Category Archives: Op-eds

Is David Cameron mixing up cause and effect?

David CameronParents should take lessons in how to control children – PM” – runs the main headline in the Observer this morning.

Expansion of parenting classes is certainly something to be welcomed. When I was first a parent, I thought it was very strange that parents were offered classes on breathing techniques during pregnancy and pelvic floor exercises, plus inspection of changing areas and bottle procedures after birth, but not a word of guidance after that, until primary school “parent/school agreements”.

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So why exactly did Alex Salmond miss Any Questions?

A bit of intrigue never goes amiss on a Saturday afternoon.

Last night, Alex Salmond missed Any Questions because, according to Jonathan Dimbleby at 1 minute 50 in: “apparently been held up in Scotland by the floods.” Certainly his Gordon constituency has been badly affected by some awful flooding in the north east of Scotland. In fact, Lib Dem MSP for North East Scotland Alison McInnes has been scathing about the SNP Government’s slow response, saying:

Here in the north-east local agencies have faced a prolonged battle against the rising water and staff and residents are exhausted. I do worry we haven’t seen the last of the bad weather but everyone has rallied together to support one another and the examples of community spirit have been heartening to see at such a difficult time.

Lessons need to be learnt on what’s happened in Scotland since the start of 2016 because I still think this response took place at a snail’s pace. The Scottish Government cannot keep forgetting that its responsibility is to the whole of Scotland, not just the central belt.

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Lessons from history: What Bush and Reagan could teach some UK politicians about their attitude towards economic migration

Way back in 1980, as Ronald Reagan and George Bush were battling it out for the Republican nomination, they were asked whether the children of Mexicans working illegally in the US should be able to get educated. Their answer, posted on the Houston Chronicle’s Facebook page, might surprise you. Today’s politicians and tabloid editors might learn something.

Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush debate Mexican border security…

What would Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush say about immigration and securing the Mexican border today?Well, here's what they said about it in 1980 during a GOP debate in Houston.(Archival video from Getty Images)

Posted by Houston Chronicle on Tuesday, 5 January 2016

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Saturday humour: Who is best at reading mean tweets about themselves?

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Welsh Liberal Democrats slam Cardiff Central Labour MP’s hypocrisy over new front bench role

The farce surrounding Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle continues. It’s not just that it took him 34 hours to shift 3 ministers, or that there have been as many resignations in protest as there were front bench displacements, or that even after four days (after two weeks of press briefings) it’s still not over, or that the people who were sacked have led the story. Truly, it is the reshuffle that ate itself.

A few of us were joking on Twitter this morning about when we were going to get offered jobs. There are still several hundred thousand Labour members to get through, of course.

The whole thing has created as many problems as it’s solved. Corbyn’s team look like they couldn’t run a bath let alone a country. Hilary Benn’s resignation at a time of his choosing, on principle, seems like a headline waiting to happen. Even Armando Iannucci probably couldn’t make it up.

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Moving exams in Ramadan “sensible and inclusive” says Farron

Tim Farron has reacted to the needless controversy surrounding the decision by exam boards to move certain popular exams so that they take place before Ramadan with a perfectly sensible, liberal statement:

The idea that this is an attack on British values is ridiculous and depressing. Rather than seeking to divide people by their faith, we should see this sensible move as an opportunity for inclusion and understanding.

 This is a simple rescheduling of some school exams, recognising that a number of students will be observing Ramadan. As a person of faith myself I think it is entirely reasonable and decent to consider such things when planning exam dates.

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Two Liberal Democrat interventions on Freedom of Information (and what Tim said about Alex Carlile)

Leading Liberal Democrats have made two recent interventions on freedom of information legislation.

Today, Alistair Carmichael called for all private contractors doing public work to also be subject to FOI requests and promised strong opposition to any attempts from the Conservatives to water down the FOI system.

The call comes amidst reports that ministers may extend FOI requests to charities. From the Press Gazette:

The Government is considering strengthening the ministerial veto on Freedom of Information disclosures but dropping other proposed changes to the act, according to a report in The Times.

It is also considering extending the act to cover charities and private sector companies which work on public sector projects, the paper reports.

The Goverment’s Independent Commission on Freedom of Information was set up to review the act last year in the wake a Supreme Court decision which over-rode a ministerial veto and ordered the disclosure of letters sent by Prince Charles to ministers.

The commission has faced a huge backlash from media groups, charities, trade unions and  civil society bodies because its consultation document suggested it was only looking at ways to reduce the “burden” which FoI places on the public sector.

Alistair Carmichael said:

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Baroness Celia Thomas writes…Derek Ezra 1919-2015

Liberal Democrat peer Derek Ezra died on 22 December 2015 at the age of 96. Celia Thomas remembers him.

Liberal Peers were absolutely delighted when Derek Ezra took the Liberal whip on becoming a Peer in 1983. He was one of the best known men in public life at the time, having been a well-respected Chairman of the Coal Board from 1972 to 1982. He had been a Liberal since university days, he told us, where he joined the Cambridge University Liberal Club in 1936. There he was a friend of Richard Wainwright, who was later to become the Liberal MP for Colne Valley.

A few years later, when war broke out, Derek became a gunner, rising eventually to the rank of Lt. Colonel; he later joined British Intelligence, where he was secretary of the Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee. After the war, he spent four years in Luxembourg as a member of the UK delegation to the European Coal and Steel Community where he worked with Jean Monnet, largely regarded as the founding father of the European Community. From that time on, Derek was a passionate, but not uncritical, supporter of the European Union.

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The EU referendum: a great opportunity for the Lib Dems

International Office_with textI am thrilled to announce that I have been appointed to manage our Party’s EU Referendum campaign!

With Britain’s future in Europe hanging in the balance, 2016 is a watershed year for this country. For Britain to remain an outward-looking, progressive and prosperous nation at the heart of the international community, we need to secure our future in Europe.

The Liberal Democrats are unique in being the only national party in the UK who are unequivocally in favour of remaining in Europe and have a long history of committed internationalism. This referendum is a challenge but also an opportunity for us to prove that liberalism and international are more important than ever before for Britain.

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Let us decide the fate of our open spaces

 

Across the UK, cash-hungry councils are selling off parks and open spaces to fill up their coffers.

We’re supposed to accept that in these times of diminishing government spending it’s necessary to sacrifice some niceties – but the loss of recreational green land that’s supposed to belong to us all is going too far.

To think that councils are using the funds from selling our parks to deliver services is optimistic at best. Land sale is capital. Services come out of the revenue budget.

Yet still it seems hard for the public to make a case that their parks should be saved. Councillors claiming to represent their constituents clearly feel that silent majorities outweigh the hundreds and even thousands who sign petitions, and perhaps they do. But something needs to change or we will never have a way to know for sure.

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What hope for liberalism in the US presidential election?

American history and politics are a passion of mine, so I always look forward to their primary season.

A year when the incumbent President is not seeking reelection is always especially interesting because it means both big parties engage fully in the lengthy process of selecting a candidate. 2016 is such a year.

American politics is unique and finding a viable candidate from what we would call the centre left is difficult. The Republicans have been an almost exclusively right wing conservative party for decades. Even those in the establishment who have resisted the insurgency of the so called tea party can be pretty scary.

Democrats too have shifted rightwards. Bill Clinton founded the ‘New Democrats’ before Blair’s New Labour and, inspite of all the talk of change, the Obama Presidency has turned out to be pretty much business as usual in most areas.On human rights and civil liberties in particular the administration varies little from its predecessors. The prison at Guantanamo Bay remains open and the draconian Patriot Act firmly in place.

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Willie Rennie on the four key Liberal Democrat values and the Lib Dem record of achievement

Willie Rennie put in a strong first day at work and set out the ideas on which the Scottish Liberal Democrats will fight the election in just 4 months’  time.

 

Willie Rennie values

He firstly intervened on the First Minister whose government promised to give 27% of 2 year olds nursery education. They’ve managed barely half that.

Before the First Minister moves on from education, new official Government figures show that only 7 per cent of two-year-olds are receiving nursery education. The First Minister’s promise was that 27 per cent would. How can she talk about a revolution in education and in childcare when she cannot even meet her timid plans?

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Nature conservation: a liberal legacy

2015 was a strange year for me, as it was a strange year for the party; an odd, jarring mixture of losses and new hopes. In my case, one especially sad loss was that of my grandfather, Ted Smith, a pioneer of nature conservation across the UK, and especially in his native Lincolnshire – and also a Liberal and Liberal Democrat since the 1930s (one of the last few times I saw him, I helped him fill out his ballot for last year’s leadership election). He was a kind, quiet man, relentless in his pursuit of good causes; but others now have to lift that flag, and as such I thought this might be a time to reflect on how we think about conservation as a party.

We know that the natural world is under threat, perhaps more so than ever given the threat of climate change, and we have been the party most committed to strong science-led efforts to tackle that threat. The green agenda, however, must not be simply reduced to a question of climate alone. We owe it to future generations to conserve and protect Britain’s biodiversity, green spaces and habitats.
Liberal Democrats have to take the lead on the politics of nature conservation. Firstly, we must because nobody else will do so effectively. The Tory agenda for rural areas is one for corporations and landowners, protecting vast mismanaged estates and failing to provide effective solutions to rural issues. Labour’s agenda for rural areas is all too frequently non-existent. We can do better, and we must.

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Five New Year’s resolutions for Liberal Democrats #5

Over the past few days, I’ve been suggesting some New Year’s Resolutions for Liberal Democrats to see us through 2016. Here’s number 5.

Pay attention to the Governance Review

There has been a group putting together proposals about the way our party is run. The last few years has given us many examples of where our disciplinary and other processes simply aren’t fit for purpose and it is difficult to see where  accountability lies. The Federal Executive will be drawing up a set of proposals for change. As an FE member, I do not want to see the power of members diminished or to see key decisions being exclusively taken by a small group of people, remote from members. We are a grassroots movement that believes in power being held at the lowest practical level and we need to live those values.

So, all I’m saying is keep an eye on what’s being proposed. If you are going to Spring Conference in York, come to the consultation session and if you aren’t, respond to the proposals with your comments. Above all, make sure your voice is heard. Constitutions may bore the hell out of you, but they set out where power is held. It’s important that we get that balance right.

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Flood protection or overseas aid? A false choice

Help UK
Over the festive period, I saw the image on the right on a social media site, stating, against a backdrop of flooded housing:

It’s time to STOP sending money abroad and help people in the UK now. LIKE, COMMENT or SHARE if you agree?

A comment under the image mentioned:

…the 250 million we are giving to India to fund their Space Programme.

Oh dear. Where to start? Call me an old pedant, but I’m naturally suspicious of any entreaty which feels the need to include block capitals. But that’s just one of my little foibles.

My mind boggled at the idea that we are giving “250 million” to India to fund their Space Programme. It took just a quick Google to see where that came from. Our old friend the Daily Mail had a remarkably thoroughly, if one-sidedly, researched article on 15th February 2015 which was headlined as follows:

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The liberal case for the need to champion social services

As has become obvious to anyone who has read a newspaper or watched a news channel over the past 5 years, the NHS is straining under the weight of demand. With accident and emergency departments swamped, critical staffing levels and insufficient number of beds the national health provider is struggling to provide the excellent level of care that it is famed for. Alongside this, within the social services sector a perfect storm of an aging population, increased numbers of people living with long-term conditions, squeezed local authority budgets, discrepancies between the fees paid by private clients and local councils, high staff turnover and increased overhead costs has meant that for both systems the current situation is completely unsustainable.

While the government has already committed to increased spending on the NHS by £10bn per year in real terms by 2020/21 social care falls under the budget of local services and so they will continue to wither on the vine. As mentioned in a previous article, ‘Why we should care about Care’ both services work hand-in-hand, and a true integration could see money saved, lives improved and pressure reduced on both the NHS and local councils and their social services. 

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Peter Black AM writes…A Welsh budget cast in partnership

The summer of 2014 was a particularly busy one. In addition to the usual constituency and regional based activities I was also engaged in a series of meetings with the Finance Minister and her officials in an effort to get a budget deal for the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

The history of these deals has been chequered during this fourth Assembly. Labour do not have a majority so they need the support of at least one other party to get their budget through. They will not deal with the Conservatives so that just leaves two other possible partners.

At first, the Labour Government had it made. They negotiated with both the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, and played one off against the other. In their first budget, they struck a deal with the Welsh Lib Dems and as a result, the pupil deprivation grant was born. In the second they did a deal with Plaid Cymru, who secured a two year investment in apprenticeships.

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Paddy: Tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia “a far greater danger” than ISIL

Paddy Ashdown has told the Independent that the growing tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the wake of the Saudi executions carried out over the weekend is “a far greater danger” than ISIL. He said that the UK Government should be robust about calling the Saudis out for their actions:

Lord Ashdown said Saudi Arabia’s sudden mass execution of prisoners – including the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and a number of young political protesters – may have been intended to derail the ongoing Syrian peace talks in Vienna.

These executions are deeply, deeply destabilising to the very delicate situation that exists in the Middle East and the danger of a wider Sunni and Shia conflict. The West, including the UK government, is only just realising the danger of this and its implications for long term peace in the region. It poses a far greater danger in the long term than, for example, Isil,” the former Lib Dem leader added.

The UK Government should be making it explicitly clear that it regards this act as extremely destabilising. These executions are shocking in human rights terms and reveal the real nature of the people with whom we are dealing. The UK’s stance underlines its deeply illogical position of ignoring the funding of jihadist groups, including Isil, which is coming from within Saudi Arabia.

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Five New Year’s Resolutions for 2016 #4

I’m suggesting five New Year’s resolutions for Liberal Democrats. Here, in very short and sweet from, is number 4.

Be very radical on diversity

We simply cannot go on with the embarrassment of our parliamentarians being as white and male as they are. It’s time to follow the example of Justin Trudeau and Nicola Sturgeon and Just Do It. It’s not just about processes, it’s about an unshakeable commitment to delivering diversity at every single level of the party from local party committees right up there that has to be driven by everyone in leadership positions. I think that measures like quotas, zipping and all women shortlists are an essential part of this. Others disagree, but if we don’t, we’ll still be having these discussions in 30 years time. At least now we know that the “but it has to be about merit” argument by opponents has been comprehensively debunked by the evidence. 

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Time to think about Spring Conferences

In the next 8 weeks, Liberal Democrat Spring conferences will be held. First up is the Welsh Conference on the weekend of 5-7 February in Cardiff. I suspect the motions deadline has already passed, but we will keep you up to date when the agenda is published. Lynne Featherstone will be a keynote speaker and the event will be an opportunity to showcase Welsh Lib Dems’ achievements and plans ahead of the Assembly elections in May.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats meet in Edinburgh from 26-27 February, half a day shorter than usual. There is still plenty time to submit a motion. If you have an idea for a change in policy, here are the timescales:

Deadlines for motions to conference are as follows:

Policy motions – 15 January at midday
Amendments – 24 February at midday
Topical issues – 25 February at 17.00
Emergency motions – 25 February and 26 February at 17.00

You need to get 25 members to agree your motion, or you can ask a local party or organisation like EMLD, LGBT+ Lib Dems, Scottish Lib Dem Women or Liberal Youth Scotland to submit it for you.

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Tim Farron says UK Government should challenge Saudis over executions and human rights

Tim Farron went on Sky News yesterday to describe the execution of 47 people in Saudi Arabia as both “morally wrong and politically foolish” and to criticise the UK Government for being too soft on the Saudis and not calling them out for their appalling human rights record.

I remember being very proud when one of the first big things Vince Cable did as acting leader back in 2007 was to boycott the state visit of the Saudi King. I was not so chuffed last year when there was a chorus of silence from Liberal Democrats when flags were flown at half mast following the death of the Saudi King.

So, it’s good to see Tim Farron slamming the Saudis for their actions and the UK Government for being too soft on them. I’m also interested that he made the point that the relationships between the two governments benefit the most powerful people in both countries but don’t do much for those who aren’t well off. Watch the whole thing here.

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A look back at 2015 and hopes for 2016

Wow! What a year 2015 was! It is staggering to think that just 12 short months ago we were in coalition. Now we have eight MPs. Despite that Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the Labour party, leaving us with a centre-left vacuum to move into.

Coalition was by no means perfect. The vast majority of members and voters can agree on that.  I believe tuition fees was a big mistake. It was wrong to go back on a key commitment in the manifesto. We most a lot of trust after that and we paid a heavy price in May. We lost 49 liberal democrat representatives in the Commons.

Another failure of coalition was communication. We were so busy showing that coalition worked we did not announce where we disagreed with the Tories. I think this was a key factor in the public feeling that we were “in bed with the Tories”. Progress was made on this but far too late. For the Chancellor’s final budget ministers produced an alternative Liberal Democrat budget. We should have been doing that for the whole government.

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UN tells Israel to stop taking Palestinian resources

In a little reported step on Tuesday 22 December, the United Nations General Assembly, citing the Fourth Geneva Convention, adopted a resolution demanding Palestinian sovereignty over natural resources under Israeli occupation and the UK actually voted in favour!

The Fourth Geneva Convention was adopted in 1949 following the Second World War and the forced migrations of many peoples that occurred during and immediately after it.    Article 49 of that 4th Geneva Convention clearly states: ““The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”   Israel ratified this Convention in 1951. In 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted a report from the Secretary-General and a Commission of Experts which concluded that the Geneva Conventions had passed into the body of customary international law, thus making them binding even on non-signatories to the Conventions whenever they engage in armed conflicts. 

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Liberal Democrat Voice Stars of 2015 Part 5

We wanted to honour those Liberal Democrats that our readers felt were true stars of 2015, which has been one of the toughest years in our party’s history. Over the past few days, we have sought out  nominations and now have a rather impressive list that we’ll be publishing in instalments during this week. Here is the fifth part. Their names come with the comments made about the contribution they have made. Some are parliamentarians, some are councillors, most are grassroots activists. Let’s celebrate them and the many others who are fighting fto keep that Liberal Democrat flame alive. These are our Liberal Democrat stars of 2015.

 James Baker and Mick Taylor from Calderdale

For going  above and beyond the call of duty for the party despite various health & personal difficulties.

Sheree Miller

For being our outstanding candidate in Boleyn Ward by-election, who got a thoroughly deserved second place. Just brilliant on the doorstep, talking to people, listening to their concerns. And a great chilli too.

Amy Stuart

As a representative of the influx of members post-election and for her inspirational speech at Conference Rally.

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Five New Year’s resolutions for Liberal Democrats #1

So, it’s the morning after the New Year parties. Everyone else in my house, including the dog, is sleeping off a fun evening of Monopoly in which the two teenagers comprehensively bankrupted the adults over some seven hours. I therefore have time to suggest a few New Year’s Resolutions for Liberal Democrats to see us through 2016.

Don’t let anyone put us in the corner

I don’t know about you, but I am done with caution and contrition. Sure, we were in government for a few years and we seriously screwed a few things up. You’d think we were the only party ever to make mistakes, but we also did a lot of good things for good, liberal reasons. It was our Deputy PM who insisted that a judge-led enquiry investigate phone hacking when the Tories wanted to sweep it under the carpet. It was our Business Minister who brought in shared parental leave. It was our schools minister who gave extra money to disadvantaged kids in school. It was our Climate Change Secretary who faced down the Tories and made sure money was put into renewable energies. It was our Health Minister who started the long job of reforming appallingly poor mental health services which left many without the treatment they needed. Whatever you might think of Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander, the Tories’ recent welfare proposals show exactly what they would have stopped. It took a while for Nick Clegg to come round to the idea that Theresa May’s Snooper’s Charter was ridiculous, but once he got there he stood firm, for years. Oh, and there’s the small matter of protecting human rights legislation, too.

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Tim Farron’s New Year Message: 2016 can be a year of hope and opportunity

The New Year is a time to look forward and it is as important for us as a party to set ourselves new goals and ambitions as it is as individuals.

I am determined that the Liberal Democrats face the new year with a new sense of purpose, a new drive and a sense of ambition.

David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn both lead parties that are fundamentally divided. Whether it is over Europe, like the Conservatives, or their leader, like Labour, both the government and the official opposition are at war with themselves.

This obsession with their own internal problems is bad for politics and bad for Britain.

For the Conservatives, David Cameron and George Osborne are more and more obsessed with appeasing their backbenchers, resulting in policies that are punishing people that are trying to provide for themselves and their families. To make things worse, they are taking a wrecking ball to public services, particularly local government.

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A New Year’s resolution: turning immigration from our weakness to our strength

January 1st 2013, I stepped on the scales. I had spent Christmas at my in-laws and they had 12 of us round for Christmas Day, so of course my mother did enough Christmas dinner for 36 people. Leftover food was in abundance. The untouched Turkey weighed more than my then 4-month-old son. I was having a full Christmas dinner for breakfast, lunch and tea (yes, “tea”, I’m Northern) from the 26th to that morning.

The scales hit 18 stone dead on. I was officially fatter than I had ever been before in my life. I decided enough was enough, my weight had bothered me too long. I made my first ever New Year’s resolution; “I’m going to get thin.” And I did. I started by eating a lot less food (just two Christmas dinners a day), and then I started exercising. I did those Insanity workout DVDs (they’re brutal, they really work). At my lightest I got myself down to 12 stone 3. I felt great. I felt like I looked great. I wasn’t embarrassed when trying to get ready. I wasn’t embarrassed when my appearance came up. I wasn’t just pretending to be confident anymore. I was confident. Everything felt better because of it. I made something that has always worried me, I worked on it and it felt amazing.

The Liberal Democrats need to do the same. As a Lib Dem who has spent a large portion of my life in Conservative-Labour marginals and with friends who live in areas of Manchester and Lancashire that are now UKIP facing Labour seats, what bothers me about us is our reputation on immigration.

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Liberal Democrat Voice Stars of 2015 Part 3

We wanted to honour those Liberal Democrats that our readers felt were true stars of 2015, which has been one of the toughest years in our party’s history. Over the past few days, we have sought out  nominations and now have a rather impressive list that we’ll be publishing in instalments during this week. Here is the third part. Their names come with the comments made about the contribution they have made. Some are parliamentarians, some are councillors, most are grassroots activists. Let’s celebrate them and the many others who are fighting fto keep that Liberal Democrat flame alive. These are our Liberal Democrat stars of 2015.

Everyone involved in making sure we had a full slate of candidates in parliamentary elections

I’d like to nominate as Lib Dem stars all the people involved in making sure we have a full slate of candidates in parliamentary elections. Being the end of 2015 I’m thinking particularly of the General Election but the same will apply to all elections. That’s the people in the states and regions who manage the process, those who organise approval, selection and appointment of candidates, the returning officers who work with local parties, and those in local parties who do the shortlisting. It is a huge organisational job that I think most members won’t appreciate the scale of, and it takes a small number of activists a lot of time to get right and is obviously crucial for us as a political party.

Bradley Hillier-Palmer

As one of our newest members in Camden, he has led a charge of activity around supporting refugees – including street stalls collecting for Calais, and is actually in Calais this week helping refugees struggling.
He embodies the Liberal Democratic spirit of equality, community and liberty with enthusiasm and action, and I have no doubt he will go on to be a valuable asset to the Lib Dems
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Why classroom assistants matter and why the SNP’s pressure on local government harms kids’ education and attainment

US Navy 061026-N-5271J-014 Jennifer Tonder (right), a teacher's aide for a 3rd-4th grade multi-age class, discusses the various books available from the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) grant given to Sasebo Elementary School with
Scottish Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Liam McArthur has been doing some research into classroom assistant numbers in Scotland and has found some very worrying results. Like many other council services, education has been put under massive pressure after nine years of Council Tax freeze which predominantly benefits those in larger properties – e.g. the richest. The SNP are not so progressive when you put their record under scrutiny.

While some local authorities have increased the numbers of classroom assistants, others have seen huge drops. Aberdeen has lost 92 out of 299 in 2007 when the SNP came to power. In my own council area, West Lothian, 10% of classroom assistants have been gone despite a massive reduction in special needs provision.

I asked a teacher why classroom assistants matter and what impacts such reductions in their numbers have on children’s education. This is what they said.

In the modern classroom, classroom assistants, learning assistant, pupil support assistants, are key to facilitating learning. From working individually with children who, in the past, would have perhaps been taught in a school for children with special needs to supporting small groups within the classroom or being there to allow the teacher to work with small groups/individuals. Active learning is a key part of Curriculum for Excellence. This often involves spreading out of the classroom and using other spaces such as library, sensory room, outdoor classroom etc. This is all the more possible with  classroom assistants rather than having to move 33 kids en masse all of the time.

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Liberal Democrat Voice Stars of 2015 Part 2

We wanted to honour those Liberal Democrats that our readers felt were true stars of 2015, which has been one of the toughest years in our party’s history. Over the past few days, we have sought out  nominations and now have a rather impressive list that we’ll be publishing in instalments during this week. Here is the second part. Part 1 is here. Their names come with the comments made about the contribution they have made. Some are parliamentarians, some are councillors, most are grassroots activists. Let’s celebrate them and the many others who are fighting fto keep that Liberal Democrat flame alive. These are our Liberal Democrat stars of 2015.

Kris Castle

She gave up her London job to go at the Yeovil South Ward like a PPC. Lib Dem but unworked for perhaps 8 years, she came a close fourth when the tsunami came in, with the largest losing vote in the region. She also worked three other wards keeping South Somerset DC under LD leadership (NOC) for the 34th year. Kris also initiated work to transform the Constituency after losing our MP. Whilst this is not a tale of unmitigated success, it is one of determination and care.

Pete Dollimore

For his ceaseless efforts on behalf of London Lib Dems, one of those backstage heroes who do the bulk of the work in so many organisations, without ever being recognised.

Pete has supported me so much over the years offering advice and support. I know many others would say the same too.

All the staff who lost their jobs after the election

I nominate the staff who lost their jobs together with their supportive families, along with all those constituency activists everywhere who didn’t deserve the results they got.

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