Tag Archives: families

Paul Walter

Is David Cameron mixing up cause and effect?

By Paul Walter | Sun 10th January 2016 - 10:30 am

David Cameron“Parents should take lessons in how to control children – PM” – runs the main headline in the Observer this morning.

Expansion of parenting classes is certainly something to be welcomed. When I was first a parent, I thought it was very strange that parents were offered classes on breathing techniques during pregnancy and pelvic floor exercises, plus inspection of changing areas and bottle procedures after birth, but not a word of guidance after that, until primary school “parent/school agreements”.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 19 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie takes his son to work

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 23rd April 2015 - 2:25 pm

Willie Rennie’s campaign theme today was all about the support Lib Dems offer families. Note the impressive absence of the awful phrase “hard-working families” from any of his utterances.

He also had his son, 11 year old Stephen, with him as he and Alan Reid visited a nursery in Argyll and Bute as part of a Take your child to work day.

Here are the pair setting off from home:

And once there, Stephen really got into the swing of things and was totally undaunted by all the attention:

Willie outlined all the things Liberal Democrats would do to help families:

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Laura Willoughby

Opinion: Rewarding marriage – with less than the cost of the cake…

By Laura Willoughby | Fri 16th August 2013 - 9:03 am

There must be better ways for Liberals to support families that the marriage tax allowance.

Politics has always been about compromise and pragmatism and in a coalition Government we are seeing the impact of this in a very public and often painful way. For every moment of joy there are two where I want to bury my head in my hands and weep for the future of liberalism.Don't Judge

Whether we like it or not the coalition agreement set out a commitment to introducing a married couples’ tax allowance. I don’t know what the logic was at the time for agreeing such an obviously un-liberal and expensive gesture. I hope that what we gained outweighs the feeling of nausea that this policy gives me.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Ignore the papers, here’s the real truth about the Coalition’s plans for childcare”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 3rd February 2013 - 2:40 pm

The latest letter from Nick Clegg to party supporters takes us behind the scenes of the Coalition’s negotiations over how best to help families with the cost of childcare. He dismisses newspaper gossip of splits in the ‘Quad’ as “total nonsense”, before setting out the principles that have guided their decision-making — focusing help on low- and middle-income families, and especially those with kids under 3 who don’t qualify for the current free 15 hours’ early education provision. Here’s Nick’s letter in full…

libdem letter from nick clegg

You’ll often hear politicians say,

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Mike Bell

Opinion: the Coalition’s £7 billion hit on families

By Mike Bell | Sat 9th October 2010 - 2:05 pm

The Government believes that strong and stable families of all kinds are the bedrock of a strong and stable society.

So says the Coalition Agreement, but has the Government’s approach to reducing the deficit actually demonstrated the opposite?

The furore over the proposed removal of Child Benefit from higher rate tax payers has raised hackles in the middle classes – and aspiring middle classes. But the cuts to Child Benefit are further evidence of a worrying trend since the election.

Whether there are arguments for the cuts or not, the list since May does not smack of a Government committed to “strong and …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 36 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg – Why it’s time for families to come first

By NewsHound | Thu 17th June 2010 - 12:20 pm

Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg writes of the ways in which the coalition government will support families to try and ensure children get the best possible start in life. Here’s an excerpt:

Obsessed with micromanaging daily life from the centre, the last government forgot what families really need. They never understood that it isn’t just parents who raise a child – it’s the whole family, the whole street, the whole neighbourhood. Why they wanted to vet anyone working with children – including parents taking it in turns to collect each others children

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged | 15 Comments
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