Tag Archives: featured

Stephen Tall

Entwistle quits BBC: what next?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th November 2012 - 12:20 pm

Another week, another day’s news headlines dominated by the media talking about itself… though this time with some legitimacy, as it’s not every day the Director-General of the BBC resigns within two months of being appointed to the post.

George Entwistle and the BBC’s Catch-22 problem

The BBC Director-General is editor-in-chief of the organisation, ultimately responsible for all content. The DG must also lead an organisation with 23,000 employees, a £4.8bn budget and multiple TV, radio and online outlets. I think it’s fair to say those are two …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick’s second ‘Letter from the Leader’: featuring PMQs, Leveson Inquiry & tax-cuts for the low-paid

By Stephen Tall | Sat 10th November 2012 - 12:30 pm

Nick Clegg’s second letter to members and supporters has hit my inbox… This week’s email focuses on two issues. First, the impending Leveson Report into what form of media (self-)regulation will be needed to ensure newspapers don’t continue to abuse their power in the way that was exposed so forensically during Sir Brian’s inquiry. And secondly, on re-inforcing the Lib Dems’ number one achievement from the Coalition: raising the income tax threshold so that millions of the lowest paid in society have more money in their pockets.

…

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

Federal Committee Election results 2012

By Helen Duffett | Sat 10th November 2012 - 9:43 am

Postal ballot paper being postedLiberal Democrat Federal Conference reps have voted for members of party committees for 2013-2014; the results are as follows:

Federal Executive committee
Places: 15
Candidates elected:

Qassim Afzal
Elaine Bagshaw

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , , and | 20 Comments
Stephen Tall

++ SHOCK! HORROR! LIB DEM MP CAUGHT UP IN NEW EXPENSES ROW!

By Stephen Tall | Fri 9th November 2012 - 3:05 pm

I’m deeply grateful to the Manchester Evening News and its reporter Deborah Linton for exposing Manchester MP John Leech’s shameless attempts to exploit the taxpayer by…

(brace yourselves for the shock)…

… offering coffee to staff working at his constituency office and members of the public visiting him.

With unbelievable extravagance, Mr Leech has splashed out on two £34.99 coffee makers from Aldi for his Didsbury office. As if that weren’t shameless enough, he also bought coffee beans to actually put into the actual coffee makers!

Then to …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 22 Comments
Mark Valladares

ELDR Congress: I’m not about to craic up…

By Mark Valladares | Thu 8th November 2012 - 4:52 pm

Welcome to the former lair of the Celtic Tiger, a city of stories, some of them true, and enough cliche to bury an elephant, Dublin, the host city for this year’s ELDR Congress, hosted by Fianna Fail.

The focus of this year’s event is on energy transition and, given that the EU remains worryingly dependent on imports of oil and gas from some rather unstable corners of the world, it is a subject that might not be obviously sexy, it is one that has a huge impact on European citizens.

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Why there isn’t a British Nate Silver

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th November 2012 - 8:22 am

A skim-read of Wednesday morning’s headlines might have left folk confused as to who had been declared the victor of the US presidential election: Barack Obama or Nate Silver.

For those who don’t know Nate Silver, he’s the analytical guru behind the FiveThirtyEight blog (named after the number of electoral college votes), now housed at the New York Times, which scrutinises and filters opinion polls. He first rose to prominence four years ago after predicting the winner in 49 of the 50 US states during the Obama-McCain presidential contest, …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 17 Comments
Stephen Tall

At Coalition half-time, 77% of Lib Dem members continue to back deal with Tories

By Stephen Tall | Mon 5th November 2012 - 8:15 am

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.

Support for Coalition edges up to 77%

LDV asked: Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives? (Comparison with September’s figures.)

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | 28 Comments
Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 2: “The selection panel and Mad Max”

By Libby Local | Sun 4th November 2012 - 2:15 pm

Last Wednesday I was up before the selection panel. Beforehand I was experiencing that curious mix of feelings that is at once confidence and nervousness. I had no idea how to dress. What does a typical Lib Dem wear? A bit of lippy and my poshest high heels? My usual casually crumped look, replete with a hat that Dr Seuss would be proud of? A business suit? Lipstick and high heels won.

The day began badly with an encounter with Maxwell Tarmac-Smyth – the “Mad Max” of Libbyshire politics. He’s second peg in the Tory oligarchy that runs Libbyshire. He’s the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 21 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s first leader’s letter hits my inbox

By Stephen Tall | Sun 4th November 2012 - 12:05 pm

The first of Nick Clegg’s new ‘Letter from the Leader’ series has been emailed to party members this morning. Here it is:

I want to start writing to you, as a supporter of the Liberal Democrats, regularly and more informally than I have in the past. I want to give you a bit more of an insight into what’s going on behind those Whitehall doors and how we, as Lib Dems, are dealing with the issues and challenges that come up.

An issue that gets raised again and

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members say about the party’s direction and Nick Clegg’s leadership

By Stephen Tall | Sun 4th November 2012 - 8:50 am

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.

Post-conference boost: +23% happy with party’s direction

LDV asked: Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track? (Comparison with September’s figures.)

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

I don’t agree with Nick. We should be in Europe to reform the EU

By Stephen Tall | Thu 1st November 2012 - 9:20 am

Nick Clegg will today make the kind of speech which makes it very hard for Lib Dems to push the idea that our party is serious about reform of the European Union. According to the BBC, he will dismiss the chances of any significant changes to the EU’s budget:

In a speech to be delivered to the Chatham House international affairs think-tank, Mr Clegg will say Labour is well aware there was “absolutely no prospect” of achieving a real-terms cut. “Their change of heart is dishonest, it’s hypocritical.

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 52 Comments
Phil Ling

Opinion: Canvassing – a few steps to success

By Phil Ling | Thu 1st November 2012 - 9:06 am

Dundonald ward, in Merton, was awarded the “most canvassed ward in London” at the London Liberal Democrats regional conference.  As one of the people co-ordinating the campaign in the ward, it was great that the hard work was recognised, but I was also a bit surprised.

Not surprised as in “can’t believe we’d won”, but surprised in the fact it didn’t feel like hard work, once the initial groundwork had been done. In reality, although there were times where we were out doing surveys, recruiting or canvassing twice a week, it averaged about once a week. The canvass teams were never huge, 3-5 people, with the

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Trident: it’s déjà vu all over again

By Stephen Tall | Tue 30th October 2012 - 12:45 pm

The latest flurry of excitement about the Trident nuclear deterrent — as the Daily Mail puts it with typical tabloid restraint: Tories and LibDems at war over contract to build Trident sub: £350m deal is jumping the gun, warns Clegg — is one of those stories which pops up twice a year. The last time was six months ago, in May, when the Ministry of Defence announced £350m-worth of design contracts for the Trident successor submarines had been signed. As then Lib Dem defence minister Nick Harvey pointed out on LDV at the time:

is being portrayed as the Coalition Government moving a step closer to a

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 21 Comments
Philip Young

Opinion: Farewell to Lib Dem News

By Philip Young | Tue 30th October 2012 - 10:56 am

As a former Editor, I’m sad to see that Liberal Democrat News is now compiling its final issue.

The idea of a weekly newspaper began in 1947.There were numerous attempts to axe it. I fought off at least two, and it was only thanks to the likes of David Steel, John Pardoe, and the ALC, that the treasurer was persuaded otherwise in the 1970s. Then, the party was financially bust, despite Trevor Jones delivering a string of remarkable by-election successes that

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

A headline I didn’t expect ever to write: Tory right-wing calls for affirmative action in public sector

By Stephen Tall | Tue 30th October 2012 - 7:45 am

I did a bit of a double-take on reading Fraser Nelson’s latest column in the Telegraph complaining that David Cameron has been ‘strikingly relaxed’ about appointments to government-funded bodies.

‘His allies say that he has been too much of a gentleman to play Labour’s game and start stuffing quangos with Tory placemen,’ says Fraser, whose tone suggests he’d like nothing better than for the Prime Minister to start stuffing quangos with Tory placemen.

His plea for greater patronage was taken up with alacrity by Tim Montgomerie at ConservativeHome who …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Lib Dem campaign buttons for your website available once again

By Mark Pack | Mon 29th October 2012 - 2:53 pm

A new set of automatically updated campaign buttons is now available for Liberal Democrat websites.

As I wrote in September, during my time working at party HQ doing online campaigning one of our most successful projects (cooked up with the help of Rob Fenwick and Martin Tod) was the ‘campaign buttons’ – a simple piece of code which let bloggers and those with other websites easily display campaign adverts and news stories from the party.

It was a great way for the party to be able to push out quickly and widely adverts for new campaigns, policy launches and the like, whilst for …

Continue reading »
Posted in Online politics | Also tagged , and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

How leaflets used to look: Labour’s Citizen leaflet from 1929

By Mark Pack | Mon 29th October 2012 - 10:53 am

Today’s leaflet in my series on old election leaflets is a centrally produced Labour party 4-pager from 1929. As with the Conservative leaflet from 1931 which I previously featured, the design may be very different from good modern leaflets, but the content has some very familiar overtones.

The May 1929 contest was the first general election in which women under 30 could vote and also one of only three elections in the modern era where the party with the most votes did not also win the most seats. Despite being slightly out-polled by the Conservatives, Labour won more seats in …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Libby Local

Introducing Libby Local, Episode 1: “I wasn’t going to be a Lib Dem”

By Libby Local | Mon 29th October 2012 - 8:55 am

I’m Libby, I’m local – to Demsbury and Libbyshire at least – and I wasn’t going to be a Lib Dem. I guess I have to blame that on Melissa, a dyed in the wool Conservative who I occasionally drink a half-bucket of Pinot Grigio with.

I’ve always stuck my head above the parapet rather than lay low. In the last couple of years, friends have suggested I become politically active. I have been listening to local voices, voices that are mostly ignored – voices that I could help get heard. Of late, I find more

Continue reading »
Posted in Local government | 45 Comments
Stephen Tall

Date for your diary – 17th December: LibDemVoice Xmas drinks, followed by Steve Richards’ Rock ‘n Roll Politics

By Stephen Tall | Sun 28th October 2012 - 1:45 pm

Here’s a date for your diary… On 17th December, The Independent’s Steve Richards will bring his Rock ‘n Roll Politics to London for a Christmas special. Premiered at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, where it earned rave reviews, here’s how the show is billed:

Award winning BBC broadcaster and columnist, Steve Richards, takes you behind the scenes of British Politics and the media, the characters, the absurdities, the tragedies. Laugh and cry as you are taken on a whirlwind tour from Harold Wilson and David Bowie in the 1970s to David

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Events | Also tagged | Leave a comment
The Voice

Green councillor’s verdict on his party as he resigns: “They attract the gullible and the authoritarian”

By The Voice | Sun 28th October 2012 - 11:15 am

Norwich Evening News reports the decision by one of the city’s Green councillors to resign from the council just five months after he was elected:

A Green city councillor has resigned little more than five months since he was elected – blaming the party’s “profoundly undemocratic” methods. David Rogers informed Norwich City Council of his decision yesterday, after expressing his dissatisfaction with how the Norwich branch of the party is run.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 14 Comments
Mark Pack

Jimmy Savile: can we have the police crisis now, please?

By Mark Pack | Sat 27th October 2012 - 11:25 am

The BBC is rightly in crisis over its handling of the Jimmy Savile case. But the mix of some journalists loving taking pot-shots at the BBC and the BBC’s own love of reporting itself (did you see the Newsnight piece on the Panorama episode about the Newsnight story?) means the BBC’s troubles has been over-shadowing the role of others.

The police, in particular.

One police force we now know investigate Jimmy Savile and their work at least got as far as serious consideration of whether or not there was enough evidence …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — 8 must-read articles you may have missed

By Stephen Tall | Sat 27th October 2012 - 8:15 am

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

Why don’t we trust politicians? – The BBC’s Nick Robinson takes politicians to task, doesn’t let the media off the hook either… while Labour’s Rachel Reeves mouths platitudes.

The BBC regains its honour – Nick Cohen links the Beeb’s problems with Newsnight and Jimmy Savile to the wider question of institutional trust: ‘We ought to be extending anti-managerialism into every private and public hierarchy.’

The Savile inquiries: giving truth a …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 26 October 2012

By The Voice | Fri 26th October 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Opinion: Where now on Electoral Reform? (France!) (67 comments) by Mark Wright
  2. Why the Lib Dems are standing for barely half the elected police commissioner posts (19 comments) by Stephen Tall
Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Ed Balls denies that he denied there was a structural deficit

By Mark Pack | Fri 26th October 2012 - 1:24 pm

 

(Actually, it’s worse than that, for in addition Ed Balls’s claim that it’s only with hindsight that it’s clear there was a structural deficit doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny either.)

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 44 Comments
Stephen Tall

David Cameron’s ‘a little and often’ leadership doesn’t suit him and isn’t Prime Ministerial

By Stephen Tall | Wed 24th October 2012 - 12:25 pm

The Telegraph’s James Kirkup, one of that paper’s few fair-minded political commentators, has written a thought-provoking article, A devil’s advocate defence of David Cameron and No 10. His case for the defence is first, that we (public, media) shouldn’t assume the role of Prime Minister has always to follow the command/control style of Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair:

Implicit – and sometimes explicit – in the various critiques of the Cameron style and No 10 outfit is the idea that a Prime

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

There should be far more rebellions like the one yesterday

By Mark Pack | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 1:25 pm

A brief footnote to Stephen’s piece yesterday Government suffers defeat in Lords over ‘new poll tax’ changes to council tax benefits. Note what the rebellion was over:

An independent review of the changes to be carried out within three years of them being introduced.

Yup, that shocking idea that after a new policy is introduced, we should leave it a little while and then someone should go and take a look how

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Mothers of Liberty: Women who built British Liberalism

By Mark Pack | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 10:50 am

For an organisation that looks to the past and to party politics, it is almost inevitable that the Liberal Democrat History Group’s publications are rather dominated with accounts of men. Even now, well into the 21st century, we only just have the first female Liberal Democrat ministers, whilst female Liberal Democrat Cabinet members or party leaders are still something for the future.

Continue reading »
Posted in Books | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

A confession: I’m a Lib Dem and I support elected police commissioners

By Stephen Tall | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 9:00 pm

Here’s the thing: I don’t have a problem with elected police commissioners. I know they were a Tory manifesto idea and that the Lib Dems are opposed to them (while reluctantly agreeing to vote for them as part of the Coalition Agreement). But I’m just fine with them. My support for directly elected police commissioners is paralleled by my support for directly elected mayors:

For too long, city council politics have been in the hands of amateur part-time leaders: some have been very good, some not so

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 57 Comments
Paul Walter

Unravelling the US election – or not, as the case may be…

By Paul Walter | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 1:23 pm

There are just 16 days to go until the US Presidential election. Liberal Democrat Voice will be live-blogging the election results as they come in on the night. Hopefully, the count won’t go on as long as it did in 2000, or we might be in for a very long live blog.

I should declare, up front, that I am inveterately

Continue reading »
Posted in LDVUSA | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Why the Lib Dems are standing for barely half the elected police commissioner posts

By Stephen Tall | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 9:15 am

With nominations closed and the elections less than a month away, time for a quick recap on where the Lib Dems are at in the forthcoming police commissioner elections.

As ConHome has taken some pleasure in pointing out, the party is standing in 23 out of the 41 contests, little more than half. A little self-righteously, they argue: ‘This is a political party that is supposed to believe in radical change, in making the state more accountable to the citizen, and in boosting local democracy.’

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 19 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • 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
    Great article and a very important topic! To add an important point of clarity relating to Britain's treaty obligations to prevent genocide, it is important to ...
  • David Evans
    Jana, Spot on. Too often people on the illiberal left and even worse many people who chose to describe themselves as progressive adopt the word fascist to des...
  • Chloe
    Exactly Jason ; It needs to be called out on all sides. Numerous videos of Young Bob online being attacked by students who've little in the way of any coherent ...