Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 3: “Golden moments”

By Libby Local | Sun 11th November 2012 - 2:20 pm

On Monday I was sitting in the Market Tavern sipping a milky latte and gazing vaguely at my iPad. I’d been asked to write a piece for Lib Dem Focus and was finding it quite a challenge. As I struggled to simplify a tortuous phrase, Tony, a neighbour of mine thankfully joined me.

We talked local politics and he asked whether I had finally decided whether to stand for council next year. I found myself replying with a curious mix of pride and caution that I found a little disconcerting.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m standing for the Lib Dems.”

He …

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Stephen Tall

Entwistle quits BBC: what next?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th November 2012 - 12:20 pm

Another week, another day’s news headlines dominated by the media talking about itself… though this time with some legitimacy, as it’s not every day the Director-General of the BBC resigns within two months of being appointed to the post.

George Entwistle and the BBC’s Catch-22 problem

The BBC Director-General is editor-in-chief of the organisation, ultimately responsible for all content. The DG must also lead an organisation with 23,000 employees, a £4.8bn budget and multiple TV, radio and online outlets. I think it’s fair to say those are two …

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Mark Pack

Nick Clegg message for Remembrance Day 2012

By Mark Pack | Sun 11th November 2012 - 9:00 am

A video message from the Deputy Prime Minister to mark Remembrance Day 2012:

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Stephen Tall

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

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th November 2012 - 8:05 am

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

Labour’s return to the right – John Kampfner’s spot-on piece should be compulsory reading for progressives who’ve deserted the Lib Dems for Labour: ‘The race to the bottom is on. Labour and the Tories are vying for the lowest common denominator, for the title of defender of Little England.’

David Cameron, Phillip Schofield and mob justice in the age of the internet – the Telegraph’s Tom Chivers points a pitch-fork at …

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Stephen Tall

Who’s up, who’s down? How party members rate the performances of leading Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Sat 10th November 2012 - 5:25 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.

LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats and government ministers?

This was the second post-reshuffle survey of what members

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Mark Pack

What’s happened to real wages over the last 25 years?

By Mark Pack | Sat 10th November 2012 - 2:50 pm

This little presentation from the Office of National Statistics has the answer. It’s packed full of interesting information, presented in a very clear manner:

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Stephen Tall

Nick’s second ‘Letter from the Leader’: featuring PMQs, Leveson Inquiry & tax-cuts for the low-paid

By Stephen Tall | Sat 10th November 2012 - 12:30 pm

Nick Clegg’s second letter to members and supporters has hit my inbox… This week’s email focuses on two issues. First, the impending Leveson Report into what form of media (self-)regulation will be needed to ensure newspapers don’t continue to abuse their power in the way that was exposed so forensically during Sir Brian’s inquiry. And secondly, on re-inforcing the Lib Dems’ number one achievement from the Coalition: raising the income tax threshold so that millions of the lowest paid in society have more money in their pockets.

…

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Helen Duffett

Federal Committee Election results 2012

By Helen Duffett | Sat 10th November 2012 - 9:43 am

Postal ballot paper being postedLiberal Democrat Federal Conference reps have voted for members of party committees for 2013-2014; the results are as follows:

Federal Executive committee
Places: 15
Candidates elected:

Qassim Afzal
Elaine Bagshaw

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , , , and | 20 Comments
The Voice

How to get the most out of your Lib Dem Voice comments

By The Voice | Sat 10th November 2012 - 8:55 am

How to get a photo to appear next to your comments

You may have noticed that next to some people’s comments is a small picture of themselves, such as:


If you want a picture to appear next to your comments you need to do two things.

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The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 9 November 2012

By The Voice | Fri 9th 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

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Paul Walter

Opinion: US Elections – I’m not one to gloat, but….

By Paul Walter | Fri 9th November 2012 - 4:10 pm

I am still musing on what a wonderful night it was on Tuesday into Wednesday. I stayed up all night until I finally threw in the towel at 6.45am. It was a bit tedious at first, but it got really exciting at around 3am.

Over the last few weeks, I have been a very regular visitor to FiveThirtyEight, the home of Nate Silver. So, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that the man’s forecasts have turned out to be right.

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Andy Strange

What’s on the agenda of the English Council’s meeting on 17 November…

By Andy Strange | Fri 9th November 2012 - 3:22 pm

There will be a meeting of the Liberal Democrat’s English Council this coming Saturday (17th November) at University College London.

The English Council is the governing body of the Liberal Democrats in England, meets twice a year to consider matters of importance to the English Party.

Alongside the usual reports from officers and representatives of the English Party on other party bodies, and a keynote speech from Stephen Lloyd the MP for Eastbourne, I think there are four items of note on the agenda.

Finances of the English Party

This meeting sees the annual decisions on the finances of the English Party being taken. …

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Mark Valladares

#ELDR Congress – Flo Clucas runs for the Presidency of the European Liberal Women’s Network

By Mark Valladares | Fri 9th November 2012 - 3:05 pm

In late breaking news, Flo Clucas, from Merseyside, for many years a key player at the EU Committee of the Regions, has announced her candidacy for the position of President of the European Liberal Women’s Network (ELWN). This is the message that she has sent to delegates here in Dublin…

This weekend at the ELDR Congress in Dublin, you will have an opportunity to vote for the President of the European Liberal Women’s Network. All delegates, men and women, will be able to vote, and I am writing to you because as a candidate for this important position, I wish to explain …

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Stephen Tall

++ SHOCK! HORROR! LIB DEM MP CAUGHT UP IN NEW EXPENSES ROW!

By Stephen Tall | Fri 9th November 2012 - 3:05 pm

I’m deeply grateful to the Manchester Evening News and its reporter Deborah Linton for exposing Manchester MP John Leech’s shameless attempts to exploit the taxpayer by…

(brace yourselves for the shock)…

… offering coffee to staff working at his constituency office and members of the public visiting him.

With unbelievable extravagance, Mr Leech has splashed out on two £34.99 coffee makers from Aldi for his Didsbury office. As if that weren’t shameless enough, he also bought coffee beans to actually put into the actual coffee makers!

Then to …

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Mark Valladares

#ELDRCongress – the rest of the resolutions

By Mark Valladares | Fri 9th November 2012 - 2:05 pm

One of the curiosities of an ELDR Congress is that the debate on policy that really matters takes place in working groups which, at breakneck speed, consider resolutions and amendments to them.

So, in an hour this morning, delegates recommended for adoption policies on LGBTI rights – the ‘I’ stands for intersex – global digital freedom, a more effective European Union and freedom of movement for same-sex couples across the EU.

In addition, working parties were set up to agree competing policies on fundamental European rights and on fighting the 2014 European elections.

But the most lively debate was reserved for a proposal …

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Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone writes… Haringey deserves better

By Lynne Featherstone | Fri 9th November 2012 - 11:50 am

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

I’m often asked why I got in to politics. There were a number of causes– but prominent amongst them was (and still is) complete and utter frustration with the Labour-run Haringey Council!

I live in a small cul-de-sac and whilst most dwellings here have one off street parking space (including me) many don’t. Some years ago now – Haringey decided to paint double yellow lines on both sides of the road – completely unnecessarily – which would have meant no parking …

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Mark Valladares

ELDR Council: they think it’s all over! Oh no it isn’t!

By Mark Valladares | Fri 9th November 2012 - 10:30 am

Today’s events kicked off with the twice-annual meeting of ELDR Council.

The first item of business was the endorsement of the new Secretary General of ELDR, Jacob Moroza-Rasmussen, who took up his duties in September, coming to the organisation from a background of private enterprise and politics.

Next came new applications for membership from the Free Democrats of Georgia, the Civic List from Slovenia and, from the Czech Republic, LIDEM. The Georgians and the Czechs were approved enthusiastically, following some fairly gentle questioning. However, liberal forces are somewhat …

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Mark Valladares

ELDR Congress: Energy transition proposals

By Mark Valladares | Fri 9th November 2012 - 9:52 am

So, what will we be discussing today, here in Dublin?

There will be two working groups, one focused on the theme resolution, the other looking at a gamut of short(ish) resolutions on everything from tax policy to the preservation of birds. For now though, I’ll stick to the theme resolution.

The resolution, “Energy Transition: a liberal perspective”, opens with a tour de horizon of the current energy scenario, taking in existing targets (reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 20%, increasing the share of renewables in the EU’s energy mix to 20%, …

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Mark Valladares

Liberal Democrat Voice on the road…

By Mark Valladares | Fri 9th November 2012 - 9:15 am

Welcome to Dublin!

Today, for the first time, Liberal Democrat Voice comes to you live(ish) from the Annual Congress of the European Liberal Democrats (ELDR) and, although we haven’t got a full team here to cover the event – the budget doesn’t stretch that far, I fear – I am hoping to provide updates throughout the day.

Highlights will include a speech from Nick Clegg, reports from the ELDR Council, the English Council equivalent of our European umbrella group, and a major policy debate on energy and the European dimension.

So, drop in throughout the day, and feel free to watch the live …

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Mark Pack

Michael Mates faces “electoral poll fraud probe” by the police

By Mark Pack | Fri 9th November 2012 - 8:50 am

The Mirror reports:

Former Tory Minister Michael Mates is being probed for alleged electoral fraud over his attempt to become one of David Cameron’s new police commissioners.

The crony of crooked tycoon and Tory donor Asil Nadir, will be grilled by police over claims he broke election laws by giving a false address to win the lucrative post…

It was sparked by a complaint from rival Don Jerrard, an independent “justice and anti-corruption” candidate fighting Mr Mates for the £85,000-a-year role running the Hampshire force.

The former lawyer wrote to the county’s Chief Constable claiming Mr Mates breached the 2006 Fraud Act by

…

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Posted in Election law and News | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

Revealed: What Lib Dem members think of Ed Miliband and David Cameron

By Stephen Tall | Fri 9th November 2012 - 7:55 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.

Miliband overtakes Cameron among Lib Dems for first time

We’ve been asking this question for a little over a year now — a year which has marked quite a reversal in fortunes for the two party leaders, as this graph illustrates:

Here’s the detail from this month’s survey…

LDV asked: Do you think Ed Miliband is doing well or badly as leader of the Labour party?

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Valladares

ELDR Congress: I’m not about to craic up…

By Mark Valladares | Thu 8th November 2012 - 4:52 pm

Welcome to the former lair of the Celtic Tiger, a city of stories, some of them true, and enough cliche to bury an elephant, Dublin, the host city for this year’s ELDR Congress, hosted by Fianna Fail.

The focus of this year’s event is on energy transition and, given that the EU remains worryingly dependent on imports of oil and gas from some rather unstable corners of the world, it is a subject that might not be obviously sexy, it is one that has a huge impact on European citizens.

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Sarah Teather – Asylum through a child’s eyes

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 8th November 2012 - 3:30 pm

Former Children’s Minister Sarah Teather was personally thanked by Citizens UK at Liberal Democrat Conference in September for her role, as Children’s Minister, in ending child detention for immigration purposes. She said then that there was much more to achieve on the way the UK Borders Agency operates.

This week she’s launched an enquiry into the support for families within the asylum system. She wrote about that enquiry and what she wants to achieve for Politics Home:

If you have never had a conversation with a young asylum seeker about their

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Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members make of the Coalition: our half-time survey summary

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th November 2012 - 2:15 pm

Throughout the life of the Coalition to date, we’ve been surveying party members to ask what you make of the party’s performance in government. There have been five questions we’ve asked each time. Here’s how views have changed in the past two-and-a-half-years…

Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives?

Do you approve or disapprove of the Coalition Government’s record to date?

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 21 Comments

Opinion: Making a Pickle of the politics of planning

By Andy Boddington | Thu 8th November 2012 - 11:14 am

Eric Pickles is a great populist and masterful at landing a political punch. During Monday’s debate on the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, he was being pressed by Hilary Benn. Will he, Benn demanded, name a lagging planning authority that might be brought into special measures under the bill? “I am very happy to name the worst, which is Hackney,” Pickles told MPs with evident glee.

Poor Labour controlled Hackney, named and shamed as the worst planning authority in England. Except it isn’t – by far. The furious mayor of …

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg at PMQs: what the papers say

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 8th November 2012 - 10:31 am

Nick Clegg’s performance at Prime Minister’s Questions has been widely commented upon in today’s press. If you want to see a blow by blow account of the event, then I have collected tweets here and the official Hansard report is here. For me, the absolute highlight of an excellent performance from Nick was how he dealt with a question by Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, who asked a question about giving people who had been in care access to their files. Nick’s reply was sensitive and genuine as he promised help for those who had been abused.

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Stephen Tall

Why there isn’t a British Nate Silver

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th November 2012 - 8:22 am

A skim-read of Wednesday morning’s headlines might have left folk confused as to who had been declared the victor of the US presidential election: Barack Obama or Nate Silver.

For those who don’t know Nate Silver, he’s the analytical guru behind the FiveThirtyEight blog (named after the number of electoral college votes), now housed at the New York Times, which scrutinises and filters opinion polls. He first rose to prominence four years ago after predicting the winner in 49 of the 50 US states during the Obama-McCain presidential contest, …

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Stephen Tall

76% of Lib Dems reject elected police commissioners – but 73% want there to be Lib Dem candidates

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th November 2012 - 7:55 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.

Three-quarters of Lib Dem members oppose new PCC posts

LDV asked: Elections will be held on 15 November to choose Police and Crime Commissioners who will replace police authorities currently in charge of 41 forces in England and Wales. Do you support or oppose the introduction of elected PCCs?

    15% – I support elected Police and Crime Commissioners
    76% – I oppose elected

…

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Mark Pack’s five lessons from the US election

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 7th November 2012 - 7:48 pm

I’ve long suspected that the Voice’s Mark Pack doesn’t need to sleep and his clear thinking after a long electoral night kind of backs up my theory. As my neural pathways crumble from lack of sleep, he has already put together five lessons we should learn from both Obama’s win and Romney’s loss.

He talks about the important of the non white male vote. While Romney might have done well amongst white men, he lost many other important groups of voters, including women, who make up the majority.

Mark also made a good point about the many emails which came out of …

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Posted in LibLink and Online politics | Tagged , , , and | 6 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg does PMQs in style

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 7th November 2012 - 6:55 pm

Nick Clegg did Prime Minister’s Questions today while David Cameron is schmoozing his way round the Middle East. He was so assured, confident and natural and spoke completely without notes. He even answered the question he was given and not the one he wanted to answer, too. He made David Cameron look like a complete amateur, to be honest, and Gordon Brown, too.

My Liberal Democrat Voice colleague Nick Thornsby reminded us on Twitter this morning that four years ago, two days after Barack Obama was elected the first time round, Nick, then a humble third party leader, questioned PM Gordon Brown, who put him down quite snidily. And the subject of his questions? Taxing the wealthy and cutting taxes for the poorest. Nothing if not consistent. Have a look here.

 

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