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Welcome to a new week, and the anniversary of the end of the invasion of Iraq … first time round, that is – Operation Desert Storm officially finished in 1995. And happy birthday to David Mamet, Billy Idol, Lorraine Kelly and Gary Lineker and Gael García Bernal. On with the day … 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What [...]

The BBC tells us: Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has queried the “workability” of a suggested tax on banks to curb excessive bonuses. Lord Turner, head of the UK’s finance watchdog, has suggested taxing banks’ financial transactions. The Treasury has urged restraint on bonuses but stressed taxation was a matter for the chancellor. Mr Clegg said the idea had practical  [ Read More ]

Nick Bye, the third-placed Tory candidate in their Totnes ‘open primary’, writes a cheerily self-deprecating account of his experiences in today’s Times, A popular raspberry against yah-boo politics: Matthew Parris chaired the big hustings meeting, which I reckoned would be a walkover for me — it was very much my home territory. I’m a mayor and used to traditional, on-the-stump  [ Read More ]

Welcome to this, the final summer edition of LDV’s Daily View – the feature will return again at the beginning of September, as will the various members of the LDV editorial collective. 2 Big Stories Treasury select committee slams Government’s “largely cosmetic” banking reform plans Here’s what the BBC has to say: The government’s plans for reforming the regulation of  [ 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 Is homphobia still rife on the Tory benches? That’s the allegation from Labour cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw: Ben Bradshaw has said “a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches”. Mr Bradshaw, one of three gay men currently in the cabinet, made the comments as a new poll suggested more gay people were turning to  [ Read More ]

I’ve avoided for as long as possible the uber-hyped ‘nowtrage’ over Carol Thatcher’s off-air-but-in-the-studio comment that a still-to-be-identified tennis player looks like a ‘golliwog’. It does of course pose lots of interesting questions for liberals: the conflict between freedom of speech, and the offence that may cause; to what extent unbroadcast behind-the-scenes remarks should be regarded as private; whether remarks  [ Read More ]

Today’s Times has an in-depth interview with the Lib Dem shadow chancellor and deputy leader Vince Cable today. Lots of good stuff, as you might expect: While Gordon Brown was declaring the end of boom and bust and David Cameron was sledging with huskies, Dr Cable, a former chief economist at Shell, was foretelling dark times. For years he was  [ 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 ]

Over at the New Statesman’s blog, Jonathan Calder looks at Bryan Otis Ferry’s position as a ‘political prisoner’, while looking at Lembit’s long-term ambitions: Will we see more of him? I hope so. Lembit has a Westminster seat to defend and could no doubt return to the Lib Dem front bench if he chose. Besides, the alternative for him is  [ Read More ]