Adam Corlett

Opinion: Does the Prime Minister really care about free speech?

By Adam Corlett | Tue 11th December 2012 - 3:40 pm

The Prime Minister is concerned that Leveson’s “essential” legislative underpinning for press self-regulation would cross a line. “We should be wary of any legislation that has the potential to infringe free speech and a free press”, he stated, saying that we should be proud of our “great tradition” of freedom of speech. But the UK has many laws that restrict citizens’ free expression and which we should be deeply ashamed of. Will the PM be campaigning to end these?

There’s ‘Section 5’, under which – for example – a 16 year old was summoned to court for holding a placard saying, “Scientology is not a religion. It is a dangerous cult.” Thankfully, after pressure from MPs and the Reform Section 5 campaign, the Home Office consulted on the law and – separately – the Lords will tomorrow vote on amending it. Reformists (including the Deputy Prime Minister) can presumably count on the PM’s support!

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Kirsten de Keyser

Opinion: Avoid the Tax Avoiders!

By Kirsten de Keyser | Tue 11th December 2012 - 2:39 pm

On 15th October last, Liberal Democrat Voice published my splutteringly crimson outburst about multinational corporation tax avoiders Opinion: Calling All Bloggers – Don’t make me a tax avoidance accomplice.

Back then, I pleaded that an ongoing media debate would hopefully, at last, provide the oxygen needed to bring about some serious action in respect of corporate tax collecting: “…the media at least seems to be smelling blood. I hope they see this through to some sort of conclusion.”

And didn’t they do well?

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Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes … Communications Data Bill cannot proceed

By Julian Huppert | Tue 11th December 2012 - 1:00 pm

Last week the Home Secretary claimed that anyone who opposes the Draft Communications Data Bill, dubbed the Snoopers Charter, was supporting paedophiles and terrorists.

She argued, “Criminals, terrorists and paedophiles will want MPs to vote against this bill. Victims of crime, police and the public will want them to vote for it. It’s a question of whose side you’re on.”

We’ve heard that argument before. Tony Blair used similar arguments to

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Samuel Barratt

Opinion: Making the EBacc work

By Samuel Barratt | Tue 11th December 2012 - 11:45 am

Michael Gove seems intent on bringing forward a replacement for the GCSE, going so far as to make its introduction a matter of confidence in the face of criticism.  All parties can agree, however, it is important to set out what these reforms should look like and make sure they deliver a qualification that is fit for purpose.

There are at least two key areas that I think Liberal Democrats should seek to influence.

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Fiona Hall MEP

Fiona Hall MEP writes … Paying the world’s poorest people for their precious resources

By Fiona Hall MEP | Tue 11th December 2012 - 10:27 am

The battle to ensure that companies publish what they pay for developing countries’ natural resources has finally reached the home straight.

The EU Accounting and Transparency Directives are in the ‘trialogue’ stage, a negotiation between the EU Parliament, Commission and Council to decide upon the final form that the legislation will take.  Liberal Democrats have been involved in this process from the beginning  – I wrote the report for the European
Parliament’s Development Committee  and am now joined by Jo Swinson, as she continues to maintain the UK Government’s strong leadership stance in ensuring that the final legislation includes the necessary measures to combat corruption.

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David Thorpe

Opinion: Radical action need to remedy the economy’s woes

By David Thorpe | Tue 11th December 2012 - 9:32 am

While the Chancellor’s direction of travel in relation to tackling Britain’s economic challenges is improving, his current approach will leave Britain feeling like Sisyphus, labouring hard to push a rock up a hill but never quite feeling secure that it won’t come crashing back down, destroying the hard work already undertaken.

But just as Sisyphus continued to focus on the mechanics of getting the rock up the hill, rather than indulge in any broader experiment to escape his predicament, Osborne toils at the seams of Britain’s economic malaise.

The Chancellor happily wallows in the Bank of England’s myth that giant infusions of credit from Quantitative Easing and the ‘Funding for Lending’ schemes, are any sort of remedy to Britain’s economic woes.

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Neil Fawcett

OxWAb selects Layla Moran

By Neil Fawcett | Tue 11th December 2012 - 8:40 am

Congratulations to Layla Moran who has been selected by Oxford West & Abingdon Lib Dems as their new Parliamentary Candidate.

The Conservatives won the constituency by just 176 votes in the 2010 General Election and is one of the most winnable seats for the Lib Dems at the next election.

Layla’s selection comes just four days after the Lib Dems trounced the Conservatives in a district council by-election in Sunningwell & Wootton on a 17% swing.

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Mark Pack

Clegg set to veto Communications Data Bill

By Mark Pack | Mon 10th December 2012 - 10:42 pm

Excellent:

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Mike Biden

Opinion: Leveson – Do we need a new Court of Appeal?

By Mike Biden | Mon 10th December 2012 - 6:23 pm

It looks like we are going to get a new Code of Practice and a system of voluntary self-regulation by the press. But is that all we need? Shami Chakrabati wrote an instructive objection to the concept of “legal underpinning” and has subsequently said she “would rather leave the question of whether the tests are met to the courts and not to involve a quango . . .” (such as Ofcom). As one of the six advisors to the commission and an expert in Human Rights Law, she is in a good position to comment. What is

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Mark Pack

Equal marriage: it’s a matter of religious freedom

By Mark Pack | Mon 10th December 2012 - 5:59 pm

There’s been a lot in the media today from opponents of equal marriage about how the state mustn’t go about redefining marriage.

What they keep on skating over is that equal marriage isn’t something cooked up by atheists and agnostics. It’s also – as Lynne Featherstone has pointed out – supported officially by Quakers, Liberal Jews and some Unitarian Churches, not to mention many people of other faiths that officially take a different view.

Insisting that the state continues …

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Chris White

Opinion: Bringing modernity to local government

By Chris White | Mon 10th December 2012 - 5:23 pm

‘What is the matter with these people?’ is probably the reaction of many in Great Britain when observing the escalating violence in Northern Ireland in relation to – well – just a flag.

Although it is true that it is currently unlikely that there would be mass demonstrations on English streets over what flag was flown over the town hall and when, it is remarkable how few councillors really pause to think about the symbols used in their own councils and the potential effects on the people they aim to represent.

I did a quick audit of the two councils which put …

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Karen Wilkinson

Opinion: Formulaic differentation of the Lib Dems?

By Karen Wilkinson | Mon 10th December 2012 - 4:34 pm

In the never ending quest to differentiate the LibDems , I’ve developed the following formula for use in the pub on a Friday night, whilst chatting over the veg in the local shop, or wherever else the question arises (my previous longer-winded attempt on a beach is here):

Labour = social conscience plus authoritarianism

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NewsHound

LibLink: David Ward’s visit to the West Bank

By NewsHound | Mon 10th December 2012 - 3:53 pm

David Ward MP has been out in the West Bank. He has been blogging a diary for the three days of his visit. Day One is here:

Yesterday night I met with the Consul General based in East Jerusalem to discuss the incredibly complex issue of achieving peace for Israelis and Palestinians. I am reluctant to post my thoughts at this stage as we have so much more to see over the next three days but there is so much that needs to

…

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Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes… Drugs: We will be judged by what we achieve

By Julian Huppert | Mon 10th December 2012 - 1:53 pm

Last year, the Lib Dems passed a near-unanimous Conference motion calling for a complete review of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. It included a call to “consider reform of the law, based on the Portuguese model”.

Today, the cross-Party Home Affairs Select Committee, of which I am a Member, has endorsed that position, and told the Government that they must focus on reducing the damage caused by drugs, rather than hard-line posturing.

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Prateek Buch

Opinion: The trouble with George – you can’t argue on economics with such a political Chancellor

By Prateek Buch | Mon 10th December 2012 - 12:53 pm

Now that the flurry of graphs, snapshot analyses, spin-heavy briefings and counter-briefings is dying down, how to judge George Osborne’s Autumn Statement in the cold winter light?

For me it is a microcosm of Osborne’s time in No. 11 – a smattering of politically calculated and superficially populist measures, masking a dangerously thin grasp of what an economically successful Chancellorship looks like. Moreover, his claim that his mini-budget is fair because it is fiscally neutral doesn’t hold much water.

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Samuel Fisk

Liberal Youth make some noise for human rights

By Samuel Fisk | Mon 10th December 2012 - 11:23 am

Last week, on a cold December afternoon Liberal Youth continued their campaign for human rights in Belarus, a country often described as “Europe’s Last Dictatorship”. We were joined by the Free Belarus Now group, lead by Irina Bogdanova (sister of an ex-Presidential candidate) in a demonstration outside the Belarusian embassy in London.

The event was called “Make Some Noise for Human Rights” with Liberal Youth members bringing everything from drums to violins. We need to raise awareness of the situation in Belarus and what better way than being loud enough so people have to take notice of us!

Since 1994, Alexander …

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Geoff Crocker

Opinion: So what’s really wrong with the economy?

By Geoff Crocker | Mon 10th December 2012 - 9:54 am

The autumn statement was reminiscent of the 1961 Sid James film ‘Carry on Regardless’. Austerity policy is not working, and the claim that it will work is constantly pushed to the far future. What’s wrong? There is nothing wrong with the real supply side economy. But there are two crucial things wrong with the financial economy, meaning that we have a crisis of demand, not of supply. These are:

1. Disposable income has grown significantly less than GDP

2. Financial orthodoxy insists on balancing government accounts

Between 2001 and 2007 when the crisis hit, GDP grew by 19.5% but disposable income by only …

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Mark Thompson

Opinion: It’s time for Nick Clegg to make the liberal case on drugs policy

By Mark Thompson | Mon 10th December 2012 - 8:00 am

The Mail on Sunday yesterday reported that the Home Affairs Select Committee report into drugs policy, reporting this morning, is going to recommend that the option of legalisation should be seriously considered and a Royal Commission should be set up to report on the issue prior to the 2015 general election.

As readers of my blog will know, I am a long standing supporter of liberalisation of our drug laws. So this report is a breath of fresh air as far as I am concerned. – A sensible pragmatic look at the problems with

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #303

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th December 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 303rd 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 (2 – 8 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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The Voice

In other news…

By The Voice | Sun 9th December 2012 - 6:30 pm

Simon HughesLiberal Democrat Simon Hughes faces probe over donation (BBC News)

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is to consider whether the MP breached rules by failing to fully declare a £10,000 donation received by his local party in south London. Mr Hughes’s spokesman said the money, from a scrap metal firm, was registered with the Electoral Commission. There is no suggestion that Mr Hughes benefited personally from the donation.

Lib Dem leader stands down (ThisIsBristol)

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Stephen Tall

Andrew Adonis: “I am much more negative about the idea of coalition now”. Is Labour pluralism dead?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th December 2012 - 4:15 pm

A couple of days ago, I suggested Lib Dems needed to think about how we rescue the idea of coalition as an effective form of government. Right on cue, former Labour cabinet minister Lord (Andrew) Adonis has slated the concept, arguing in The Guardian that:

Giving huge power to a very small party that is very unclear about what it wants to achieve in politics – I’m trying to be diplomatic about the Lib Dems – isn’t, to my mind, the best way forward. The best way forward would be to have a majority Labour government.

There are at least …

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Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 6: “Kickstart”

By Libby Local | Sun 9th December 2012 - 2:15 pm

It had been raining for days. A flood warning had already been issued for the River Libby. It was raging more than a metre above its normal level and had still not peaked.

As I hurried along Libbyside Terrace towards the rail station, I met Mary. Wet, dishevelled and very upset, she was hauling sandbags across the pavement.

“I’ve just got a text from the Environment Agency,” she told me. “We’re on flood alert now.” She was all but in tears. I stopped a while to help pile sandbags against her front door. “With the new kerbs, it should not be as …

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s ‘Letter from the Leader’: “You cannot balance the books on the backs of the poor”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th December 2012 - 11:20 am

The sixth weekly missive from Nick Clegg hit my inbox this weekend. Here’s what he had to say about the Autumn Statement, in particular the Lib Dem win on helping low-income tax-payers. Oh, and there’s a bit of a dig against the Tories for their ‘irrational phobia’ of taxing the propertied wealthy a bit more…

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Stephen Tall

‘Please give generously’: Tories mail-shot supporters asking for donations to fight Lib Dem mansion tax

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th December 2012 - 10:05 am

That’s the story in the Guardian this weekend:

The Conservative party privately sent letters to Tory donors and wealthy homeowners promising to defeat Liberal Democrat plans for a mansion tax at the same time as their coalition partners thought they were negotiating on a version of the proposal ahead of the autumn statement, it emerged on Friday. … The letters were sent by the Conservative treasurers Lord Fink and Michael Farmer in November, when Lib Dem cabinet ministers privately believed there was hope that the Conservatives would agree to two extra higher-rate council tax bands as a way of raising

…

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s festive card: “Merry Christmas”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th December 2012 - 9:20 am

Just in case you’re not one of the lucky ones to receive your own signed copy this year (I’m still waiting for mine), here’s Nick Clegg’s choice of Christmas card this year…

Here’s what the Guardian has to say about it (yes, really, the paper dedicated a large feature to the leaders’ choices of Christmas cards):

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Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — 12 must-read articles you may have missed

By Stephen Tall | Sat 8th December 2012 - 5:39 pm

It’s Saturday evening, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices…

Britain and Europe: Making the break – The Economist‘s verdict on many Europhobes’ éjaculation nocturne: ‘The most likely outcome would be that Britain would find itself as a scratchy outsider with somewhat limited access to the single market, almost no influence and few friends. And one certainty: that having once departed, it would be all but impossible to get back in again.’

Boris shows that Eurosceptics are in a mess – …

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Stephen Gilbert MP

Stephen Gilbert MP writes… Equal marriage: a step towards a fairer society

By Stephen Gilbert MP | Sat 8th December 2012 - 12:59 pm

So, there we have it:  equal marriage for same-sex couples in the civil law and the chance for religious groups to choose to offer same-sex religious marriage if they want to.  It’s another step toward equality in front of the law for the LGBT community. The community has come a long way in the 43 years since the Stonewall riots in New York City.

And the Liberal Democrats have led the way in the UK. We were the first party to commit to a policy of civil partnerships, in a Private Members Bill, and at our conference in 2010 we were …

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The Voice

Councillors’ home attacked and death threats – all because of a flag

By The Voice | Sat 8th December 2012 - 11:35 am

ITV reports:

Two Alliance councillors in Bangor, Northern Ireland have spoken of their shock after their front window was smashed following a controversial vote on future of the Union flag at Belfast City Council.

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Mark Pack

In praise of people with drawn curtains in the morning

By Mark Pack | Sat 8th December 2012 - 10:25 am

Night time workers. Work at night, sleep at day. That’s not being a scrounger. Shame so many Conservatives and so-called populists crudely label them all as scroungers with their blunderbuss rhetoric for having the temerity to draw the curtains at home when they’re sleeping after a long session at work.

UPDATE: In other curtain commentary news… Jennie has highlighted in the comments her own post. Here’s the link to it; the comments are well worth a read for a mix of the serious and the very funny. And here’s an Olympian …

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Mark Pack

Autumn Statement: the good, the bad and the tricky

By Mark Pack | Sat 8th December 2012 - 9:25 am

It’s been a busy week, so for my take on the Autumn Statement, here is my trio of media hits (featuring that tie):

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