Tag Archives: daniel hannan

Stephen Tall

The Swiss Wheeze: the Better Off Out argument that’s full of holes

By Stephen Tall | Thu 3rd April 2014 - 2:40 pm

Swiss CheeseIf only we were Switzerland, eh? That’s the dream of the Better Off Out brigade, who long for its freedom as part of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). And it’s a tempting offer: all the benefits of free trade with EU member states, and (if you believe Nigel Farage, Dan Hannan et al) none of the risks.

Except it’s not quite that easy, as The Economist highlighted when it investigated Britain’s options.

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | 19 Comments
Alix Mortimer

Why blog?

By Alix Mortimer | Sat 19th December 2009 - 9:20 am

Welcome to the final part of our “Introduction to blogging” guide for Liberal Democrat bloggers or would-be bloggers. It’s been appearing each Saturday in the run-up to Christmas, with all the posts available via this page. The series will then be revised and collated into an e-book, so please do post up your comments as the series progresses. Today we’re finishing where we started, with reasons to blog. Alix Mortimer is at the keyboard…

Why blog?

The whys and wherefores of political blogging generate a lot of heat. Amble around the internet a little, and you’ll find denunciations of blogging as a …

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Posted in Blogging guide | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Daniel Hannan back talking about the NHS

By Mark Pack | Wed 11th November 2009 - 8:11 pm

Liberal Conspiracy has the story:

Dan Hannan slams NHS in new video for Ron Paul…

The video starts off with talking about the establishment of the NHS with images from the Second World War and that of Hitler.

Anthony says:

Did you enjoy the frames of Hitler when he was talking about the establishment of the NHS? Very stylish and clever. Remember, healthcare reform in the US is Nazi- lots of people say so like these people and these. Nicely done, Campaign for Liberty.

Hannan calls the NHS a remnant of a system from “war time planning”.

You can watch the film and read the …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Alex Foster

Question Time – open thread, 28/05 #bbcqt

By Alex Foster | Thu 28th May 2009 - 9:20 pm

Question Time returns to its previous time slot of 2240 this evening, and the BBC website tells us the panel will be:

Europe Minister Caroline Flint, Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Jo Swinson, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, UKIP leader Nigel Farage, and French businessman Pierre-Yves Gerbeau.

In the last week before the European elections, the programme is billed as a Euro special from London.  If the politicos can avoid being booed off stage merely for being politicos, there are loads of interesting ways the debate can go.  Caroline vs Caroline; Greens vs Lib Dems on who has …

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Posted in Lib Dem TV | Also tagged , , , and | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

George Osborne: he was for cracking down on public sector pay before he was against it reviewing it

By Stephen Tall | Tue 7th April 2009 - 5:55 pm

Poor old George Osborne. It’s a tough job being Ken Clarke’s deputy the Tories’ shadow chancellor, desperately walking the tightrope between keeping happy your right-wing, Hannan-worshipping party activists (and that’s the majority of them), while trying not to scare away the voters for whom a right-wing, Hannan-worshipping party is a nightmare spectre (and that’s the majority of them).

That, at least, is the only explanation I can come up with for George’s current confusion about whether or not he’s in favour of a crack down on public sector pay and pensions. Here, for instance, is the Financial Times which …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • John B Grout
    Excellent piece, Josh. As for seeking others' thoughts on the pitch, here are mine: Labour and the Greens want to do things for you, the Conservatives and R...
  • David Evans
    It's an interesting article, which gives us more to think about, but when it ends with "Government and politics can strive toward this platform ... giving ind...
  • Neil Sandison
    This one of a series of articles recently published in the Liberal Democrat Voice that defines our social liberal values . Frequently the hot house of Westminst...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    This is the right problem to be working on, and I think the answer may be less about the words than about the moments. In my experience people learn what we sta...
  • Simon Robinson
    It's good to have an MP putting herself forward for this. The manifesto seems a bit vague though. All good thoughts and nothing you can really disagree with, b...