Author Archives: Charlotte Henry

Charlotte Henry

Opinion: Liberal Democrats should welcome Michael Gove’s proposals for the ICT curriculum

By Charlotte Henry | Fri 13th January 2012 - 11:15 am

Earlier this week, Michael Gove announced that the ICT curriculum in schools will undergo a revolution, with a new emphasis on programming. Some announcements from the Education Secretary have prompted anguished discussion within out party (what other kind do we have?!) but this is a move by him that we should welcome warmly.

For one of the most exciting, creative, and essential parts of our curriculum, the way we deal with IT in schools is outrageously tedious and uninspiring. Gove hit the nail on the head when he spoke of pupils “bored out of their minds being taught …

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

Project: Lib Dems coming together, to make politics better

By Charlotte Henry | Thu 15th September 2011 - 2:23 pm

Everyone in politics likes to talk about change, none more so than the Lib Dems (who can forget that fabulous piece of election music…) but do we really practise what we preach? In areas such as diversity, campaigning, and our overall political role, we are frequently found to be behind the times. Our party can still say one thing at one end of a road, and another thing at the other end. Shamefully, we also still have woefully few female MPs, and not a single BME MP.

It’s all well and good discussing our failings, but it is much more …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
Charlotte Henry

Opinion: Nick Clegg and the next parliamentary term

By Charlotte Henry | Fri 29th July 2011 - 11:54 am

It’s summer holiday time at the moment for MPs, a time to reflect on what has been achieved this parliamentary term, and what can be achieved in the next parliamentary term. For Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats, the answer to these questions could have a profound effect on the future of our party.

Clegg showed strong, considered leadership over phonehacking, and must use this position of strength (and David Cameron’s relative weakness,) to influence even more policy than is currently happening. Key to this of course will be the economy. Slow, steady, growth figures will not be enough for us …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 34 Comments
Charlotte Henry

Opinion: this time last year…

By Charlotte Henry | Sat 16th April 2011 - 4:11 pm

This time last year…

…the Liberal Democrats were storming up the polls.

Nick Clegg was more popular than Churchill, and Gordon and Dave were regretting ever agreeing to those pesky TV debates.

Our party leader could describe the Iraq war as ‘illegal’ without causing mass panic amongst Downing Street lawyers.

This time last year we were asking people to put us into government.

This year?

This year the Lib Dems jumped into bed with Conservatives.

This year the Lib Dems sold out on tuition fees.

This year the party become ‘just like the others’.

Really? It’s always worth …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Charlotte Henry

Opinion: Young Liberal Democrats – Life After the ‘F’ Word

By Charlotte Henry | Sat 12th February 2011 - 7:24 pm

The last year has obviously been a rather interesting one in which to be a Liberal Democrat, particularly a young one. Sadly, as a result of some coalition decisions, notably the increase in tuition fees, some young people have chosen to leave the party. More worrying are the people that may now never join. I have always believed that the Liberal Democrats are the party that best advocates policy for young people. However, the question remains, how do we engage more young people in our party after fees?

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 29 Comments
Charlotte Henry

Opinion: General Election 1.5 – 2010, the almost Internet Election

By Charlotte Henry | Thu 1st July 2010 - 11:20 am

As a Lib Dem working in online and multimedia communications, the concept of an ‘Internet election’ is something I have thought quite a lot about. In the build up to the election I expressed my concerns about the Lib Dems use of online tools on my own blog.

I am pleased to say that on a national level my fears were misplaced. Our online campaign was excellent, and by far the best of the three major parties.  In particular the Labservative spoof campaign was innovative, eye catching, and added a new entry to the politco dictionary. It was exactly the …

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Posted in Online politics and Op-eds | Tagged | 6 Comments
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