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LibLink: The Lib Dems’ policy shortage

By NewsHound | Published Fri 30th March 2012 - 12:06 pm

Lib Dem Voice’s ubiquitous co-editor, Mark Pack, has been writing for Total Politics.

He says:

Performers who make the leap from stage show to the TV very often run into a simple problem: TV eats up material at a fearsome rate. A stage show can be repeated around the country for months with only a few tweaks as events or audience feedback requires it. TV, however, requires completely new material each week.

A similar problem has befallen the Liberal Democrats when it comes to policy. In opposition sticking to saying only a few things repeatedly was an advantage;

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged Mark Pack, policy making | 9 Comments

Opinion: the Government’s new integration strategy – when are we going to learn?

By Issan Ghazni | Published Tue 27th March 2012 - 2:52 pm

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) recently published and launched its new integration strategy – “Creating the Conditions for Integration”. Following discussions with many concerned Lib Dem party members and feedback from Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community organisations involved in race equality work, I am now more convinced than ever that this document does little to address the persistent racial inequalities that exist across the nation. The Government for their part are trumpeting this publication as equivalent to a race equality strategy – although one which has diminishing credibility within BAME communities up and down the …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged diversity, emld, integration strategy | 6 Comments

Another big money political scandal: can Lib Dems force Tories & Labour to take it seriously this time?

By Stephen Tall | Published Sun 25th March 2012 - 11:53 am

Let’s remember the words of David Cameron two years ago:

… there is another big issue that we can no longer ignore. It is the next big scandal waiting to happen. It’s an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long, an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money. I’m talking about lobbying – and we all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way. In this party, we believe in competition, not cronyism. We believe in market economics, not crony capitalism. So we must be the party that sorts all this out.

Now let’s fast-forward to the words of the Tories’ leading fundraiser (until last night):

Posted in News | Tagged christopher kelly, david cameron, nick clegg, party funding, peter cruddas | 20 Comments

What Liberal Democrat Bloggers are saying about the Budget – Part 2

By Caron Lindsay | Published Thu 22nd March 2012 - 7:55 pm

The Liberal Democrat blogosphere is continuing to talk about the Budget, so here are some of the latest offerings.

Sandy Walkington thinks that the Budget is a dish best observed cold.

I tend to aim off from all instant, hyperbolic reactions to the Budget. When I worked as a press officer in the oil industry, Budget Day was a time for synthetic outrage at the latest iniquity heaped on the long suffering motorist or on the plucky explorers of the North Sea. And then the sun continued to rise and set.

In the current global economic circumstances which only compound the reckless public

…

Posted in News | Tagged budget, jonathan calder, liberal democrat bloggers, mark thompson, neue politik, sandy walkington | 10 Comments

The Independent View: Budget lifts a million people out of Income Tax

By Ben Norman | Published Wed 21st March 2012 - 7:33 pm

The news that the UK’s February borrowing figures were the worst on record did not exactly provide the Budget mood music the Chancellor was hoping for. Then again, the stark reminder that the UK is living well beyond its means serves to buttress his arguments about the need to control spending. There is no money to spend, and even with the current deficit-cutting fervour from Number 11 the UK remains at the whim of global bond markets.

So how did George do? The stamp-duty increase on homes worth more than £2 million is eminently sensible, but must be accompanied by the …

Posted in Op-eds, The Independent View | Tagged budget, economy, tax | 21 Comments

Opinion: Jobs and the economy must feature in Brian Paddick’s mayoral campaign

By Joe Bourke | Published Wed 21st March 2012 - 3:55 pm

Last weekend, in common with many Team London activists, I was out delivering literature for the upcoming mayoral election.

In a recent Ipsos MORI poll, commissioned by BBC London, some 59% of respondents cited jobs; growth and the economy as the most important issues that Londoners say will help them decide who to vote for in the upcoming mayoral election. This chimes with my own experience of feedback on the doorstep.

Tackling crime (49%), improving public transport (38%) and building cheap homes (37%) were the other top issues.

During the 2008 election, our candidate Brian Paddick, polled a little less than 10% of …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brian paddick, economy, jobs, london mayoral election | 2 Comments

Road sell-off plan unveiled

By Paul Walter | Published Mon 19th March 2012 - 7:25 am

From today’s Guardian front page:

David Cameron will clear the way for a multibillion-pound semi-privatisation of trunk roads and motorways as he announces plans to allow sovereign wealth funds from countries such as China to lease roads in England.

Just 48 hours before the budget, the prime minister will give a speech calling for radical action to improve Britain’s infrastructure, which is falling behind those of key competitors in Europe.

In his most eye-catching proposal, Cameron will announce that the Treasury and Department for Transport are to carry out a feasibility study looking at using private-sector funds to improve and maintain trunk

…

Posted in News | Tagged Road transport | 9 Comments

‘How can Lib Dems avoid oblivion?’ asks PoliticsHome

By Stephen Tall | Published Sun 18th March 2012 - 10:38 am

Over at PoliticsHome, Mark Gettleson puts Lib Dem campaigning under the microscope to ask what the 2015 general election might hold for the party. He makes four points:

1. In 2010, the Lib Dems won the air war and lost the ground war

There had been an uncoordinated increase in votes – around a million – largely in seats they were not going to win. But what was clear was that the party lacked the kind of national organisation into which to feed the volunteers of Cleggmania, the ability to measure success in given seats (few saw the loss of Harrogate

…

Posted in News | Tagged connect, general election 2015, mark getteleson, tim farron | 38 Comments

The LibDemVoice comments policy: why we moderate & how to avoid us moderating you

By Stephen Tall | Published Sat 17th March 2012 - 2:35 pm

There are many aspects of running this site that the LibDemVoice editorial collective actively discuss: which articles to publish and when, which adverts to accept and which to reject — and, most spiritedly, how to define our comments moderation policy.

Until two years ago, we didn’t really have a policy: basically it was a free-for-all until somebody complained, or a lawyer got in touch. Partly in response to the latter — but more especially in response to reader feedback that the comments threads were too often a no-go zone for all but the most thick-skinned — we started to …

Posted in Site news | 36 Comments

How many Liberal MPs can you get in a taxi? *

By Mary Reid | Published Fri 16th March 2012 - 10:55 am

I guess I am the only Lib Dem Voice editor who actually remembers the Orpington by-election of 1962. I was not old enough to vote (in case you were wondering) and I did not actually get involved in campaigning, but the excitement of the event certainly made an impression on me as a young supporter of the Liberals.

Eric Lubbock, now Lord Avebury, gained a huge swing in Orpington, taken mainly from from the Conservatives. That victory was widely perceived as a turning point for the party. For many years before, Liberal support had been declining; the standing joke was …

Posted in News | Tagged liberal party, orpington | 7 Comments

The Independent View: Why the women-in-the-boardroom brand of feminism is limited

By Tess Lanning | Published Fri 16th March 2012 - 8:42 am

The government has reaffirmed its commitment to encourage firms to put more women on their boards in the wake of the launch of the first annual progress report on Lord Davies of Abersoch review of Women on Boards. In the run up to International Women’s Day last week various high profile women, from Cherie Blair to Jeanette Winterson, also argued that gender parity on company boards is the defining issue for women’s equality.

Much of the debate has centred on how to get there. The government favours a light touch approach, hoping businesses will see sense in response …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged women | 5 Comments

In other news… Vince, Telegraph inaccuracy, Lembit, Eastleigh, Boundary Commission, site news

By Stephen Tall | Published Sun 11th March 2012 - 5:15 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past week…

Vince Cable on that leaked letter to No. 10 (and other matters (The Guardian)

“We’re no longer arguing about fiscal policy – monetary policy’s now taking on most of the heavy lifting anyway,” he says as he notes that Labour has now accepted the need for fiscal discipline. “So the argument has shifted into a debate around how active government should be in promoting the recovery. Is it getting out of the way or is government being proactive and positive? That was the purpose

…

Posted in News | Tagged boundary commission for england, chris huhne, daily telegraph, eastleigh, ed joyce, gerard vernon-jackson, lembit opik, local government boundary commission, mary reid, prateek buch, sara bedford, sayeeda warsi, vince cable | Leave a comment

The Independent View: why proposals for secret trials should be opposed

By Clare Algar | Published Fri 9th March 2012 - 8:35 pm

A “chilling threat to liberty and justice” an “excessive and dangerous” move which would “shake our constitution to its common law roots” tilting it “towards the closed courts…so favoured by despots” and miring individuals in “Kafkaesque cases.”

As the Liberal Democrat Spring conference approaches, the disturbing potential of the Government’s plans to extend secret justice across the country’s civil courts has hit the headlines, with the Mail, Times, Guardian, Independent and FT all united in condemnation.

That sense of alarm is also becoming apparent within the party. Tom Brake, chair of the backbench …

Posted in Conference, News, Op-eds | Tagged ministry of justice, security policy | Leave a comment

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Published Thu 8th March 2012 - 3:50 pm

Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email?

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.

Posted in Site news | Leave a comment

Opinion: Lost a guru? Try democracy instead

By Maria Pretzler | Published Wed 7th March 2012 - 1:57 pm

Reports suggest that Steve Hilton’s departure from Downing Street will leave the Conservatives desperately short of ideas. This seems astonishing: Liberal Democrats surely don’t need to turn to expensive advisers for creative ideas, new initiatives and the odd quirky example of tangerine sky thinking! Party members present and debate ideas at conference, and the party does not usually suffer from a shortage of novel suggestions. But these debates also produce serious policies, something which was perhaps beneath Steve Hilton’s pay grade.

These differences in how the two coalition parties handle policy making have a direct impact

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged steve hilton | 5 Comments

Campaign Corner: How can I best use Facebook?

By Mark Pack | Published Mon 5th March 2012 - 3:50 pm

The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.

Today’s Campaign Corner question: How can I get the best out of Facebook for my ward branch?

Around half the UK’s population is on Facebook, so if you’re wondering what to spend time on campaigning online, then Facebook is a very good choice (perhaps these days it is second only to email). Three pieces of advice then, as is traditional:

Posted in Campaign Corner, Online politics | Tagged facebook, featured | 4 Comments

Opinion: Opening up the benefits of renewable energy means considering much more than just the size of subsidies

By Simon Beard | Published Fri 2nd March 2012 - 11:25 am

At present for somebody to benefit from the subsidies offered to small scale renewable energy production they must have three things:

1 – Ownership of a property suitable for producing renewable energy

2 – A substantial amount of capital to invest in installing the technology and

3 – The opportunity to invest this capital for 25 years, with no possibility of early pay back unless they sell their house, in which case it is an open question what return they might receive.

Unsurprisingly this leave most people unable to access these benefits, even though many may have something to contribute to renewable energy production, …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged feed-in tariffs, renewable energy | 5 Comments

In other news… London PPBs, Clegg paint attack, Turing pardon latest, Darlington Lib Dem leader barred

By Stephen Tall | Published Sun 26th February 2012 - 5:35 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past week…

Lib Dems fight reduction of their party political broadcasts in London (Guardian)

Provisional plans being drawn up by the BBC suggest giving the Lib Dems two party political broadcasts for the elections – the same as the Green party – rather than the three the Lib Dems enjoyed alongside Labour and the Conservatives in 2008. … A party source said the Lib Dems were confident the decision would be overturned, given that they have seven MPs in the capital, 246 councillors, and

…

Posted in News | Tagged alan turing, darlington, john leech, martin swainston, nick cleg | 4 Comments

PMQs: Tragedy, comedy and the Continuing Saga of the Family Bone

By Caron Lindsay | Published Thu 23rd February 2012 - 4:28 pm

I’m not used to learning anything from the weekly pantomime that is Prime Minister’s Questions. Sadly, though yesterday’s session brought me the news of the death of Marie Colvin, the veteran Sunday Times reporter whose often heartbreaking reports from war zones I’ve been reading most of my adult life. Both David Cameron and Ed Miliband paid tribute to her work, the latter calling her brave, tireless and an inspiration to women in her profession. More tragedy followed as Sajid Javid, the MP for Bromsgrove, asked the PM to join in with sympathy for those killed and injured in the bus crash …

Posted in News, Parliament | Tagged alex hilton, david cameron, ed miliband, julian huppert, marie colvin, mike crockart, nick clegg, peter bone, PMQs | 4 Comments

“A shitty time to be a liberal”: The Economist’s must-read piece on the Clegg paradox (and 2 reasons why it’s wrong)

By Stephen Tall | Published Sun 19th February 2012 - 9:55 am

There’s a must-read column by The Economist’s Bagehot this week focusing on the Lib Dems’ dilemmas, titled The Clegg paradox. It’s a serious and weighty analysis, which asks some uncomfortable questions of the party’s strategy. Here’s it’s conclusion:

At a recent meeting of the Lib Dem parliamentary party, Tim Farron, an ambitious left-winger and party president, reportedly cheered this anti-Tory success, but bemoaned the fact that unelected peers had led the charge against the NHS reforms and got the credit for it, rather than Lib Dem MPs who need votes. That drew a rebuke from Jeremy Browne, a foreign office

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged bagehot, featured, nick clegg, the economist | 18 Comments

What The Spectator says: ‘Obama the Lib Dem’. (PS: It may even be a compliment.)

By Stephen Tall | Published Tue 14th February 2012 - 8:12 pm

Over at The Spectator, Jonathan Jones looks at the US and UK approaches to their forthcoming budgets — cutting the deficit, taming debt, etc — and his fourth and final point concludes:

Obama the Lib Dem. It’s striking how similar Obama’s tax priorities are to those of the Liberal Democrats, even though the specifics differ either side of the Atlantic. Obama wants to extend the payroll tax cut for ‘160 million hardworking Americans’, which he says is worth ‘about $40 in every paycheck’ for ‘the typical family earning $50,000 a year’. The Lib Dems have been pushing to raise the

…

Posted in News | Tagged barack obama, daniel radcliffe, jonathan jones, tax cuts (Lib Dem), the spectator | 6 Comments

Campaign Corner: Making better speeches

By Mark Pack | Published Mon 13th February 2012 - 3:55 pm

The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.

Today’s Campaign Corner question: I often get very nervous when speaking in public. Speeches at the Civic Centre may not matter much but I do want to make a good impression at local groups – and at party conference! What do you advise?

Posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged featured | 15 Comments

Ed Davey MP writes… Solar power for the many, not the few

By Ed Davey | Published Thu 9th February 2012 - 4:27 pm

Some things in politics are symbolic. For dyed-in-the-wool environmentalists like the Liberal Democrats, solar power is one of these things – indisputably clean, green and cutting edge technology. The sort of thing Liberal Democrats in a government that aims to be the greenest ever should be unequivocally behind.

Our commitment to the environment was why I joined the party in the first place.

So I understand why many of you were confused and disappointed when the Government appeared to scale back the Feed in Tariffs that allow people to install solar panels in their homes and businesses, not least when our decision …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged department of energy and climate change, feed-in tariffs, renewable energy, solar power | 28 Comments

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Published Tue 7th February 2012 - 12:25 pm

Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email?

Posted in Site news | Leave a comment

Lib Dem MPs win concessions ahead of benefits cap vote

By The Voice | Published Tue 31st January 2012 - 7:35 am

Lib Dem MPs, including the party’s deputy leader Simon Hughes, look set to obtain concessions from Iain Duncan Smith to win their support for the Coalition’s controversial welfare bill, which will introduce a benefit cap of a maximum of £26,000. Here’s how The Guardian reports the news:

The government is expected to make a series of concessions in the coming days on it controversial £26,000 household benefits cap to win over wavering Liberal Democrat MPs. Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, is expected to agree that a discretionary fund should be established to ease the burden on families

…

Posted in News | Tagged benefits, iain duncan smith, liam byrne, mark thompson, simon hughes | 7 Comments

Opinion: we must become the fair tax party

By Tom King | Published Fri 27th January 2012 - 1:45 pm

Nick Clegg has been all over the airwaves this week, promoting one of the Liberal Democrats’ flagship policies: raising the income tax threshold to £10,000. This is something that everyone interested in social justice should naturally be inclined to support. If implemented in the forthcoming budget, it would reduce the burden on low- and middle-income earners, putting money back in their pockets at a time when many are finding the cupboard bare.

The policy also leads naturally to what some are already calling ‘Phase 2’ – tying the threshold directly to the current minimum …

Posted in News | 7 Comments

Opinion: Flaws in Policy Exchange’s report

By Reg Platt | Published Mon 23rd January 2012 - 11:54 am

Another day, another headline on the cost of green policies. This time thanks to a new report from Policy Exchange as part of their ‘Greener, Cheaper’ workstream. With customers feeling the pinch from high energy bills, Chris Huhne continues to have his work cut out to defend green policy spending. Problems with Policy Exchange’s analysis, including their uncritical support of gas and aversion to the promotion of growth by Government, must be brought to the fore.

The main argument of Policy Exchange’s report is that there are additional costs to consumers from renewable policies beyond those directly on the …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged energy, renewable energy | 7 Comments

Op-eds

AI and Liberal Democracy (Robin Ashby)
The chaos dividend: Why the ultra-rich thrive on an unstable world, and why that’s rational in the short term and suicidal in the long term (Tanya Park)
Vince Cable writes…Labour and Fiscal Rules (Vince Cable)
Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy (Josh Babarinde)
Mathew on Monday: “We need to be bold” (Mathew Hulbert)

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Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Search Results for: feed

LibLink: The Lib Dems’ policy shortage

Opinion: the Government’s new integration strategy – when are we going to learn?

Another big money political scandal: can Lib Dems force Tories & Labour to take it seriously this time?

What Liberal Democrat Bloggers are saying about the Budget – Part 2

The Independent View: Budget lifts a million people out of Income Tax

Opinion: Jobs and the economy must feature in Brian Paddick’s mayoral campaign

Road sell-off plan unveiled

‘How can Lib Dems avoid oblivion?’ asks PoliticsHome

1. In 2010, the Lib Dems won the air war and lost the ground war

The LibDemVoice comments policy: why we moderate & how to avoid us moderating you

How many Liberal MPs can you get in a taxi? *

The Independent View: Why the women-in-the-boardroom brand of feminism is limited

In other news… Vince, Telegraph inaccuracy, Lembit, Eastleigh, Boundary Commission, site news

The Independent View: why proposals for secret trials should be opposed

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

Opinion: Lost a guru? Try democracy instead

Campaign Corner: How can I best use Facebook?

Opinion: Opening up the benefits of renewable energy means considering much more than just the size of subsidies

In other news… London PPBs, Clegg paint attack, Turing pardon latest, Darlington Lib Dem leader barred

PMQs: Tragedy, comedy and the Continuing Saga of the Family Bone

“A shitty time to be a liberal”: The Economist’s must-read piece on the Clegg paradox (and 2 reasons why it’s wrong)

What The Spectator says: ‘Obama the Lib Dem’. (PS: It may even be a compliment.)

Campaign Corner: Making better speeches

Ed Davey MP writes… Solar power for the many, not the few

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

Lib Dem MPs win concessions ahead of benefits cap vote

Opinion: we must become the fair tax party

Opinion: Flaws in Policy Exchange’s report

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Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

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1. In 2010, the Lib Dems won the air war and lost the ground war

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