The way the Liberal Democrat party leadership has handled the Justice and Security Bill seems little short of extraordinary. To depart so dramatically from party policy is one thing. It isn’t the first time it has happened during this Coalition. I’m sure it won’t be the last. But […]
The agenda for this year’s Liberal Democrat Spring Conference carries the strapline Stronger economy, Fairer society. Given the parlous state of UK plc, and the deeply inequitable impacts of the Coalition austerity policy, the strapline touches on two of the biggest issues of the day. So the unwary […]
Rafael Behr uses the ongoing Rennard imbroglio as a jumping off point for some broader points about the positioning of the Liberal Democrats in a post today at the New Statesman. He argues that: Clegg’s office has a clear enough sense of where they think he and the […]
I don’t normally read the Times. But I bought it yesterday because it carried a half page opinion piece by Nick Clegg under the title Carping Labour must come clean about cuts. We’ve been told that 2013 is going to herald a stronger message from the Liberal Democrats […]
It’s that time of year again. Autumn Conference can be reinvigorating. So I guess, from the party’s perspective, this isn’t a bad time to have to be reaching into my back pocket. But I have to confess that there has been plenty of reflection about whether to sign […]
A lengthy piece by Richard Reeves has just been published online by The New Statesman. There is much in it that I agree with. Apart, that is, from the main thrust of the argument. It would be worth performing a detailed discourse analysis on the piece, but now […]
Emergency wealth tax, eh? I wonder whose bright idea that was.
What a shocking week for the Government. We’re well past the odd mishap. As the Government careers from one problem to another we’re now shading into something rather more embarrassing. With the exception of some über-loyalists with an eye to preferment, excoriating comment is emerging from all points […]
There was a bit of social media sniping yesterday that, despite David Cameron’s protestations to the contrary, the Queen’s Speech didn’t contain much of any substance to help the ailing UK economy. That doesn’t seem to me to be entirely fair, for two reasons. First, there were some […]
[Originally posted at Dale&Co, 06/04/12] What is going on? I mean, seriously? Is it just me or do the wheels seem to be coming off this Government quite badly? If we look over the last couple of weeks we’ve seen a botched budget, including the failure to make […]
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