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This is the fortnight of lists and awards in the political blogosphere. Not only has Iain Dale produced his annual little list, but the Lib Dem Blog of the Year awards are once again upon us. All of which may seem a little self-indulgent. And it probably is. But there’s a serious point to blogging, and one which is of  [ Read More ]

There are just five hours til polls close in today’s by-election to decide who will succeed Boris Johnson as MP for Henley. The widespread expectation is of a Tory victory – it is one of their safest seats – but there has been a great deal of energy behind Stephen Kearney and the Lib Dem team, so no-one’s ruling out  [ Read More ]

The BBC is reporting: The Conservatives are threatening legal action against the Lib Dems over the Henley by-election. They have written to the Lib Dems over allegations concerning a local community hospital, which they say their candidate has always supported. Unless the Lib Dems withdraw a leaflet and remove claims from their website by noon, the Tories say they will  [ Read More ]

This week, Boris Johnson announced his support for legislation which would limit the term of office of the elected London mayor to two terms of four years. Over at his Liberal England blog, Jonathan Calder applauds the move: This seems to me entirely sensible. In a perfect world all local councillors would be limited to two terms. When you are  [ Read More ]

Last week we published our Lib Dem Voice competition to predict the results of the local and London mayoral elections taking place tomorrow, 1st May, and win a limited edition LDV mug. The thread is here, and, to date, we’ve received 20 entries from LDV readers (who may or may not be Lib Dem members). Here’s the average of what  [ Read More ]

Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London Brian Paddick is one of the three panellists on tonight’s Question Time (broadcast on BBC1 and online from 10.35 pm GMT). The panel will also include (you may have guessed) Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone, and Tory hopeful Boris Johnson. So, if you’re watching, and want to sound-off, please feel free to use the  [ Read More ]

A month ago, listeners to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme heard a debate between presenter John Humphrys and deaf activist and parent Tomato Lichy. At issue was Mr Lichy’s passionate belief that deaf couples should be allowed to use embryo-screening technology to choose to have a deaf child – such a choice would become illegal under the proposed Human Fertilisation  [ Read More ]

We’re guessing most Lib Dem Voice readers (the Lib Dem ones living in London, anyway) would choose to vote for the party’s mayoral candidate in the capital, Brian Paddick. And of course we hope he will win: he’s the only candidate who deserves to. But even the most optimistic Lib Dem would recognise that Brian isn’t going to triumph on  [ Read More ]

There was a boost for Brian Paddick’s London mayoral campaign today, when Evening Standard columnist Nirpal Dhaliwal gave the Lib Dem candidate his whole-hearted endorsement: I thought the mayoral race had become an embarrassing Laurel-and-Hardy act as Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson competed for attention. But with Brian Paddick’s campaign launch, it should now be a serious political contest. Immediately  [ Read More ]

The London mayoral contest is hotting up, and tonight ITV1 broadcasts a debate at 11.05 pm (London only; or Sky channel 993), with Lib Dem contender Brian Paddick, and the Tory and Labour candidates, Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone. The London Evening Standard previews the debate here, reporting that: Brian Paddick looked and sounded the part. He relied on notes  [ Read More ]