Author Archives: Grace Goodlad

Opinion: So who are those Rock the Boat people?

Rock the Boat logoEleven months ago the Liberal Democrat world was tipped on its axis when Channel 4 broadcast reports from women making serious allegations of sexual harassment against one of the Party’s most senior, loved and respected figures.  As the sorry tale unfolded it was clear that the party had failed to deal with the complaints they had made and had failed to let anyone involved in the terrible situation get justice. It became clear that we, as an organisation, had a cultural problem and no idea of how to get our house in order.

As one would expect – if you know Lib Dems at all – the grassroots spoke, and James Shaddock set up a Facebook group called “Rock the Boat.” It grew rapidly and now has over 400 Liberal Democrat members.  The idea was that sometimes you have to say or do uncomfortable things to stop sexual harassment – whether that is to speak out about your own experiences, write policy motions, tell your friends if you think they are behaving inappropriately, or even reflect on your own actions and behaviours and perhaps change them after some soul searching and analysis. Sadly, eleven months ago it became quite obvious that when people had spoken up on sexual harassment, they had been told “Don’t Rock the Boat” – hence the name.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Alex Macfie
    Regardless of the exact degree of human involvement driving a DLR train, there is a fundamental difference between rail tracks and public roads. Trains run to s...
  • Chloe
    It's not a conductor - it's a fully qualified driver on every DLR train. Driverless it most definitely isn't....
  • Roland
    @Chloe - "Let’s get away from the myth of DLR driverless trains.." Too many years ago I designed computer systems for mass transport systems, the DLR being o...
  • Nonconformistradical
    Quoting from Alex Macfie 3rd Oct '26 - 9:50am "Driverless cars are the ultimate example of this. What if the system breaks down and the passenger is stranded...
  • Joey Vimsante
    I support devolution over changes to the voting system. I support the National devolution for Scotland and Wales. And also devolved regions for England. I t...