The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #300

By The Voice | Sun 18th November 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 300th 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 (11-17 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 Voice

LDVideo: Stephen Tall on the Coalition at the half-way point

By The Voice | Sun 18th November 2012 - 5:20 pm

LibDemVoice Co-Editor Stephen Tall reflected on the state of the Coalition at its mid-way point in an event jointly hosted by CentreForum and the Institute for Government, Half-Time Oranges (and Blues): How to renew the Coalition while Preparing for the Next Election. You can watch his 10-minute verdict on where the Lib Dems are at and where we should go next here:

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Stephen Tall

4-in-10 Lib Dem voters inclined to leave EU, says poll – a reminder why our pitch should be ‘In Europe to reform the EU’

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th November 2012 - 4:20 pm

‘If a referendum were held on the UK’s membership of the European Union, how do you think you would vote?’ That’s the question posed by polling company Opinium and published today in The Observer — with the following result reported by the paper:

Almost four out of 10 Liberal Democrat voters support leaving the EU, according to a new poll which shows that hardline euroscepticism has taken hold in Britain’s most pro-European party. An Opinium/Observer survey has found that 39% of Lib Dem supporters

…

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Posted in Europe / International, Op-eds and Polls | Tagged and | 23 Comments
Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 4: “The Canvass”

By Libby Local | Sun 18th November 2012 - 2:30 pm

It was late on a Tuesday night and I was parked up in the Market Tavern with Melissa having a good moan over a Pinot Grigio. I’d just finished a particularly scrappy and argumentative rehearsal with the Demsbury Orchestra. Susan, the new clarinet player, had caused us all grief.

“I’ve had enough of it,” I sounded off. “The Orchestra is not well-run anyway, and now we get this bloody new clarinet player who will not listen and does her own thing.” Melissa didn’t look the least bit interested, so I tried to bait her. “I bet she’s a Tory as …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick’s third ‘Letter from the Leader’: “More freedom for parents and more rights for people with mental health problems”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th November 2012 - 2:05 pm

The third of Nick Clegg’s Letters from the Leader series has hit party members’ email inboxes today — here’s what he has to say…

In a week when we saw a set of disappointing elections – with hard working Liberal Democrats not getting the results they deserved and turnout slumping to a new low – it’s worth remembering what we’re achieving in Government.

This week I had the privilege – and I really do mean privilege – to announce a change in government policy that I’ve been working

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 6 Comments
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Stephen Tall

Teather: “Benefit cap is immoral and divisive”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th November 2012 - 11:20 am

Lib Dem MP for Brent Central Sarah Teather makes the front page of The Observer today for a powerful interview slamming the Government’s plans to bring in a benefit cap. I’m quoting extensively from it, below, but it’s well worth reading the whole piece here.

This is clearly an issue that touches Sarah deeply, not least because of the number of her constituents she knows will be deeply affected by the changes. What impresses me most, though, is the way she acknowledges the way the arguments are being …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 76 Comments
Stephen Tall

PollWatch: For which other parties would LibDem voters consider voting?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th November 2012 - 10:30 am

There’s an interesting poll conducted by ComRes and published today. There’s no surprise in its headline voting intention figures, below — they’re in line with other surveys and indeed with what ‘Super Thursday’s elections found:

    Conservative 31% (-2)
    Labour 43% (+2)
    Lib Dem 10% (0)
    UKIP 8% (-1)
    Others 8% (+1)

But what is new is that ComRes has asked the following question: ‘Which, if any, of these parties would you seriously consider voting for at a General Election if it were held tomorrow? Please indicate all that apply.’

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Posted in Polls | Tagged | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

56% of Lib Dem members urge secret courts plan to be voted down outright

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th November 2012 - 9:00 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. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Only 3% of Lib Dem members back current plans for secret courts

LDV asked: Parliament is currently debating Part II of the Justice and Security Bill which makes provision for closed material procedures (CMPs) – more commonly known as ‘secret courts’ – to be used in any civil proceedings (except, at present, …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 7 Comments
Andrew Tennant

Opinion: Time to give voters the chance to register their abstention, or wish to abolish a post #WeDoRONRON

By Andrew Tennant | Sat 17th November 2012 - 4:55 pm

We’d all like to believe that the 80+% of voters who stayed at home for last week’s PCC elections would have voted for a Lib Dem candidate had one stood in their area. But the result can probably more accurately be seen as mass public apathy, or even hostility to the Police and Crime Commissioners policy.

A major problem with our electoral system, then, is that there is no effective way to capture and represent ‘none of the above’ or ‘no-one under any circumstances’ viewpoints that so many potentially hold.

As a democrat, I want to fix that. That’s why I hope …

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Posted in Op-eds | 18 Comments
Helen Duffett

Joe Biden appreciates Nick Clegg’s friendship

By Helen Duffett | Sat 17th November 2012 - 11:20 am

From a White House press release this week:

Readout of Vice President Biden’s Call with Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg

Vice President Biden spoke to Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg today to thank him for his congratulatory message following last week’s U.S. election. The Vice President expressed appreciation for Deputy

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Posted in LDVUSA and News | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

What does the data show about the Obama campaign’s use of data?

By Mark Pack | Sat 17th November 2012 - 9:50 am

So far, there has been a weird paradox at the heart of the coverage about the Obama 2012 campaign machine. On the one hand we’re all meant to be impressed by how it was based on data and analysis, honing campaign techniques and targeting activity based on what the data said. On the other hand, we’re meant to take it all on trust (or trust plus bucketloads of anecdotes; i.e. trust) that this hard-nosed, evidence-based approach to campaigning worked. Where’s the evidence that the reliance on evidence really worked?

There’s been remarkably little presented. Which is why the following graph is so

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Posted in LDVUSA | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

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

By Stephen Tall | Sat 17th November 2012 - 8:15 am

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

Growth or bust (Financial Times) – Tim Harford on why there just aren’t enough companies going bankrupt in the UK: ‘The ability to fail quickly – and without much collateral damage – is a tremendous economic asset.’

On Managerialist Ideology (Stumbling and Mumbling) – In the wake of the BBC crisis, Chris Dillow questions the cult of management as a panacea for organisational failings: ‘the solution to sloppy journalism is, …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

My ‘Super Thursday’ Lib Dem post mortem

By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th November 2012 - 8:20 pm

A bad day for the Lib Dems, but not unexpectedly so. Call it sanguine, call it resigned…

Lib Dems Corby pressed

The party expected to get squeezed in Corby, and we were. I suspect we lost some ‘none of the above’ voters to Ukip and some left-leaning liberals to Labour (and many others who just didn’t vote). To forfeit our deposit by barely more than a dozen votes added an extra ignominy (although revived an old Liberal tradition). Though there is something practical we can do to lend a hand there…

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 60 Comments
Helen Duffett

Tim Farron MP emails party members: Thanking our candidates on this tough day

By Helen Duffett | Fri 16th November 2012 - 6:53 pm

Party President Tim Farron MP has just emailed Liberal Democrat members with a message of thanks and encouragement on this day of election results.

I wanted to put on record the party’s thanks to our candidates in yesterday’s PCC elections, by-elections and Bristol mayoral election.
We had many excellent candidates and teams who worked very hard to fly the flag for our party. I thank them all and I’m sure you would like to do the same.

It was a tough day, and whilst we may not have gained anything the hard work we’ve put in lays the foundations for the challenge ahead.

However

…

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged and | 4 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 16 November 2012

By The Voice | Fri 16th 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. ++ SHOCK! HORROR! LIB DEM MP CAUGHT UP IN NEW EXPENSES ROW! (22 comments) by Stephen Tall
  2. Federal Committee Election results 2012 (20 comments) by Helen Duffett
  3. Majority of Lib Dems support ‘No more page 3’ campaign (but big differences between women/men’s views on issue) (26 comments) by Stephen Tall
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The Voice

PCC elections & Corby by-election results open thread…

By The Voice | Fri 16th November 2012 - 3:45 pm

Well, I think we can safely predict today won’t go down in the annals of Lib Dem history as our finest ever electoral performance… (Though the party has done much better in this week’s local elections, as Helen Duffett reports here.)

Police and Crime Commissioner elections:

Andrew Sparrow’s Guardian live-blog reports the national picture in England and Wales (but not London):

Labour is winning on the basis of the share of the votes counted. Labour is on 33.29%, according to the most recent figures, and the Conservatives are on 29.5%. Independent candidates have won 19.13%, Ukip 7.78% and the Lib Dems

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 51 Comments
Helen Duffett

The other local elections: Lib Dems gain five and hold three

By Helen Duffett | Fri 16th November 2012 - 2:53 pm

The Liberal Democrats have gained five council seats and retained all three of their previously-held seats in the raft of council by-elections they were contesting yesterday.

In Wallsend, North Tyneside, Michael Huscroft gained from Labour with 58.2%, or 1158 votes.

David Siddans won in Rossett, Harrogate Borough Council, with 48.9% of the vote (897), in a 25.6% swing from the Tories.

From the Harrogate Advertiser:

Councillor John Fox, Constituency Chairman, Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats said: “This is the first Liberal Democrat gain from the Conservatives in the north of England this year. We are absolutely delighted to have overturned a

…

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 29 Comments
Mark Valladares

ELDR Congress – a quick catch up…

By Mark Valladares | Fri 16th November 2012 - 2:21 pm

Last week that unusual event, a keynote speech by a senior Westminster-based Liberal Democrat at an ELDR* event, as Nick Clegg made one of the speeches that opened this year’s Congress.

Europe needs liberals now more than ever. The shared challenges we face are ones that can only be tackled when like-minded people across Europe work together: how to create jobs, particularly for our young people, and bring back prosperity; how to tackle climate change and build the new, green economies we need for our future.

For the rest …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
The Voice

From today’s Lib Dem News

By The Voice | Fri 16th November 2012 - 1:00 pm

By Howard of Lib Dem News

Posted in Humour | Tagged | 1 Comment
Giles Goodall

Three cheers for the unsung heroes of Brussels

By Giles Goodall | Fri 16th November 2012 - 11:52 am

A new survey by European news portal Euractiv has ranked Sharon Bowles MEP as the most influential Brit in EU policy-making, eight places ahead of David Cameron and thirty-three above Nigel Farage. The UK40 survey also features Lib Dem MEPs Andrew Duff and Sir Graham Watson in the top sixteen. National politicians such as Cameron, William Hague and Nick Clegg make the top twenty, but often lose out in the ranking to less well known Brits in the EU institutions.

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Posted in Europe / International | Tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

Diary reminder: LibDemVoice Xmas Drinks, 17th December

By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th November 2012 - 10:25 am

Here’s a date for your diary… On 17th December, all LibDemVoice readers are invited to join us for festive drinks at 5pm in London, followed by (for those who wish) seeing Steve Richards’ Rock ‘n Roll Politics Christmas Special.

You can sign up for drinks on our Facebook page here, or via FlockTogether here.

Premiered at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, where it earned rave reviews, here’s how Steve’s show is billed:

Award winning BBC broadcaster and columnist, Steve Richards, takes you behind the scenes of British Politics and the media,

…

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Posted in Events | Tagged and | 2 Comments
David Laws

Attacking child poverty – David Laws wants your views…

By David Laws | Fri 16th November 2012 - 8:51 am

Child poverty in the UK is way too high. It is at unacceptable levels and has been for too long. The government is united in taking child poverty seriously and we are determined – even in difficult times – to reduce child poverty and increase opportunities.

Traditionally we have defined poverty simply by relative income. We know now that this is not sufficient. A child’s experience of poverty is about more than whether their family income this week is low.

That is why we are consulting on a new measure of poverty. The new measure is not about abandoning the past. Nor is it about massaging

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Paddy – withdraw British troops from Afghanistan now

By NewsHound | Fri 16th November 2012 - 7:54 am

Writing in today’s Times (£), Paddy Ashdown says that Afghanistan is ‘not worth the life of one more soldier’:

The war in Afghanistan is lost and not worth the life of one more British soldier, Paddy Ashdown writes in The Times today. In a stark assessment of the 11-year campaign that has cost 438 British lives, Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon urges Britain to pull out its troops as quickly as “decently” possible. The intervention comes as David

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Posted in LibLink and News | Tagged , , and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members say about Coalition policies on the economy, shares-for-rights and cutting Council Tax relief

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th November 2012 - 6:00 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.

61% support — with reservations — Coalition’s economic policies

LDV asked: The UK economy recorded growth of +1.0% in the third quarter of 2012, officially bringing the recession to an end. However, many economists including the governor of the Bank of England have warned that recovery will be a slow, faltering process. Which of these is closest to your view:

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 8 Comments
Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Tavish Scott says college row marks a turning point for the SNP

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 15th November 2012 - 1:30 pm

Tavish Scott has written a column for the Scotsman criticising the SNP Government for abuse of power and neutering the Holyrood Parliament. His comments come in the wake of a row about the Education Secretary Mike Russell effectively engineered the resignation of the Chairman of Stow College in Glasgow. Kirk Ramsay had been a vociferous critic of Russell’s cuts in the sector.

The story so far:

Ramsay records Russell’s on-the-record remarks at a meeting with about 80 people present at which the Cabinet Secretary was discussing his plans for the Further Education sector. He did so because he suffers from Tinnitus and …

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , , , and | 7 Comments
Nigel Milton

The Independent View: One hub or none – the choice for the UK

By Nigel Milton | Thu 15th November 2012 - 11:56 am

A recent Lib Dem voice poll asked ‘Do you support or oppose building a third runway at Heathrow airport?’ and it was not surprising to me, knowing the history of Liberal Democrat aviation policy, that 79% opposed this proposition. But this jumps the gun. Firstly, what is a hub airport and why is it valuable to the UK? Secondly, we need to understand if there is a problem to solve, and to define that problem. And then finally, what are the realistic options on the table that should be explored that will solve the problem.

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

Wakey, wakey! It’s PCC election day in England and Wales. You hadn’t forgotten, had you?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th November 2012 - 10:40 am

Election day is usually a day when, if you’re at all interested/involved in politics, the pulse quickens, the blood pumps faster, the adrenaline kicks in. With all due respect to the sane candidates standing for the post of Police and Crime Commissioner (and naturally with very best wishes to those Lib Dems flying the party’s flag in England) today just doesn’t feel right.* In fact, it feels like a damp squib.

I think that’s a shame for two reasons.

First, voting matters. It’s perhaps the purest, most powerful way …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 16 Comments
Nick T

Chris Heaton-Harris and the Tories’ discipline problem

By Nick T | Thu 15th November 2012 - 9:40 am

One of the increasingly notable (and in many ways remarkable) things about the coalition is the stark difference in the levels of party unity and discipline in the two parties. While Liberal Democrat MPs and members have committed – often selflessly – to the implementation of the coalition agreement, the same cannot be said of the increasingly fractious Conservative party. Old wounds over Europe have clearly not healed, and the salt of equal marriage and the prime minister’s commitment that this should be the greenest government ever are making many on the Conservative fringes increasingly uncomfortable.

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

How to vote – and what to do once you’ve voted

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th November 2012 - 6:50 am

Got an election in your area today? Here are a few key pieces of information for you.

Voting in person

  • Polling stations are open between 7am and 10pm today. No votes can be cast after 10pm; it’s not like the shops where being in the queue at closing time is enough.
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Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg: Parents can share the joys and responsibilities of bringing children into the world

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th November 2012 - 4:33 pm

Nick Clegg went on Woman’s Hour yesterday after announcing the Coalition’s plans to allow parents to choose which of them takes leave when they have a new baby.

He talked to Jane Garvey about the plans for around 20 minutes, fielding some pretty robust questions, including whether men or women actually wanted this change. He was quite firm that it wasn’t for the government to say that women should take time off and men should work when a baby was born.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 2 Comments
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