Author Archives: Charlie Garnett

Opinion: The Liberal Democrat legacy is unwritten; Labour’s unchanged.

Every vote, member, volunteer and supporter that the Lib Dems have lost as a result of entering into a coalition with the Conservatives will be missed. For most, I assume that this will not be a decision that they take lightly. Instead, it will arise as a conviction, from a small seed of doubt. Doubt about whether or not they believe they can be complicit in a Tory Government. I wish them well, and hope that they will be as open to returning as they have been to leaving.

However, to those still wavering on the brink, perhaps you might …

Posted in Op-eds | 37 Comments

Opinion: Michael Gove is a banana

Michael Gove is a banana. I’m not being rude, he confessed as much this morning on Radio 4: “If that’s democracy then I am a banana”. This in reference to the potential for a Lib-Lab coalition brought about by our archaic first past the post system.

Well, he might not be a banana, but I should imagine that he would rather argue that he is, indeed, a particularly yellow type of fruit, than admit that our democracy is a sham, perpetuated only by a broken electoral system. For the Conservatives to admit that FPTP should be changed would be a disaster. …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 10 Comments

Opinion: A vote for the Lib Dems is a vote for the Lib Dems

A vote for the Lib Dems is a vote for the Lib Dems. It is not a vote for the Conservative or Labour Parties. It is not a way of ‘Letting Gordon in through the backdoor’, or of tacitly consenting to a Cameroonian ‘DIY’ society. It is a vote for the Lib Dems.

Since the debates, the other two main parties have woken up to the idea that people may genuinely want a change in British Politics but, whether because they are deliberately obtuse or have simply been too well conditioned by their duopoly on power, neither seems able to grasp …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 5 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Pawel Urbanski
    Picking up Mark's point, because I don't think it's a small one. Conference is where members top up the energy and motivation that carries both local and nation...
  • paul barker
    Reform had a relatively good night because several of the contests fell in areas where they are relatively strong, however they are still going down steadily, 4...
  • suzanne fletcher
    thank you @Peter Wrigley, yes saw the Liberator article, and David Grace's too. @William Wallace, the jazz band - well words fail, I was in tears before we had...
  • Caron LindsayCaron Lindsay
    We usually do. Apologies if we missed it this year....
  • William Wallace
    So lots of us were at Michael Meadowcroft's funeral service, but none of you have mentioned the splendid jazz band... I had dug out some of Michael's pamphlets...