Duncan Stott

Opinion: Digital Economy Act – The fight isn’t over

By Duncan Stott | Thu 4th August 2011 - 9:23 am

It’s difficult to quantify the mess the Labour government left us in. Sure, the £158,000,000,000 annual deficit they left behind was one big quantity. But there were also the thousands of children being held in detention, our civil liberties in tatters, university finances out of control, record low levels of house building… the list seems endless.

But seemingly this wasn’t enough for Labour. In their dying breath they created yet another mess for the next government to sort. The Digital Economy Bill was forced through Parliament in its last week before recessing for the General Election campaign.

Grassroots Lib Dems made their …

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The Voice

Councillor Warren Swaine apologises for offensive tweet

By The Voice | Thu 4th August 2011 - 7:53 am

Reading Councillor Warren Swaine has issued an apology for his actions on 27 January.

I would like to take this opportunity apologise for making derogatory comments during the BBC Question Time programme on the 27th January especially those relating to Chuka Umunna MP. I made a lot of comments that were insulting that night and I regret that.

In respect of one particular tweet, no offense was meant but I absolutely acknowledge that it was recklessly worded and liable to an interpretation that was never intended. For that I would like to offer my sincere apologies to Mr Umunna and

…

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Nick Harvey

Nick Harvey MP writes: A hard look at defence spending

By Nick Harvey | Wed 3rd August 2011 - 6:53 pm

Today the Commons defence committee published a report criticising the MOD for decisions taken in last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR).  The report claims that recent defence budget reductions will leave our Armed Forces unable to execute the operations the Government sets for them post-2015.  
 
I disagree.
 
It is true that the MOD is reducing numbers of service personnel across the Army, Navy and Air Force and indeed the MOD has altered the equipment programme, which led to the deletion of Nimrod and Harrier.  But these tough decisions were necessary in order to address the black hole in the …

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The Independent View: What is Big Society Capital – big, new or just Big Society nonsense?

By Tim Groves | Wed 3rd August 2011 - 4:23 pm

In its first transaction, the £600m fund has invested £1m in Private Equity Foundation, an organisation helping disadvantaged teenagers find jobs when they leave school; £400m of the fund will be unclaimed assets left dormant in bank accounts for more than 15 years, with the rest coming from HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland.

– The Independent, 29/07/2011.

The Indie report then goes on to tell about the first “social impact bond” project, which is an “investment” in measures to reduce re-offending in Peterborough.

So The much vaunted “Big Society Bank” – sorry – …

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Paul Thompson

Vince Cable scraps Labour plans to block websites, outlines widespread changes to our copyright law

By Paul Thompson | Wed 3rd August 2011 - 3:13 pm

The government’s controversial plans to block unlawful file sharing websites were scrapped today by Vince Cable. Brought in by the last government in the hastily put together Digital Economy Act, the plans to force ISPs to block websites was shown to be unworkable in a detailed report from Ofcom.

The report, withdrawn embarrassingly hours after publication when it emerged that the redacted sections of the report could be read by simply cutting and pasting the document, detailed how website blocking as set out in the DEAct could be easily circumvented, would not be suitable for reducing copyright infringement …

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Helen Duffett

LibLink | Charles Kennedy MP’s views on the AV referendum, health reforms and Murdoch

By Helen Duffett | Wed 3rd August 2011 - 11:53 am

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Mark Pack

Explaining Cameron’s Coalition: politics as seen through the eyes of MORI polls

By Mark Pack | Wed 3rd August 2011 - 10:24 am

Explaining Cameron’s Coalition is the latest in the series of general election analysis by MORI’s Robert Worcester and Roger Mortimore, this time joined by two other authors. The book is therefore very much the tale of the 2005-2010 Parliament and subsequent general election seen through the eyes of MORI’s opinion polling, with an often pungent analysis which certainly fits Robert Worcester’s happiness to point out when he got predictions right and others got them wrong.

Though there is a smattering of references to polling results from other firms, the great strength of the MORI data is that many of the …

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Helen Duffett

Lord Ashdown emails Lib Dem members in Horn of Africa appeal

By Helen Duffett | Tue 2nd August 2011 - 4:13 pm

Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown has emailed Lib Dem members to appeal for urgent donations to help with the famine in the Horn of Africa:

As I write this, there is a crisis in the Horn of Africa that is claiming the lives of thousands of children. Famine has been declared. Millions face starvation. In Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia we are witnessing the worst humanitarian catastrophe in a generation.

It is a crisis that has unfolded slowly, so much so that the media has found little drama to force it to top of news bulletins – which have instead been dominated

…

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Nick T

LibLink: Simon Hughes – Make university an option for all

By Nick T | Tue 2nd August 2011 - 1:54 pm

Simon Hughes, Lib Dem deputy leader and author of The Hughes Report on access to higher education, recently had an op-ed in the Daily Express outlining the thoughts he sets out in that report.

Here’s a sample:

Last week I submitted my report to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, with more than 30 recommendations on what can be done to improve access to higher education.

These do not focus only on university admissions but on what can be done to encourage young people to think about university from an early age.

This is crucial because from the age of 13 children

…

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Paul Walter

Opinion: God Bless America?

By Paul Walter | Tue 2nd August 2011 - 10:23 am

Well, you have to hand it to our American cousins. They can certainly do theatrics. The solving of the (self-inflicted) debt crisis has been a real nail-biter. At the tenth hour last night, there was a bi-partisan vote in the US House of Representatives, including the hugely poignant appearance of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. All House members were on their feet as she returned to Congress for the first time since being shot while carrying out a constituency surgery (as we would call it).

It was pure Hollywood. But beneath the tear-jerking choreography let’s acknowledge that it is genuinely historic for the …

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Chris White

Chris White writes: We are not ‘customers’ on the railways

By Chris White | Tue 2nd August 2011 - 10:18 am

On 26 May this year a First Capital Connect train on the Thameslink route caught a branch in its pantograph. When the pantograph was raised at Farringdon it shorted the power supply. The train managed to get to St Pancras but the passengers were not told to alight.

As it proceeded towards Kentish Town it shorted again and the passengers were stuck in a tunnel. No information was provided and no serious rescue was mounted for a period of hours. The air-conditioning also failed.

This is not unique. Indeed, on more than one occasion on the network, passengers have decided to abandon …

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Greg Judge

Opinion: London 2012 Paralympics – A real legacy for people with disabilities?

By Greg Judge | Mon 1st August 2011 - 7:42 pm

I was watching Newsnight last week and saw a discussion on the diversity and legacy potential of London 2012 with respect to the UK’s disabled population. Some of the remarks made by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson I was in complete agreement with, whilst others left me perplexed and feeling somewhat cut off from whatever the organisers are trying to achieve.

She is right to say that legislation alone will do nothing to change the mindsets of the majority in our society who see disability as something to be scared of. The reason for this, as with many people’s fears, is because …

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Helen Duffett

Scottish Women Lib Dems launch WiLD new blog

By Helen Duffett | Mon 1st August 2011 - 1:23 pm

WiLD Women - the new blog for Scottish Women Lib Dems

Scottish Women Lib Dems have launched their new blog today with a post from Katy Gordon entitled Are You Born to Be Wild?:

’ve only been Scottish Convenor of SWLD since 2nd July and I want you all to be wild: wild about the appallingly low number of Lib Dem women MPs, wild about dropping to 1 female MSP in May but wild with enthusiasm to achieve our 3

…

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Nick T

“From hero to zero and back again” – Vince Cable profiled in the Independent on Sunday

By Nick T | Mon 1st August 2011 - 10:27 am

Yesterday’s Independent on Sunday featured a profile of business secretary Vince Cable. Vince’s stock certainly appears to risen in recent weeks, his reputation for prescience partially restored by the woes of the Murdoch empire.

But it is his real passion – economics – on which the piece focuses. With the spending review and tuition fees out of the way, what can Vince and his department do to improve the lackluster growth figures?

Well, George Osborne has his Plan A, but Vince has his Plan A+:

“Plan A+ is about really mobilising growth, thinking outside the box, not breaking your fiscal rules –

…

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Mark Pack

Could you edit The Guardian? Take a simple test

By Mark Pack | Mon 1st August 2011 - 7:56 am

Here’s a simple test to see if you too have what it takes to edit The Guardian.

a. You have an interview lined up with a Treasury minister.

b. You have a journalist who happily admits they don’t understand the difference between a cyclical and structural deficit.

Do you say:

1. “Pah, so what? It’s not like we need an interviewer who can understand the basics of economics to interview an economics minister”, or

2. “Err, could we get a different interviewer?”

If your answer is #1: well done, you’re made it (as the third paragraph of this new interview with Danny Alexander demonstrates).

If your …

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The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #232

By The Voice | Sun 31st July 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 232nd 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 (24-30 July, 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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Simon McGrath

Opinion: London Mayoral hustings, Round 2

By Simon McGrath | Sun 31st July 2011 - 4:27 pm

Having been to the London Mayoral hustings last week in Wimbledon (and written about it for LDV) I thought it would be interesting to go to the official hustings last night in central London to see how (or if) the candidates had changed. I don’t know if it was the different audience or the extra week and taking on board the various comment people made but all four candidates made better speeches and all seemed more confident of why they wanted to represent us.

By far the most improved was Lembit Opik. I could see why he has had …

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Stephen Tall

Top 10 tweeting MPs: congratulations to Lib Dem @julianhuppert in at No. 6!

By Stephen Tall | Sun 31st July 2011 - 2:20 pm

Who are the top 10 Twitterers in the House of Commons? That’s the question the Mail on Sunday answers today, following a survey by Westminster Public Affairs.

The list looks not at number of followers, but at the volume of tweets each MP has sent out. Heading the list is Labour’s Kerry McCarthy with well over 27,000 tweets. Cambridge’s Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert — elected to Parliament just last year — comes in at number six, having sent over 10,000 tweets, and now with over 4,000 followers.

My Co-Editor Mark Pack has compiled a …

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Stephen Tall

LDVideo: The West Wing explains the US debt ceiling in under 60 seconds

By Stephen Tall | Sun 31st July 2011 - 11:35 am

Everything you needed to know about the current ‘epiphenomenal imbroglio’ ((C) Will Self at 0:48 here) engulfing the US economy, courtesy series 6 of The West Wing:

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Posted in LDVUSA and YouTube | Tagged | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who are the Lib Dems ‘unconventional men (or women) whose mad ideas make us think’?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 31st July 2011 - 9:55 am

Andrew Rawnsley, writing in today’s Observer under the surprisingly un-PC title In praise of unconventional men who make us think, sticks up for those iconoclastic thinkers who challenge their parties’ conventional thinking, citing as paragons the Tories’ Steve ‘Big Society’ Hilton and Maurice ‘Blue Labour’ Glasman:

Conventional is not a description you could apply to either of these eclectic thinkers. … There are many big differences between these two men and their philosophies, but something interestingly common to them is anti-statism, a deep antagonism to bureaucracy and managerialism. … It would be a shame if either were to be silenced.

…

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Richard Clare

Opinion: Mayoral Hustings – Twists and turns and four good horses

By Richard Clare | Sat 30th July 2011 - 3:54 pm

I’ve never been to such an event before so I didn’t know what to expect. Regardless, I made it to the Hustings in Kings Cross, the first ‘proper’ Hustings as I think the Chair described it.

Mike Tuffrey gave the first speech. It was fairly standard: he outlined his experience on the GLA and said that if he won the nomination, it would be his 14th election. “My 13th election wasn’t unlucky for me, in fact it was my best to date.” he said, naming a few impressive percentages the Lib Dems had got in the last London Assembly elections …

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John Roffey

Opinion: Do we really want to risk another media mogul running the country?

By John Roffey | Sat 30th July 2011 - 1:21 pm

If there is one thing that the Murdoch affair has confirmed it is that politician’s lust for power knows no bounds. The acquisition of power has been likened to a heroin rush and judging by the extent that Blair, Brown and Cameron, particularly, have been prepared to jump to Murdoch’s commands – we must believe this to be true.

Although it is likely that an attempt to clean up politics will take place over the next few years, now that it has been made so clear that a media giant can have such an impact on the government of a nation …

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Paul Walter

Telegraph: “The nation’s babies have begun to abandon the Prime Minister”

By Paul Walter | Sat 30th July 2011 - 11:52 am

You have to hand it to Telegraph journalists. It’s approaching August. Stories are thin on the ground. But trees must be killed. So stories must be concocted. And what a concoction this one was!:

New parents shun ‘Cameron’ and ‘Nick’ for baby names
David Cameron may feel he needs his Tuscan holiday at the end of a bruising first year in power.

There followed suitable snaps of Cameron and Clegg looking knackered, and this text:

After facing battles over spending cuts, a gloomy economy, and the phone hacking scandal, now it seems that even the nation’s babies have begun to abandon the Prime

…

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Mary Reid

Petitions to Parliament – waste of time or golden opportunity?

By Mary Reid | Sat 30th July 2011 - 10:09 am

The Government has just launched its brand new e-petitions system. You can find it here. The first petitions will be going live next Thursday.

Haven’t we been here before? Well, it is true that Labour surprised us all by setting up the Number 10 online petitions website some years ago, and that this attracted thousands of petitions.

But after the initial enthusiasm there was inevitable disappointment, because, in the vast majority of cases, the only response received by petitioners was a statement from a civil servant. It is true that, in some cases, petitions channelled strong public concern about …

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged | 25 Comments
Lee Chalmers

Opinion: Why we should praise Louise Mensch

By Lee Chalmers | Fri 29th July 2011 - 6:49 pm

So the press have dug around into Louise Mensch MP’s past and discovered, shock horror, that she ‘probably’ took some drugs at a nightclub when she was in her twenties. Why this is news is frankly beyond me but why this has come out now, is not. The press are doing their thing, taking on someone that has taken them on. The ‘probably’ is a bit of a give away. There are lots of ‘probablys’ floating around the News of the World scandal. True or not, a ‘probably’ can hurt.

In the case of Louise Mensch I doubt it will …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 37 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 29 July 2011

By The Voice | Fri 29th July 2011 - 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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Helen Duffett

Council by-election results: 28 July 2011

By Helen Duffett | Fri 29th July 2011 - 4:23 pm

Enfield LBC, Bush Hill Park
Con 1108 (44.5; +6.1)
Lab 668 (26.8; +2.0)
Ind 230 (9.2; +9.2)
LD Paul David Smith 177 (7.1; -12.3)
Green 100 (4.0; -6.5)
UKIP 70 (2.8; -4.1)
BNP 61 (2.5; +2.5)
Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship” 45 (1.8; +1.8)
The English Democrats – “Putting England First!” 29 (1.2; +1.2)
Majority 440
Turnout 23.83%
Con hold
Percentage change is since May 2010.

Blackburn with Darwen UA, Beardwood with Lammack
Con 1097 (63.8; +3.4)
Lab 572 (33.3; +0.1)
LD Salim Lorgat 51 (3.0; -3.5)
Majority 525
Turnout not known
Con hold
Percentage change is since May 2011.

Harrow LBC, Stanmore Park
Con 1395 (58.1; -0.4)
Labour 509 (21.2; +0.7)
Independent 299 (12.4; +12.4)
LD Sylvia Warshaw 98 (4.1; -9.4)
Green 53 (2.2; -5.3)
UKIP 48 …

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The Voice

Councillor Warren Swaine reinstated after Twitter race row

By The Voice | Fri 29th July 2011 - 3:46 pm

Reading Councillor Warren Swaine has had his Liberal Democrat membership restored after being accused of making a racist remark about a Labour MP in February – but will have to complete diversity training if he wishes to be an officer for the Liberal Democrat council group.

The Reading Chronicle reports:

The Lib Dems’ South Central office announced today that Reading borough councillor, Warren Swaine, who represents Katesgrove ward, will have to undergo diversity training if he wants to be a spokesman for the group in the next two years.

The decision comes more than five months after Cllr Swaine was suspended

…

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Charlotte Henry

Opinion: Nick Clegg and the next parliamentary term

By Charlotte Henry | Fri 29th July 2011 - 11:54 am

It’s summer holiday time at the moment for MPs, a time to reflect on what has been achieved this parliamentary term, and what can be achieved in the next parliamentary term. For Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats, the answer to these questions could have a profound effect on the future of our party.

Clegg showed strong, considered leadership over phonehacking, and must use this position of strength (and David Cameron’s relative weakness,) to influence even more policy than is currently happening. Key to this of course will be the economy. Slow, steady, growth figures will not be enough for us …

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Mark Pack

Tony Benn: A Biography

By Mark Pack | Fri 29th July 2011 - 10:25 am

Weighing in at 550 pages, including a long and detailed index, Jad Adams’s biography of Tony Benn is just the sort of traditional and detailed work of biography that befits a politician who was an MP for half a century and who became a government minister, won promotion to the Cabinet and served his last day as a minister all before most of the current generation of ministers were even in Parliament.

Tony Benn’s career was not only lengthy, it was high profile and – at least before the twilight years as ‘the nation’s favourite retired politician’ – deeply controversial. …

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