Clegg and localism: early thoughts

I’ve just trawled through Nick Clegg’s speech on localism to the LGA today. A few thoughts: 1. He lets the Tories off too easily (unintentionally I’m sure). He is of course perfectly right to give them a hard time for refusing to even contemplate devolving spending, but the truth is it’s far, far worse than… Continue reading Clegg and localism: early thoughts

Liberalism and technocracy don’t mix

Oh dear. The cheerleaders for road user charging in the Lib Dems have decided to step up a gear. We will, no doubt, have another row about this at party conference in the autumn and Clegg will no doubt turn it into a vote of confidence issue and win (people who diss Labour MPs for… Continue reading Liberalism and technocracy don’t mix

The Orange Book Delusion

The enduring irritation about the Orange Book is not its content, which was broadly uncontentious, but the mythical book which everyone who never read it imagines exists. So once again my heart sinks when I read Nick Assinder claim: In his first major speech since winning the job, Mr Clegg has pretty much adopted the… Continue reading The Orange Book Delusion