Nick T

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – The AV vote matters – the no campaign’s scaremongering shows it

By Nick T | Sun 17th April 2011 - 9:26 am

With the AV referendum drawing closer – and postal votes hitting doormats this weekend – there’s plenty of coverage of it in today’s newspapers, including a rather excellent piece in The Observer by former Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown. The majority of Paddy’s piece has its sights firmly set on the increasingly pernicious NO campaign, most pertinently on this week’s “bizarre” intervention into the debate by the chancellor George Osborne –  which unsurprisingly makes it onto The Observer front page.

Here’s an extract of what Paddy has to say:

What I am perplexed and deeply disturbed by is that those

…

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Paul Walter

A final word from Paul Walter

By Paul Walter | Sat 16th April 2011 - 6:22 pm

Thanks very much to the LDV editorial team for letting me guest edit the website again today. This time I decided to randomly approach keen LibDem bloggers to ask them to write posts on any subject. I was very pleasantly surprised by the very enthusiastic response I received.

Thanks very much indeed to Charlotte, Lorna, Dazmando, Andrew, Spidey, Emma, Maureen and Daniel for taking time out from their campaigns to write such splendid posts.

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Andrew Reeves

Opinion: the biggest news story in Scotland

By Andrew Reeves | Sat 16th April 2011 - 5:14 pm

When Paul asked me to write this blog post I was so chuffed to be asked, but, given we are in the middle of the Scottish Parliamentary elections, I was also really worried about being able to find the time to write it.

However, I have found the time and here it is. It may not be what you are expecting.

There is a massive story doing the rounds in Scotland and it is not about the election but about the tragic death of Mercedes the polar …

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Charlotte Henry

Opinion: this time last year…

By Charlotte Henry | Sat 16th April 2011 - 4:11 pm

This time last year…

…the Liberal Democrats were storming up the polls.

Nick Clegg was more popular than Churchill, and Gordon and Dave were regretting ever agreeing to those pesky TV debates.

Our party leader could describe the Iraq war as ‘illegal’ without causing mass panic amongst Downing Street lawyers.

This time last year we were asking people to put us into government.

This year?

This year the Lib Dems jumped into bed with Conservatives.

This year the Lib Dems sold out on tuition fees.

This year the party become ‘just like the others’.

Really? It’s always worth …

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Lorna Dupré

Opinion: A visit to the library

By Lorna Dupré | Sat 16th April 2011 - 3:05 pm

Every Christmas Eve throughout my childhood, a mystery visitor came to the doorstep of our council flat and deposited a bag of children’s books before disappearing into the darkness. S/he never stopped to be recognised or thanked, and we never found out who s/he was, but I still remember the thrill of opening up another consignment of new reading every Christmas.

Even without our mystery benefactor, however, I and my three siblings would have been brought up with books. My father left school at 14 to be …

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Lisa Harding

Opinion: A day in the life of a first time candidate

By Lisa Harding | Sat 16th April 2011 - 2:07 pm

Friday – 4 weeks before Election Day. Mood: Dazed and confused, tired but determined

7am: Woke with a horrible sensation in my gut that I had forgotten to do something. This is happening way too often now.

7.30am: At the laptop in pyjamas, armed with max strength coffee. Writing Focus articles. Spent 3 hours on the doorstep yesterday, so have catching up to do. Whole Focus needs to be rewritten by the end of today. Big story broke in the press. Changing lead story to reflect residents’ anger on …

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Maureen Rigg

Opinion: So what’s it really like on the doorsteps?

By Maureen Rigg | Sat 16th April 2011 - 1:03 pm

A week after nominations closed for the Borough council elections, what’s the reception like on the doorsteps here in Stockton?

To be honest, it’s a bit mixed. In wards where we have Liberal Democrat councillors, the reception is generally good. There are always some people who “don’t do politics”, and that hasn’t changed. There are some who were always going to vote for one of the other parties, and that hasn’t changed. There are many who support us, either because they’re committed Lib Dems (not …

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Emma Bagley

Opinion: Big society or big community?

By Emma Bagley | Sat 16th April 2011 - 12:07 pm

We seem to be stuck in a warp of niceties at the moment. In the bad old days the Tory party was the nasty party. Thatcher flexed her muscles and in a previous downturn we all had to get on our bikes. Yet today we seem to get a different flavour of conservatism. It’s all big society, low interest rates and a penny off fuel duty. What is going on?

I’ll let you into a secret. The Lib Dems may have a little something to do with this. We seem …

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Opinion: Can the Liberal Democrats survive another coalition?

By Dazmando | Sat 16th April 2011 - 11:04 am

We already know how hard a coalition is with the Tories. So what would happen if we get another choice of forming a coalition with this Tory party or Ed Miliband’s Labour at the next general election?

At the moment, perhaps the most likely scenario is a coalition with Labour with less Liberal Democrat MPs. On the plus side Ed Milliband will be wanting to put his new ‘radical’ (maybe) mark on Labour’s story in power. Now this is something we can help him with. We have …

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Daniel Furr

Opinion: We must become the party of liberty

By Daniel Furr | Sat 16th April 2011 - 9:15 am

When William III arrived on these shores in November 1688, the new King proclaimed to maintain the liberties of England and vigorously defend the liberty of his subjects. In the subsequent months, Parliament adopted the Declaration of Rights – The English Bill of Rights 1689. The corner stone of our constitution, which is still in force to this day but sadly has become a forgotten relic of antiquity.

It seems that we in Britain have forgotten about our hard struggles to gain our liberty. When it comes to foreign …

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Paul Walter

Guest editor today – Paul Walter

By Paul Walter | Sat 16th April 2011 - 9:00 am

Astonishingly the editorial team have seen fit to vacate the LDV control tower and let me guest edit the website for another day. Power! Last time, I contacted mainly old LibDem friends who I’ve worked alongside over the years, and got them to write some fascinating posts. Having now exhausted my slim LibDem “Roladex” of contacts, I took a different approach this time. I randomly approached a number of keen LibDem bloggers and asked them to write a post on any subject. To my pleasant surprise, they responded very …

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Sarah Mulley

The Independent View: Rifts on immigration demonstrate real challenges for the Government

By Sarah Mulley | Fri 15th April 2011 - 5:42 pm

David Cameron’s speech on immigration has unleashed a wave of criticism and debate, both inside and outside the coalition government.  Although some of the fallout tells us more about the political dilemmas facing coalition partners who must now fight an election campaign against each other than it does about immigration, today’s discussions have neatly illustrated some of the challenges facing the Government on this issue.

The first is how to best engage in the public debate.  David Cameron is right to say that “the role of politicians is to cut through the extremes of this debate & approach the subject sensibly …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Nick T

Switch to AV would not boost BNP

By Nick T | Fri 15th April 2011 - 5:25 pm

The British National Party has featured surprisingly prominently in the AV campaign so far, since their introduction into the debate by the NO campaign. The BNP are, of course, firmly positioned in the NO camp, not least because they know that they wouldn’t have a hope of winning a Parliamentary election under the system – as their deputy chairman Simon Darby acknowledged to Channel 4’s FactCheck team yesterday.

This comes on the back of a report by the IPPR think tank which analysed the claim of the NO campaign that under AV, second preferences of BNP voters would be decisive …

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The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 15 April 2011

By The Voice | Fri 15th April 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. Norman Lamb writes… The NHS: safe in our hands (27 comments) by Norman Lamb MP
  2. Opinion: Why Labour members should defect to the Liberal Democrats (58 comments) by George Kendall
  3. LibLink: Chris Davies – Be angry, be proud – and campaign hard (40 comments) by Nick Thornsby
  4. Steve Webb writes: working for pensioners, now and in the future (20 comments) by Steve Webb MP
  5. Let Clegg be Clegg (just not toooo much) (12 comments) by Stephen Tall

5 sample LDV Members’ Forum threads

  1. LDV editorial line
  2. Gillian Duffy II
  3. Warren Bradley email
  4. It is not just the state that can take away freedom
  5. What’s it like on the doorstep in your area?

5 from the LDV archive

(15th April, 2006-09)

  1. LDVideo #GE2010 #GoNick – Nick anticipates tonight’s televised debate. But how are we all feeling? (0 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2010
  2. Okay, we can breathe again: who do you think won? (32 comments) by The Voice, from 2010
  3. CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – A greater test is to come (3 comments) by The Voice, from 2009
  4. Was Nick Clegg a student Tory? (46 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2008
  5. Autumn Conference timing: tell us your views (1 comment) by Duncan Brack, from 2007

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron writes… Fairer Votes: so close we can almost touch it

By Tim Farron MP | Fri 15th April 2011 - 3:21 pm

With just three weeks to go until the Scottish, Welsh and local elections as well as a little thing we like to call the most important referendum of our lives so far, this really is the final push to the finish line.

Let’s not pretend that our national poll ratings are going to give us a boost on the ground because they are not. Normally at this time of year we are preparing to buck national trends and create our own local success stories. Back in 1989, when the Lib Dems were on a poll rating of 0%, we’d just had …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 36 Comments
Roger Crouch

Opinion: Vote for Fairer Votes to End Safe Seats

By Roger Crouch | Fri 15th April 2011 - 2:14 pm

I grew up in Bournemouth, a bucolic place beside the sea where very little disturbs the peace. For over a century, Bournemouth’s politics at parliamentary level have been as sedate. In every election since Queen Victoria was on the throne, the same party has won. A candidate dons a blue rosette, shows up and becomes the MP. Whilst the Liberal Democrats have valiantly tried their best in recent elections, the two Bournemouth constituencies are like many places across the country where General elections do not really matter, where elections are a foregone conclusion, places where real power lies in the …

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Chris White

Chris White writes: “We can be like Belgium!”

By Chris White | Fri 15th April 2011 - 12:06 pm

‘Will you be supporting the Liberal Democrat Candidate?’ I asked.

‘No.’

‘Any particular reason?’ I continued, hoping to get a clue as to his particular allegiance.

‘You sold out. I despise the Conservatives.’

‘What choice did we have? We had to have a Government.’

‘Why?’ he retorted. ‘Belgium doesn’t and they do all right.’

Belgium? Is this the best Labour can come up with?

I could have given him a tedious lecture about a country which has no fewer than seven parliaments (not including the European Parliament) and the nuances between the parliament of Wallonia and the parliament dealing with the francophone linguistic community. But I was …

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Posted in Local government and Op-eds | Tagged and | 15 Comments
Joe Taylor

Opinion: Labour are to blame for the “lost generation”

By Joe Taylor | Fri 15th April 2011 - 11:08 am

Here’s a question for you. How have Labour got away with pretending that the crisis of a “lost generation” of young people has nothing to do with them? Listening to Ed Miliband pontificate about the plight of the young in Britain, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Government in which he served had nothing to do with the current crisis of devalued qualifications, lack of jobs, high house prices, crippling debts and a rising cost of living. Those young people who are thinking of joining Labour because they’re angry at the current situation should consider a few facts.

A …

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Helen Duffett

Campaigners! Get the new Facebook app #YES2AV #LibDems

By Helen Duffett | Fri 15th April 2011 - 9:53 am

Lib Dem Voice have launched a new Facebook app to make it easy for you to let your friends on Facebook and Twitter know what campaigning you’ve been doing.

This is a great way of building up a buzz around our campaigning – and the more someone sees their friends have been campaigning, the more likely they are to join in.

You get a list of actions – select one and publish it to your newsfeed.

Some actions are of the simple “I have done” variety whilst others have the …

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Mark Pack

Lord Rennard on the Big Society: “It’s actually quite an old concept”

By Mark Pack | Fri 15th April 2011 - 8:56 am

In February we carried the news that Liberal Democrat peer Lord (Chris) Rennard is chairing the Commission on the Big Society, set up by Acevo, the umbrella body for chief executives. Now he’s been interviewed by Civil Society about this work:

Q: I want to talk to you about your role not just chairing the Commission, but also as a Lib-Dem peer. We’ve heard a lot from the Prime Minister and the Conservative part of the coalition about the Big Society, we’re beginning to hear more from Labour, but we haven’t heard a huge amount from the Lib-Dem side of

…

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The Voice

Lib Dem MP Stephen Gilbert sticks up for first-time buyers

By The Voice | Fri 15th April 2011 - 7:45 am

Stephen Gilbert, Lib Dem MP for Newquay and St Austell, has spoken about his difficulties in getting a foot on the housing ladder in his own constituency. Despite earning over £65k, Stephen is renting a flat until he can build up the higher deposit now needed — usually £25k or more — to secure a first home.

The Cornish Guardian reports:

“This is the double whammy first-time buyers have been affected by,” said the 35-year-old Liberal Democrat. “If I can’t afford a deposit on £65,738, what about the thousands on lower incomes?”

Mr Gilbert said: “I think the Government needs to

…

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The Voice

Simon Hughes on the Coalition: “We have started so we’ll finish”

By The Voice | Thu 14th April 2011 - 10:20 pm

Deputy Lib Dem leader Simon Hughes has signalled in the clearest possible langauge his belief that the party’s coalition with the Consevatives can and will run its full five-year course. In a speech today in Bradford, Simon took the opportunity to state how the Lib Dems are delivering results in government:

Just this month nearly one million low income people stop paying income tax altogether. In the metropolitan borough of Bradford alone, 166,000 basic rate taxpayers will receive a tax cut. And this is entirely because of a policy which was campaigned for by Liberal Democrats in opposition and delivered by Liberal Democrats in government.

You can read Simon’s speech in full below:

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Nick T

LibLink: Julian Astle – Reports of the Lib Dems’ death have been greatly exaggerated

By Nick T | Thu 14th April 2011 - 6:17 pm

Over on his Telegraph blog Julian Astle, after much focus this week on the Liberal Democrats’ short-term prospects in the upcoming local and devolved elections, takes a look at the party’s likely fortunes over a slightly longer period.

It’s a lengthy but perceptive piece which is well worth a read, but in the meantime here’s a short taster:

It would be a mistake to think that the Lib Dems are where they are because of circumstances alone, however. Clegg heads a serious and ambitious cohort of MPs who have no interest in the politics of perpetual opposition. They want to change the

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 16 Comments

Opinion: we’ll have our street parties when Whitehall lets go

By Mike Dean | Thu 14th April 2011 - 3:34 pm

Today, the Prime Minister took on the “pen-pushers and busybodies” whose red tape is threatening hundreds of Royal Wedding street parties up and down the country. In language rather untypical of a Prime Minister, particularly in recent years, he said:

“I hope people are able to join in and celebrate and I am very much saying today that if people want to have a street party, don’t listen to people who say “it is all bureaucracy and health and safety and you cant do it.” It is very important to understand if anyone wants to have a street party you don’t need a food license, you don’t need an entertainment license, you don’t need to have written documents about closing your street, you don’t have to pay for street closures, you don’t have to have special health and safety permission because there are councils out there telling you you do need these things – you don’t.”

Very nice of the Prime Minister to step in. But somehow I imagine few sighs of relief being breathed across the country, people giving up their fights with local councils and digging out their bunting.

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Mark Pack

One Canadian online political campaigning rule unlikely to make it to the UK

By Mark Pack | Thu 14th April 2011 - 2:24 pm

Canada’s CBC News reports:

A politician running to lead the B.C. New Democrats says he is refusing to comply with a requirement of leadership hopefuls to hand over the passwords to their social media accounts.

Nicholas Simons, an NDP MLA who’s hoping to run in the leadership race, says he’s left that information off his nomination package.

The party’s intent is to try to ensure there are no skeletons hidden in candidates’ private profiles.

As the report mentions, leaving aside the gauche politics of this, it’s also rather unwise to demand someone hands over passwords when it is a common feature of terms …

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Evan Harris

Dr Evan Harris fisks: What is really at stake on the health reforms

By Evan Harris | Thu 14th April 2011 - 11:27 am

On 8th April Norman wrote an interesting article here entitled “The NHS: safe in our hands”. That article is a good basis on which to discuss a few of the problems with the bill and the Government’s approach so far.

We should be clear that Norman Lamb is one of the good guys, who spotted earlier than most the problems with the White Paper and the Bill, and has been very clear that it requires radical surgery. He has also been particularly concerned, and this week expressed this publicly, that the pace of change is financially (and …

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George Kendall

Opinion: Why Labour members should defect to the Liberal Democrats

By George Kendall | Thu 14th April 2011 - 10:27 am

If you’re Labour, and want to be an MP in a safe seat, switching to the Lib Dems would be a bad move. Perhaps you like authoritarian policies on law and order, and prefer to avoid difficult decisions on the deficit. If so, the Lib Dems isn’t the party for you.

But maybe you think politics isn’t black and white, that there is good and bad in all the parties, and so working together is a good thing. Perhaps you think that the government should do what will work on law and order, rather than pander to the tabloid press, and …

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Mark Pack

A reason to be sceptical of what the public tells opinion pollsters

By Mark Pack | Thu 14th April 2011 - 8:55 am

Much can be learnt from opinion polls, but a reminder of why not all results should be taken at face value is this:

If there were local council elections in your area on May 5th, how likely would you be to vote in them, where 0 means you will definitely not vote, and 10 means you definitely will vote?

10 – will definitely vote: 52%

This poll is not unusual in showing more people saying they will certainly vote than seems credible – and polls before previous elections (i.e. where we know the actual subsequent turnout) have often shown the number of …

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Posted in Polls | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Youth unemployment: when one in five isn’t one in five

By Mark Pack | Wed 13th April 2011 - 6:37 pm

It normally sounds pretty obvious – you work out the unemployment rate by looking at the number of people in work and the number of people seeking work. But sometimes that leads to rather odd figures, as today’s youth unemployment figures demonstrate.

The Guardian’s headline, One in five young people out of work (headline used on Guardian news page; there’s a longer slightly different headline on the story itself), s pretty typical.

But take your way to page 36, Table 14 and look at the raw numbers and it looks rather different.

Number of 16-24 year-olds: 7,337,000.
Number of 16-24 year-olds unemployed: 963,000

In …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 31 Comments
Matt McLaren

Opinion: Debating AV with the Evening Standard

By Matt McLaren | Wed 13th April 2011 - 4:41 pm

Last Wednesday saw one of the few debates on the issue of AV that are taking place in the run-up to the referendum. Vince Cable paired up with Ken Livingstone to speak for the Yes side, and for the No position Lord Michael Howard teamed up with Olympic Gold Medallist and prominent Labour supporter Martin Cross (with a very humorous Clive Anderson in the Chair).

After Vince opened the debate with a brief overview of the issue, Lord Howard made a good and impassioned speech. However, there seemed to be a contradiction in what he said which thankfully Clive Anderson picked …

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