Posts Tagged “LibLink”
Your essential weekend reader — my personal pick of the week’s must-reads
by Stephen Tall on January 27, 2013
It’s Saturday evening, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices culled from all those I’ve linked to this last week. You can follow me on Delicious here. My brother, Hans Rausing, entered a world of addiction where no one in the end could follow him – Sigrid Rausing‘s heart-rending account has [...]
The Economist: ‘Grassroots Lib Dems are much keener on coalition than Tories’
by Stephen Tall on November 19, 2012
The Economist’s political commentator ‘Bagehot’ this week surveys the attitudes of Lib Dems towards the Coalition at the mid-term point — I particularly like its opening: THE Somerset village of Chew Magna, with its sleepy pub and Georgian houses, seems an odd setting for prognostications about Britain’s political future. But prognosticate the local Liberal Democrats [...]
“Liberalism shouldn’t be about the safe option, it should always be a risky thing to take on.” Alistair Carmichael on life in the Coalition as Lib Dem chief whip
by Stephen Tall on October 30, 2012
There’s a terrific interview with Lib Dem chief whip Alistair Carmichael in this month’s Total Politics magazine, in which he gives a typically candid view on what life is like as within the Coalition — and how the Lib Dem whipping operation differs from Labour’s and the Tories’. Here’s a few excerpts: “I would say [...]
LibLink: Jonathan Portes on wealth taxes & ensuring the ‘rich’ pay their fair share
by Stephen Tall on October 2, 2012
Jonathan Portes, director of NIESR and former senior Treasury official, is not a Lib Dem — he recently contributed to LibDemVoice to critique the Coalition’s economic policy — but he is addicted to robust evidence. And the recent spate of right-wing commentators rubbishing the Lib Dems’ call for increased wealth taxes to help tackle the [...]
Paddy on the Coalition, joining the party & that Sun headline
by Stephen Tall on September 25, 2012
There’s a fantastic interview with Paddy Ashdown by The Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone published here. As you’d expect it’s crammed full of anecdotes and quotable bon mots. I’ve picked out just three to enjoy… Paddy on the Coalition He regards those who feel betrayed by the party as weak or naive – notably Guardian leader writers [...]
LibLink: Anthony Wells ‘On that poll of Lib Dem members ‘
by Stephen Tall on August 25, 2012
As my LibDemVoice colleague Caron Lindsay noted here, our poll asking when Lib Dem members want Nick Clegg to stand down has attracted a fair bit of coverage this week (including in the Daily Mail: I’ve showered three times since reading it, I still feel unclean). Over at his essential UK Polling Report blog, the [...]
Three interesting reads for the weekend: on the Lib Dem mission, campaigning and Coalition
by Stephen Tall on August 25, 2012
Here are three articles about the Lib Dems well worth a read this Bank Holiday weekend… Enjoy! The Lib Dems don’t need a new leader. They need a point (Ian Birrell) After two torrid years in office, a fundamental question hangs heavy over the Liberal Democrats: what is the point of them these days? The [...]
LibLink: Long reach of the Laws
by Stephen Tall on July 14, 2012
David Laws may have resigned from the Coalition’s cabinet two years ago, but (after an initial period of wondering whether to quit politics altogether) his influence hasn’t actually waned much. His interests range across economic and social policy: though he was the party’s education spokesman in opposition, he was a natural fit as chief secretary [...]
LibLink: Steven Fielding on Scott Egerton, “gentleman, Liberal MP… and detective”
by Stephen Tall on April 15, 2012
Over at his personal blog, Steven Fielding, Professor of Political History at the University of Nottingham, takes a look at the work of Lucy Beatrice Malleson who, under the nom de plume Anthony Gilbert, wrote 10 books featuring the gentleman detective — and Liberal MP — Scott Egerton. Here’s an excerpt: Malleson’s Egerton stories follow [...]
LibLink: David Laws and Tim Farron – Budget 2012: Osborne must help the squeezed middle and tax the top
by Stephen Tall on March 17, 2012
Rumour a-plenty ahead of George Osborne’s third budget. Adding to theose rumours — or, more likely, giving us the inside gen on what’s likely to transpire — are the former Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury David Laws and Lib Dem party president Tim Farron in The Guardian. Here’s an excerpt: Nick Clegg has [...]
