Tag Archives: nick clegg

Nick Clegg gives two hoots

By Helen Duffett | Mon 2nd July 2012 - 2:49 pm

What made Nick Clegg hoot on Friday in Oxford?

Answer: the Pupil Premium – £2.5 billion of extra money to help school pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

On the latest visit in his regional summmer tour, Nick Clegg visited a primary school in Oxford to read to children and publicise the Pupil Premium.

From ITV Meridian Tonight:

Nick Clegg hooted like an owl today and told a group of children he wished he’d turned up in his pyjamas. All in a day’s work for

…

Posted in News | Also tagged pupil premium | 2 Comments

LibLink: Nick Clegg – Beware the risks and rewards of a banking union

By NewsHound | Sat 30th June 2012 - 11:50 am

Writing in the Financial Times this week, Nick Clegg warned:

In the debate on banking union we back greater co-operation on various aspects of an integrated financial system: common rules on the restructuring of failed banks, shared principles on how to protect depositors, high minimum standards for the capital EU banks should hold and a strong European Banking Authority.

Posted in Europe / International and LibLink | Also tagged banking, euro and european union | 4 Comments

Tuition fees: new IFS publication says new system “substantially more progressive”

By Mark Pack | Sat 30th June 2012 - 9:25 am

News from the IFS confirms what others, including Money Saving Expert’s Martin Lewis and of course Nick Clegg, have previously argued:

The government’s decision to raise maximum tuition fees to £9,000 will create a system that is “substantially more progressive” than the previous system. That is because the 30% of graduates with the lowest lifetime earnings will be better off under the new arrangements.

And no cynical comments please about just how far down The Guardian’s story this paragraph was placed 🙂

P.S. As it’s the weekend and people may have other things to do, in order to save time I’ve …

Posted in News | Also tagged IFS, martin lewis and tuition fees | 44 Comments

Housing: the IPPR’s answer

By Mark Pack | Wed 27th June 2012 - 8:25 am

Over the last week I’ve highlighted how the Britain’s love of home ownership is not based on any evidence that high home ownership brings economic success (if anything, the opposite is true), that the proportion of people living in private rented accommodation is on a long-term rise and that changes in property prices in Britain are widening rather than narrowing the huge geographic imbalances. Add to all that the increasing importance that Vince Cable and Nick Clegg, in particular, are giving to the housing market for boosting economic growth, and it is a sector clearly in need of action.

But what action?

Posted in News | Also tagged featured, housing, ippr, land value tax and vince cable | 2 Comments

David Boyle’s appointment is excellent news

By Mark Pack | Mon 25th June 2012 - 9:53 am

Under Charles Kennedy’s leadership, the party had a simple and generally popular approach to public services: Kennedy consistently supported higher spending on favourite public services and appointed as party spokespeople those with experience of that service. So in education, for example, it was ex-headteacher Phil Willis leading for the party, promoting costed policies to put more cash into the party’s priorities.

Overall, the party’s plans involved raising at least as much in extra taxes or savings as it wanted to spend, so the net effect was fiscally respectable but for each individual public service the party’s answer was pretty much, “we’ll …

Posted in News | Also tagged ben brogan, charles kennedy, Danny Alexander, david boyle, jonathan calder and public services | 6 Comments

Nick Clegg needs to condemn Cameron’s welfare plans in the strongest language imaginable

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 25th June 2012 - 8:53 am

Many Liberal Democrats will have been choking on their Sunday Corn Flakes yesterday as they read, with horror, David Cameron’s plans to slash benefits even further than this year’s Welfare Reform Bill. If he had his way, there would be no Housing Benefit payable to anyone under 25. The critical part of the reports is, however, this sentence:

Downing Street said they were Conservative plans for after the next general election.

That’s all right then. This rubbish isn’t going to happen on our watch.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david cameron, housing benefit and welfare | 47 Comments

Clegg to embark on summer ‘bring on the hatred’ tour

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th June 2012 - 11:55 am

Nick Clegg certainly isn’t one to shy away from voters, even at a time when the Lib Dems, he personally, and the government he’s part of are all suffering from unpopularity. Ever since Nick became leader he’s placed a premium on direct voter contact through his ‘town hall’ meetings. It was a smart strategy which not only earned valuable exposure through the local media, but also ensured he was much more prepared and ready for the televised election debates in 2010.

And this summer he’s setting off on a tour of 13 meetings at which he’s under no illusions he’ll be …

Posted in News | Also tagged tony blair | 20 Comments

Willie Rennie says Salmond should meet Dalai Lama

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th June 2012 - 6:55 pm

First Minister Alex Salmond loves to meet international dignitaries and world leaders. Every chance he gets, he’s off playing a larger than life role on the international stage. Just last weekend, he was in Los Angeles promoting Scottish business and schmoozing with celebrities at a film premiere. It’s all the more surprising, then, that he can’t find a space in his diary to meet the Dalai Lama when he visits Scotland this week. This is in stark contrast to the reception the exiled Tibetan Spiritual Leader received in 2004 when he addressed the Parliament and met the then First …

Posted in News | Also tagged alex salmond, china, dalai lama, david cameron, human rights and willie rennie | 10 Comments

Nick Clegg explains why he’s Out4Marriage

By The Voice | Wed 20th June 2012 - 3:40 pm

Way back in February 2010, Nick Clegg used the phrase “Love is same, straight or gay” in an interview with Pink News in which he expressed his support for equal marriage. That phrase has become a slogan of the Out4Marriage campaign.

He has reiterated that full support on many occasions since.

Today, Out4Marriage released a video he made for them explaining why he supports the right of all couples who love each other to marry as “a fundamental right in an equal society”.

Enjoy!

Posted in News | Also tagged equal marriage, out4marriage and pink news | 15 Comments

Liblink: Nick Clegg – Rio’s reprise must set hard deadlines for development

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th June 2012 - 12:58 pm

Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has written for the Guardian about the Rio+20 summit he’s attending. He says that it’s vital that we “revive the spirit of our predecessors to get the world on a much more sustainable path”.

He spelled out the consequences if we don’t act:

Too many people still lack food: tonight, one billion will go hungry. There isn’t enough clean energy: right now women in some of the poorest communities are fuelling their homes with tyres and plastics. Despite the noxious fumes produced, they rely on anything that will burn. Dirty water and poor

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged international development, Rio+20 summit and the guardian | Leave a comment

Peter Kellner’s advice to the Lib Dems: ditch boundary changes, and get a new leader before 2015

By Stephen Tall | Tue 19th June 2012 - 5:15 pm

Chairman of polling firm YouGov, Peter Kellner, has a must-read article over at his firm’s site analysing the big challenges facing the Lib Dems at the next election. I know some Lib Dems might baulk at reading it: Mr Kellner, husband of Labour peer Baroness Ashton, is a self-declared non-Lib Dem, and YouGov’s daily polling consistently shows the party’s ratings to be significantly lower than other polling firms do. But get beyond those facts, and it’s clear we need to take on board the stark questions he has for the Lib Dems — even if we disagree with his …

Posted in News | Also tagged parliamentary boundaries, peter kellner and yougov | 34 Comments

Opinion: Nick Clegg – the Great Communicator

By Chris White | Mon 18th June 2012 - 12:23 pm

There is a strand in the Party which says that it’s all Clegg’s fault: ‘I don’t agree with Nick’. If only he would move on, all would become well electorally.

This misses many points: first, the Party is not a one man band; nor is the Government.

Posted in Op-eds | 37 Comments

LDV Caption Competition: Clegg at Leveson “Through the glasses darkly” Edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 16th June 2012 - 2:10 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…

Here’s Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg appearing at the Leveson Inquiry this week. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about him?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Cameron & Miliband “Cooee!” Edition.

Posted in Caption Comp | Also tagged leveson inquiry | 11 Comments

Politicians are not mere pawns in the hands of journalists

By Mark Pack | Fri 15th June 2012 - 7:20 am

Understandably the Leveson Inquiry has concentrated on the misdeeds of journalists and the behaviour of newspaper owners. However, the appearance of a series of figures this week at Leveson could – indeed should – have highlighted how often the power lies with politicians, not the media. We had three figures appear who all, in their own very different ways, showed that despite all the talk of politicians been cowed by the media, it is far from uncommon for politicians to have far too much power over the media.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged gordon brown, john major, journalism, leveson inquiry, new statesman and phil cowley | 6 Comments

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

By Stephen Tall | Wed 13th June 2012 - 8:52 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 560 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Net satisfaction with party’s direction stuck at +31%

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

Posted in LDV Members poll | 7 Comments

LDV poll mention in Express

By Paul Walter | Mon 11th June 2012 - 1:06 pm

In today’s Daily Express, Hickey reports the LDV poll which said 59% of members surveyed said Ken Clarke was their favourite Tory.

Mischievously, a quote has somehow made it’s way into the paper from “a senior Lib Dem MP” who says, ‘chuckling’:

If only Nick Clegg was that popular among his own party members these days…

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Local pay for the public sector: a row the Lib Dems and the Coalition will want to dodge?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th June 2012 - 10:15 am

The Huffington Post published an excellent dissection of the twists and turns the debate on local pay for public sector workers (sometimes called regional pay) is taking within the Lib Dems:

Letters written by the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander the number two minister at the Treasury appeared wildly enthusiastic about civil servants being paid different amounts depending on where they work as recently as the start of this year.

But subsequent letters show Alexander softening his stance, suggesting he’s come under pressure from fellow Lib Dems over the proposals, confirmed by George Osborne in the

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Danny Alexander, featured, huffington post, local pay and regional pay | 30 Comments

The weekend debate: should benefits for pensioners be restricted?

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

Here’s your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

Nick Clegg and Iain Duncan Smith have both been arguing within the government for rich pensioners to have their benefits cut:

Nick Clegg is backing calls for cuts in pension benefits such as winter fuel payments and free bus passes. David Cameron is said to be adamant that the Tories should keep to a pledge made before the general election that the payments remain. But Clegg is understood to have told colleagues he wants the winter payments and free TV licences cut

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged benefits, iain duncan smith and weekend debate | 44 Comments

“I’d love to write a novel” – Clegg

By Nick T | Thu 7th June 2012 - 1:54 pm

Nick Clegg has revealed in an interview his “shockingly bad” attempts at penning a novel on his early twenties. But, as the Independent reports, despite this early setback the deputy prime minister is still keen to try again, spurred on by his passion for fiction:

In an interview with Easy Living magazine, he said he would still like to write one in the “simple, sparse” style of the double Booker Prize winning JM Coetzee.

The Deputy Prime Minister said he reads “religiously, every night before I go to sleep”.

He added: “I cannot think of a time when I have finished the

…

Posted in News | Also tagged books | 10 Comments

LDV poll: Vince or Tim are Lib Dem members’ top choices for leader in event of vacancy

By Stephen Tall | Thu 7th June 2012 - 8:57 am

28% choose Vince, 21% tip Tim: how you voted

Yesterday we reported the finding that 34% of Lib Dem members surveyed thought Nick Clegg should step down as party leader before the 2015 general election compared to 59% who thought he should stay to fight it. Today we report the hypothetical question we then posed: who should take up the reins if for …

Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged david laws, ed davey, Jo Swinson, norman lamb, party leadership, tim farron and vince cable | 14 Comments

Government’s search for an alternative to PFI takes another twist with growth bonds

By Mark Pack | Thu 7th June 2012 - 7:55 am

Labour’s PFI and PPP schemes turned out badly in so many ways, it is easy to forget quite why they were so popular to begin with, both with politicians very much of the central government public spending school (e.g. John Prescott) and also with senior public sector managers wanting to get funding for their areas (e.g. at Transport for London).

Posted in News | Also tagged economy, george osborne and tax | 7 Comments

Our political writers can pretend they know what makes us tick: a response to Matthew d’Ancona

By Stephen Tall | Wed 6th June 2012 - 8:25 pm

Here’s how Matthew d’Ancona could’ve started his article for today’s London Evening Standard, ‘Our political class can now work out what makes us tick’. But he didn’t.

So what was all that about? As the waves of media fervour subside to reveal the bleak promontories of Austerity Commentariat, let us pause and ask what this extraordinary four-day Jubilee told us about journalists, and their obsession with extrapolating about our national life and character.

There then follows some delicious cognitive dissonance. First, an acknowledgement of what is to follow:

The lazy reflex for political observers is to extract the lessons that suit them.

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged diamond jubilee, matthew d'anconca and the queen | 5 Comments

Nick Clegg’s praises Queen’s dignity, calm and wisdom

By The Voice | Wed 6th June 2012 - 8:55 am

It’s now time to pack away the bunting and force ourselves back to the daily grind after the double bank holiday.

The Voice thought you might be interested to see Nick Clegg’s official message on the Diamond Jubilee, though, which is available on his You Tube channel here.

He says she is a Queen famous for her quiet steeliness but he’s always been struck by her great warmth and her rare ability to put everyone she meets at ease.

He praises her wisdom, calm and dignity in a rapidly changing world – and wishes us all a good time celebrating.

Posted in News | Also tagged diamond jubilee, monarchy and the queen | Leave a comment

Hunt out to dry? Clegg refuses to back Tory culture secretary as Lib Dem MPs push inquiry

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd June 2012 - 9:05 pm

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is piling the pressure on Jeremy Hunt, whose closeness to the Murdoch empire has been embarrassingly laid bare by the Leveson Inquiry in the past few weeks, by refusing to endorse David Cameron’s decision not to refer his culture secretary to the official adviser on the ministerial code, Sir Alex Allan. Here’s how The Observer is reporting it:

Nick Clegg refuses to back Jeremy Hunt as Lib Dems demand investigation

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, has refused to give unequivocal backing to Jeremy Hunt over his handling of the BSkyB takeover controversy as senior Liberal

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Posted in News | Also tagged adrian sanders, david cameron, featured, jeremy hunt, lorely burt, news international and richard morris | 12 Comments

LDV Caption Competition: Nick.i.am “Hands on with Clinton” Edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd June 2012 - 7:15 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…

(Photo by CarlPendle.com)

Here’s Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, President Bill Clinton and musician and The Voice UK coach, will.i.am. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about them?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Vince & Dave “Watch your step” Edition.

Posted in Caption Comp | Also tagged bill clinton and will.i.am | 17 Comments

Dan Rogerson MP writes… Tackling disadvantage must start before school

By Dan Rogerson MP | Wed 30th May 2012 - 12:53 pm

Today Nick Clegg announced that the Government was extending the roll out of free Early Years education for all families who meet the free school meals criteria.

This means that the children of parents who are struggling to make ends meet and who rely on state benefits like Income Support or Child Tax Credits will now be entitled to free Early Years education from the age of two.

Sound familiar? That’s because Liberal Democrats in government have been consistently ensuring that one of the Coalition Government’s main priorities is closing the attainment gap between the poorest children and the better off.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged education, free school meals, pupil premium and susan kramer | 5 Comments

Tom Brake MP writes… Justice and Security Bill – a good result for the Lib Dems and Civil Liberties

By Tom Brake | Tue 29th May 2012 - 4:18 pm

Back in April, the Guardian, the Daily Mail and others reported that Nick Clegg, unhappy with the breadth and scope of the Justice and Security Green Paper, and having read the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ report into it, had written to Ministerial colleagues setting out his red lines for any Bill to be introduced in the second session.

These red lines, as reported at the time, were:

That any use of Closed Material Procedures (CMPs) should be restricted to exceptional cases of national security only
That they complement, not replace, the current system of Public Interest Immunity (PII)

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged daily mail, justice and security bill and the guardian | 3 Comments

Clegg’s triple whammy: intervenes on secret trials, slams those who ‘bowed’ to Murdoch, calls for reform of ‘broken establishment’

By Stephen Tall | Tue 29th May 2012 - 1:45 pm

If Nick Clegg has time to keep a diary of his time in government (which I doubt) I’d like to pre-order it now. The principle of collective cabinet responsibility, together with the reciprocated determination of he and David Cameron to maintain an effective working relationship, means we don’t often see the reality of the behind-the-scenes battles between the Lib Dems and Conservatives.

Those which are made public — such as Nick’s very public disagreement with the Prime Minister’s veto-that-wasn’t at December’s EU summit — are deftly agreed in advance, allowing some grown-up differentiation to emerge.

But today we see three …

Posted in News | Also tagged leveson inquiry, news corporation and rupert murdoch | 3 Comments

How does UK employee protection compare with other countries?

By Mark Pack | Mon 28th May 2012 - 11:24 am

Rather handily, the OECD complies a set of international indicators of employee protection, the latest version of which was revised in September 2010, using 2008 data. The survey looks at “the procedures and costs involved in dismissing individuals or groups of workers and the procedures involved in hiring workers on fixed-term or temporary work agency contracts”.

What does it show?

Posted in News | Also tagged employment rights, featured, OECD and vince cable | 10 Comments

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Tag Archives: nick clegg

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Net satisfaction with party’s direction stuck at +31%

28% choose Vince, 21% tip Tim: how you voted

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

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