Tag Archives: featured

Caron Lindsay

How can we do politics better?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 4th January 2014 - 9:59 am

There’s been a spate of articles and comments by Liberal Democrat politicians which, at a guess, isn’t co-ordinated, but they all address the same themes – the problems with the way that we do politics and lack of trust in politicians and institutions.

Paddy Ashdown told the Times (£), reported also for free in the Guardian that public faith in British institutions was “crumbling into dust” with some very harsh words for the BBC and NHS:

The BBC is revealed as an organisation which can’t manage its own affairs, misspends public money and seems to have been complicit in aggrandising

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 46 Comments
Stephen Tall

NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 1st January 2014 - 2:45 pm

liberal-voiceToday’s the day we launch our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year to find the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is the seventh annual award, and as is our tradition, we’re looking beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the greatest liberal who’s not a member of our party.

The list of 14 nominees appears below. These were sought from Lib Dem members via our most recent survey; some 250 nominations were submitted, and each of those short-listed needed to clear a threshold of four separate mentions.

To vote, please use the poll below to rank the nominees in order of preference.

This year’s shortlist for Liberal Voice of the Year is as follows

(in alphabetical first-name order):

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Posted in News and Polls | Also tagged | 29 Comments
Charles Kennedy

New Year reflections from Charles Kennedy: 2014 is not for the politically timid

By Charles Kennedy | Wed 1st January 2014 - 12:00 pm

Locally and nationally 2014 is going to be a decisive one – not just for us Liberal Democrats but for Scotland, the UK and the European Union as a whole.

It is going to be the most overwhelmingly political calendar year in the experience of most political participants. I believe that we are about to live through a period quite without precedent since 1974 – the year which saw two general elections. And its impact will be even more far reaching.

Both the European elections and the Scottish independence referendum offer us Liberal Democrats two pivotal platforms upon which to convey what, …

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

2,000 new Lib Dem members join in last 3 months of 2013: “first governing party in recent history to have increased its membership while in power”

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th December 2013 - 12:01 pm

Today’s Independent reports the story that Lib Dem membership is on the up – 2,000 new members joining in the last three months of the year mean the party has recorded a net increase of up to 800 members across 2013:

Much of the success, party sources said, was down to a new incentive scheme for local Lib Dem associations to recruit new members. Under the policy, if they can prove that their membership has grown over a three-month period, they get back 20 per cent of their subscriptions in that time to spend on local campaigning. If it has

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 34 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who’s up, who’s down? How party members rate the performances of leading Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th December 2013 - 2:50 pm

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. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats and government ministers?

Full results are published below, but here’s two key lists for those who want to cut to the chase… (with comparison to September 2013 ratings in brackets)

Top 5 Lib Dem performers in the Government:

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 6 Comments
The Voice

Who’s your leading Liberal Democrat Star of 2013? Part 1

By The Voice | Sat 28th December 2013 - 11:57 am

We have our Liberal Voice of the Year award, but that’s for people outside the party.

We also thought it might also be a good idea as we reach the end of the year to celebrate people in the party who we thought had made an outstanding contribution in 2013. When I say we, I’m including you in this. Some of the team will be making their own suggestions and we invite you to either submit your own posts by emailing [email protected] or just put your suggestions in the comments to the various posts that will be appearing over the next …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 36 Comments
The Voice

LDVideo: Nick Clegg’s Christmas message

By The Voice | Tue 24th December 2013 - 11:45 am

Not just a talking head this year. We see pictures of Nick visiting a school and Great Ormond Street Hospital, pulling crackers and chatting with children. Someone needs to tell him not to stick his hands in his pockets after he’s done the antibacterial wash, though. Oh, we just did.

Enjoy.

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Mary Reid

My grumpy Christmas

By Mary Reid | Tue 24th December 2013 - 8:54 am

Clegg family Xmas card 2013I really do not like the practice adopted by most party leaders of sending out Christmas cards adorned with portraits of themselves and their families.   Having caught a glimpse of the card sent by Charles and Camilla this year, it seems this is not limited to politicians, but it is certainly not widespread amongst the rest of us.

Most of us send cards that illustrate the significance of the season, drawing on religious or mid-winter symbolism.  So why do politicians usurp the underlying message of peace and hope with their blatant  acts of self-promotion? Even Nick Clegg’s ironic take this year, which was charming and playful – and yes, I did receive one of those through the post – was still saying ‘look at me’.

There are subtler ways of harnessing the power of the Christmas card. Many MPs invite children in local schools to submit Christmas card designs, and the winner has the pleasure of seeing their card in print and sent to hundreds, if not thousands, of local people.  This gives a great message to constituents – the self-effacing MP supports local schools, likes to encourage young people, and endorses the true meaning of Christmas.

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

EXCLUSIVE: What Lib Dem members think about the Lib Dems and the Coalition

By Stephen Tall | Thu 19th December 2013 - 9:32 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. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

Members back Coalition with Conservatives by 80% to 17%

Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives?

    80% (+1%) – Support

    17% (n/c) – Oppose

    3% (n/c) – Don’t know / No opinion

No matter what the travails of the Coalition — and there have been plenty in …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 18 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem Deputy Leadership – runners and riders. Who’s your choice?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 18th December 2013 - 5:25 pm

There will be a Lib Dem deputy leadership election in the new year, following (as Caron reported earlier) Simon Hughes’s surprise appointment as Minister for Justice, replacing Lord (Tom) McNally.

The post’s full title is Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons – so the ballot is restricted to MPs. Last time round, in summer 2010 following Vince Cable resignation to take up the post of Business Secretary, it was contested by Simon and by Tim Farron. Simon beat Tim by 38 votes to 18.

The party’s standing orders were changed following the …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 55 Comments
The Voice

++ Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes replaces Lord McNally as Justice Minister

By The Voice | Wed 18th December 2013 - 2:42 pm

Simon HughesNews just in:

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Simon Hughes has replaced Lord (Tom) McNally as the Liberal Democrat Minister of State for Justice.

Lord McNally has been appointed as the new Chair of the Youth Justice Board, a post which he will take up in mid-March 2014. Simon Hughes will take over as Justice Minister with immediate effect.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:

“Tom McNally has been a fantastic minister who has pushed through a Liberal agenda in the Ministry of Justice. He will now bring the same

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 20 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg opens up his “fairly thick Black Book” of Lib Dem plans blocked by the Tories – but is it enough?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 16th December 2013 - 6:45 pm

Last week, David Cameron revealed he’s keeping a “little black book” of Tory ideas he’s desperate to implement which have been thwarted by the Lib Dems. This prompted an impressively swift imagining by Lib Dem HQ of what that black book might contain – you can read it here.

It also prompted Lib Dem blogger Richard Morris pointedly to ask at the New Statesman, ‘Where is Clegg’s “little Black Book” of Lib Dem policies blocked by the Tories?’

… thinking back over the last few years, Lord’s Reform and the Mansion Tax aside, it’s hard to think what Lib

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 11 Comments
Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb writes… A once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix our health and care system

By Norman Lamb MP | Mon 16th December 2013 - 12:58 pm

In 1997 Tony Blair told the Labour Party conference “I don’t want brought up in a country where the only way pensioners can get long-term care is by selling their home.” And yet speaking to the Health Select Committee in 2010, in Labour’s final months in office, Andy Burnham said, “every member of the Cabinet believed social care to be an area that had not been properly reformed and was one of great unfairness”. In thirteen years of talk, and promises, Labour did nothing to fix our dysfunctional, and profoundly unfair, system of funding social care.

In …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 15 Comments
David Boyle

Opinion: This could be the historic moment the banks shift

By David Boyle | Mon 16th December 2013 - 8:34 am

Tuesday will see one of those moments which may prove a turning point in the development of an effective UK banking system.

That is the day that the banks will reveal the geographical spread of their lending, down to 9,000 different postcode levels.

It is the culmination of a major effort by Lib Dems in the House of Lords earlier in the last two years, with a great deal of help from elsewhere, to make sure that this happened.

It is also a creative moment of possibility – not to criticise the banks, because they need to be given the credit for this …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Sarah Yong

Postcard from China: Reflections from a visit to Guangdong province (Part 1)

By Sarah Yong | Sun 15th December 2013 - 9:07 am

After returning from my first ever trip to China, I felt a ‘postcard’ was in order to summarise this wonderful experience. It was a huge honour to be asked to represent our Party along with fellow Chinese Lib Dems Merlene Emmerson, Alex Payton and Steven Cheung on this visit by official invitation of the Chinese Government in the Guandong province in Southern China. The trip was organised by the British Chinese Project, a not for profit organisation that works to increase awareness and greater engagement in politics by the British Chinese population. Our sixteen strong delegation included representatives from all …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Nick T

Lib Dems should aim for a budget surplus not because the Tories want to, but because it is right

By Nick T | Thu 12th December 2013 - 1:54 pm

All parties have a mixture of deficit hawks and doves – those who believe in balanced budgets and those who aren’t too bothered. The Lib Dems are no exception, but I think we are different in the motivations underlying these positions.

Many Tories often seem to see deficit reduction as an end in and of itself, not even necessarily because they want to see a smaller state and lower taxes, but simply because their ideology teaches that budget deficits are Bad Things.

And in recent years, some Labour figures have begun to sound like their ideology teaches that budget deficits are inherently …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 57 Comments
Stephen Tall

‘Good’ gender segregation and ‘bad’ gender segregation?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 12th December 2013 - 9:08 am

universities_uk logoI’ve just heard the Chief Executive of Universities UK be put through the mill on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme following its decision to publish advice that gender segregation might not necessarily be discriminatory as long as “both men and women are being treated equally, as they are both being segregated in the same way”. The guidance – which you can read here – is specific to invited external speakers at meetings on university premises.

I do not like gender segregation. At all. Maybe it’s the result of having …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 73 Comments
Stephen Tall

Three scenarios for the 2015 election based on current polling: which do you think looks most plausible?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 10th December 2013 - 2:45 pm

In 18 months we’ll know the result of the 2015 general election.

Forecasting is a mug’s game – especially because there are an even greater number of variables this time than usual: a governing coalition of two parties with one established centre-left opposition, Labour, and an insurgent right-wing party, Ukip.

But plenty are having a go at it anyway. Lib Dem MP Sir Nick Harvey reckons Labour has the next election in the bag. Psephologist Lewis Baston thinks we’re headed for a second hung parliament. And pollster Sir Bob Worcester believes the Lib Dems are destined for meltdown.

Here’s my quick ‘n’ dirty analysis based on the polling trends. What I’ve looked at is Labour’s lead over the Conservatives according to the monthly average of opinion polls under three different scenarios.

(Huge caveat straight off: the extent of the polling science on display here is me playing around on an Excel spreadsheet.)

Scenario 1

The Conservatives hit rock bottom in May 2012. The omnishambles budget and its desperate U-turns were followed by a poor set of local election results. There have been dips since then, notably when it looked like the economy might plunge into what was being billed as a triple-dip recession at the start of 2013, but never quite matching that period.

Taking May 2012 as the peak of Labour’s lead, what would happen if the linear trend since then were to continue through to May 2015? This is what:

polling trends 2015 - ST 2

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Posted in Polls | Also tagged , , and | 51 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Clegg Family Christmas Card, with a little help from their sons

By Stephen Tall | Tue 10th December 2013 - 10:35 am

Here is the Christmas card Nick Clegg and Miriam González Durántez will be sending out this year:

Clegg family Xmas card 2013

The London Evening Standard explains:

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments
The Voice

Bob Russell’s surgery lasts for 12 hours – is this a record?

By The Voice | Tue 10th December 2013 - 10:06 am

bob russell_2Bob Russell, the Lib Dem MP for Colchester, claims to have set a record by holding a surgery that lasted for 12 hours.

It seems that 36 people made appointments to see him last Friday. It’s not entirely clear whether he had originally planned it to go on for so long, or whether he just had a very long list of people who wanted to see him.

He claims to have seen 10,000 constituents at his surgeries since he was elected in 1997.

So your challenge today is to establish whether …

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
The Voice

MPs condemn MPs’ pay rise

By The Voice | Mon 9th December 2013 - 1:13 pm

MPs of all sides are objecting to IPSA proposals to increase their pay by 11%, alongside some less-reported minor cuts to expenses and a move to a career-average pension scheme, that make the whole package, we are told, cost-neutral.

Danny Alexander has called the rise “wholly inappropriate”:

I think most people will find it utterly incomprehensible that a time of pay restraint for the public sector and further squeezes on Government spending that IPSA should be recommending . I think it would be wholly inappropriate to get such a large pay rise when every other public sector worker sees pay

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 17 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrats pay tribute to Nelson Mandela

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 6th December 2013 - 9:10 am

My social media timeline is full of tributes to Nelson Mandela. The interesting thing is that they come not from the usual political suspects, but from so many of my friends, from all generations, from all over the world. Everyone knows that he taught us how to bring harmony to a country that could have descended into a horrendously bloody civil war. He could have taken his revenge on the brutal regime who had kept him locked up for so long, but, thankfully, he showed us a better way. Think how much the world would improve if more people followed …

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Mary Reid

Nelson Mandela – the long walk is over

By Mary Reid | Fri 6th December 2013 - 7:18 am

nelson-mandelaBarack Obama described Nelson Mandela as ‘a hero for the world’ and it is difficult to think of another politician who was as admired globally as he was. Perhaps the only comparable figure is Mahatma Gandhi, who also began his public life as a lawyer working for the civil rights of South Africans.

However, while Gandhi practised non-violent civil disobediance throughout his life, Mandela moved towards militant opposition to apartheid. His transition in public perception from terrorist to saint has been unique.

In 1996 Mandela was granted the Freedom of the City of London. I was very privileged to be present at the event in London’s Guildhall.

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Posted in Obituaries and Op-eds | Also tagged | 15 Comments
Stephen Tall

Autumn statement: George is jubilant, Ed blusters and Danny breathes a sigh of relief

By Stephen Tall | Thu 5th December 2013 - 1:50 pm

“A lot done, a lot left to do.” It’s the slogan that adorns many re-election campaigns and it’s the one George Osborne adopted in his autumn statement today. He was cautiously jubilant. Growth has returned with the OBR seemingly struggling to get its forecasts to keep up. Borrowing will fall – slower than the Chancellor forecast, true, but a cash surplus is expected within five years.

This gave the Coalition the wriggle room it needed for an assortment of giveaways… Free school meals for 5-7 year-olds, the personal income tax allowance to rise to £10k then be pegged to inflation, …

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged | 9 Comments
Jenny Allen

The Independent View: Help, don’t judge – better uses for the £700 million marriage tax break cash

By Jenny Allen | Wed 4th December 2013 - 11:58 am

Don't judge advent calendarAnother Westminster set piece, another piece of the jigsaw for David Cameron’s marriage tax allowance. This Thursday the Chancellor gives his Autumn Statement. With the economic upturn shaky at best we can expect little in the way of good news and plenty more squeezing of budgets. Except, that is, for the little matter of the £700m the Conservatives are gearing up to spend on giving tax breaks for married couples. The Chancellor is expected to give more detail on this policy, which even its supporters believe is only of symbolic value.

With …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged and | 7 Comments
Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes…Tackling child abuse online: Doing what works

By Julian Huppert | Tue 3rd December 2013 - 1:10 pm

Thanks to a number of national police forces, led by the Canadians, working together 341 child abusers have been arrested and almost 400 children being held as sex slaves have been freed in recent months. That is fantastic news.

However, not one of those was in Britain.

2,345 British suspects had been identified by the authorities in Toronto, some of whom are feared to have regular contact with children, and these were passed to CEOP, the specialist police centre, but astonishingly, no action was taken on our side for 18 months.

It appears that whilst the Prime Minister has a number of great …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: Good news for Mums and Dads

By The Voice | Sun 1st December 2013 - 11:19 am

“Liberal Democrats will allow parents to share the allocation of maternity and paternity leave between them in whatever way suits them best.” That’s what the party’s 2010 manifesto said would happen – and this week it actually did happen. Here’s what Nick Clegg had to say about the party’s policy success…

libdem letter from nick clegg

A short one this week: just to say a huge well done to all Liberal Democrats. We’ve finally landed our flagship policy on shared parental leave.

Help us share the news about our shared parental leave!

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

It’s “Immigration Hysteria Day”. Again. Here’s how Lib Dems need to respond

By Stephen Tall | Wed 27th November 2013 - 9:35 am

Another day, another bout of “the UK’s about to be invaded by 29 million Bulgarians and Romanians” hysteria. But today it’s not Nigel Farage splattering mis-shapen statistics into the debate: it’s the Prime Minister, David Cameron – increasingly resembling Mr Farage’s mini-me – who’s showing leadership by following the tabloid press. Here’s how the BBC lists the new proposals:

  • New migrants will not get out-of-work benefits for the first three months
  • Payments will be stopped after six months unless the claimant has a “genuine” chance of a job
  • The “habitual residency test” to determine eligibility for benefits will be tightened up
  • An earnings

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , and | 44 Comments
Caron Lindsay

SNP’s white paper on independence – some first reaction and three initial questions from me

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 26th November 2013 - 1:46 pm

For months, years, even, whenever we’ve asked questions about independence, after we’ve been accused of scaremongering, we’ve been told to wait for the White Paper.

Well, that wait is over as the White Paper has now been published – or is it? Scotland’s Future, it’s called. That’s profound. We have a future? That’s kind of inevitable. It doesn’t promise a bright future, or a happy one.

On the big questions of the day, such as the three on pensions, currency and cost posed by Alistair Carmichael two weeks ago, we are really none the wiser. We know what the SNP …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 39 Comments
David Gray

Opinion: Which side are we on?

By David Gray | Tue 26th November 2013 - 8:53 am

RBS logoAllegations have recently come to light that RBS engaged in a programme of ‘deliberately wrecking small businesses’ in order to seize their assets on the cheap and boost their own profits. The case is another story in which we, the public, are shocked but not surprised. The response of the government and, in particular, Vince Cable will be watched very closely indeed.

It is interesting to view this story in the light of other recent events.

Take the sale of a student loans book to an investment consortium at a price …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 57 Comments
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