Caron Lindsay

Call Clegg highlights 30 May 2013 – the best one so far

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 30th May 2013 - 6:55 pm

Nick Clegg on the BBCToday’s Call Clegg was quite extraordinary. We know that there’s been a big push by some of the more authoritarian figures in the country to try to build a case for the so called Snoopers’ Charter over the past few days. It was obvious Nick was going to be asked about it. The caller, Vince (no, not that one) from Kingston was very supportive of Nick’s position. What happened next was that Nick Ferrari played recorded messages from former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair and the Secretary …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Advert
Daniel O'Malley

Opinion: The Scottish Liberal Democrats fight back

By Daniel O'Malley | Thu 30th May 2013 - 4:20 pm

“It’s not the end, it’s not the beginning of the end but it might be the end of the beginning of the fightback” were the inspiring words tweeted by Paddy Ashdown on the day of the English council election results. The Liberal Democrats down south are moving out of the recovery period and moving into the fight back stage. The question however is how are the Liberal Democrats doing in Scotland?

The recent Leaderdale and Melrose by election, also on May 2nd, saw John Paton Day increase the vote by just over 9%. Following on from the success of Eastleigh, the …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Jim Hume MSP launches consultation on bill banning smoking in vehicles with children present

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 30th May 2013 - 2:15 pm

Jim Hume launching consultation on smokingLiberal Democrat MSP for the South of Scotland Jim Hume this week launched a consultation on his Members’ Bill which would see smoking banned in vehicles where children are present. When I initially flagged this up a few weeks ago, there was a mixed reaction to the proposals.

Jim says in the foreword to his consultation document:

Recent research has shown that 17% of 11-16 year olds in the UK are exposed to second-hand smoke more than once a week while in a car with a further

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 11 Comments
Mark Valladares

EU Fisheries policy reform achieved

By Mark Valladares | Thu 30th May 2013 - 12:51 pm

Europe’s common fisheries policy is set for radical reform after negotiators for EU governments and the European Parliament reached agreement in Brussels at 03.00 this morning.
 
Supporters of the deal claim that it paves the way for rebuilding Europe’s depleted fish stocks and curbing the discard of millions of tonnes of fish each year.
 
British representatives have played a key role in securing the reform.  They say that it demonstrates how EU policies can be changed for the better.
 
An obligation to land all pelagic fish, such as mackerel, will commence from 1 January 2015.  Other reforms, which must yet be formally approved …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Crispin Allard

Opinion: It’s time to prioritise electoral reform for local government

By Crispin Allard | Thu 30th May 2013 - 11:16 am

As Liberal Democrats, we all know First Past the Post is a terrible voting system. But in this year’s local elections it has sunk to new depths.

With the arrival of genuine four-party politics in England, the proportion of votes that actually make a difference to the result has reached an all-time low. And of the 16 county councils that returned a single party majority, not one of those ruling parties gained a majority of votes – in fact most got less than 40%.

This is not just a dry academic point or a moan about unfairness. It makes a real …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 22 Comments
Advert
The Voice

No Liberal Democrat on Question Time again – who will speak up against the Snoopers’ Charter?

By The Voice | Thu 30th May 2013 - 10:48 am

Question TimeAnother week, another Question Time with no Liberal Democrat on the panel. Tonight’s episode, from London, will feature Conservative health minister Anna Soubry, former Labour  Home Secretary Alan Johnson, the New Statesman’s Mehdi Hassan, Downton Abbey author Julian Fellowes and UKIP’s Diane James.

This is the second week running that there hasn’t been a Liberal Democrat on the panel. The reason it’s serious is because ever since last week’s horrific murder in Woolwich, there has been a clamour of voices in the media, one of the loudest being Alan Johnson’s, saying …

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

LibLink…Robin McGhee: Can UKIP handle the trials of local government?

By NewsHound | Thu 30th May 2013 - 9:55 am

This article appeared a few weeks ago, but we’ve held it back because its author was standing in the Liberal Youth elections. It is worth sharing, though, because it illustrates accurately the dilemma that UKIP now faces. How does it build a local government base when its councillors are inexperienced, anti politics types who don’t really know who their supporters are.

Robin McGhee is an organiser for the party in Norfolk. He describes the UKIP representatives at the count in Cromer:

Perhaps nine in ten were men, nearly all (very) elderly, and with the same expression of stubborn bafflement as a tortoise

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , and | 17 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Vince on dangers of immigration debate and encouraging women in business – he doesn’t seem to be in the mood for resignation

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th May 2013 - 9:17 pm

I thought it was supposed to be holiday season for MPs. Not for our Vince, it seems. He’s been everywhere the last couple of days. Today, the BBC reports, he has been making the point that all the hot air on immigration is going to stop the very people we need to boost our economy will be put off from coming here:

But he warned that the globalised world of university recruitment was in danger of being undermined in the UK by anxieties over immigration.

He said that the “politics of identity” which worried about immigration and the economic need for

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 19 Comments
Caron Lindsay

The New Liberal Youth team for 2013-2014

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th May 2013 - 8:32 pm

So, all the postal ballots have been entered, the buttons have been pressed, the candidates informed. I can now give you, for the first time, all the results of the Liberal Youth Elections in one place.

First of all, though, I will take advantage of my position as Returning Officer to thank all the candidates for standing. There were a good number of them too, with many of the positions being contested. You normally have to use significant powers of persuasion to get candidates for treasurer of anything – yet Liberal Youth had three.

The lively campaign and the move to an …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Caron Lindsay

“Lib Dems give Mansion Tax threat over terror bill” says Times

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th May 2013 - 11:28 am

Today’s Times carries a story (£), with not very much substance to it, that the Liberal Democrats have threatened to team up with Labour to vote on the Mansion Tax if the Conservatives team up with Labour to force through the Communications Data Bill so loved by Theresa May and which has been rejected by Nick Clegg on 3 occasions now. The first was when he refused to let it in last year’s Queen’s Speech as a full bill, ensuring it received detailed scrutiny by a parliamentary committee. The second was when the Parliamentary Committee rejected the measure out of …

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

Your absolute last chance to vote in the Liberal Youth elections – and what happens next

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th May 2013 - 10:15 am

Voting closes in the Liberal Youth elections at 12 noon today – so if you are eligible to vote, and you haven’t done so already, get on with it.

As returning officer, I’ll be heading into the Party’s Scottish HQ to enter the postal ballots before I stop voting at noon. I may or may not have the assistance of some helpful and entirely neutral sloths. Ed Balls  will not be allowed anywhere near the building.

The wonderful electronic gadgetry will then give me the results.

I will then contact the candidates. Once they and the Executive have been informed, I will reveal …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

Jo Swinson responds to Liberal Democrat Voice commenters about telling children they are beautiful

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th May 2013 - 9:00 am

A small storm erupted yesterday on our article reporting Jo Swinson’s comments in a Telegraph interview about the importance of making sure that children were praised for a wide range of things and not just their looks. Commenters raised a number of concerns, including whether it was appropriate for a Government Minister to give this sort of advice on what should essentially be a private matter.  As the mother of a teenage daughter, if I’m looking for advice on anything, I tend to look to people who know something about the subject, to  a credible, expert source of information …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 33 Comments
Mary Reid

Thoughts on a windy moor

By Mary Reid | Tue 28th May 2013 - 6:40 pm

cullodenYesterday afternoon I was standing on a windy moor in Scotland and reminding myself that, over 250 years ago, my ancestors, the Prices, had stood directly opposite my husband’s ancestors from Clan Donnachaidh, preparing for what was to become the last full-scale battle in Britain. After one hour of intense fighting, 1250 Jacobites lay dead on the moor alongside 50 Government troops. The field of battle is still honoured as a war grave.

My memories from school history had romanticised Culloden as a confrontation between the Scots – Bonnie Prince Charlie and …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 10 Comments
Mary Reid

Nick Clegg announces the Chair of the 2014 Election Campaign

By Mary Reid | Tue 28th May 2013 - 5:09 pm

Tim FarronMembers have just received this email from Nick Clegg:

The 2014 local and European elections are hugely important, so I’m putting one of our best campaigners in charge – Tim Farron.

The dust may have barely settled since this May’s local elections but it’s never too early to start work on the next set. No one embodies that more than Tim, a true 24/7 campaigner, working hard all year round – just ask the people of Westmorland and Lonsdale.

Given the critical importance of these elections for Liberal Democrat representation at a local …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 19 Comments
Anthony Hawkes

A short history of the market

By Anthony Hawkes | Tue 28th May 2013 - 3:02 pm

As world conquests go, this was pretty impressive. While there were dark muttering about Islam taking over the world, neo-liberalism went ahead and did it in less than 50 years. It used the tools of an organised religion. If you wanted to be part of it, you had to forswear all others and commit yourself to a belief in the mystical powers of the Market. You could not question the powers of the Market, despite any evidence to the contrary, and discussion could only take place if both parties took the magical powers that flow from the Market as fact. …

Continue reading »
Posted in Humour | Tagged | 39 Comments
The Voice

Jo Swinson: Don’t tell your kids they’re beautiful – they’ll get issues

By The Voice | Tue 28th May 2013 - 12:24 pm

jo swinson by paul walterJo Swinson, the Women’s Minister, has been interviewed by the Daily Telegraph anticipating the progress report due today on the Body Confidence campaign.

Her research has shown that 25% of all 11 to 15 year old boys and girls are unhappy about their appearance. 70% of girls think there is too much emphasis on how celebrities look.

She said:

Parents that praise their sons and daughters for looking “beautiful”, wearing a pretty outfit or having a nice hair do risk sending the wrong message to children that looks

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 45 Comments
Mary Reid

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Coming together”

By Mary Reid | Tue 28th May 2013 - 11:04 am

Nick Clegg used his Bank Holiday weekend letter to members to reflect on the deeply disturbing Woolwich murder, as well as progress with the Equal Marriage Bill.

libdem letter from nick clegg

This was a week that put things in perspective. I know I speak for all Liberal Democrats when I say that our thoughts are with the family and friends of Drummer Lee Rigby – the British soldier attacked and killed in Woolwich on Wednesday. And I’ve made it clear, on the party’s behalf, that we are immensely grateful to our police,

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Lottie Dexter

The Independent View: Government must do more on youth unemployment

By Lottie Dexter | Tue 28th May 2013 - 8:55 am

More than a year has passed since Nick Clegg launched his flagship £1 billion Youth Contract. The Deputy Prime Minister pinned his hopes on the scheme, hailing it as “a major moment for Britain’s young unemployed people”. Clegg’s scheme, it was promised, would set young people on “the path to work” before the long term damage is done.

Yet one year on and youth unemployment remains one of the biggest challenges we face as a nation. The number of young adults seeking a job continues to cling to one million – and it has done for nearly four years. There is …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Joe Otten

Eric Schmidt’s perplexity – a challenge to governments

By Joe Otten | Mon 27th May 2013 - 5:45 pm

Google’s Eric Schmidt has been reported as being perplexed by the UK’s debate on tax avoidance.

I view that you should pay the taxes that are legally required. It’s not a debate. You pay the taxes.

If the British system changes the tax laws then we will comply. If the taxes go up we will pay more, if they go down we will pay less. That is a political decision for the democracy that is the United Kingdom

There’s a contrast here with the case of Starbucks, volunteering a little extra tax in a failed attempt to head …

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

Is it time for retailers to lose the lads’ mags?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 27th May 2013 - 3:56 pm

Every time you go into a supermarket or newsagent to buy a magazine, you are likely to be confronted with the following:

  • A women’s section, which contains magazines on, mainly, celebrity froth, sewing, cooking and child-rearing;
  • Everything remotely interesting,like current affairs, photography, fishing, sport, computers and science fiction being displayed elsewhere;
  • Magazines with pictures of half naked women prominently displayed in a way that you can’t miss.

What does this tell children about the world in which they are growing up? The message seems to be that women are there to keep everyone else fed (while keeping themselves unrealistically thin, of course), …

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 38 Comments

Opinion: TTIP – whose freedom will it promote?

By Gordon Frankland | Mon 27th May 2013 - 2:34 pm

Few things press Liberal Democrat buttons like the promise of free (or freer) trade. So, London MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford’s recent post for LDV noting that the European Parliament has just given the go-ahead for negotiations towards the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP, a.k.a. TAFTA), a free trade treaty that will be the biggest in history, was generally welcomed in comments.

But what exactly is proposed? Tariffs on both sides of the Atlantic are already low – averaging only about 4% – so the possible gains from further reductions are modest. A quick root around …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 11 Comments
Ed Davey

Ed Davey writes… Europe must stay ambitious on climate change

By Ed Davey | Mon 27th May 2013 - 12:56 pm

There has been a lot of talk over the last few weeks about Britain’s place in Europe, but there’s one thing that I hope we can all agree. We need the EU to help prevent climate change.

We are an island nation, a trading nation, dependent on the global market for prosperity – for food, for energy, for many of the products we rely on in. It is unsurprising that the UK was one of the first countries to recognise that significant climate change will directly affect our way of life. And we were the first country to bind …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Paul Reynolds

Opinion: The 2015 manifesto – the need for a certain … clairvoyance

By Paul Reynolds | Mon 27th May 2013 - 10:55 am

Political parties the world over are often accused of ‘re-fighting the last election’ when they develop their manifestos. This is by way of a plea to all UK LibDems to be mindful of the need to avoid this tendency.

In practical terms this means thinking about the ‘record in government’ we wish hypothetically to be able to put together at the end of 2019, ready for presentation to the electorate in the run up to a 2020 election.

But hold on a minute – that means predicting issues in 2019 and the preceding 4/5 years. Exactly. I will suggest a few.

Constitution
By …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 18 Comments
Mathew Hulbert

Opinion: Liberal Democrats for a republic

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 27th May 2013 - 8:52 am

Liberal Democrats believe in democracy. Indeed ‘Democrats’ is in our title.

We believe in representative democracy, from parish councils to (though we’re still fighting for it) the House of Lords.

We believe those who make the laws of our land should be voted for by the people of our land.
Government of, for and by the people.

We believe this should be extended to those occupying the highest positions in British Government.

If we believe, as we rightly do, that no peer of the realm should be able to be a legislator just because of who they were born to or who …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 52 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #327

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 26th May 2013 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 327th 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 (19-25 May, 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 | 2 Comments
Mark Valladares

A brief editorial announcement … and a thought or two on a sunny afternoon, deep in the English countryside

By Mark Valladares | Sun 26th May 2013 - 3:52 pm

Being part of a team of colleagues with a common aim is one of the things that makes politics so satisfying, with an emotional attachment and shared experience that is invigorating in an era where the freedom of individuality is often seen as trumping the benefits of community. As a liberal, I tend to want both, and having been a member of the Liberal Democrat Voice collective for the past year or so, I have been lucky enough to enjoy them in addition to the emotional bonds of marriage and family.

Sea otter…

Continue reading »
Posted in Site news | 10 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink…Lynne Featherstone: The disabled people hidden from view

By NewsHound | Sun 26th May 2013 - 2:00 pm

Liberal Democrat international development minister Lynne Featherstone has written an article in the Sunday Times about the plight of disabled people in developing countries, and how they often don’t receive much needed aid.

But for every medal-winning athlete, there are millions more in the developing world who are treated as sub-human, hidden from view and forgotten. Millions of women who are raped and beaten because they are discriminated against or physically incapable of escaping their attackers. Millions of children denied an education because they can’t see their textbooks, hear their teachers or get to school. And millions of people locked out

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Simon Hughes and Alex Carlile debate Snoopers’ Charter on Murnaghan

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 26th May 2013 - 12:05 pm

It’s been like Snoopers’ Charter Central this morning.

It didn’t take very long after the brutal murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich for politicians of a more authoritarian outlook to be falling over themselves to condemn Nick Clegg for vetoing sweeping measures on Communications data and call for their immediate introduction. LDV’s Stephen Tall dealt with two of them, John Reid and Alex Carlile, by making them his Liberal Villains of the Week, saying:

And then comes the next inevitability: politicians striking a pose as authoritarian strongmen by cravenly giving the jihadists the glory they seek. Two of the usual

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 21 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Two politicians having dinner together – they must be plotting the leadership succession…

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 26th May 2013 - 10:28 am

GQ shows its ignorance of just about anything to do with the Liberal Democrats:

Now that Clegg is in the most stable position of all the party leaders – Cameron has overseen fractures with gay marriage and Europe; Miliband is facing his Waterloo over whether or not to accept Coalition spending plans – this Balham tête-à-tête sparked some mischievous speculation. With Alexander’s star rising, did the Italian dinner involve a Granita pact for the 21st century? If so, it would – in the event of a hung parliament in 2015 – see Clegg step down for Alexander to take over

…

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

LibLink… Menzies Campbell MP: Syria needs Britain’s help but it does not need our weapons

By NewsHound | Sat 25th May 2013 - 12:58 pm

Menzies Campbell has written an article for the Guardian about our role in the conflict in Syria in which he expresses concern about Government plans to veto an extension of the arms embargo. The first problem he identifies is that of working out who the good guys amongst the opposition are:

How would you identify those groups among Assad’s opponents who would be legitimate recipients of arms on the ground that their values of democracy and human rights are said to be the same as ours? The range of opponents is both complex and extensive. Radical Islamists are becoming more and

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 12 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Jack Nicholls
    You are for this and so many reasons a total inspiration to me Caron ☺️🔶🌈...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Thank you for a bravely honest article! Might the “leadership” which took the L. D party into enforced student debts/loans have been confused about the i...
  • 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....