So, here we go again. Twice in the same weekend the Telegraph has screamed bloody murder about a Senior Lib Dem Cabinet Member's Expenses, or something related to that. I defended David Laws to the hilt, I was sure he ... Continue reading →
Angela Harbutt on Liberal Vision believes "David Laws' resignation is nothing short of a disaster for this country". Stumbling and Mumbling makes some characteristically penetrating comments on the subject too: "As an Orange Book liberal, he emphasised the value of legal, formal freedom whilst perhaps overlooking real, felt freedom." My favourite host, Redemption Blues, has this week's Britblog Roundup. The Corridor is impressed by England's new fast bowler Steven Finn. While Richard Osley remembers the 16-year-old Joe Cole. Niles's Blog offers not just a recipe but "a little treatise on rice pudding".
At journalists, party members and the political classes watched the new coalition with bated breath, it seems that there are far more important dangers we should be anticipating than the fall of David laws.The great debate over Capital Gains Tax has created a significant rift between the harmonious wedding of Clegg and Cameron.In spite of great demonstrations by the Conservatives, they propose
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council. 1. Kimberley Medical Centre I'm delighted to hear that Kimberley Medical Centre has been saved. The Health Authority had originally planned to close it but they have now reversed that decision and it will become a branch outlet of another medical practice. This is good news for patients and my congratulations go out to everyone who has been involved in campaigning to save the centre. 2. Notts County Council The council have scrapped the Dial A Ride scheme ...
I have deliberately refrained from commenting on the coalition, for a variety of reasons. Highly sceptical Liberal Democrat Colleagues have alluded to our Cabinet members being blamed for everything, while any good ideas are stolen by the Tories and promoted as their own.I have not yet seen this happen, but I'm not an avid reader of the Daily Mail or The Sun, and am unsure what the press is
You must know Peter Sarstedt's Where Do You Go to My Lovely?, even if you count it as a guilty pleasure. I was sure that this song was the B side of that single, but it turns out to have been the follow up and to have reached no. 10 in the UK in 1969. Like the earlier song, Frozen Orange Juice offered sixties Britain a vision of continental sophistication. There was a touch of Jason King, whom Sarstedt rather resembled, too. Peter Sarstedt was the middle of three brothers. As an article on his website explains: We were born ...
One of the longest serving State Governments in India is facing defeat at the Polls shortly. West Bengals Communists have been in power since the 1970's and a combination of corruption, incompetence and Maoist insurgency seriously threatens their stranglehold on power. I visited West Bengal on holiday some 18 months ago. It is a remarkable place. Kolkata is a lush and beautiful city. Residents have a rich intellectual tradition which boasts India's only Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Rabindranath Tagore, my favourite film maker Satyajit Ray as well as many of the finest living novelists in the English Language. Vikram ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 171st weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (23rd – 29th May, 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. ...
It has been pointed out to me that I have been somewhat quiet in my reaction to the news of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats joining forces to form the UKs first coalition government since 1974. There is a very ... Continue reading →
Well that was a depressing 24 hours, depressing in so many different ways. I don't think I'd describe David Laws's forced resignation as either right, or wrong: it was quite simply inevitable. There was no way he personally, nor the coalition politically, could withstand the clamour for his head. Eventually he would have been dragged down by the explosion of self-righteousness that the right-wing press and Labour tribalists have let rip over the past two days. I find that depressing. It is one of the ironies of coalition government that, as it brings together two different, competing parties – two ...
Toby Baxendale at the Cobden Centre has made a daring suggestion that could resolve the UK debt problem. It would also anchor sterling, which in turn would begin to address poverty. After all, one of the greatest causes of poverty is the increase in money. The more money there is the less worth it has. The less money in circulation, the more it is worth. Sadly, a proponent of sound money has now left the Government. Regardless, let's hope the debate can be had sensibly now the election is over. Thanks to Dave Chiverton for spotting the original post.
If you dislike authority and quite like freedom, what should you do? Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World captures the dilemma perfectly. The heroine Enid, superbly played by Thora Birch, is no revolutionary. She isn't interested in changing the system. She simply wants to live on her terms. Achieving that is far harder than it sounds because to live she has to function in the world as it is. She has some stark choices: compromise by getting a job or live in poverty and some sort of freedom. At no point does she think about engaging in the political process. This is ...
Welcome to the tenth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here. If you have been following this series of posts, you'll be familiar by now with the mix of statements in the families and children section: a strong showing of Liberal Democrat policies, some amenable Conservative policies and then a couple of tricky points. So we have policies which would happily fit in a Liberal Democrat manifesto such as maintaining "the goal of ending child poverty in the UK by 2020", supporting "the provision of ...
I have decided to try everyday, as close to 4.45pm as I can get to a computer, to publish a link to something I particularly enjoyed reading that day. It will not necessarily be something written on the day I read it. This first one wasn't: http://stefzucconi.blogspot.com/2010/05/austerity.html
When I was about fifteen, the teacher who taught drama at school asked us to write a short scene. Mine involved a man sitting on a bench and subsequently being arrested for sitting on said bench by a policeman. When I read it out my teacher said you are an anarchist. I quipped, "well I would be but I don't believe in anything". The teacher laughed and didn't bother to explain the difference between anarchy and nihilism. Of course, he could have said you are a liberal or a Whig. Perhaps he thought the subtleties of political philosophy would be ...
I now weigh three stone less than I did last summer, or indeed when that photo above was taken in Jamaica a year earlier. That's not me in the water (I took the photo of some friends), but I do remember feeling very self conscious, wanting to hide inside a loose cover-up. In contrast, I spent last week on a North Devon beach with the family, and I found I really didn't mind walking around on the sand in my (new) swimsuit. And yet .... I still see myself as chubby in the mirror. The truth is that I could ...
[IMG: Howard Keal with the Thirsk and Malton team] Much delight was shared by local Liberal Democrat campaigners at Howard Keal's performance at the delayed election in Thirsk and Malton constituency on Friday morning. This came after fighting a strong campaign without paid campaign staff and we enjoyed the success of a positive swing towards the Liberal Democrats from the Conservatives and an increase in our share of the vote. Labour's claim to be in second place ended in a catastrophic result for them,as they came in a distant third with their vote having collapsed. Of the minor parties, UKIP ...
I have known David Laws vaguely for several years. He has total integrity. He gave up a burgeoning career in finance because he had "already made enough money". For several years he worked for essentially no money to help craft a set of economically coherent policies for the Liberal Democrats. He has a forensic intelligence- a deeply impressive understanding of economic and financial context. He is a genuine star in a field where mediocrities are more usually the norm. In the first few days of the new coalition he was already establishing himself as a key figure at the very ...
See that Twitter, it gets you into all sorts of trouble. I noticed just at the end of the F1 Forum on the Red Button that Iain Dale was on LBC talking about David Laws. I can listen to that through the infernal wickedness of Sky Plus so I turned over. He said that he wanted to talk about whether the appointment of Danny Alexander would get the confidence of business. I decided to phone in and put the points that I'd made in my posting earlier today, namely that although nobody could have anticipated need to replace David Laws, ...
Red Bull Racing's act of self-destruction in today's Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix, when both their drivers managed to take each other out of contention from a winning position, allowed Lewis Hamilton, perhaps motor racing's most acquired taste, through for his first victory of the year. Having been a follower of the McLaren team since ...
I have just been on LBC 97.3 talking to Iain Dale re this – in my opinion, yes he should have as he was not entitled to the expenses. As one of Iain's bloggers on his election night show, I was commentating on David's resignation from a social media point of view. It has been interesting ...
It's basically the end of the month and I have neither motivation nor inspiration to blog about anything more interesting, so here is a short and meaningless statistics post. May has been the most successful month yet on every possible metric: page loads, unique visitors and returning visitors are all higher than they have ever been before, there are far more people commenting on posts (please continue!) and total hits have now topped 10,000 (well over 9000 this year, despite this blog's relatively long lifespan). [IMG: jan-may hits] The challenge will be to maintain this upward trend now that the ...
Sun 30th
15:45
LDV members' survey (2): Labour leadership - Ed Miliband wins your vote (but Ed Balls would be best ...
Lib Dem Voice has been conducting a survey this week of party members registered on our members' forum asking them for their views of the coalition, Labour leadership and the party's general election result. Over 400 have responded, and here's part two of what you've told us ... LDV asked: Putting aside your Lib Dem allegiance who do you think would make the best Labour leader? Here's what you said: 37% – Ed Miliband 25% – Diane Abbott 17% – David Miliband 9% – Andy Burnham 8% – John McDonnell 3% – Ed Balls (Excluding Don't know / No opinion ...
If David Laws were to try and book a room for the next three nights at a Premier Inn close to Westminster the cheapest to be found would be at Kensington Olympia. It would cost him £336. Multiply that by a House of Commons working year of, say 35 weeks, and the cost would be £11,760. It is reported that David Laws claimed £40,000 over nine years for accommodation, paying the money to his landlord/friend rather than to a commercial concern. This seems to me like a good financial deal for the taxpayer; it's certainly a very great deal less ...
Sun 30th
14:57
Around 30 skaters and stunt cyclists enjoying the refurbished ramps in central park #chelmsford. Son...
Around 30 skaters and stunt cyclists enjoying the refurbished ramps in central park #chelmsford. Son having a go too.
It's tough at the top. In national politics, you get all sorts flung at you. Whether it's Evan Harris smeared as Dr Death (a cheap nickname previously reserved for the likes of the serial killer Harold Shipman or Nazi concentration camp doctor Aribert Heim), Elwyn Watkins smeared as being in cahoots with Muslim extremists by the odious Phil Woolas (and he's rightly taking Woolas to court over it), or David Laws who was forced into revealing his sexuality because of an unfair expenses rule (and has felt forced to resign), you have to be prepared for this kind of personal ...
The Mail on Sunday appears to have made a basic and repeated series of factual errors in a piece today about Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone. In the piece the paper repeatedly claims that Lynne has sent tweets in the middle of the night: "1am tweets", "one post, made at 1:38am...", "at 12:29am..." and so on. There's even a screenshot apparently verifying this pattern of middle of the night tweets. Except, if you take a look at the Twitter website and look up the tweets in question you see they are all time-stamped with different times. Take the two in ...
Ben Bradshaw has decided to wade into the David Laws debate with his size nines with some utterly ridiculous comments on Twitter. All of this coming from the man who, himself was not exactly pure as the driven snow in ... Continue reading →
The level of tribalism shown by certain disgruntled Labour supporters over the last 24 hours has once again shown how bad the Labour party and its supporters behave in defeat. With all the cat calling and slanging going on, I ... Continue reading →
The following is a piece from a Liberal Democrat member in England: I've lived with a rape victim. I know about the nightmares, the sleepwalking, the self-harm, the blackouts, and other unpleasant things I won't mention. I've seen at first hand the damage rape can wreak upon a woman, and I can't think of anything offhand that might be worse. I mention this firstly to explain why this article is posted anonymously, and secondly in consideration of what difference it would have made to the woman I loved and lived with if her attacker had been brought to justice. It ...
The Guardian's Michael White is typically erudite in his assessment of the situation regarding David Laws. I'd urge you to read the whole article, but here's an extract: So it was sexuality and privacy, not money - ex-banker Laws is said to have plenty - which seems to have driven the future chief secretary to ...
Over the years, the main things I have learnt about David Laws is that he is extremely rich and extremely intelligent. A double first in economics from Cambridge, a VP at JP Morgan at 22 and multi-millionaire at 28. But he goes and does something which is mind-blowingly stupid. If he felt so strongly that he didn't want to reveal his sexuality, he could have paid his own rent without claiming it. So why didn't he? Why did he, since 2006, play with fire, relying on a finely nuanced interpretation of the rules which would have taken an extremely expensive ...
Last week, I wrote to NHS Tayside again to highlight my concerns - and those of many constituents - over the future of elderly persons' services at Ward 6, Royal Victoria Hospital. I am pleased to say that NHS Tayside has given me an invitation to meet with Gerry Marr, Chief Operating Officer, NHS Tayside, on Tuesday to discuss the issues and the concerns I have raised. It is clear from medical professionals' concerns that the proposals in relation to Ward 6 have thrown up very real issues and I therefore welcome the opportunity to meet with NHS Tayside. It ...
#HallsFail #UoRfail http://yfrog.com/6fga4oj # Annoyed! Revision could be done in the sun, but those days are gone. Job applications, however, can't! #weneedwifi #fb # Not pleasant working on poolside in this weather. Is like a greenhouse! (@ Bulmershe Leisure Centre) http://4sq.com/crH7Sq # Still think "Lord Sugar" sounds wrong! #YesSirAlan #fb # Oh the unshaven lad on #JuniorApprentice said 'fashion' as a theme. I thought he said 'Thatcher' :-S #YesSirAlan #fb # 26 hours – you are cutting Karen! #JuniorApprentice #YesSirAlan #fb # Hannah: you got amy strategy? Reece: sell 'em! And why is Adam still there? #juniorapprentice #yessiralan #fb # ...
I know that nobody would ever have anticipated the need to replace David Laws, but there was a huge amount of surprise last night on Twitter even from Liberal Democrats, that Danny Alexander rather than Chris Huhne or Jeremy Browne was chosen to replace him. To me, Danny was the obvious choice. He is about as close an ally of Nick's as it is possible to be. He was Nick's Chief of Staff, and as such has first hand experience of the management of change within the party. Nick put him in charge of the manifesto, so he has an ...
Pleased to see that (for once!) one of my hot tips for Eurovision success proved to be the winner!
Interesting that Chris Huhne makes it clear that he is not ideological on nuclear power. I have always been not ideological on nuclear power. I think the balance of effort needs to be much further toward the renewable end of the spectrum than it has been. And I also think we need to do the unthinkable =- actually change our lifestyles rather than continue to produce more and more power to feed it. But politicians aren't allowed to say that kind of thing. I feel more comfortable with the idea of nuclear power stations being built with no subsidy. But ...
Sunday morning's graffiti clean up was slightly curtailed by heavy rain, but we still managed to get a load of graffiti cleaned up at the industrial units off Hawkhill!
David Laws' resignation is a cause for deep regret. I did not want him to resign. I am dismayed that he felt the need for secrecy over his sexuality, and I am equally dismayed at the newspaper treatment of it, which demonstrates that his felt need for secrecy was well founded, despite what other gay people may say. I think it would have been possible for him to carry on. There are certainly suggestions that David Cameron thought so. Nevertheless I feel proud that Laws has done what would in a less febrile atmosphere be called the right thing. I ...
No condemnationDawn Editorial Monday, 03 May, 2010 [IMG: font-size small] [IMG: font-size large] [IMG: font-size] [IMG: print] [IMG: email] [IMG: share] There is little doubt that there still exist, across Pakistan, mosques, schools of religious learning and other religious centres that continue to spew hate. Unless that infrastructure of hate is shut down, and clearly some in attendance at the Lahore conference would oppose such a move, Pakistan will never win its struggle for internal peace. - Photo by AP.FRONT PAGEAhmadis claim 95 killed in Lahore attackAhmadis claim 95 killed in Lahore attackAn extraordinary gathering of top Deobandi leaders was ...
Up-date on the massacre of Ahmadi worshippers in Lahore Lahore, Rabwah; May 30, 2010: The death toll from the terror attacks on the two mosques of Ahmadiyya community in Lahore is 94, and not 79 as given by the police to the press. The number of injured, however, is much higher than was assessed initially; their number exceeds125. Among the casualties, 27 dead and 34 injured were in the Model Town mosque, while the rest resulted in the carnage at the mosque in Garhi Shahu. The dead include Judge ® Munir Ahmad Sheikh, the Amir of the Lahore Ahmadiyya community, ...
WIN! This was basically a rehash of lots of my favourite Pertwee episodes. FAIL! It was written by Chibnall, and therefore has lots of genderfail. ( SPOILERS under cut ) So, yes, I enjoyed it, but had issues with it too. Roll on next week... ( minor asterisky spoiler )
I will try and write about the Coalition without any reference to 'uncharted waters' or 'interesting times'. Someone has to. To begin with I was pleasantly surprised when I read the Culture, Media and Sport sections of the full agreement: more or less what I had wanted but without some of the policies I had criticised in our own manifesto. I can live with the 'reduction in red tape for live music' although I still believe we need to concentrate on opportunities for new bands. My worries are in fact in a different area: academies. I didn't like this policy ...
I am not going to write much this morning – partly because it has already been covered by many people more eloquent than I. Partly because last night I was out in town and am feeling a little delicate this morning. Anyone who has followed David Laws personal tragedy unfolding in their newspapers and on ...
I am still pretty heartbroken at the circumstances surrounding David Laws' resignation from the Cabinet. It was so sad to watch him make what must have been an excruciatingly painful statement in the full glare of the media and I admire his courage in so doing. Did he need to resign? Probably not. I don't seen I've ever seen a Minister resign when they have such an outpouring of support and understanding for their position and such a sympathetic press. You think of all the Labour Cabinet ministers who stayed put no matter what, serial flipping and incompetence no barrier ...
On Thursday 20 May the London Borough of Waltham Forest held its Annual General Meeting. Like so many councils across the country, this annual meeting is mainly civic where it elects the mayor (or chairman of council or speaker) for the following year.Last year Dad was appointed Deputy Mayor of Waltham Forest and as he did not win re-election last year, this was Dad's final council meeting, his
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I thought David Laws' resignation was dignified and full of integrity - as is he - but very sad to watch. This matter is now for the authorities to investigate - and will take its course. David's brilliance is a serious loss to our government and our country - particularly at this time of great need. But outside of the proprieties or otherwise of David's arrangements for housing and financing thereof - what I saw when I watched his resignation statement - was the personal pain of an individual who has not felt able to be open about their sexuality. ...
Sun 30th
09:15Opinion: Let's not ask why we need Liberal Youth, let's ask why we don't have Liberal "Youth" in the...
Richard Wilson is a candidate for Chair of Liberal Youth. Yes, I'm going to say it. We don't need Liberal Youth in its current form. We really don't. I'm not leading a call for dissolution. Just for it to be labelled what it currently is – Liberal Democrat Students. No more and no less. Let's look at the evidence – Of the candidates at this election, the vast majority are students. Of the campaigning Liberal Youth does, well, it's mainly about student issues, and of the money Liberal Youth spends on campaigns...well, I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear that ...
Prostitutes have to get murdered before they get treated by the media with any dignity. We need to consider carefully the lessons from the cruel exposure, yet again, of their vulnerability. Prostitution is massive in the UK. Estimates of the number of prostitutes varies, but the lowest serious estimate I can find is 30,000, while the figure most commonly quoted is 80,000. What is beyond doubt is that the number of customers for these prostitutes runs into millions - a significant proportion of the adult male population of the UK. Yet this massive industry operates entirely in the shadows. ...
This article was written for the Vibe magazine (before the resignation of David Laws). Read more at www.the-vibe.co.uk In the short history of the Liberal Democrats dating back to the alliance and eventual merger of the Liberals and the Social Democratic Party, leader after leader, from David Steel to Nick Clegg, has declared the realignment of British politics to be within reach, only for their hopes to be dashed again and again with each general election. Thursday May 6 was no exception. The party endured a miserable night, losing five seats and several of its most well known MPs including ...
Back in the early 1980s, a book called Money, Sex and Power was doing the rounds in evangelical church communities. It took as its starting point the monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and argued that these were a response to the three greatest temptations of life in the secular world. It also (and bear in mind I read this about thirty years ago, and don't intend to obtain and re-read it now) argued that the most difficult temptation of the three to overcome was power. I'm still very, very angry at the treatment meted out to David Laws ...
I know we are all on the same side now, but this blog has been covering our local Tories' mismanagement of the waste collection service here in the Harborough district. A recent post has all the links you need to get up to speed. It seems that the BBC has now picked up the story too and that it will feature in the East Midlands regional section of this morning's Politics Show. (The programme starts at 11 a.m.) According to the BBC website, my old friend Cllr Phil Knowles will be interviewed. And it has a picture of the mild-mannered ...
This is an alternative to the Fairtrade Banana Bread recipe I published earlier this year. I make this for my daughter, who loves bananas (and cake!) but is not fond of dried fruit. 300g self-raising flour 1&1/2 tsp cinnamon 1&1/2 tsp ginger 150g soft butter or margerine 270g soft brown sugar 2 medium eggs 220g Fairtrade bananas – the softer the better (weigh peeled) Pre-heat ...
On Friday I spent the afternoon and evening wandering around the the Saddleworth and District Whit Friday Brass Band contests. These take place, and have been doing so since 1884, in several villages straddling the Yorkshire/Lancashire border up in the Pennines. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the first event of the day, a Whitsun Walk of Witness involving some 1 800 people, a walk, bands and an ecumenical service, The band competitions started at around 4.30 in the evening, with some 100 bands transported in coaches from village to village where they each perform a march and and specialist ...
A slightly late posting, but surely the result of the Thirsk and Malton delayed election shows that the Liberal Democrats have not yet suffered a backlash from their decision to enter Government. If anything most ordinary people are understanding and sympathetic. Compared to the notional figures, this result shows a 2.6% swing from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats, and a swing of 11.6% from Labour. It is another catastrophic result for Labour, and shows that they are still being punished for their failures in Government. Their vote fell and they dropped from 2nd to 3rd.
Personally, I am spending the weekend at the Hay Literary Festival but according to this article in the Telegraph, many others may be spending large chunks of the bank holiday period in traffic jams. The paper says that up to a million more travellers will get behind the wheel than last year due to uncertainty over the BA strike and the effects of the ash cloud from Iceland, which has deterred many people from taking foreign holidays. They add that disruption caused by the extra traffic - which means half the country's motorists will be using their cars - will ...
Just thinking: If Labour had not implemented university tuition fees, causing plummeting recruitment at Staffordshire University, leading to my husband's redundancy and his search for work in the country of his birth, then I would not be in Edmonton Alberta right now, looking out the window watching a snowstorm on 29th May, comforting myself with the thought that at least Charles Clarke is no longer an MP.
At the moment we don't know exactly what the Coalition's plans are for changing capital gains tax, so the various campaigns against it are speculative. However in principle we understand non-business capital gains will rise to either income tax or near income tax levels from their current rate of 18%; potentially 40 or 50%. Capital gains on business activity may also rise, but not as much. Allowances may be cut. All changes likely next April, rather than June. The principle behind the change is that capital gain is like income and so should be taxed like income. The problem with ...
Earlier today I was ordering coffee and tea for me and my mum in Bangor when on the screen was scrolling the BBC 24 news about David Laws. One of the things that I picked up from the scrolling was the use of the phrase: Laws didn't want to disclose his "sexuality" The inverted commas were what struck most. Ok I will admit there was a story there, but the story of the day has shifted unto one of sexuality and one where private life has been exposed as part of another story because of the link into the original ...
I am genuinely very sorry for David Laws, but he has done the decent thing and avoided a horrible protracted media exposure. He plainly broke the rules on not paying rent to a partner, and trying to hide behind quibbles on what constitutes a partner would not have helped. Laws has now shown that he has a great deal more commonsense than many of the commenters on my earlier post and pretty well all other Lib Dem bloggers. Indeed the knee jerk tribalism of Lib Dem blogs this morning was pretty disgusting. This resignation sends out a good signal ...
I thought the winner of last year's Eurovision Song Contest was quite catchy and I was pleased that it won. However I didn't watch yesterday's programme all the way through. In recent years I have usually watched the results and heard the winning song. It was Terry Wogan's drunken comments that kept me listening and it may have been a case of in vino veritas when Terry would tell us how countries would vote. I think he got fed up with the politics of voting. At the time of writing this blog I have not seen yesterday's results (and I ...
