John Russell

Opinion: The death of affordable Outdoor Education?

By John Russell | Mon 13th June 2011 - 4:13 pm

The BBC has reported that 95% of all local council-funded outdoor education centres have had their entire funding cut. A third of all the council-funded out door centres now feel their future is uncertain. 12 outdoor education centres are set to shut, in addition to all those that have already closed over the years.

I can not think of another national, educational service that has suffered a 95% cut in the latest rounds of budgets and been expected to survive.

The Liberal Democrats should be championing outdoor education.

Affordable high quality outdoor education which is available …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
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Iain Roberts

A challenge to Community Politics

By Iain Roberts | Mon 13th June 2011 - 2:21 pm

Community Politics is an ideology beloved of many Liberal Democrats, even if not all are quite sure what it is. As Mark Pack points out, “Community Politics” is distinctively Lib Dem, and Mark contrasts it to Labour “localism” and the Conservative “Big Society”.

But is it right?

No ideology is completely correct – all have faults where they fail to capture certain facets and nuances of our complex human behaviour. Few are complete nonsense either – most ideologies have elements that capture something important, and it’s a foolish person indeed who dismisses any ideology completely.

Some are better than others, …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Helen Duffett

Liberal Democrats confirm new central campaigns teams

By Helen Duffett | Mon 13th June 2011 - 11:40 am

A further announcement as part of the reorganisation of the Liberal Democrats’ central campaigns staff.

From HQ Chief of Staff, Tim Snowball:

I am very pleased to announce that as of 17 June 2011 the full make up of the new central Campaigns Teams, working under Director of Elections and Skills, Hilary Stephenson, will be as follows:

Campaign Development Team

Key Objectives: to research, test and deliver cutting edge campaign techniques and to maximise uptake through a well planned and coordinated training and support system.

  • Jake Holland (Head of Unit)
  • Austin Rathe
  • Tim Pollard

Ground Communications Team

Key Objectives: to develop effective messages, visualisation and artwork for

…

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 2 Comments
The Voice

LibLink | Shirley Williams: Lib Dems should take credit for thwarting Lansley

By The Voice | Mon 13th June 2011 - 10:19 am

Shirley Williams, writing today in the Independent, says that the Liberal Democrats can be proud of their influence on NHS reforms:

Liberal Democrats, from our party’s grassroots to its leadership, can be proud of the influence we have exerted to change the Government’s NHS plans. It is clear now that the proposals that will be taken forward are dramatically different to those originally proposed.

The implications of Andrew Lansley’s massive health proposals, setting England’s health system on the path to a market in health care rather than a public service, were very slow to sink in. The complex, extensive and sometimes almost

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

How Great Ormond Street’s Jane Collins escaped investigation last year

By Mark Pack | Mon 13th June 2011 - 8:32 am

Jane Collins, the Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital, is facing calls to resign after it was revealed that critical details about the hospital’s role in the death of Baby Peter were withheld from one inquiry into the tragedy and, despite the hospital’s subsequent claims, were also not supplied to the second inquiry.

However, what has been less commented on in the coverage in the last few days is the way Jane Collins escaped being investigated by the General Medical Council last year:

The chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital has escaped investigation over the Baby P scandal …

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The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #225

By The Voice | Sun 12th June 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 225th 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 (5-12 June, 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

Mike Tuffrey says he will run for Mayor of London

By The Voice | Sun 12th June 2011 - 5:37 pm

Interviewed by the BBC today, London Assembly member Mike Tuffrey said he is throwing his hat into the ring to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor:

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Posted in London | Tagged | 21 Comments
Helen Duffett

LDV doesn’t do statporn, but if we did (May 2011)

By Helen Duffett | Sun 12th June 2011 - 4:53 pm

… We’d say a big thank you to the 56,674 ‘absolute unique visitors’* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in May.

This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 June 2010 – 31 May 2011) to 531,005, 5.8% more than the equivalent figure for 2009-10 of 501,773.

The 5 top-read stories during the month were:

  1. Opinion: However unfair it is, Chris Huhne should step down (105 comments) by Simon McGrath
  2. Chris Huhne’s election expenses: once again, nothing to see here, move along (60 comments) by Mark Pack
  3. Black Friday for Lib Dems: it’s worse than we thought

…

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Mark Pack

My favourite public sector worker of the week: Lynn Wyeth

By Mark Pack | Sun 12th June 2011 - 1:55 pm

There’s something bureaucratic and management-speak about a job title such as “Head of Information Governance” which can make you fear that the worst sort of mix of cliches, banalities and PR warm words is about to be uttered.

But … full credit to Lynn Wyeth, holder of this post at Leicester City Council, for her comments to the media following the news that her council had received a freedom of information request about the council’s contingency plans for a zombie attack:

“We’ve had a few wacky ones before but this one did make us laugh … To you it might seem frivolous

…

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Mark Pack

If you are not reasonable, what are you?

By Mark Pack | Sun 12th June 2011 - 11:53 am

I only ask, because Unison general secretary Dave Prentis has been criticising Labour for making reasonable comments:

In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, the Unison general secretary suggested the Labour leader can no longer count on his union’s automatic support when he said he still has “a lot to get right” and should abandon the strategy of only issuing “reasonable statements”. (Independent on Sunday)

‘Comrades, we must be unreasonable!’ certainly would be an effective demand – if you wanted to caricature yourself into unpopularity.

Posted in News | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Tamed and reshaped – Clegg on the NHS White Paper

By Mark Pack | Sun 12th June 2011 - 10:11 am

Speaking last night at an excellent anniversary dinner to mark 25 years (yes, 25 years) of Liberal Democrat control on Sutton Council, Nick Clegg said the party has been successful in taming and reshaping the NHS reform plans.

The run of political and electoral success achieved by Liberal Democrats in Sutton is, as Clegg pointed out, a standing answer to anyone who doubts that you can achieve and then hold political power whilst continuing campaigning and staying true to your liberal roots. One of the key people in that success was Ruth Shaw, who Nick Clegg personally presented with the 2010 …

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Nick T

LibLink: Mark Pack – Lords reform: three tests for three party leaders

By Nick T | Sun 12th June 2011 - 8:57 am

Over on the Total Politics website, Mark Pack has a piece looking at what the coalition’s plans for reforming the House of Lords means for each of the three party leaders:

For each of them Lords reform offers both an opportunity and a threat. For David Cameron the opportunity is to push on with his mission to change the Conservative Party, modernising it in a continuing effort to shed the problems that have resulted in nearly 20 years passing since it last won an overall majority. Many in the Conservative Party, especially in the Lords, are opposed to the introduction of

…

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Helen Duffett

LibLink | Vince Cable: We agree to differ on restoring economy

By Helen Duffett | Sat 11th June 2011 - 3:21 pm

Business Secretary Vince Cable writes today at the Financial Times on the Coalition Government’s approach to deficit reduction, in response to the International Monetary Fund’s endorsement.

He explores the reasons for the financial crisis and its legacy, and suggests,

The only sensible macro-economic policy stance is a tight fiscal policy combined with a loose monetary one: Plan A.

He concludes:

Co-operation between the coalition partners remains vital for the good of the economy. While there is much common ground there are differences of emphasis. Liberal Democrats prioritise radical banking reform, progressive taxation and the green economy. Conservatives set greater store by corporate tax

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Our lost phrase: community politics

By Mark Pack | Sat 11th June 2011 - 12:28 pm

On a hunch, earlier this year I did a little research ahead of writing a blog post for Liberal Democrat Voice: how often is the phrase “community politics” used by the party’s national spokespeople since the May 2010 election?

The answer was far worse than I’d feared. Looking through all of Nick Clegg’s major speeches, all the news release from him and also all those from others issued via the Liberal Democrat press team, I could only find one use of “community politics” – by Paul Burstow. Andrew Stunell deserves an honourable mention for using it in an LGA pamphlet …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 8 Comments
Helen Duffett

Council by-election results: 9 June 2011

By Helen Duffett | Sat 11th June 2011 - 11:16 am

There were five council by-elections this week: four of them resulted in holds, while the Lib Dems lost Chelmsford Central to the Conservatives.

From ALDC:

Highland UA, Tain and Easter Ross
The votes below are the First Preference votes. An Independent was elected at the fourth stage.
Ind 1204 (37.6; +1.3)
SNP 1037 (32.4; +20.4)
Ind 547 (17.6; +6.4)
LD Antony Gardner 318 (9.9; -6.2)
Ind 97 (3.0; -14.3)

Turnout 36.4%
Ind hold
Percentage change is since May 2007.
http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/elections/highlandcouncilelections/byelection-ward8/ward8-results.htm

Essex CC, Chelmsford Central
Con 1496 (43.6; +10.0)
LD Graham Howard John Pooley 1323 (38.6; -5.9)
Lab 610 (17.8; +10.1)

Majority 173
Turnout 29%
Con gain from LD
Percentage change is since June 2009.

Kensington and Chelsea

…

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Posted in Council by-elections | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

It’s a busy Saturday for the spinners

By Mark Pack | Sat 11th June 2011 - 10:21 am

With the new version of the government’s health plans due out on Monday or Tuesday, expect tomorrow’s papers to be full of pre-briefing from the different camps – the pro-Lansley Tories, the rest of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

The first of that trio are likely to have by far the toughest, verging on implausible, task given the major changes coming to the original NHS plans. The bigger media battle is between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats (or Cameron and Clegg if you prefer your politics in distilled personalised format) over the relative credit for those changes.

The news from the Liberal …

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Peter Black

Opinion: A guide to fighting list seats

By Peter Black | Sat 11th June 2011 - 8:54 am

In writing this article I do not claim any great wisdom in how to fight list elections. In fact the fact I survived the latest Welsh Assembly poll has more to do with the decline in the Plaid Cymru vote than anything I did, though the amount of effort and targeted work we put in must have had some significance in securing a 54 vote majority.

This is what I did. It may not be appropriate in other areas and it may be fairly obvious to any experienced campaigner. Inevitably there were things I could have done better or did not …

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Posted in Op-eds and Wales | Tagged | 4 Comments
Helen Duffett

Liberal Democrats receive Queen’s Birthday Honours

By Helen Duffett | Sat 11th June 2011 - 7:53 am

Graham Watson, Liberal Democrat MEP for South West England and Gibraltar, has received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2011.

He’s listed under Knights Bachelor – Knighthoods:

Graham Robert WATSON, MEP. For public and political services.

Congratulations, Sir Graham!

Also:

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The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 10 June 2011

By The Voice | Fri 10th June 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

  1. Andrew Reeves passes away (37 comments) by Mark Pack
  2. Response: Chair of Federal Conference Committee on increased security measures (153 comments) by Andrew Wiseman
  3. Opinion: Why you should be taking Lembit Opik seriously (57 comments) by Richard Clare
  4. Opinion: The problem with Lib Dem conference security arrangements (27 comments) by Dave Page
  5. The perils of projecting the impact of boundary changes from previous election results (12 comments) by Mark Pack

5 sample LDV Members’ Forum threads

  1. Inverclyde Byelection
  2. Tim Farron at glee club
  3. Pension age increase and unemployment in the over 50s
  4. Vince Cable speaks to the GMB
  5. Freedom of speech

5 from the LDV archive

(10th June, 2007-10)

  1. Nick Clegg declares “Ich bin ein Berliner” (10 comments) by The Voice, from 2010
  2. The results of the other Lib Dem Parliamentary contest – Lords Dholakia and Alderdice elected (4 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2010
  3. Judgement Day for Boris Johnson’s first year in office (3 comments) by Helen Duffett, from 2009
  4. NEW POLL: should the Lib Dems support AV? (36 comments) by Stephen Tall , from 2009
  5. Key communications staff to leave Lib Dems (0 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2008

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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Nick T

Opinion: Time for that Lib Dem tax cut in full?

By Nick T | Fri 10th June 2011 - 10:55 am

“Under a Liberal Democrat government, you will not have to pay any income tax on the first £10,000 you earn.”

So said the manifesto on which we fought last year’s election. And while we didn’t get a Liberal Democrat government, we did get the policy.

The coalition agreement commits the government to making real terms steps each year towards the target of £10,000, kicked off by an initial increase of £1000, benefiting the low paid by £200 this year.

But should we be moving faster?

Recent economic growth has, of course, been weaker than expected – no surprise given the circumstances. The events of …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 45 Comments
Mark Pack

Pressure builds on Great Ormond Street Hospital as second inquiry author joins criticisms

By Mark Pack | Fri 10th June 2011 - 7:26 am

Yesterday I blogged about Lynne Featherstone‘s call for Jane Collins to quit as Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital following revelations that key information was withheld from the first inquiry into Baby Peter’s death and, despite the Hospital’s claims to the contrary, the public statement from the chair of the second inquiry that he was not shown the full evidence either.

Today The Guardian has a damning verdict from the author of that first inquiry, Edi Carmi:

The author of the serious case review, Edi Carmi, said she was shocked by the BBC’s report and that much of

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Great Ormond Street Hospital under fire over claims it covered up blunders

By Mark Pack | Thu 9th June 2011 - 9:13 pm

Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone today called for Jane Collins, Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), to resign after the BBC published evidence that key criticisms of the hospital were withheld from an inquiry into the death of Baby Peter. In a further twist today, claims by the hospital that they subsequently did provide all the evidence to a second investigation were denied by the person who ran that investigation.

An investigation by BBC London found that Great Ormond Street Hospital did not pass on to the first Serious Case Review into the death of Baby Peter several key …

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Helen Duffett

Outstanding service to the Lib Dems 2011: your nominations, please

By Helen Duffett | Thu 9th June 2011 - 6:55 pm

The Liberal Democrats are seeking nominations for their three party awards, to be presented at September’s Autumn Conference.

One award will be given to a party member who has been elected to public office; one to a member who has never been elected; one to a political assistant working for a Liberal Democrat Council Group.

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | 4 Comments
Sarah Teather

Sarah Teather MP writes: Share your views on the Bailey Report

By Sarah Teather | Thu 9th June 2011 - 4:24 pm

You may well have seen the press coverage of Reg Bailey’s report on the commercialisation and sexualisation of children, published earlier this week. While some of the coverage was the sort you’d expect from the conservative-leaning press, most of it was more balanced and thoughtful.
 
As Minister for Children and Families, I’ve been closely involved in this work and I’m really pleased with what he’s come up with. It demonstrates Liberal Democrat values and approaches, and has already started to make a difference in practice – which is what matters.  
 
As we all do when we are out campaigning, he …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 47 Comments
Kayte Lawton

The Independent View: Public support action on excessive pay gap

By Kayte Lawton | Thu 9th June 2011 - 2:42 pm

The clamour for action on excessive pay is growing, not least from some of our biggest business names. Sir Stuart Rose, of Marks and Spencer, recently suggested that the gap between CEO pay and the wages of ordinary workers might have got out of control, while the newly appointed President of the CBI, Sir Roger Carr, this week described ‘rewards for failure’ as “unforgivable”.

Yet the idea that very high salaries can be justified as long as they are deserved is called into question by research from the High Pay Commission, which found that executive pay has grown by 7 per cent a year in real terms over the last 10 years, compared to annual average real growth of just 0.8 per cent between 1949 and 1979. Researchers can find no evidence that UK firms have done better over the last 10 years than in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Nor is there any evidence that senior executives are significantly more mobile than ordinary workers or modern firms more complex to run, as many supporters of the rapid increase in top pay argue.

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
James Sandbach

Opinion: Access to justice – why Liberal Democrats should not sit on the sidelines

By James Sandbach | Thu 9th June 2011 - 1:21 pm

Next week the Government will announce legislation to reform legal aid, following a Green Paper published last November to which the Ministry of Justice received an unprecedented 5,000 responses. Whilst “legal aid reform” was in the Coalition Agreement, the scale of proposed changes has taken many aback – in order to cut the legal aid budget by £350million, Justice Ministers propose taking whole categories of law related problems out legal aid entitlement – housing and debt problems, welfare benefit issues, employment law issues, immigration cases, consumer law problems, education cases and private family law issues (eg divorce and …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Sanctions bring benefits one time in three

By Mark Pack | Thu 9th June 2011 - 12:27 pm

That’s the message from an interesting research nugget quoted by the Financial Times:

A careful study by the Peterson Institute of 115 uses of economic sanctions by major countries between 1950 and 1990 concluded that, in about a third of cases, they helped those wielding them achieve their goals. The research shows they were most likely to be successful when this objective was modest and clear, the target was in a weakened position, economic links were significant, sanctions were heavy, and the duration was limited.

Helping in only one in three cases leaves an awful lot of misery and horror unaffected, …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 5 Comments
Dave Raval

Opinion: The environment starts at home

By Dave Raval | Thu 9th June 2011 - 10:53 am

When I was selected as PPC for Hackney South and Shoreditch ahead of the last General Election, I promised to move into the constituency. Since I believe passionately in the environment, I chose to buy a Victorian solid-brick house in Hackney and with the aim of making it into an ecohouse. Solid brick properties are the so-called “Hard to treat houses”, and exactly the focus of the Coalition Government’s Green Deal.

Prior to the renovation, my house was an environmental disaster zone. In the winter it was cold no matter how high the heating was set, as all the heat …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Please send the deregulation hit squad: all I want is some double-glazing

By Mark Pack | Thu 9th June 2011 - 6:44 am

Getting double-glazing fitted at home seemed such a good idea to begin with.

It then got better when I had the fun of watching of Ricky Gervais type character doing acrobatics on the hinge of a sample double-glazing unit to demonstrate its strength. I may now know that the hinge can take the full weight of a fully grown man, though I must admit I’m still not quite sure why I’d want to know thiat.

But then came sorting out the administration.

Five different pieces of legal authorisation are required. Plus two maps. With all the charges put together adding an extra 25% …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 19 Comments
Rob Blackie

Opinion: How can we build a liberal movement?

By Rob Blackie | Wed 8th June 2011 - 5:27 pm

Like a lot of Liberal Democrat friends, I was inspired by Barack Obama’s determination to build a long term movement for change across America. And for a couple of years I’ve been trying to copy his volunteer led approach to political organising, with some success.*

One element that is crucial to motivating volunteers is to have superb candidates, who are themselves heroes to their communities. This, of course, is a large element of good traditional community campaigning.

So I was delighted to see that in Peckham we are using our candidate’s amazing life story as the main motivator of volunteers on …

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