Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #301

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 25th November 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 301st 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 (17-24 November, 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 Liberator Collective

New edition of Liberator

By The Liberator Collective | Sun 25th November 2012 - 5:55 pm

The latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.356 – November 2012) has just landed on subscribers’ doormats.

Not only that, but Liberator now has a blog, to help readers get their Liberator fix between issues.

Here’s a summary of the new magazine’s contents:

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The Voice

In other news… Teather’s non-defection, Mulholland on beer price-fixing & MEPs on Irish abortion law

By The Voice | Sun 25th November 2012 - 5:00 pm

Sarah Teather Would Rather ‘Poke Her Eyes Out’ Than Join Labour (Huffington Post)

Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather would rather “poke her eyes out” than defect to the Labour Party despite being sacked from the government, according to the party’s chief enforcer. After the New Statesman noticed Teather had voted against the coalition plans to cap benefits, a policy she decried as “immoral and divisive”, rumours swirled that this meant she was about to defect to Labour. However the speculation was shut down by Lib Dem whip Alastair Carmichael, who tweeted: “I just asked her, says she would rather poke

…

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Mark Pack

Duff arguments to ignore over Leveson

By Mark Pack | Sun 25th November 2012 - 4:57 pm

Here is a safe prediction: whatever the Leveson report recommends for British journalism, there will be an awful lot of duff arguments rolled out. Despite much of the debate being couched in how important it is for the press to tell the truth and how many difficult judgements there are to make, we’ll hear plenty of simplistic rhetoric based on shonky factual foundations.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Ed Davey – my long battle for a ‘grand energy bargain’

By NewsHound | Sun 25th November 2012 - 4:15 pm

Lib Dem energy secretary Edward Davey was interviewed in The Guardian this weekend about the energy bill to be announced this week. The paper fillets the main points Ed made here:

• Insists that energy prices overall will be 7% lower than they otherwise would have been in the medium term as a result of government policy, even if prices in real terms may rise due to the worldwide energy market.

• Rejects talk of a government-sanctioned dash for gas as overblown, even if he concedes the Conservatives will big this up.

• Says shale gas will not have a significant short-term

…

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s fourth Letter from the Leader: “The only way out of the housing crisis is to build our way out.”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th November 2012 - 1:15 pm

Here’s Nick Clegg’s latest missive to Lib Dem members and supporters — this week focusing on his efforts to get Britain building again to help those households in need of decent, affordable housing…

I’m writing this as we come to the end of an incredibly hectic week in politics.

The negotiations over the budget in Europe, securing of a much needed ceasefire in Gaza, rising speculation about the upcoming Leveson report. And Ed Davey’s important announcement of a landmark coalition deal on low carbon energy that will deliver

…

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Stephen Tall

As Leveson reports… Why I’m sticking up for ‘Press freedom with no buts’

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th November 2012 - 8:30 am

Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal will report this week. His recommendations on the future of press regulation are the subject of intense speculation, with essentially three positions being staked-out:

What’s being proposed

‘Independent regulation backed up by statute’
Advocates, who include Evan Harris and the Hacked Off campaign group, argue that the only way to ensure the press does not abuse its position in the future is for it to be regulated. But, they insist, this should be independent both of government and the press, the two main …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 38 Comments
Stephen Tall

Reasons for Lib Dem cheer — as told by Labour and Tory supporters

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th November 2012 - 3:15 pm

Just two things from me:

1) Anyone trying to forecast how the Lib Dems will do in 2015 based on extrapolating mid-term opinion polls on the basis of uniform national swing is likely to be as wrong as they would have been at every general election in modern history.

2) My confident forecast for 2015 is the Lib Dems will a) do less well than I’d like and b) do better than our fiercest critics would like.

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 41 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg – I’m the daddy

By NewsHound | Sat 24th November 2012 - 12:55 pm

The London Evening Standard carries a feature interview with Nick Clegg, focusing on his and Miriam’s home life and its influence on his political views — here’s some excerpts:

His startling lack of machismo is mirrored in his policies: he wants more time for dads at home, more time for women to chase high-flying careers. From 2015, parents can share up to one year of “parental leave” after the birth of a child. They can take time off together, take it in turns, or

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Stephen Tall

Lords reform is dead! Long live, erm, a bloated, ineffective, undemocratic Lords!

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th November 2012 - 10:40 am

The Guardian reports today that dozens of new life peers are to be appointed to the House of Lords:

Political parties are preparing to draw up lists for dozens of new appointments to the House of Lords in a move that will reignite controversy over creating peers just months after the collapse of legislation to dramatically reduce the second chamber. The move, which is expected to create at

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Stephen Tall

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

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th November 2012 - 8:15 am

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

The lottery of life: Where to be born in 2013 – The Economist‘s annual list of the top quality-of-life countries: ‘Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too.’ Britain comes 27th. (The Telegraph has a picture-only version here.)

The burdens that Israel should not have to bear – Brendan …

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Mark Valladares

Another Thursday, more by-election gains

By Mark Valladares | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 5:22 pm

After last week’s splurge of local government gains, this week saw another pair of gains, this time in Kent.

Tim Prater reports;

“Lynne Beaumont was the Councillor for Park ward from 2003-11. the by-elections were held after a Conservative Councillor for Park ward resigned his seats (having not attended a Folkestone Town Council meeting for six months).
 
“The Conservative Shepway District Council have made a number of hugely controversial decisions lately, not least consulting on whether to host the UK high level nuclear waste storage facility (not unsurprisingly, the consultation said no) and introducing on-street parking charges in Folkestone that have been hugely unpopular …

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The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 23 November 2012

By The Voice | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Ed Balls: My starting point is we are going to have keep all the cuts (32 comments) by Mark Pack
  2. My ‘Super Thursday’ Lib Dem post mortem (61 comments) by Stephen Tall
  3. The other local elections: Lib Dems gain five and hold three (28 comments) by Helen Duffett
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Geof Todd

Scaling-up the UK’s creative business

By Geof Todd | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 4:21 pm

Danny Boyle’s fantastic opening ceremony for the Olympics highlighted that Great Britain has a great heritage and we can really put on a show – given the right investment! The ‘Big Society’ fails to provide a suitable framework to rebuild and refocus our future, to re-launch UK plc on the global stage. In short, how are we going to make Britain ‘Great’ again?

We have the opportunity to build the world centre of excellence around a major ‘Creative Business’ initiative in which we must

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Mark Valladares

Guy Verhofstadt probably wasn’t on Nigel Farage’s Christmas card list anyway…

By Mark Valladares | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 2:51 pm

It would be fair to say that Nigel Farage and the leader of the ALDE group in the European Parliament, former Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, are unlikely to be close friends. It’s rather less likely after this intervention on Wednesday. Sit back and enjoy…

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , and | 17 Comments
Peter Black

Opinion: more freedom, more responsibility, more accountability for Wales

By Peter Black | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 1:50 pm

The launch of the Silk Commission’s first report this week is a real win for liberalism.

The report looks at the financial powers that the National Assembly for Wales should have, how accountable it is for its spending and how we ensure effective economic policy is rewarded. I welcome the report’s declaration that a number of taxes, such as air passenger duty and landfill tax, should be devolved. But more significantly, the report also recommends that by 2020, …

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Posted in News and Wales | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Kirsten de Keyser

Votes for Prisoners? Cameron says no! What would Borgen do?

By Kirsten de Keyser | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 12:51 pm

David Cameron reputedly vowed that prisoners “will be allowed to vote over my dead body”. Don’t give us any ideas Dave… We know that the current blanket ban has been judged unlawful by The European Court of Human Rights, and we presumably don’t want to break the law. I mean, that could land us all in the collective slammer, without the right to vote. Not a clever idea, given that the current UK voter turnout is already among the lowest in Western Europe.

So what would Borgen do? Well, nothing actually, as Danish prisoners have enjoyed the unfettered right to vote since the 1930s. And that’s despite the fact that our Danish cousins

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Bill le Breton

“Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!”*

By Bill le Breton | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 11:21 am

Enough is enough. In the face of soaring national debt, the Liberal Democrat leader has this week called for the Central Bank to be made less independent to pave the way for more aggressive and unlimited monetary easing, a dramatic relaxation of the inflation target accompanied by a major public works programme and a supplementary budget.

Great news! The tragedy is that the Liberal Democrat leader in question is not Nick Clegg speaking on the eve of the Autumn Spending statement, but Shinzo Abe, Leader of the Japanese Liberal Democrats, launching his general election campaign which he is tipped to win. And the reaction of those dreaded markets? Positive – rising 4-5% as other world

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
Mark Pack

Now here’s a good email to send to local members and supporters

By Mark Pack | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 9:50 am

Top marks Haringey Liberal Democrats for taking up my idea on this (properly formatted version here). Simple, practical and providing people with useful information:

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Eric Avebury

Bahrain – time for Britain to take a lead

By Eric Avebury | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 8:51 am

On November 5, thirty-one Bahrainis were deprived of their citizenship arbitrarily, without notice and without judicial process, contrary to customary international law. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone has the right to a nationality and no-one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality. The victims can appeal these decision, but there is no point. The king has absolute power to grant or rescind citizenship, and the courts wouldn’t dream of overturning his decisions.

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day…

By Mark Valladares | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 7:51 am

It’s your bright-eyed and furry-tailed day editor here, with a preview of what’s coming up today here at Liberal Democrat Voice. Admittedly, I’m quite possibly not awake – the advantage of pre-scheduling, I guess.

It’s an international sort of a day, with the noble Lord Avebury writing on the latest outrages against human rights in Bahrain, Bill le Breton drawing an analogy with events in Japan, and Kirsten de Keyser suggesting that what Denmark can do, perhaps we ought to. I’ve even posted a video nasty from Strasbourg… well, nasty …

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Craig Bennett

The Independent View: Liberal Democrats must not be complicit in Osborne’s dash for gas

By Craig Bennett | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 6:50 pm

Friends of the Earth and the Liberal Democrats have long had similar visions for our energy future: more renewables; phasing out fossil fuels; ramping up energy efficiency. In short, getting pollution and consumer bills down, while increasing energy self-sufficiency.

Everything about this vision is now at stake.

The ‘quad’ – the coalition’s decision-making grouping of Cameron, Clegg, Osborne and Alexander – are locked in negotiations with Lib Dem Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey over a 2030 ‘decarbonisation’ target in the Government’s Energy Bill legislation.

Such a target …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 22 Comments
Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Nick Thornsby – The Justice and Security Bill is the Liberal Democrats’ biggest challenge yet

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 4:39 pm

Our Nick Thornsby has been writing about the Justice and Security Bill over at the Guardian’s Comment is Free site.

First of all, he gives his view about why this Bill is bad news for anyone who is committed to civil liberties:

It is difficult to comprehend just how fundamental a departure from centuries-old principles this would be. The right to see and hear the evidence of the other side, and subsequently to challenge the veracity or utility of that evidence, forms the

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , and | 11 Comments

Opinion: Could Garden Cities be Nick Clegg’s legacy?

By Andy Boddington | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 3:57 pm

It is May 2032 and I am cycling through the green leafy lanes of Coalition Garden City.

There is something remarkable about this new town that sets it apart from Cumbernauld and Cwmbran, even from fabled Letchworth and iconic Milton Keynes. I am on my way to interview the Mayor of Coalition Garden City to find out how this town of 60,000 people achieved the highest happiness ratings in Britain.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

What did George Osborne agree to do that Nick Clegg refused to do?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 3:25 pm


(You can like and share this graphic via LibDemVoice’s Facebook page by clicking here.)

Compare and contrast:

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Adam Corlett

Opinion: It’s time to reform child benefit

By Adam Corlett | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 2:04 pm

Child benefit and child tax credits represent the second biggest area of welfare spending, after pensioners. Public spending should be invested disproportionately in ensuring that all children fulfil their potential and develop the skills needed for tomorrow’s jobs, and that we intervene early to prevent, rather than react to, problems. However, this does not mean that current child-related expenditure is spent as well as it could be. Here are two considerations ahead of the Autumn Statement.

Firstly, any real-terms reduction in spending on child-related cash transfers should go alongside increased investment in early years support and childcare, especially for poorer families.

By …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 9 Comments
John Alderdice

Lord Alderdice writes… Improving the Justice and Security Bill

By John Alderdice | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 12:53 pm

Last night the House of Lords debated and voted on the Justice and Security Bill at its Report stage. I know from reading Lib Dem Voice and from listening to the recent debate at Conference what a touchstone issue this Bill is for many members. Which is why I want to explain how the Bill, which we have now passed to the Commons, is a very different beast from that originally under consideration.

Some of you will have seen that the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) produced a unanimous report last week. We have two eminent Liberal …

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Posted in Parliament | Tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Richard Shaw

Opinion: Renationalising the railways is not the solution – devolution is

By Richard Shaw | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 11:23 am

David Thorpe recently wrote a Liberal Democrat Voice piece advocating the (piecemeal) renationalisation of the railways and the latest LDV survey found more than 40% of members want the railways fully nationalised. I wish to provide some historical context and offer an alternative solution.

Nationalisation in1948 was the culmination of a process started by the First World War. During the war, the railways were taken over by the government, run-down and eventually consolidated

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 20 Comments
Mark Pack

Have you (and your members) had their Euro ballot papers yet?

By Mark Pack | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 9:50 am

Perhaps it’s the increasing freedom for people to use social media during Liberal Democrat selection contests. Perhaps it’s the increasing proportion of party activists who take part in online discussions. Or perhaps it’s hiccups with the Royal Mail, party data or others involved. Whatever the cause, as with the party’s recent federal committee elections there seems to be more chatter about people not receiving ballot papers for the current Euro selections than in previous contests. 

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged and | 9 Comments

The Independent View: What do we do when children are taught racism at home?

By Chris Meredith | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 8:45 am

Racism is an uncomfortable and emotive subject to discuss. To its victims it is absolutely devastating and can affect entire communities. In Britain it is considered socially unacceptable but despite this, and the numerous laws designed to prevent discrimination, racism is still worryingly commonplace. I’ve witnessed it myself on duty more times than I can count; the culprits are usually adults, which is shocking and unpleasant enough, but for me, the truly worrying cases are those involving children.

Last month I spoke to an officer who specialises in groups with extremist views. He told me about a child living in the …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
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