I’ve been away for the past fortnight, mostly riding on trains, occasionally walking around small, but interesting, towns, many a bit off of the beaten path. This rather lovely piece of local government architecture is Tartu Town Hall, which has a carillon in its bell tower. if you’re in the area, I recommend dropping by.
What that meant is that I missed our reinstated local elections here in Suffolk, unlike so many of you out there across the country. Were the results good ones for the Liberal Democrats? Well, after my esteemed colleague, Caron Lindsay, offered us her streams of consciousness over the weekend – and well done, Caron, on preserving our deposit in Almond Valley! – we’ve been inundated with views from a wide range of members and activists across the country. How to deal with Reform, how to deal with the Greens, why we need to be more radical, more pro-European, more… well, you get the picture, I suspect.
David Vigar will kick us off with some thoughts on how to deal with the threat from Reform, and there’s no doubt that we did lose seats to Reform in some places, and that they denied us wards we thought we would win or hold. Shaun Ennis, from Trafford, has some thoughts of the impact of party strategy on campaigners in the North of England (and I define the word “north” more liberally than Shaun might do).
We have another first time contributor, the Chair of London Young Liberals, Johan Prinsloo, who has some ideas about national messaging and how it did, or didn’t help local campaigners, whilst Gareth McAleer, looking at the impact of the success of nationalists in both Scotland and Wales, wonders aloud about the threat to a United Kingdom. And, of course, we’ll have Mathew Hulbert back, and I’m sure that he’ll have some views about the campaign, particularly with a Midlands focus, I suspect.
The Lords are back, sort of, on Wednesday for the Kings Speech, and we’ll be looking forward to that during the afternoon. Yet again, I don’t get to wear a frock, and the tiara stays in its box, but I’m sure that I’ll cope somehow.
So, I ought to declare an interest as a former member of the Party’s Federal International Relations Committee, and a member of the Liberal Democrat European Group on and off over the years. You might therefore imagine that I’d be pleased that Ed Davey is finally talking about our future as a member of the European Union. I’d put it more as relieved, though, as it’s been an open door that we’ve rather shied away from in recent years.
Fortunately, it’s not the hope that will kill you, especially in the upper chamber, but there is a high degree of uncertainty in terms of the week ahead.
It’s coming to that time when nobody wants to leave anything to chance, when the pressure is on. Yes, I’m talking about the end of the football season, with titles, promotion and relegation still to be decided.
I’ve been doing European politics with the Liberal Democrats on and off since 1989, long enough to know that it’s always worth waiting a little before declaring that a change of government is good news or not. Indeed, I’ve been around so long that I remember when FIDESZ were a welcome part of the liberal family – and Viktor Orban was its leader in those days too.
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In which my great great grandmother's brother stuffs a ptarmigan
Replacement?
Reform inadvertently lose their majority
Reform own goals
Peter Martin 
Roland 
Tristan Ward 
Nonconformistradical 