Zadok Day

Opinion: Calm Down, Dears!

By Zadok Day | Tue 7th February 2012 - 4:57 pm

It’s a great shame that so many Liberal Democrats have reacted to the political downfall of Chris Huhne by bashing his successor. Ed Davey is an immensely capable minister and will do a wonderful job in his new position. Sadly, some have chosen this news to complain because a woman wasn’t promoted instead of a man. Gender balance is an issue that seems to divide opinion a great deal in the online world, for some reason, despite being hardly as controversial in the real world, where the principle is generally accepted that talent should be rewarded rather than the accident …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 47 Comments
Advert
Paul Walter

US Presidential election – hold onto your hats!

By Paul Walter | Tue 7th February 2012 - 3:54 pm

The 2012 US Presidential race is certainly going to be interesting. That’s for sure. There is no end of permutations, twists and turns ahead which will make very entertaining viewing for us over this side of the pond.

Every time you make a statement about the election, there are caveats and “but ifs” which follow.

It’s tempting to say that Obama is sunk because of the US economy. However, there are strong signs now of a solid recovery. Last week’s job news was very positive and polls are showing a thawing of anti-Obama feeling.

You could also say that…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Tue 7th February 2012 - 12:25 pm

Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email?

Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there’s new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read.

Continue reading »
Posted in Site news | Leave a comment
Mark Valladares

Opinion: Federal Policy Committee to the left of me, Tories to the right, where are the Parliamentary Parties? Stuck in the Middle with whom?

By Mark Valladares | Tue 7th February 2012 - 11:18 am

Perhaps Stealers Wheel had it right… so it’s time to speak my mind, isn’t it?

I have been following the debate on internal party democracy with first interest, then frustration, and now a degree of numbing disbelief, as the Parliamentary Parties have taken significant flak from a cross-section of Party members and activists.

And yet, from my perspective of a reporter on events in the Lords, a very different story emerges to the increasingly popular one of rogue Parliamentary Parties trashing Liberal Democrat policy in an entirely unaccountable way. But let me tell you a story…

Once upon a time, a small, …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 59 Comments
Andrew Wiseman

Spring Conference Agenda – online now

By Andrew Wiseman | Tue 7th February 2012 - 10:53 am

Spring Conference this year is from 9-11 March at NewcastleGateshead.

The Conference Agenda has been finalised and is now available online. For those members who registered for conference before 31 January, hard copies will be arriving through the post very soon and your pass will follow at the end of the month.

If you haven’t registered yet then it’s not too late. Rates start at just £21 for a one day pass and concessionary rates are available too.

To find out more and to register, go to: www.libdems.org.uk/SpringConference

We have planned an interesting agenda with a variety of debates. …

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference | 1 Comment
Advert
Lucy Care

Opinion: Gove’s message – “vocational” = “worthless”

By Lucy Care | Tue 7th February 2012 - 9:09 am

Secretary of State for Education, Conservative Michael Gove, has downgraded the value of nearly all 14-16 vocational qualifications at a stroke.  I felt angry when I heard this.  However, it did little to reduce my respect for Mr Gove; I had very little anyway after ‘free’ schools, and his arrogant disregard of the role of Local Authorities to support ‘failing’ schools.

But having thought about this a little more, I am left perplexed by Gove’s decision. The impact goes against so much I thought was accepted wisdom.

Industry has for many years had a

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 23 Comments
Mark Pack

Ed Davey’s approach to green issues: they make for better growth

By Mark Pack | Mon 6th February 2012 - 6:13 pm

Ed Davey’s choice of words when presenting a political case is always worth close attention as he is a man very interested in the details and nuances of political messaging. (He was for a while under Ming Campbell’s leadership in charge of refashioning the party’s messaging.)

So what to make of his initial description of his role in charge at the Department of Environment and Climate Change? He said,

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Campaign Corner: How can we be better at handling possible new helpers or members?

By Mark Pack | Mon 6th February 2012 - 4:54 pm

The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.

Today’s Campaign Corner question: Your mystery shopper survey of local parties criticises local parties for not treating possible new members better. We’re a small, struggling local party and it’s hard enough to run the basic operation. How can we be better without exhausting overselves?

Continue reading »
Posted in Campaign Corner | 5 Comments

Opinion: Tories’ onshore wind farm opposition is based on a fallacy

By Terence Darby | Mon 6th February 2012 - 3:24 pm

Only three days into the job and Ed Davey’s first political challenge has arisen – a demand from the unreconstructed Tory back benches for a halt to onshore wind farm development. The Tories are taking aim at the subsidies onshore wind farm receive to enable them to compete with fossil fuel, claiming that they’re unaffordable in a time of austerity – and in this, I’m sorry to say, they’ve been joined by two of our Welsh MPs, Roger Williams and Mark Williams.

While one expects the Tories to be at their most equivocal on green issues, it’s a bit worrying …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 24 Comments
NewsHound

£1.5 billion needed to sort out Labour’s PFI mess

By NewsHound | Mon 6th February 2012 - 1:54 pm

The Guardian reports:

Seven hospital trusts struggling with crippling private finance initiative debts are to receive £1.5bn in emergency funding from the government to help them avoid cutting patient services to pay their bills.

The Department of Health is making the £1.5bn available – in grants, not loans – to the seven hospital trusts in England with some of the heaviest PFI debts through a “stability” fund. Trusts will be able to use the money to meet PFI repayments, rather than their usual budgets, as long as they meet four conditions set out by the department.

The move will help trusts such

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Luke Tyson

Opinion: LibDems are the natural home for Blairites

By Luke Tyson | Mon 6th February 2012 - 12:24 pm

There have been some high profile (if not high level) Blairite defections to the Tories. While there are some similarities between the Blair legacy and our coalition partners, the defectees seem to have overlooked or discarded one idea – joining the Liberal Democrats.

As Jonathan Powell says in his book, The New Machiavelli, and as was evident during his time in office, Tony Blair was strongly pro-Europe. He understood, as we do, that a) the largest common market in the world is something that we should be actively engaging with and leading, and b) there are threats and issues …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 30 Comments
Issan Ghazni

Opinion: 2012 – Time for an Arms Trade treaty that will really save lives

By Issan Ghazni | Mon 6th February 2012 - 10:54 am

This February marks the final United Nations (UN) Preparatory Committee session before the deciding negotiations in July 2012 for a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). As this critical moment approaches, we need to call on our Party Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to support the strongest possible Treaty.

The historic decision made in 2009 to negotiate a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) by the UN was predicated on calls from more than a million people across the world. They argued for the arms trade to be brought under control and for governments to take their responsibility …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 3 Comments
Paul Walter

LibLink: Ashdown – This 11-year exercise in self-delusion must end

By Paul Walter | Mon 6th February 2012 - 10:24 am

Paddy Ashdown has an opinion piece on Afghanistan in The Times today (£) in which he says:

We have repeatedly deluded ourselves about “successes” that never existed and thus took so long recognising that a victor’s peace was beyond our reach that we wasted the best opportunities for a negotiated one. We failed to understand that in these wars it is politics, not weapons, that counts most. Even if you win on the battlefield, you lose if you lose politically; which we have, painfully

Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 1 Comment
Rebecca Taylor

Opinion: Chris Huhne – innocent or guilty doesn’t seem to matter

By Rebecca Taylor | Mon 6th February 2012 - 9:54 am

Chris Huhne’s resignation last week not only deprives the Government of a strong voice for Liberalism, but also this country and the international community of a voice for the common good, in the fight against climate change. We are treading the weary road of a political resignation got over ahead of time, to save even more trouble later.

Such ‘pre-emptive resignations’ are a slur on the legal system. They render its actions useless, by defying the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’. This principle can be abused by criminals anxious to escape justice, but it is a cornerstone of the law …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 19 Comments
Paul Walter

Farron on Davey: An outstanding environmentalist

By Paul Walter | Mon 6th February 2012 - 8:54 am

In case you missed it, Tim Farron’s interview on yesterday’s Andrew Marr Show is here in full on BBC iPlayer (starting at 35:43) or here in a shorter clip.

Standing, well wrapped up, in snowy Cumbria, Tim is in typically robust form. He pays tribute to Chris Huhne and says he “wants and expects” him to be back in government soon. He says that the LibDems are concentrating on being “collegiate not destructive” in coalition by ‘behaving like grown-ups’. He pays warm tribute to Ed Davey’s environmentalist credentials and covers a wide range of policy issues.

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Jenny Willott

Jenny Willott MP writes… The Welfare Reform Bill – What’s happened on ESA?

By Jenny Willott | Sun 5th February 2012 - 8:06 pm

Benefits are not an easy subject to get your head around: we have a benefits system with enough acronyms, assessments, taper rates and tax credits to make your head spin. That’s why this Government is finally undertaking a hugely important and long-overdue reform of benefits.

Universal Credit will replace the complicated mix of tax credits, JSA, ESA, Housing Benefit and so on with one simple benefit. And the Universal Credit is why the Welfare Reform Bill is so crucial. It will revolutionise the way we support those who are unemployed, disabled, sick or caring for a loved …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 53 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #259

By The Voice | Sun 5th February 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 259th 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 (29 January – 4 February, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

In other news… the Lib Dems and Alan Turing, Robbie Williams, Todmorden, the royal yacht, perjury and Cornish council tax

By Stephen Tall | Sun 5th February 2012 - 5:25 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past week…

  • John Leech tables Commons motion calling for Alan Turing pardon (BBC)

    • Manchester Withington’s John Leech submitted the Early Day Motion and said people should sign an online petition protesting against Turing’s conviction. The gay computer pioneer was convicted for gross indecency in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. Mr Leech said his persecution “by the state for being gay is a scandal that shouldn’t be allowed to stand”. Alan Turing worked as part of the team which cracked the Enigma

    …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in News | 6 Comments

    Is your local party taking part in the Mid-Term Review?

    By Geoff Payne | Sun 5th February 2012 - 3:50 pm

    It is hard to believe but we are shortly to approach the half-way point in this Parliament. It seems a very long time ago that the Coalition Agreement was negotiated and voted on at the Special Conference at the NEC in Birmingham. That document articulated several goals including deficit reduction and being the greenest government ever.

    Having been in government for a little under two years, the time has come to take stock and consider what has been achieved thus far and what more there is to be done.

    At Federal Conference in Birmingham, Norman Lamb MP ran a consultation session on …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 7 Comments
    Mark Pack

    More questions raised over Lord Ashcroft’s business empire

    By Mark Pack | Sun 5th February 2012 - 10:44 am

    The business dealings of former Conservative Party Deputy Chairman and one of its biggest donors, Lord Ashcroft, are back in the news again.

    As The Observer reports:

    Fresh revelations have raised a series of questions about the links between the former Conservative deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft and a company responsible for luxury projects across a string of islands…

    Who controlled Johnston International, which won building contracts across the Caribbean worth tens of millions of pounds, has triggered awkward questions for the Tories, and above all for their major donor, Lord Ashcroft.

    The Tory peer, who has given the party more than £10m,

    …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment
    Robin McGhee

    Opinion: Lib Dem Cabinet Ministers – surely we can do better than this?

    By Robin McGhee | Sun 5th February 2012 - 9:25 am

    When the great British public look at their leaders, what do they think? In the unlikely event it’s anything other than ‘what have we done?’, it’s probably indifference or, occasionally, murder. The current crop of Lib Dem Cabinet Ministers do nothing to dispel these opinions. Chris Huhne’s sadly justified resignation provided an opportunity to change our public image for the better. This opportunity was not taken.

    As has been pointed out, Ed Davey’s appointment as Huhne’s replacement has removed a ‘big beast’ from Cabinet: someone who can stand up for a broader range of party opinion. However, his appointment …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 58 Comments
    Mark Pack

    The fallout from Chris Huhne’s resignation

    By Mark Pack | Sat 4th February 2012 - 6:10 pm

    I’ve been busy with the media yesterday and today giving my take on Chris Huhne’s resignation, so here are the two main highlights if you missed them:

    Continue reading »
    Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 2 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDV Caption Competition: Ed Davey “I’ve got Energy” Edition

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th February 2012 - 5:25 pm

    There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…


    (Picture from The Guardian.)

    Here’s Nick Clegg welcoming new energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey to the cabinet — what do you think might be being said or thought by or about them?

    And the winner of our last caption comp is…

    Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Eds Balls and Miliband “The Early Years” Edition.

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged | 19 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    EXCLUSIVE: 72% of Lib Dem members backed reshuffle return for David Laws. (But it wasn’t to be.)

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th February 2012 - 2:45 pm

    Earlier this week, LibDemVoice started asking party members signed up to our discussion forum a range of questions — the survey is still live, but one of the questions is already a little previous so we’re reporting it early…

    We asked: Would you support or oppose David Laws making a return to government at the next reshuffle?

    • Yes – to a cabinet post 58%
    • Yes – but only to a non-cabinet post in government 14%
    • No – he should not return to the government at the next reshuffle 21%
    • Don’t know / No opinion 7%

    In total, then, 72% of Lib Dem members in our sample wanted to see David Laws return to a ministerial post in the Coalition government, with most wanting to see him return to the cabinet 18 months after he was forced to resign.

    Continue reading »
    Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
    Stephen Tall

    How Lib Dem members rated Chris Huhne and Ed Davey before the reshuffle

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th February 2012 - 10:45 am

    LibDemVoice is currently conducting one of our regular surveys of party members to find out views on a range of issues. One of the questions we always ask is how satisfied Lib Dems are with key figures in the party. Though the survey is still open, a couple are now out-of-date — specifically, what members’ opinions were of Chris Huhne and Ed Davey in the jobs they occupied until Friday. So here are their results…

    Continue reading »
    Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 11 Comments
    Carl Quilliam

    The weekend debate: When should an MP rebel against their party?

    By Carl Quilliam | Sat 4th February 2012 - 9:25 am

    Here’s your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

    In the Australian system even a single rebellion against your party can mean the whip is withdrawn but in the UK we’re much more used to MPs ‘crossing the floor’ and voting against their party.

    In fact there’s been a fair amount of coverage on Lib Dem Voice of Mark Pack’s research on the number of backbench Lib Dem MPs who have rebelled against the government since the last election.

    One could argue that MPs have a duty to vote with the party …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 17 Comments
    Chris White

    Chris White writes: The next local elections after May this year will be in November.

    By Chris White | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 4:35 pm

    It is likely that a number of our cities will, by Government diktat, be holding referendums in May as to whether to move to a mayoral system. Some of these will give the go-ahead and Liverpool is anyway likely to jump straight to a mayoral system by use of a council resolution. The mayoral contests will be on the same day as those for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs).

    There are still some who, in relation to PCCs, are fondly imagining that Liberal Democrat candidates won’t be needed. This is despite the fact that it abundantly clear that the Conservative and …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Local government and Op-eds | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
    Prateek Buch

    Nick Clegg on being Nick Clegg in The House magazine

    By Prateek Buch | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 3:00 pm

    Deputy Prime Minister gave a wide-ranging interview to The House magazine, in which he discusses how it’s right for the two coalition parties to differentiate themselves once a stable government was formed:

    In the run-up to the general election, you may remember, the tabloids were screaming, saying that if there was a hung Parliament locusts would descend from the sky and the sun would be blotted out, you know… so we needed for those first few months to show the most important thing of all, which is this is a government that works, and actually works rather well.

    Of course,

    …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
    Janice Turner

    Opinion: both private and public sector pensions need improving

    By Janice Turner | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 2:00 pm

    There are two fundamental problems with the analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies of the current negotiations on public sector pensions.

    Firstly, the IFS compares public sector pension provision with that of the private sector and implies that the inevitable disparity has to be rebalanced by cutting the public sector rather than improving private sector provision.

    Secondly, they choose to ignore the approximately £100 billion saved by moving from RPI to CPI and then says that if you exclude £100 billion and the fact that retired public sector workers’ pensions are going to have lower increases than before, they are better off.

    But this …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 14 Comments
    Prateek Buch

    New Lib Dem appointments to government

    By Prateek Buch | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 1:39 pm

    According to the No. 10 website, Ed Davey MP will replace Chris Huhne as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with Norman Lamb to replace Davey in his role at the Department for Business.

    Completing the changes, Jenny Willott becomes an Assisstant Government Whip, and Jo Swinson replaces Norman Lamb as Nick Clegg’s PPS.

    Congratulations to those Lib Dem MPs taking up new positions in government.

    Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 6 Comments
    Advert

    Recent Comments

    • David Blake
      Interesting Town Council result from Chesham, where the Liberal Democrats won every seat at the last elections. One Liberal Democrat councillor for Vale ward b...
    • Christopher Burden
      All this is very interesting. I have dipped in, remotely, but found it rather boring. Now I know why....
    • Graham Evans
      Adam is right. These international comparisons need treating with great care. This is exemplified by the debate regarding the standards of living in North Irela...
    • Graham Evans
      Essentially the tax system needs fundamental reform, but the party is instead producing short term political expedients. That's why raising the tax threshold wi...
    • Chloe
      There was one controversial debate , with a certain speakers speech being viewed over 650k times & retweeted by that leader of the opposition itself. That'...