Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #306

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 30th December 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 306th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22 – 28 December, 2012), 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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Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think of the Coalition after 2½ years

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th December 2012 - 3:55 pm

lib dem conf votingLib 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. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

+28% says party is on the “right course”


Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track? (Comparison with November’s figures.)

    61% (+4%) – The right course
    33% (-1%) – The wrong track
    6% (-3%) – Don’t know

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “let’s look forward to a successful and enjoyable 2013”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th December 2012 - 12:50 pm

It’s a briefer email message from Nick Clegg this week, as he like most of us takes a few days’ R&R to re-charge our batteries for the year to come. He takes the opportunity simply to say thank you to all those working to deliver Lib Dem success. Don’t forget you can sign-up to receive Nick’s emails here.

libdem ltr from nick clegg

This week’s Letter from the Leader will be a lot shorter than usual as this is a time to spend with your family and friends. And as

…

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Alistair Carmichael MP’s heartfelt appreciation of John Morrison

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 29th December 2012 - 3:00 pm

A week ago, former East Dunbartonshire Liberal Democrat Council leader John Morrison died soon after being assaulted in Glasgow. In today’s Herald, Liberal Democrat chief whip in the House of Commons Alistair Carmichael, a close friend of John’s for 30 years, has written an appreciation of his life. He takes us through John’s university days as a top debater, through his professional life as a solicitor, and his role as a senior councillor in rescuing East Dunbartonshire Council from a dire financial situation. For our chief whip, John was

  a friend and a 30-year source of support, honest advice

…

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Mark Pack

Well done Liz Barker, Andrew Phillips, Chris Rennard and Ros Scott

By Mark Pack | Sat 29th December 2012 - 12:50 pm

Continuing today’s theme of congratulations, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has picked 10 peers who “have most to contribute to debates on charity issues”, four of whom are Liberal Democrats.

Well done Baroness Liz Barker, Lord Andrew Phillips, Lord Chris Rennard and Baroness Ros Scott.

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Stephen Tall

Tim Farron tops our poll as Lib Dem politician who enjoyed the best 2012

By Stephen Tall | Sat 29th December 2012 - 11:20 am

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. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Farron, Huppert and Oakeshott had best 2012 say Lib Dem members

LDV asked: In your opinion, which Lib Dem MP or peer overall has had the best year?Tim Farron speaking - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats
This question allowed an unprompted, free-text response, which over 400 party members filled in. And …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , and | 6 Comments
Mary Reid

New Year’s Honours

By Mary Reid | Sat 29th December 2012 - 9:57 am

Congratulations to all these prominent Liberal Democrats who appear in the New Year’s Honours list:

  • Roger Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and founder member of the former Social Democratic Party: CBE
  • Rodney Berman, former Liberal Democrat leader of Cardiff council: OBE
  • Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole: OBE
  • Andrew Wiseman: OBE
  • Fiona Hall, Liberal Democrat MEP for the North East and leader of Liberal Democrat MEPs: MBE
  • Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat Leader on the London Assembly: MBE

Please use the comments below to tell us about other Lib Dems who have been honoured.

 

Posted in News | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Congratulations, Caroline Pidgeon

By Mark Pack | Sat 29th December 2012 - 12:05 am

Caroline PidgeonIt’s great to see Lib Dem London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours.

She has been, is, and I’m sure will continue to be, one of the most effective London Assembly members of any party. Her MBE rightly recognises her skill and tenacity in holding to account the Mayor and providers of key public services in London.

Congratulations Caroline.

(Personally, I’d prefer it if we had an honours system which normally didn’t give awards to politicians at all, but as we do it’s lovely to see such a good …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

Which Lib Dem minister had the worst year? Here’s what party members think…

By Stephen Tall | Fri 28th December 2012 - 4:55 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. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

The Lib Dem half of the Quad top our members’ poll for the worst 2012

Nick Clegg yay2 - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats
LDV asked: In your opinion, which Lib Dem government minister has had the worst year?

Unusually for our Voice surveys, this question allowed an unprompted, free-text response, which …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
The Voice

Nick Clegg’s New Year’s resolutions 2013

By The Voice | Fri 28th December 2012 - 3:00 pm

Here is Nick’s New Year message:

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Sean Davey

Opinion: A New Year, a new direction for Liberal Youth?

By Sean Davey | Fri 28th December 2012 - 12:45 pm

Liberal Youth action dayWith nominations closing on January 4th, Liberal Youth will be electing a new Chair, and several new members of the Exec team leading it forward in 2013. Thanks to the hard work and diligence of Acting Chair Harry Matthews these elections (and positions) will be online and open to all Lib Dem members who are aged 16-25, or registered students.

The New Year offers an opportunity for renewal and a new direction for our youth wing, but equally there is a risk of simply “rearranging the deckchairs …

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The Voice

LibLink: Richard Reeves – Have yourself a merry liberal Christmas

By The Voice | Fri 28th December 2012 - 11:00 am

Over at the CentreForum blog, the liberal think-tank’s associate director, Richard Reeves, takes a look at the “communitarian dream” that is Christmas through a liberal lens:

Christmas combines in one package a number of elements that make us bristle. Religion, especially of an organised variety. Tradition for the sake of itself. The insanity of present buying. And semi-tyrannical familial expectations. … One liberal reaction to all this is to simply grin and bear it. … But bristling and bearing won’t really do. Liberal hostility to faith, family, community and tradition is well founded; they can all inhibit individual freedom. But the

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

Party members vote Vince Cable Lib Dem Minister of the Year (again)

By Stephen Tall | Thu 27th December 2012 - 8:05 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. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Vince, Ed and Michael: the Lib Dems’ top trio in government

Vince Cable smiling - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsLDV asked: In your opinion, which Lib Dem government minister has had the best year?

This question allowed an unprompted, free-text response, which c.450 of our respondents rose to. And here’s what you told us:

    1. Vince Cable (144)
    2. Ed Davey (70)
    3. Michael Moore (42)
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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Nick T

Clegg celebrates the “astonishing triumph of politics over conflict” which is the EU

By Nick T | Thu 27th December 2012 - 10:38 am

eu_flagIn his acceptance speech – just over five years ago – after Nick Clegg had just been narrowly chosen as the next leader of the Liberal Democrats, he said that he is a “liberal by temperament, by instinct and by upbringing”. But if those influences make him a liberal, they also make him, arguably to a far greater extent, probably the most pro-European of Britain’s senior politicians. Europe is a subject on which Clegg can speak with the authority of someone who is at least as comfortable, if not more so, in Brussels as he is in Westminster.

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Caron Lindsay

Lynne Featherstone takes on church leaders on equal marriage

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 26th December 2012 - 4:45 pm

Lynne honeycombLiberal Democrat hero of everything to do with equalities, Lynne Featherstone, has used her blog to take a coach and horses through the arguments that various church leaders have been using this Christmas to attack the Coalition’s plans to introduce equal marriage.

Sometimes MPs’ and Government Ministers’ blogs can become quite bland. This is not the case with Ms Featherstone’s. It’s good that she is quite comfortable with the idea of talking directly. It’s important that someone does. Willie Rennie did exactly the same up here in Scotland …

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg’s Christmas Message 2012

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 26th December 2012 - 3:19 pm

All quite heartwarming – and not a single word about politics. That will come at New Year. Enjoy.

Posted in News | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Secret Courts: Nick Clegg’s refusal to meet campaigners is not helping

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 26th December 2012 - 1:08 pm

Way back in March, I wrote a few words of advice to Nick Clegg in the wake of the NHS debate at Spring Conference. They seem relevant today as activists and leaders are at loggerheads over Part II of the Justice and Security Bill. That’s the part that introduces Closed Material Procedures, or secret courts. This would mean that if national security, Government vetted Special Advocates would represent the non-Government side, but would not be allowed to share any details with them. You can see how difficult it would be to prepare a case if you aren’t even allowed …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 12 Comments
Lorna Dupré

Opinion: A glass of wine with that?

By Lorna Dupré | Wed 26th December 2012 - 11:00 am

Glass of red wine being poured - Some rights reserved by moonrhinoThe main dish of the government’s current consultation on alcohol licensing in England and Wales is of course the proposal to establish a minimum price of 45p per unit for alcohol sold in supermarkets and off-licences. You may have your views about this proposal – I know I have mine (cough: illiberal and inequitable). However, the attention given to this particular proposal has overshadowed some of the side dishes served up alongside it in the consultation document, not least …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 8 Comments
The Voice

Happy Christmas!

By The Voice | Tue 25th December 2012 - 8:00 am

christmas

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Willie Rennie

Willie Rennie MSP’s Christmas message: Strong liberal voices fight for young people, stand up to vested interests and work with others

By Willie Rennie | Mon 24th December 2012 - 5:43 pm

Scotland supporter Murrayfield - Some rights reserved by Random Things Entering My field Of VisionOver the last year journalists, opponents, perhaps even some supporters were writing us off.  How could a group of five MSPs, cut by two thirds in the Scottish Parliamentary Elections, make any impact on the Scottish political scene? Although our opponents will always deride us in public, I know that in private they are fizzing that Liberal Democrats continue to punch above our weight.

Scotland is, by and large, a tolerant, liberal, understanding, compassionate country. Its …

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The Voice

Christmas confessions from the Lib Dem Voice team

By The Voice | Mon 24th December 2012 - 4:53 pm

Confession - Some rights reserved by Lori GreigAs the Christmas sherry loosens us all up a bit, here are some confessions from the Liberal Democrat Voice team.

To turn it into a bit of a quiz, no names appear against each confession. So you’ll have to guess who the confessor is in each instance. By all means use the comments field below to have a stab at the identity of the owner of each revelation.

To make it a bit more interesting, there is an unspecified number of

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Posted in Humour | Tagged and | 10 Comments
The Voice

The political year reviewed by Stephen Tall, Tim Montgomerie and Hopi Sen

By The Voice | Mon 24th December 2012 - 3:53 pm

LibDemVoice co-editor Stephen Tall guested alongside ConservativeHome‘s Tim Montgomerie and Labour blogger Hopi Sen on BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour last night, reviewing the political year with presenter Carolyn Quinn through the rear-view mirror. Issues dissected in the 20-minute discussion included Andrew ‘Gate-gate’ Mitchell, Coalition differentiation, Nick Clegg’s future, welfare reforms and secret courts. You can listen here:

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Eric Avebury

Opinion: Bangladesh – conspiracy to pervert the course of justice?

By Eric Avebury | Mon 24th December 2012 - 2:53 pm

Flag of Bangladesh - Some rights reserved by v i p e zThose who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971 should be prosecuted and, if found guilty by due process, severely punished.

But the trials have been conducted under a law dating from 1973 which is not compliant with international norms. The US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Stephen Rapp; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; the International Center for Transitional Justice; the International Bar Association; the UK

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 469 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Michael Moore MP’s Christmas Message

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 24th December 2012 - 1:32 pm

Christmas tree in George Square, Glasgow - Some rights reserved by Paul RobertsonLiberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore MP has issued a message for Christmas. Here it is in full:

Christmas is a time for families and friends to come together and spend time reflecting on the year which has passed and their hopes and ambitions for the year to come.

2012 was an important year for Scotland as we saw the

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Posted in News | 3 Comments
Paul Walter

Christmas confession: I am the photo fairy

By Paul Walter | Mon 24th December 2012 - 11:24 am

Due to getting a bit of a buzz from finding nice photos for this site, earlier this year I started adding images to articles (where the editorial team member who originally posted the article did not have the time or the inclination to add one). And so, I have been given the nickname “the photo fairy” as I occasionally scatter photos, like magic dust, around the site.

Many of our photos come from Flickr using the Creative Commons License where individuals or organisations have allowed their photos to be used in certain situations with attribution.

It seems appropriate at …

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Jenny Pennington

The Independent View: A strong agenda for the most disadvantaged – an opportunity for Liberal leadership?

By Jenny Pennington | Mon 24th December 2012 - 9:50 am

Rough sleeper, Embankment, London - Some rights reserved by Dedly SiriusFifteen years ago this month New Labour heralded their intent to tackle complex and intractable social problems by launching a dedicated social exclusion unit within government. Fifteen years on, the challenges facing people with complex problems such as mental health issues, homelessness and substance misuse are still very real. In fact, there are indications that these problems are on the rise. Last year saw a 14 per cent increase in the number of homeless households. Rough sleepers are growing in number – up 43% across last year in London. There is a need for

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 5 Comments
The Voice

A Christmas Carol, as sketched by Bodz. All 5 Staves Omnibus.

By The Voice | Mon 24th December 2012 - 8:45 am

Over the past five days, LibDemVoice has been delighted to bring you a contemporary updating of Charles Dickens’ classic story, A Christmas Carol, penned for us by Andy Boddington.

LDV scrooge story

If you missed any, or simply want to sit back in a comfy chair with a glass of mulled wine and enjoy the whole saga again from start to finish, here are all five staves of the story as sketched by Bodz. God bless them, every one…

Stave One: Mensch’s Ghost;

Stave Two: The Ghost of …

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #305

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 23rd December 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 305th 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 (16 – 22 December, 2012), 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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Caron Lindsay

Scottish Liberal Democrats mourn ex Council Leader John Morrison

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 23rd December 2012 - 5:30 pm

John Morrison with Jo Swinson MPScottish Liberal Democrats were shocked to learn of the sudden death of former East Dunbartonshire Council Leader John Morrison at the age of just 50. The Sunday Herald reports that John was found unconscious as the result of an assault in a Glasgow Street early on Saturday morning and died later in hospital.

John was affectionately known as Hobbit throughout the Scottish party. He had acquired that nickname while at Glasgow University and bore it with his customary good humour. He’d been a leading …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
Giles Goodall

Opinion: Norway? No way! Why a life on Europe’s periphery is not an option for Britain

By Giles Goodall | Sun 23rd December 2012 - 4:35 pm

Norweigan coastIn Britain’s recent EU debate, it’s clear that the anti-Europeans have been doing most of the running. When they’re not basing their arguments on wholesale lies, they fall back on a mixture of half-truths, assumptions and wishful thinking. One of the best examples is the common claim that Britain can leave the EU but keep trading with the Single Market, ’just like Norway’. A have-your-cake-and-eat-it solution that sounds like the best of both worlds. They highlight the non-EU country’s considerable oil wealth – irrelevant to the membership debate – to drive home their point.

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged and | 24 Comments
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