By Stephen Tall
| Sun 23rd February 2014 - 2:00 pm
The last month has seen the ‘Yes Scotland’ independence campaign take a battering.
First, Mark Carney raised doubts about Alex Salmond’s plans for a post-independence currency union between Scotland and the remainder of the UK.
This warning was echoed when, with more naked partisanship, George Osborne, Danny Alexander and Ed Balls teamed up to state they would each refuse to form such a currency union.
And then last Sunday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso hammered in …
The author, broadcaster and campaigner Sir Ludovic Kennedy has died aged 89. A former BBC Panorama journalist, Sir Ludovic spent decades investigating miscarriages of justice, including the case of the Birmingham Six. He contributed to the abolition of the death penalty and was also president of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society.
Nick Clegg has joined in the tributes to Sir Ludovic, a member of the Liberal party and later the Lib Dems, for most of his life:
Ludovic Kennedy was one of the great thinkers of his generation. His pursuit of justice and his championing of sometimes unpopular and controversial causes marked him out as a true liberal. He will be greatly missed.”
Sir Ludovic was the Liberal candidate and runner-up in the 1958 Rochdale by-election, propelling the party to its highest vote in the constituency since the 1920s, with the Tories pushed from first to third place. It was the first UK election to feature televised debates between the candidates, with Granada also broadcasting the count – another first.
He quit the Lib Dems in 2001 in protest at Charles Kennedy’s refusal to countenance legalised euthanasia, even standing as an independent candidate for the cause in Devizes, Wiltshire, polling just over 1,000 votes. He later re-joined the party.
During the 1980s and ’90s, Sir Ludovic gained fame among a new generation (such as myself) through his appearances as himself in the superior BBC comedy programme, Yes, Minister, as well as his interviews with Peter Cook, playing Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling, for A Life in Pieces. Here’s the first programme from that fantastic series, first broadcast in December 1990:
jayne Mansfield25th Aug - 12:58pm The latest YouGov poll in today's Sunday Times appears to confirm that the Boris Bounce continues. When are those who claim to be opposed to...
Nigel Quinton25th Aug - 12:52pm It is hard to argue with those that quite correctly point out how far behind the rest of the world our infrastructure is, and there...
Richard Underhill25th Aug - 12:49pm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenga
David Harris25th Aug - 11:47am @Nartin I assure you, that as a retired Maths teacher of over 40yrs I do understand statistical error. I suppose really I was trying to...
Charles Pragnell25th Aug - 10:27am The issue of opinion polls is two fold! The margin of era is 3% either way. So in a G Election our poll rating could...
OnceALibDem25th Aug - 9:56am Anyone drawing big conclusions from current polls - or worse still extrapolating those into seats - is setting themselves up for a huge fall. Things...
Follow @LibDemVoice on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Working until 75 is fine for a minority
The Watersons: Bellman
A history of Sefton Borough's Communities
My tweets
One of the most common mistakes made when criticising opinion polls
The contortions of Labour's Brexit
Meal Makers in Dundee
jayne Mansfield 25th Aug - 12:58pm
Nigel Quinton 25th Aug - 12:52pm
Richard Underhill 25th Aug - 12:49pm
David Harris 25th Aug - 11:47am
Charles Pragnell 25th Aug - 10:27am
OnceALibDem 25th Aug - 9:56am