A year ago, Emma Walker hadn’t got round to joining the Liberal Democrats. She finally took the plunge in November 2017 and since then has made a massive impact. She’s launching a pioneering recruitment campaign (of which more in due course) and at last week’s Scottish Conference, she proposed her motion on ME. ME Action […]
My view on our conference motion to end discrimination in mental health care
The problem with conference is that it is impossible to get to everything! I was hoping to speak on Sunday morning in our debate on the policy motion entitled, “Ending Discrimination In Mental Health Provision”. Regular readers of LDV know that mental health policy is an area I feel strongly about, so I am gutted […]
Demand Better: Liberal Democrat Priorities for a Better Britain
For as long as I’ve been active in politics people have complained they don’t know what we stand for. We may have a reasonable profile for our position on Brexit, but the fact that we’re only the fourth party in terms of MPs makes it even more difficult than usual to gain media attention. On […]
Vince Cable writes…We need to catch up with our European neighbours in fighting Cancer
Cancer is traumatising. It is universal, leaving no family untouched. I saw this first-hand. Cancer took my first wife, Olympia, in 2001. To repeat what I wrote in my memoirs, that experience showed me that whatever may be said in criticism of the NHS, the capacity of the system to deliver high quality, sophisticated treatment […]
Inequality in society harms our mental health – how can we fix it?
“Wealth is not a measure of worth. But low income is related to feelings of inferiority.” Across a range of countries, studies have shown, the experience of poverty leads to people believing they have failed themselves for being poor, and accepting that others feel like that about them. This is part of the remarkable findings […]
LibLink: Sal Brinton; The NHS can’t work without a sustainable social care system
As the NHS turned 70 this week, Sal Brinton looked back at the development of social care policy and outlined the Government’s failings: … since 2015, the new Conservative Government has dithered and delayed, repeatedly promising that they would sort out the social care funding problem. We still await the Green Paper promised in the […]
Help our MPs choose their Commons debate – last chance to have your say
Lib Dem MPs have a relatively rare opposition day debate this week. They are approaching it a bit differently by giving you a chance to decide the subject. What’s particularly brilliant is that you get to vote preferentially too. That’ll be useful for next year’s Ashdown Prize organisers to note. An email from Alistair Carmichael […]
Happy Anniversary!
Embed from Getty Images It’s hot, and our regular supply of posts from you, dear readers, seems to have melted away. But we can’t let today go by without acknowledging the 70th Anniversary of the NHS. Of course, we can’t do it justice in a short piece, but we can be proud that, for all […]
With more money coming to the NHS do we need to rethink how it’s spent?
While some of the major health think tanks such as The King’s Fund say the announced 3.4% increase in annual NHS spending is not enough – and I would agree with that – can we at least use the additional NHS funding more efficiently? I would say it might be worth looking at changing some […]
Gosport findings ‘shocking and devastating’
We have all be shocked by the revelations about the inappropriate treatment of elderly patients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital. Here is Norman Lamb talking about the way the NHS closed ranks when he was Health Minister, and how he called for the enquiry that has just been completed. We also have some quotes […]