Author Archives: Former Organiser

Opinion: What is with the Lib Dem love affair with leaflets?

By Former Organiser | Tue 29th October 2013 - 10:43 am

FocusI’ve been thinking about this for a while, and am convinced that I am the only Liberal Democrat to feel this way.  Nonetheless, I have to share my feelings with a group of people that will understand, perhaps in the declining, yet desperate hope that I will find someone else who feels this way.  Therefore, I must ask exactly what is with the Liberal Democrat love affair with leaflets?

I haven’t always hated the things.  I remember happily putting yellow leaflets through doors as a 4 year old with my parents, but since growing up I’ve developed an intense hatred of the things.  From printing them, to pulling paper out of a jammed Riso, then folding them, and finally delivering them in the mist, and rain.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 43 Comments

Opinion: why I’m still a Liberal Democrat…

By Former Organiser | Fri 5th April 2013 - 3:10 pm

I’ve been a Liberal Democrat supporter as long as I can remember. My parents were involved with the party, and often shared their political views with my sister and I when we were children. Therefore, I suppose it is no surprise that I actively support the party today.

However, I have to confess that since the Coalition agreement, and the abandonment of the tuition fees promise, I have occasionally wondered why I continue to support the party. A little doubt was creeping into my mind. I never supported the tuition fee policy, but was a little disappointed that some MPs …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 11 Comments

Opinion: For the sake of democracy, we need to be civil online

By Former Organiser | Mon 21st January 2013 - 1:23 pm

Twitter logoSome of the world’s best-known politicians have messed up on Twitter.

…From the Labour whip who called the Tory opposition “pigs”, to the American Republican politician Jeff Frederick who prematurely tweeted about a Democrat defection, and the Hull councillor who called members of the electorate voting for the opposition ‘retards’.

Therefore, it was hardly surprising when Lib Dem favourite Sir Graham Watson made his first Twitter blunder, tweeting something potentially ill-judged on Wednesday night. A popular MEP winning 80% of first-preference votes in the last Euro selections, opponents jumped on the error, and …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 6 Comments

Opinion: Are Nick Clegg’s emails to members too little, too late?

By Former Organiser | Tue 20th November 2012 - 2:26 pm

Nick Clegg has started sending weekly emails to my inbox.  As I research political communication, I was interested to see that Clegg and his team had taken a new approach to the mass membership email.

I recently carried out a large survey of Liberal Democrat members. Oddly, a large proportion of respondents commented that they weren’t too keen on the emails from Party HQ.  I was initially puzzled as much of the research in this area suggests that emails are an effective way of building up a relationship, and encouraging activists to do more.  The common view suggested that they were

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 27 Comments

Opinion: Work-fare or work fair? Why I shan’t be shopping at Tesco

By Former Organiser | Wed 22nd February 2012 - 6:56 pm

It seems that Tesco finally bowed to public pressure and is no longer expecting the jobless to line-up and provide them with four weeks of unpaid labour. Whilst I was pleased to read this, it was too little, too late for me. Do Tesco expect us to be pleased that they’re finally offering to pay people in return for their hard work?

This has taught us an awful lot about Tesco’s ethical beliefs. The company was happy to accept unpaid labour before the public knew about it, but as soon as they started receiving negative press coverage, they brought the scheme …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 54 Comments

Opinion: Time to give inheritance tax the chop

By Former Organiser | Tue 23rd August 2011 - 1:53 pm

Whilst on my weekly perusal of Lib Dem Voice I spotted an interesting article by my lovely colleague Stuart Bonar. He was discussing inheritance tax; an issue that I hope will not affect me for a while, but nonetheless, an important one to many of us. I was initially inclined to agree with Stuart’s view that individuals should be taxed on these ‘wind-falls’ but then I got thinking…

Inheritance tax used to be a tax on the rich, something not relevant to most of us. But it’s now a tax paid by many, as house and asset prices have risen to extraordinary levels; many being valued at over £325 000, which is the threshold for this tax. However, I do wonder whether many of the rich, the original subjects of this tax, pay it, as they can afford expensive and skilled accountants or leave the country to escape this payment, something that I and many others cannot do.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 105 Comments
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Recent Comments

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    Universal basic income has been a fundamental tenet of Liberalism since the eighteenth century when Thomas Paine advocated for a land value tax that paid...
  • User AvatarPeter Martin 9th Jul - 8:22pm
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  • User AvatarMerlene Emerson 9th Jul - 8:04pm
    Thanks for this write-up, Paul, which is fairly comprehensive. I would just like to add that there is another organisation, Libdems Overseas, a g(local) party...
  • User AvatarJoseph Bourke 9th Jul - 8:02pm
    Innocent Bystander, The post-war Beveridge vision was for a system of social security based on Universal benefits and services. Beveridge wrote: wrote: "The State should...
  • User AvatarMartin 9th Jul - 7:55pm
    William: 'The New Social Contract' is a term that alarms me, as is the concept of 'citizens' and 'non-citizens'. J.S. Mill wrote "Though society is...
  • User AvatarAndrew T 9th Jul - 7:48pm
    Not a fan of this concept of nationalist liberalism.