Tag Archives: martin tod

Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2011 – nominations now open

BOTY 2
The Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards, run by Lib Dem Voice, are back for their sixth year. As usual, they’ll be awarded in a budget lavish ceremony at the party’s autumn conference in Birmingham.

Click on the following links to see last year’s Shortlist and the Winners.

This year’s awards are as follows:

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The Yes2AV campaign has persuaded me to change my mind

I’ve long been sceptical about the scope for online fundraising in British politics. That’s partly because I’ve seen a sequence of American political consultants come to the UK, say they know much better than Brits, promise lots and then raise not very much – across the political spectrum. I’ve also seen a sequence of people from Britain go, “Oooh! American! Shiny! Must be better!”, promise lots and then raise not very much – again, across the political spectrum.

Having been responsible for (along with Ashley Lumsden and Martin Tod) the first candidate website in the UK to take credit card donations, …

Posted in Online politics | Also tagged , , , | 13 Comments

The 7 retiring Lib Dem MPs (and the 7 candidates hoping to replace them)

Seven Lib Dem MPs have announced they’re retiring at this year’s general election. All seven are men: of their replacements, four are women. Here’s the list in full:

John Barrett (LD) – Edinburgh West

Majority: 13,600 (30%) – second safest Lib Dem seat in the UK.
Reason for leaving: to spend more time with his grand-daughters.
Hoping to succeed him: Mike Crockart.

Colin Breed (LD) – South East Cornwall

Majority: 6,507 (13%).
Reason for leaving: not stated.
Hoping to succeed him: Karen Gillard.

David Howarth (LD) – Cambridge

Majority: 5,058 (11%).
Reason for leaving: “to concentrate on my other life, as an academic.”
Hoping to succeed him: Julian Huppert.

Paul

Posted in General Election | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Twitter and the rise of new media

Something fascinating happened yesterday. I was browsing through one of the internet forums I regularly visit when I noticed someone posting that people should go to the Daily Mail poll page on their website and vote yes to the poll that asks “Should gypsies jump the queue on the NHS?” in order to mess with them.

When I got to the page and duly voted “Yes” I was astonished to see that the poll was at 93% Yes and 7% No. The forum I refer to has nowhere near enough people to make a dent in the thousands who vote in …

Posted in News, Online politics | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

UPDATED: PPC news: Winchester & Woking select

Martin TodCongratulations to Martin Tod in Winchester, former marketing guru for Vodafone, now Internet Campaigns consultant for the Liberal Democrats. He has a tough sell on his hands, but if anyone can do it, he can.

Local Councillor David Spender has blogged the result. Martin saw off Sarah Carr, Sue Farrant, Gary Lawson and Justine McGuinness to secure the selection.

Update: True to form, Martin Tod is off to a flying start with the launch of www.winningwinchester.com!

Also congratulations to Cllr Rosie Sharpley, selected as the PPC for Woking. Rosie has been a Woking councillor for 18 years and is currently a member of the Lib Dem exec running Woking Borough Council.

Posted in Selection news | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments