Tag Archives: featured

Ruth Bright

Opinion: Questions for Jeremy Hunt on abortion

By Ruth Bright | Mon 8th October 2012 - 12:54 pm

The Abortion Act 1967 Act was passed when I was nine months old. Women of my generation have grown up believing our rights were safe and our bodies were our own. Even those who had never heard of a backbench MP named David Steel had reason to be grateful to him for ensuring that women could not be forced by the state to continue with pregnancies they did not want.

Women of my generation and others now have to wake up and realise that the settlement, we thought was so safe, is no longer. Thanks to the Coalition, the Health Service is now in the hands of

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

Lib Dems’ internal elections: your guide to where we’re at (UPDATED)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 7th October 2012 - 4:50 pm

Every couple of years the Lib Dems hold internal elections in which conference representatives choose members of key party committees. As one of the seemingly few Lib Dems neither standing for election nor with a vote, I thought our readers might like an update on where we’re at…

Federal Executive

What does it do?
The formal answer: ‘The Federal Executive is an elected committee responsible for directing, co-ordinating and implementing the work of the Federal Party.’ (From the party website.)
The informal answer: What does the Federal Executive do? by Alison Goldsworthy
Who’s standing?
There are 36 candidates (26 men, 10 women) competing for …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters and Party Presidency | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

A flagship borough: 25 years of a Liberal Democrat Sutton Council

By Mark Pack | Fri 5th October 2012 - 9:45 pm

Look round the room at the next Liberal Democrat event you attend and ask yourself how many people in the room will have their names recorded in places that future political historians can find. A few, certainly, especially if they have been elected to public office.

For most, however, their contribution to a political party slips away through the cracks of the historical record, disappearing as the direct personal memories people have of them fade and then end with death.

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Posted in Books, Local government and London | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Michael Gove declares war on curves (square corners are OK though)

By Mark Pack | Thu 4th October 2012 - 12:25 pm

Bizarre micro-management at its worst, courtesy of Michael Gove.

Now, it’s easy to see why he’s keen to seen if schools can be built at lower costs. It’s also easy to see how a bit more standardisation between different new school designs could reduce costs.

So looking for more standardisation in design? No problem.

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 17 Comments
Nick T

Manchester Labour’s “crazy” decision to spend £425k on pop concert

By Nick T | Thu 4th October 2012 - 10:56 am

The decision of Manchester’s Labour-run Council to spend almost half a million pounds on a pop concert starring Alicia Keys has been branded “crazy” by Lib Dems in the city. Manchester City Council is currently in the process of making £296m of cuts to its budget over a two year period – cuts condemned as “ideological” by the Labour Council Leader Sir Richard Leese.

Here’s what the Lib Dem group leader on Manchester City Council, Simon Wheale, had to say about this use of scarce public money:

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

The top campaigning lesson from Ed Miliband’s speech: repetition is what you need

By Stephen Tall | Wed 3rd October 2012 - 8:25 am

“We are the One Nation party,” Nick Clegg will tell the Liberal Democrats in his speech to their spring conference tomorrow.

Remember this headline? Probably not. Yet it dates from March 2012, just six months ago.

So what happened? Two key things, I suggest. First, Nick’s ‘One Nation’ message was drowned out by the furore over the NHS reforms which dominated the party’s spring conference this year. Secondly, it was one line among many which was uttered and quickly disappeared, like a whispered greeting on a windy day.

There was some snarky commentary from journalists who heard Ed Miliband …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 27 Comments
Paul Walter

Conference Skype* speeches – a must have

By Paul Walter | Mon 1st October 2012 - 11:54 am

There is a vast opportunity staring the Liberal Democrats in the face: To be the first British political party to accommodate speeches via Skype at their conference.

There are all sorts of arguments for and against this. Would it stop people bothering to come to conference altogether and just participate from their living room? Would that kill conference?

But there are two massive reasons why it should be done very

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 15 Comments
Helen Duffett

Liberal Democrat Party Awards 2012: The winners

By Helen Duffett | Sun 30th September 2012 - 4:20 pm

Each year at Autumn Conference, the Party President presents awards for outstanding service to the Liberal Democrats.

Tim Farron appealed for nominations back in May, and presented the awards on the final afternoon of Conference in Brighton last week.

Tim Farron also took a moment to thank all those who work hard in their local areas and for their local parties, everyone who campaigned in the council elections in May, and those who will play a part in this autumn’s elections for Police Commissioners, the Bristol Mayor and Parliamentary by-elections.

The winners of the 2012 Party Awards are as follows:

Patsy Calton Award

…

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Miliband: Labour took my mobile phone away

By Mark Pack | Fri 28th September 2012 - 12:01 am

Ed MilibandWhat a bad year it is to be a political satirist. First there was the problem of the minister who met the Prime Minster, intending to resign – yet somehow the conversation ended without the PM noticing that a resignation was on offer. Hard for a satirist to top that.

And now we have the bizarre case of the Labour Party confiscating its own party leader’s mobile phone, as reported by Sky:

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

+++ Paddy Ashdown to chair 2015 general election campaign

By Mark Pack | Wed 26th September 2012 - 3:13 pm

Party leader speeches at conferences rarely contain completely untrailed and fresh news. Nick Clegg’s does: that Paddy Ashdown will chair the party’s 2015 general election campaign.

Although his name wasn’t one of those I speculated about previously, it is a logical choice because the party’s plan is to fight a 1997-style general election campaign, with a tough national vote share environment hopefully bucked by very effective Parliamentary by-election style campaigns …

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Posted in Conference and News | Also tagged , and | 14 Comments
Mark Pack

Another day at conference, another education policy launched

By Mark Pack | Wed 26th September 2012 - 10:34 am

BlackboardTax, tax and a bit more about tax: that’s been the main theme of the Liberal Democrat conference, from the slogan on badges and the banner outside the building through to the content of speeches and the main policy focus of the media coverage.

When it comes to new policy announcements, however, it is education that has had a strong showing.

First there was the news on summer schools:

Lib Dems announce further £100m for summer schools to help children catch-up
Mr Laws said: “All too often pupils who have made big progress

…

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Posted in Conference and News | Also tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Liberal Democrats to veto plan for benefits freeze

By Mark Pack | Sat 22nd September 2012 - 8:20 am

From The Independent:

Nick Clegg will veto George Osborne’s demands for a two-year freeze in most state benefits from next April and a further £10bn of welfare cuts…

The Deputy Prime Minister revealed he will block the Treasury’s demand for more cuts before the 2015 election to compensate for lower-than-expected growth. “Not a penny more, not a penny less,” he declared.

The message is reinforced Danny Alexander in The Guardian:

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 7 Comments
Paul Walter

Nick Clegg’s debut single goes live on iTunes

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st September 2012 - 11:22 pm

As at 9pm tonight, Nick Clegg’s debut single “Nick Clegg says I’m sorry (the Autotune remix)” has gone live on iTunes. It will go live on Amazon and other outlets in the next 24 hours. The Poke has the full story of their success with this brilliant adaptation of the DPM’s apology by Alex Ross.

You can download the single at iTunes here.

All proceeds from the sale of the single will go the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, at the request of Nick Clegg, via Twitter.

Posted in Humour | Also tagged | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Conference preview: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

By Mark Pack | Fri 21st September 2012 - 9:20 am

This year, the Liberal Democrat autumn conference has one day per theme, covering jobs, education, environment and tax.

Monday is jobs, with policy motions on creating jobs and policy papers on both sustainable prosperity and also on mutuals, employee ownership and workplace democracy. The first of these (F23) may generate some lively debate around an amendment that would delete the reference to keeping to the government’s “fiscal mandate”.

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

Conference preview: Saturday and Sunday

By Mark Pack | Thu 20th September 2012 - 10:25 am

This year, the Liberal Democrat autumn conference has one day per theme, covering jobs, education, environment and tax.

Saturday is education day, with David Laws giving a keynote speech. For many party members he is more respected than trusted; recognised for his skills yet leaving people uneasy over quite what a David Laws manifesto would look like or whether it was right to bring him back into government this year. Saturday is his big chance to win over members.

If he chooses to take it, that is – as there …

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

The pupil premium isn’t a quick-fix solution, it’s a long-haul policy

By Stephen Tall | Thu 20th September 2012 - 9:00 am

The pupil premium — additional cash targeted at the most disadvantaged children — is the policy of which Nick Clegg is proudest and with which he is most closely associated. The policy itself dates back to Julian le Grand in the 1980s (when it was touted as a progressive version of school vouchers) but it was Nick who put it firmly in the political mainstream as long ago as 2002 in a pamphlet he co-wrote based on experiences of it working within continental Europe.

Though the Tories nominally signed-up to the concept of a pupil premium in their 2010 …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Liberal Democrat conference: the daily themes

By Mark Pack | Wed 19th September 2012 - 10:25 am

Back in the 1990s, the idea of theming different days of party conference around particular themes was a fairly controversial issue, even playing a role in contested elections for membership of Federal Conference Committee and then elections from within its membership for Chair and Vice-Chair.*

Since then the idea has become well-established, if sometimes more in theory than in practice. Looking through not just the agenda for the 2012 autumn conference in Brighton but also associated conference publications and …

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

What the Liberal Democrats have done: new party booklet

By Mark Pack | Sat 15th September 2012 - 9:25 am

This is a rather nifty new publication from the party, with some great content and presentation that is well ahead of the traditional party fare for these sorts of documents.

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Posted in News | 30 Comments
Mark Pack

What do the academics say? Ashcroft’s campaigning worked

By Mark Pack | Fri 14th September 2012 - 1:52 pm

Welcome to the latest in our occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today – the impact of the Ashcroft-funded Conservative key seats campaign in the run-up to the 2010 election.

The latest edition of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties (Volume 22, No.3) includes, “Laying the Foundations for Electoral Success: Conservative Pre-Campaign Canvassing before the 2010 UK General Election” by David Cutts, Ron Johnston, Charles Pattie and Justin Fisher:

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Posted in Campaign Corner and What do the academics say? | Also tagged , , , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

6 things Lib Dem campaigners can learn from Boris Johnson and George Galloway

By Mark Pack | Wed 12th September 2012 - 11:50 am

Boris Johnson has twice won a contest for a directly-elected Mayor. George Galloway has recently won a Parliamentary by-election.

That is why, for all the many reasons Liberal Democrats have for criticising both, smart Liberal Democrats also know that there are lessons to be learnt from their electoral successes.

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Also tagged and | 22 Comments
Mark Pack

10 ways to make your local party AGM better

By Mark Pack | Tue 11th September 2012 - 3:25 pm

The nights are getting shorter, the football has started and the first few “x days to Christmas” signs are appearing in shops. Yes, it all  means that the local party AGM season is approaching.

To help local parties get the most out of them, here then is a reminder of the simple factsheet giving 10 tips to lift an AGM from being a boring, business meeting that no-one comes to into an interesting and successful event. Though written in conjunction with London Liberal Democrats, the tips are applicable across the country.

Hope you find it useful – and of course please do share this post (or this pdf) with whoever is involved in organising the AGM in your own local party.

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Posted in Campaign Corner and Party policy and internal matters | Leave a comment
Toby Fenwick

In depth: Was the 2003 invasion of Iraq illegal?

By Toby Fenwick | Mon 10th September 2012 - 1:54 pm

In responding to Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s call for Tony Blair to face the International Criminal Court, I made clear my view that the 2003 Iraq invasion was an illegal – and criminal – act of aggression. John Rentoul of the Independent on Sunday angrily disputed this on the BBC World Service’s “World, Have your say”, and other commenters here on LDV have asked for an outline of my reasoning.

Aggression – known at Nuremburg as “crimes against

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 45 Comments
The Voice

LDV debate: The Lib Dem leadership

By The Voice | Fri 7th September 2012 - 10:54 am

On September 2nd, Liberal Democrat Voice co-editor, Stephen Tall, strongly supported Nick Clegg’s leadership of the Liberal Democrats, in his piece, Nick Clegg’s leadership: 3 thoughts from me.

Giving one other side of the debate, Monday editor of LDV, Paul Walter, here explains why he cannot support Nick Clegg as leader any more. Below Paul’s piece, fellow day editor, Nick Thornsby responds.

Against – by Paul Walter

This week I have had a peculiarly “beard and sandals” type of personal crisis.

I heard that Jeremy Hunt had been promoted to run one of the largest and most cherished government departments – Health. This …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 154 Comments
Mark Pack

Reshuffle thoughts: how does it score against my four criteria?

By Mark Pack | Tue 4th September 2012 - 9:31 pm

Ahead of the reshuffle, I posted four criteria against which the Liberal Democrat part of the shuffling should be judged. Now nearly all the details are in, how does it look?

 

Most importantly, have people been put in jobs they’ve got a decent chance of doing well? It’s hard enough being a minister in the smaller party in a coalition government without having lots of people thrown into policy areas they are completely new to.

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

How to write, with the help of Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and Tim Leunig

By Mark Pack | Mon 3rd September 2012 - 11:50 am

How to speak. That’s a common topic in training for would-be candidates and a frequent chapter in books for would-be campaigners. How to write? Much less so.

That’s an omission I plead guilty to, for 101 Ways To Win An Election has a chapter called “Making speeches” with no accompanying “Writing words”. Implicit in many of the other chapters are ideas that will help you to write effectively. Yet on reflection there should really have been explicit advice too.

Short, sharp writing has always been important for leaflets and news …

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s leadership: 3 thoughts from me

By Stephen Tall | Sun 2nd September 2012 - 2:15 pm

Today’s papers are full of speculation about Nick Clegg’s leadership prompted by a handful of party members — inevitably labelled ‘senior’ — calling on Nick to go, such as Lib Dem peer Lord Smith of Clifton, with Torbay MP Adrian Sanders urging Nick to get better advice to avoid “bumbling along”. Here are the three thoughts on the issue which strike me (before I head off to the Olympic stadium for tonight’s Paralympic athletics action)…

1) I’m more surprised by how few people are calling for Nick Clegg to go

It’s not especially surprising there’s some discontent among members. The party is …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 71 Comments
Mark Pack

The party with the British instincts

By Mark Pack | Fri 31st August 2012 - 7:18 pm

Rather nice graphic from Liberal Martin:

Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 13 Comments
Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone MP writes… George Galloway’s comments on rape are totally unacceptable, and they have an effect

By Lynne Featherstone | Wed 22nd August 2012 - 3:23 pm

In recent days, on both sides of the Atlantic, there have been not one, but two expressions of the kind of attitudes on rape you had hoped died with the Dark Ages.

First, a US Republican Senate Candidate, Todd Akin, suggested that most women do not become pregnant after being raped as their body can, and I quote, ‘shut that whole thing down’.

Then Britain’s own George Galloway, while offering his opinions on the Julian Assange case, took it upon himself to assert that certain acts of sexual violence are nothing more than ‘bad manners’, and that having …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 49 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem members split 47%-46% on whether Nick Clegg should fight 2015 election as party leader

By Stephen Tall | Wed 22nd August 2012 - 7:15 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 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

47% say Nick should stay to fight 2015 election; 46% say he shouldn’t

LDV asked: Thinking about Nick Clegg’s position as Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Lib Dems, which of these scenarios do you want to see happen?

  • 47% – I want Nick Clegg to continue both as Deputy

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged and | 62 Comments
Nick Sutton

Opinion: It’s time for Assange to stop using WikiLeaks as a smokescreen

By Nick Sutton | Tue 21st August 2012 - 11:15 am

On Friday, three women in Russia were handed two year prison sentences for walking into a Moscow cathedral and performing a three minute protest song about the rotten state of their government, led by one man (Putin) in some shape or other, for nearly 13 years. The verdict has been condemned by the UK, US and German governments, human rights groups and the EU, who see this as a real test of Russia’s and Vladimir Putin’s credentials as a the leader of a ‘democratic’ state, something that has been …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 102 Comments
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