Nigel Lindsay

Opinion: Nick’s journey

By Nigel Lindsay | Wed 8th May 2013 - 1:29 pm

It’s natural for defeated political leaders to make up stories which absolve themselves from blame.  After every by-election, those who have done less well offer unconvincing explanations. Nick Clegg is no exception, but his story last week that “the Liberal Democrats are on a journey from a party of protest to a party of government” is curious for two reasons. First, because no previous Liberal or Liberal Democrat leader has presented the party as one of protest and second because the party was very much a party of government before he became leader.

It is wrong and insulting to suggest that …

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Simon de Deney

Opinion: Art for Wealth’s sake

By Simon de Deney | Wed 8th May 2013 - 11:58 am

Pity the artists. The writers, sculptors, composers, musicians and actors. We believed we were struggling in our 21st century garrets, eking out an existence, surviving on our day jobs. At least we were suffering for our art. Only it turns out that we have been bitterly deluded. The latest report from Arts Council England (ACE) demonstrates with forensically gathered evidence and logic that we’re off the scale when it comes to ROI (that’s Return On Investment as any thespian will now tell you).

Outperforming

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR)’s study for ACE shows ACE gets less than 0.1% of …

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Tom Frostick

The Independent View: CentreForum’s three headliners for an alternative Queen’s Speech

By Tom Frostick | Wed 8th May 2013 - 10:45 am

The Queen’s Speech today looks set to be a relatively sedate affair. As Stephen Tall observes, “the Coalition is now pretty much intellectually dead” when it comes to its legislative agenda. Enthusiasm for pushing new ideas has been replaced with a business like determination to deliver what is already underway.

The content of the Queen’s Speech is nonetheless important. It will shape what happens over the course of the next parliamentary session, and will therefore influence the outcome of the General Election. If CentreForum had the privilege of writing the Speech, we would focus on three headline issues in particular: …

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

Opinion: Save criminal legal aid

By Geoff Payne | Wed 8th May 2013 - 10:25 am

Having just savaged civil Legal Aid, the Ministry of Justice has launched a consultation paper containing proposals that would do the same in crime. I declare an interest (I am a barrister practising in cases of serious fraud) but I hope that this at least qualifies me to highlight the devastating impact these proposals would have.

The Importance of the right Verdict

For those accused of a crime, representation by a tenacious, high quality lawyer of your choice, as provided currently, is fundamental. Even minor convictions can cost someone their good character and livelihood. A prison sentence can cost them everything. …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 35 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Let’s play fantasy Queen’s Speech

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 8th May 2013 - 9:25 am

With hours to go before the Queen lets us know the Government’s legislative plans for the year ahead, I thought it might be a good idea to ask you for just one idea you would like to see in the Government’s legislative programme.

Liberal Democrats are likely to wince at further curbs on immigration, but be pleased at the presence of Steve Webb’s pension reforms and at the absence of draconian plans to require companies to keep records of every website we visit and every email we send.

But if you were writing the speech, what would you put in it?

I’d go …

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Caron Lindsay

The Liberal Youth elections are go….

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 8th May 2013 - 8:55 am

As you may have noticed from the spate of posts last week from candidates, elections are currently under way to elect the Liberal Youth Executive for next year. All members of the party under the age of 26, or who are students and those between 26-30 who aren’t students but who have opted to stay as members of LY have the chance to vote.

If you fall into these 3 categories, over the weekend you should have received:

a) An  email from me telling you about the elections and where you can find details about the candidates.

b) If you live in England, either …

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Joe Bourke

Opinion: Saving what’s left of Syria

By Joe Bourke | Tue 7th May 2013 - 5:15 pm

President Obama and the European Union continue to agonise over whether to lift the arms embargo on Syrian rebels.

The al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra control several areas and bring Sunni Islamic law, religious persecution and ethnic cleansing under their slogan of “The Alawites to the grave and the Christians to Beirut.”

Israel strikes the Assad regime even as Iran and Hezbollah equip and train a rump Alawite militia in preparation for the fall of the regime.

The western democracies mull over no-fly zones and safe havens while Russia continues to transport weapons to Assad’s forces.

The lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan loom large …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 53 Comments
Dinti Batstone

Have YOU joined Liberal Democrat Women?

By Dinti Batstone | Tue 7th May 2013 - 4:16 pm

Liberal Democrat Women will formally come into being on 8 June, the culmination of 18 months’ work bringing together the party’s existing women’s organisations: Campaign for Gender Balance and Women Liberal Democrats. In launching Liberal Democrat Women we want to create a more powerful platform for all Liberal Democrats – male and female – who want to see gender equality in Westminster and beyond.

Liberal Democrat Women will focus on 4 core areas of activity: policy, campaigns, women’s representation and networking. It will do everything its predecessor organisations did, and hopefully much more.

To realise this bold ambition we need YOUR help. We need new talent for the first Liberal Democrat Women Executive, which will …

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Adrian Sanders

Adrian Sanders writes: Behind Blue Eyes

By Adrian Sanders | Tue 7th May 2013 - 2:31 pm

UKIP logoBoth UKIP and the Conservative Party fear the exposure of the truth of what lies behind the image UKIP have so successfully deployed.

It is a truth that on the one hand explains why UKIP would be opposed to what they perceive as big government – the European Union – but it also exposes the designs its ideological founders have for the UK economy and our welfare state, and that is where their problem lies.

It is a truth both parties would prefer hidden as it could encourage even more Conservative

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 27 Comments
Steve Bradley

Saying ‘YES’ to Political Football!

By Steve Bradley | Tue 7th May 2013 - 12:22 pm

A football groundLiverpool FC’s famous former manager, Bill Shankly, once quipped that football was more important than life itself. To those with little interest in the game, the thrall that 22 men chasing a ball can have upon millions of people must be baffling. But whether it be in the media, the High Street, the school playground or business boardrooms, there can be no question that football is one of the most important social, cultural and commercial forces in Britain today.

British football is plagued by a deeply dysfunctional side, however, which places …

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David Lloyd Mayala

Opinion: Lessons from the local elections – a Congolese point of view

By David Lloyd Mayala | Tue 7th May 2013 - 11:00 am

Last week local elections took place up and down the UK.   As local elections go, I know these caused more of a stir than most because of the UK Independence Party’s strong showing.  The elections also prompted much personal interest for me as this was the first time I rolled up my sleeves and got involved in political campaigning in the UK.

Coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, elections and the electoral process are in their infancy.  Since our nation’s chaotic independence from Belgium in 1960, there have been only two multiparty national elections.  The one-party government under the 32 …

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Sandy Walkington

Focus is coming home

By Sandy Walkington | Tue 7th May 2013 - 9:34 am

Verulamium Park Lakes on a Summers DayEvery new councillor thinks his or her division is special. I think I have more excuse than most.

It’s not just Britain’s first traffic lights (not sure about celebrating that), St Albans South division contains St Albans Abbey. As well as being the site of the first Christian martyrdom in England, the Abbey was where Magna Carta was drafted (it was only signed at Runnymede) and it housed the third printing press in England, founded in 1479.

This was the first press to have a printers’ mark. …

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The Voice

Paddy Ashdown: Liberal Youth are absolutely fantastic

By The Voice | Tue 7th May 2013 - 7:55 am

Liberal Youth’s Gold Guard effort during the local election campaign saw them campaign vigorously all over the country. There were action days from Berwick to Cambridge to Somerset and every night an hour was set aside to call for a specific candidate.

Some of the party’s most treasured figures put together this video to thank them, and it was emailed to their members last night. Well, Paddy said a little more than thank you, but he’s allowed, because we are obliged to obey his every instruction between now and 2015.

We thought you might like to see it.

Rumour has it, by the …

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David Thorpe

Opinion: Miliband’s VAT cut plan is deeply regressive and economically harmful

By David Thorpe | Mon 6th May 2013 - 8:30 pm

Ed Miliband’s recent declaration that a future Labour government would seek economic growth through a VAT cut is a disappointing deviation from the recent raft of progressive policies announced by Labour.

Miliband has charted a carefully centrist course for his party- embracing economically liberal ideas, such as the mansion tax, and agreeing with the Liberal Democrats on Heathrow expansion, and ID cards.

In these and other areas Miliband has shown himself to be closer to the Orange Book than the Red Flag, that’s why his proposal to cut VAT is a deeply disappointing return to the “conservative” (Tony …

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Posted in Op-eds | 54 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Queen’s Speech: move along folks, not much to see here

By Stephen Tall | Mon 6th May 2013 - 7:35 pm

This week sees the fourth Queen’s Speech of this Coalition Government, but no-one’s expecting it to be especially busy or radical.

(You can hear me discuss some of the reasons why on Radio 4’s PM programme here.)

To some extent, Lib Dems will breathe a sigh of relief: missing from it will be any reference to the Communications Data Bill, already torpedoed by Nick Clegg. Indeed, the Speech seems to have been stripped of those bits of legislation which looked set to cause the Coalition leaders most aggro for least reward. While Lib Dem pressure saw off the …

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NewsHound

LibLink: 160mph Vince Cable stands in for Jeremy Clarkson

By NewsHound | Mon 6th May 2013 - 6:55 pm

Vince Cable - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsYesterday’s Sunday Times carried a treat for those of us who are Liberal Democrats and petrolheads. Jeremy Clarkson being “away” is seen by some as a treat in itself, but his replacement for this week was our Vince Cable.

Vince took an £150,000 Aston Martin Rapide S for a test drive during which he reached 160 mph. His criticism was as follows:

The car was more capable and felt quicker than my favourite Aston — the DB9 — although I was disappointed that it didn’t have

…

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Stephen Tall

A Tory-Ukip pact? Up to you, guys. But you do know there’s an easier way, right?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 6th May 2013 - 3:35 pm

farage and cameronUkip’s spectacular showing at last week’s local elections has got the Tories spooked. The full realisation is sinking in that this may not be a one-off eruption of popular protest.

Nigel Farage’s band of modern-life-is-rubbish disciples will likely top next year’s Euro polls. Such momentum may propel them towards a double-digit general election performance in 2015. If so, the Tories’ hope of a majority is dead: Ed Miliband will become prime minister as leader of the largest single party.

Though the local elections were scarcely a bundle of laughs for …

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NewsHound

Aberdeenshire councillor Fergus Hood leaves SNP and joins Liberal Democrats

By NewsHound | Mon 6th May 2013 - 2:30 pm

The Liberal Democrat group on Aberdeenshire Council has been strengthened today as Cllr Fergus Hood, who represents the East Garioch ward, joined it from the SNP.

He is shown here being welcomed by his new colleagues ward colleague Cllr Nan Cullinane on the right and Group Leader Cllr Martin Kitts-Hayes (with the beard) and Chair of the Social Work and Housing Committee Cllr Karen Clark on the left.

Aberdeenshire cllrs welcome Fergus Hood

 

Martin Kitts-Hayes said:

I am delighted to welcome Cllr Hood to the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Having worked closely with Fergus on the

…

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Paul Walter

Newbury by-election: 20 years on

By Paul Walter | Mon 6th May 2013 - 12:53 pm

Newbury calamity and catastropheToday is the twentieth anniversary of the Newbury by-election victory for the Liberal Democrats on May 6th 1993.

It seems appropriate to thank all the Liberal Democrats who came to help in that campaign, to pay tribute once again to the party’s by-election machine, to its driving genius, Chris Rennard, and to David Rendel. David was, for twelve years, a first class MP for Newbury. He continues to be an inspiration as a model of liberalism and selfless integrity.

It seems a good day to report that the flame of …

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Caron Lindsay

Alistair Carmichael and Richard Hughes from Keane tell the Independent about their friendship

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 6th May 2013 - 10:59 am

Yesterday’s Independent on Sunday carried an interview with Alistair Carmichael and Richard Hughes from Keane about the friendship they developed after they met on a trip with Amnesty to try to prevent the execution of American Troy Davis in 2009. Sadly, Troy was executed in 2011.

The article captures the bright  and funny personality of one of our most popular MPs, along with his passionate opposition to the death penalty.

Richard Hughes sums him up like this:

Alistair is a passionate guy – it’s one of the things that makes him so charming. And he’s absolutely given me faith in the reason why

…

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Julianne Marriott

The Independent View: Don’t judge my family, David Cameron!

By Julianne Marriott | Mon 6th May 2013 - 8:55 am

dont judge my familyThe Prime Minister has confirmed his intention to introduce a tax break for married couples before the end of this parliament. The tax break would be worth about £150 a year and would go to around a third of married couples: only those where one plays the role of breadwinner and the other is a homemaker.

Let’s be clear – this policy is not about supporting children: only 35% of the families who would gain from the policy have children, and only 17% have children under 5. …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 8 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #324

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 5th May 2013 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 324th 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 (28 April – 4 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:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Rape anonymity for the accused: well-intentioned but wrong

By Stephen Tall | Sun 5th May 2013 - 5:40 pm

Nigel EvansRape anonymity — the right of the accused in rape cases to have their identity kept secret — is in the news again today, after Conservative MP and deputy speaker Nigel Evans was named publicly following his arrest on suspicion of rape and sexual assault.

The Coalition Agreement said the Government would ‘extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants’. Though the pledge hadn’t been included in either party’s manifestos, it was Lib Dem policy, agreed at the 2006 party conference. The Lib Dems’ then home office minister Lynne Featherstone …

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Caron Lindsay

Jo Swinson thanks hospital staff for “keeping me alive”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 5th May 2013 - 3:55 pm

jo swinson by paul walterIn October 2010, I interviewed Jo Swinson for this site and she told me of the work she was doing to help children with allergies who were being bullied at school:

Basically, other kids had put the food that they’re allergic to in their pockets or bags. Worse, the kids had been held down and had the toxic food pushed towards their face. We all know that children can be cruel and all bullying is bad and needs to be addressed, but the specific issue with this

…

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Ed Cox

The Independent View: Rumble in the Jungle as Cable takes on Tarzan

By Ed Cox | Sun 5th May 2013 - 2:30 pm

After all the warm words and soft soap on Lord Heseltine’s No Stone Unturned report, in an interview with The Northern Echo, Business Secretary Vince Cable broke ranks this week and poured cold water on any great hopes of any significant new devolution deal.

In the Budget in March the Chancellor of the Exchequer offered general approval for Heseltine’s plans stating that more details of the government’s response, not least the amount of departmental funding that would be channelled into the Single Local Growth Fund, would be announced in June’s Spending Review.

Heseltine has identified departmental funding …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Mark Pack – Parliamentary predictions on the Queen’s Speech

By NewsHound | Sun 5th May 2013 - 11:35 am

Over at The House Magazine, Mark Pack (formerly of this parish) previews the upcoming Queen’s Speech — and applauds the fact that it may be rather thinner than we’ve grown used to:

Far too often ministers have confused volume of legislation sent through Parliament with being a good minister. It is an oh-so-tempting trap to fall into, as shown by some of the daft criticisms of the last Queen’s Speech – seeking to equate the Government’s seriousness about economic policies with the number of Bills on the subject.

Thankfully, however, at least the Liberal Democrat part of the Government is sticking to

…

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “We are back in the saddle.”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 5th May 2013 - 8:55 am

Nick Clegg’s message this week is pretty chipper, name-checking some of the 350 Lib Dems (re-)elected to serve their communities this week, many of them in battleground areas. “A year or two ago even if we worked hard we didn’t win: now our message is getting a hearing again. We are back in the saddle.” His only negative words are reserved for Ukip, who he says offer a “quick fix” which would backfire: “if UKIP ever got to deliver their policies, unemployment would soar, the rich would get a massive tax cut, and we’d face swingeing cuts to our schools and hospitals”. However, their success makes the Lib Dem presence in the Coalition even more necessary, argues Nick: “it is more important than ever that we, Liberal Democrats, anchor the Government in the centre ground.” Read the full message below…

libdem letter from nick clegg

A massive thank you to everyone who worked hard in this year’s local elections. It’s been another tough year in our journey from a party of protest to a party of Government, but where it matters most, in our Parliamentary seats, we’ve stayed strong and even made gains, beating the Conservatives by 5% of the vote.

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The Voice

LDVideo: Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes comment on the Lib Dem performance in the local elections

By The Voice | Sat 4th May 2013 - 5:20 pm

The Lib Dem leader and deputy leader on the outcomes from Thursday’s elections…

Nick Clegg on the Lib Dems’ local election performance

Local elections: Simon Hughes defends Lib Dem result

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Timothy Sykes

A Labour Party member writes… The 2015 General Election will NOT be a disaster for the Liberal Democrats

By Timothy Sykes | Sat 4th May 2013 - 3:45 pm

Timothy Sykes is a Labour Party member at the University in Hull. Here he offers his take on what the local elections mean for the Lib Dems…

In the 2013 local elections, the Liberal Democrats did much better than many people were expecting. The loss of 124 council seats is less of a mid-term slump than the significant loses inflicted upon the Conservatives, or the disastrous election results that Labour suffered in 2009. The only clear winner was UKIP, which really had an astonishing night, gaining around 140 seats.

The reason the Lib Dems did not suffer quite as embarrassing a defeat …

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Stephen Tall

Local elections 2013: the story in four graphics

By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th May 2013 - 12:05 pm

Here’s the story of this year’s local elections in three graphics…

First, let’s start with the bald statistics: the Lib Dems made a net loss of 124 councillors on Thursday. As I pointed out here, that’s slightly better than forecast. But still, as the party’s chief executive Tim Gordon noted in his post-election briefing, each is “a real loss to both their local communities and the Liberal Democrat family”.

lib dems local elections 2013 - 1

But here’s the reason Lib Dems are feeling not-quite-so-bad this morning:

lib dems local elections 2013

Here’s how the party has summarised the good news:

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