We’re thrilled to be having such a busy day here at LDV with a lot of opinion articles scheduled from a wide spectrum of writers.
In all that, there’s a good chance we might lose sight of our early morning post proposing a Tweetup / Liberal Drinks meeting at the end of the special conference on Sunday.
Full details are here: http://ldv.org.uk/19520
To keep our discussion tidy, comments on this post are closed. Please comment on the first blog post from this morning.
We’re thrilled to be having such a busy day here at LDV with a lot of opinion articles scheduled from a wide spectrum of writers.
In all that, there’s a good chance we might lose sight of our early morning post proposing a Tweetup / Liberal Drinks meeting at the end of the special conference on Sunday.
Full details are here: http://ldv.org.uk/19520
To keep our discussion tidy, comments on this post are closed. Please comment on the first blog post from this morning.
Plans are emerging for a Liberal Drink / Tweetup at tomorrow’s special conference.
It’s been a long old while since I was at the NEC (we had a fab time at a printing exhibition ten years ago when we were replacing a folding machine. Going to a conference that included machines that could turn trees into decks of playing cards was a little OTT for a standard folding machine)
However, a bit of a look at the NEC website suggests there is a Wetherspoons on site – and it’s not terribly far from Hall 3 where the special conference takes place.
So, I am proposing a Lib Drinks / Tweetup in the Wetherspoons at the NEC immediately after the speech from the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, which is due to finish the conference around 5pm.
If you’d like to come along, why not click here to let your twitter friends know.
Good morning, and welcome to your super soaraway Daily View on this, the first full day of Liberal government in the UK.
Today in 1958, Velcro was trademarked before going on to applications in haberdashery and space travel.
Birthday boys today include Arthur Sullivan, Armistead Maupin and Stevie Wonder.
There’s no doubting from the papers that today is all about the new inhabitants of Downing Street. From a Lib Dem perspective, there’s wor Vince, about to wage war on the banks. Or is he? Does the update to the Guardian’s article, filed 90 minutes after the article itself, herald the first hint of trouble in Paradise?
City is right to fear Vince Cable
Make no mistake, Cable’s appointment matters. David Cameron could have given him another economic job that would have kept him well away from anything to do with City reform. Last night it was mooted that the MP for Twickenham might be made chief secretary to the Treasury, and thus responsible for the delicate negotiations with Whitehall ministries over spending cuts.
Nick Clegg has proved he is no pushover
Jackie Ashley has praise for the Lib Dem leader’s achievements. But will it be enough?
By bringing in fixed-term parliaments and setting the next election for five years’ time, the Lib Dems hope to have had enough time to prove that they have made a difference, and are not simply mini-Cameroons. But it’s a big gamble. There is provision for another election sooner if 55% of MPs vote for one. A falling out between the parties, some rebellious MPs and a few by-elections could turn the arithmetic that way.
What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:
If, like me, you’re a student, and if, like me, you’re wondering how to get rid of tuition fees, then consider this. In power, Labour introduced the damn things. The Lib Dems want to scrap them, and if ever we’re in a position to do so, we will. Now, which party should you spent your efforts fighting against?
I joined the Liberal Democrats at the same time as I joined No2ID, the nationwide single-issue, non-partisan campaign against the Database State. For the last few years, I have been co-ordinating Manchester No2ID, a local group of the national campaign. I have worked with people from all political backgrounds, including fellow Lib Dems, Greens, Labour and even anarchists. Working across party lines, on a single issue, has been very refreshing and helped me see beyond party politics. Our monthly street stalls keep me in touch with people’s opinions, and lead to frank and open discussions.
Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.
Chris Fox, the Lib Dem Chief Exec, has circulated this helpful summary of which of our policies are included in the agreement. It’s slightly easier to wade through than the full text, which we brought you earlier.
News trickling in that the Conservatives have offered the Liberal Democrats a coalition. The Lib Dem parliamentary party and Federal Executives, without whom a coalition cannot be ratified, are currently meeting to consider it.
There’s even talk of an emergency Special Conference this weekend which will mean conference representatives across the country pricking their ears up.
But the rolling news media are considering it a done deal already.
Amongst the headlines are that Nick Clegg will serve as Deputy Prime Minister, Danny Alexander as Secretary of State for Scotland, along with three other Lib Dems in the cabinet and a further 20 in government. Vince Cable will take responsibility for banks and business.
Some of the policy compromises announced include the long heralded Conservative agreement for a referendum on AV, which falls long short of PR, but is welcome change – assuming Liberal Democrats are ultimately successful in persuading the public.
The Conservatives give on inheritance tax and marriage tax breaks as well as changes to capital gains tax to finance the Liberal Democrat proposals of a significant raise in the personal allowance, one of the flagship Lib Dem policies.
But the full detail of the agreement is not yet public and we are none the wiser than the rolling media reporters. How will Lib Dem MPs be expected to vote for a joint policy programme? What will happen to the Lib Dem party policy making system at conference, the last remaining democratic political party? Just what will this mean for Lib Dem local parties? How will we stave off the criticism from voters and what awaits us at the next major round of council elections?
Only time will tell.
And all I can ask for is please resist forming a judgment too quickly. Judge the coalition agreement on the fuller details when they are made available.
And judge the Liberal Democrats on the policy concessions and the tangible outcomes they get out of a spell in government.
Just a very quick note to ask local party officers to make sure they are planning some urgent communication with members.
One of the tangible benefits of Cleggmania was a surge in membership and support across the country, so many local parties now have significantly more members than they did before the election. For many of these people, this will be the first members’ newsletter they receive, so do please design your communication with this in mind.
For those of you who are preparing a newsletter, Lib Dem Voice has a regular newsletter insert. The General Election special is a cut-out-and-keep edition with a full list of Lib Dem MPs which should stop you having to type it out all over again yourself.
You can download a PDF of the insert right here.
Just a few weeks ago we brought you the news of the unofficial Lib Dem Facebook group that was growing by 1,000 members an hour.
Now its members are enthusiastically promoting a series of flashmobs. There’s been one scheduled for London for some time, but I know many of us discounted going to that on the simple horror of getting to London on a bank holiday, whilst we should be shoving leaflets through letterboxes in our various provincial locations.
The prospect of a series of nationwide flashmobs, however, makes attendance just a little easier, no? Here’s the details from a thread in the facebook group:
Vicky Blake There is a growing number of Flashmobs!!! Please help us Tweet them and ATTEND ONE IF YOU CAN!! It will be a great chance to do consciousness raising and talk to people who get interested, to demonstrate support on the streets, cheer people up with yellowness and to meet fellow LibDemmers!
Paxo is currently finishing off Gordy, so let’s get out there and convince any remaining floating votes, convince wibblers that LibDems are the way to go, and help people who are on the fence between Lab/Lib and Lib/Con make an informed decision! If you can, after the Flashmob in yourarea, get to the local LibDem HQ and help them out with leaflets, canvassing, etc!
So far there are the following Flashmobs following the same basic plan (most are at 3pm but I think Manchester and Deby are slightly different and Derby is being finalised). Plese help the organisers of your most local one out if you possibly, possibly can!
#LibDemFlashmob
LONDON Flashmob: http://tinyurl.com/35bbwao
NEWCASTLE Flashmob: http://tinyurl.com/34m9lv6
GLASGOW Flashmob: http://tinyurl.com/363k5p2
MANCHESTER Flashmob: http://tinyurl.com/39v6384
DERBY Flashmob: http://tinyurl.com/35at3b3
BRISTOL Flashmob: http://tinyurl.com/33aztyw
And now also: BIRMINGHAM Flashmob: http://tinyurl.com/32ortwb
PLEASE TWEET AND RETWEET ALL on #libdemflashmob & other libdem hashtags!
Now. If only there were some way to channel all these enthusiastic flashmobbers into productive campaign activity… something like a minibus pressgang to shuttle the mobbers from their location to a Lib Dem HQ…
Not content with publishing a letter from leading progressives, the Guardian tonight brings to an end its journey to a decision about which party to support.
The article is here.
General election 2010: The liberal moment has come
If the Guardian had a vote it would be cast enthusiastically for the Liberal Democrats. But under our discredited electoral system some people may – hopefully for the last time – be forced to vote tactically
We can certainly commend them on their decision, and my headline shows my surprise at them taking this bold step. I think many people were expecting the paper to resurrect its “clothespeg” stance from 2005. But let’s not forget the paper ultimately almost endorsed the Liberal Democrats in the European elections last year.
Those who comment beneath the articles waver between enthusiastic endorsement of the paper’s stance, criticism at the length of time it has taken to take a decision, and appalled horror from the remaining Labour stalwarts in the comments thread.
The article takes some considerable time to praise efforts from the Conservatives to re-align their party with a British mainstream, to diversify and speak to the many people in this country who aren’t extreme right wingers, and most importantly of all, to ditch Thatcher’s legacy. But they conclude the process is far from complete:
[David Cameron’s] difficulty is not that he is the “same old Tory”. He isn’t. The problem is that his revolution has not translated adequately into detailed policies, and remains highly contradictory. He embraces liberal Britain yet protests that Britain is broken because of liberal values. He is eloquent about the overmighty state but proposes to rip up the Human Rights Act which is the surest weapon against it. He talks about a Britain that will play a constructive role in Europe while aligning the Tories in the European parliament with some of the continent’s wackier xenophobes. Behind the party leader’s own engagement with green issues there stands a significant section of his party that still regards global warming as a liberal conspiracy.
The Guardian acknowledges – like many of us – that the Labour party has significant achievements from its time in office. But as the years go on, their failings become more apparent until they tip the scales away from Labour being a positive influence on our nation.
Invited to embrace five more years of a Labour government, and of Gordon Brown as prime minister, it is hard to feel enthusiasm. Labour’s kneejerk critics can sometimes sound like the People’s Front of Judea asking what the Romans have ever done for us. The salvation of the health service, major renovation of schools, the minimum wage, civil partnerships and the extension of protection for minority groups are heroic, not small achievements.
Yet, even among those who wish Labour well, the reservations constantly press in. Massive, necessary and in some cases transformational investment in public services insufficiently matched by calm and principled reform, sometimes needlessly entangled with the private sector. Recognition of gathering generational storms on pensions, public debt, housing and – until very recently – climate change not addressed by clear strategies and openness with the public about the consequences. The inadequately planned pursuit of two wars. A supposedly strong and morally focused foreign policy which remains trapped in the great-power, nuclear-weapon mentality, blindly uncritical of the United States, mealy-mouthed about Europe and tarnished by the shame of Iraq – still not apologised for.
And as expected in an endorsement article, the paper reserves its warmest words for us.
[T]here is little doubt that in many areas of policy and tone, the Liberal Democrats have for some time most closely matched our own priorities and instincts. On political and constitutional change, they articulate and represent the change which is now so widely wanted. On civil liberty and criminal justice, they have remained true to liberal values and human rights in ways that the other parties, Labour more than the Tories in some respects, have not. They are less tied to reactionary and sectional class interests than either of the other parties.
The Liberal Democrats were green before the other parties and remain so. Their commitment to education is bred in the bone. So is their comfort with a European project which, for all its flaws, remains central to this country’s destiny. They are willing to contemplate a British defence policy without Trident renewal. They were right about Iraq, the biggest foreign policy judgment call of the past half-century, when Labour and the Tories were both catastrophically and stupidly wrong. They have resisted the rush to the overmighty centralised state when others have not. At key moments, when tough issues of press freedom have been at stake, they have been the first to rally in support. Above all, they believe in and stand for full, not semi-skimmed, electoral reform. And they have had a revelatory campaign. Trapped in the arid, name-calling two-party politics of the House of Commons, Nick Clegg has seldom had the chance to shine. Released into the daylight of equal debate, he has given the other two parties the fright of their lives.
Thank you, Guardian.
Welcome aboard.
Welcome to Lib Dem Voice’s coverage of the third televised debate between the three main party leaders, an event perhaps even more keenly anticpated than last week’s inaugural debate – though the viewing figures will almost certainly be fewer. As last week, we’re co-hosting live-chat, below, simultaneously with the Mark Reckons blog.
Niles's Blog 