Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Tag Archives: caron lindsay

Talking Tim on Radio Scotland

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 18th July 2015 - 7:45 pm

Yesterday, I went on the Stephen Jardine show on Radio Scotland to spill all Tim Farron’s secrets and discuss his prospects with Stephen and John Crace from the Guardian. Sadly, I didn’t quite get through all of them, but that at least means I have them for another time.

You can listen to it all here from about 1 hour 18 minutes in. Do feel free to laugh at me criticising the party’s election messages for use of too many body parts and then using two myself in fairly quick succession.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged radio scotland and tim farron | Leave a comment

Appearing on the Big Debate talking about ISIS, alcohol at football matches and decriminalising drugs

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 21st February 2015 - 5:38 pm

Yesterday, I went to Paisley in Renfrewshire to be part of the panel for Radio Scotland’s Big Debate which is the Scottish equivalent of Any Questions.

Also on the panel were shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander, local SNP MSP George Adam and Peter Murray from the Media Trust.

I did try to persuade presenter Gordon Brewer that he should “accidentally” call Douglas Danny in homage to Jo Joyner who made an error with someone’s name in the EastEnders live episode the other night but he was having none of it.

It was a much more thoughtful and less combative discussion than usual. George Adam did try to do the “let’s blame Westminster” thing that SNP people are prone to do but that was about it. We talked about ISIS and whether we could negotiate with them. I said that I didn’t think that would be on the agenda any time soon but whatever we did should be carefully thought out with very clear objectives. I talked a bit about the article from the Guardian the other day which told of the horrible conditions under which women are supposed to live. I also emphasised that we need to be very careful not to fuel Islamophobia given that ISIS are about as representative of Islam as the Westboro Baptist Church are of Christianity.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged big debate | 4 Comments

Stephen Tall and I on the Westminster Hour

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 17th February 2015 - 12:46 pm

On Sunday night, Stephen Tall and I were on the Westminster Hour discussing the party’s prospects for the coming election and beyond. You can listen to the whole thing here. They also have a shorter clip of Stephen talking about the dilemma facing the party about portraying itself as a “split the difference” party. He rightly said that concern about it is something that unites activists on both sides of the party but on the other hand we aren’t going to win the election outright so we have to claim the centre ground between the other two.

In my contribution on this issue, I said that there was a place in our campaigning for showing what we’d stopped or would stop. We had done so very effectively in coalition with Labour in Scotland. However, we had to show our heart as a bold, radical liberal party.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged bbc, stephen tall and westminster hour | 5 Comments

Êtes-vous Charlie?

By The Voice | Fri 9th January 2015 - 11:31 am

View image | gettyimages.com

There was a bit of a discussion on Twitter yesterday about the use of the hashtag “Je suis Charlie.” Some people are uncomfortable about being seen to endorse a publication whose views they did not agree with. Here are two opposing views from George Potter and Caron Lindsay:

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged charlie hebdo, featured, george potter and je suis charlie | 133 Comments

Flashback: Did any MP colleagues attack Jeremy B when he talked about veils?

By Paul Walter | Wed 24th December 2014 - 9:54 am

Yesterday, my colleague Caron Lindsay wrote about Jo Swinson’s remarks about gender stereotyping and toys, followed by Jeremy Browne’s tweets on the matter: Jo Swinson slams gender stereo-typing and is attacked by Jeremy Browne. A Liberal Democrat minister makes remarks, and a Liberal Democrat MP replies on Twitter, rumbling on about state interference in parents’ business:

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged jeremy browne and Jo Swinson | 21 Comments

And it’s good-bye from me as LibDemVoice Co-Editor…

By Stephen Tall | Fri 5th December 2014 - 7:55 am

Today marks the countdown to my final day as Co-Editor of LibDemVoice. I guess I could say the past seven years and seven months have flown by, but actually it seems like a long, long time since I started here. Tony Blair was prime minister, Ming Campbell was Lib Dem leader, and I was still a councillor.

I think I officially took over as Editor (from the site’s co-founder Rob Fenwick) on 31st May, 2007, though I’d started the Golden Dozen round-up of the best of the Lib Dem blogs a few months earlier.

A couple of years later, …

Continue reading »

Posted in News and Site news | Also tagged featured, Mark Pack and rob fenwick | 42 Comments

Tall and Lindsay make the Liberal Democrat “power list”

By The Voice | Tue 7th October 2014 - 11:45 am

The Times (£) today publishes its list of the Top 50 most influential Liberal Democrats which has been compiled by blogger turned LBC presenter Iain Dale. This site’s two co-editors and our Associate Editor are both in it.

At 33, Stephen Tall is described thus:

Last year Tall replaced Mark Pack as co-editor of the hugely successful Liberal Democrat Voice, the must-read site for party activists. A research associate at CentreForum, he is usually more at home with the politics of David Laws than of Simon Hughes, but rarely picks factional fights as a critical friend of the party who prefers to talk up its achievements rather than knock them down.

This is all fine except its not accurate that he replaced Mark Pack. They worked together for several years.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged helen duffett, iain dale, Mark Pack, power lists, stephen tall and the times | 10 Comments

Vince to quit? The party’s “senior sources” have been out and about stirring again…

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th August 2014 - 11:55 am

It’s not even six months since my co-editor Caron Lindsay urged fellow Lib Dems to make nice and drop the internal briefing against colleagues. This followed a spate of whisperings against Vince Cable and Tim Farron among others. The voices off against Vince even prompted Nick to start an internal inquiry, though, as Jonathan Calder observed here, nothing more was heard of it.

Today, though, the Mail on Sunday reports:

Allies of Vince Cable reacted furiously last night over a Liberal Democrat ‘whispering campaign’ suggesting that he is on the brink of walking out of the Coalition. The Mail on Sunday has been told by two well-placed sources within the party that the 71-year-old Business Secretary is considering leaving the Cabinet immediately after the party’s autumn conference.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged mail on sunday, nick clegg and vince cable | 33 Comments

Principle and Realpolitik: why the Lib Dems should back an EU in/out referendum

By Stephen Tall | Wed 18th June 2014 - 4:30 pm

My co-editor Caron Lindsay has asked the following question, amid reports senior Lib Dems want the party to commit to an in/out EU referendum in the next parliament: “What do you think? Stay as we are or shift our position?”

My own view is the party has nothing to lose by offering a referendum in the 2015 manifesto. As I’ve pointed out before, the Lib Dem line on an EU referendum has been remarkably consistent over the last few years – far more so than the Tories (remember David Cameron’s cast-iron guarantee?) or Labour (remember 2004 EU referendum U-turn prior to their 2008 U-turn?).

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged eu referendum | 42 Comments

82% of Lib Dems back giving terminally ill adults the option of assisted dying

By Stephen Tall | Sat 7th June 2014 - 9:00 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 830 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

Caron Lindsay wrote an excellent, balanced piece about the current assisted dying legislation here yesterday. Here are the results of our recent members’ survey on the subject.

82% back Assisted Dying Bill

Continue reading »

Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged assisted dying bill | 55 Comments

Jeremy Browne MP responds to LDV debates about his book

By Jeremy Browne MP | Thu 24th April 2014 - 1:32 pm

Thank you to everyone on Lib Dem Voice who has taken the trouble to comment on my book ‘Race Plan’. It is healthy to have an active debate about how our liberalism can be applied to address the big political events of our time. I am appreciative of the favourable comments; I also thought it might be of interest (and good manners) to respond to some of the main criticisms and themes that emerged on LDV.

Timing of publication

The timing was determined by the …

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged featured, jeremy browne, Mark Pack, race plan and stephen tall | 102 Comments

Better Together lets some of Willie’s “sunshine strategy” burst through

By The Voice | Thu 17th April 2014 - 2:00 pm

Better Together, the cross-party campaign for retaining the United Kingdom, must have been listening to LDV’s co-editor, Caron Lindsay (always a sensible precaution, we find…). Just a few weeks ago she cautioned against the deluge of negativity that seemed to be the No campaign’s main message:

Charles Kennedy was bang on last week when he said that the pro-UK campaign needed to be more positive. He could do with being a bit more explicit about what he thinks they should be saying. And then he needs to sit Alistairs Darling and Carmichael, Danny, Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader and Nick down and tell them. For the sake of the UK, they need to listen. Better Together is in desperate need of an injection of wit and warmth and not much time to do it in.

Here, then, is the new Better Together advert. Maybe not much wit, but a whole lot more warmth:

Continue reading »

Posted in Scotland | Also tagged better together, charles kennedy, scotland independence referendum and willie rennie | 12 Comments

Jeremy Browne’s ‘Race Plan’. I’ve read it, so here’s my review…

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th April 2014 - 8:00 am

Three points to make right from the start about Jeremy Browne’s new book, Race Plan.

First, it’s a wholly Good Thing that a Lib Dem MP is choosing to think aloud, to set out clearly his views. Nick Clegg having decided that he did, after all, like one of the Beecroft recommendations and decided to fire-at-will his home office minister, Jeremy could have slunk away, tail between his legs, to nurse his bitterness. He’s chosen a rather more constructive outlet for his disappointment. By which I mean this book, rather than his short-lived, C.19th-throwback, gap year beard.

Secondly, there is a fundamental problem with the central conceit of this book: that Britain is in a global race, and that if we don’t get fitter, we’ll be overtaken by or competitors in the coming Asian Century, fall behind, and become poorer.

Continue reading »

Posted in Books, News and Op-eds | Also tagged china, featured, jeremy browne, liberalism, nick thornsby and race plan | 59 Comments

Conference Photo Gallery Part 1 – What the LDV team did

By The Voice | Mon 10th March 2014 - 5:50 pm

The LDV team had a busy and fun Conference in York. Here are a few of the things we got up to:

Co-editors, hard at work

Thanks to Paul Walter for taking this.

Caron meets Liberal Youth

With Claire Boad, Maelo Manning and Alex White.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged joe otten, liberal democrat spring conference 2014, nick thornsby and stephen tall | 1 Comment

My first appearance on the proper BBC1 News – “Not perfect – but in the circumstances we’ve done the best we possibly could”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th March 2014 - 10:15 pm

Late at night at that delightfully random end of Conference Glee Club, in between The Land and The 12 days of Coalition (doesn’t Gareth Epps look like he’s going into a wee trance when he sings “B***** all?”, I checked my phone to see if there was a goodnight text from my family. There wasn’t, but there was one from the BBC, asking if I’d do an interview with political correspondent Vicki Young on the Coalition’s record and Nick Clegg’s speech.

I thought I might as well go for it, expecting it to go out on the news channel at 3am as most of my media stuff seems to end up. I was told to go to a cafe near the Minster for 10 am and that I’d be on with my friend Liberal Left’s Linda Jack.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged bbd news and linda jack | 28 Comments

Lib Dems as ‘The Party of IN’ – Clegg’s pro-European strategy starts to pay off

By Stephen Tall | Wed 5th March 2014 - 7:10 pm

Kudos to Nick Clegg and his team, including his director of strategy Ryan Coetzee. The gambit of issuing a personal challenge to Nigel Farage to debate Nick on Europe has been accepted not only by the Ukip leader, but also now by the media. As Caron Lindsay reported here this morning – #NickvNigel – We have a date and #NickvNigel: We have 2 dates – any more for the Tour? – the two leaders will face-off both on TV and on radio within the next …

Continue reading »

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged european elections 2014, featured, jeremy cliffe, nick clegg, nigel farage, ryan coetzee, the economist and ukip | 53 Comments

The Rennard case: what Caron Lindsay and Stephen Tall have said about it

By The Voice | Mon 20th January 2014 - 2:23 pm

Lib Dem Voice’s co-editors, Stephen Tall and Caron Lindsay, have both written on their own blogs about the fall-out from the independent investigation into the allegations against Lord (Chris) Rennard.

Stephen wrote on Friday summarising the background to the mess the party finds itself in here: Q&A on the allegations against Lord Rennard. (My conclusion: it’s a mess.)

And on Sunday Caron posed the question, How is the party going to get through this?

There is an obvious path to peace.

It’s not too late for Chris Rennard to apologise, and to do it well. I really think that he should

…

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged chris rennard and stephen tall | 3 Comments

LibLink: Caron Lindsay – It’s time to get real people involved in the indyref debate

By NewsHound | Sat 7th December 2013 - 8:15 am

LDV’s Co-Editor, Caron Lindsay, has written for The Herald newspaper about 2014’s Scottish independence referendum. She’s a bit bored with the same old politicians serving up the same old rehearsed lines. She wants real people to start having their say:

Let’s have the next debate around the kitchen table with some ordinary people. Take my friends Anne and Stevie as an example. The referendum is on her birthday. If we become independent, that’ll happen on his. She’s pro UK, he’s pro independence, albeit with a slightly different and quirkier vision than that presented by the SNP. They care deeply

…

Continue reading »

Posted in LibLink and Scotland | Also tagged Scottish independence referendum | Leave a comment

In which a Liberal Democrat Voice editor gets parodied

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 16th November 2013 - 2:52 pm

From Och aye the news:

Parody is supposed to make you wince and laugh at the same time. Sadly, this one fails to live up to that. It’s more congealed porridge than biting wit.

We’re asking for trouble, here, I know, but if you can do any better…

Posted in News | Also tagged humour, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 1 Comment

Caron Lindsay defends Jo Swinson’s right to stand

By Andy Boddington | Fri 18th October 2013 - 2:00 pm

The government has been introducing a lots of “rights to” of late. Communities have rights to bid and to build. Individual have rights to buy and to personal budgets. After the last 48 hours of media coverage, it may be that we need to bring in a “right to stand.”

The story runs like this. Jo Swinson arrives for Prime Ministers Questions at a point when the house is already crammed out. She stands for a while and she’s happy with that. The political editor of the Spectator, James Forsyth however was horrified and tweeted.

Quite remarkable that no MP has offered Jo Swinson, who is seven months pregnant, a seat. Really shocking lack of manners and decency

The Daily Mail then took up the case. Caron Lindsay took that newspaper to task last night, concluding:

I find the Mail’s attitude to women much more offensive and harmful to society than anything that happened in the House of Commons yesterday.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged bbc radio 4, featured, Jo Swinson and today programme | 12 Comments

LibLink: Caron Lindsay – Why home rule would be better for Scotland than independence

By Nick T | Thu 26th September 2013 - 1:52 pm

Our very own Caron Lindsay has been moonlighting over at The Herald, with an excellent piece on the relative merits of independence and home rule.

Here’s a sample:

First and foremost I’m a mum. I want my daughter and her children beyond her to live in a prosperous, inclusive, progressive, liberal, Scotland.

That word liberal is a bit of a giveaway, however. I’ve been active in Liberal Democrat politics for 30 years, since joining as a curious 15 year-old during the 1983 election. I’m a federalist and my views on how Scotland’s governance should work were very neatly summed up by

…

Continue reading »

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged scottish independence | 8 Comments

Lindsay vs Thornsby – House of Comments podcast comes to Conference

By The Voice | Thu 19th September 2013 - 3:28 pm

On Sunday morning, Nick Thornsby and Caron Lindsay joined Mark Thompson in the Liberal Democrat Voice broom cupboard in Glasgow and recorded a special edition of his House of Comments podcast.

Have a listen and see whether our crystal balls were right as we predicted how Conference would go and discussed everything from Trident, nuclear power, fracking, online pornography and Nick Clegg’s position as leader. Deficit hawk Thornsby and old fashioned tax and spender Lindsay put forward their relative positions on the economy in entirely civilised fashion.

Posted in News | Also tagged house of comments, mark thompson and nick thornsby | 4 Comments

The Liberal Democrat Voice Team at Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 10th September 2013 - 10:25 am

Last Saturday, the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre was full of trolls, superheroes, and Pokemon. I kid you not. 20,000 people, many of them in costume, turned up for the Scottish Comic Con event. My daughter, or Karkat Vantas as she preferred to be called, was one of them. The photo shows a selection of the colourful and elaborate costumes on show.

Next Saturday, it’ll be full of Liberal Democrats gathering for Conference. Insert your own joke here. In the first of a series of preview posts, I …

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference and News | Also tagged autumn conference 2013, nick thornsby and stephen tall | Leave a comment

House of Comments podcast: with added Caron Lindsay

By The Voice | Mon 19th August 2013 - 7:50 pm

LibDemVoice Co-Editor Caron Lindsay guests on the latest House of Comments, the weekly podcast presented by Lib Dem blogger Mark Thompson and Labour’s Emma Burnell.

So if you’re interested in any or all of the following topics — the state of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg’s position, your favourite minister and MP, gender balance, immigration, Mark’s “I won’t campaign for anyone who voted for secret courts” pledge, drugs policy, and much, much more — then you robably want to give it a listen.

Here’s the magic link: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/house-of-comments-podcast/id579577529.

Posted in News | Also tagged house of comments and mark thompson | 2 Comments

Lessons of Coalition (5): what do the Lib Dems need to learn form the first 3 years?

By The Voice | Sat 3rd August 2013 - 10:25 am

LibDemVoice is running a daily feature, ‘Lessons of Coalition’, to assess the major do’s and don’ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to [email protected] Today Caron Lindsay shares her thoughts.

That old “walk a mile in each others’ shoes” thing works

In the first few days of Coalition, I

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged lessons of coalition | 9 Comments

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Happy Easter”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 31st March 2013 - 12:00 pm

Nick Clegg’s latest letter to supporters wishes us all the very best for a relaxing Easter holiday. He’s off on a family break visiting his parents — or “holidaying at a millionaires’ playground” if you prefer the Mirror‘s styling. My Co-Editor Caron Lindsay has written a reply highlighting the many and various ways Lib Dem members will be spending the break: campaigning. However you spend it — we at LibDemVoice wish you all the best.

Just a quick note this week to wish you a happy

…

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged easter, featured and letter from the leader | Leave a comment

A brief (recent) history of the Lib Dems’ flagship tax-cut for the low-paid

By Stephen Tall | Thu 21st March 2013 - 8:00 am

George Osborne’s fourth budget saw him finalise the commitment to implement in full the Lib Dems’ number one manifesto commitment: taking out of income tax all those who earn less than £10k a year.

It prompted this post by my Co-Editor Caron Lindsay yesterday – Why it’s worth being a member of the Liberal Democrats – recalling the recent history of this focus on raising the tax-free allowance. Which in turn triggered this comment by Alex Wilcock, recalling the slightly less recent history:

The fact is, raising thresholds was party policy in the 1990s, then put back on the agenda when Chris Huhne made it the central plank of his Leadership campaign in February 2006.

Curious, I thought I’d do a quick fact-check. Here’s what I found:

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged alex wilcock, Centre for Policy Studies, chris huhne, general election manifesto, maurice saatchi and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 6 Comments

Caron Lindsay previews Nick Clegg’s speech on Radio 5 Live

By The Voice | Mon 11th March 2013 - 8:08 am

Yesterday morning, at a ridiculously early hour, as some Conference goers were only just going to bed, Lib Dem Voice Co-Editor Caron Lindsay spoke to Radio 5 Live about Conference in general and Nick Clegg’s speech in particular. You can judge for yourself how accurate her predictions were by listening here from about 8 minutes in.

Posted in News | Also tagged liberal democrat conference and radio 5 live | Leave a comment

A warm welcome to our new Co-Editor, Caron Lindsay

By Stephen Tall | Mon 4th March 2013 - 8:15 am

I guess that, in the end, it was quite fitting that Mark Pack’s final day with LibDemVoice should have been last Thursday, the day of the Eastleigh by-election: it’s always good to go out on a high. For those who missed the news first time round, Mark has — after over six years as my Co-Editor in name/spirit — stepped down from the team to spend more time with his other 73 roles within the party (plus two day jobs).

So the end of one era, but I hope also the dawn of a new one. I’m delighted to say that Caron Lindsay, already a member of the site’s editorial collective, has agreed to become this site’s new Co-editor alongside me. Few Lib Dems will need an introduction to Caron. She is the author of the superb Caron’s Musings blog, elected member of the party’s Federal Executive, treasurer of the Scottish Lib Dems, and a former case-worker for Willie Rennie. She is also one of the nicest, most grounded, full-of-common-sense Lib Dems I know. Thank you, Caron, for saying yes so willingly.

Continue reading »

Posted in Site news | Also tagged featured, Mark Pack and paul walter | 5 Comments

Ad Lib: If you’re reading this, it’s not for you

By Mark Pack | Sat 15th December 2012 - 1:50 pm

The first edition of the new Liberal Democrat party magazine, Ad Lib, went out to all party members earlier this month. Future copies will only go to paying subscribers, so what to make of the first edition’s efforts to make people part with their cash for future editions?

Judging its contents I think requires bearing three main factors in mind: it’s a monthly publication, it’s one that is printed on paper and it’s probably not aimed at you.

Both the first two attributes are rather …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged ad lib magazine, jennie rigg, katy riddle, liberator magazine and nick barlow | 34 Comments