http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15008198
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg did his best to rally the Party faithful in his keynote speech at this year's annual gathering of Liberal Democrats in Birmingham.
It was clearly an extremely difficult task for him.
With the British economy in dire straits and teetering on the brink of a double-dip recession and the Lib Dem's popularity at an all-time low, how many of the grassroots could really have been convinced of Clegg's message that they have to stay the course and stick with their decision to join the Conservatives in government?
Party managers did their best to ensure that delegates and ministers alike all showed a united front to the nation. But it was clear that there are still many members very unhappy at being in power with the Tories and grave concern remaining about the troubled economic waters ahead.
Unfortunately for Clegg, having allied himself so firmly with Cameron in government, and in particular with the manner and speed of deficit reduction, it is now almost impossible for him to back out of the coalition.
All he can do is hope that the Party does not face what is now widely predicted to be total annihilation at the polls in 2015.
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Thursday, 1 September 2011
PM Right To Oppose Dorries On Abortion
http://blogs.news.sky.com/boultonandcohttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14745675
The changes to abortion legislation proposed by Conservative back bencher Nadine Dorries have sparked the usual fierce debate.
Dorries' views are typical of many in today's Conservative Parliamentary party - in particular those who entered the House of Commons for the first time at last year's general election. They reflect the thinking of a growing number of Tory MPs who belong to Christian groups, which also include Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.
She proposes that organisations that provide abortions, like Marie Stopes, should be prevented from providing women with advice before they go ahead with a termination.
Such organisations have long experience of providing impartial counselling women wishing to end their pregnancies in both the pros and cons of doing so.
In my view, not allowing these clinics to do so in future will make an already extremely distressing predicament even more so for women and almost certainly prolong the trauma for them.
A woman's right to choose should remain paramount and no further undermining of that choice by those heavily influenced by the religious right should take place. We do not need to go down the same road as the United States and espouse the same values as Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.
The current legislation is sufficient and should not be altered further.
The Prime Minister is right to oppose this amendment.
The changes to abortion legislation proposed by Conservative back bencher Nadine Dorries have sparked the usual fierce debate.
Dorries' views are typical of many in today's Conservative Parliamentary party - in particular those who entered the House of Commons for the first time at last year's general election. They reflect the thinking of a growing number of Tory MPs who belong to Christian groups, which also include Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.
She proposes that organisations that provide abortions, like Marie Stopes, should be prevented from providing women with advice before they go ahead with a termination.
Such organisations have long experience of providing impartial counselling women wishing to end their pregnancies in both the pros and cons of doing so.
In my view, not allowing these clinics to do so in future will make an already extremely distressing predicament even more so for women and almost certainly prolong the trauma for them.
A woman's right to choose should remain paramount and no further undermining of that choice by those heavily influenced by the religious right should take place. We do not need to go down the same road as the United States and espouse the same values as Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.
The current legislation is sufficient and should not be altered further.
The Prime Minister is right to oppose this amendment.
UK Riots Not Down To Race Or Poverty - We Are Not A Nation In Moral Decline
http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/news/entry/tony-blair-in-the-observer-britain-isnt-broken/
Tony Blair may have largely disappeared from the UK political arena but his occasional interventions are usually astute.
Like most people in this country, I watched in horror as unprecedented riots swept through the UK and people from all walks of life - both wealthy and less so - chose to participate in the violence and looting.
The initial police response to the disturbances was worse than woeful.
However, the fact remains that in the most deprived areas that were caught up in the disturbances, only a very small minority of people chose to take part. Most of those people stayed away from trouble. Therefore the theory that social deprivation was the root cause of the riots, is in my view, far too simplistic. As usual, Ken Livingstone was far too quick to blame what happened on cuts in government spending.
By the same token, the Prime Minister's statement from Downing Street in the aftermath of the riots was equally black and white. Yes, of course such behaviour is totally unacceptable and the fact that so many areas were involved does on the surface give the impression to the rest of the world that Britain is 'broken' and 'frankly sick'.
But rather than running Britain into the ground and using the riots to score political points, I would agree with Tony Blair that a more individual approach is needed to tackle social problems and prevents such events happening in future. His view that we should solve problems family by family is surely sensible and avoids the sweeping generalisation that the entire nation is 'in moral decline'.
The courts, understandably, have come down very heavily on some of those involved. However, I don't believe that the sentences of some will be allowed to stand on appeal. The person who was jailed for stealing a bottle of water will surely have their punishment lessened when reviewed. And with the prison population already at bursting point, jailing first-time offenders for very minor offences will only make a very bad situation even worse and won't necessarily deter them from re-offending.
The British people are on the whole, decent, tolerant and law-abiding. Mr Blair is right to point out that, instead of focussing too heavily on those who looted and rioted, we should applaud those who came out to clean up.
We would do well to keep this in mind and should remember that such widespread disturbances are thankfully very very rare.
Tony Blair may have largely disappeared from the UK political arena but his occasional interventions are usually astute.
Like most people in this country, I watched in horror as unprecedented riots swept through the UK and people from all walks of life - both wealthy and less so - chose to participate in the violence and looting.
The initial police response to the disturbances was worse than woeful.
However, the fact remains that in the most deprived areas that were caught up in the disturbances, only a very small minority of people chose to take part. Most of those people stayed away from trouble. Therefore the theory that social deprivation was the root cause of the riots, is in my view, far too simplistic. As usual, Ken Livingstone was far too quick to blame what happened on cuts in government spending.
By the same token, the Prime Minister's statement from Downing Street in the aftermath of the riots was equally black and white. Yes, of course such behaviour is totally unacceptable and the fact that so many areas were involved does on the surface give the impression to the rest of the world that Britain is 'broken' and 'frankly sick'.
But rather than running Britain into the ground and using the riots to score political points, I would agree with Tony Blair that a more individual approach is needed to tackle social problems and prevents such events happening in future. His view that we should solve problems family by family is surely sensible and avoids the sweeping generalisation that the entire nation is 'in moral decline'.
The courts, understandably, have come down very heavily on some of those involved. However, I don't believe that the sentences of some will be allowed to stand on appeal. The person who was jailed for stealing a bottle of water will surely have their punishment lessened when reviewed. And with the prison population already at bursting point, jailing first-time offenders for very minor offences will only make a very bad situation even worse and won't necessarily deter them from re-offending.
The British people are on the whole, decent, tolerant and law-abiding. Mr Blair is right to point out that, instead of focussing too heavily on those who looted and rioted, we should applaud those who came out to clean up.
We would do well to keep this in mind and should remember that such widespread disturbances are thankfully very very rare.
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