Tag Archives: martin tod

Speaking up for the civil liberties of dogs

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th November 2014 - 4:45 pm

After the Federal Executive meeting this week where we discussed preparations for the election campaign (heartening to see so many people coming forward to be approved as candidates), arrangements to implement the One Member One Vote decision at Conference (and good to see that Mark Pack and Duncan Brack who proposed the amendment passed are to be invited in to work on that), the implementation of the Morrissey Report (amazing progress made, driven forward by our fabulous Pastoral Care Officer), we headed to the pub.

I was talking about my excitement/slight apprehension about picking up our new puppy the next day. The picture on the right shows little Hazel, who is now happily settled and busily involved in training us to meet her needs.

Anyway, Martin Tod reminded us all that he had once spoken up for the civil liberties of dogs in response to an animal welfare debate at Conference in 2003. He and Mark Pack wondered how it would look if the motion applied to humans. He posted the speech on his blog last year and here’s a snippet:

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged animal welfare, federal executive, norman baker and orange book | 17 Comments

The most important factor for Liberal Democrats in any 2015 Coalition negotiations

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st August 2013 - 9:12 am

The Silly Season continues with yet more speculation on what happens after the 2015 election. Monday’s Independent carried the loaded headline:

Lib Dem Supporters spell it out: we won’t be fooled by Nick Clegg again over support for a coalition

That Liberal Democrats will be wary about any future coalition, with anybody, should come as no surprise. The deductive reasoning powers of the average goldfish could have worked that out.

The article quotes people like Martin Tod, Gareth Epps and Cllr Richard Kemp, all of whom are saying quite reasonable things, none of them suggesting that Nick Clegg fooled us in 2010, …

Posted in News | Also tagged 2015 general election, gareth epps, independent, nick clegg and richard kemp | 31 Comments

Secret Courts: Nick Clegg’s refusal to meet campaigners is not helping

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 26th December 2012 - 1:08 pm

Way back in March, I wrote a few words of advice to Nick Clegg in the wake of the NHS debate at Spring Conference. They seem relevant today as activists and leaders are at loggerheads over Part II of the Justice and Security Bill. That’s the part that introduces Closed Material Procedures, or secret courts. This would mean that if national security, Government vetted Special Advocates would represent the non-Government side, but would not be allowed to share any details with them. You can see how difficult it would be to prepare a case if you aren’t even allowed …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged jo shaw, nick clegg, nick thornsby and secret courts | 12 Comments

David Howarth: liberals should increase indirect taxes

By Mark Pack | Wed 21st November 2012 - 10:25 am

Martin Tod recently drew my attention to a short publication from David Howarth published over the summer about levels of public spending: Spending and Growth – a response to David Laws.

As the title suggests, it is primarily a response to someone else’s views on appropriate levels of public spending:

Posted in News | Also tagged david howarth, david laws, economy and liberal insight | 7 Comments

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 …

Posted in Online politics | Also tagged featured, Ron Fenwick and simon dickson | 9 Comments

In other news… Kemp4Liverpool, Duwayne4London, Tod4Winchester, Salmond4Inquiry, and more…

By Stephen Tall | Mon 9th April 2012 - 6:10 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

Liverpool elected mayor candidates announced (BBC News)

Twelve candidates have been nominated to stand as Liverpool’s first directly elected mayor. Nominations closed at midday and voters will go to the polls on 3 May. Among the 12 are four members of Liverpool City Council, including Labour leader Joe Anderson and Liberal Democrat Richard Kemp.

Duwayne Brooks announced as Lib Dem deputy mayor (BBC News)

A friend of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence has been named as a deputy to Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick if

…

Posted in News | Also tagged alex salmond, barbara sloan, birmingham council, david walter, duwayne brooks, liverpool city council, london mayoral election, martin mullaney, richard kemp and winchester council | Leave a comment

Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2011 – nominations now open

By Helen Duffett | Fri 19th August 2011 - 1:26 pm

The Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards, run by Lib Dem Voice, are back for their sixth year. As usual, they’ll be awarded in a ~~budget~~ lavish ceremony at the party’s autumn conference in Birmingham.

Click on the following links to see last year’s Shortlist and the Winners.

This year’s awards are as follows:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Also tagged blog of the year awards, david allen green, helen duffett, katie razzall, olly grender, richard flowers and stephen tall | Comments Off

The Yes2AV campaign has persuaded me to change my mind

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th April 2011 - 8:55 am

I’ve long been sceptical about the scope for online fundraising in British politics. That’s partly because I’ve seen a sequence of American political consultants come to the UK, say they know much better than Brits, promise lots and then raise not very much – across the political spectrum. I’ve also seen a sequence of people from Britain go, “Oooh! American! Shiny! Must be better!”, promise lots and then raise not very much – again, across the political spectrum.

Having been responsible for (along with Ashley Lumsden and Martin Tod) the first candidate website in the UK to take credit card donations, …

Posted in Online politics | Also tagged ashley lumsden, av referendum, boris johnson and evan harris | 13 Comments

The 7 retiring Lib Dem MPs (and the 7 candidates hoping to replace them)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 22nd March 2010 - 2:10 pm

Seven Lib Dem MPs have announced they’re retiring at this year’s general election. All seven are men: of their replacements, four are women. Here’s the list in full:

John Barrett (LD) – Edinburgh West

Majority: 13,600 (30%) – second safest Lib Dem seat in the UK.
Reason for leaving: to spend more time with his grand-daughters.
Hoping to succeed him: Mike Crockart.

Colin Breed (LD) – South East Cornwall

Majority: 6,507 (13%).
Reason for leaving: not stated.
Hoping to succeed him: Karen Gillard.

David Howarth (LD) – Cambridge

Majority: 5,058 (11%).
Reason for leaving: “to concentrate on my other life, as an academic.”
Hoping to succeed him: Julian Huppert.

Paul

…

Posted in General Election | Also tagged claire kelley, colin breen, david howarth, john barrett, julian huppert, mark oaten, matthew taylor, mike crockart, paul keetch, phil willis, sarah carr and terrye teverson | 6 Comments

Twitter and the rise of new media

By Mark Thompson | Sat 20th June 2009 - 1:55 pm

Something fascinating happened yesterday. I was browsing through one of the internet forums I regularly visit when I noticed someone posting that people should go to the Daily Mail poll page on their website and vote yes to the poll that asks “Should gypsies jump the queue on the NHS?” in order to mess with them.

When I got to the page and duly voted “Yes” I was astonished to see that the poll was at 93% Yes and 7% No. The forum I refer to has nowhere near enough people to make a dent in the thousands who vote in …

Posted in News and Online politics | Also tagged andrew mackay, daily mail, graham linehan, helen duffett, iran, krishnan guru-murthy, lynne featherstone, Mark Pack, mark thompson, paul waugh, richard allan and twitter | 8 Comments

UPDATED: PPC news: Winchester & Woking select

By the founding editor | Sun 3rd December 2006 - 11:27 am

Congratulations to Martin Tod in Winchester, former marketing guru for Vodafone, now Internet Campaigns consultant for the Liberal Democrats. He has a tough sell on his hands, but if anyone can do it, he can.

Local Councillor David Spender has blogged the result. Martin saw off Sarah Carr, Sue Farrant, Gary Lawson and Justine McGuinness to secure the selection.

Update: True to form, Martin Tod is off to a flying start with the launch of www.winningwinchester.com!

Also congratulations to Cllr Rosie Sharpley, selected as the PPC for Woking. Rosie has been a Woking councillor for 18 years and is currently a member of the Lib Dem exec running Woking Borough Council.

Posted in Selection news | Also tagged chris rennard, gary lawson, justine mcguinness, mark oaten, rosie sharpley, sandra gidley, sarah carr and sue farrant | 9 Comments

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Tag Archives: martin tod

Speaking up for the civil liberties of dogs

The most important factor for Liberal Democrats in any 2015 Coalition negotiations

Secret Courts: Nick Clegg’s refusal to meet campaigners is not helping

David Howarth: liberals should increase indirect taxes

Lib Dem campaign buttons for your website available once again

In other news… Kemp4Liverpool, Duwayne4London, Tod4Winchester, Salmond4Inquiry, and more…

Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2011 – nominations now open

The Yes2AV campaign has persuaded me to change my mind