Tag Archives: featured

Mark Pack

Promising news on welfare spending as major reforms set for go-ahead

By Mark Pack | Sun 3rd October 2010 - 8:57 am

On Friday I mentioned how the old Liberal Democrat policy of integrating and simplifying the tax and benefits systems is getting a revival courtesy of Iain Duncan Smith. The former Conservative leader turned Work and Pensions Secretary has been arguing hard for the funds to introduce a simplified universal benefit that also is more generous than current rules to people in low-paid jobs. This would mean that people who currently find that taking a job makes them worse off, or only marginally better off, than being unemployed thanks to loss of benefits would lose less of their benefits and so …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 24 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Saturday Debate: Local government is to the Lib Dems what the unions are to Labour and big business is to the Tories

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd October 2010 - 8:45 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

I was struck by this recent article by the Economist’s political columnist Bagehot, headlined When progressive actually means misanthropic, reflecting on the Lib Dem conference, and specifically the debate on free schools.

Highlighting that, while the party may have lacked power at Westminster, the Lib Dems have for decades now been a major player in local government, it observes that:

… local government occupies much of the mental space taken up by national politics in the Labour and Conservative parties. … more

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 23 Comments
Mark Pack

Thinking of standing for election or re-election next year? The questions you should ask yourself

By Mark Pack | Fri 1st October 2010 - 10:20 am

Knowing what it takes to be a good candidate and then a good councillor is vital to winning elections – and to then making something out of the opportunity the voters have given you. So here are seven questions to ask yourself if you are thinking of standing in the local elections next May or in a council by-election.

What will you do different from a councillor of another party?
There are decent people who will be conscientious and work hard in (just about) every party. And even in the most rural of wards, there is more than one person who is local to the ward. So what …

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Posted in Local government | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Has the long-term decline in trust finally bottomed out?

By Mark Pack | Thu 30th September 2010 - 10:27 am

It has been a regular finding of both MORI and YouGov research that the public’s trust in members of different professions has been steadily declining for many years. However, the latest survey from YouGov suggests this decline has stopped, with several professions – including politicians – seeing a recent recovery in their standings.

In 2003 on average 49% of people said they trusted different professions on average to tell the truth a great deal or a fair amount. This fell to 42% in 2006 and 37% in 2007 but was 39% this August. The two point rise is not statistically significant …

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Posted in News and Polls | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

Dear David Davis…

By Mark Pack | Wed 29th September 2010 - 1:05 pm

Dear David Davis,

You have me confused.

In your speech today you warn against “the destruction of a 200-year-old constitution” and give this as a reason to oppose AV.

But aside from our voting system, there is another part of that 200 year old constitution that is also currently up for change before Parliament.

200 years ago the size of Parliamentary constituencies varied hugely. Much more than 5% or 10% and not simply on islands or in the Highlands. Massive variations were built into the system, specially to protect particular vested interests.

So if you are wanting to protect our 200 year old constitution, I …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

Ed Miliband’s leader’s speech: my first impressions

By Stephen Tall | Tue 28th September 2010 - 4:20 pm

Well, that’s one job done: the new Labour leader (but not the New Labour leader: absolutely not) has got through his first, major task: to deliver his speech to the party conference. It seemed to me to best understood as a ‘detoxifying’ speech. Just as David Cameron’s biggest achievement as Tory leader was to make it almost respectable to vote for his party, so was Ed Miliband attempting to cast off the most illiberal and unpopular aspects of the last Labour government (even though he was a member of its cabinet).

Perhaps inevitably this meant the focus of the speech was …

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 60 Comments
Stephen Tall

Three key issues facing the new Labour leader, Mr Miliband

By Stephen Tall | Sat 25th September 2010 - 3:35 pm

In an hour’s time we shall know who is the new leader of the Labour party. Though the bookies now make Ed Miliband favourite, my hunch is that older brother David will get the nod, just. We shall soon see. The best guide I’ve read on what to look out for as the votes are announced is over at Next Left; Adam Boulton’s blog also has a good guide to the nuts and bolts of what happens when.

But whichever of the Milibands wins through, here are three issues they will need urgently to address heading into the party’s …

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

What did you make of Vince Cable’s speech?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 22nd September 2010 - 2:30 pm

It was the speech which revived the Lib Dem conference, oddly listless after Nick Clegg’s speech on Monday: Vince Cable’s rallying final day speech gave members and activists a real lift, and provided plenty of red meat for the media to chew on. Here’s my first impression…

Perhaps what was most impressive about Vince’s conference speech was how unchanged it was from his usual fare: uncompromising, wise-cracking, punchy, intelligent.

The right-wing media has focused on Vince’s attacks on capitalism, with the Daily Mail in typically shrill mood, and ConservativeHome giving it the silly billing of ‘Red Vince Day’.

That’s the thing about some right-wingers: too often they are unable to see past their own dogma which assumes Big Business must always be right. It’s the same blind spot left-wingers have about the unions.

Liberals — and I’m not using that as a party label because it also encompasses Adam Smith — understand that unfettered capitalism is not the same thing as the free market, and capitalism does not automatically promote market competition. That is why liberals, and Liberal Democrats, believe in a regulated free market, to curb the excesses of capitalism and to promote the interests of healthy market competition from which individuals and society can benefit.

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 68 Comments
Stephen Tall

EXCLUSIVE: Lib Dem party presidency – first poll of Lib Dem members

By Stephen Tall | Tue 21st September 2010 - 12:00 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the early race for the party presidency, the London mayoral selection, Trident, and the Labour leadership. Over 400 party members have responded, and we’ll be publishing the full results of our survey in the next couple of days.

A fortnight ago, in a surprise announcement, Baroness (Ros) Scott said she would not seek a second term as Lib Dem party president, the only party post other than the Leader directly elected by Lib Dem members. Ever since there has been much speculation about …

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Posted in LDV Members poll and Party Presidency | Also tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

What did you make of Nick Clegg’s conference speech?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 20th September 2010 - 6:05 pm

As the music fades, and the hoardes of conference delegates file out of the Liverpool hall, what did Voice readers make of what he had to say? Here’s my first impression…

First, and above all, this was a sober speech. It wasn’t a barn-stormer, it didn’t grip by the throat or tug the heart-strings. This was a serious analysis of why the Lib Dems have gone into government, and what the party wants to get out of it for the country. Nick was careful to go through the famous four pledges — fair taxes, a fair start for children, a fair …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 97 Comments
Stephen Tall

Grappling with government: how will we change our minds when the facts change?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 20th September 2010 - 10:28 am

Sky News’s Adam Boulton has an interesting take on this year’s Lib Dem conference:

… there is an overbearing sense of seriousness as the Lib Dems cogitate on the political hand dealt them after the last election. Far from glibly queuing to speak in debates, conference organisers report that party members are hanging back, wanting to listen to the explanations from the leadership.

It’s a perception that perhaps helps explain why there are relatively fewer requests to speak in debates, especially considering how much higher attendance at conference is this year. Most Lib Dem conference delegates choose only to speak in …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged | 14 Comments
Helen Duffett

Blog of the Year Awards 2010: The Winners

By Helen Duffett | Sat 18th September 2010 - 11:26 pm

What’s loosely termed the awards “ceremony” for the 2010 Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards has just drawn to a glittering close. As the last firework fades in Liverpool’s night sky, I’m delighted to announce the winners:

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Posted in Best of the blogs and Conference | Also tagged , , and | 4 Comments
Helen Duffett

Blog of the Year Awards 2010: The Shortlists

By Helen Duffett | Tue 14th September 2010 - 1:00 pm

Nominations for the Liberal Democrats’ Blog of the Year Awards 2010 closed on 27 August. Since then, the judges Prateek Buch, Jonathan Calder, Lee Chalmers, Ryan Cullen, Helen Duffett (that’s me), Costigan Quist, Mary Reid, Jo Swinson and Andy Williamson 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 Liverpool, do come along to Grace Suite 1 at the Hilton Liverpool from 9.45pm on Saturday 18th 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 | 14 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who would get your vote in the Labour leadership contest?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 13th September 2010 - 7:45 am

The weekend papers were full of speculation about the Labour leadership contest, which as it draws to a close appears to be a nail-bitingly close finish between the Brothers Miliband.

According to pollster YouGov, Ed Miliband is set to sneak victory by the closest of margins after second preferences are taken into account; though the poll didn’t appear to take into account the votes of MPs and MEPs who control one-third of Labour’s electoral college. This is not, after all, a party which believes all votes should be equal, whether in Parliamentary constituencies or in their own leadership race.

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 29 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who do you think should stand for the Lib Dem presidency (and what should they do if elected)?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 11th September 2010 - 6:50 pm

Ros Scott’s announcement that she is standing down from the position of party president has come as a surprise to Lib Dem members.

First, because it has become almost traditional for party presidents to serve two terms — Ros’s three predecessors, Simon Hughes, Lord Dholakia and Lord Maclennan all served two terms each, unchallenged. Secondly, because Ros herself is popular among the party’s grassroots. Though her authority took something of a knock during the MPs’ expenses scandal, the Voice’s most recent survey of party members showed she had a very good net effectiveness rating of +30%.

And, thirdly, because …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters and Party Presidency | Also tagged , , and | 30 Comments
Stephen Tall

Everybody loves us Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Sat 11th September 2010 - 5:35 pm

I blame the Tories. Ever since David Cameron became their leader, he’s been determined to ‘love-bomb’ the Lib Dems. Love-bombing is the ingenious tactic by which other parties claim to believe in enough Lib Dem policies without, y’know, actually being Lib Dems.

Labour leadership hopeful Ed Miliband was at it last month. Then earlier this week the Greens’ Caroline Lucas made her pitch.

And now it’s the turn of the continuing Liberal Party:

We appreciate over the last few weeks many LibDem Councillors and members have become increasingly uneasy about the coalition government.

The fact that LibDem MP’s will be

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 62 Comments
Stephen Tall

Book review: Campaign 2010 by Nicholas Jones

By Stephen Tall | Sun 5th September 2010 - 3:45 pm

Anyone who has read Nicholas Jones’s previous books – especially Soundbites and Spin Doctors (1995) and Sultans of Spin (1999) – will look forward to a new tome from the BBC’s former political correspondent, who has proved himself to be an acute observer of the Westminster scene, and a fearless revealer of politicians’ trade secrets.

Campaign 2010, Mr Jones’s new work, is billed by publisher Biteback as “political theatre brought to a fresh level”. Can it live up to such hype? Sadly – and it genuinely pains me to say it, as I have high regard for …

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Posted in Books | Also tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

History doesn’t repeat itself: why the Lib Dems won’t split

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th August 2010 - 2:55 pm

“A healthy pedestrian mowed down by a runaway omnibus” – Trevor Wilson’s metaphor to describe the fall of the Liberal Party between 1916 and 1931 is quoted approvingly by Professor John Shepherd, co-director of the Labour Research Unit at Anglia Ruskin University, in a fascinating article in the summer issue of the Journal of Liberal History.

One of the Coalition memes doing the rounds among some of the commentariat is that, by embarking on a partnership with the Conservatives, the Lib Dems have sealed their own fate, that a split is inevitable. After all, the argument goes, Lloyd George’s …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 86 Comments
Stephen Tall

Pollwatch – State of the Leaders: how Clegg and Cameron are rated by the public (Summer 2010)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th August 2010 - 12:45 pm

Last week, Pollwatch looked at the state of the parties in July and August; today it’s the turn of the coalition government leaders.

As with all polls, what follows comes with caveats. Only two polling companies – YouGov and Mori – this past month asked questions specifically to find out the public’s views of the Lib Dem and Tory party leaders. (Harriet Harman’s performance as Labour leader is not being measured). And each asks variants on the basic question – do you think Clegg/Cameron are doing a good job – to come up with their figures, so comparison ain’t easy. …

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Posted in Polls | Also tagged and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

Dave reckons Mili-D’s the biggest threat: for the record, so do I

By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th August 2010 - 3:04 pm

David Cameron has ‘let it be known’ (ie, his press team briefed the Guardian) that shadow foreign secretary David Miliband “poses the greatest threat to the Conservative party of all the candidates in the Labour leadership contest”.

How to interpret this? Is Dave’s backing of David a cunning bluff: the Tory leader backing the most New Labour-identified candidate to put Labour members off backing him? Or could it be an even cunninger double bluff: the Tory leader, knowing his endorsement could be read as a bluff, backing the most media-awkward candidate in the hope Labour members will vote for …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , and | 18 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem donation figures in full (Q2, 2010)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 6:53 pm

The Electoral Commission has today published the latest donation and borrowing figures for the political parties, showing that the Lib Dems raised just over £2.05 million in the second three months of this year, and almost £4 million in total in the frst half of the year.

(At the foot of this post is the full breakdown of cash and non-cash donations received by quarter since 2005, and annually between 2001 and 2004.)

By comparison, the party raised £4.4m in the first half of 2005 (leading up to that year’s general election) – but that did of course include

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

Kennedy defection rumours – another reason journalists are losing the public’s trust

By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd August 2010 - 2:28 pm

So today, at last, the news media is finally reporting the pretty unsurprising news that Charles Kennedy, leader of the Lib Dems from 1999 to 2006, is not leaving the Lib Dems in 2010.

Now it is of course the silly season, and we can easily write off this journalistic confection as mere desperation to fill some column inches / dead air-time. But actually I think it’s a symptom of a wider malaise in political journalism, its ‘tabloidisation’.

How an unsourced rumour went viral

Let’s go back to Friday afternoon, when the Kennedy defection rumours started circulating, and work out how …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 54 Comments
Stephen Tall

Pollwatch – State of the parties (summer 2010): Reasons to keep calm and carry on

By Stephen Tall | Sat 21st August 2010 - 5:57 pm

There have been a rather astonishing 36 opinion polls in the six weeks since LDV’s last polls round-up at the beginning of July. Thirty of those 36 originate from just one polling company, YouGov.

So let’s bring you up-to-date with July and August’s polls in chronological order of publication:

    Con 40, Lab 36, Lib Dem 16 (YouGov, 4-5 Jul)
    Con 41, Lab 36, Lib Dem 15 (YouGov, 5-6 Jul)
    Con 40, Lab 36, Lib Dem 17 (YouGov, 6-7 Jul)
    Con 42, Lab 35, Lib Dem 16 (YouGov, 7-8 Jul)
    Con 42, Lab 34, Lib Dem 17 (YouGov, 8-9 Jul)
    Con 42, Lab 35, Lib Dem

…

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Posted in Op-eds and Polls | Also tagged , and | 18 Comments
Mark Pack

Book review: Campaign 2010, The Making of the Prime Minister by Nicholas Jones

By Mark Pack | Wed 18th August 2010 - 8:50 am

I am usually sceptical about instant history book as they come out before there has been time for reflection or analysis and yet whilst events are still fresh in your mind. Too often therefore the instant history account simply tells you what you can still remember, and no more. However, Nicholas Jones’s book does a good job of avoiding this trap by being rather more about Campaign 2005 – 2009 than Campaign 2010. The book may be titled Campaign 2010, but much of it is better reflected in the subtitle, The Making of the Prime Minister, for it is about the longer story of where David Cameron came from and how he repositioned the Conservative Party.

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Posted in Books | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Why hearing the shipping forecast makes me optimistic

By Mark Pack | Tue 17th August 2010 - 10:20 am

When the dulcet tones of the BBC’s Shipping Forecast turn to the weather in German Bight, two thoughts often flit through my mind – both related to the history of Heligoland, an island (or strictly speaking, an inhabited island and a small uninhabited neighbour) that previously gave its name to that shipping forecast area until a name change in 1956.

The first thought is a reminder of how unbalanced  the information provided online can be. Google “Heligoland” and you will usually find results dominated by music (Heligoland was an album title for Massive Attack) and military history (Heligoland was the site …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Worth a second outing: Great Liberal Speeches: sacrificing the constitution on the altar of public security

By Mark Pack | Fri 13th August 2010 - 10:20 am

Welcome to a series where old posts are revived for a second outing for reasons such as their subject has become topical again, they have aged well but were first posted when the site’s readership was only a tenth or less of what it is currently or they got published and the site crashed, hiding the finest words of wisdom behind an incomprehensible error message.

I was one of the contributors to Great Liberal Speeches. Here is my introduction to the selected speech from George Tierney, followed by the speech itself. The issues are arguments are still very pertinent …

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Posted in Parliament | Also tagged and | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Lessons from the disappearing phone boxes for the internet and politics

By Mark Pack | Tue 10th August 2010 - 3:20 pm

A new report about the internet and the 2010 general election (not headlined some variant on “was it an internet election?” thank goodness) has just been published by the Hansard Society. It contains some excellent contributions from across the political spectrum and, er…, one by myself.

A phone boxWill Straw from Left Foot Forward has blogged about his own contribution here and The Voice’s very own Helen Duffett was one of the speakers at the launch event.

My own piece looked at ‘Lessons from the disappearing phone boxes for the internet and politics’ which tries to get at why people so often ask the question ‘Will the next election be an internet election?’ followed shortly after by’Well, that wasn’t an internet election’ – and yet the use of the internet has become so pervasive in politics:

Does the rhetoric and analysis of Joe Trippi and Clay Shirky or the reality of the mobile phone more accurately foretell the future impact of the internet on British politics? That isthe central question for anyone looking to predict how technology may change politics andcampaigning over this new Parliament…

Here’s the report in full, including my piece:

The internet and the 2010 election: putting the small ‘p’ back in politics?

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Posted in Online politics | Also tagged , and | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Book review: The Spirit Level – Why equality is better for everyone by Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett

By Mark Pack | Mon 9th August 2010 - 11:20 am

Although first published under a Labour government in 2009, this book is still highly relevant now we have a Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition. In fact, it is even more relevant because the current political and economic circumstances are forcing Liberal Democrats to think carefully about how much we are worried about inequality of outcome. Wilkinson and Pickett argue that widespread inequality helps increase a huge range of social ills, with the result that everyone suffers – even the most well off. Inequality in their view isn’t just bad for the poor, it’s also bad for the rich.

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Posted in Books | Also tagged , and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Worth a second outing: Six ways to get more people watching your YouTube videos

By Mark Pack | Sun 8th August 2010 - 4:20 pm

Welcome to a series where old posts are revived for a second outing for reasons such as their subject has become topical again, they have aged well but were first posted when the site’s readership was only a tenth or less of what it is currently or they got published and the site crashed, hiding the finest words of wisdom behind an incomprehensible error message. I’ve slightly updated some information to keep it current.

It’s fairly cheap and easy to produce videos and make them available to the world via YouTube these days. But how do you get people to then …

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Posted in Online politics | Also tagged | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

Paywall vs ‘Freemium’: why Parris, Finkelstein et al may rue Rupe’s decision

By Stephen Tall | Tue 27th July 2010 - 3:20 pm

Will The Times’s paywall work? It’s the question that’s been asked ever since Rupert Murdoch’s News International announced its intention to place The Times and The Sunday Times websites behind a paywall, blocking any user not prepared to pay a subscription for access.

Last week saw publication of early unofficial statistics which were extrapolated at length in The Guardian and suggest The Times’s website now attracts somewhere between 84,800 and 195,700 daily unique users – compared with c.1.2 million daily unique users pre-paywall.

It’s stating the obvious to point out that’s a huge drop: after all, the point of the exercise is to make money from the few, not be free to the masses. So far, it’s understood there are 15,000 paying users – though whether that figure includes those who signed up for cheap one-month trial offers is not certain – in addition to 12,500 iPad users.

Assuming The Times can retain all those paying customers (which is a big assumption), it’s estimated the paywall could attract revenues of £1-2m a year. I’ve not yet seen, though, a reliable figure showing what the cost in lost advertising revenue associated with a fall in online circulation will total – which make it difficult as yet to work out if News International will generate an immediate net profit from the paywall. That, after all, would be Mr Murdoch’s ultimate response to the naysayers.

What I don’t understand is why News International decided to go all out for the paywall at The Times without at least first testing the market by adopting a ‘freemium’ model, making basic content available free, but charging for premium content.

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