Author Archives: Caron Lindsay

Gorton election will now take place on 8th June

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th April 2017 - 6:27 pm

It’s just been announced that, subject to approval by MPs, the Gorton poll will be cancelled as a by-election and will now take place along with all the other seats on 8th June.

From the BBC:

A by-election for the Manchester Gorton constituency has been cancelled after the House of Commons backed Theresa May’s call for a June general election.

The Cabinet Office said the election for the vacant seat, planned for 4 May, would now take place on 8 June as part of the nationwide polling day.

MPs will be asked to formally overturn the writ for the poll.

The proposed by-election

…

LGBT+ Lib Dems Acting Chair praises Tim Farron’s record on LGBT equality

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th April 2017 - 3:55 pm

An awful lot of people that I love depend on a world where LGBTI people have proper equality. I need my leader to be able to speak up for the young transgender person so that they can feel confident that someone is on her side and understands what she needs to be able to live a happy and fulfilling life, who gets that you you are unlikely to meet your potential if you are being bullied for being gay, and how important it is that you have a good support network. I need a leader who speaks out for LGBT rights locally, nationally and internationally. In Tim Farron, I have a leader I can absolutely trust on that score.

Mischief-making Labour people, seeking to comfort themselves at the prospect of the oncoming slaughter for them, have been having a go at Tim on Twitter on this subject.

Those of us who know that Tim is sound have been saying so. And you’d think that the acting chair of LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, Jennie Rigg, would have something interesting to say on the subject. And she does. And, as you would expect from her, she does not mince her words.

Dear media people,

I see that, thanks to Cathy Newman’s interview last night, the thorny theological topic of Sin has raised its ugly head once more.

Let me get this right out in the beginning: I don’t give a fig what Tim Farron’s religious beliefs are. You know why? Because I am a Liberal. He could believe the sky is made from Puff the Magic Dragon’s bumfluff, and I wouldn’t care one jot, whit or iota. What I do care about, and care deeply about, is
How Tim Farron votes in parliament

How he treats people – LGBT+ people in particular – in everyday life

So lets do a little list of things which illustrate how Tim Farron views LGBT people:

With one exception, Tim Farron voted fully in favour of same sex marriage. The one time he abstained? That was because he was trying to get an amendment passed on the Spousal Veto, a really nasty little clause which shafts trans people. Yep, that’s right, even the time he abstained was because he was fighting for LGBT+ rights, not against them.

He was the first party leader to issue a statement on the gay concentration camps in Chechenya. He condemned them in the strongest terms. And while the Greens have since joined in, none of the Tories, Labour, or UKIP have.

He campaigned against section 28 from its inception, and thinks that refusing people service for their sexuality (like bakeries not baking cakes for gay marriages) is unchristian.

He spoke out on the blood donation ban (I’m still banned from giving blood, by the way – because I have had sexual relations with bisexual men).

He has campaigned tirelessly for the rights of trans women in prisons, and trans issues in general. When we had a trans rights motion before conference, he was there at 9.30am in the front row to vote for it. Not because of the cameras – there were no cameras – but because he is enthusiastic about LGBT+ rights, and not just G rights with a smattering of L like many politicians.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged lgbt equality and tim farron | 18 Comments

Tim Farron campaigns in Richmond Park

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th April 2017 - 12:50 pm

The first big photo-op of the election campaign saw Tim Farron return to the scene of our most audacious recent triumph – Richmond Park, where Sarah Olney beat Zac Goldsmith.

.@timfarron and @sarahjolney1 in Richmond Park today – the @libdems are the real opposition to this conservative brexit government pic.twitter.com/gC2rJV0X9a

— Lib Dem Press Office (@LibDemPress) April 19, 2017

Here’s a reminder of her stunning victory speech just 4.5 months ago.

Posted in News | Tagged general election 2017, richmond park, sarah olney and tim farron | 6 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #476

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 16th April 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 476th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed. This week’s covers the two weeks from 2 April as we had our Easter holidays last week. Or at least, I couldn’t drag myself off the beach in time to do it.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

An Easter shoutout to some special people

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 16th April 2017 - 3:55 pm

Easter means many things to people. For Liberal Democrat campaigns staff, it often means long hours working in the run-up to an election. From the hypnotic rhythm of the Risograph to the chatter of activists who need occupying with leaflets, canvass sheets and letters to stuff, there is a Campaign Beast to be fed and it’s the organiser who cooks up the menu.

Now, if you are a candidate or a volunteer, you have some element of choice about if and when you hit the streets at this holiday time of year. If you are a member of staff, you have to be there at both ends of that range of possibilities.

Posted in News | Tagged campaigns staff and easter | 3 Comments

Manchester Gorton: Times reports on “serious challenge by the Liberal Democrats”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 16th April 2017 - 11:31 am

According to the Times today (£) the Liberal Democrats are putting up a serious challenge to Labour in the Manchester Gorton seat. We know that’s true, of course, because we are running a pretty vigorous campaign. Key people in the party are making it known that they are clearing their diaries and heading there as much as they possibly can. However, it’s good to hear serious journalists taking serious note of what they are being told:

With the vote less than three weeks away, party sources said that the Lib Dems were stronger than they had been in the Witney by-election, when Tim Farron’s party lost but achieved a 19.3 per cent swing from the Tories.

Losing would be a disaster for Labour and would rank as one of the great by-election shocks. The 31 per cent swing required for a Lib Dem victory would be the eighth largest since the war, according to Matt Singh, an election analyst.

The Guardian quotes a campaign briefing written by the Party’s Deputy Campaigns Director Dave McCobb:

But a briefing for senior Lib Dem officials and campaigners – written by deputy director of campaigns Dave McCobb – says the party’s messages on Brexit, including calls for a second referendum on the outcome of negotiations, are winning over voters in a seat where more than 60% voted remain in last June’s Brexit referendum.

McCobb says the Lib Dems are making up ground fast and are on 31%, with Labour on 51% – a level of support that is, he says, “running well ahead of where we were in the Witney byelection and approaching Richmond Park levels of support at this stage.”

But someone doesn’t seem to have noticed this:

Posted in News | Tagged by-elections and manchester gorton | 5 Comments

Irish Brexit official: British ministers think that Brexit is an act of self harm

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 15th April 2017 - 9:24 pm

The Irish Times had an interesting story yesterday, quoting one of the Irish Brexit officials as saying that British Ministers realise that Brexit is a huge mistake.

The British government is slowly realising Brexit is “an act of great self-harm” and that upcoming EU-UK negotiations must seek to limit the damage, the State’s top Brexit official has said.
The official, John Callinan, said on Thursday: “I see signs in the contacts that we’re having, both at EU level and with the UK, of a gradual realisation that Brexit in many ways is an act of great self-harm, and that the focus now is on minimising that self-harm.”

Mr Callinan also highlighted the existence of internal divisions on the British side just weeks out from the start of formal withdrawal negotiations with the EU, saying it was clear there was “no single, settled position” on Brexit in London.

“Even within the British government, there are very different views,” he said.

Responding to this report, Tim Farron said:

These reports confirm what many of us have suspected. The Liberal Democrats have warned from the get go that Brexit is a monumental act of self-harm.

Posted in News | Tagged brexit, irish times and tim farron | 37 Comments

The most disgraceful Government form ever #rapeclause

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th April 2017 - 12:35 pm

There are many occasions at the moment when the UK Government makes me ashamed to be British. Two examples this week show what Tim Farron described on Question Time the other night as “Cruel Britannia.”

The first is the removal of Personal Independence Payments from people suffering serious psychological distress. Matt described powerfully here what that would mean for him.

When outdoors I can become so distressed by events and this can trigger an episode of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms. Symptoms include flash backs to an event that has caused much psychological harm and distress, visual hallucinations of the event that makes me feel that I am in another time and place, reliving the event as though it is really happening at that moment, becoming completely unaware of immediate surroundings. Coming out of one of these episodes is extremely distressing, confusing and disorientating and leaves me full of fear. My entire thought process is filled only with getting home and getting safe. I am no longer capable of following the route because my brain and thought process will not quieten down enough to think. I can only liken it to a petrified dog that will run off at full speed ahead, unaware of dangers / hazards / roads, petrified of people. All you can think of is getting home to the safety of your bed and cowering. The situation has caused me to put myself and others in danger whilst in this panicked state of mind. There are many things that can act as a trigger for me, It might be the way someone looks reminds me of person from my past, It can be a certain smell that acts as a trigger, it might be something I hear. I spend most of my life avoiding triggers. These are obviously easier to control within the safety of my own home, but impossible when I am outdoors.

The second example is the removal of benefits to cover third or subsequent children. In itself this is utterly wrong in principle. Benefit should be payable according to need. Children are suffering now because their families are now significantly worse off. The idea that large families should be penalised is so wrong. Are we really saying that if someone finds themselves as a single parent and they have four children, that the state should only provide help with two of them? What are the others supposed to do? It brings back the sort of attitude from Victorian times when the state would provide a parent with help with child support for a couple of weeks before taking the children off the parent and putting them in the workhouse. The idea that the poor are in some way culpable and should be punished is not something any liberal should accept.

Posted in News | Tagged #rapeclause, alison thewliss and social security | 19 Comments

UK Government launches consultation on axing lettings fees – another Lib Dem win

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th April 2017 - 10:48 am

Back in the day, Liberal Democrat peer Olly Grender worked for Shelter. Her passion to help people with housing matters has never left her and she continues to campaign on a range of housing issues. The pressure that she put on the Government resulted in their decision to end lettings fees for tenants. We reported that this was going to happen last November but the Government launched its consultation on Friday.

Olly introduced a Private Members’s Bill in the Lords last year which would have outlawed these fees. Five days after the debate, the Government announced the measure. Olly explained why it was so important to protect tenants from these charges in her speech proposing her bill:

Shelter’s research shows that average letting fees are £355 per move, with one in seven people paying £500. On rare occasions, renters have been forced to pay fees of £900 or more to a letting agent, simply for the privilege of moving into a home. Reference checks, credit checks, administration fees, inventory fees—the list goes on. Invariably, the fees charged are extortionate compared to the cost actually incurred by the agent and they are not necessary. Furthermore, any cost actually incurred should be covered by the lettings agent’s client—the landlord—not by the tenant. Far too often these high up-front costs are proving a barrier to tenants, who simply cannot afford to move.

Posted in News | Tagged housing, olly grender and tenants' rights | 6 Comments

Scottish Liberal Democrats demand answers from Ruth Davidson over mental health cuts to PIP

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 8th April 2017 - 10:05 am

The Conservatives have not covered themselves in glory on social security issues recently. The removal of Housing Benefit from young people, the totally immoral restriction of benefits to two children and the deeply objectionable 8 page form that women have to complete if they want to claim for a third child conceived by rape, the cuts to disability benefits and cutting back eligibility to Personal Independence Payments for those suffering psychological distress have all shown a cruel lack of understanding of real life.

Let’s not forget the five year benefit freeze imposed by George Osborne in 2015. With Brexit bound to increase prices, that is simply unsustainable.

The cuts are significant, but even more reprehensible is the inhumane stripping of dignity from those who need our help. A civilised society supports those in need. If that makes me a bleeding heart Liberal, as Tim Farron declared he was on Question Time the other night, then I’m proud to be so.

Ruth Davidson’s Scottish Conservatives may pretend that they are nicer than their Westminster counterparts, making the right noises on mental health recently, but we can’t forget that they are the same party. Every awful thing that Theresa May’s Brexit government does reflects on them.

As health and social security spokespeople for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Alex Cole-Hamilton and I have written to Ruth Davidson asking her to state her position on the cuts to PIP. Our letter says:

Dear Ruth,

We were pleased to see your party last week join the Liberal Democrats and campaigners in declaring that the SNP Government’s new mental health strategy lacked ambition. It was the right thing to do because the new strategy will not deliver the transformation we desperately need to see.

However, we were deeply concerned to see that, in the very same week, your colleagues at Westminster were voting to restrict personal independence payments to people with mental health and anxiety conditions, affecting tens of thousands of people both in and out of work.

This shows little understanding of the complex needs of some of the most vulnerable people in our society, for example those trapped in their homes because they are too anxious to leave without someone. These people can need help to leave their home every bit as much as someone suffering from a physical condition.

Posted in News | Tagged mental health, ruth davidson, scottish conservatives and social security | 3 Comments

Party members: Your chance to help shape the party’s strategy

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 7th April 2017 - 2:14 pm

Over the last couple of months, every Wednesday lunchtime and in another few meetings too, a group of us have been getting together to start the process of building the party’s future strategy which will be voted on at Autumn Conference in Bournemouth.

I don’t say very much in these groups because there are people much cleverer than me with much more useful things to say, but one of the things I wanted to make sure of from the start is that we involved members in the quest to shape our future direction. This is something that we must build together. It can’t be imposed. The group agreed that we would consult our members fully and we are doing just that.

The culmination of a lot of hard work popped into party members’ email inboxes late on Wednesday night. In the email, Party President Sal Brinton said:

At Spring Conference in York, our Leader Tim Farron outlined his vision for our Party:

“To replace the Labour Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives… so that we can replace the Conservatives as the Government of our country.”

This is a bold vision, which needs a bold strategy to deliver it.

We want to hear your views on how our Party can work to achieve Tim’s vision, and have set out some ideas of our own:

We want to hear your views on how our Party can work to achieve Tim’s vision, and have set out some ideas of our own:

We have also compiled an online survey for you to complete. It will only take a few minutes of your time.

Part of ensuring we deliver Tim’s vision is the need for every member to play their part to build a liberal society. Our country needs us now more than ever, and I know so many of you are taking part in some fantastic campaigns across the country, and I’m looking forward to seeing more gains on May 4th. So, don’t worry if you don’t have enough time to do it right now, because the closing date for the consultation is Monday 15th May at 12 noon.

We want to see an Open, Tolerant and United country, and we need you to help us build it.

In that email there is a unique link to the survey and a link to the consultation document. You’ll need to be logged in as a member on the party website to access it.

What we need you to do is basically mark our homework for us. We are bound to have missed something. What is it? Give us your feedback.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged strategy consultation | 12 Comments

Lib Dems respond to US air strikes on Syria

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 7th April 2017 - 10:07 am

It was quite disconcerting to wake up this morning to see that Donald Trump had launched air strikes. There is no question that Syria needs to be dealt with. You just can’t have any government getting away with gassing its own people. I just feel uneasy about Donald Trump being in charge of this. Does he even have a proper strategy? I also feel uneasy about our Government just slipping into line behind him.

On Question Time last night, Tim Farron was talking about the importance of establishing no fly zones and of humanitarian aid, but made clear that doing nothing was not an option in the face of an attack as horrific as the one we saw earlier this week.

He has since described Trump’s action as “proportionate” but went on to say that our Government’s response was not sufficient:

The attack by American forces was a proportionate response to the barbarous attack by the Syrian government on its own people.

The British government rather than just putting out a bland statement welcoming this should now follow it up and call an emergency meeting of the Nato alliance to see what else can be done, be that more surgical strikes or no fly zones.

Evil happens when good people do nothing, we cannot sit by while a dictator gasses his own people. We cannot stand by, we must act.

I don’t always agree with what they say, but in situations like this, I always look for the views of three people: Paddy, Ming and Julie Smith

On Twitter, Paddy said:

Trump's cruise attack. The right thing to do. Now we'll see if he can match action with restraint in the follow through. Moscow's move next

— Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) April 7, 2017

Cruise attack – the ingredients. Obama told Assad he would but then he didn't in 2013. Trump hinted to Putin he wouldn't but found he had to

— Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) April 7, 2017

Moral of the story? In Foreign/Military Policy unpredictability has its uses. But more predictability means less weapons, less deaths.

— Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) April 7, 2017

I also had a conversation with Julie on Twitter:

Posted in News | Tagged julie smith, Ming Campbell, paddy ashdown, syria and tim farron | 71 Comments

Lib Dem GAIN from UKIP in Aylesbury, hold in Bath and leapfrog Labour into second in safest Tory ward in Calderdale

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 6th April 2017 - 11:54 pm

Yes, you read that headline right. This is not a drill. We actually took a seat off UKIP in Aylesbur. Congratulations to Cllr Susan Morgan and her team for a cracking result.

Lib Dem GAIN from UKIP in Aylesbury.

Cllr Susan Morgan is tonight’s Market Square Hero 😀

LD 785
Lab 151
Con 147
Ukip 111
Green 43 pic.twitter.com/Pmk3DwBq0J

— ALDC (@ALDC) April 6, 2017

It was one of these eye-watering vote share increases.

Elmhurst (Aylesbury Vale) result:
LDEM: 63.5% (+37.9)
LAB: 12.2% (-10.0)
CON: 11.9% (-9.3)
UKIP: 9.0% (-14.4)
GRN: 3.5% (-4.2)

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) April 6, 2017

Fantastic.

In Walcot ward of Bath and North East Somerset Council, Richard Samuel handsomely increased the Lib Dem vote share to hold the seat.

Walcot (Bath & North East Somerset) result:
LDEM: 48.6% (+11.2)
GRN: 22.2% (+0.4)
CON: 22.0% (-0.5)
LAB: 7.2% (-7.4)

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) April 6, 2017

Also up for a very large gin and tonic the next time we meet up is erstwhile Conference trouble maker Alisdair Calder McGregor who leapt into second place in the safest Tory ward in Calderdale. He was the only candidate whose party’s vote share actually went up.

Posted in News | Tagged local government by-elections | 16 Comments

Vince Cable to liberals: Don’t despair, go local, celebrate identities and embrace social democratic policies

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th April 2017 - 1:45 pm

Last night, Vince Cable gave the annual John G Gray Lecture to the Scottish Liberal Club in Edinburgh. John G Gray was a leading Scottish figure in the fightback from near extinction in the middle of the last century. He was at one point the only Liberal councillor in Scotland. Vince observed that at the same time as he was successfully fighting a ridiculous proposal for a ring road in Glasgow, Gray was doing the same in Edinburgh, making sure that a proposal that would have damaged much of the city’s heritage never came to fruition.

The subject of his talk was Brexit, Trump and the Crisis of Liberalism. He set out four things that we should do to stop the “insidious” politics of populism and nationalism taking root.

Firstly, he looked at some of the reasons for populism taking hold. History has many examples, from the South Sea Bubble, to the Depression to the 2008 crash, of economic heart attacks being followed after some years by populism. When people lose out, they turn to the extremes and we have over the past decade seen the fall in post war living standards. Significantly, the measures used to keep the economy afloat, low interest rates and quantitative easing, ensured that pensioners’ savings didn’t grow. That resulted in discontent and nostalgia became a powerful emotional driver.

He warned that as the populists fail, the search for a scapegoat would turn on the judiciary and the other elements which underpin our democracy. He highlighted the Daily Fail’s talk of the enemy within – where the Lib Dems were top of the list. Populists do what they can to delegitimise anything that gets in their way.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured, scottish liberal club and vince cable | 15 Comments

The shameless Lib Dem Press Office Easter Egg grab

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th April 2017 - 9:14 am

As Theresa May went all Donald Trump on us by playing up to traditional Tory supporters and focusing on an irrelevant and inaccurate news report about Easter eggs to distract us from the general chaos of her Government, The Liberal Democrat Press Office quietly went about providing commentary on the actual big issues of the day.

Our press team highlighted contradictory remarks by Philip Hammond and Boris Johnson. Boris was doing his best “It’ll be fine if we don’t get a brexit deal” in Germany, while Hammond said that we needed one to protect our economy in India. Tim Farron commented:

This Government is in utter chaos over Brexit. Philip Hammond says one thing in India, then is immediately contradicted by Boris Johnson in Germany.

It seems it’s not just some in the Chancellor’s own party who don’t want a deal on Brexit – it’s some in his own cabinet.

Theresa May should clarify whether she still believes that no deal is better than a bad deal, and if she agrees with her Chancellor of her Foreign Secretary.

The Brexiteers need to drop the bluster and bravado and admit that crashing out of the EU without a deal would be a disaster for our economy.

Tom Brake reminded us of the failings of the Philippines leader as Liam Fox was about to pay a visit:

Duterte is one of the 21st century’s most sinister leaders and Liam Fox has flown halfway around the world to grovel to him. The fact that the first visit made by Fox since triggering Article 50 is to the Philippines shows just how low this government is willing to stoop in order to secure even a minimal trade deal in the future.

According to UK trade statistics, the value of our exports to the Philippines are just £500 million a year- to put this into context our total international trade is currently over £28 billion a month.

So not only is Fox blind to the horrific human rights abuses and endemic corruption in the Philippines, he’s also clearly oblivious to the actual realities of doing trade with them.

No amount of pandering to corrupt regimes can replace our membership of the Single Market, which is why the Liberal Democrats will continue to fight against the hard, divisive Brexit this government is pursuing.

If, like me, you’ve noticed that things seem to cost more when you do your food shopping, you’d be right. Prices in supermarkets have gone up by 2.3% in the last three months according to research. Susan Kramer said:

Shoppers are feeling the Brexit squeeze, with prices rising while real wages continue to fall.

This is only set to get worse as the Government continues with its reckless plans to damage our economy by pulling Britain out of the Single Market.

It’s not too late to stop a hard Brexit and prevent a long-term squeeze to people’s living standards.

The British people must be given the final say over what comes next. They can choose to keep Britain in the Single Market, and if they want, to remain in the European Union.

This was just a fraction of their output on the serious stuff yesterday.

However, they couldn’t resist a wee foray into Egg-gate. They are human, after all. How many egg analogies can you get into one press release? I was slightly disappointed that they didn’t get hard-boiled in there, given that that’s what we traditionally do with them at Easter, but I did smile.

Posted in News | Tagged easter and easter eggs | 6 Comments

Lib Dems could gain 100 seats at local elections: Rallings and Thrasher

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd April 2017 - 9:45 pm

Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher have predicted that the Liberal Democrats could gain 100 seats in the County Council election, twice as many as the Tories are predicted to gain. They also say that Labour will lose 50 seats and UKIP 100.

From the Sunday Times (£):

Thrasher and Rallings predict that Ukip’s vote will collapse from 22% to 10% — and that the Tory vote will rise five points to 31%.

Rallings said: “The Tories will benefit from Ukip’s decline, but could themselves lose seats to the Lib Dems.

“The Lib Dems will be looking to take seats from both Tories and Labour as they claw their way back from the humiliation of the 2015 general election. In local elections they benefit from an ability to mobilise support on the ground.”

The last time those seats were fought, we lost 124, so even that sort of spectacular rise wouldn’t take us back to where we are in 2009.

Posted in News | Tagged local elections 2017 | 20 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #475

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd April 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 475th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (26 March – 1 April, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

The Liberal Democrat Activist, the UKIP MEP and the boxing ring

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 1st April 2017 - 2:49 pm

When I first read this, I was sure it was an April Fool, but apparently not.

I had never heard of “chessboxing” before. Apparently it’s alternate rounds of boxing and chess. Yes, you read that right. Two more incongruous pastimes you couldn’t imagine – although both require a capacity for strategic thought.

Tonight, according to Politico, in London, Lib Dem activist and experienced chess-boxer will take on Jonathan Arnott, UKIP MEP in a chessboxing match. It is the first time Arnott has ever been in a boxing ring.

We looked into this a bit further and discovered that the event is being run to raise money for the Ally Cadence Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. This was set up after Ally died at the age of just 6 months, 12 days after she was diagnosed with this condition. Toby White has set up a JustGiving page for the event tonight. Here’s what he has to say about it:

Posted in News | Tagged chess boxing and toby white | 2 Comments

The best of today’s fake news

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 1st April 2017 - 12:00 pm

We hope you enjoyed our little bit of April 1 fun – although from the comments it seems that some took it seriously. Anyone want to have a guess as to which member of the team came up with this? I got it wrong when I read it for the first time. I then asked the rest of the team and got a variety of answers – but with two main suspects. The author has, since I first wrote this, revealed themselves on Facebook – so if you’ve seen that, don’t spoil it.

Sadly, it doesn’t seem that the Government’s Brexit strategy was a slow-burning April Fool after all.

Here are some delights of the day that I’ve found. Feel free to add any others that tickled your fancy in the comments.

First up, I always knew that Neil Fawcett was a rascal, but how dare he seek to deprive us of the gently soothing rhythm of the risograph producing our leaflets.

Secondly, Mark Pack is very good at challenging our core assumptions. He suggests here that we may be about to campaign FOR potholes.

Iceland Foods are now doing frozen flowers, apparently:

And Aldi Scotland has health and safety in mind.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged april fool and humour | 13 Comments

Three things to note on the Transgender Day of Visibility

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 31st March 2017 - 9:58 pm

Today is the annual Transgender Day of Visibility, a day when we are asked to take the time to learn and understand about transgender people’s lived experiences, where we celebrate our transgender and non binary friends and think about what we can do over the next year to make their lives easier.

If you just take a look at the #TDOV hashtag on Twitter, there is so much you can learn from people sharing their experiences. I want to point out just three of the day’s highlights.

Two of them involve Liberal Democrats. First is the amazing Maria Munir. It’s almost a year since they came out as non binary to President Obama, a year in which they have done so much to raise the profile of non binary people and work for greater understanding and acceptance. Today they were on LBC talking about HSBC’s decision to introduce ten gender neutral titles. Stuart, who leads HSBC’s Pride network explains how difficult it was for him when he transitioned.

To celebrate #TDOV17, we’re pleased to announce we now offer ten gender neutral titles. pic.twitter.com/59YfMPmV0D

— HSBC UK (@HSBC_UK) March 31, 2017

If you are looking for resources to help you understand about the lived experience of transgender people and the issues they face, the Scottish Trans Alliance has some really good suggestions .

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged transgender day of visibility | 1 Comment

A whole load of love for the Lib Dem Press Office

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 31st March 2017 - 1:35 pm

Well. We knew that the Lib Dem Press Office could raise a smile with its constant sass. Last year the Huffington Post cited 17 occasions when it was the most entertaining thing in British politics.

But last night, something extraordinary happened. Serious journalists heaped praise on our little press operation.

It started with a tweet from Sam Coates of the Times:

This. Every Lab MP should read this & be embarrassed. The Lib Dems do vg rebuttal, quotes and opposition research… pic.twitter.com/Ts9OiXewPY

— Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) March 30, 2017

… while Labour aren't on the pitch. They aren't pitching opposition stories, bothered about getting into papers, or pushing message

— Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) March 30, 2017

Lib Dems provide material at speed, they are creative, know their way around government, and work hard. From where I sit Lab minimal effort

— Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) March 30, 2017

Not only that, but a whole five serious, reputable journalists then pitched in to agree!

Posted in News | Tagged brexit, featured, lib dem press office and tim farron | 16 Comments

Liberal Democrat membership tops 87000

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 30th March 2017 - 1:50 pm

Elaine Ford and Willie Rennie

Good news from party HQ. It’s barely 3 weeks since our membership reached 85,002, double our low point during the coalition years. Now, it’s shot up again and has just gone over 87,000. While we have had 5000 new member since the beginning of February, Labour’s membership, according to LabourList, is falling at the rate of almost 3000 members every week at the moment.

Party President Sal Brinton welcomed the news.

The clear message to this Government is we have not given up the fight against a hard Brexit, and thousands of people across the country agree with us.

This is not the time for despair, it’s the time for action.

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour may have given Theresa May a blank cheque to pursue her divisive Hard Brexit.

But the Liberal Democrats will not stand by and watch as this country is torn out of the Single Market and young people are left with a future they did not vote for.

We are the natural home for all those who oppose a hard Brexit and believe the people must be given the final over what comes next.

Posted in News | 5 Comments

Blue Wednesday

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th March 2017 - 9:52 am

So, the day has arrived. I’m wearing blue, as Roger Roberts suggested, for 3 reasons. As the Government carries out the worst assault on our children’s future I have seen in my lifetime, I’m doing this for three reasons. Out of sadness at what today means for our future, out of pride in the EU’s values of peace and collaboration – and out of defiance. I will not stand by why the Government destroys our country. I will take every opportunity for peaceful resistance as this incompetent and reckless government puts us all in harm’s way.

I will not stand by while the Government refuses to give us a say on the final outcome of the Brexit negotiations. What sort of democracy is that? People voted to take back control, not hand all power to ideological brexiteers who do all they can to avoid checks and scrutiny. Who would you rather had the final say on your future? You, or Theresa and her trio of Brexiteers?

That Theresa May has the nerve to suggest that the country should come together behind her shows how out of touch and comfortable with power her Government is. It’s that old saying about power corrupting. With a Labour Party missing in action, waving its demands as the Brexit horse bolts down the road, May thinks she can do what she likes. She has made no attempt to build any bridges whatever with the almost half of us who voted Remain.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged article 50, brexit, featured and nick clegg | 13 Comments

Game on in Gorton – By-election on 4th May

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 28th March 2017 - 9:12 pm

It was never going to be any other day, but the writ for the Manchester Gorton by-eleciton has now been moved and the poll will take place on 4th May.

Lib Dem candidate Jackie Pearcey had this to say on Twitter:

Not exactly a secret BUT Byelection will take place on Thursday, May 4th. We've been at it for weeks though and ready to beat Labour!

— Jackie4MP (@JackieP4MP) March 28, 2017

Tim Farron sent members an email asking them for money to boost Jackie’s campaign. He said:

We’ve already been hard at work for weeks, and we now have another 36 days to pull off something incredible.

In contrast, Labour has only just selected its candidate. George Galloway cancelled an event in Paisley last weekend due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Presumably that meant he was in the constituency over the weekend. I am sure we are all waiting to see Jackie take him on at hustings.

4th May is going to be a tad busy, shall we say. As well as the by-election, there is a council by-eelction in a ward in the constituency and the Greater Manchester mayoral election.

Want to get involved in the campaign?

Posted in News | Tagged by-elections, jackie pearcey and manchester gorton | 5 Comments

On Article 50 Eve, what are senior Liberal Democrats saying?

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 28th March 2017 - 8:15 pm

Who’s Eve, I hear you ask? Well, for me, as an ardent pro EU supporter, tonight feels a bit like Christmas Eve when you know that somehow you have found your way on to the Naughty List and all that’s going to be in your stocking in the morning is a lump of coal.

For those Leave voters who were duped into thinking that everything was going to be hunky dory if we could just get rid of that pesky EU, the reality may well prove far worse than that.

One thing is for sure. The Brexiteers will be held rigorously to account by the one party which has opposed them from the start – us.

Labour’s six tests unveiled on Sunday were, to paraphrase the old Commodores song, too much, too little, too late to ever trust them again. Their best chance of success would have been to support the Liberal Democrats’ bid to add a parachute to the Article 50 Bill, but they chose not to do so. They will not be easily forgiven.

Tomorrow is a very big day. It’s much more than the delivery of a letter. It’s the first step on a perilous journey, driven by people who haven’t got a clue what they are doing. The Government approaches the negotiations in such a mean-spirited, graceless fug of self-righteousness. I have rarely had such little confidence in any group of people as I do in them.

Ahead of Article 50 being invoked tomorrow, Tim Farron had this to say:

Theresa May is about to take the plunge on the biggest decision to hit the UK in modern times.

She is pulling the trigger that will set in motion a chain of events which will change this country forever, and doing so without a proper plan, without a proper team of negotiators and without proper protections for millions of people who have been left in the lurch.

It is still possible for the British people to stop a Hard Brexit and keep us in the Single Market. And if they want, it is still possible for the British people to decide to remain in the European Union.

Democracy didn’t end on 23^rd of June – and it hasn’t ended today either. Only the Liberal Democrats are fighting to make sure the people can have their say over what comes next.

There are some serious worries out there that the Government, rather than face up to its own shortcomings, will flounce off from the negotiations towards the end of this year, saying that the EU is being so intransigent that there’s no point sticking with it and we’re just leaving with no deal. Nick Clegg has set out why that is a bad idea on the Liberal Democrats’ website. Here’s a couple of examples:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brexit, nick clegg, roger roberts and tim farron | 9 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #474

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 26th March 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 474th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (19-25 March, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

The best march banner ever…..#righttostay

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 25th March 2017 - 9:30 pm

Well, I think so.

A great way of illustrating that the Lib Dems are standing up for EU nationals’ right to stay in this country:

Huge applause to the amazing Lisa Maria Bornemann and Adam Bernard from Harrow Lib Dems for coming up with this.

Posted in News | Tagged adam bernard, brexit, featured, harrow liberal democrats, lisa maria bornemann and right to stay | 3 Comments

WATCH: Farron, Clegg and Cole-Hamilton’s messages of EU defiance

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 25th March 2017 - 8:03 pm

Today, Tim Farron, Nick Clegg and Alex Cole-Hamilton have done us proud. Their passionate messages of defiance were very different. Clegg’s anger, Farron’s optimism and Cole-Hamilton’s emotion were exactly what we need right now.

Here are their speeches. Sit back, enjoy, and tomorrow get out there and help them by persuading others to oppose the stark, extreme Brexit that will hurt so many people.

Farron said that the future has not been written yet and we can change the country’s course:

Nick’s focus was young people and holding this awful government to account:

And Alex told Theresa what she’d have to do to deprive him of his EU citizenship:

Posted in News | Tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, brexit, featured, nick clegg and tim farron | 13 Comments

Op-eds

Mathew on Monday: Prime Minister, it’s time to restore our freedom to move across Europe (Mathew Hulbert)
London’s football pitch crisis is freezing out disabled children. We must stop treating inclusion as a charity luxury (Jean-François Burford)
Is kindness what we stand for? (Josh Matthews)
Don’t take Democracy for granted (Lord William Wallace)
Britain’s gas gamble: Why Jackdaw is a bad bet for our energy future (Mark Hofman)

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