Paul Sample
49 (and three quarters)

I hope Mr Greaves will on reflection agree

That said a lot of its purpose for me is served by web sites with election results however the back page is good

Does that take into account the money raised from the obligation local parties are under to pay for PPC adverts in Lib Dem News. That revenue stream is really money that is circulating around the party rather than money coming in.

I agree we need to improve on the cartoons and a crossword would be nice.

More seriously I have complained to the editor in the past that the party covers too much from the south of England and not enough from the north. That probably reflects the balance of stories sent in. In which case have those of us, who do complain sent anything in lately. I have and on balance I think a fair amount has got in. Probably about 10%. So you just have to keep sending stuff in.

I have totally failed to get the paper to take an interest in our campaign for Yorkshire, which gets lots of coverage locally. I also failed to persuade LDN to report the fact that three Labour Councillors defected to us in the Borough Redcar & Cleveland two years ago.

I love the ‘People’ column. I am bored with the Parliamentary reports but accept we have to have them but they could be shorter. I also enjoy reading some of the columnists but efforts should be made to persuade Tony Greaves to return, at least then we would get a view from the north.

In conclusion LDN is unique in that the other two don’t have one. We must be grateful for that. Don’t blame the staff. If you think you can improve it get your pen out and send the stuff in. If it is newsworthy it should get in.

I do not blame the staff who do what they are employed to do.

I gave up writing a column on the back page because I was fed up of being in the same slot as a load of boring House Magazine type stuff (which is what is in most of the rest of the paper nowadays). After Conrad died there was nothing else.

The only person who made a really worthwhile job of Liberal News or LD News was the late great Charles Stainsby and it killed him.

Tony Greaves

PS Ask about the circulation and then ask is it worth the candle?

But I do agree that it is a throroughly good thing for the party to publish a weekly source of accurate information in print format.

If that amounts to Pravda, then so be it.

When partiality crept into LDN the results were not encouraging.

Anyone recall the constant sniping against the SDP back in the 1980s?

Or Paul Sample and his infamous exhortation to bring God back into politics? (Laurence Boyce would have loved that one!)

The “Social Democrat”, the SDP equivalent, was indeed called Pravda, and rightly so. Its editor, the truly dreadful Val Taylor, was a 3rd rate journalist, an intensely partisan Owenite and avowed enemy of all things Liberal. Anyone vaguely critical of Owen got frozen out fast.

More evidence that Iain Dale is
about to defect.

Because he agrees with our values of course (and not because he can’t find a safe seat)

That said, I had a subscription for a year and I have just let it lapse – it had got to the point where I was only reading ‘People!’ Definitely more imagination needed from the parliamentary contributors…

The other parties probably envy the fact that we as a party have so many ways to communicate with each other; through LD News, effective Internet communication, Grassroots Campaigner, Liberator, etc. After all the Tories only have the Daily Mail.
And, Duncan, of course you are right that a printed paper, however short the deadlines cannot match the speed of the Internet. However, it does have certain advantages. The Internet is all very well, but sometimes it’s like looking for a diamond in a rubbish tip.
So my suggestion would be for someone to be given a half page each week, to give details of interesting LD stories or campaigns on the web, for example:
“This week, bloggville LDs on http://www.bloggsvilleLDS.co,uk have launched an interesting campaign about XXXXX (details and perhaps a photo). See their website for more details or contact Cllr. XXXX on XXXX.”

This would integrate the printed medium with the electronic and be a real help to all campaigners looking for ideas or just more local news. It could also direct people towards blogs and sites like this and flock together.

With so many sites now run by Prater Raines it would not be too onerous a job for someone who can spare two or three hours and layout half a page! And it really would add relevance and a more immediate tone to LD News.

What do people think?

Well done Deirdre and team ! All of your long standing efforts on behalf of the party – of which producing Lib Dem News is only a part – are really appreciated.

On occassions I have edited the paper nobody has looked over my shoulder to check that I am toeing the line, and on weeks I have done the layout I have certainly been involved in picking letters that balance an argument and help to continue to provoke debate. of course it is the way of the world these days that if it is printed on paper and delivered through the Royal Mail there will be a lag in debate, that was acceptable 10 years ago but sticks out like a sore thumb in these days of t’internet.
But the paper “goes to bed” late on Wednesday aftrenoon and usually falls through my letterbox on the Saturday. If you have an article lined up to go in, stick to the number of words promised and have it proof read before submitting it, electronically, you can get your words of wisdom in on Wednesady morning and have the readership hanging on your every word at the weekend. Of course if you fax in a poorly typed article with major flaws in the spelling, punctuation and grammar give the team a week or two to translate it.

)

That said, in the run up to policy votes at conference it often does run for and against articles.

I actually think there is a place for defectors, news of council by-election victories, campaigning stories and so on. They are feel good stories basically. MPs and super-activists maybe don’t need them, but I remember when I first became active and first read Lib Dem News. It was a very positive thing to see all this evidence of a ‘family’ of campaigners across the country – some of them even being quite successful.