The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #253

By The Voice | Sun 25th December 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 253rd 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 (18-24 December, 2011), 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

Happy Christmas!

By The Voice | Sun 25th December 2011 - 8:00 am

Christmas tree

(If you’ve not yet seen the Liberal Democrat Cabinet Ministers Christmas Card, brought to you by our own Mark Pack, enjoy it here.)

Posted in News | 1 Comment
Willie Rennie

Willie Rennie’s Christmas Message

By Willie Rennie | Fri 23rd December 2011 - 3:55 pm

As we gather with friends and family this Christmas, it is important that we, both individually and collectively, look back, take stock and reflect on the last year.

There is no doubt it has been an extremely testing time for political leaders with falling budgets, economic turbulence, growing unemployment and social problems that threaten to rip the fabric of society.

Making decisions when there are no easy answers is difficult but those problems are nought compared with those who are unemployed, face the threat of unemployment or are struggling to make ends meet.

To be fair, this is the focus of all politicians …

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The Liberator Collective

New edition of Liberator magazine

By The Liberator Collective | Fri 23rd December 2011 - 2:00 pm
The latest issue of Liberator magazine (issue no.350 – January 2012) has just been mailed to subscribers. For those of you who are not yet subscribers, here’s a summary of the contents:

  • The editorial column Commentary examines the electoral consequences of the Autumn Statement for the Liberal Democrats. It also castigates the party’s Federal Executive for deciding against running candidates in next year’s police commissioner elections.
  • The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin begins with a report on the party’s decision not to contest the police commissioner elections.
  • ‘Alice in Wonderland’ – Paul Crossley (leader of Bath

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 2 Comments
Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron’s Christmas message

By Tim Farron MP | Fri 23rd December 2011 - 12:57 pm

Well that was quite a year, wasn’t it? It was a good one too!

I know, I know, after the referendum and the horrible results in May you’d be forgiven for believing we were sinking faster than Blackburn Rovers (how it pains me to write that), but you know what, it’s not true.

This year we did some amazing things, things you and I have wanted to do for years but never had the power to actually get done.

For one, we put an end to the horrific practice of locking up innocent kids behind bars for months on end in immigration …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 10 Comments
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Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes: Cheering news about credit and debit card surcharges

By Julian Huppert | Fri 23rd December 2011 - 11:59 am

In the midst of the grim economic data this Christmas it’s nice to see the newspapers (even the Daily Mail!) focusing on some good news today.

On Tuesday I secured a debate in the Commons and called on the Government to ban unfair credit and debit card surcharges. I am absolutely delighted that today the Government has heeded those calls. I have been working with Which? since July to stop businesses from charging people ridiculous fees just to buy their goods.

The Government has recognised that debit and credit card surcharges are not only extremely unfair …

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Posted in News | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

VIDEO: Paddy Ashdown, Shirley Williams and Julian Glover on the Liberal Democrats, recession and The Guardian

By Mark Pack | Fri 23rd December 2011 - 10:55 am

You can now watch again in full one of the best fringe meetings from the party conference, which saw Paddy Ashdown, Shirley Williams and the then Guardian editorial writer Julian Glover launch a new history of the party and its predecessors, Peace, Reform and Liberation.*

Julian Glover gave a very funny speech about his newspaper’s love/hate relationship with the party – “So there you have it, 150 years from The Guardian and the Manchester Guardian calling on the Liberal Party and the Liberal Democrats to be brave, radical; praising the party’s policies and then writing it off as irrelevant”.

Shirley Williams turned to the history of America and of the 1930s, drawing lessons for the current economic difficulties, including why American history has made her a supporter of coalition government in the UK.

Paddy Ashdown’s speech included a collection of his favourite liberal quotes and why the lessons contained in them are still highly relevant to contemporary liberal politicians, ending with this exhortation:

The thing that we have in our party title – liberal – goes back thousands of years. You should be proud of that. It should give us strength, and it should make us campaign even harder … Henry Gibson once said, ‘You do not go out to battle for freedom and truth wearing your best trousers’. Sometimes I think our party wears its best trousers too much. This is our heritage and it is also our message today – and we should be proud of it.

Here is the meeting in full to watch, and chances are it is much better than quite a few of those Christmas TV repeats you’ll otherwise find yourself watching…

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Simon Titley

Opinion: which twin is the Tory?

By Simon Titley | Fri 23rd December 2011 - 9:00 am

Earlier this month, my home town of Lincoln hosted its annual Christmas market. Lincoln was the first city in the UK to host a German-style Christmas market. Since the first market in 1982, it has grown from just 11 stalls to more than 250. This year’s was the most successful yet, attracting a record 335,000 visitors to the city and contributing millions of pounds to the local economy.

The Christmas market is the most visible product of Lincoln’s twinning arrangement with the German wine-producing town of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. Besides the market, the twin-town relationship has …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 29 Comments
Prateek Buch

Huhne: Tory right wants UK to be semi-detached member of EU

By Prateek Buch | Fri 23rd December 2011 - 9:00 am

Politicshome points us towards an interview in The Independent with Lib Dem Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, who warns that the Tory eurosceptic (or should that be europhobic) right wants nothing more than the UK to become ‘semi-detached’ from the EU.

Criticising the Tory right’s approach to the EU, he says:

I am worried there is a tendency on the Conservative right wing, a significant part of its parliamentary party, that does not appreciate the importance of being at the table in Brussels when it comes to negotiating the rules for the single market – and does not understand the strength

…

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David Allen

Opinion: The Euro chain gang

By David Allen | Thu 22nd December 2011 - 5:57 pm

Woody Allen once made a film about a prison chain gang, shackled together at the legs to work in the fields, who decide to make a run for it.  At first the going is easy and the gang make good progress.  Then hard times strike.  Somebody raises the alarm and gives chase.  A panicking gang member (let’s call him Prisoner Farage) yells “Split up!”  In seconds, they are all flat on their faces.

EU finance is generally considered complex and difficult to understand.  Fundamentally, it isn’t.  Quite simply, in the globalised economic race between sovereign

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 16 Comments
Joe Bourke

Opinion: Foreign policy lessons for the Lib Dem approach to Iran

By Joe Bourke | Thu 22nd December 2011 - 4:26 pm

The Green movement in Iran after the presidential elections in 2009 was the first of the recent popular backlashes against entrenched corruption in authoritarian regimes. That was followed by the Arab spring, continuing upheaval in Egypt and now a similar movement in Russia and elsewhere.

At the time of the electoral protests in Tehran, Iranian staff at the British embassy were being accused by the Iranian authorities of treason and fomenting unrest. There was only muted support for the reform movement in Iran from the international community.

Last month we saw the British Embassy in Tehran ransacked and vandalised

…

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 20 Comments
Ryan Cullen

Welcome to the new bloggers…

By Ryan Cullen | Thu 22nd December 2011 - 3:12 pm

Twenty three blogs have recently joined my Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Good luck to all the new bloggers, and why not take a moment to pop over to their blogs, take a read and post a comment?

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged | 1 Comment
David Thorpe

Opinion: Lib Dems Must oppose Labour’s ideological cuts in 2012

By David Thorpe | Thu 22nd December 2011 - 2:56 pm

If I were a cleverer person than I am, I would try to create a joke with a punch line to fit the following set-up: What’s the difference between a cut in government spending and an ideological cut in government spending?

That I’m not clever enough to create a pithy punch line is of no consequence, as it is no laughing matter.

Labour have sometimes tried to trail the line that the coalition’s cuts are avoidable, that there are the product of ideology rather than necessity.

This line lacked some credence because even as they …

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Nick T

Nick Clegg responds as more Labour councillors deride extra money for poor pupils

By Nick T | Thu 22nd December 2011 - 12:27 pm

Following Manchester Labour’s extraordinary attack on the pupil premium – describing the policy as a “sham” – news reaches The Voice via Lib Dem councillor Steve Beasant that a Labour cabinet member on North East Lincolnshire Council has joined his Manchester colleagues in their criticism.

As Paul Walter reported earlier, Nick Clegg was asked about the comments of Manchester’s Labour councillors at Tuesday’s Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions by Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames. Here’s the full exchange:

Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): Wiltshire schools have long felt short-changed by funding allocations for education, so they will welcome the doubling of pupil

…

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Paul Walter

DPMQs: LibDem MPs enjoy an untroubled post-questions lunch

By Paul Walter | Thu 22nd December 2011 - 10:03 am

Time was when Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions was the closest you got to bloodsports in the House of Commons. The DPM would be tethered, red-faced and growling, to the dispatch box, as Labour MPs taunted him and propelled all sorts of bile at him, augmented by the odd tactical nuclear missile rear-launched by the Tory swivel-eyes.

We’ve come a long way in a few months. Now, DPMQs are relatively sedate affairs. The DPM is well in control and there is little mischief from the Labour benches. Well, none that would spoil LibDem MPs’ lunches.

Indeed, at least four MPs found it difficult …

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Posted in Parliament | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Michael Moore

Michael Moore MP writes: I am not your average unionist

By Michael Moore | Wed 21st December 2011 - 3:55 pm

In politics, as in other walks of life, labels matter. By accident or design, for good or for ill, they shape our identity — sometimes in our own eyes, but just as importantly in the eyes of others.

For all of us, our identity starts with where we belong. For my part I am a Borderer; a Scot; and British. Perhaps less fashionably but a long-held principle, I am comfortable that I am a European, too.

Beyond that, I am unashamedly a democrat, a liberal and an internationalist. But last week there was a stir in some parts of the media when …

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Posted in News and Scotland | Tagged , , and | 15 Comments
Mark Pack

Liberal Democrat members back pension changes but opposing making strikes harder

By Mark Pack | Wed 21st December 2011 - 1:55 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 564 party members responded, and we are publishing the full results here over several days.

According to our latest survey of paid-up party members, Liberal Democrats want to see major changes to pension arrangements in the UK. Nearly three-quarters want to see universal benefits such as free television licenses and bus passes replaced with means-testing so that the wealthiest pensioners do not receive the same benefits as everyone else.

There is also strong support …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 20 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Former MP John Barrett talks about his Cancer – and how screening saved his life

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st December 2011 - 12:55 pm

I know that many party members across the country will be concerned to hear that popular former Edinburgh West Lib Dem MP John Barrett has recently had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his colon. He’s decided to talk about his experience in order to persuade others not just to leave the screening kit the NHS sends to over 50s to one side gathering dust, but to make sure they use it.

He spoke to the Scotsman about what he’s gone through and his forthcoming chemotherapy. It’s obviously been a huge shock and upheaval, but he’s recovering well from the operation

…

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David Skelton

The Independent View: Now is not the time to debate niceties about constitutional reform

By David Skelton | Wed 21st December 2011 - 10:55 am

In an attempt to repair his Party’s battered poll ratings and diminished credibility following the veto and its aftermath, Nick Clegg has launched the concept of the ‘Open Society’ into the public domain. It mixes important ideas with a sense of a motherhood and apple pie shopping list.

It’s hard to see how the Open Society concept, with its nods to Karl Popper and Isaiah Berlin, will resonate outside of Westminster at a time of increasing economic concern. When people’s major concerns are the cost of energy bills, the cost of living and worries about unemployment and job security, it …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , , and | 24 Comments
Mark Pack

Good news from the International Criminal Court

By Mark Pack | Wed 21st December 2011 - 9:55 am

A good justice system both dispenses justice and is seen to do so. That makes the appointment of Gambian Fatou Bensouda as the International Criminal Court’s new Chief Prosecutor particularly welcome.

Bensouda is the first African to hold the post of Chief Prosecutor, an important step in helping the ICC maintain the confidence of African countries given how often Africans are up before the ICC.

The ICC’s remit is not limited to Africa and nor are the atrocities it can investigate confined to one part of our globe, but in practice a very high proportion of the International Criminal Court’s high profile cases recently …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Times: Lib Dems are right to maintain identity and policies in Government

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st December 2011 - 8:55 am

The Times published a leader on Monday praising Nick Clegg for publicly challenging David Cameron and the Conservatives on certain matters of policy.

Nick’s robust statements on the subject of a tax break for married couples were welcomed by the paper as it also highlighted other Liberal Democrat successes.

The principle of a State that provides for its citizens but does not coerce them in matters of conscience and judgment is a precious liberal inheritance. Mr Clegg should emphasise it. He should also reflect on the importance of the role that his party performs in government. He and his colleagues rightly took the

…

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Mark Valladares

Is there a Liberal Democrat stance on HM Revenue & Customs?

By Mark Valladares | Tue 20th December 2011 - 6:22 pm

The news that the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons has condemned the way in which HM Revenue & Customs staff have handled their dealings with the United Kingdom’s largest corporate taxpayers is merely the latest of a series of PR disasters for a Government department that now raises nearly £500 billion for the public purse annually.

Accusations that Vodafone was allowed to avoid more than £1 billion in tax, and that Goldman Sachs was erroneously allowed to pay an enquiry settlement without interest amounting to £10 million, are alleged to be just the tip of the iceberg, with …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Mark Thompson

Opinion: How much does geographical accident influence politics?

By Mark Thompson | Tue 20th December 2011 - 4:23 pm

I have been wondering for a while how much of a role geographical accident plays in politics.

When I first decided to get involved with politics a few years back I chose the Liberal Democrats because they were the party that most closely matched my views. In my local area, the party did not have any council seats but there are a small group of very dedicated and experienced local members and campaigners who have fought a number of local and national elections with alacrity since I joined.

The situation, though, has got me thinking about how political careers are nurtured and …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 6 Comments
Liz Hutchins

The Independent View: FIT for purpose

By Liz Hutchins | Tue 20th December 2011 - 3:53 pm

Every day the economic storm clouds get darker and darker as the recession deepens and unemployment soars. Over the past two years one new sector has offered a glimmer of hope: the UK solar industry. But Government cuts to solar payments this month are set to devastate a home-grown economic success story and pull the plug on tens of thousands of clean energy jobs.

Today Friends of the Earth and two solar firms are taking the Government to court. Ministers are slashing cash-back for generating green energy through solar panels, ahead of plan.

Pulling the funding rug from under …

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged | 10 Comments
Maureen Rigg

Opinion: Council dilemma – to raise or not to raise?

By Maureen Rigg | Tue 20th December 2011 - 2:53 pm

As councils across the country wrestle with this year’s Council Tax dilemma, here’s just one example of the dynamics involved.

To Raise or not to Raise? That’s the burning question to be answered early in 2012. Should Stockton Council accept the bribe on offer from the government to keep the Council Tax at the same level as last year, or ignore the offer and raise the tax?

On the surface it sounds like a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t we vote to keep the tax at the same level as last year when all around us residents are having to find more …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 12 Comments
Antony Hook

Opinion: The Tory Party has mutated. It is for us to say Europe is our hope for the future

By Antony Hook | Tue 20th December 2011 - 12:53 pm

David Cameron’s renunciation of a Treaty not even yet fully negotiated was the culmination of a process that began around 1992.

In 1992 a small group of Tory ultras, “the Maastricht Rebels”, began fighting their party’s traditional pro-Europeanism. It has taken 19 years to make their fringe views a normal Conservative Party and conservative press position. 1992 has led to 2011 like a river flows to the sea.

Anti-Europeanism’s hold on a major political movement has caused a poorly informed anti-Europeanism to take hold among many of our fellow citizens in the UK, as it has among some of …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 25 Comments
Lorna Dupré

Opinion: MeRRRy Christmas!

By Lorna Dupré | Tue 20th December 2011 - 12:53 pm

Like many of us, I’ll be braving the supermarket aisles over the next few days, ready to feed visiting family. This year, however, in more straitened financial circumstances (aren’t we all?), I’m very aware of how much food I’ve wasted over Christmases past, and determined not to make that mistake again.

Research by environmental organisation WRAP shows that each year we throw away one third (6.7 million tonnes) of the food we buy, over a quarter of that still in its packaging. The average person will have thrown away their own weight in food between January and December. And …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 7 Comments
Mark Valladares

Norfolk’s Green Group Leader defects… to the Tories

By Mark Valladares | Tue 20th December 2011 - 11:53 am

Courtesy of Andrew Sinclair, BBC East’s political correspondent…

Philip Hardy, the Group Leader for the Greens on Norfolk County Council, and councillor for Thorpe Hamlet has defected to the Conservatives, the first Green councillor thought to have done so. Elected to the council in 2009, he gained the seat from the Liberal Democrats, before becoming Group Leader in July last year.

From the Eastern Daily Press;

Derrick Murphy, leader of Norfolk County Council hailed Mr Hardy’s move as a “major coup”. He said: “Philip is a fantastic councillor who has already managed to make Norfolk a better place through his work on

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Jonathan Fryer

Life after Kim Jong-Il

By Jonathan Fryer | Tue 20th December 2011 - 9:53 am

The sudden demise of North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il at the weekend removed one of the world’s most bizarre and reclusive rulers. Though there were televised scenes of schoolchildren, soldiers and workers crying in the streets of the capital, Pyongyang, when the news was announced on Monday, the mourning was considerably less hysterical than when his father Kim Il-Sung expired in 1994. Kim Il-Sung remains the sun in the sky as far as North Korean ideologues are concerned. Kim Jong-Il was merely the son here on earth. He had moreover taken the precaution two years ago of naming one …

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Posted in Europe / International | Tagged | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Farewell alarm clocks and hello John Major: Nick Clegg’s new strategy

By Mark Pack | Tue 20th December 2011 - 8:23 am

In his speech yesterday Nick Clegg said, “We want a truly open society, in which every man and woman will be able to go as far as their talent, ambition and effort take them”.

Oh wait, hang on.

Sorry, wrong speech.

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 26 Comments
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