Opinion: What price authenticity in our policy making?

By Nick Perry | Published 11th January 2012 - 6:55 pm

As a mental health social worker, I have been trying to keep up with the debate, both within and without the party,  on the progress of the Welfare Reform Bill.

There are many commentators far more expert than I able to say how many different aspects of the legislation accord with party policy, or wider liberal views about the freedom and agency of the individual, or how far it falls short in respect of protecting the most vulnerable members of our communities.

This post is not about the detail of that.

I want to pose a question to LDV-reading colleagues as to how …

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You know what we’re doing wrong? We’ve not introduced tax breaks for wooden arrows

By Mark Pack | Published 11th January 2012 - 4:55 pm

What do we want? Section 503.
When do we want it? Now.

Oh, you want to know what Section 503 is? Read here.

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Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism special: Dramatic independence referendum duel in London and Edinburgh

By Caron Lindsay | Published 11th January 2012 - 3:58 pm

It’s been a torrid few days in Scottish politics.

Since the SNP won an overall majority in the Holyrood elections last year, there has been much talk of the independence referendum they pledged to have in the second half of their term. They have been tight-lipped on their plans.

There has been uncertainty on the legality of such a referendum. Even respected legal blogger Lallands Peat Worrier, himself an SNP supporter, has expressed that the terms of the Scotland Act may not allow it. And amid all the bluster of this blog post from senior SNP strategist Stephen Noon is …

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Stephen Gilbert MP writes… Park home residents must be looked after properly

By Stephen Gilbert MP | Published 11th January 2012 - 3:17 pm

For us all, the home we live in is one of the most important factors in how we live our lives. Whether it be a house, a flat, shared accommodation, or – as it is for almost a quarter of a million people in the UK – a ‘Park Home’.

Park Homes are modern, bungalow-style residential properties usually sited on private estates. The park home industry is a billion pound business. There are over two thousand park home sites within the UK, primarily but not exclusively centred in rural areas like my constituency in Cornwall.

For the vast majority of the quarter …

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David Laws: Free schools should focus on education, not profit

By Nick Thornsby | Published 11th January 2012 - 2:28 pm

David Laws is interviewed in the current issue of Attain, a magazine focussed on the independent schools’ sector, where he has the following to say on the issue of whether free schools should be permitted to make profits:

I think it is important that the people who come in and deliver the education should be seen to be doing so for reasons relating to education and delivering an improved quality of education. And I think that the public would be far more suspicious of the free school development if they felt it was about people coming in to make profit out

…

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Opinion: War with Iran? Where’s the scrutiny

By Paul Reynolds | Published 11th January 2012 - 1:58 pm

One of the great benefits of democracy over totalitarianism is its ability to criticize openly and scrutinize the major decisions of government. If weight of public and political opinion is against a particular decision, there are inevitably dissenters within the machinery of government. Whilst this doesn’t prevent damaging and foolhardy decisions from being made, it does strengthen the hand of these dissenters within the government hierarchy. This usually has the effect of limiting the damage, and speeding up both the reversal of the decision as well as the learning of lessons.

This was apparent in the case of the Iraq war. …

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Posted in Europe / International, Op-eds | Tagged | 5 Comments

Paul Burstow MP writes… Time to Care: patients not paperwork

By Paul Burstow MP | Published 11th January 2012 - 12:53 pm

Being a nurse is a tough job, and we all admire those who have a calling to care for others. But when a loved one is sick in hospital we quite understandably worry and want the best for them.

One of the most important tasks of government is to ensure that good standards of hospital care are maintained wherever people live and whatever their needs. To make progress on this key issue we must free-up nurses from red tape and allow them to carry out the work they’re trained to do.

As a Liberal Democrat health minister I have seen and heard …

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How the left/right balance of Liberal Democrat voters has changed

By Mark Pack | Published 11th January 2012 - 10:25 am

It is common to use two political spectrums to sort out where people or parties sit ideologically: the left-right spectrum and the authoritarian-libertarian spectrum. The latter is important in explaining the politics of the coalition’s formation, as it was a defence of civil liberties against New Labour’s post-9/11 authoritarian streak that both saw senior figures in the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives often co-operating in Parliament and also carved out a large area of policy agreement between them.

Since the coalition’s formation, its importance has rapidly dropped. Some of the reasons are straightforwardly good ones – such as delivering on several of …

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Opinion: We need better housing for a better Britain

By Matthew Green | Published 11th January 2012 - 8:55 am

Want to make a real difference to the country’s problems? Commit serious resources to social housing.

Being in government doesn’t half expose the difficulties of politics. The easiest things for politicians to change are laws, taxes and benefit entitlements. But these seem so ineffective against the major problems that our society faces.

Reforming taxes does little to rebalance inequality – an inadequate treatment of the symptoms that does nothing to change the causes. Raising benefits does little to help the wellbeing of those trapped in poverty. Cutting them does not so much restore incentives as kick people while they are down. Talking about it just makes …

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A postcard from… Mumbai

By Baroness Ros Scott | Published 10th January 2012 - 4:47 pm

Baroness Ros Scott has been away visiting family for the past fortnight, and has let us have some thoughts on what she has found there…

As a politician, starting the day with newspapers and coffee is a habit that is hard to break. Indian newspapers are a joy, with their old fashioned use of English – “the altercation ended in fisticuffs”, “the ruffians were apprehended” and a diet of celebrity gossip and above all, politics. All Indian media give detailed blow-by-blow accounts of the machinations of politicians in the national and state governments and, although there’s a lot going on, …

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Posted in Europe / International | Tagged | 1 Comment

Introducing ‘A postcard from…’

By Mark Valladares | Published 10th January 2012 - 4:22 pm

Think of this as an experiment.

I’ve always been intrigued by questions such as, “What does the rest of the world think about what we’re up to?”. In a surprisingly parochial political culture, where the debate, if there is any, is about what the big countries are up to, what is the view from other places? And, as those nice young people at Liberal Democrat Voice have left me partly in charge on a day release basis, I thought that I should at least make an effort to find out…

So, …

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Posted in Europe / International | 1 Comment

Opinion: a need for equality? Yes, but short lists aren’t the way to achieve this

By Roisin Miller | Published 10th January 2012 - 2:53 pm

As much debate about party funding and selection rumbles on, the issue of increasing diversity amongst MPs continues to hover in the background.

I would never deny that the under-representation of women or people from BME backgrounds needs to be addressed, however there is a much more pressing diversity issue, that of diversity of social class and occupational background.

Parliament is currently overrepresented by those who have been researchers, Special Advisors and lobbyists. To give some context to this statement: the House of Commons research library reported in 2010 that 14% of the current intake of MPs have worked previously in political …

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Opinion: is the infant class size limit of thirty too inflexible?

By Simon Shaw | Published 10th January 2012 - 1:20 pm

The Chief Executive of the Lib Dem-controlled London Borough of Sutton, Mr Niall Bolger, has been in the news recently, flying a kite on the possible relaxation in the current statutory limit of 30 on class size for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, i.e. Key Stage 1 within primary schools.

Mr Bolger has subsequently clarified the situation by saying: “Increasing class sizes is not a Sutton Council policy or something that has been discussed at a political level.”. However, this recent report has reinforced my own personal doubts about the unintended consequences of the limit of thirty in infant …

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The Beveridge Group announces its relaunch

By NewsHound | Published 10th January 2012 - 12:18 pm

The Liberal Democrat Voice team have received a press release from John Pugh MP, which may be of interest to those in the Party keen to engage in debate on policy and philosophy.

With an eye to the new parliamentary year and forthcoming legislation, the Beveridge Group has reformed and a new updated website is already up and running. The initiative follows widespread concern inside and outside parliament as to where Coalition policy on public services may be going.

We want to prompt a proper debate as to where the …

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Posted in News, Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Opinion: Why competition is the key issue

By David Boyle | Published 10th January 2012 - 11:22 am

One of the many frustrations with our dysfunctional banking system is that we have nowhere else to go unless we want to keep our money under our mattresses.

Yes, there are the ethical alternatives, like Co-op or Triodos. Yes, there are a handful of surviving building societies. But we don’t have what other countries have: an effective banking and lending infrastructure at local level.

So when World Development Movement nominates Barclays for the Public Eye awards for the worst corporation for speculating in basic food commodities – artificially pushing the price beyond what the world’s poor can afford – what …

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Posted in News, Op-eds | Tagged | 19 Comments