Liberal Democrat Voice

Nick Clegg in the Observer: “I am a hop and a skip from Cameron’s office.”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th September 2010 - 11:20 am

Nick Clegg is interviewed in today’s Observer, and — as ever with Nick — there are many eminently quotable lines. So here’s a filleted gamble through what he has to say…

On the Lib/Con Coalition:

“It’s seen as unnatural. It’s like cross-breeding between animal strains that shouldn’t,” he says, finally alighting on a comparison from the world of dogs. “We’ve got a sort of Crufts-like language about politics. It’s all about purism and tribalism. And you’re dealing with a government which is a mongrel mix of different blends and ideologies.”

On how the two parties are governing together:

Nick’s not interested in “tearing …

Posted in Conference | Tagged lisa smart and nick clegg | 4 Comments

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Tavish gives conference a postal guarantee

By Iain Roberts | Sun 19th September 2010 - 10:50 am

Tavish Scott, leader of the Lib Dems in Scotland, bravely took the stage on a wet Sunday morning at Liberal Demcrat conference, and gave a cast iron guarantee from Vince Cable on the Royal Mail and Post Office, following from the recent Government announcement that the Lib Dem policy to privatise Royal Mail whilst keeping the Post Offices in public ownership .

The reason behind privatising Royal Mail (the letter-delivering part) is to give it the ability to raise funds from private sources to modernise and improve, to challenge its private competitors.

The commitment from from Vince Cable is:

1. Universal service obligation …

Posted in Conference | Tagged post office, royal mail, tavish scott and vince cable | 12 Comments

The flaw in war reporting from Afghanistan, or why Robert Peston should not be embedded in a McDonald’s for a fortnight

By Mark Pack | Sun 19th September 2010 - 10:24 am

On Wednesday evening I went to a Frontline Club event titled Who is winning the media war in Afghanistan? and was reminded of the way what journalists call “the kinetic stuff” (that is soldiers and shooting to you and me) dominates mainstream TV footage. The set of clips shown to set the scene at the start of the event were all of the kinetic kind and although during the event some journalists made the point that other types of footage is also used – they also conceded that those other reports are not the ones which grab the public …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged afghanistan, frontline club and journalism | 2 Comments

Fringe meeting: How motor sport can benefit local communities

By Ben Taylor | Sun 19th September 2010 - 9:27 am

The Motor Sport Association (MSA) recently commissioned the Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC) at Sheffield Hallam University to evaluate the case for allowing local communities in Britain to stage ‘closed road’ motorsport events.

The study found that the economic impact of the current portfolio of stage rallies, hill climbs and sprints in the UK is estimated to be ‘at least’ £23m per year. However, the report also found that up to £40m of economic benefit could be delivered to local communities over the next five years by allowing 20 motor sport events on public roads in Britain, at no cost to …

Posted in Conference, Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged motor sports association | 3 Comments

Help spread the word about LDV’s event today

By Alex Foster | Sun 19th September 2010 - 8:55 am

LibDemVoice are hosting four events at conference – fuller details are available here.

It was brave of us to have events on two consecutive days, particularly as many of us are nursing hangovers after the display of the BOTYs last night.

And yet, our next event featuring the lovely Dr Evan Harris and the erudite Will Straw takes place this lunchtime.

If you’d like to come along, why not click here to let your twitter friends know.

Posted in Conference and Events | Tagged evan harris and will straw | Leave a comment

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PODCAST: Blog of the Year Awards 2010

By Alex Foster | Sun 19th September 2010 - 1:19 am

Earlier tonight, the Blog of the Year Awards reached their fiery climax.

Helen Duffett has already brought you the stunning results, congratulated the winners and commiserated with the runners up.

All that remains is my duty to bring you, the loyal listener at home who maybe can’t be at conference this year, the recording of the proceedings.

And, technology permitting, you should find that below.

Happy listening!

Posted in Conference, Events and Podcasts | Tagged blog of the year awards | Leave a comment

Blog of the Year Awards 2010: The Winners

By Helen Duffett | Sat 18th September 2010 - 11:26 pm

What’s loosely termed the awards “ceremony” for the 2010 Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards has just drawn to a glittering close. As the last firework fades in Liverpool’s night sky, I’m delighted to announce the winners:

Posted in Best of the blogs and Conference | Tagged blog of the year awards, featured, millennium dome, nick thornsby and richard flowers | 4 Comments

Clegg: first past the post is a relic that deserves to be consigned to the past

By Mark Pack | Sat 18th September 2010 - 7:34 pm

Speaking at tonight’s Yes to Reform! rally at the Liverpool LibDem conference, Nick Clegg was joined by Jo Swinson MP, former independent MP Martin Bell, actor Art Malek and others. You can also now download campaign materials and find out more about the Fairer Votes Referendum at www.libdems.org.uk/fairervotes.

This was the text of Nick’s speech:

The last few months have been some of the most remarkable in the history of our party. I’m proud that for the first time in our party’s history Liberal Democrats will be addressing a party conference as Secretaries of State and government ministers. And it’s fantastic to …

Posted in Conference and News | Tagged av referendum and nick clegg | 18 Comments

Will technology kill bureaucracy?

By Mark Pack | Sat 18th September 2010 - 5:28 pm

Earlier today the Liberal Democrats kicked off the process to revise the party’s policy on information technology and intellectual property with a consultation session at the party’s Liverpool conference. Technology is also a theme explored in the Litmus newspaper jointly produced by Lib Dem Voice, Left Foot Forward and Conservative Home, with pieces from Tom Watson, Stephan Shakespeare and Richard Allan on this topic. We’ve reproduced Richard’s piece below and you can read the full newspaper either via the hard copies in conference registration packs or online at www.litmustest.org.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged litmus and richard allan | 5 Comments

The 2010 general election in historical perspective

By Duncan Brack | Sat 18th September 2010 - 4:27 pm

John Curtice, well-known psephologist and one of the relatively few political academics to take the trouble to study and understand the Liberal Democrats, has published his analysis of the 2010 election from a Lib Dem point of view.

Writing in the latest issue of the Journal of Liberal History, he looks at why the Liberal Democrat ‘surge’ eventually failed to deliver and why the party’s natural disappointment at the result may be masking what was in reality an impressive result – the second best, in terms of seats, since 1929, and the second best, in terms of votes, since 1923.

However, the …

Posted in Conference | Tagged dennis kavanagh, james gurling, john curtice and liberal democrat history group | 4 Comments

Final details for our Fringe tomorrow

By Alex Foster | Sat 18th September 2010 - 3:20 pm

Many many thanks to Lib Dem Voice editor Helen Duffett for organising our major fringe event tomorrow. She’s been hunting around the country for the best talent to speak to us, and has overcome many seemingly insurmountable obstacles to bring a stellar event to the conference.

Hall 1B is a lovely room with a giant set of seats sitting on an enormous turntable, for reasons that will probably become clear if you come and see the fringe.

Without further ado, our speaker lineup is:

Evan Harris

Susan Kramer

Will Straw

The title is:

Fairer? For Whom?

As will all our fringe events, we are planning …

Posted in Conference and Events | Tagged evan harris, susan kramer and will straw | 1 Comment

Opinion: Lib Dems must ignore the coalition, and work towards victory in 2015

By Jonathan Hunt | Sat 18th September 2010 - 2:28 pm

Over the next few days, Lib Dem loyalists will discover for themselves the frustration and futility of supporting the coalition. They may stand on the sidelines, shouting “Well played!” “Foul!” or “Offside!”. It will make little or no difference. There is no role for party activists.

For according to Vince Cable, the coalition is “just business”. And the business of coalition government is to do unpopular and illiberal things. Nothing here for activists to sell on the doorsteps to voters sympathetic to our usual menu of fairness, redistribution and liberty.

So what are dedicated Lib Dems to do – wait for a …

Posted in Op-eds | 29 Comments

Jo Swinson invites Lib Dems to join campaign for fairer voting system

By The Voice | Sat 18th September 2010 - 1:15 pm

An email to Lib Dem members, signed by Jo Swinson, is promoting the Lib Dem rally taking place on Saturday evening, with some high-profile guest speakers, as the party gears up for next May’s referendum:

On Saturday, join Nick Clegg, Art Malik, Martin Bell, some surprise special guests and myself as we launch our campaign for a fairer voting system.

As you know , Nick Clegg is leading the fight in Parliament to secure the United Kingdom its first ever referendum on electoral reform.

Fighting for fairer votes will be one of the top priorities for the Liberal Democrats this coming year –

…

Posted in Conference | Tagged #ldconf, electoral reform and Jo Swinson | Leave a comment

Liberator: new edition on sale now

By The Liberator Collective | Sat 18th September 2010 - 12:18 pm

Liberator subscribers will be picking up the latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.341 – September 2010) this week from the Liberator stall at the Liverpool party conference. For those of you not yet subscribing, here’s a summary of the contents:

The editorial column Commentary questions why the Liberal Democrats aren’t fighting their corner within the coalition and carving out a more distinct position. There is also a lament for the ignorance of the media about the Liberal Democrats, likely to be worse than ever in Liverpool because so many media ‘newbies’ will be showing up.

…

Posted in News | Tagged liberator magazine | 1 Comment

LibLink: Chris Rennard – The point of goverment

By NewsHound | Sat 18th September 2010 - 11:35 am

CommentIsFree has published a piece from Liberal Democrat peer Chris Rennard about the coalition, its future and what the party’s priorities should be. The Guardian has published an abbreviated version of the piece, the full version of which we publish here:

Liberals and Liberal Democrats became accustomed over many decades to attending our party conferences amidst media reports of the party’s imminent demise. At one of the first that I attended, I remember the then Liberal Leader Jeremy Thorpe describing how the “Fleet Street hearse” regularly turned up to the Liberal Assembly but went away empty. The Lib Dem Conference …

Posted in LibLink and Op-eds | Tagged chris rennard | Leave a comment

Help spread the news about the BOTYs tonight

By Alex Foster | Sat 18th September 2010 - 10:45 am

LibDemVoice are hosting four events at conference – fuller details are available here.

The first of these falls tonight, at the Blog of the Year Awards.

If you’d like to come along, why not click here to let your twitter friends know.

Posted in Conference and Events | Tagged blog of the year awards and events | Leave a comment

Political Dragon’s Den – now with added video

By Jo Shaw | Sat 18th September 2010 - 9:55 am

If you want the chance to pitch your idea to our expert panel at our fringe, you have until noon on Sunday 19th September to email your pitch to [email protected].

You need to be able to attend the fringe which is at 1pm on Wednesday 22nd Sept in Liverpool ACC Hall 11C to speak for your idea!

Hope to see you there!

Posted in Conference | Leave a comment

Government as glorified semaphore team? No thanks

By Mark Pack | Sat 18th September 2010 - 8:57 am

I’ve decided which political cliché I most hate. It’s “it would send a strong signal…” along with its sibling “it would send the wrong signal” and its cousin “it would send the wrong message”.

Government is not just about money and regulation decisions; inspiring, questioning, warning and all manner of rhetoric have their role.

But don’t call for money or regulations just to signal something.

If the substance is right, justify the money or regulations on those grounds. And if you only want to send a signal, don’t summon up the law makers or accountants – summon up a good speech writer. If …

Posted in Op-eds | 4 Comments

Citizen video journalism to hit the streets of Liverpool

By The Voice | Sat 18th September 2010 - 7:45 am

Chris Henry of Winkball.com writes for Lib Dem Voice about the site’s plans to give up to 10,000 members of the public their say on the big three issues facing the country…

This weekend sees the party political conference season continue with the Liberal Democrat Party conference in Liverpool. Much debate will certainly surround this conference after the Liberal Democrats found themselves in alliance with the Conservatives to form a coalition government after the drama of Britain’s hung parliament crisis in May.

With the media storm that surrounds this the party political season, one media outlet will be

…

Posted in YouTube | Leave a comment

Ming on university funding: new system may gain his support

By The Voice | Sat 18th September 2010 - 6:45 am

Former Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell was one of the party’s first MPs to indicate unhappiness with the Coalition’s programme for government, stating he would vote against any increase in student tuition fees that October’s Browne review on university funding might recommend. Under the terms of the Coalition agreement, Lib Dem MPs were supposed only to abstain on any such measure.

However, this week’s Times Higher Education Supplement indicates that the Coalition’s proposals for a graduate contribution may just be enough to win Ming over:

Speaking in the run-up to the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool starting on 18 September,

…

Posted in News | Tagged david ward, higher education, julian huppert, Ming Campbell, tuition fees and universities | 3 Comments

Lib Dem Voice comments policy for internal party elections

By Stephen Tall | Fri 17th September 2010 - 11:55 pm

A site housekeeping notice follows…

Liberal Democrat Voice is an independent website, and therefore is not bound by the rules governing the party’s selections.

However, we are happy voluntarily to operate our editorial policy in the spirit of selection rules adopted by the party.

Where those rules ban endorsements generally any comments that would infringe these rules will be withdrawn (eg, a comment saying “I’ll be voting for Herbie Asquith”, or “Don’t vote for Bill Gladstone; he supports chopping down trees”).

However, where endorsements are permited, either generally or outside of the formal manifestoes, we will allow such comments as long as they …

Posted in Party policy and internal matters and Site news | 4 Comments

Lib Dem councillor in Barnsley joins Labour

By The Voice | Fri 17th September 2010 - 10:02 pm

The BBC reports:

Barnsley’s only Liberal Democrat councillor has joined Labour because of her opposition to her party’s decision to join a coalition government. Sharron Brook had represented the town’s Dearne Valley South ward as a Liberal Democrat since 2003. Her decision to switch to Labour, which controls Barnsley council, came after she was briefed on the government’s plans for children’s services. “It was on impulse really, I’d had enough,” she said.

Cllr Brook gained some prominence in the summer, when she circulated a leaflet denouncing the Lib Dems’ decision to go into coalition with the Conservatives, telling voters she was …

Posted in News | Tagged barnsley, defections, mohammed illyas and sharon brook | 25 Comments

LibLink: Paris Gourtsoyannis – Why I still agree with Nick… sort of

By NewsHound | Fri 17th September 2010 - 8:45 pm

Paris Gourtsoyannis was editor of the Journal, a newspaper serving Edinburgh’s higher education institutions, last year, and is a Lib Dem supporter. In an article for the paper, Paris sets out reasons for continuing to back Nick Clegg and his party — here’s an excerpt:

You only have to listen to the chatter from the right of the Conservative party to understand the effect that the Liberal Democrats are having on the government. Crusty relics like Norman Tebbit and John Redwood speak for the silent majority in rural Conservative safe seats, and they’re aren’t happy. That makes me happy: it’s one

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged nick clegg and Paris Gourtsoyannis | 6 Comments

Opinion: a real chance to stop murder, torture and organised sexual violence in Burma

By Antony Hook | Fri 17th September 2010 - 6:39 pm

On 29 November 2003, a woman’s body was discovered near a farm by her husband and other people from her village. She was 20 years of age and her name was Naang Sa. She and her husband Zaai Leng had been approached, three days before, by 40 soldiers from the Burmese Army. Zaai Leng was tied up and Naang Sa was gang raped. The soldiers took her back to their base and her dead body was left at an unknown time during those three days, completely unconcealed, to be found by those who loved her.

Events such …

Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged burma/myanmar | 6 Comments

John Pugh MP writes on the health debate ahead at Lib Dem conference

By John Pugh | Fri 17th September 2010 - 5:10 pm

The Coalition White Paper on Health could be the top topic at the Lib Dems’ Liverpool conference. There is still time for delegates to have a genuine impact on future legislation.

Previous soundings on LibDemVoice.org have produced a thoughtful and largely critical postbag with the results passed on to the party’s Health Minister, Paul Burstow.

Paul, and indeed Nick Clegg, believe there is plenty in the White Paper Liberal Democrats should warmly support — such as the increased commissioning role for GPs, and the increased role of local authorities in public health. Others point out that Coalition agreements to have …

Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | 8 Comments

The Independent View: a Digital Economy, can the Coalition Government make it a reality?

By Richard Rumbelow | Fri 17th September 2010 - 3:53 pm

Delivering a Digital Economy is a critical test for the new government. A pledge in the Coalition Government Agreement, the Departments of Business and Culture, Media & Sport now face the challenging task of ensuring broadband is rolled out across the UK by end of this Parliament. But why is access to broadband—and next generation broadband– so crucial?

There are two crucial econ-political reasons for the government to support the expansion of broadband. The coalition has emphasised repeatedly that broadband infrastructure and access to services, particularly for the UK’s business community, will drive the UK economy …

Posted in Conference, Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged digital britain | 1 Comment

Opinion: Localism? They don’t know the meaning of the word!

By Chris White | Fri 17th September 2010 - 3:45 pm

Any Liberal Democrat will tell you he or she believes in localism. So it may be surprising that we have a ‘graveyard slot’ debate next Tuesday on what ought to be familiar territory.

What’s more, we are given to believe that the Coalition Government, despite what we always thought about the Tories, is also pursuing an aggressively localist agenda.

Up to a point, Lord Copper.

On a good day the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government does indeed talk the talk and walk the walk of devolving power. But he also has bad days. He has told councils that …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged communities and local government and localism | 8 Comments

The Independent View: Beware! A two tier state education system is being created

By Michael Bassey | Fri 17th September 2010 - 2:25 pm

Lib Dem MPs need to take a vital role restraining the exuberance of the Coalition’s secretary of state for education. His enthusiastic promotion of academy status for top ranking schools (as opposed to the previous government giving this to struggling schools) and his determination to get parents and others to set up state-funded free schools answerable only to himself, is in danger of creating a two-tier system of state education.

These innovations are driven by political ideology rather than by educational evidence and professional advice. They will undermine the erstwhile democratic attempts by local authorities, once supported by …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged education | 17 Comments

Labour councillor suspended after electoral paperwork found dumped

By Mark Pack | Fri 17th September 2010 - 1:57 pm

The local Labour party in Bury has suspended one of their councillors, Tamoor Tariq, and Manchester police are investigating following the discovery of a series of confidential electoral documents dumped in Brandlesholme.

The local newspaper lists the items as including,

Election canvas sheets containing hundreds of names and addresses of Redvales residents and details of how they intended to vote at the last election — postal General Election ballot papers — a confidential letter from the Governors of the Derby High School — documents and letters addressed to Cllr Tariq at his home in Gigg Lane, Bury — unopened letters addressed to

…

Posted in Election law | Tagged bury and tamoor tariq | 3 Comments

The Independent View: Political Innovation No.4 – opening policy research to the public

By The Voice | Fri 17th September 2010 - 1:10 pm

This is a guest cross-post by Ivo Gormley – originally posted on the Political Innovation site here.

Although Government claims to want our participation and wants us to appreciate its policies, it hides the evidence on which it bases its policies in fat documents and reports that are hard to read and only available free at special events at think-tanks around Whitehall.

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 1 Comment

Op-eds

Britain should be proud, but never afraid of the stranger (Anton Georgiou)
Where is that ‘Yesss’ moment going to come from? (Chris Bowers)
Mathew on Monday (Mathew Hulbert)
You can’t elect a Community Champion without a community (Elin Kingston)
Words matter, use them carefully! (Leon Duveen)

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Lib Dem Women: Amplifying women’s voices at Conference

Christine Jardine to stand down as MP at next election

What does a Lib Dem “trans activist” look like?

Caron’s kitchen table diary

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Will Straw

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