Over the next few days, we’ll remind you of five posts from each month, to give you a flavour of what was in the minds of LDV readers and contributors in what proved to be a gruelling and often bruising political year. 

1 January 2014 was the day we were going to be overwhelmed every single Romanian and Bulgarian coming here. We would all turn up to work the next day to find out we’d been replaced. They’d be hiding everywhere, even in our bread bins. Or so Farage would have had us believe, anyway. Remember all those very amusing posts on social media, with people saying things like “Just popping out to the pub, but can’t get past the crowds of Romanians and Bulgarians”.  It might have been funny for those few hours, but the reality is that parties which peddle the migrant-bashing line seem to be in the majority at the moment. If that isn’t a call for liberals to remember who the enemy is (clue: not each other), then I don’t know what is.

On New Year’s Day itself, Charles Kennedy summed up the challenges of the year ahead. 2014, he said, was not for the politically timid. 

It is going to be the most overwhelmingly political calendar year in the experience of most political participants. I believe that we are about to live through a period quite without precedent since 1974 – the year which saw two general elections. And its impact will be even more far reaching.

Both the European elections and the Scottish independence referendum offer us Liberal Democrats two pivotal platforms upon which to convey what, I believe, to be the uniquely optimistic political mindset in which we approach the twin priorities of the two great evolving political unions which shape our times.

As such, in conveying that political optimism, we must be bold to the point of fearlessness. 2014 is not one for the politically timid; as such it should be our natural territory and should enable us to regain that sense of self-belief and momentum vital to these challenges and to the longer haul onto the 2015 UK general election itself.

Charles turned out to be one of the sagest voices of the year. Whenever he opened his mouth in the Scottish independence referendum, people on both sides actually listened.

There’s a fair bit of commentary in the press now about how the Liberal Democrats are only attacking the Tories in the five minutes before the election to save their own skins. Not so. If you look back over the five years of government, you will find remarkable consistency. In January, Nick Clegg was warning about the Tories ideological plans to cut back the state if they found themselves in poser alone as Mary Reid told us.

The Lobbying Bill was controversial at the time, with 38 Degrees screaming that they would never be able to campaign on anything ever again if this “Gagging Law” went through. David Boyle laid out the reasons he supported the measure:

The problem is the rise of extreme inequality, and the new class of ubermensch, mega-bankers and oligarchs on both sides of the Atlantic, with huge political ambitions.

In the USA, the shadowy Koch brothers have funnelled hundreds of millions of dollars into explicitly political campaigns designed to intervene in the electoral process – usually in favour of ultra-conservative causes and oil interests.

Unusually, for UK governments – normally so adept at shutting stable doors after horses have bolted – the Lobbying Bill was a result of thinking ahead and nipping Koch UK and their equivalents in the bud,

In doing so, it seems to me that they were aware that – once the oligarchs have arrived and are funnelling money into UK elections – the chances of action would be slim. The bolting horse had to be still inside.

Unfortunately, as we know, this debate was never joined. Instead, 38 Degrees manufactured a panic among campaign groups that their own rights to campaign were being curtailed, adding to the cynicism about government – if that was possible – when the bill badly needed more reasoned debate.

In January, the Rennard case erupted into controversy as Alistair Webster’s conclusions that no further action should be taken against the peer were published. Stephen Tall and I had a fair bit to say about it and suggested ways to heal the growing rift in the party.

I have a confession to make. Liberal Democrat MPs elected a new leader of the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons in January. Everyone expected Lorely Burt to win and LDV almost had a Chicago Tribune “Dewey defeats Truman” moment. I’d set up this post complete with Lorely’s picture. I had to change it pretty smartish when Malcolm was announced the winner by the narrowest of margins. Anyway, a few days later, I caught up with Malcolm to ask him what he intended to do with the role.

The best possible election result we can get. By going into government we have transformed ourselves to a party of government with competence and experience. We have made the difference.  The recovery would not have happened without us. We’ve cut taxes for millions of people, and we’ve boosted pensions. In a difficult situation we’ve done things fairly and we’ve been able to moderate some of the things the Conservatives would have done on their own. This is not a Conservative Government, it’s a Coalition Government.

We need to get across that if people want the recovery to continue, we don’t want it to be blown away by Labour who would revert to its bad old ways. We don’t want the divisiveness of the Conservatives who threaten our membership of the EU and we don’t want the UK destroyed by nationalists.

Actually, you should recognise the Liberal Democrats are a grown up party with experience of government who have delivered and have more to offer. Having us there in government, in parliament, matters. That’s the big counter to the “what’s the point, they’ve sold out” all that kind of stuff. We need to bang the positives, the difference we’ve made and why we’re there.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look back at January. Please feel free to add your own memories in the comments.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social