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There’s a slightly plaintive piece in today’s Independent’s Pandora column under the self-explanatory heading, ‘Opik’s plea to Clegg: use me’. The paper quotes the Lib Dem MP for Montgomeryshire saying: I’m certainly available to the party in any way they want me, and that’s a matter for them. This all follows Lembit’s latest appearance in the spotlight since he joined  [ Read More ]

To read Part I, published yesterday, click HERE. For me, it’s the most difficult decision of the year – which books to take with me on holiday. So, I thought, what could be better than to pick the brains of my fellow Lib Dem bloggers, and ask them to select just two: one should be a political book – whether  [ Read More ]

2 Big Stories Troops need more, says Dannett The BBC has the interview and the story: The head of the UK Army has said better equipment is needed to protect troops from roadside bombs in Afghanistan. General Sir Richard Dannatt told the BBC troops “needed more” and added that he would be compiling a shopping list of what was required.  [ Read More ]

2 Big Stories Labour backbench revolt over abolition of 10p tax rate is defeated Big shock this one, I know… Labour MPs realise too late that their party’s tax changes are hitting the poorest hard in the pocket, threaten to mount a rebellion, and then – as per bloody usual – are bought off by the whips with a mixture  [ Read More ]

A week ago, I wrote an article attacking the Telegraph’s coverage of the MPs’ expenses row under the deliberately provocative headline, What has the Telegraph done for the reputation of journalism? Amidst all the outrageous abuses by MPs that the newspaper has reported, I said, it’s also been guilty of some shoddy reporting, giving equal prominence to stories which simply  [ Read More ]

Yesterday’s Observer reported that one of the Lib Dems’ bigger donors, Sudhir Choudhrie, faces allegations of “accepting tens of millions of pounds in kickbacks from an arms deal between an Israeli company and the Indian government”: Sudhir Choudhrie, who has personally donated £95,000 to the party and whose relatives’ companies have donated a further £475,000, was named as a key  [ Read More ]

Over at the Channel 4 News politics website, Lib Dem blogger James Graham gives his brief take on the latest YouGov poll of Conservative-Labour marginals showing Labour on 36% (-2% since Oct ’08), the Tories on 43% (n/c) and the Lib Dems at 13% (+1%). Here’s an excerpt: This poll tells us nothing about how the Lib Dems might be  [ Read More ]

The countdown to elections to the European Parliament – to be held in tandem with local government elections on 10th June – is now on. Last week, here on LDV, the Lib Dems’ vice-chair of our Euro election campaign, Willie Rennie, staked out the internationalist, liberal principles around which he said the party should fight the elections, and contrasted it  [ Read More ]

A year ago, Lib Dem Voice posed 10 questions, the answers to which we believed might shape the Lib Dem year – time to revisit them, wethinks. To read Part I dealing with Qs 1-5, click here. 6. Will Nicol Stephen’s leadership of the Scottish Lib Dems continue to bounce back? No, it didn’t, though this was in large part  [ Read More ]

A year ago, Lib Dem Voice posed 10 questions, the answers to which we believed might shape the Lib Dem year – time to revisit them, wethinks. 1. Will Nick Clegg become as well-known and respected/liked as Paddy and Charles became? Well, not in his first year, he hasn’t – as Nick himself fully acknowleged yesterday, commenting: “This is my  [ Read More ]