Prateek Buch

Opinion: Three blind men and the UK economy

By Prateek Buch | Tue 13th August 2013 - 4:45 pm

In Indian folklore there’s a tale that goes a little something as follows:

Three blind men are confronted with an obstacle in their path. Stretching out a hand, each grabs a part and describes what’s in front of them. “My word,” says the first man, “we’re faced with some trees – so strong and thick.” Quoth the second man, “You are mistaken, for we face a snake – thin and wriggly.” Disagreeing with them both, the third man says, “You fools! It’s a wall we must scale – the size of a house.” Passing by, a sighted man takes

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 13 Comments
Advert
The Voice

Lessons of Coalition (15): what do the Lib Dems need to learn from the first 3 years?

By The Voice | Tue 13th August 2013 - 4:15 pm

ldv coalition lessonsLibDemVoice is running a daily feature, ‘Lessons of Coalition’, to assess the major do’s and don’ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to [email protected]. Today Richard Flowers shares his thoughts.

The Economy (it’s too soon to say)

Three years into a five-year fixed Parliament, with the economy showing tremulous signs …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Moore and Rennie’s tributes to former Scots Tory leader David McLetchie

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 13th August 2013 - 3:40 pm

Michael Moore and Willie Rennie have both paid tribute to the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, David McLetchie, who died yesterday at the age of 61.

I never met him, but I know that he had a reputation as a generally easy-going, decent bloke, kind and very funny. Mandy Rhodes of Holyrood magazine has written a very personal and moving appreciation here.

In tribute, Willie Rennie said:

A towering figure if this new Scottish parliamentary age, David will forever be regarded as a public servant who made a difference.  Whether as party leader or foot soldier he commanded immediate respect and

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
Eric Avebury

Bahrain’s Day of Reckoning August 14, 2013

By Eric Avebury | Tue 13th August 2013 - 1:55 pm

BCHRAugust 14 has been designated by the youth of Bahrain as Tamarrud Day, the day of rebellion. They see the 42 years that have elapsed since the country gained its independence as a history of violent repression, littered with false promises of reform, the latest example of which is the so-called national dialogue.

After several months that process has achieved zero results though from the regime’s point of view it distracts attention from the continued imprisonment of the ‘Bahrain 13’, political leaders and human rights activists imprisoned for thoughtcrime.

Those men were tried …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Ms Joan LB Edwards: the mystery donor who bequeathed £99,423 to the Lib Dems – our 20% share as “the party of government of the day”

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th August 2013 - 12:40 pm

Chris Harlow and James Waterson at City A.M. has the bizarre story:

Eyebrows were raised this morning when it was revealed that the top individual donor to political parties in the second quarter of the year was one “Ms Joan L B Edwards” who gave the Conservatives £420,576 and the Lib Dems £99,423.

Ms Edwards has not shown any particular interest in politics in the past so onlookers immediately wondered whether she was spurred into action by the coalition’s success.

But City A.M. can reveal that it is actually the result of a bizarre bequest. Ms Edwards recently died and a mole

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 17 Comments
Advert
Stephen Tall

An in/out EU referendum? Lib Dem members say no, by 55% to 36%

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th August 2013 - 10:55 am

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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

55% of Lib Dems oppose in/out EU referendum

The next Conservative election manifesto will include a pledge to hold an in/out referendum on the UK’s continuing membership of the European Union. Do you think the next Liberal Democrat manifesto should include the same pledge?
(Figures compared to last time we asked this question in March 2013).

    36% (+2%) – Yes,

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 11 Comments
Mary Reid

Duwayne Brooks selected as candidate for Mayor of Lewisham

By Mary Reid | Tue 13th August 2013 - 9:06 am

duwayne brooksCongratulations to Cllr Duwayne Brooks who has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Mayor of Lewisham. He will be challenging Sir Steve Bullock who has held the post for 11 years. The election will take place in May 2014.

Last year Mark Pack identified him on Lib Dem Voice as a Local Liberal hero. He charted Duwayne’s political career so far, which includes being nominated as one of Brian Paddick’s Deputy Mayors in the London Mayoral contest in 2012.

Duwayne has posted an open letter to the …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 14 Comments
Giles Goodall

EU birth certificates myth swallowed whole by the anti-European press

By Giles Goodall | Mon 12th August 2013 - 3:45 pm

It may be the silly season, but the latest Euromyth to ruffle right-wing feathers takes silliness to a whole new level. The Express, Mail, Sun and Telegraph unanimously announced at the weekend that Brussels wants to remove the royal crest from British birth certificates and replace it with the hated EU flag. The Mail declared Brits would be “stamped with the EU flag from the cradle to the grave” while the Sun led with the rather lame “B-EU-rths ‘n deaths”.

They gave generous space to Eric Pickles, who fumed:

This imposed Euro-law is part of an

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 20 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Michael Moore: Liberal Democrat achievements in government are winning back friends

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 12th August 2013 - 2:28 pm

Michael Moore has been talking to Scotland on Sunday’s Eddie Barnes. They covered everything from the Liberal Democrats’ record in government to the forthcoming referendum on independence.

The pro-union cause is often accused of negative campaigning. Moore rejects this, saying that they have been highlighting the positives of Scotland remaining within the UK:

I absolutely reject the way you characterise our side of the argument,” he responds. He points to the series of lengthy documents issued by the UK government, which have highlighted the “positive strengths” of the UK. “At no point do we say, this bit is rubbish,” he says.

He …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

Lessons of Coalition (14): what do the Lib Dems need to learn from the first 3 years?

By The Voice | Mon 12th August 2013 - 12:58 pm

ldv coalition lessonsLibDemVoice is running a daily feature, ‘Lessons of Coalition’, to assess the major do’s and don’ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to [email protected]. Today Joe Otten shares his thoughts.

Government is hard

As it should be. There is an idea that there are easy solutions to all the world’s …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 52 Comments
Lester Holloway

Opinion: Race must be central to rebuilding and reorientating the party

By Lester Holloway | Mon 12th August 2013 - 10:35 am

Black, Asian and minority ethnic voters could help the Lib Dems could win seats from the Conservatives in 2015 if we improve our appeal to the BME community.

The Guardian ran a front page today based on a new study by Operation Black Vote which found 168 marginal seats where BME voters outnumber the majority of the sitting MP, far outnumbering the swing 100 seats that could change the government.

The study, which I authored, also reveals there are 13 marginal constituencies where Lib Dems are in second-place and where the BAME electorate is larger than the majority of the sitting …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 131 Comments
Caron Lindsay

You can tell it’s the silly season when….

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 12th August 2013 - 9:58 am

… the Daily Mail has nothing better to do than write about an offer Liberal Democrat Voice sent to subscribers recently.

Andrew Pierce’s column in today’s paper quotes an email offering a chance to buy former LDV co-editor Mark Pack’s and Ed Maxfield’s book “101 ways to win an election” at half price. He wrote:

An interesting readers’ offer on the Lib Dem Voice website. The book, 101 Ways To Win An  Election, written by the Lib Dems’ Mark Pack and Ed Maxfield, is being sold at half-price.

Surely, top of the list should be ‘dump Nick Clegg’.

Some of us may take …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

EXCLUSIVE: What Lib Dem members think of the Coalition as it enters its 4th full year

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th August 2013 - 8:15 am

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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

(All comparisons are with our most recent survey conducted in March 2013.)

61% of Lib Dems say party on “right course”

Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track?

    61% (+3%) – The right course

    31% (-2%) The wrong track

    8% (-1%) – Don’t know /

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 21 Comments
The Voice

Lessons of Coalition (13): what do the Lib Dems need to learn from the first 3 years?

By The Voice | Sun 11th August 2013 - 4:45 pm

ldv coalition lessonsLibDemVoice is running a daily feature, ‘Lessons of Coalition’, to assess the major do’s and don’ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to [email protected]. Today David Allen shares his thoughts.

If It Won’t Work, Walk

In 1974, Ted Heath called on Jeremy Thorpe to join the Conservatives in a historic …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who’s up, who’s down? How party members rate the performances of leading Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th August 2013 - 2:30 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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats and government ministers?

Full results are published below, but here’s two key lists for those who want to cut to the chase… (with comparison to March 2013 ratings in brackets)

Top 5 Lib Dem performers in the Government:

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Chris Huhne lands £100k a year job at US energy firm. And why not?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th August 2013 - 12:00 pm

huhne_harris_floodsThe Independent reports the story of Chris Huhne’s new role:

Disgraced former MP Chris Huhne has been hired as the manager of an energy firm just months after being released from prison. The Government’s ex-energy and climate change cabinet secretary has been working as the European manager of Zilkha Biomass Energy since July, according to the company’s website.

He was jailed in March for eight months along with his ex-wife Vicki Pryce for swapping speeding penalty points so he could avoid a driving ban, but the pair were released in May.

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 30 Comments
Stephen Tall

Revealed: What Lib Dem members think of Ed Miliband and David Cameron

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th August 2013 - 11:15 am

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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Cameron bounces back as Miliband’s stock falls further among Lib Dems

We’ve been asking this question for almost two years, and over the past year there has been quite a change in fortunes (and back again) for the two party leaders, as this graph illustrates:

mili v cam - aug 2013

Here’s the …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDVideo: Watch Spanish premier Rajoy’s “fin de la cita” cock-up

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th August 2013 - 10:30 am

Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy has been having a tough summer. The country’s economy continues to contract, unemployment has soared, and — most personally damaging of all — he and his (very) right-wing Partido Popular have been embroiled in a slush fund corruption scandal.

A recent speech to the Spanish parliament was intended to draw a line under the affair. But Rajoy seemed not to have read his text in advance: after each quote, he also read out loud the words in parentheses, ‘(fin de la cita)’ — ‘(end of quote)’. He did this nine times, with varying intonations of intensity, triggering confusion among his peers in parliament and prompting guffaws among the public at home.


(Watch here on YouTube.)

It brings to mind the classic “As I look out over this magnificent vista” clip from The West Wing. It’s Sunday, so why not enjoy those four minutes once again…

Continue reading »
Posted in News and YouTube | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 11th August 2013 - 8:26 am

Many thanks to the 11,000 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

All-women shortlists to select Lib Dem candidates? 66% of party members say no.

By Stephen Tall | Sat 10th August 2013 - 3:45 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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Party members oppose all-women shortlists by 66% to 26%

Events this year have once again shone an unflattering light on the party’s lack of female representation in the House of Commons. Though, as Mark Tompson has previously highlighted here on LDV, this is in part at any rate down to first-past-the-post skewing Lib Dem election results. All-women shortlists is …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 65 Comments
Stephen Tall

Full steam ahead for high speed rail, say 55% of Lib Dem members

By Stephen Tall | Sat 10th August 2013 - 10:55 am

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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Lib Dem members back HS2 by 55% to 31%

There are plans to build a new high speed rail link (called HS2) between London and Birmingham, and then on to Manchester and Leeds. This is currently expected to cost around £42 billion. Do you support or oppose these plans?

    55% – Support

    31% – Oppose

    13% – Don’t know

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , , and | 53 Comments
The Voice

Lessons of Coalition (12): what do the Lib Dems need to learn from the first 3 years?

By The Voice | Sat 10th August 2013 - 8:45 am

ldv coalition lessonsLibDemVoice is running a daily feature, ‘Lessons of Coalition’, to assess the major do’s and don’ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to [email protected]. Today Patrick Murray shares his thoughts.

Make sure our policies are reflected in our manifesto

One of the great challenges facing our society is the housing …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 14 Comments
David Grace

Opinion: How can we advance nuclear disarmament?

By David Grace | Fri 9th August 2013 - 10:03 am

To many the answer to this question is simple: de-commission Trident and don’t replace it. But this only leads to the next question – how do we get a British government to do this ?  It is a common mistake, and one that I have made too, to believe that passing a motion at our conference changes the world.  Trident

Of course, all we need to do then is win an election on the basis of policies agreed at conference and form a government.  Our brief current experience in government tells us that it may be a little more difficult.

The recent Trident Alternatives Review (TAR) and leaked versions of the party’s Defence Report to conference have become muddled and people are taking positions either before or without reading either document.  Certainly the speeches of Labour and Tory front and backbenchers in the Commons debate on TAR on 17th July revealed a depressing combination of wilful ignorance and prejudice. Both sides fell over each other to praise the need for a full Cold War system of nuclear deterrence and to denounce the Liberal Democrats for challenging it.

A couple of facts may bring some light instead of heat.  Firstly, all options including moving straight to no nukes would save nothing in the next parliament. Even decommissioning is expensive in the short run. As it is we still have old Polaris submarines awaiting safe removal of nuclear material. No option has a significant impact on the country’s current financial problems.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

Majority of Lib Dem members back Vince’s Royal Mail privatisation plans

By Stephen Tall | Fri 9th August 2013 - 9:55 am

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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Royal Mail privatisation backed by 55% to 41%

The Government has announced plans to privatise Royal Mail. 90% of shares will be made available for purchase by the public, with 10% given to postal service employees for free. To what extent do you support or oppose plans to privatise the Royal Mail?

    16% – Strongly support

    39% – Tend to support

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Gilbert MP

Opinion: Shale Gas exploration – Why a cautious approach is the right one.

By Stephen Gilbert MP | Fri 9th August 2013 - 9:10 am

Many Liberal Democrats will, like me, have read with wry amusement the reaction of the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph and some Tory MPs to the local opposition to Cuadrilla drilling in Balcombe in Sussex and the potential of fracking in their area given their previous hysterical support for fracking and shale gas.

Clearly there are a number of groups who are taking the opportunity to mount a vigorous campaign against fracking with, for example, the publication of a map of a “licence to frack” raising fears of fracking taking place across the country. In fact the so called …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 15 Comments
The Voice

Lessons of Coalition (11): what do the Lib Dems need to learn from the first 3 years?

By The Voice | Fri 9th August 2013 - 8:25 am

ldv coalition lessonsLibDemVoice is running a daily feature, ‘Lessons of Coalition’, to assess the major do’s and don’ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to [email protected]. Today Bill le Breton shares his thoughts.

The Open Coalition and Its Enemies

The most noticeable characteristic of the present Coalition Government is how similar it …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron MP writes… Helena Morrissey report update

By Tim Farron MP | Thu 8th August 2013 - 1:55 pm

The Helena Morrissey report was incredibly difficult reading for our party. Facing up to the reality that the party that I love and joined at 16 had not always lived out its values is painful. But throughout this process my top priorities have always been the people affected, getting to the truth, ensuring justice and making certain that we enact every single recommendation of Helena Morrissey’s report. That’s why I wanted to give you an update on the work we have done to put Helena Morrissey’s recommendations into practice.

Since the report was published, I have made efforts on …

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Sebastian Bench

Opinion: Where does Lib Dem immigration policy go from here?

By Sebastian Bench | Thu 8th August 2013 - 1:00 pm

The recent furore over the home office ‘go-home’ billboards has put immigration back in the headlines and highlighted the divide within the coalition over immigration.

It was Sarah Teather who first voiced objections to the billboards, with a number of Lib Dems including Nick Clegg condemning them since. There has been little or no such criticism from Conservatives, who approved the billboards without consulting any Lib Dems.

This is not too surprising given Conservative immigration policy over the past three years. The Conservatives have been promoting anti-immigration policies and rhetoric since the start of the Coalition, including …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 17 Comments
Stephen Tall

Scrap Trident nuclear weapons, urge 58% of Lib Dem members

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th August 2013 - 9:45 am

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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

58% say scrap Trident, just 26% back leadership line of reduced deterrent

Currently the Trident system has FOUR nuclear armed submarines. This means that at least one nuclear armed submarine can always be on patrol, even if others are undergoing maintenance or training, and therefore the country has a continuous nuclear deterrent. One way of having a less expensive nuclear …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , and | 24 Comments
The Voice

Lessons of Coalition (10): what do the Lib Dems need to learn from the first 3 years?

By The Voice | Thu 8th August 2013 - 8:15 am

ldv coalition lessonsLibDemVoice is running a daily feature, ‘Lessons of Coalition’, to assess the major do’s and don’ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to [email protected]. Today Richard Morris shares his thoughts.

Make the red lines deeper and wider

Do you remember the ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’ …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • David Le Grice
    Weird that this appears to be the first LDV article about this, and the first time anyone in the parliamentary party has spoken up about it (as far as I'm aware...
  • Jack
    Delighted to see conference overwhelmingly reject the EHRC guidance (they don't deserve three quarters of that name - I accept they are a commission). People ar...
  • Geoff Reid
    Somebody had to say it eventual!y. Thank you Tom for inviting us to be honest on this matter....
  • Hywel
    Important point there Paul. For all the angst about 'lack of cut through' that has pretty much been the case for most of the time the LIb Dems existed except f...
  • 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...