Tag Archives: featured

Stephen Tall

As Leveson reports… Why I’m sticking up for ‘Press freedom with no buts’

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th November 2012 - 8:30 am

Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal will report this week. His recommendations on the future of press regulation are the subject of intense speculation, with essentially three positions being staked-out:

What’s being proposed

‘Independent regulation backed up by statute’
Advocates, who include Evan Harris and the Hacked Off campaign group, argue that the only way to ensure the press does not abuse its position in the future is for it to be regulated. But, they insist, this should be independent both of government and the press, the two main …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 38 Comments
Stephen Tall

Reasons for Lib Dem cheer — as told by Labour and Tory supporters

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th November 2012 - 3:15 pm

Just two things from me:

1) Anyone trying to forecast how the Lib Dems will do in 2015 based on extrapolating mid-term opinion polls on the basis of uniform national swing is likely to be as wrong as they would have been at every general election in modern history.

2) My confident forecast for 2015 is the Lib Dems will a) do less well than I’d like and b) do better than our fiercest critics would like.

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 41 Comments
Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — 12 must-read articles you may have missed

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th November 2012 - 8:15 am

It’s Saturday morning, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices…

The lottery of life: Where to be born in 2013 – The Economist‘s annual list of the top quality-of-life countries: ‘Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too.’ Britain comes 27th. (The Telegraph has a picture-only version here.)

The burdens that Israel should not have to bear – Brendan …

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Geof Todd

Scaling-up the UK’s creative business

By Geof Todd | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 4:21 pm

Danny Boyle’s fantastic opening ceremony for the Olympics highlighted that Great Britain has a great heritage and we can really put on a show – given the right investment! The ‘Big Society’ fails to provide a suitable framework to rebuild and refocus our future, to re-launch UK plc on the global stage. In short, how are we going to make Britain ‘Great’ again?

We have the opportunity to build the world centre of excellence around a major ‘Creative Business’ initiative in which we must

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 5 Comments
Bill le Breton

“Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!”*

By Bill le Breton | Fri 23rd November 2012 - 11:21 am

Enough is enough. In the face of soaring national debt, the Liberal Democrat leader has this week called for the Central Bank to be made less independent to pave the way for more aggressive and unlimited monetary easing, a dramatic relaxation of the inflation target accompanied by a major public works programme and a supplementary budget.

Great news! The tragedy is that the Liberal Democrat leader in question is not Nick Clegg speaking on the eve of the Autumn Spending statement, but Shinzo Abe, Leader of the Japanese Liberal Democrats, launching his general election campaign which he is tipped to win. And the reaction of those dreaded markets? Positive – rising 4-5% as other world

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

What did George Osborne agree to do that Nick Clegg refused to do?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 3:25 pm


(You can like and share this graphic via LibDemVoice’s Facebook page by clicking here.)

Compare and contrast:

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 8 Comments
Helen Duffett

AD LIB: A new magazine for Liberal Democrats

By Helen Duffett | Wed 21st November 2012 - 2:43 pm

Cover of AdLib issue 1

Last month I asked for your views on the new members’ magazine to replace Liberal Democrat News.

We got loads of really good feedback and we’ve tried to get as much of it into the magazine as possible.

Of course, no one has ever made 100 per cent of Liberal Democrats happy 100 per cent of the time, but we sincerely hope AD LIB lives up to most (if not all of) your expectations.

We’re not giving away too much about the content yet, but Twitter and Facebook profiles for AD LIB are up and running and for a teaser we’ve released the front cover (above right).

I know, I know, as defenders of transparency in public life how can we justify keeping the contents secret?

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 18 Comments
Michael Moore

Michael Moore’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 21st November 2012 - 12:30 pm

Every week, Michael Moore MP, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland, writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here’s the latest edition in which he is too modest, however, to draw attention to the fact that he won Best Scot at Westminster in the Herald’s Scottish Politician of the Year awards,  

Post Offices

In recent months a number of my constituents have written to me

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Caron Lindsay

172 Liberal Democrats write to the Times to oppose secret courts

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st November 2012 - 11:30 am

As the Justice and Security Bill is debated in the House of Lords for the second day this week, 172 Liberal Democrats have written to the Times to express opposition to the proposals for secret courts and their letter has been published today (£). Although only five names are given in the paper, the full list of 172 who signed before the letter was sent and more who signed subsequently is published on the Lib Dems against secret courts website.

What’s interesting about the list is that it contains such a broad range of

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Eliminating the structural deficit is aiming for the wrong target

By Mark Pack | Mon 19th November 2012 - 10:53 am

HM Treasury logoThere is an appealing simplicity behind the idea of having a zero structural deficit. It is the policy the government is committed to, with its plans to eliminate the structural deficit. And it’s also wrong.

For all the problems in measuring the structural deficit accurately, the concept is a useful one – to measure what the deficit is, once you have allowed for where we are in the economic cycle. Or, as the FT puts it, “A budget deficit that results from a fundamental imbalance in government receipts and expenditures, as opposed to one based on one-off or short-term factors”.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 19 Comments
Chris Rennard

Chris Rennard writes… Liberal Democrat News RIP

By Chris Rennard | Mon 19th November 2012 - 9:53 am

In 1945 the Liberal News was a receipt for your weekly Liberal Party subscription. As a weekly newspaper, it outlasted Conservative and Labour Party rivals by some decades. Week by week party members, and a handful of others, were reminded of what the Liberal Party was up to when the mainstream media paid scant attention to it.

At times, when Liberal members could only dream of the days when the party might return to Government, Liberal News (and then Liberal Democrat News) reported on the great by-election breakthroughs like Orpington, Edge Hill, Eastbourne, Newbury and Brent East. At other times, the best that it could do to sustain hope was to feature an occasional parish council by-election win.

As someone who helped to organise many of the most spectacular by-election wins, I knew that the party paper also helped to bring

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Posted in News | 4 Comments
Eric Avebury

Lord Avebury writes… World Toilet Day and sanitation: an unspoken problem

By Eric Avebury | Mon 19th November 2012 - 7:33 am

Today is World Toilet Day and it is important to remember that 2.5 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. One in three women across the world risks shame, disease, harassment and even attack because they do not have a safe place to go to the toilet. This is unthinkable in the UK, but a reality in the developing world and the impact is devastating. Absence of clean toilets and inadequate sanitation facilities are key causes of diarrhoeal disease, the second largest killer of children worldwide, causing around 760,000 child deaths every year. Diarrhoeal disease is also a contributing factor to malnutrition, which in turn can lead to stunted growth and impede cognitive development.

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Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 4: “The Canvass”

By Libby Local | Sun 18th November 2012 - 2:30 pm

It was late on a Tuesday night and I was parked up in the Market Tavern with Melissa having a good moan over a Pinot Grigio. I’d just finished a particularly scrappy and argumentative rehearsal with the Demsbury Orchestra. Susan, the new clarinet player, had caused us all grief.

“I’ve had enough of it,” I sounded off. “The Orchestra is not well-run anyway, and now we get this bloody new clarinet player who will not listen and does her own thing.” Melissa didn’t look the least bit interested, so I tried to bait her. “I bet she’s a Tory as …

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Posted in Op-eds | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick’s third ‘Letter from the Leader’: “More freedom for parents and more rights for people with mental health problems”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th November 2012 - 2:05 pm

The third of Nick Clegg’s Letters from the Leader series has hit party members’ email inboxes today — here’s what he has to say…

In a week when we saw a set of disappointing elections – with hard working Liberal Democrats not getting the results they deserved and turnout slumping to a new low – it’s worth remembering what we’re achieving in Government.

This week I had the privilege – and I really do mean privilege – to announce a change in government policy that I’ve been working

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Teather: “Benefit cap is immoral and divisive”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th November 2012 - 11:20 am

Lib Dem MP for Brent Central Sarah Teather makes the front page of The Observer today for a powerful interview slamming the Government’s plans to bring in a benefit cap. I’m quoting extensively from it, below, but it’s well worth reading the whole piece here.

This is clearly an issue that touches Sarah deeply, not least because of the number of her constituents she knows will be deeply affected by the changes. What impresses me most, though, is the way she acknowledges the way the arguments are being …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 76 Comments
Mark Pack

What does the data show about the Obama campaign’s use of data?

By Mark Pack | Sat 17th November 2012 - 9:50 am

So far, there has been a weird paradox at the heart of the coverage about the Obama 2012 campaign machine. On the one hand we’re all meant to be impressed by how it was based on data and analysis, honing campaign techniques and targeting activity based on what the data said. On the other hand, we’re meant to take it all on trust (or trust plus bucketloads of anecdotes; i.e. trust) that this hard-nosed, evidence-based approach to campaigning worked. Where’s the evidence that the reliance on evidence really worked?

There’s been remarkably little presented. Which is why the following graph is so

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Posted in LDVUSA | Also tagged and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — 12 must-read articles you may have missed

By Stephen Tall | Sat 17th November 2012 - 8:15 am

It’s Saturday morning, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices…

Growth or bust (Financial Times) – Tim Harford on why there just aren’t enough companies going bankrupt in the UK: ‘The ability to fail quickly – and without much collateral damage – is a tremendous economic asset.’

On Managerialist Ideology (Stumbling and Mumbling) – In the wake of the BBC crisis, Chris Dillow questions the cult of management as a panacea for organisational failings: ‘the solution to sloppy journalism is, …

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Posted in News | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

My ‘Super Thursday’ Lib Dem post mortem

By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th November 2012 - 8:20 pm

A bad day for the Lib Dems, but not unexpectedly so. Call it sanguine, call it resigned…

Lib Dems Corby pressed

The party expected to get squeezed in Corby, and we were. I suspect we lost some ‘none of the above’ voters to Ukip and some left-leaning liberals to Labour (and many others who just didn’t vote). To forfeit our deposit by barely more than a dozen votes added an extra ignominy (although revived an old Liberal tradition). Though there is something practical we can do to lend a hand there…

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 60 Comments
Helen Duffett

Tim Farron MP emails party members: Thanking our candidates on this tough day

By Helen Duffett | Fri 16th November 2012 - 6:53 pm

Party President Tim Farron MP has just emailed Liberal Democrat members with a message of thanks and encouragement on this day of election results.

I wanted to put on record the party’s thanks to our candidates in yesterday’s PCC elections, by-elections and Bristol mayoral election.
We had many excellent candidates and teams who worked very hard to fly the flag for our party. I thank them all and I’m sure you would like to do the same.

It was a tough day, and whilst we may not have gained anything the hard work we’ve put in lays the foundations for the challenge ahead.

However

…

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Diary reminder: LibDemVoice Xmas Drinks, 17th December

By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th November 2012 - 10:25 am

Here’s a date for your diary… On 17th December, all LibDemVoice readers are invited to join us for festive drinks at 5pm in London, followed by (for those who wish) seeing Steve Richards’ Rock ‘n Roll Politics Christmas Special.

You can sign up for drinks on our Facebook page here, or via FlockTogether here.

Premiered at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, where it earned rave reviews, here’s how Steve’s show is billed:

Award winning BBC broadcaster and columnist, Steve Richards, takes you behind the scenes of British Politics and the media,

…

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Posted in Events | Also tagged | 2 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Paddy – withdraw British troops from Afghanistan now

By NewsHound | Fri 16th November 2012 - 7:54 am

Writing in today’s Times (£), Paddy Ashdown says that Afghanistan is ‘not worth the life of one more soldier’:

The war in Afghanistan is lost and not worth the life of one more British soldier, Paddy Ashdown writes in The Times today. In a stark assessment of the 11-year campaign that has cost 438 British lives, Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon urges Britain to pull out its troops as quickly as “decently” possible. The intervention comes as David

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Posted in LibLink and News | Also tagged , and | 10 Comments
Nick T

Chris Heaton-Harris and the Tories’ discipline problem

By Nick T | Thu 15th November 2012 - 9:40 am

One of the increasingly notable (and in many ways remarkable) things about the coalition is the stark difference in the levels of party unity and discipline in the two parties. While Liberal Democrat MPs and members have committed – often selflessly – to the implementation of the coalition agreement, the same cannot be said of the increasingly fractious Conservative party. Old wounds over Europe have clearly not healed, and the salt of equal marriage and the prime minister’s commitment that this should be the greenest government ever are making many on the Conservative fringes increasingly uncomfortable.

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg: Parents can share the joys and responsibilities of bringing children into the world

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th November 2012 - 4:33 pm

Nick Clegg went on Woman’s Hour yesterday after announcing the Coalition’s plans to allow parents to choose which of them takes leave when they have a new baby.

He talked to Jane Garvey about the plans for around 20 minutes, fielding some pretty robust questions, including whether men or women actually wanted this change. He was quite firm that it wasn’t for the government to say that women should take time off and men should work when a baby was born.

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Martin Petts

A letter from……Catalonia

By Martin Petts | Wed 14th November 2012 - 11:57 am

As the UK plans a referendum on Scottish independence, those of us watching from Spain can only look on in envy at the orderly and civilised process led by the Secretary of State for Scotland. Here in Catalonia, Northern Spain, similar demand exists for an independent state, but the two sides have chosen indignation and confrontation instead of a serious debate.

The last two years have been tough for all EU governing parties and Spain has unique problems, with its sky-high unemployment levels, corruption and a rickety banking system. But this month Catalans will go to the polls in a general

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Not all is quite so new in the world of political messaging and behaviour change

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th November 2012 - 3:05 pm

On my way to windmill spotting in Lincoln recently, I happened across this example of an 19th century election leaflet for the City of Lincoln’s local elections:

It’s a neat example of a point I’ve made before, that what can seem new and exciting in the world of communications often is really long-established ideas in slightly new clothes.

In this case, note two particular features of the message. First, the reference to electors having previously elected Mr Page four times before. In other words, …

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Two years on from the tuition fees U-turn – what do Lib Dem members think now?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th November 2012 - 2:15 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

7-in-10 say new fees system is fairer than old


LDV asked: Overall do you think the new tuition fees system introduced by the Coalition Government is fairer or less fair than the system it replaced?

    70% – Fairer
    21% – Less fair
    10% – Don’t know

A substantial majority of Lib …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged | 24 Comments
Mary Reid

Nick Clegg announces the arrangements for flexible parental leave

By Mary Reid | Tue 13th November 2012 - 1:02 pm

Another radical Lib Dem proposal is being implemented today as Nick Clegg announces the arrangements for flexible parental leave.

In essence, parents of new babies will be entitled to a year’s worth of parental leave that they can share between themselves to suit their own circumstances. He says:

From 2015, the UK will shift to an entirely new system of flexible parental leave. Under the new rules, a mother will be able to trigger flexible leave at any point – if and when she feels ready. That means that whatever time is left to run on her original year can be

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Want to learn about political campaigning? 5 books for Christmas

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th November 2012 - 10:50 am

Looking forward to some festive season reading or wondering what books to get some of your politically-minded friends?

Here are my top five books which will tell the reader about how political campaigning really works. Not the starry-eyed fun fiction of the West Wing but real politics and real campaigning.

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Posted in Books | 3 Comments
Steven Haynes

Opinion: Let’s end the smoke filled rooms and make the party truly democratic

By Steven Haynes | Mon 12th November 2012 - 10:53 am

When Tim Gordon sent out an email announcing the results of the Federal Committee Elections he said:

The Liberal Democrats are a democratic party to the core, and your voting representatives have returned a set of committees which will ensure that members’ voices are heard at all levels of the party.

However, I look at the results as someone who is a member of Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform, a democracy activist who

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged | 32 Comments
Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 3: “Golden moments”

By Libby Local | Sun 11th November 2012 - 2:20 pm

On Monday I was sitting in the Market Tavern sipping a milky latte and gazing vaguely at my iPad. I’d been asked to write a piece for Lib Dem Focus and was finding it quite a challenge. As I struggled to simplify a tortuous phrase, Tony, a neighbour of mine thankfully joined me.

We talked local politics and he asked whether I had finally decided whether to stand for council next year. I found myself replying with a curious mix of pride and caution that I found a little disconcerting.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m standing for the Lib Dems.”

He …

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Posted in Op-eds | 7 Comments
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  • Chris Williams
    All well and good, but what is a fascist? What are their policies? And are they on the right, left or both? You need to be able to identify your enemy in order ...
  • Andrew Moore
    I'm with Jana on this one. Fascism is defined (Cambridge Dictionary) as: 'A political system based on a very powerful leader, state control of social and econ...
  • Steph
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  • David Evans
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  • Chloe
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