Why it's always been Labour's fault.

There's been some interesting discussion on Lib Dem Voice about the Labour party's culpability for the recession and youth unemployment. There's also a call for Labour supporters to defect to the Lib Dems. But in my view neither goes far enough.

The Labour Party’s very existence is responsible for driving millions of voters into the arms of the Conservative party. You only have to look at the 100 years before the first world war when the Labour party didn’t exist in any meaningful form and socialism was considered some whacky foreign cult. Result - the Conservatives out of power for long periods and the Liberal party was the natural party of government.

Role forward to the 100 years since the first war with Labour replacing the Liberals as the main non-Tory party. Result - the Conservatives in power for most of the time and considered the natural party of government.

If Labour supporters want the Tories out of power then they know what to do. Disband the Labour party, reject the cult of socialism and come back home to the most successful non-Conservative force in British politics…

Cameron's race dog whistle raises Lib Dem hackles

David Cameron has said some foolish things on immigration today. And it is good news that the two most senior Lib Dems in government have gone on record opposing him.

Tonight's London Evening Standard shows that Lib Dem ministers have started to realise the differences between the two parties are more important than the similarities...

I don't believe it! Yes to AV get it right....

While attending a meeting at my local Lib Dem MP's office (every constituency should have one). I came a cross a rather good piece of direct mail from the Yes campaign.

It put three good reasons why people should vote yes on May 5th - making MPs work harder for their constituents, getting rid of jobs for life and giving voters a greater say.

It even mentioned the expenses scandal and the need to clean up politics. And the fact there is a big correlation between the MPs supporting the no campaign and those with dodgy expenses is something I've blogged about before.

So far so good you would think? But...

I wonder if anyone at Yes HQ though that putting actor Richard Wilson's name to it was quite the best idea. Given his most famous character, Victor Meldrew, is known for his catch phrase 'I don't believe it'?

Banks report has making of another tuition fees fiasco

The report by academic banker, Sir John Vickers, that basically allows the mega banks to carry on pretty much as they were has all the hallmarks of another high profile independent review. That of Lord Browne's review of student tuition fees.

On publication of that report Vince Cable said, 'The government endorses the main thrust of the report' before going on to explain these were interim proposals and that he would endeavour to make changes more in line with Lib Dem policy.

Now fast forward six months and you have the sound of Nick Clegg welcoming the Vickers report this morning on the today programme. Now I don't know whether the Vickers' proposals will be significantly changed between launch and implementation, but if the experience of the Browne/tuition fees fiasco is anything to go by then the chances of really tough action on the casino bankers is seems unlikely.

It's clear that those banks 'too big to fail' are just simply 'too big'. I'm not convinced simply selling off a few (hundred) branches here and there (who to?) will increase competition. Ring fencing consumer banking within mega banks - when the risks of what used to be called merchant banking are hidden in a minefield of financial vehicles so obtuse no-one knows where they really lie - sounds like a recipe for disaster.

As usual the party's Estonian outpost puts the case much better than I (or indeed Sir John) can.

Friday favourite

This week it's a cover version of one of my favourite punk songs. Here to cheer you up are the Ukelele Orchestra of GB singing Anarchy in the UK. It just shouldn't work, but somehow it does. I particularly like the harmonies on the verse where various terrorist organisations are named...

The Liberal Democrats agenda for government....

I have been musing on the doldrums the Lib Dems are in at the moment. Reading much of the interweb (and the Guardian) you may be forgiven for believing the party is responsible for every sort of calumny to hit the nation in the last 11 months since it went into government with Cameron's Conservatives.

I'm sure it will become apparent that the coalition government will over the next few years deliver a significant number of Lib Dem manifesto pledges. But I'm not sure that will do - and it will mean significant numbers of Lib Dem councillors will be sacrificed on this alter of 'wait and see' on the way.

But it doesn't have to be like this. People don't have to wait and see. What the party has to do is to be clear - in about four simple and populist sentences - about what they are doing and working to achieve in government. And why these things are those that a Tory government would never do. Yesterday was a good start - it being the first day that 900,000 poorly paid people stopped paying tax.

But it has to be clear that there is more to come and this is only as a result of the Lib Dems.

Sadly - given Clegg's disasterously whining interview in the Staggers yesterday - some frightfully clever people advising him are saying he needs to be softening his image even further.

However when a substantial chunk of the people think you have lost your backbone, softening your image is the last thing you need to do...

Social Liberal Forum lose the plot

I received an email this morning from a supporter of the Social Liberal Forum asking me to back their campaign calling for the government's health policy to be amended in four specific ways.

Two of which are sensible and uncontroversial - providing more local democratic accountability and slowing down the pace of change to help the NHS through its toughest settlement for decades and avoiding another massive reorganisation.

The third is some fairly meaningless waffle about market reform and cherrypicking profitable services (surely impossible unless the NHS charged market rates for its services), so can probably be safely ignored.

But the fourth is frankly crazy - and sadly is what party reps voted for at the recent spring assembly. It calls on the party to 'ensure the Health Secretary had a duty to provide a fully comprehensive and free health service, with no gaps and no new charges'

Fully comprehensive and no gaps - really? This means that every NHS facility in every part of the country should offer the same fully comprehensive service - so leafy Surrey should have the same facilities to fight alcohol and drug related disease as Glasgow council schemes. Diseases of affluence should be taken as seriously in Hull as is Havant. Its clearly either prohibitively expensive and wasteful or egalitarian nonsense and should be opposed by liberals and anyone who believes in localism.

Needless to say I won't be signing it - but if anyone wants to either sign it or find out more the link is here: Forward to a better yesterday

What have the Romans done for us?

This web page is doing the rounds of Lib Dem blogs. And not bad it is too.

But I'm using it as an excuse to link to the Python original which always bears repetition.

Friday favourite

This week'sFriday favourite shows Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart at their pomp. But it's not the Eurythmics. It's with the late Pete Coombes as part of the ultimate post punk pop band the Tourists.

And one of the bizarre things about this video is it's filmed at the semi derelict Quainton Road station on the old Great Central mainline. And as a result I hope Lord Bonkers and his representative on the interweb - Jonathan Calder appreciate it.

April fool of the day

The Shetland Underground...