Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #346

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 29th September 2013 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 346th 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 (22-28 September, 2013), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
Advert
The Voice

Jason Zadrozny selected by Lib Dems to fight for Ashfield at next General Election

By The Voice | Sun 29th September 2013 - 5:15 pm

jason zadroznyOne of the largest swings to the Lib Dems at the last election was in the Nottinghamshire seat of Ashfield: Jason Zadrozny gained a massive swing of 17% from Labour, but was pipped by just 192 votes by TV journalist Gloria De Piero, taking over the seat from the disgraced Geoff Hoon.

Well, local Lib Dems have offered Jason second go. He has been selected for a return match, as the Nottingham Post reports:

Mr Zadrozny will go head-to-head with Labour MP Gloria de Piero at the polls in 2015, with

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Selection news | Tagged , , and | 14 Comments
Stephen Tall

Syria – Lib Dem members’ views on military intervention

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th September 2013 - 2:25 pm

Lib 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. Almost 700 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

It’s a month ago to the day since David Cameron lost the vote in the Commons on keeping open the option of military intervention against Syria. Just a day ago, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons.

In the week before the Lib Dem conference in Glasgow we asked what party …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 13 Comments
Caron Lindsay

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

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 29th September 2013 - 12:59 pm

Many thanks to the  13,000 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Five reasons not to assume the FDP wipeout in the German elections will happen here in the UK (58 comments) by Stephen Tall

How UKIP managed to lose 45% of their MEPs (31 comments) by Giles Goodall

That Ed Miliband speech in full (70 comments) by Joe Otten

Ed Miliband’s speech: 5 thoughts on what it means for Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and the 2015 election (25 comments) by Stephen Tall

Labour’s energy freeze is terrible economics but excellent politics (77 comments) …

Continue reading »
Posted in Site news | Leave a comment
Gareth Wilson

Opinon: Don’t confuse declining membership with a decline in interest in politics

By Gareth Wilson | Sun 29th September 2013 - 10:59 am

A couple of months ago I was thinking about going to the Glasgow conference. I’d never been before. ‘You’ll enjoy it’ said some fellow local party members, “and you can be a voting rep too if you decide soon.”

My wife spotted the chance of a weekend away from the children.

‘Can I come?’

‘Well I was hoping you’d come but you’ll have to join the party’

So we both decided to go at the last minute, with her joining the party the week before. With a little complication on getting her security cleared we went for three days until we’d exhausted the goodwill …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 12 Comments
Advert
The Voice

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “The world’s children deserve our protection”

By The Voice | Sun 29th September 2013 - 9:00 am

This week Nick reflects on two speeches in two weeks: the first to the party’s conference in Glasgow, the second to the UN general assembly. In one he announced free school lunches for the youngest children in English schools; in the other he announced an extra £100m of aid to help Syrian refugees. As Nick says, “We all hate the idea of a child going hungry. Be they a refugee on the borders of Syria, or the neglected child of a troubled family in an inner city: the world’s children deserve our protection.” You can read the letter in full, below…

libdem letter from nick clegg

Last week, I was at our party conference in Glasgow. This week I’m writing to you on a flight back from the UN in New York, where I spoke at the General Assembly and discussed Syria, Iran UK and arms control.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Telegraph claims Clegg has ruled out a coalition with Labour. I claim the Telegraph is talking nonsense on stilts.

By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th September 2013 - 7:28 pm

Last week’s serialisation sensation was all about Damien McBride. This week’s is Matthew d’Ancona’s inside scoop on the Coalition, In It Together.

The Telegraph, doubtless keen to get its money’s worth, has hyped-up the revelations, splashing with the headline, ‘Cameron opens talks with Clegg on second Coalition’. Here’s the key passage, which reads unconvincingly to me, as I’ll explain below:

D’Ancona writes: “From time to time, he would raise the question of a second coalition with Clegg. ‘If we did it again,’ he mused to the Deputy Prime Minister, ‘I’d have to seek collective permission.’ ” It is

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 47 Comments
The Voice

What’s being debated in our members’ forum this week?

By The Voice | Sat 28th September 2013 - 6:40 pm

LibDemVoice has two parallel sites. The first is our public blog, the thing you’re reading now. The second is our private members’ forum, which only current Lib Dem members can access.

If you’re a member and want to chat with fellow party members about any issue that’s on your mind, then why not sign up? In addition, you’ll be included in our regular surveys’ of party members’ views.

Here’s some of the most active discussions this past 10 days:

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Site news | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

In Full: Nick Clegg’s speech to the UN

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 28th September 2013 - 10:56 am

Nick Clegg has been doing all sorts of good things at the UN General Assembly in New York this week. Last night it struck me that when I was my daughter’s age, the men with all the power in the world were incredibly scary. There was Reagan with his talk of star wars and neutron bombs and stern-faced Soviet leaders. I feel a lot safer in a world where Nick Clegg’s and Barack Obama’s ideas have some influence. Yes, I know Obama isn’t perfect, but he’s light years from the Cold War attitudes I grew up with.

Here, in full, is …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrat MPs may be bound by the Coalition Agreement, but that shouldn’t stop us campaigning against judgemental Tory marriage tax break

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 28th September 2013 - 8:40 am

Wedding ringsWay back in May 2010, I divided the Coalition Agreement into The Good, The Meh and the “Bring me the gin now.” What do you think the very first item on the “lock me in a cupboard with a bottle of gin when they vote on this list” was?

“We also agree that provision will be made for Liberal Democrat MPs to abstain on budget resolutions to introduce transferable tax allowances for married couples without prejudice to this coalition agreement.”

Ok, it’s tokenistic but the principle is so plain wrong that

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , and | 40 Comments
Caron Lindsay

LDVideo: Strictly Vince

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 27th September 2013 - 9:00 pm

I reckon that I might just get away with this as it’s 9 pm on a Friday night.

As the new series of Strictly Come Dancing gets under way at this very moment, I think we’re due a little reminder of one of our number doing a pretty acceptable Foxtrot a few years ago.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Graham Watson

The Climate Parliament: The scientific debate is over – the ball is now in our court

By Graham Watson | Fri 27th September 2013 - 3:04 pm

Uttarakhand FloodsThe scientific debate is over.

That’s the message from a network of MPs called the Climate Parliament.

Now it’s down to politicians and policy makers to ensure we avoid a global catastrophe.

The Parliament believes that today’s International Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report is the most comprehensive, detailed account of current climate science. Despite much press scepticism, scientists overwhelmingly agree:

Climate change is real, and it’s already happening.

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged | 48 Comments

It’s global warming, stupid – and it’s gonna be cold

By Andy Boddington | Fri 27th September 2013 - 1:35 pm

BookerMost of the attention before and after Ed Miliband’s speech has been on energy prices. That’s no surprise. Soaring energy prices hit everyone, but most of all the poor.

Today Nick Clegg has spoken out against Ed Miliband’s energy price freeze. The energy companies meanwhile are floating a four year fixed price deal to lock in their profits in the event of Ed managing to grab the country’s helm.

But the most important contribution to the energy debate is by Tim Farron. In today’s Guardian, he says:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 20 Comments

“Mr Sprawl” Miliband abandons localism – but will he deliver good housing?

By Andy Boddington | Fri 27th September 2013 - 10:02 am

Ravilous Labour New TownsSomething big needs saying about housing. I guess Ed Miliband thinks he has achieved it. Maybe, but when I read his speech it struck me as bluster and a recipe for chaos, peppered with some rather cute ideas.

We need new homes. We also need good planning. The success or failure of new towns, urban extensions and housing estates depends on location, fortune, ambition and leadership. But above all those towns that work are a triumph of planning.

For every housing scheme that has been an outstanding success, another has failed. For every booming new town like Milton Keynes or Welwyn Garden City, there is a Cumbernauld or Corby.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 16 Comments
Robin Lynn

“No to weakening the protections in the Equalities Act”

By Robin Lynn | Fri 27th September 2013 - 9:02 am

ECHR and CleggNo to weakening the protections in the Equalities Act

That’s what Nick Clegg said in his conference speech last week.

This is not the same as saying no to weakening the effectiveness of the Equalities Act 2006. Back in April we nearly lost Section 3, which gives the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) its purpose. Without Section 3 a future government would have less difficulty further dismantling the EHRC. Lib Dems in government raised no objections at the time. But for a strong showing in the Lords, some back-bone on the back benches and an emergency motion at the Welsh Spring Conference, we would have sold the pass on that one.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 5 Comments
The Voice

Lord Rennard not to face charges, Metropolitan Police announce

By The Voice | Thu 26th September 2013 - 6:13 pm

The Metropolitan Police have tonight issued the following statement following their investigation into allegations against Lord (Chris) Rennard broadcast on Channel 4 News:

Following reports in the media in February, officers from the Specialist Crime and Operations Command launched an investigation into allegations of sexual touching.

Various inquiries were conducted – including meeting with officials from the Liberal Democrat Party – and a number of individuals were spoken to as part of the investigation.

Those inquiries have now concluded that there is insufficient evidence to support a prosecution; a decision which has been made by police.

There was early investigative consultation with the Crown

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Comments Off on Lord Rennard not to face charges, Metropolitan Police announce
Giles Goodall

How UKIP managed to lose 45% of their MEPs

By Giles Goodall | Thu 26th September 2013 - 4:25 pm

UKIP-MEPs-collage-2

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 48 Comments
The Voice

Mayor Dorothy announces she’ll go for fourth term in Watford

By The Voice | Thu 26th September 2013 - 3:35 pm

June 2011 Watford, UK Elected Mayor of Watford Dorothy ThornhillGood news in Watford, where Dorothy Thornhill, who in 2002 became the first directly-elected Lib Dem mayor in the country, has announced she will run for a fourth term of office:

I am really pleased to announce that I am going to stand again as the mayoral candidate for the Watford Liberal Democrats in the 2014 mayoral elections.

Last night we held our official party meeting at St Luke’s Church, at which I was unanimously reselected. The turnout was great,

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Local government and News | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Caron Lindsay – Why home rule would be better for Scotland than independence

By Nick T | Thu 26th September 2013 - 1:52 pm

Our very own Caron Lindsay has been moonlighting over at The Herald, with an excellent piece on the relative merits of independence and home rule.

Here’s a sample:

First and foremost I’m a mum. I want my daughter and her children beyond her to live in a prosperous, inclusive, progressive, liberal, Scotland.

That word liberal is a bit of a giveaway, however. I’ve been active in Liberal Democrat politics for 30 years, since joining as a curious 15 year-old during the 1983 election. I’m a federalist and my views on how Scotland’s governance should work were very neatly summed up by

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Iain Dale accepts police caution for assault on anti-nukes protestor

By Stephen Tall | Thu 26th September 2013 - 1:35 pm

iain dale no nukesOn Tuesday, Conservative blogger, publisher and LBC radio presenter Iain Dale hit the headlines when he took on anti-nukes protestor Stuart Holmes, who’d annoyed him by insistently trying to get in shot while ITV’s Daybreak programme interviewed his latest high-profile author, Damian McBride. (See Iain Dale unilaterally disarms anti-nukes protester in front of TV cameras.) Iain immediately blogged his justification, but after the police became involved, he decided to apologise and has today accepted a police caution. He’s now issued a Statement and Apology, …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Newsmoggie

Liberal Democrat MEP McMillan-Scott wins Medal of Honour for human rights work

By Newsmoggie | Thu 26th September 2013 - 12:25 pm

edward mcmillan scott gets medal of honourThe Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, Edward McMillan-Scott, has won a Medal of Honour from the Venice-based European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation, Professor Horst Fischer, “in recognition of his lasting efforts in the promotion and protection of human rights.”

Previous winners are Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Manfred Nowak, human rights lawyer and  former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Speaking after the awards ceremony at the opening of the academic year at the Scuola Grande, Venice on 22 September, McMillan-Scott said:

This is a great honour, not only for me but for the European Parliament. I have always admired the Institute and its work, because human rights and democracy are an essential part of EU foreign policy.

Here he is earlier this year taking a pretty strong line on human rights abuses in Russia

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 2 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Christine Jardine: Privatised Royal Mail might prosper

By NewsHound | Thu 26th September 2013 - 10:55 am

Former special adviser and Liberal Democrat candidate Christine Jardine writes in today’s Scotsman about the prospects fora privatised Royal Mail.

She first talks about her shock when she heard that our government was going to take this step:

Were they really going where Peter Mandelson had failed and Margaret Thatcher had not dared?

But gradually as I researched beyond the tabloid headlines and thought about it in detail it began to make sense.

After all, when was the last time I ordered a delivery and expected it to arrive in the daily post?

That same daily post that arrives after I’ve left for the day,

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , and | 20 Comments
Nick T

Civil liberties and social justice: the stumbling blocks to a future coalition?

By Nick T | Thu 26th September 2013 - 9:20 am

One of the themes that a number of journalists decided to pursue during last week’s Lib Dem conference was the possibility of a 2015 election outcome which leaves the door open to an arrangement with either Labour or the Conservatives. The LDV team has taken the bait: Stephen has reminded us of the challenges of forming a coalition with either party in 2015, and Joe has warned of the dangers of an equidistance which seeks simply to slit the difference between Labour and the Conservatives.

But amidst the discussions of the politics and the personalities, the one thing that …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 18 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Caron’s musings on Federal Conference in Glasgow

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 25th September 2013 - 8:01 pm

I know, I know, it’s been a week since the Glasgow conference and I still haven’t got around to writing my usual round up post. You can put that down to there being a by-election in the offing in Dunfermline. I’ll warn you that this post is quite long, but if you make it to the end, you will be rewarded. Click on the last link. Anyway, before it gets more than embarrassingly late to do this, here are my random thoughts:

Nick got it right

My heart sank in the run-up to Conference as I read countless newspaper articles suggesting that …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Sarah Brown

A tale of two conferences

By Sarah Brown | Wed 25th September 2013 - 6:55 pm

What a week it has been from arriving as a fresh faced first timer at Liberal Democrat Conference in Glasgow on Saturday after an epic 7 hour coach journey to finally being home and feeling a lot less sleep deprived.

I’m in a relatively unique position having been able to attend and take part in two different party political conferences. For the last two years, I attended and spoke at Labour Conference. In May of this year, I joined the Liberal Democrats. You can read more about that here.

I thought it might be interesting to talk about the main differences and similarities between both parties’ annual gatherings.

For the Liberal Democrats, Conference is formally opened before moving to wine and the conference rally. For Labour it’s much the same but a day later and then the fringes start. The Liberal Democrats discuss policy, and vote on motions published in advance with an opportunity to amend them should conference wish. In Labour they discuss up to 6 contemporary issues which are submitted by constituency parties. These general topics are voted on and then composited. There are votes at labour conferences, but never any debate or contentiousness – very different from the Liberal Democrats.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Ed Miliband’s speech: 5 thoughts on what it means for Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and the 2015 election

By Stephen Tall | Wed 25th September 2013 - 3:45 pm

Ed MilibandI listened to, rather than watched, Ed Miliband’s speech to the Labour party conference yesterday. On the up-side that meant I missed the three hammy mid-speech standing ovations (shades of IDS c.2003); on the down-side it accentuated the peculiar whooping of some of the more excitable delegates (calm down, it’s just a politician talking). In its own terms — getting noticed for its content rather than simply as an impressive no-notes memory feat — it was an undoubted success. Matthew Parris in The Times rather brilliantly captures the flavour:

Crikey

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 26 Comments
Sean Davey

Opinion: People power – a different kind of coalition

By Sean Davey | Wed 25th September 2013 - 2:54 pm

In the face of rapidly declining membership of political parties we – along with the other parties – face a challenge to survive.

In the past we have prospered as a membership led organisation, supported by a national network of volunteers and activists. Our revenue is derived from a combination of membership fees, donations and small scale fundraising.

Above all else we are members of a party that exists to promote and further our values by electing Liberal Democrats to all tiers of government – local and national. We are not a pressure group or a single issue party.

In light of drastically …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 38 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Danny Alexander speaks out against fire control room closures

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 25th September 2013 - 1:30 pm

If you’ve followed Scottish politics over the last few years, one theme will be very clear. The SNP Government will centralise anything that sits still for more than 5 minutes. Nowhere is this more true than in the centralisation of the Police and fire services.

When Scotland’s eight Police services were merged into one, we were assured that local policing autonomy would be protected. After all, you wouldn’t use the same tactics in Avoch as you would in Aberdeen or Glasgow.

Earlier this year we saw heavy handed raids on saunas in Edinburgh, which had previously been treated with a degree …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | Leave a comment
NewsHound

LibLink… Lynne Featherstone: UK will help tackle the Great Neglect of disability

By NewsHound | Wed 25th September 2013 - 11:58 am

Lynne Featherstone, in New York for the UN General Assembly, has written for the Huffington Post about what the UK is doing to help those with disabilities in developing countries.

First she outlined why this is necessary:

More than one billion people worldwide live with disability and suffer huge discrimination as a result. They face unequal access to education, employment, healthcare, social support and the justice system. Consequently, they are disproportionately some of the poorest and most marginalised people in the world – part of an unseen great neglect.

The internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have done a great deal to address

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Alisdair Calder McGregor

Opinion: Labour’s energy freeze is terrible economics but excellent politics

By Alisdair Calder McGregor | Wed 25th September 2013 - 10:30 am

Ed Miliband announced in his keynote speech to Labour Party conference that, if elected, he would force energy companies to freeze energy bills for 20 months.

Now obviously, from an economic liberal  perspective, this makes no sense.

Freezing energy costs is precisely the wrong way to go about dealing with the cost of living problem in this country. By freezing income while costs rise in the global upturn & the population expands to require greater supply, Miliband is depriving the energy companies of the capital they need to invest in the expansion of the system.

This will inevitably drive the energy supply industry …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 84 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Roland
    @Gwyn, I agree with David Raw about relative urgency. However, even in the list of political reforms, I would put changes to voting way below the changes that n...
  • Roland
    The key aspects of the Student loans system that needs to be guaranteed are: 1. Maximum percentage student loan repayment deduction from earnings subject to PA...
  • Phil Wainewright
    @Alan Jelfs - yes there is an important discussion to be had around government debt, but we need to distinguish between borrowing for investment and borrowing t...
  • Phil White
    Hope you're doing OK, Caron....
  • James Dennison
    Tim, I'm not convinced that 300 is too few - that is 150 MPs in a govt (at least) none of whom would have constituency duties. As well as elected (and non-elect...