Archive for Op-eds
Conference accreditation: my submission
Here is what I am emailing to conferenceinformation - conferenceinformation.hat.libdems.org.uk.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) - conferenceinformation.hat.libdems.org.uk.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) in response to the consultation about party conference (deadline Saturday 21st April): Dear Andrew, In itself, the idea that background checks might sometimes be a necessary part of extra [...]
Free schools: what should the party’s policy be in 2015?
News that the National Autistic Society is planning to set up a free school highlights an impending policy dilemma. Currently, the party’s policy is officially one of opposition to free schools. However if, by the time of the 2015 general election, free schools started by popular and worthy organisations such as the National Autistic Society [...]
Why election candidates shouldn’t have to publish their tax returns
Remember all the stuff Liberal Democrats such as Vince Cable have been saying for years about how our tax system catches too much income and not enough wealth? You know what – I believe that, and I haven’t suddenly forgotten it in the last few days. So the idea that somehow getting people to publish [...]
Why RIPA is flawed
Greg Callus’s excellent post dissects in documented detail some of the problems with the RIPA regulatory mechanism – and why therefore simply extending the range of data that can be accessed under RIPA would be extending the range of data that can be accessed without proper control. In particular: Sometimes, there isn’t time for a [...]
The web snooping plans: time to get campaigning
The Queen’s Speech will contain legislation on the interception of communications. Should Liberal Democrats (and indeed liberals) be alarmed? I treat this question with some initial caution because in one respect many liberals have been – rightly – calling for more use of interception by the government for many years. That is in making intercept [...]
The problem with the pasty tax? It’s not had enough media coverage
No really. Despite the rush of politicians to recall when they last had a pasty or to be photographed eating one (me? south London, last weekend, Greggs, branch still open, no photo available), the problem is we’ve not had nearly enough media coverage of the pasty tax proposals. “What?!?! Not enough coverage?!?!”, you might well [...]
A lack of democracy at Unlock Democracy
The pressure group Unlock Democracy is generally pretty good at understanding that having a healthy democracy is more than simply about the narrow confines of casting and counting votes. Healthy democracy involves meaningful debate and choice between a range of views. That makes the latest mailing I have received from them all the most disappointing. Good [...]
Some thought-provoking reminders of our liberal history
Alex Wilcock and I penned this list of six things* to remember for Liberal Democrat News, the party’s weekly newspaper: Paddy Ashdown once admitted to under-estimating the importance of a party’s history: “A political party is about more than plans and priorities and policies… It also has a heart and a history and a soul”. [...]
“Budget 2012: new tycoon tax in victory for Nick Clegg”
“Budget 2012: new tycoon tax in victory for Nick Clegg” – so reports the Daily Telegraph: In a significant victory for the Liberal Democrats, the Chancellor effectively introduced a 25 per cent minimum rate of tax in the Budget. Under the changes, he will limit how much people offset their tax bills by investing in [...]
Labour picks an unusual poster location in Bradford
It’s not unusual for parties to put up posters in by-elections, far from it. But Labour don’t seem to have fully thought through their choice of one poster location in the Bradford West by-election. One of the issues coming up in the campaign is Labour’s neglect of the town centre. So where has Labour put up [...]
