIn Sunday’s Observer, Norman Lamb wrote about the importance of the Dementia Friends initiative. He starts by describing a situation that’s becoming all to common for people with Dementia and their carers:

It is four o’clock in the morning. A man has been roused from an already fitful sleep by his wife. She is upset and confused. And she has wet the bed. He has to comfort her and change the sheets at the same time. Eventually he is able to return to bed and get a little bit of rest

…

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Michael Moore

Michael Moore MP’s Road to Referendum: “A mutual meeting point between two nations, rather than an international border point separating two states”

By Michael Moore | Wed 14th May 2014 - 9:32 am

September 14th "Welcome to Scotland"There was cross-party agreement last week in the House of Commons after I, alongside Conservative MP for Penrith and the Border Rory Stewart, made the case for United Kingdom cross-border unity at Scottish Questions.  Alongside Mr Stewart, I asked specifically about what independence would mean for Border constituencies.

The future shape of Scotland, and the very existence of the United Kingdom, is at stake in the forthcoming referendum. If Scotland were to leave the United Kingdom, the Border constituencies would be the first to feel the effects of …

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The Voice

Headline of the day: How exactly do you “bloke” a takeover?

By The Voice | Wed 14th May 2014 - 8:41 am

You’ve got to love this headline from the Yorkshire Post:

Vince blokes takeover

In the article, Vince is reported as telling the Commons Business Committee that he and the government were prepared to intervene over Pfizer’s planned takeover of Astra Zeneca, emphasising how important it was to protect the research base in the UK.

He said:

Yes, we work as a team and my colleagues have made very clear that, like me, they want options kept open.

We recognise that we have to keep the options open both in terms of

…

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David Boyle

Opinion: Small plus small plus small equals BIG

By David Boyle | Tue 13th May 2014 - 5:22 pm

ultra-micro economicsIn the heady days of the Thatcher government, when the hideous mistakes of Big Bang were being forged and coming to fruition, I used to run an excellent magazine called Town & Country Planning.  In those days, we were extremely exercised by the idea of the huge and mounting cost of rundown private sector homes. Who was going to repair them?

We don’t talk about that problem any more. This is not because it was ever exactly solved, but because of one of the more benevolent effect of rising house prices, before the oligarchs came in, was that it made a bit of DIY worthwhile. Instead of the government shelling out to repair all those privately-owned dwellings, the young owners went down to B&Q and bought a paintbrush.

It was a lesson to me that neither the conventional public sector nor the conventional private sector may be best placed to tackle the really intractable problems.  And it makes me wonder whether the great unanswered questions about rebalancing the economy might eventually be answered – not by the long night of the soul as we wait for the Treasury, but by the places themselves.

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Cat Hobbs

The Independent View: Outsourcing companies aren’t trusted – Liberal Democrats must show they are taking a stand

By Cat Hobbs | Tue 13th May 2014 - 4:15 pm

sick of sercoLast week We Own It released new polling which shows that outsourcing companies are trusted less than central government, the civil service, the police service and the NHS. 64% of the public distrust companies like Atos, Capita, G4S and Serco while only 21% trust them. Only 16% think there is currently adequate regulation of private companies running public services. Political parties ignore public reactions like these at their peril.

We Own It is an organisation that campaigns for public service users and for public ownership. Last Thursday Serco held its AGM and we took the opportunity to hold a protest, ‘Sick of Serco’, to show how much of the public feels about outsourcing.

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Emma Taylor

The Independent View: No One Ever Told Me About Politics

By Emma Taylor | Tue 13th May 2014 - 3:24 pm

no one ever told me about politics“I’ve been wanting to be more clued-up on politics for a while – and I know lots of other people my age feel the same way – but it always seems so complicated and it’s hard to know where to start”. Kate, 25

A few days ago, a year ahead of the next UK general election, a new cross-party initiative called No One Ever Told Me About Politics was launched to tackle the pressing issue of political disengagement amongst people in their 20s and 30s.

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The Voice

LibLink: Edward Macmillan-Scott on ‘The European Parliament, Human Rights champion’

By The Voice | Tue 13th May 2014 - 2:32 pm

edward mcmillan-scottEdward McMillan-Scott is the Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber , but also the European Parliament’s Vice President for Human Rights. He has written an article for the latest edition of  the European Parliament’s monthly magazine, EP Today, to mark Europe Day. He writes:

Despite the profound changes the world has undergone since the fall of the Berlin wall, torture, unlawful imprisonment and genocide still haunt us.

That is why the end of the European Parliament’s mandate is an opportunity to review the vital work done by the EU ensure the promotion and protection of human rights and democracy worldwide.

He then lists many projects and initiatives by the EU in the field of human rights and concludes:

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb writes … we must fight for mental health to get the recognition it needs

By Norman Lamb MP | Tue 13th May 2014 - 12:52 pm

Mental health - bipolar - Some rights reserved by Mrs TeePotIn my time as Mental Health minister, I have written here several times about the unacceptable disparity between mental health and physical health in our health system.  For far too long, physical health has been prioritised over mental health.

Perhaps the most stark difference is in terms of what happens when you suffer a mental health crisis. If you break your arm or suffer a stroke, you know that you will be taken to A&E, where you will get access to the expertise you need.

It’s very different in mental health. You may end up in a police cell or you may get sent a long way away from home to get a bed in a mental health unit. This would never be tolerated in physical health so why should it be acceptable in mental health?

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Pete Mills

The Independent View: Harnessing the “BuzzFeed” effect to boost turnout in the Euro elections

By Pete Mills | Tue 13th May 2014 - 11:50 am

Only 26% are certain to vote in the European elections, and 77% say they know less about the issues in a European election than a general election, according to the Hansard Society. At Unlock Democracy, we’ve been looking at new techniques to combat low turnout and the worrying lack of political knowledge about European institutions.

For the European elections, we worked with organisations from 14 countries across the EU to produce Vote Match Europe, an online quiz app which matches user to the parties that best represent their views in the European elections, based on the issues which they select as …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Opinion: Get your voters out electronically

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th May 2014 - 10:25 am

HTC HD7 8It’s not a surprise to say far more people use social media now than when I first learnt political campaigning because Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the whole lot didn’t even exist back then. Nor even did (glory be, you might think) Internet Explorer. Back when a beta version of Netscape was cutting edge, the scope for successful online political campaigning was tiny compared to now, when there are more people on the electoral register who use social media than will vote next week.

But the story of the last few decades isn’t just about the rise of the online world. It’s also about the increasing problems with traditional ways of communicating with voters on the ground. Fewer phone numbers are in the phone book; fewer households have someone in when you call round; and fewer properties have accessible individual letterboxes.

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Jim Wallace

Devo 15: Lord Jim Wallace writes.. Next 15 years represents inspiring opportunity to build on devolution success

By Jim Wallace | Tue 13th May 2014 - 8:29 am

Scottish Parliament 23 May 06 061Before going in to address a class of first year law students at Aberdeen University, last November, the head of the Law School took me aside and said, “Just to be aware. Most of your audience can’t remember a Scotland without a Scottish Parliament.” And, of course, these students were only about four years old, when the first elections to that Parliament were held fifteen years ago last week.

To those of us who campaigned so long and hard to create the Parliament, it doesn’t seem so long ago.

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Stephen Tall

New ICM poll: Do you want the okay-ish news or the bad news?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th May 2014 - 8:40 pm

Let’s start with the okay-ish news… ICM, the ‘gold standard’ pollster, has the Lib Dems at 13% in the Guardian’s latest monthly survey. That wouldn’t usually be much to write home about – it is after all 10% lower than the party scored at the last general election – but after a string of polls showing the Lib Dems in single digits, there will be something of a sigh of relief from Great George Street.

icm poll - may 2014

In fact, there’s a second bit of okay-ish news, which I’ll come …

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #375

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 12th May 2014 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 375th 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 (4-10 May, 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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Caron Lindsay

Danny Alexander speaks out against use of armed and mounted Police in the Highlands

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 12th May 2014 - 3:45 pm

Police on Horse BackIn February, I reported that Danny Alexander had spoken out about the use of Police horses in his Highland constituency. As a native of Inverness I shared his sense of horror that anti-riot policing techniques were being used in the peaceable and safe Highland capital.

Danny had written to the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to express his concern about such unprecedented, heavy-handed policing, to to mention the cost of bringing the horses up from Ayrshire at a time when the service is closing local control rooms. He’s …

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Guy Russo

Opinion: Labour’s cheap attacks on Clegg’s integrity reflect badly on them

By Guy Russo | Mon 12th May 2014 - 2:15 pm

Labour broadcast Shrinking manThe word appalling doesn’t even begin to cover Labour’s most recent campaign video. It’s a spiteful attack ad on the character of Nick Clegg, and in case you haven’t seen it, you can find it here. Feel free to grab something to vomit into beforehand.

I’m a 16 year old student, and I joined the Liberal Democrats in 2013 for three reasons. I believe passionately that democracy in Britain is failing, and the Liberal Democrats are the only party that seek that cause with integrity. I couldn’t deal …

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John Kelly

Opinion: Hamas and the collapse of Palestine/Israel Peace Negotiations

By John Kelly | Mon 12th May 2014 - 1:00 pm

Palestine_Jerusalem_Geopoint_Right_of_Return_NK24131Two weeks ago the Israeli Cabinet declared that the peace negotiations over Palestine were halted in view of the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. The fact that the Cabinet Meeting took six hours perhaps suggests that this was not a unanimous decision. Was it a reasonable decision?

Background on Hamas can be found here. The essentials are that it was founded with the aim of liberating Palestine from Israel and had an armed wing that has indulged in terrorism.  (Sound like Sinn Fein and the IRA?) Nonetheless it won Parliamentary elections …

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Caron Lindsay

Devo 15: Rennie and Williams speak on 15th anniversary of Scottish Parliament’s and Senedd’s first sittings

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 12th May 2014 - 11:28 am

Willie Rennie - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsIt’s 15 years today since MSPs and AMs took their seats in their new devolved Parliaments. Today’s leaders of the Scottish and Welsh parties have marked the  occasion in very different ways. Willie Rennie is upbeat about the impact of the Parliament and the measures it’s passed since devolution. He said that every person in Scotland could be proud of what it has achieved:

Fifteen years ago I was thrilled to head up the first Scottish Liberal Democrat Scottish Parliament office and assist our party to form the first Scottish Government.  The opening of the Scottish Parliament in the General Assembly Hall will always be remembered for the celebrations which took place not only on the Mound but across Scotland.

Every person in Scotland can be proud of devolution. We have the best of both worlds with a strong Scottish Parliament where we shape our domestic agenda on issues like health and education, whilst working together across the UK to share the progress which comes from being part of something bigger. From free personal care for older people to land reform legislation to pioneering the smoking ban, devolution has changed lives of people in Scotland and across the UK.

Willie’s fingerprints are on many of the landmark measures which the first Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition passed, from free personal care to making sure that Scottish students were not charged tuition fees. He was the party’s first Chief of Staff during the first two years of the Parliament.

Have a look at some of those achievements here. 

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Stuart Bonar

Opinion: All Europe liked Conchita: what Eurovision tells us

By Stuart Bonar | Mon 12th May 2014 - 10:20 am

Conchita Wurst, Copenhagen May 2014 Eurovision winner, Photo: Albin Olsson License: CC-BY-SA-3.0Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst’s smiling face beamed out from my TV late on Saturday, and like so many people I thought her victory was great. As Lib Dem Voice’s own Caron Lindsay put it shortly after the show had ended, the Austrian’s song

might not have been the best on offer tonight, but her personality, her embodiment of liberalism and authenticity, combined with a pan-European desire to stick two fingers up to the illiberal east triumphed in Copenhagen…

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The Voice

Bath Liberal Democrats select Steve Bradley as candidate to replace Don Foster

By The Voice | Mon 12th May 2014 - 9:55 am

Steve BradleyAt the weekend, Bath Liberal Democrats selected Steve Bradley as their parliamentary candidate in place of Don Foster who  has been the city’s Liberal Democrat MP for 22 years.

From the Bath Chronicle:

More than 180 local party members met yesterday afternoon at the Salvation Army hall in James Street West to debate, discuss and vote from a shortlist of six contenders.

After a lengthy five-hour event they selected Mr Bradley, who is a a former Lib Dem councillor in Lambeth.

Mr Bradley, who first moved to the city in 1991 as a student at the University of Bath, said: “I am immensely proud and humbled to have been selected by local Liberal Democrat members as their candidate for the 2015 General Election.

“Don Foster has been a tremendous champion for this city for 22 years. I look forward to working closely with him in his remaining year as our MP.

“And I hope the people of Bath will place their faith in me to continue Don’s hard work in parliament on their behalf.”

Don Foster MP said:

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Antony Hook

Opinion: A European manifesto of hope

By Antony Hook | Mon 12th May 2014 - 8:55 am

Antony Hook in SE regionFor me and many other people, being a Liberal is about politics based on hope.

One of my favourite definition of hope is that it stands for “Helping Other People Evolve”.

Helping, not forcing.

Evolving, because almost everyone can see some scope for change for the better in their life.

We are not talking about forcing people to change their lives against their will.

Nor do we say, “each to their own, I’ll sort out my life and if you have no chance of a better future that is not my problem.”

Liberal leadership, based on hope, is about giving people a chance to fulfil their potential.

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Giles Goodall

Opinion: Liberalism and tolerance win the Eurovision Song Contest

By Giles Goodall | Sun 11th May 2014 - 7:57 pm

Conchita Wurst, Mario Soldo-2208There’ll no doubt be a lot of the usual ‘why do they hate us’ headlines in the UK following our disappointing showing in last night’s Eurovision Song Contest. 17th place was indeed below par for one our strongest songs in years and a polished performance on the night by 27-year old Mollie Smitten-Downes.

But such introspection – rather typically for Britain on matters European – misses the bigger point. Far more interesting was the winner: a gay, bearded transvestite from Austria called Conchita …

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 11th May 2014 - 4:09 pm

7 ver 4 fullMany thanks to the 16300 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Opinion: We are still living with the consequences of nationalised railways today. Turning back the clock will make matters worse. (117 comments) by Alisdair Calder McGregor

Labour VAT attack backfires badly (43 comments) by Joe Otten

Nick Clegg unveils council waste and incompetence (71 comments) by The Voice

An open letter to UKIP voters (106 comments) by Paul Reynolds

Latest Euro election polls: Ukip take the lead, but what about …

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Patrick McAuley

Opinion: The “Bedroom Tax”: a great socialist policy?

By Patrick McAuley | Sun 11th May 2014 - 3:00 pm

Bedroom tax demo , all the photos taken with a iphone 5One thing escapes most political commentators when critiquing the merits of the Bedroom Tax. It is, of course, a great socialist policy.

Of course most commentators accept New Labour introduced the Bedroom Tax through the Local Housing Allowance policy from 2003 to 2008. The mistake commentators make is that they believe LHA to be an ideologically compassionate conservative policy, instead of democratic socialist one.

The argument has two parts. The first is relatively straight forward. For a socialist common ownership (of which …

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Mark Pack

Opinion: Yes, Labour really has given up on winning votes from the Conservatives

By Mark Pack | Sun 11th May 2014 - 12:00 pm

Labour Party logoI’m not fully signed up to the mockery for Labour’s recent TV and online films mocking Nick Clegg. Why? Because for all the naff content themselves, the broad message of them has been massively reported in the media, reaching a much wider audience than the films themselves.

I doubt that was a deliberate strategy as you can’t count on calibrating something to be just bad enough to get lots of coverage but not so bad as to sink under it. It’s a handy silver lining, however, especially as it diverted …

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Stephen Tall

Airport expansion: 73% of Lib Dem members want to see it – but opinion divided on where it should happen

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th May 2014 - 10:30 am

Airport terminalLib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 830 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

37% want London airport expansion; 36% want no-London airport expansion; 21% want no airport expansion

There is currently a discussion about how to expand airport capacity in the UK to meet future demand for air travel. Which one of the following do you think is the best option?

11% – Expand Heathrow airport

16% – Expand one or more of the other existing London airports (e.g. London Gatwick, Luton or Stansted)

10% – Build a new airport in the Thames Estuary to the east of London

36% – Expand other UK airports outside of London/the South East

21% – None of these – I would not like to see any expansion of the UK’s airport capacity

6% – Don’t know

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Caron Lindsay

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

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 11th May 2014 - 9:35 am

Selection of British newspapersHere’s my pick of today’s Sunday papers. Please add your own favourite stories in the comments.

In the Observer, Andrew Rawnsley asks if Nick Clegg can survive another meltdown at the polls and puts the answer squarely at Liberal Democrat MPs and whether they think they can survive next year. The article acknowledges that Nick comes across as “thoughtful, engaged and reasonable” but that nothing so far tried has lifted our position in the opinion polls. Rawnsley doesn’t really go into the fact that to ditch your leader, …

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