Mark Valladares

Next week in the Lords… 14-18 January

By Mark Valladares | Mon 14th January 2013 - 8:44 am

House of LordsYes, I know that I had intended to write this on Friday, but it was never a pledge, right? But yes, as Liberal Democrat Peers gather from around the country to vote down a piece of Government business, now seems as good a time to publish this…

Yes, Monday will see the Parliamentary Party in the Lords vote in support of Amendment 28A to the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill, sponsored by Lords Hart of Chilton (Labour), Kerr of Kinlochard (Crossbenches), Rennard and Wigley (Plaid Cymru), which postpones the changes intended …

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Mark Pack

Danny Alexander fronts… a Liberal Democrat policy

By Mark Pack | Sun 13th January 2013 - 7:41 pm

Danny Alexander sometimes attracts a bit of criticism from party members for the number of times he’s done media appearances where he’s ended up spending much of the time defending Coalition policies which are predominantly Conservative. So good to see him out in the TV studios this morning fronting up a policy that the Liberal Democrats have strongly pushed for – and thereby emphasising the Liberal Democrat contribution:

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #308

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 13th January 2013 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 308th 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 (6 – 12 January, 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
Lee Dargue

Opinion: Liberal Youth has changed for the better and I see promise of more

By Lee Dargue | Sun 13th January 2013 - 4:45 pm

Following Sean Davey’s thought-provoking post on the upcoming elections of new Liberal Youth officers, I wanted to offer support and some further thoughts. In agreement, Sean is right to point out that LY cannot allow its incoming officers, along with the existing ones, to indulge in coasting or long-winded bickering and risk over-shadowing the hugely important work of LY in campaigning.

Sean also raises the issue of LY’s lack of diversity as a problem. I totally agree that we can’t allow things to stay as they are, and after some initial concerns I back the Candidate Leadership Program. However, …

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Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think about an in/out referendum & the future of the UK in Europe

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th January 2013 - 2:25 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

By 2:1 majority, Lib Dems reject new EU referendum

EU flag - Some rights reserved by European ParliamentDo you think the Government should or should not call a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union?

    32% – Should

    63% – Should not

    5% – Don’t know

And 92% would vote to remain

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “It’s not perfect, but then no government is.”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th January 2013 - 11:20 am

It’s been a big week for Nick Clegg: the launch of the Government’s Mid-Term ‘Ronseal deal’ Review and his first ‘Call Clegg’ radio phone-in. His latest letter to supporters focuses on these two issues, but also makes a broader point: that coalition government is starting to become accepted, even by the media; that there’s a recognition two parties can disagree on some issues while pursuing a shared agenda on others.

This email would have been the ideal way to share more widely the party’s (excellent) booklet, ‘What have the Liberal Democrats ever done for you?’ — it’s not mentioned at all so here’s the link. For some reason I find baffling there appears still to be a deep-seated reluctance to align these emails with party campaigns or calls to action: the result is Nick on transmit mode, not receive. That’s a shame because the letters are an excellent initiative, and whether actually written by him or not, they read like Nick, are authentic.

libdem letter from nick clegg

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Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone writes… Education, education, education

By Lynne Featherstone | Sun 13th January 2013 - 9:50 am

International Development minister Lynne Featherstone writes a monthly column for one of her local newspapers. Here is the latest one…..

Lynne Feahterstone visiting a Haringey primary school. Some rights reserved. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynnefeatherstone/3010645357/My mother and father were not that enthused about education. Going out to work as soon as possible and earning a living came higher up on their agenda. When you had known poverty as they had – earning took precedence over learning. I went to my local school – Highgate Primary. (We are talking over fifty years ago). Luckily for me …

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Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — my personal pick of the week’s must-reads

By Stephen Tall | Sat 12th January 2013 - 9:23 pm

It’s Saturday evening, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices culled from all those I’ve linked to this last week. You can follow me on Delicious here.

What will make banks care about their customers? – Diana Coyle says don’t increase banking regulation, instead open up the oligopolistic banking industry to true competition: ‘more competitive banking systems are more stable – the banks tend to be smaller so the “too big to fail” problem is less acute, and smaller banks …

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Stephen Tall

Vince the Lib Dem Eurosceptic on the “extraordinarily historically important” European single market

By Stephen Tall | Sat 12th January 2013 - 6:10 pm

Vince Cable - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsI’m grateful to PoliticsHome’s Paul Waugh for reporting Vince Cable’s words stressing the importance of the EU’s single market at a time of deep austerity in the western world:

“State aide cuts to the heart of the big debate which is rippling though our country at the moment which is about our future within the European Union. I have to say that this whole issue of raising again in a fundamental way British membership and the terms of

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NewsHound

LibLink: Ming Campbell – Europe offers the best deal for Britain

By NewsHound | Sat 12th January 2013 - 1:00 pm

Menzies CampbellFormer Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell has called on David Cameron to put the national interest ahead of his party’s interest as he prepares for his major speech on Europe:

Those who argue for disengagement in whole or even part have a duty to tell us what the consequences would be. So far they have failed to do so. We need to be rational, not emotional. The issue must be about the essential nature of the relationship, not about squashing the ambitions of Ukip. The EU offers the best deal for Britain.The

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The Voice

The LDV Saturday Six: 12 Jan 2013

By The Voice | Sat 12th January 2013 - 12:10 pm

sixIt’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Sorry, let’s try that one again… It’s Saturday. It’s 12 noon (ish). Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

6 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. ++ Government wins vote on Benefits Uprating Bill; 6 Lib Dem MPs rebel (83) by Stephen Tall
  2. So, about that Lib Dem wipeout in 2015 then… (84) by Stephen Tall
  3. LibLink… Nick Clegg: Labour need to tell us what they would cut (90) by The Voice
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Has Nick Boles given the kiss of life to localism?

By Andy Boddington | Fri 11th January 2013 - 3:51 pm

Announcements come out of the communities department at all times of the day and night these days it seems. Rather before most of us were awake on Thursday morning, the department slipped out a statement that may just breathe life into the flagging localism project.

Coming hours after the appearance of planning minister Nick Boles on Newsnight on Wednesday, the statement gave a firm commitment that communities will soon benefit from development on their patch.

The plan is that parish and town councils will get a sizeable share of the community infrastructure levy imposed on most new developments. At …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 8 Comments
David Thorpe

Opinion: Liberals must learn the lessons of Thatcher

By David Thorpe | Fri 11th January 2013 - 2:49 pm

It is a truth often acknowledged that Tony Blair and David Cameron, in moving their respective parties to the centre ground, left a gruelling obstacle on the road to a truly Liberal Britain.
But it’s not from those leaders that the next generation of Liberal Democrat’s must learn, rather it is from a leader who would regard liberalism as a dirty word, and many Liberal outcomes as inimical to her view of society, Margaret Thatcher.

The lesson for Lib Dems is that Thatcher understood that the less well off are just as aspirational as those born to wealth. The Tory method …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 64 Comments
Mark Valladares

This week in Europe: 7-10 January

By Mark Valladares | Fri 11th January 2013 - 2:06 pm

Report on proposed banking reforms is published

The Economic and Monetary Committee has published a report “Banking Union and a Single Banking Supervisory Mechanism“, with some expert opinions from European economists on the European Commission proposals to create a single supervisor for European banks. For those interested in the proposals, their viability and some of the arguments for gradations of supervisions – the 200 largest banks in the Eurozone have approximately 90% of the market in that area – the five opinions will provide a lucid, and brief summary of the key issues, the context in which decisions are being …

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Mark Blackburn

Jessops – is administration a euphemism for obliteration?

By Mark Blackburn | Fri 11th January 2013 - 1:12 pm

Sadly, yesterday another retailer went into administration, this time Jessops, the high street camera chain. For the time being it continues to trade but the jobs of its 2000 employees in 200 stores are under threat. Surprisingly, Christmas can be a bad time for retailers – rents are due on Christmas Day and if the expected bumper sales don’t materialise, the money may not be there to pay them.

Obviously it’s not going to get any easier for ‘bricks and mortar’ store chains with the continuing increase in online sales, but there’s a more fundamental problem – apart from the massive …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 20 Comments
Rick Muir

Independent View: two cheers for Vince

By Rick Muir | Fri 11th January 2013 - 11:39 am

Landlords and punters across the country should be raising a glass to Vince Cable today after he announced new rules for pub companies (or pubcos) which will help local publicans in these difficult economic times.

His plans include the introduction of an independent adjudicator and a new statutory code for the industry – something I argued for in this IPPR report: Tied Down.

Pubs are an important part of the community – they’re a meeting place for family and friends and host meetings of local clubs and associations, promoting local charities and events. But they’ve faced serious demise with 16 pubs …

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Giles Goodall

The Eurosceptic tide is turning. Lib Dems must be in the vanguard

By Giles Goodall | Fri 11th January 2013 - 10:21 am

We have become used in recent months to unrelentingly bad news about our relationship with Europe. ‘UKIP now the third party’, ‘Majority would say no to EU’ and ‘UK heads for the Brexit’ have become commonplace headlines. But while the current polls and general debate are still far from positive, several recent developments suggest the tide is starting to turn on the antis – and are enough to give cheer to pro-Europeans from all sides.

First – in case you missed it – the Obama administration has made clear in no uncertain terms to its concern about the UK’s Eurosceptic …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged , and | 40 Comments
Bill le Breton

Opinion: Bullseye banzai

By Bill le Breton | Fri 11th January 2013 - 8:51 am

In the spirit of the season, I thought I’d do my own Mid-Term Review and not keep it secret.

Back on the 14th November 2012, I wrote a piece for LDV on how Shinzo Abe, the clear favourite to become Japan’s next PM, was telling the Bank of Japan to deliver 3% growth in the money measure of GDP (NGDP) on pain of having its independence withdrawn. NGDP in Japan had been virtually static for twenty years – a sort of Great Stagnoflation.

How’s Mr Abe doing just eight weeks on? Well, he’s Prime Minister, he’s told the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 39 Comments
Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day: 11 January 2013

By Mark Valladares | Fri 11th January 2013 - 7:51 am

It’s very late at night in my icy garret – lucky that I’m clad in particularly warm fur, I suppose, but Liberal Democrat Voice’s attack sea otter never sleeps…

Overnight, news has reached us of the only known by-election last night, in the Stratton-Whiteway ward of Cirencester Town Council. The result;

  • Mark Harris (Liberal Democrat) 419 votes
  • UKIP 135 votes
  • Green 78 votes

    • Congratulations to Mark, the first Liberal Democrat winner of 2013!

    As usual, there is a European flavour to today’s content, with some news on banking reform, especially for one of our readers who wanted it explained, and a response to UKIP’s little local …

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    George Kendall

    Helping you keep your New Year’s resolution

    By George Kendall | Thu 10th January 2013 - 6:07 pm

    Made a New Year’s resolution? No? No matter. Why not make one now? To campaign early and often in the run-up to May’s elections.

    And to help you keep it, we’ve three more Regional Action Days, with more to come.

    These events are designed to give you the best possible experience, well-organised, with free food and the chance to campaign with leading campaigners from across the region.

    Don’t worry if you don’t have campaigning experience. These days are especially for you, to give you an enjoyable way to pick up new skills.

    Can’t make the whole day? Then come for as much of it …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 1 Comment
    Mark Pack

    How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

    By Mark Pack | Thu 10th January 2013 - 3:55 pm

    Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email?

    Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there’s new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read.

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    Opinion: The Justice Secretary has got it wrong on privatisation of probation services

    By Sandra James | Thu 10th January 2013 - 2:45 pm

    Why do governments always assume that they will save money by privatising the public sector?  The Probation Service is now in Chris Grayling’s sights with his plan to hive off low risk offenders to charities and private enterprise leaving the rump Probation Service to concentrate on high risk offenders.

    High risk offenders are the sex offenders, domestic violence perpetrators and offenders on indeterminate sentences whose risk prior to release from custody is subject to constant review. As a former probation officer this was my bread and butter work – and incredibly stressful it was too.

    I understand that under the Coalition …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 11 Comments
    Prateek Buch

    Opinion: AllTrials.net – a crucial campaign on data transparency that will save lives

    By Prateek Buch | Thu 10th January 2013 - 1:26 pm

    Medicines save and improve lives, can also cause great harm if inappropriately deployed. To decide which drugs are safe, and which might work in which circumstances, regulators, doctors and scientists need access to all the results from all trials conducted on all drugs that are in use – but this data is all-too-often missing as a result of commercial practices that put millions of lives at risk. A new campaign seeks to bring this largely hidden scandal in medical science, revealed in Dr. Ben Goldacre’s book Bad Pharma, to an end – and with it the needless harm …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 1 Comment
    Stephen Tall

    ‘Call Clegg’: Nick survives first radio phone-in grilling

    By Stephen Tall | Thu 10th January 2013 - 11:45 am

    Today was the day History Was Made. At least if you believe LBC Radio’s self-publicity. To be slightly more precise, Nick Clegg took part in the first of his weekly Call Clegg phone-ins on LBC Radio, putting his job on the line (geddit?!) for 30 minutes.

    If you missed it, Andrew Sparrow live-blogged the six questions for The Guardian here. There were no shocks, surprises or …

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    Posted in News | Tagged , and | 20 Comments
    Nick T

    Welfare: right policy, wrong reasons?

    By Nick T | Thu 10th January 2013 - 10:34 am

    Many column inches have been filled with comment over the government’s decision to restrict a number of benefits and tax credits to increases of 1% over the next couple of years.

    This piece (£), however, by the FT’s economics editor, Chris Giles, warrants a special mention, not least because it is makes some interesting points that nobody else seems to have done.

    Here’s a (fairly lengthy) extract:

    In any case, good evidence exists on living standards to assess the merits of restricting benefit uprating. According to the most recent year of data, 2010-11, the crisis has caused real household net incomes around the

    …

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    Posted in News | Tagged and | 16 Comments
    Hannah Bettsworth

    Opinion: SNP’s ill thought out proposals discriminate against young people

    By Hannah Bettsworth | Thu 10th January 2013 - 9:00 am

    Drew's first driving lesson - Some rights reserved by akarmyMark McDonald, SNP MSP for North East Scotland, has recently proposed unjust new restrictions on young drivers. His proposals would mean that 17-25 year olds, regardless of driving experience, would be banned from driving between 11pm and 4am every day, as well as preventing them from carrying passengers in their vehicles.

    This is based on a discriminatory assumption that young people are generally bad drivers. Even although there is a higher risk as

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

    Liberal Voice of the Year: have you voted in our poll yet?

    By Stephen Tall | Wed 9th January 2013 - 8:15 pm

    liberal-voiceOn New Year’s Day we opened our annual Liberal Voice of the Year poll — our attempt to find the non-Lib Dem who readers of this site think has done the most to advance the cause of liberalism in the past 12 months.

    Our 10 nominees were chosen by party members through our most recent survey. To date, over 700 votes have been cast. You can see all the contenders and cast your preferential vote — if you haven’t already — by clicking here.

    We’re going to close the …

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    Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment
    Caron Lindsay

    LibLink…Eluned Parrott AM: Looks to be game, set and match to Abertis

    By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th January 2013 - 4:43 pm

    Welsh Liberal Democrats are questioning the Labour First Minister’s actions in entering into an exclusive relationship to buy Cardiff Airport for the nation with no prior consultation of the Assembly and without publishing any clear idea of how it will be run.

    Eluned Parrott, Liberal Democrat Shadow Economy and Transport Minister has written an article on this over at Freedom Central. She said:

    This is of course without consulting the Assembly, without revealing the price he’s offered, without revealing a business plan for the airports future, or without even stating what his government is planning on doing with it or who he

    …

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    Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
    Caron Lindsay

    The Carmichael Twinterview: Pandas, Coalition and Cake

    By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th January 2013 - 2:54 pm

    carmichael and teddy bearJust before Christmas, Scottish Liberal Democrat members received a newsletter which contained a “Twinterview” with Chief Whip and Scottish Deputy Leader Alistair Carmichael. This is a chat he had with me – in which questions and answers had to be within 140 characters reproduced here for your amusement.

    CL: You clearly enjoy social media despite the risk that it might get you into trouble some day. Why do you do it and what do you like about it?

    AC: Despite? Because of the risk! Facebook allows me to stay …

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    Posted in News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
    Caron Lindsay

    AD LIB issue 2 – Swinson and the F word, Hussein-Ece on diversity, inside the spin room – and cake

    By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th January 2013 - 1:24 pm

    Ad Lib 2nd issueSo, the second issue of AD LIB, the monthly magazine which has replaced Lib Dem News, hit subscribers’ doorsteps over the weekend. I reviewed the first edition which went to all  members in December. I felt that it was a good effort, but there were some mistakes. The last Lib Dem Voice survey showed a mainly favourable response to it.

    This month’s edition is jam-packed full of things which interested me. There’s something for even the most connected-to-the-hive-mind Liberal Democrat as well as the mildly …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 4 Comments
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