Tag Archives: john ashton

Richard Wingfield

Opinion: Why Liberal Democrats should support lowering the age of consent

By Richard Wingfield | Sat 23rd November 2013 - 2:30 pm

Liberal Democrats have long-championed the rights of young people. We were the first major party to call for the voting age to be lowered to 16. We were the only party in 2010 which committed to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law. In government, we have ended the detention of children for immigration purposes. But in one area of personal freedom and development, we remain distinctly illiberal: the age of consent.

In response to the recent calls from Professor John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, to lower the age of consent …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 29 Comments
Nick T

“Take AV seriously: it has advantages over PR”

By Nick T | Mon 2nd May 2011 - 4:25 pm

One of the common criticisms of the alternative vote is that it doesn’t produce parliaments that proportionally represent the wishes of the people, which is largely true. Such a criticism rests, of course, on the premise that proportionality is the most important facet of an electoral system. However it’s also worth pointing out that there are things that the alternative vote delivers which proportional systems do not, which is the subject of a recent post by John Ashton.

Here’s a sample of what John has to say:

You don’t get far in a discussion of the merits of AV before somebody

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 27 Comments
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  • Nigel Ashton
    I first met Simon circa 1978 when we were both on the Home Counties Regional Executive, he as the ULS rep and me as his YL counterpart. We share many of the sam...
  • Andrew Tampion
    " A clever wheeze might also be for the EU to demand we store half our gold reserves in Brussels, to be repatriated in 20 years time provided the UK has not by ...
  • Anthony Harris
    @David Allen do we have any gold reserves left? I thought that Gordon Brown sold them all at the bottom of the market? :-) He sold so many that he caused a s...
  • David Allen
    Alex Macfie: In principle, of course you are right. However, the EU will be unlikely to give us the time of day unless we find a way to make a Yes vote effecti...
  • David Sparrow
    I agree with Jana, and after today’s KB speech to Tory conference it may be his only option too!...