Joe Taylor

Opinion: The PCC are to blame for the Ryan Giggs fiasco

By Joe Taylor | Thu 26th May 2011 - 9:53 am

At Conference last September, I proposed a motion that called for new rules to beef up the PCC, making it more independent of newspaper editors and giving it real powers to regulate the wilder elements of the press. The motion called on Lib Dem ministers to act now in the face of a growing number of legal injunctions that were being fuelled by lack of confidence in the regulator. In the long run lack of action would stand to restrict press freedom, I argued, because it would give weight to calls for an illiberal privacy law whereby politicians could …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 25 Comments
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Mark Pack

Who joins the BNP and who votes BNP?

By Mark Pack | Thu 26th May 2011 - 7:25 am

Matthew Goodwin’s new book, New British Fascism: Rise of the British National Party, expands on one of his previous works on political extremism to look in-depth at just the BNP.

New British Fascism: Rise of the British National Party has at its heart an extensive set of interviews with BNP members. His conclusion is a nuanced one – that the BNP has carved out a strong base in a narrow niche, meaning both that it is not likely to disappear any time soon nor is it likely to break through to major levels of support.

That base is made …

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Posted in Books | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Chris Huhne’s election expenses: once again, nothing to see here, move along

By Mark Pack | Wed 25th May 2011 - 11:38 pm

(UPDATE: This complaint was indeed rejected by the Electoral Commission. See also my more recent post about how Guido Fawkes’s source confused an election expense return with a cycle path.)

After all the excitable tweets over the weekend and the dramatic rhetoric about having been researching the topic for a year, you might have thought that when Guido Fawkes blogged today about Chris Huhne’s election expenses there’d be some solid evidence and a plausible complaint.

But no.

In fact, the complaint is so riddled with obvious errors that one’s tempted to say a hacker has snuck into Fawkes Towers and …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 60 Comments
Paul Walter

DPMQs: Groundhog limbo dancing

By Paul Walter | Wed 25th May 2011 - 10:57 pm

It was Groundhog Day at Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions this week. The main theme was House of Lords reform. MPs raised, more or less, the same questions that were raised just after Nick Clegg’s original announcement.

If this session is any indication, the main opposition to the proposals will come from Conservative MPs, even though they are more or less committed, by the Coalition Agreement and an expected party whip, to eventually support the reforms. I totted up the MPs asking questions. Two Conservative made neutral points. Asking what seemed to be hostile questions were seven Conservatives, four Labour MPs and one SDLP member. Asking supportive questions were one LibDem, one Labour and two Conservative MPs.

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Posted in Parliament | Tagged | 2 Comments
The Voice

“Chris Huhne has achieved more in a year than most top politicians manage in a lifetime”

By The Voice | Wed 25th May 2011 - 9:48 pm

High praise from the Telegraph for Chris Huhne, and deservedly so. Environmental correspondent Geoffrey Lean says Huhne “has been playing a blinder” through the introduction of the Green Investment Bank and the fourth Carbon Budget:

Over the last two weeks, as the crisis he faces steadily deepened, he has been the driving force behind two of the most momentous decisions any administration has taken, ones that could shape Britain’s economic development for the rest of the century, and beyond.

Last week the government adopted the world-beating goal of cutting carbon emissions to half 1990 levels by 2025. No other

…

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The Voice

Liberal Democrats setting the pace on the green agenda – Simon Hughes updates party members

By The Voice | Wed 25th May 2011 - 6:26 pm

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes has emailed party members to update them on the party’s influence in government, in promoting the green agenda. He highlights the Energy Bill, the fourth Carbon Budget, and the Green Investment Bank, detailed this week by Nick Clegg and Vince Cable.

It’s been a great month for Liberal Democrats, who are setting the pace on the green agenda!

  • Two weeks ago, Chris Huhne, as Energy and Climate Change Secretary, led for the government when his Department’s Energy Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons. This creates the framework for the Green Deal,

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 8 Comments
Chris Nicholson

Opinion: What is worrying Labour and the Tories? Part 1

By Chris Nicholson | Wed 25th May 2011 - 3:25 pm

Amidst all the concerns which Liberal Democrats have about future electoral prospects, particularly after the local election and AV referendum results, it would be easy to think that everything in the garden is rosy for Labour and Tories who both made substantial gains in the local elections – it is not.

What’s worrying Labour?

For all the spectacular gains which Labour made in the Northern cities and industrial towns – mostly from the Liberal Democrats – in Parliamentary terms this would amount to, at best, less than a handful of MPs. In Liverpool, Hull and Newcastle the Liberal Democrats do not have …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

Well, this is one way to avoid people leaving your email list

By Mark Pack | Wed 25th May 2011 - 1:35 pm

From Groupon, here is one way to discourage people from unsubscribing from an email list: show them what happens to a member of staff after someone leaves the email list. (Hint: involves throwing coffee.)

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Posted in Online politics | 3 Comments
Danny Dorling

The Independent View: The richest 1% will soon have a record share of our national income

By Danny Dorling | Wed 25th May 2011 - 11:48 am

Just before the general election Nick Clegg complained that the gap between the mean average incomes of the richest fifth as compared to the poorest fifth in Britain had risen from 6.9 to 1 in 1997 to approach 7.2 to 1 towards the end of Labour’s 13 years in power. This shift took the UK one quarter of the way towards becoming as unequal in income as the world’s most unequal large affluent country, the United States.

Within the last 15 months the emergency budget, the March 2011 budget and the comprehensive spending review combined have moved Britain far faster towards …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 30 Comments
Mark Pack

Dealing with the political weather: three lessons to learn

By Mark Pack | Wed 25th May 2011 - 11:18 am

Chatting recently to a Liberal Democrat colleague, I fear we sounded like a second-rate version of the Monty Python four Yorkshireman sketch. That there were not four of us, none of us are from Yorkshire and I’m no John Cleese probably didn’t help the imitation as we exchanged tales of past poll ratings (10%? I remember when we used to dream of 10%) and the travails of leading figures (Speeding? You were lucky – what about missing Parliamentary debates due to drink? Pah, that was luxury. What about conspiracy to murder?).

Exchanging stories of past problems can be fun – especially …

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Mark Pack

Good question from Jo Swinson, good answer from Nick Clegg

By Mark Pack | Tue 24th May 2011 - 10:20 pm

Earlier today there was this exchange in Parliament:

Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD): Will the Deputy Prime Minister reassure my constituents that the Government will resist any siren calls to water down the Equality Act as part of the red tape challenge?

The Deputy Prime Minister: I can certainly confirm that, as far as I am concerned, there will be no move to dilute incredibly important protections to enshrine and bolster equality in this country under the guise of dealing with unnecessary or intrusive regulation.

Good.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 15 Comments
Helen Duffett

LibLink | Sarah Teather: Q&A on special needs provision

By Helen Duffett | Tue 24th May 2011 - 4:15 pm

Children’s Minister Sarah Teather recently took part in an interview followed by a readers’ Question and Answer session for the Guardian about special needs provision:

Sarah Teather, the children’s minister, comes across as genuinely passionate about helping children with special needs. So much so that at one point in the interview, she got quite cross. The health service is failing some of our most vulnerable children, she said. The chance of a child receiving speech and language therapy is “between low and nil”, while the wait for a wheelchair can be “really long”, she said.

On free schools and academies helping …

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Mike Tuffrey

Boris Johnson’s funny money

By Mike Tuffrey | Tue 24th May 2011 - 2:30 pm

With a year to go to the London Mayor and London Assembly elections a strange debate is underway about the huge part of London loosely described as “outer London”.

Remember the last election? One of the strongest attacks on Ken Livingstone was that he was just a “Zone One Mayor”. He was accused of having visited Havana more times than the London Borough of Havering. Three years on and the London Labour Party have decided that no speech, press release, letter or comment can go out without the words “outer London” repeated ad nauseam.

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Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron writes: Enough doom and gloom, we have the greatest opportunity in the history of our party

By Tim Farron MP | Tue 24th May 2011 - 12:53 pm

I don’t know if you noticed, but the elections on May 5th weren’t all that good for the Liberal Democrats. There was that business of the referendum defeat too. In much of the country we got an absolute pasting.

Journalists and non-political friends keep coming up to me with pained expressions, asking if I’m all right, speaking to me as if I’ve just suffered a bereavement. I smile back and tell them to get stuffed – I’m used to 2 things as a Liberal this last 25 years 1) losing stuff 2) not giving up!

So I for one am not prepared …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 44 Comments

The Independent View: Where is the promised aid money being spent?

By Joanne Crouch | Tue 24th May 2011 - 11:52 am

In the run up to the 2011 G8 summit in Deauville, France, this May, international humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide is pushing for commitment and clarity on the agricultural aid promises pledged by G8 members  in the 2009 G8 summit in L’Aquila.

Back then, the British Government alongside the other G8 countries committed $22 billion in aid to be distributed over three years as part of the L’Aquila Global Food Security Initiative. The British commitment in particular was for £1.1 billion. These numbers may appear substantial, however they pale in comparison to the $30 billion per year that the UN Food …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged and | 4 Comments
John Hemming MP

John Hemming MP writes: This country has allowed too much secret justice to develop

By John Hemming MP | Tue 24th May 2011 - 10:22 am

What Ryan Giggs wished to kept secret was a trivial issue that has been widely publicised as a result of him having the injunction. It was estimated that some 60% of the population knew who he was.

However, last week he started through his lawyers the process of enforcement of the court order. That was being done through getting from Twitter the details of people who had posted entries on Twitter. Anyone who wanted to keep their identity secret could do so. Hence the only targets they would get are people who live in England or Wales and have posted …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 46 Comments
The Voice

Lord Stoneham defends Goodwin disclosure

By The Voice | Tue 24th May 2011 - 9:16 am

The Liberal Democrat peer who disclosed that former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir Fred Goodwin had a relationship with a senior colleague defended his action last night.

Using Parliamentary privilege, Lord Stoneham of Droxford told peers last Thursday:

Every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland, so how can it be right for a super-injunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague?

If true, it would be a serious breach of corporate governance and not even the Financial Services Authority would be

…

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

I appear to be in a minority in frowning on blackmail

By Mark Pack | Tue 24th May 2011 - 7:53 am

I’m uninterested in the sex lives of footballers. But I don’t like blackmailers. And I don’t think the law should favour them.

Imagine this situation. Someone threatens to publish information about someone’s private life unless they receive a large pay-off to stay silent. I don’t think the law should say – “go ahead, publish away; you might be convicted of blackmail in the future but there’s no reason why anyone should be able to stop you publishing now if your would-be victim doesn’t pay up”.

I think the law should be able to say, “stop; don’t publish until we’ve sorted out those …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 40 Comments
Mark Pack

And the prize for the daftest comment about Chris Huhne goes to…

By Mark Pack | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 8:26 pm

… Tessa Jowell, who has demanded the Prime Minister sets up an independent investigation into the allegations against Chris Huhne.

Yup, in addition to a police investigation into the allegations she also wants a second investigation to investigate the very same things the police are investigating.

I know it can be hard for an opposition to find something to say about a story to muscle in on the media coverage but… it’s no wonder one journalist told me they found her remarks so risible they decided they weren’t usable.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Was Lib Dem MP John Hemming right to name Ryan Giggs as superinjunction footballer?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 8:05 pm

The media can now, openly and legitimately, report the name of the Premiership footballer alleged to have had an affair with a former reality show contestant. That the name ‘Ryan Giggs’ is public is down to Lib Dem MP John Hemming, who ‘outed’ the Manchester United star in the House of Commons this afternoon using Parliamentary privilege. As BBC News reports:

Addressing MPs, Mr Hemming said: “Mr Speaker, with about 75,000 people having named Ryan Giggs it is obviously impracticable to imprison them all.”

House of Commons speaker John Bercow interrupted the MP saying: “Let me just say to the honourable

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 66 Comments
Antony Hook

Opinion: A child dies every 20 seconds from lack of clean water

By Antony Hook | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 3:51 pm

On 19 May, the summit of European-Africa-Caribbean-Pacific parliamentarians (the ACP-EU Assembly) at Budapest called for action to alleviate the global crisis in clean water supply.

One in six people in the world have no access to clean water. 2.5 billion are without clean sanitation and 1.5 million die every year from water contamination.

The report presented to the summit found that there are three main causes of water pollution: industry, agriculture and sewage. In developing countries 70% of industrial waste is dumped untreated into water. The most common source of water pollution, however, is faecal matter.

One of the Millennium Development Goals …

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Stephen Williams

Stephen Williams MP writes: Backbench committees and the louder Lib Dem voice

By Stephen Williams | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 2:53 pm

There has been much talk in recent weeks about how Liberal Democrats show our distinctiveness and make the party’s voice heard more loudly in government.

A key part of this is the role of the Lib Dem parliamentary committees, one of which I co-chair.

These committees are not simply talking shops. They perform two important functions: making our influence felt within government and preparing the ground for party policy in the future.

Increasingly, the fruits of these committees are being seen.

The Coalition Agreement is the contract that underwrites this government. It sets out the policy agenda agreed between ourselves and our Coalition …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , and | 5 Comments
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg’s speech on the green economy

By Helen Duffett | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 2:00 pm

The Green Investment Bank
Photo also available on Flickr.

Nick Clegg gave a speech today on climate change and the green economy, giving more detail on how the Coalition will meet its ambition to be the greenest government ever. (It’s good to see another Lib Dem policy being enacted too.) Nick’s proud that the Liberal Democrats have long been seen by green groups and the general public as the most committed of the main three parties on environmental issues.

In his speech at Climate Change Capital in London, he detailed the workings of the world’s first Green Investment Bank, which aims to close the gap between venture capital and the green economy, provide the finance for low carbon infrastructure and lay the foundation for long-term, balanced growth:

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Posted in News and Speeches | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Rob Blackie

Opinion: Can we campaign on Lords reform?

By Rob Blackie | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 12:27 pm

Let’s face it, Lords reform doesn’t come up on the doorsteps often, however important it is.

But there is one group of people in Britain who Lib Dem Voice readers know, who care deeply about Lords reform. Campaigners for AV, who most of us have spent the last 6 months working with, are overwhelmingly in favour of Lords reform.

So today we can all use Lords reform as a great campaigning opportunity. Simply create a local petition (like this one)  to make sure that your local MP votes for and campaigns for a 100% elected Lords.

Then send this petition to …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Fate of John Dixon and Aled Roberts hangs in the balance

By Mark Pack | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 8:26 am

More details have come of how Welsh Assembly (Possibly) Members John Dixon and Aled Roberts have ended up in the predicament of having their election questioned, but the eventual outcome is still unclear.

Aled Robert’s stood for election despite holding a disqualifying post – with the Valuation Tribunal for Wales. He has since resigned from that position, but the reason he was not aware that it was a disqualifying post is that it was missing from much of the legal guidance available to election candidates and their agents. For example, the Electoral Commission’s official guidance made reference to the wrong …

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Posted in Election law and News | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #222

By The Voice | Sun 22nd May 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 222nd 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 (15-21 May, 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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Mark Pack

LibLink: Vince Cable warns that people underestimate our economic problems

By Mark Pack | Sun 22nd May 2011 - 6:54 pm

The Guardian has an in-depth profile of Vince Cable:

“I think it is not understood that the British economy has declined by 6 or 7% – it is now 10% below trend.” The three deep grooves at the corners of his eyes give a sense of an incipient smile belied by the rest of his face. “We are actually a poorer country, mainly because of the banking crash, the recession that followed it, and partly due to the squeeze we are under due to the changing balance of the world economy. Britain is no longer one of the world’s price setters.

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 3 Comments
Scott Hill

Opinion: Clegg should hit the ejector button

By Scott Hill | Sun 22nd May 2011 - 5:50 pm

Scott’s piece is a continuation of this post from yesterday.

Whilst most coalition disagreements to this point have remained contained, the AV referendum managed to trigger vocal friction. The Conservatives funded, and strongly supported, the ‘No’ campaign. The Lib Dems were passionately backing reform of the voting system through the ‘Yes’ campaign. Let the conflict begin. Initially, David Cameron agreed not to get involved in the referendum. However, following strong early support in favour of a ‘Yes’ vote, he chose to step in. He caused hostility by accusing his coalition partner of “broken promises” and urged the general public to …

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Posted in Op-eds | 69 Comments
Simon McGrath

Opinion: However unfair it is, Chris Huhne should step down

By Simon McGrath | Sun 22nd May 2011 - 2:49 pm

Another morning with the papers dominated by stories about the ever more complicated driving arrangements of Chris Huhne who is now (said to be) saying he can’t remember what happened on the evening in question.

There are accounts of his ex wife’s movements that day, maps showing who was where and allegations that he has asked others to take his points in the past. Perhaps inevitably there are claims of other extra-marital arrangements in the past.

Like everyone else apart from those directly concerned I have no idea whether any of this is true but that is no longer the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 105 Comments
Mark Pack

LibLink: Tyler versus Steel on Lords reform

By Mark Pack | Sun 22nd May 2011 - 2:03 pm

During the week The Guardian ran an exchange between Liberal Democrats Lord Steel and Tyler – the former Liberal Party leader urging the Lib Dems to drop the party’s long-standing policy (and the Liberal Party’s before that) to introduce elections for the Lords, and Tyler responding.

Here’s a sample:

Steel: I am old enough to recall the defeat of Lords reform proposals through getting bogged down in the Commons in a war of attrition led by Michael Foot and Enoch Powell, and I fear the same may happen to these. There is no public clamour for the changes…

Tyler: Westminster is such an

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , and | 5 Comments
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