political archive
Public left confused as wrong people sent information about registering to vote
Mailings intended to tell people who have recently moved how to get on the electoral register have mistakenly been going out to people who have not moved in years.
Forget tweets, it’s Andy Coulson people should be talking about
Yes, someone said something foolish on Twitter. Yes, he then dug himself into a hole with an explanation that doesn’t stack up. Yes, he shouldn’t have done it.
But even for a Twitter-holic like me, you’ve got to wonder quite why this story is garnering so much online chatter in comparison with the news we may [...]
European Parliament rejects plans to hand bank details to the US
Sharing of bank records with the US started in 2001 in an effort to tackle terrorism. However, the European Parliament has rejected new proposed agreement after heated criticisms that too much private information could be handed over without good reason.
The Register reported:
The European Parliament has rejected a proposed interim agreement on SWIFT – under [...]
What do the public want politicians to get up to online?
The Hansard Society has a new report out which asks the public what they want out of politicians and the political system online.
Although many studies have looked at what politicians do or don’t do online, those looking at what the public actually wants are rather rarer. That makes this a particularly welcome report and is [...]
LibLink … Stephen Tall on hung Parliaments
It’s a mark of a good piece of analysis that it is still sound even if the particular news story that prompted its publication doesn’t stand up for long. And so it is with Stephen’s piece over on Comment is Free, triggered by the Guardian story – firmly rubbished by the party – about the [...]
LibLink … Julia Goldsworthy: You Ask The Questions
The Liberal Democrat MP for Falmouth and Camborne is the latest to answer questions from The Independent’s readership, including:
Is Britain Broken?
Wouldn’t it have been better if you’d had a proper, substantial career before going into politics?
and
Was Gordon Brown right to cry on television after saying “My children aren’t props, they’re people”?
To find the answers [...]
What we’ve been saying about the general election
With the general election looking to be heading towards a hung Parliament according to the latest prediction we've published from a group of academics, how are things looking for the Liberal Democrats?
We've published three previews of the election:
Three things to remember about your online campaigning
1. Be a tortoise, not a hare
The fast-moving story that sweeps round the world may catch the headlines, but the reality of most internet campaigning is very different: it’s the gradual, consistent and sustained effort that reaps the reward. Unless you’re very lucky, it’s a commitment to building up email lists, web visitors and so [...]
State of the Union: film review
State of the Union is Frank Capra’s 1948 political satire, laced with both dark humour and uplifting appeals to the American way. There can’t be many films which spell the lead actress’s name wrong in the credits (“Katherine” for “Katharine” Hepburn), though otherwise this is a film of high production quality, even if the sharp [...]
Book review: Saving the European Union
Andrew Duff’s book Saving the European Union: The logic of the Lisbon Treaty, written early in 2009, has an endearingly open comment about his own political views compared with those of his colleagues:
My party, the UK Liberal Democrats, and group, the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), have been amazingly tolerant of finding [...]
