Politics

Lib Dems vote to debate Trident at conference

Posted by Louise Edge — 20 September 2010 at 12:08pm - Comments

Greetings from a bustling Liberal Democrat party conference in Liverpool! Team Trident (aka Simon, Zoe and me) are here to talk to people about one of the big issues of the day – whether or not the coalition government proceeds with hugely expensive plans for a new generation of nuclear weapons in the midst of the biggest cuts to public spending in living memory.

New poll shows Clegg on collision course with party over Trident

Posted by jossc — 16 September 2010 at 1:49pm - Comments

With the Liberal Democrats' first conference since they entered government looming later this week, we commissioned a poll to see how party members are feeling about Trident replacement. Not surprisingly, given that the party campaigned on scrapping 'like for like' replacement during the election campaign, not many are in favour.

Stand up for electoral reform and fix our broken parliament

Posted by jamie — 7 May 2010 at 3:36pm - Comments

This is going to be a bit off-topic but stick with me as given the circumstances I think it's relevant for this blog. That a party can get 23 per cent of the vote but only claim 9 per cent of the seats in parliament seems grossly unfair. As does the notion that another party can garner 36 per cent of votes, and see that translated into 46 per cent of seats. Yet, more or less, that's what our electoral system has delivered.

Dear Mr Clegg: an open lettter on climate change

Posted by jamie — 7 May 2010 at 3:12pm - Comments

As I write, the eventual outcome of the general election is still in the balance and with parliament well and truly hung (although I prefer the less pejorative phrase 'balanced parliament'), it's anyone's guess as to who will actually form a government. But it's clear that the Lib Dems are going to have a major influence on whatever form that government eventually takes.

Copenhagen is over, but we're not done yet

Posted by jamie — 19 December 2009 at 5:25pm - Comments

It's over. The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties has this afternoon officially drawn to a close (or rather all but collapsed), but what are we left with? Very little is the honest answer and, no matter how the politicians spin it or how the media interprets it, it sucks.

Obama called it a "historic first step" and it's neither historic nor a first step. The Kyoto Protocol was both, yet in the 12 years since it was laid down, we've barely progressed - the increasing severity of climate change impacts and the urgent warnings from scientists should have had leaders scrabbling for solutions. Instead, yesterday a small group of these leaders flew in, claimed the deal was done and flew out again, leaving chaos in their wake – and other leaders outraged.

Cop-out in Copenhagen: leadership breakdown results in failure

Posted by jamie — 19 December 2009 at 12:37am - Comments

Merkel adn Sarkozy at COP15It's a gut-busting, heart-breaking cop-out and I'm so very, very angry although sadly not very surprised. The exhaustion we're all feeling in the Greenpeace team here in Copenhagen only adds to the appalling sense of frustration - our leaders swanned in and let us all down. The deal isn't fair or ambitious and it certainly isn't legally binding. Even though the agreement, such as it is, has yet to be sealed, they have failed.

I hoped it would be different but the skewed nature of international diplomacy has led the Copenhagen summit through two turbulent weeks into an exercise in arm-twisting and back-room deals. The bullying tactics of the developed countries have ensured they have got what they want, despite the attempts of some developing countries to stand their ground.

Q&A from the roof of Parliament

Posted by jamie — 11 October 2009 at 7:45pm - Comments

A little while ago, I spoke to two of the volunteers who are camped up on top of the Houses of Parliament to find out how they were getting on. Louise explains the challenge of getting up there:

 

And Christian answers some questions posed by followers on Twitter:

 

Trident: wot no parliamentary debate?

Posted by Louise Edge — 16 July 2009 at 1:43pm - Comments

In recent months it has become increasingly clear that the UK has a massive hole in its national budget and whoever comes to power after the next election is going to have to slash government spending. The debate about what should be cut has just begun, but already emerging at the top of many people's lists (certainly mine) is the planned £76bn replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system.

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