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Helen Duffett

Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2010 – nominations now open

By Helen Duffett | Mon 26th July 2010 - 10:20 am

BOTY 2
The Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards, run by Lib Dem Voice, are back for their fifth year. As usual, they’ll be awarded in a budget lavish ceremony at the party’s autumn conference in Liverpool. (There’s further information on the event over at the Lib Dems’ Flock Together site). Click on the following links to see last year’s Shortlist and the Winners.

This year’s awards are as follows:

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Posted in Best of the blogs and Conference | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Alex Foster

#ldconf podcast: The BOTY recording

By Alex Foster | Mon 21st September 2009 - 7:45 pm

Whilst the LDV team is out tonight enjoying, in our various abstemious ways, the Liberal Drinks event at Bournemouth’s Goat and Tricycle tonight, we thought we’d bring you the tape of last night’s BOTY ceremony.

Sadly the audio version can not to justice to the range of visual feasts the evening provided. Stephen’s milliner will be most disappointed; the ice sculptors know their art is fleeting; and we have really only just rounded up all the flamingoes.

jgraham

But it was a striking evening for a number of reasons, as we hope the …

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Posted in Conference and Podcasts | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Blog of the Year Awards 2009: The Winners

By Helen Duffett | Sun 20th September 2009 - 10:41 pm

What’s loosely termed the awards “ceremony” for the 2009 Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards has just drawn to a glittering close. As the last firework fades in Bournemouth’s night sky, I’m delighted to announce the winners:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 11 Comments
Helen Duffett

Blog of the Year Awards 2009: The Shortlists

By Helen Duffett | Tue 15th September 2009 - 11:25 am

Nominations for the Liberal Democrats’ Blog of the Year Awards 2009 closed on 4 September. Since then, the judges (Tom Brake MP, Ryan Cullen, me, Meral Ece OBE, Lynne Featherstone MP, Alix Mortimer, Stephen Tall, Cat Turner and Paul Waugh) have been poring over the entries for the six categories.

It’s been a big task, and a fun one, to distil so many excellent examples of Lib Dem blogging and e-campaigning into lists of the five best.

Congratulations if you’ve been shortlisted, but if you haven’t: remember that the shortlists are based on the judges’ subjective opinions. The awards are intended to be a fun way to celebrate the talent in the Lib Dem blogosphere, whilst introducing you to some blogs you might not have read before.

First, a reminder that the winner of the Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blog category will be decided by a public vote here on Liberal Democrat Voice, so please have a read of the nominated blogs and then head on over to the sidebar to cast your vote.

Next, a plug for the awards ceremony itself. If you’re coming to party conference in Bournemouth, do head along to Old Harry’s Bar in the Marriott Highcliff Hotel from 9.45pm on Sunday 20th September.

Now, without further ado, here are the shortlists: (Drumroll, please)

Blank

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Posted in Best of the blogs and Conference | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and | 20 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick launches ‘In The Know’ to save taxpayers’ money

By Stephen Tall | Fri 28th August 2009 - 1:45 pm

Nick Clegg has today launched the Lib Dems’ ‘Ask the People in the Know’ project inviting public sector workers to help identify ways in which government can cut out waste while protecting services in order to save taxpayers’ money.

Anyone working in the public sector can submit their ideas on where money can be saved at http://nickclegg.com/intheknow. Nick has pledged that ideas submitted via the ‘Asking the People Who Know’ website will help inform the work currently being undertaken by the party to identify areas of waste in public spending:

Hard-working nurses and teachers tell me how frustrated they are by

…

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Open primaries: should the Lib Dems adopt the ‘Totnes model’?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th August 2009 - 6:30 pm

The announcement today from Totnes of the winner of the Tories’ first ‘open primary’ – in which the party’s Parliamentary candidate has been chosen not by party members, but by over 16,000 voters in the constituency – will prompt all political parties to ask the simple question: is this the future?

The arguments in its favour are obvious, both in terms of ‘democratic renewal’ and canny campaigning:

  • it has provoked national interest;
  • the 25% turnout suggests an appetite among the electorate;
  • the winning candidate has a genuine mandate;
  • her name recognition will have been boosted;
  • there has been communication with the whole constituency.

    • On which basis, you’d conclude it’s a no-brainer: surely every constituency which can remotely afford to run an open primary should adopt the principle. Well, perhaps. But of course it’s not quite that simple.

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    Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 31 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Lib Dem bloggers’ summer reading (Part I)

    By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th July 2009 - 11:30 am

    For me, it’s the most difficult decision of the year – which books to take with me on holiday. So, I thought, what could be better than to pick the brains of my fellow Lib Dem bloggers, and ask them to select just two: one should be a political book – whether you want to re-read it, or try something new you’ve been recommended. The other should be your own choice of summer reading – the book you’re most looking forward to reading (again, could be something new or something old). Here’s what they said:

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    Posted in Books | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Daily View 2×2: 3 July 2009

    By Stephen Tall | Fri 3rd July 2009 - 1:00 pm

    2 Big Stories

    Is homphobia still rife on the Tory benches?

    That’s the allegation from Labour cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw:

    Ben Bradshaw has said “a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches”. Mr Bradshaw, one of three gay men currently in the cabinet, made the comments as a new poll suggested more gay people were turning to the Tories. Chris Bryant, another gay minister, said: “If gays vote Tory they will rue the day very soon.”

    For what it’s worth I suspect that equality for gay people is the one area where the Tories have genuinely changed over the years …

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    Posted in Daily View | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | Leave a comment
    Stephen Tall

    Daily View 2×2: 1 July 2009

    By Stephen Tall | Wed 1st July 2009 - 9:03 am

    2 Big Stories


    British economy in worst state in over half a century

    Perhaps it’s the sweltering weather, perhaps recession fatigue has set in, but there is little reaction to yesterday’s startling news that the British economy contracted by 2.4% in the first quarter of 2009 – the worst decline in more than 50 years. It isn’t the main story for even one of the newspapers, though it led all last night’s TV news programmes. Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable underscored the seriousness of the data:

    The biggest three month fall in GDP in more than half a century is a clear

    …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , and | 2 Comments
    Alex Foster

    Daily View 2×2: 18 June 2009

    By Alex Foster | Thu 18th June 2009 - 8:00 am

    Welcome to Daily View. Happy birthday to Delia Smith CBE. Today is also Autistic Pride Day.

    2 Big Stories

    And it’s good news for Burnley Liberal Democrats as sub-editors across the spectrum studiously avoid the headline “The Fall of the House of Ussher”

    Miss Ussher said that she was leaving the Government “with the greatest regret” but would remain as MP for Burnley until the coming election, when she will stand down from Parliament “for family reasons”.

    Burnley PPC Gordon Birtwhistle, who has steered the party through taking outright control of the borough council last year, and gaining five of the six …

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    Posted in Daily View | Also tagged , , , , , and | 1 Comment
    Helen Duffett

    Daily View 2×2: 15 June 2009

    By Helen Duffett | Mon 15th June 2009 - 9:55 am

    2 Big Stories

    Further outbreaks of violence in Tehran last night as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed victory crushes reform hopes in Iran.
    Hossein Mousavi, the opposition candidate, is appealing against the results and has called on the international community not to recognise the official outcome. Western governments have expressed reservations about the poll but so far stopped short of outright rejection.

    From the Times:

    “Mehdi Karoubi, another reformist candidate, said he refused to recognise the “illegitimate” President, but Mr Ahmadinejad compared the protests to those of football supporters whose team has lost. “They are not important,” he said, adding that Iran’s form of democracy

    …

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    Posted in Daily View | Also tagged , , and | 1 Comment
    Alex Foster

    Daily View 2×2: 11 June 2009

    By Alex Foster | Thu 11th June 2009 - 8:05 am

    Ah, another day, another daily view. Suddenly in the blink of an eye, polling day is a whole week behind us. Lives are being lived, new councillors swearing the oath of office and new groups working out how to work with each other in future.

    Two big stories

    And unlike m’colleague Alix who could trumpet an end to expenses stories, sadly today they’re back with a vengeance, as the Telegraph digs into Shahid Malik.

    But never fear – “the recession has ended” ! The Independent is so confident of its analysis that it feels the need to put …

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    Posted in Daily View | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
    Helen Duffett

    Daily View 2×2: 8 June 2009

    By Helen Duffett | Mon 8th June 2009 - 8:15 am

    2 Big Stories

    This morning’s two big stories are being combined by most of the newspapers: the European election results and what they mean for Gordon Brown’s leadership of the Labour party.
    From the Guardian:
    European elections: Brown faces leadership battle amid Labour meltdown and BNP success

    Gordon Brown today faces a make-or-break challenge to his leadership after Labour looked set to slump to just 16% of the national vote in the European elections and the far-right British National party won two new seats.

    In a devastating result for the prime minister, Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP, was elected to the

    …

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    Posted in Daily View | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments
    Richard Huzzey

    Daily View 2×2: 26 May 2009

    By Richard Huzzey | Tue 26th May 2009 - 1:06 am

    As we all return to work after the Bank Holiday weekend, the big issues I’ve picked for today’s Daily View are about governance: specifically, how the British state should relate to its citizens or how the world should govern the nuclear ambitions of a rogue state.

    2 Big Stories

    David Cameron is making a bid for reformist credentials with a wide-ranging speech on democratic accountability and the nature of politics and the state. Previewed in The Guardian, his remarks later today thoughtfully ponder ‘the post-bureaucratic age’ and try to appropriate liberal principles:

    The Tory leader, who has in the past week ended the

    …

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    Posted in Daily View | Also tagged and | 13 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Does anyone really think the Tories have changed?

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 3rd March 2009 - 9:01 pm

    There’s been much Westminster Village debate today surrounding Jenni Russell’s article in the Guardian arguing that there are only 10 genuine ‘Cameron progressives’ in the Tory party (Tim Montgomerie at ConservativeHome can only name 6) – both figures, by the way, include the Tory leader himself. This makes it all the more important, she argues, for all progressives to embrace the New Tories:

    the most important political question we now face is how to influence the shape of the next Tory government, since it’s what we’re likely to be living under for five, or nine or even 14 years.

    Fair …

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    Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Also tagged , , , , and | 4 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Was Chris Huhne right to say Geert Wilders should be banned from the UK?

    By Stephen Tall | Thu 12th February 2009 - 7:09 pm

    As the BBC reports:

    A Dutch MP who called the Koran a “fascist book” has been sent back to the Netherlands after attempting to defy a ban on entering the UK. Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders had been invited to show his controversial film – which links the Islamic holy book to terrorism – in the UK’s House of Lords.

    But Mr Wilders, who faces trial in his own country for inciting hatred, has been denied entry by the Home Office. He told the BBC it was a “very sad day” for UK democracy.

    Interviewed on this morning’s BBC Radio 4 Today …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 204 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    NEW POLL: was the BBC right to ban Carol Thatcher from The One Show?

    By Stephen Tall | Thu 5th February 2009 - 2:25 pm

    I’ve avoided for as long as possible the uber-hyped ‘nowtrage’ over Carol Thatcher’s off-air-but-in-the-studio comment that a still-to-be-identified tennis player looks like a ‘golliwog’.

    It does of course pose lots of interesting questions for liberals: the conflict between freedom of speech, and the offence that may cause; to what extent unbroadcast behind-the-scenes remarks should be regarded as private; whether remarks that cause offence are best dealt with by individuals at the time, rather than by being referred to an ombudsmanperson.

    The Lib Dem blogosphere has wrestled with many of these issues and more, and given more time to …

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    Posted in Voice polls | Also tagged , , , , and | 15 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    How would you make the positive case for Europe?

    By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th January 2009 - 10:10 am

    The countdown to elections to the European Parliament – to be held in tandem with local government elections on 10th June – is now on. Last week, here on LDV, the Lib Dems’ vice-chair of our Euro election campaign, Willie Rennie, staked out the internationalist, liberal principles around which he said the party should fight the elections, and contrasted it with ‘lethargic Labour’ and ‘isolationist Tories’.

    And, over the weekend, two Lib Dem bloggers also elaborated their own views of Europe, the EU and what the Lib Dems should be saying. James Graham at Quaequam Blog! noted the …

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    Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 11 Comments
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