Mark Pack

You’ve got to love Australian election lawyers

By Mark Pack | Sun 19th December 2010 - 3:25 pm

Whoever wrote Section 245(1) of the 1918 Commonwealth Electoral Act, I salute you.

PenguinsNot only did you add in a provision that the legal obligation to vote in Australian elections does not apply to people who are not qualified to vote, you also added in a provision that being dead is a legally acceptable reason not to vote.

A triumph of legal generosity.

And now, excuse me whilst I go and read Part XVII, “Special Provisions Relating To The Polling In Antarctica”. (I want to find out how to become an Assistant Antarctic …

Continue reading »
Posted in Election law | Tagged | 3 Comments
Advert
The Voice

Newsagents call on Cable to think again on tobacco display ban

By The Voice | Sun 19th December 2010 - 11:27 am

An open letter to Vince Cable from the National President of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents:

Dear Mr Cable,

The National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) would like to express the views of Britain’s small businesses, those at the heart of their local communities, in response to the UK’s proposed tobacco display ban. We do so with the firm support of over 60 backbench MPs who have called on you personally to look again at the proposed ban, as well as 33,000 small family businesses across every town and village in the UK.

These MPs who have signed the open letter understand that the display ban is not a health vs …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 39 Comments
Mark Pack

Transport for London offers up more data for free

By Mark Pack | Sun 19th December 2010 - 9:55 am

Over the summer we reported the welcome news that Transport for London was making more of its data available for others to reuse:

It’s a smart move because it means the emphasis on working out how to make best use of the data shifts from TfL to the wider commercial sector. That means people can experiment (and fail) in a way that is much harder when politicians, media (and yes, bloggers) are looking over your shoulder waiting to shout “Waste of public money!” if an idea doesn’t pan out. It also means that Transport for London can concentrate on what it is (or should be) good at – running transport services, whilst letting those who are good at developing data services and marrying up different commercial ideas can do what they’re good at.

Continue reading »
Posted in London | Tagged and | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Sun 19th December 2010 - 8:55 am

Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there’s new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read.

Continue reading »
Posted in Site news | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Big Society vs Community Politics: grounds for agreement, grounds for disagreement

By Mark Pack | Sat 18th December 2010 - 12:24 pm

David Cameron’s recent speech laying out his vision of the Big Society provides a yardstick to judge it against traditional Liberal Democrat (and before that Liberal) beliefs in community politics.

The underlying motivation for the Big Society, as expressed by Cameron, could have come from one of the many Lib Dem / Liberal pamphlets or articles about community politics:

It comes from the belief that over many decades this country has become too centralised, too bureaucratic and too top-down.

And this is not just inefficient and overly-bureaucratic but also has an insidious cultural effect, because it robs people of responsibility.

Regaining this shared

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 13 Comments
Advert

Carlos Tevez and Local Government

By Martin Land | Sat 18th December 2010 - 11:34 am

So Carlos Tevez would like to leave Manchester City. He still has more than three years to run on his incredibly expensive contract, but has informed the press that he has played his last game for Man. City. Now, I’ve nothing against Man. City (other than them not being Liverpool) and my sympathy lies very much with their owners and management. No club should be bullied in this way, and I hope the rich Middle Eastern owners of Man. City will do football a real favour, by refusing to bow to this pressure and continuing to insist Tevez comes to …

Continue reading »
Posted in Humour, Local government and Op-eds | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

The Saturday debate: What should be done about banker bonuses?

By Mark Pack | Sat 18th December 2010 - 8:55 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

Bonus for bankers are in the news once again, with talks involving the banks not yet reaching any agreement and with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg keeping up the political pressure, telling the Financial Times:

“The banks should not be under any illusion this government cannot stand idly by. It is wholly untenable to have millions of people making sacrifices in their living standards, only to see the banks getting away scot-free…”

Mr Clegg, the son of a banker, said that he wanted

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 58 Comments
Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 17 December 2010

By Helen Duffett | Fri 17th December 2010 - 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. Opinion: Richard Huzzey – “I resign” (224 comments) by Richard Huzzey
  2. Tuition fees: How Liberal Democrat MPs voted (78 comments) by Helen Duffett
  3. Opinion: why I still support the Lib Dems (75 comments) by George Kendall
  4. Tim Farron: Why would any sane progressive give Labour a second glance? (61 comments) by Helen Duffett
  5. Opinion: Planet Earth to Grayson (62 comments) by Richard Kemp

This week’s 5 most active Liberal Democrat online campaigns

  1. Save RAF Leuchars (231 signatures)
  2. Tim Farron MP – Save our cheque (43 signatures)
  3. Save Brent’s Libraries! (17 signatures)
  4. Save Coleford Recycling Centre Petition (10 signatures)
  5. Save Bradford on Avon Swimming Pool (5 signatures)

5 from the LDV archive

(17th December, 2006-09)

  1. The Lib Dem HQ take on the party’s poll ratings (15 comments) by Tom Smithard, from 2009
  2. Steve Goddard on what Peter Tatchell’s resignation means for Oxford East (4 comments) by Steve Goddard, from 2009
  3. Yet another political award – this time from some proper serious people (0 comments) by Alix Mortimer, from 2008
  4. Labour legalises saltires on number plates. Again. (1 comment) by Hywel Morgan
  5. CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – ‘Politics is broken’ (1 comment) by The Voice

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment
Jon Rogers

Opinion: NHS reform on right track

By Jon Rogers | Fri 17th December 2010 - 2:55 pm

I am a GP and Executive Member for Care and Health on Bristol City Council. I have been a GP for nearly 30 years, but I took on the Cabinet role on Tuesday 11th May 2010 – the day the astonishing Coalition was formed between Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs in London.

That Coalition has made some bold proposals for our NHS, and for the way that the NHS works with patients, public health, and local authorities. These proposals drew together themes that Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on for many years such as putting patients at the heart of the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 51 Comments
Adam Corlett

Opinion: Why we need an impact assessment of drugs policy

By Adam Corlett | Fri 17th December 2010 - 2:21 pm

Yesterday, Labour MP and former minister, Bob Ainsworth came out strongly against drugs prohibition. He proposed an “Impact Assessment of the Misuse of Drugs Act”, an “independent, evidence-based review, exploring all policy options” which was welcomed by Lib Dem MP Tom Brake. This is precisely one of the things that the Liberal Democrats for Drug Policy Reform (LDDPR) are calling for and I’d therefore like to give an overview of why an impact assessment is needed and is something that all can support.



1. One has never been done despite strong reasons for concern

Back in 1971, there were no ‘impact …

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

Six senior Kenyans face charges over deaths of 1,200

By Mark Pack | Fri 17th December 2010 - 1:26 pm

In another important step for the International Criminal Court (ICC), on Wednesday its prosecutor announced charges against six high-profile Kenyans, including the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta. The charges all relate to the violence that killed 1,200 people after disputed elections in 2007:

BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says in recent days there has been a degree of panic among some members of the usually untouchable political elite.

Most Kenyans feel these prosecutions are vital in order to undermine the deeply rooted culture of impunity, our correspondent says.

The key question now is whether those accused will hand

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

Returning Officer pay was increased without any idea what it would cost

By Mark Pack | Fri 17th December 2010 - 12:27 pm

A significant increase in the pay of some Returning Officers was quietly introduced by the then Labour government ahead of this year’s general election but no estimate was made as to what the costs would be of rule changes that made the pay more generous.

In March, the Ministry of Justice issued its Returning Officers’ Expenses Guidance Notes Parliamentary Elections (Great Britain) which included, in Section 7.7, an increase in the payments made to Returning Officers for supervising more than one constituency. Previously the payments (worked out on a sum per entry on the electoral register) were tapered if a Returning Officer covered …

Continue reading »
Posted in Election law and News | Tagged | 2 Comments
Alan Riley

Grants not fees – squaring the Lib Dem circle

By Alan Riley | Fri 17th December 2010 - 10:55 am

Liberal Democrats should not give up the battleground of higher education finance just yet. The Party should counter-attack by arguing the case within the Coalition for substantial maintenance grants for students paid out of cutting university bureaucracy and cross-subsidy from foreign students. The Party will have to take on the red tape merchants of British higher education and the immigration obsessives in parts of the Conservative Party. However, taking on bureaucrats and right wing obsessives in the cause of student grants is a far better place from which to win the higher education argument.

Amid the student demonstrations and party …

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

Thinking of standing in May?

By Mark Pack | Fri 17th December 2010 - 8:55 am

If you are hoping to get elected in one of the elections due in May (or, very wisely, are already thinking further ahead), then hopefully you’ve found many of the posts we’ve run over the last few months useful in giving you ideas.

Here’s a quick recap of five of the main posts worth (re)reading over Christmas to look for ideas and tips:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Nick Harvey outlines the UK’s objectives in Afghanistan

By Mark Pack | Thu 16th December 2010 - 9:43 pm

Minister of State for the Armed Forces and Liberal Democrat MP Nick Harvey set out the government’s objectives in Afghanistan in a speech he gave during his visit to Denmark this week. He made clear the limits to what the government is now seeking to achieve:

We do not seek a perfect Afghanistan, but one able to maintain its own security and prevent the return of Al-Qaeda.

This is primarily a mission of national security.

We are neither colonisers nor occupiers.

We are there under United Nations Security Council endorsement and at the invitation of the Afghan Government.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 21 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Chris Huhne – The biggest energy market shake-up in 25 years

By NewsHound | Thu 16th December 2010 - 3:25 pm

Over at the Telegraph, Lib Dem secretary of state for energy and climate change Chris Huhne argues that the UK needs to unlock private investment in its energy market on an unprecedented scale, and ensure the low-carbon revolution at the lowest cost to consumers. Here’s an excerpt:

… on Thursday the Coalition begins a consultation on a reform that would reshape this market more fundamentally than at any time since the 1980s, when the Lawson reforms were the pioneer of Europe’s deregulation. Since then, we have acquired an overlay of instruments – notably the renewables obligation – that has provided a

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

The IFS’s verdict on the Pupil Premium

By Mark Pack | Thu 16th December 2010 - 12:24 pm

At the start of this week details of the Pupil Premium to help the education of the most disadvantaged children were published. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has now run its eye over those details and come up with its verdict:

Pupil premium: simple and transparent financial incentive

The Government’s chosen pupil premium is simple, amounting to £430 per pupil eligible for free school meals no matter which local authority children live in. The Government originally proposed a pupil premium that would have varied in generosity across local authorities, been relatively complex to understand, and gone against the Government’s stated

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 40 Comments
Mark Pack

Ending detention of children for immigration purposes: details and dates published

By Mark Pack | Thu 16th December 2010 - 7:53 am

Today (as predicted) Nick Clegg is announcing the details of how the government will end detention of children for immigration purposes.

Since the government review started on 1 June, the number in detention has dropped sharply – 78 compared to 594 in the same period under Labour in 2009. Now the government is committed both to ensuring that no children are in detention over Christmas and that the policy is completely abolished by May. As previously announced, the family wing at Yarl’s Wood being shut. (More details here.)

Tom Brake (Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 52 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: The Coronation of Basil Brush

By Paul Walter | Wed 15th December 2010 - 9:56 pm

There was all the seasonal fun of the pantomime thrown in to Prime Minister’s Questions today: “Broad brush”, “Air brush”, “Basil Brush” (Cameron’s description of Miliband) – the coalition leadership depicted as the pantomime horse and, of course, “Look behind you”. It was all there.

Ed Miliband in special sotto voce mode, asked about the unemployment increase of 35,000 saying that, with this, Cameron’s claims of being “out of the danger zone” seem “very hollow”. Cameron went on about something called the Work Programme and said claimants were down and vacancies were up.

Miliband (reverting to his bunged-up “Choones” voice) said that …

Continue reading »
Posted in PMQs | Tagged and | 18 Comments
Greg Mulholland MP

Greg Mulholland writes… Just back from canvassing with Elwyn Watkins

By Greg Mulholland MP | Wed 15th December 2010 - 8:29 pm

I am just back from canvassing with Elwyn Watkins in Oldham East and Saddleworth. I’m writing this now from the by-election HQ in Greenfield in Saddleworth.

I came up to help today because I felt it was so important that after a tough week for us as a party, we work together to fight for what we stand for as a party.

Here in Oldham the fight is against a Labour Party that have been caught out lying about their opponent and stirring up racial tensions in order to get elected.

I don’t think there’s a Liberal Democrat who feels that’s right. It was quite clear to me on …

Continue reading »
Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged , and | 22 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dems to move writ for Oldham East and Saddleworth by election tomorrow

By Helen Duffett | Wed 15th December 2010 - 4:12 pm

From Andrew Sparrow’s PoliticsLive blog:

The Lib Dems are going to move the writ for the Oldham East and Saddleworth byelection tomorrow, a party spokesman has just told me. They want the contest to be held on Thursday 13 January. Normally the party that used to hold the seat moves the writ, but this is a convention, not a rule, and the Lib Dems say the constituency has waited long enough for an MP. If Labour opposes the move, there will be a debate and a vote.

I’m sure there is a precedent for holding a byelection campaign over Christmas, but

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged , and | 41 Comments
Ed Maxfield

Opinion: putting Liberalism into statute

By Ed Maxfield | Wed 15th December 2010 - 11:33 am

For the last week or so the Lib Dems have had the look of a rabbit that has got too close to a juggernaut. The urge to stamp a warning and return to safer and more familiar surroundings is understandable.

But while an arcane discussion of the relative merits of J S Mill and T H Green is a reasonable occupation for a History Professor it has no relevance to voters. They are more concerned about the impact on their lives of decisions by Liberal Democrat ministers.

And the impact is extensive because this is shaping up to be the most radical government for thirty years. The Government has set an astonishing pace for reform of public services. In the first six months these have included health, education, policing, the Royal Mail and local government. And they are reforms that are shot through with liberal principles.

Not convinced? Here are extracts from the documents launching each of those reforms:

Ministerial Foreword to the Police and Social Responsibility Bill

This Government’s vision is for a free, fair and responsible society. At the heart of that vision is a radical shift in power and control away from government back to people and communities. Nowhere is that more true than in our plans for policing reform. Reform is critical. Increasing Government interference in recent years has changed the focus of the police. They have become responsive to government targets and bureaucracy rather than to people. They have become disconnected from the public they serve.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 21 Comments
Andrew Duff

Opinion: EU Bill is bad Tory policy

By Andrew Duff | Wed 15th December 2010 - 9:55 am

The European Union Bill is a Tory policy. The Liberal Democrats went into the last election arguing for a referendum on whether the UK should stay in or leave the EU. Thankfully, having lost the election, we were not in a position to test public opinion on that one.

The Conservative party wanted a referendum on the Lisbon treaty in order to repatriate powers and to entrench national sovereignty. On losing the election they discovered that Lisbon was already in force and could not be undone. So their new tactic was to undermine the Lisbon settlement whenever opportunity arose, and it …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , , and | 26 Comments
Mark Pack

Doubling your traffic from Facebook: how best to integrate Twitter, Facebook and your website

By Mark Pack | Wed 15th December 2010 - 8:55 am

Many Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners have both a Twitter account and a Facebook profile alongside their blog or website. Linking the three together efficiently can greatly increase the political impact of them individually, especially as many people find that Twitter is one of the best ways of driving traffic and Facebook one of the best places to get comments, whilst it’s on their website that is more convenient for longer or more detailed content. With each having a different role, how best then to put all three together?

The basic option that many people go for is to have a …

Continue reading »
Posted in Online politics | Tagged , , and | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Barack Obama should be more like Nick Clegg

By Mark Pack | Tue 14th December 2010 - 7:55 pm

A Republican urging Barack Obama to be more like Nick Clegg is not a combination often seen, but that is what Michael Gerson argues in his Washington Post column, in a trans-Atlantic continuation of the debate over what counts as economic fairness:

Addressing the actual causes of inequality should be common ground for the center-left and center-right – and politically appealing to American voters, who are generally more concerned about opportunity than income equality. A mobility agenda might include measures to discourage teen pregnancy; increase the rewards for work; encourage wealth-building and entrepreneurship; reform preschool programs; improve infant and child health;

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 31 Comments
Alex Foster

Is this the first draft of a UK constitution?

By Alex Foster | Tue 14th December 2010 - 5:55 pm

The Cabinet Office have published a book they calling the Draft Cabinet Manual.

You can download a PDF of it.

Here’s a bit of churnalism from the press release.

Continue reading »
Posted in Parliament | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Helen Duffett

Result: GLA Londonwide list selection

By Helen Duffett | Tue 14th December 2010 - 3:12 pm

London Liberal Democrats have today announced their team of candidates for the London Assembly top-up list in 2012. Caroline Pidgeon AM topped the poll of London Liberal Democrat members to lead the London Assembly campaign in 2012.

The list is as follows:

  1. Caroline Pidgeon
  2. Stephen Knight
  3. Bridget Fox
  4. Shas Sheehan
  5. Jeremy Ambache
  6. Merlene Emerson
  7. Emily Davey
  8. Steve Bradley
  9. Marisha Ray
  10. Nick Russell
  11. Ajmal Masroor

Turnout was 55.6%.

Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington and London Spokesperson Tom Brake said:

The Liberal Democrats have a proud record on the London Assembly of holding the Mayor to account. Our Assembly members have led the fight for better value for money from City Hall, better transport services

…

Continue reading »
Posted in London | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 18 Comments
Andrew Stunell MP

Andrew Stunell writes… Localism Bill and finance settlement are defining moment for local government

By Andrew Stunell MP | Tue 14th December 2010 - 2:26 pm

Yesterday was an important day in local government as I and my ministerial colleagues were able to announce the two big planks of our approach to local government over the coming years – the Local Government Finance Settlement and the Localism Bill. They are huge milestones in the Coalition’s programme of reform, and will impact on councils in many important ways.

The Local Government Finance Settlement was always going to be difficult. Cuts have to be made across all areas of government spending, and local government is no different. My top priority in this area has been to ensure that the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Local government and Op-eds | Tagged | 23 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: why I still support the Lib Dems

By George Kendall | Tue 14th December 2010 - 12:38 pm

This has been a hard few months, and there’s been a lot of discussion about why some people no longer support the Lib Dems. But there’s a lot of us who still do. I thought readers of LibDemVoice might be interested in a thread where a few of us explain the reasons why we are still enthusiastic supporters of the party.

Here’s why I am:

Many leftwing commentators write as if there weren’t a £150bn deficit. If the coalition give this as an excuse for the severe cuts, some sigh in frustration, as if this were a tired excuse.

But the …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 80 Comments
Dan Rogerson MP

Dan Rogerson MP writes: the Pupil Premium is launched

By Dan Rogerson MP | Tue 14th December 2010 - 11:22 am

Yesterday the Government announced the details of the brand new Pupil Premium which will make available £2.5 billion a year to children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds by the end of this Parliament. In doing so the coalition is delivering one of the key Liberal Democrat manifesto policies.
Schools will now be able to work out exactly what they will be receiving from next April and how they will be able to use this to help their most disadvantaged children.

I have three young children and care passionately about fostering children’s potential early on. I know that there has been …

Continue reading »
Posted in Parliament | Tagged | 7 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Nick Hopkinson
    Fully agree with Chris’ assessment. We should focus on one defining issue and that indeed should be Europe. That not be because EU membership in an end in its...
  • David Warren
    Some really good points here Matthew! My big concern is how we are falling behind the Greens in urban areas. In my home town of Reading two wards that return...
  • Brian Evans
    The policy of bringing derelict homes into use by means of grants (not exactly what was referenced here, but I have recently heard it in other political comment...
  • David Blake
    There were fewer MPs speaking than I expected and one or two seemed to be always at the microphone....
  • Geoff Reid
    When we live in the worst of times for democracy it ought to be the best of times for saying what we are for....