Author Archives: Jenni Hollis

Jenni Hollis

Sangria in Spain: An ode to #Remain

By Jenni Hollis | Tue 7th June 2016 - 10:52 am

Austrian ParliamentOver the last few weeks I’ve seen some impassioned and considered blog posts outlining so eloquently why the respective authors want to remain in the EU. I must admit, I panicked. How could I make my own contribution to the debate in the last few weeks stand out from the rest?
Yesterday evening, it struck me. Something that hasn’t (to my knowledge) been done before… An A-Z ‘Remain’ poem and general ode to the EU! You saw it here first. Enjoy….

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Posted in Poetry | 6 Comments
Jenni Hollis

Yes to countering extremism, no to the Counter-Extremism Bill

By Jenni Hollis | Thu 1st October 2015 - 12:56 pm

The Conservatives are set to announce further details about their Counter-Extremism Bill over the course of their party conference.

Countering Islamist extremism is crucial, to protect both those who are vulnerable to radicalisation and those who could be harmed by a terrorist attack. I don’t want to see another child lured from the UK to join ISIS – nor do I want to see people killed and families torn apart by such reckless hatred and extremist violence.

It is quite right for the UK Government to take action. But while the country needs a counter-extremism strategy, the Conservative’s proposed approach should provoke concern among liberals – and I think the Liberal Democrats should push for an alternative approach.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 21 Comments
Jenni Hollis

Why I am standing in the Haringey by-election

By Jenni Hollis | Fri 14th August 2015 - 4:55 pm

Libby - Some rghts reserved by David SpenderTwo council by-elections have just been called in the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency. And – I’m pleased to say – I’ve been selected as the candidate for one of them.

It’s not the first time I’ve been involved in a Lib Dem campaign. I stood as a London target ward candidate in 2014, and then I ran Lynne Featherstone’s General Election campaign. Since then, I’ve helped Tim’s leadership campaign.

Now, I’m ready to take on this one. Here’s why.

Firstly, both wards are currently represented by a Labour-run Council and a Labour MP.

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged | 6 Comments
Jenni Hollis

Opinion: Why standing out from the crowd could be the key to success

By Jenni Hollis | Tue 14th July 2015 - 10:41 am

It would be wrong to abandon every campaigning technique used in the 2015 general election. Despite the result, some constituencies saw unprecedented levels or door knocking, innovative new literature items and original online campaigning techniques. In seats like Hornsey and Wood Green – retaining 32% of the vote when the national average was 8% meant we were doing something right.

But the party also has to think about what it lacked – and how we could do things differently to improve our share of the vote in upcoming elections.

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Posted in Op-eds | 20 Comments
Jenni Hollis

Opinion: Performance v Effectiveness: How the Lib Dems can (and must) fight smart

By Jenni Hollis | Wed 24th June 2015 - 8:55 am

In the run up to the election, I sent numerous emails to activists in Hornsey and Wood Green, congratulating them for hitting ‘green’ in all our HQ-monitored key performance indicators (KPIs).

We were model pupils. Bar membership, I think we hit green every month, on every indicator.

And it’s no wonder. We worked so hard – and the campaign was the biggest that Hornsey had ever seen: in terms of numbers of activists on the ground, number of doors knocked on, and pieces of literature produced and delivered.

We were more organised and more targeted in our approach than ever before. We couldn’t have worked harder.

In fact, the one thing that didn’t hit ‘green’ was the only thing that really mattered – the result. That was a big fat (-10,000) red.

This pattern was true of many other seats – and as a local campaign manager, I’ve put a lot of thought into why this happened.

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 53 Comments
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