Category Archives: Op-eds

Simon Oliver

Protecting Nature From The Greed Of Tories

By Simon Oliver | Tue 27th October 2015 - 1:04 pm
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Tony Robertson

Agenda 2020 Essay #4 What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today

By Tony Robertson | Tue 27th October 2015 - 8:41 am

Editor’s Note: The party is currently running an essay competition for members of the Liberal Democrats, to submit 1000 words on the theme “What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today.” The deadline for contributions is 2nd November. If you would like us to publish your submission, send it to [email protected]. 

Liberals by their very nature are people with inquiring minds who want to know as many facts as possible about whatever it is we are considering.

You will rarely see a Liberal reading say the Daily Mail or Daily Mirror because they are little more than propaganda sheets to us. We don’t like our …

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Rob Parsons

Agenda 2020 Essay #3 What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today

By Rob Parsons | Mon 26th October 2015 - 7:43 pm

Editor’s Note: The party is currently running an essay competition for members of the Liberal Democrats, to submit 1000 words on the theme “What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today.” The deadline for contributions is 2nd November. If you would like us to publish your submission, send it to [email protected]. 

I am a Liberal Democrat because I have a sense of justice. Justice means everybody getting a fair chance without the playing field being tilted against them throughout their lives. Justice does not mean everyone being treated the same all the time. Equality before the law is a sine qua non, but equality …

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Bradley Hillier-Smith

Lib Dems take action to help refugees

By Bradley Hillier-Smith | Mon 26th October 2015 - 6:26 pm

actiondayIt’s that time of the year when you first notice that your breath becomes visible in the cold air and you feel the need for that extra layer. Unfortunately refugees living in the camps across Europe have also noticed their breath in the cold air but may not have the extra layers that they need.

As Lib Dems, I think it is fair to say, we have been appalled by the government’s (lack of) response to the current refugee crisis. We have been appalled that the government has turned its back on …

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Fiona Milne

Politics, everyday sexism and why I won’t be smiling politely anymore

By Fiona Milne | Mon 26th October 2015 - 5:07 pm

I’ve always been a feminist. I just never realised it ’til I started working in politics.

I was brought up with an older brother and sister, by gender/label blind parents. I’m proud of our working class roots (Fife, Bannockburn, mining). It gave us our unfaltering work ethic. A work ethic that keeps my brother in full time employment despite a rare condition that will eventually mean a liver transplant. A work ethic that keeps my sister in full time employment as a single mother of three. A work ethic that stops my parents surrendering to electric armchairs in retirement. Point being, I come from a family of strong willed, free thinking men and women. So the notion that I was a feminist never actually occurred to me because the equality I saw growing up was just a reflection of wider society, right? Wrong! Something I realised 16 years ago when I first became an MSP researcher. “Young filly” was how Middle Aged Male described me as he blithely enquired of my employer, “how do I get one?”.

I was 23. And appalled. But had to smile politely.

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Baroness Liz Barker

Liz Barker on being awarded Peer of the Year by Pink News

By Baroness Liz Barker | Mon 26th October 2015 - 4:11 pm

Liz Barker gets award from Tim FarronLast week Pink News bestowed on me the honour of Peer of the Year. I am really chuffed to be nominated along with colleagues Brian Paddick and Paul Scriven because Pink News upholds high standards of journalism and is itself a brilliant campaigner for LGBT equality.   I am delighted to have won because this is recognition for all the effort that Liberal Democrats have made for equality from parish councils to the European Parliament.  No political party has worked longer and stronger for LGBT rights than the Liberal Democrats.

The award was a shot in the arm for battles which lie ahead. Others, including the SNP, will claim to have greater diversity of representation. The Tories and Labour are using equalities as a key weapon in their strategy to annihilate us. Just look at the constituencies of the MPs on the Women and Equalities Select Committee – Lewes, Eastleigh, Portsmouth South, Bath, Birmingham Yardley and Hampstead and Kilburn – so the message for 2020 is clear. Between now and then, should there be an event in your constituency featuring any community group included in the Equality Act, the Tories will be out in force.

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Lord Roger Roberts

Roger Roberts on breaking bones

By Lord Roger Roberts | Mon 26th October 2015 - 2:59 pm

Last week Roger Roberts spoke in the Lords debate on the Universal Declaration on Human Rights: Article 18. This is his speech:

I remember that when I was a child, we used to say in school, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me”.

The truth of course is that names can hurt and can lead to abusive and destructive actions. We should take great care what we say in our speeches—not only the content but the tone of our voices. I suggest that even Home Secretaries, sometimes, could think about what they are saying and the effect it …

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Rebecca Plenderleith

I am not my gender

By Rebecca Plenderleith | Mon 26th October 2015 - 1:43 pm

 

I’ve written about this on the Lib Dem Voice before so I apologise if I’m repeating myself but once again we’re discussing the idea that we need to get more women into politics as parliamentarians. Once again I’ll repeat myself in saying that this is not something I disagree with. But to have Willie Rennie say “I know many in the party instinctively do not favour positive action but I need to be frank with you. Nothing else has worked.” is actually incredibly concerning for me.

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Robin Bennett

Home Rule ‘defined’ at Scottish Autumn conference

By Robin Bennett | Mon 26th October 2015 - 12:32 pm

Scottish Parliament 23 May 06 061Just imagine. You are canvassing for the Holyrood election in May 2016 and are mindful of what Willie Rennie said in his speech at the 2015 Scottish Autumn Conference.

We are the party for you…  if you support independence but are disappointed by the SNP in Government.

Some voters are probably beyond redemption, such as the man who told me on the doorstep before the Westminster election that he had vote Liberal/Lib Dem for 40 years but had now joined the SNP.   In such cases, you may mutter “we are fed up talking about the Constitution” and move on.

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Caroline Pidgeon

House of Lords has a chance to stand up for democracy

By Caroline Pidgeon | Mon 26th October 2015 - 10:49 am

 

Today’s vote in the House of Lords on tax credits has rightly attracted much media attention, but tomorrow a further vote on the subject of electoral registration also deserves serious attention.

In an act of immense arrogance the Government is planning to ignore the clear advice of the independent Electoral Commission and remove hundreds of thousands of people from the electoral register by the end of the year, a full year earlier than originally set out in the current legislation.  Young people and people living in private rented accommodation will be disproportionately affected by the Government’s proposals.

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David Allen

An Ideology for the Liberal Democrats?

By David Allen | Mon 26th October 2015 - 9:24 am

agenda2020aThe new Agenda 2020 consultation on Liberal Democrat Philosophy appears on a special page of the Libdems website which provides the consultation paper and a box for members to submit comments. However, these would then seem to disappear without trace, so that only the privileged will see what anyone else has said. Not a very liberal start. LDV provides a better forum for open discussion, so – here’s my shot.

The consultation paper says:

All political philosophies are based on a view of human nature. … We believe in the essential goodness and improvability of humankind.

Deep breath. Well, OK, I do believe that humans are capable of doing good as well as evil, and that much of the time they don’t really do either. But – surely this is far too unworldly, too trusting, too out-of-touch with life’s harsher realities?

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William Hobhouse

Steel, nuclear and graphene – a new industrial strategy?

By William Hobhouse | Sat 24th October 2015 - 12:28 pm

It seems a long time since Vince Cable was leading the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. During his tenure, one of his greatest achievements was the Industrial Strategy. In automotive, aerospace, nuclear and renewables, long term partnerships and structures had been set up to ensure that UK manufacturing stayed at the cutting edge of R&D and that we grew the skills and capacity to manufacture the next generation of products.

The visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping to the UK has clarified the new government thinking. Taking three industrial issues in turn:

Steel: everyone knows that steel prices go up and down and competitive advantage changes with exchange rates and oversupply. At a time when the automotive industry in the UK is flourishing, the closure of steel mills demonstrates that government sees no link between a UK steel industry and UK automotive. We can, the argument goes, quite happily import steel at the cheapest price at the time and retain our long term success in automotive. The counter argument is that we will not retain our leadership in the industry if the next generation of cars uses steel technology developed in Germany or China – because other things being equal it would be better to assemble the car closer to the supply chain.

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Tony Greaves

Lord Tony Greaves writes…Crisis on the streets of Lancashire

By Tony Greaves | Sat 24th October 2015 - 8:56 am

When the new lot all arrive we’ll have 112 Liberal Democrat peers and we need to use them. For some of us that means local as well as national stuff since some of us are still actively campaigning in our local areas! So when changes to the police funding formula were announced that mean one of the best forces in the country risks being “annihilated”, in the word of the commissioner, it was time to put down a topical question in the Lords.

The Lancashire police force is “outstanding”. That’s the conclusion of the review of police force efficiency by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary. It’s one of the most cost effective police forces in the country at only 49p per head, it’s made savings of £74m since 2010, yet it will be hammered by further cuts up to £161m. Police officers will drop from 3,611 in 2010 to 1,699 in 2020 and the PCSOs (community support officers) will disappear. Chief Constable Steve Finnigan says these cuts would severely limit the capabilities of Lancashire Constabulary which by 2020 will only be able to provide an emergency- service, responding to 999 calls and a few priorities.

The potential impacts include closing all enquiry desks and the loss of specialist support units, mounted officers, dog units and road policing units, and dramatic cuts to departments that deal with serious and complex crime. In addition the county-wide network of neighbourhood policing teams – community beat officers and community support officers – will be swept away.

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The Voice

A lesson for Tim Farron from Justin Trudeau?

By The Voice | Fri 23rd October 2015 - 2:40 pm

Liberals around the world are cheered by the Canadian Liberals’ emphatic victory this week. There are many serious lessons we can learn from Justin Trudeau’s party, both in terms of grassroots organisation and messaging. Not for the Liberals any talk of “we’re not them and we’re not them so vote for us”. For months there was a clear message of #realchange. The Canadian Liberals are a bit like Liberal royalty. They can be pretty establishment, but they managed to show that they wanted to reform politics and Canadian society in a way that resonated with people.

This video from May this year shows how Trudeau was happy to step out of the normal space allotted to politicians. He took his kids to Comic Con in Ottawa, wearing a Superman t-shirt and talking about his lifelong enjoyment of the Superman series. It was fun, authentic and natural.




I guess it kind of helped that he didn’t look terribly unlike the movie version.

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Toby MacDonnell

Agenda 2020 Essay #2 What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today

By Toby MacDonnell | Fri 23rd October 2015 - 9:37 am

Editor’s Note: The party is currently running an essay competition for members of the Liberal Democrats, to submit 1000 words on the theme “What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today.” The deadline for contributions is 2nd November. If you would like us to publish your submission, send it to [email protected]. 

To be a Liberal Democrat today is to be tilting at windmills. After decades of being the wasted vote, we broke into coalition government. Then we collapsed. But the need for Liberal Democrats is more pertinent than ever.

Ignorance: The Cycle of News

Whichever paper I am reading, the same themes return again and again: that public trust has collapsed, that few people believe that politics has the power to deliver change, and that our society is divided between the nihilistic, the apathetic, and the outraged. With every case of child abuse, each random murder, every scandal of public expenditure, the news asks ‘What are the politicians doing about it?’ The government replies, and the opposition scoffs. The news cycle begins again.

The news wields Occam ’s razor as a maiming instrument. Issues of dynamic complexity are boiled down to yes-or-no answers. Questions are posed to politicians which no-one could answer, and when the politician stumbles it is held up as a triumph of journalism or a failure of political leadership. If the politician replies with nuance, he has avoided a straight question.

Our media landscape is dominated by duality: by left and right, us and them, yes and no, right and wrong, government and opposition, Conservatives and Labour. The pace of television news has accelerated and amplified the basic conflict our constitution is predicated on: the two party, first past the post system. This is carried over to the online world where debates between nuanced and considered comment pieces are hijacked by the us-and-them narrative in the comment section.

The glut of news belies our ignorance of government.

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Luke Akal

A liberal postcard from South Africa…

By Luke Akal | Thu 22nd October 2015 - 12:57 pm

ALN-GA-300x161Dear Liberal Friends,

It is a great privilege to introduce myself to you all as the new Coordinator for the Africa Liberal Network (ALN). The ALN is the largest network of political parties in Africa and has been strongly supported by the Liberal Democrats, through the work of the International Office, since its inception in 2001.

I have recently taken up the position and the Secretariat remains based here at the Federal Head Office of the Democratic Alliance in Cape Town, South Africa.

I am originally from Nelspruit (Mpumalanga), South Africa, but grew up and lived majority of my life in Cape Town. I began my interest in politics as an activist and volunteer. This passion was then pursued during my undergraduate studies at the University of Stellenbosch and the University of South Africa, where I graduated with a degree in Politics and Communication Science.

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Tristan Gray

Drug reform should be our new flagship policy

By Tristan Gray | Thu 22nd October 2015 - 10:38 am

In my past two articles I argued for a more muscular liberalism that was more strident in championing liberal causes and for occupying the liberal ground whilst still appealing to a broader audience than ourselves.

In the interests of achieving this aim we need to pick our fights and causes carefully. We need a new flagship policy, one which wipes away the memory of tuition fees and sets us apart from our opponents. We must lead the charge on an issue and make it our own in a way we never quite managed in the public perception of equal marriage and green energy in coalition.

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Jonathan Fryer

We must take Oldham seriously

By Jonathan Fryer | Thu 22nd October 2015 - 8:00 am

The Obelisk on Alderman's HillBy-elections caused by the death of the incumbent are always an occasion for sadness, so our first reaction to the passing of Michael Meacher, Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton, must be a sincere expression of sympathy to his family and friends. However, politics is politics, as Michael would have said himself, and therefore we have to face the fact that there will be a by-election before too long. Even if we should not campaign until after the funeral, that does not mean we should avoid thinking about the challenge ahead.

During the Coalition government the Liberal Democrat powers that be took what I believed to be a misguided decision to virtually ignore northern parliamentary by-elections, with predictably disastrous results. In a couple of cases there was, however, a tremendous surge towards UKIP, almost causing shock Labour defeats. We lost our deposits spectacularly, despite the hard efforts of by-election candidates and mainly local party support. The impression given to the wider public, however, was that in the North of England the LibDems are rubbish, even irrelevant. We must not allow that to happen again.

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Caron Lindsay

What were your hopes for today?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st October 2015 - 1:55 pm

Back to the Future film series logoThis is a post aimed at those of us who were around in the ’80s when the Back to the Future films first came out. Today, of course, is the day Marty McFly and Dr Emmett Brown arrived in the future. People are marking the occasion in all sorts of ways. One of my favourites was Ayrshire Police’s post this morning – although it was in fact 12 hours early, it was a savvy use of social media. They posted on Facebook:

About 0728 hours today, Wednesday 21st October 2015, police received reports of a suspicious vehicle causing concern in the car park of an Irvine supermarket.

Witnesses report the stainless steel DeLorean vehicle to have been damaged and two men to have been within the vehicle. One man is described as being around 17 years old, slim build with dark hair while the other is only described as being older with grey hair and wearing a white coat.

A spokesperson for Ayrshire Police Division commented “on arriving at the location the vehicle almost collided with two members of the public on hover boards. Luckily the hover board’ collision avoidance system prevented any injuries. We are keen to speak with the two men seen within the vehicle.”

#JustForFun #BackToTheFuture

My Facebook timeline was full of comments about hover boards, but my feelings were mostly mild discomfort. After all, a day that I had thought was a very long time away when the film first came out in 1989 is now here. I wonder if people who read 1984 when it was first published in 1949 felt when that date finally arrived. 

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Kirsten Johnson

Agenda 2020 essay #1: What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today

By Kirsten Johnson | Wed 21st October 2015 - 11:55 am

Editor’s Note: The party is currently running an essay competition for members of the Liberal Democrats, to submit 1000 words on the theme “What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today.” The deadline for contributions is 2nd November. If you would like us to publish your submission, send it to [email protected]. 

What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today, to me, is about fairness, equality and freedom.  Freedom for all us to be who we wish to be and to develop our talents to the full.  Equality that no matter who we are, our origins, our abilities or disabilities, we are given equal voice and valued equally in society.  Fairness is about combatting structures in our society which promote the few over the many, so that all are enabled and empowered.

To be truly free is not a singularity.  It happens in relationship. Being a Liberal Democrat is about being in relationship: we are stronger together than we are alone.

WE are the world.  Not me.  Not I.  The rise of individualism, and the emphasis of individual freedoms without the context of relationship, has brought us to this point.  The 21st century is a self-serving society.  What is best for me?  What can I achieve?  How much more money can I make?  The emphasis on me, me, me is a losing ticket. Me can only win if WE are at the forefront of policy and decision making.  

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A call to new members – apply for party jobs and think about job-sharing

By Mark Platt and Teena Lashmore | Wed 21st October 2015 - 10:25 am

Once upon a time ‘everyone’ agreed that only aristocrats and landowners, of the male and pale persuasion, were fit to be in Parliament. Then we had a very British set of polite revolutions.  Firstly, we agreed that middle class men could do the job, and after a struggle middle class women. Then we let a few well-connected working class people in. And every so often, we didn’t get too bothered when a few BaME folk got involved – although not too many.

That’s a fairly roughshod run through of a few centuries of British political history, but we hope you get the point. While our country’s demographics and cultures have changed, our Parliament, local governments, and internal elections processes are still based on ‘one person, one post’.

But let’s be a bit heretical for a minute. Is politics a regular job? Do we believe that only folk who can commit to full-time campaigning and ‘politicking’ are our best representatives? And if yes, is it simply because its the ‘status quo’, and so easier to follow than to change? Well we think not. We think politics should embrace the modern world and explore part-time and flexible working and we are not the first to call for this.  Even Tom Brake has written a post for this site advocating job-share for MPs.

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The Voice

Lib Dem Lords will try and kill off Tory tax credit cuts as Farron decries Osborne’s “Poll Tax”

By The Voice | Tue 20th October 2015 - 9:30 pm

Cameron Osborne Tax Credit Poll TaxGeorge Osborne could be told to think again on tax credits by the House of Lords next week if a “regret motion” co-sponsored by Lib Dem peer Archy Kirkwood is successful.

Party leader Tim Farron has asked all Lib Dem peers to support it, making a government defeat possible.According to the Guardian, though, some Labour peers might get the collywobbles about challenging a government’s financial bill. According to the Guardian:

By custom and practice, the peers do not challenge financial measures, but Farron has been arguing that the specific tax credits measure was not in the Conservative party manifesto and was even specifically denied by David Cameron in a leaders’ TV election debate, after the Guardian revealed a document leaked by the Lib Dems showing that the government had been considering cuts to tax credits.

This has also attracted coverage in the Express and Star, Sky News and the Evening Standard.

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David Warren

We need more blue collar Liberals

By David Warren | Tue 20th October 2015 - 9:50 am

There is plenty of debate across the political spectrum about how unrepresentative of the overall population our elected politicians are.

Much of this discussion focuses on the lack of women and BAME people in the corridors of power.

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Tom Brake

Tom Brake MP: Why I’m fasting for Shaker Aamer

By Tom Brake | Mon 19th October 2015 - 6:55 pm

haker Aamer is the last British resident held in Guantanamo Bay, which still stands as an icon to the Iraq War, a war which only the Liberal Democrats, led by Charles Kennedy, were brave enough to stand up against. Shaker has been held for the last thirteen years without charge or trial. He has been cleared by two successive US Presidents and yet is still held captive.

Baroness Ludford correctly said in 2012 ‘the continued existence of Guantanamo is a stain on the record and reputation of President Obama’; it is truly depressing that Guantanamo continues to be used to incarcerate people and that there are many reports of abuse and violence within the prison.

On 25th September, Shaker learned that he would finally be freed, however as Congress has to be given 30 days’ notice before Shaker can be released, he is unlikely to be released before the 25th October at the earliest.

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Zack Polanski

We need to make internal selections affordable for all

By Zack Polanski | Mon 19th October 2015 - 11:55 am

What makes a great candidate? It can be an incredibly demanding job and I imagine it’s lots of things. A strong ability to communicate, to listen, to represent people effectively. To demonstrate generous leadership, to inspire and to continually learn. These are all what I’d consider the headlines.

What about fundraising? It’s certainly vital – but I’d argue that not only is it not the single *biggest* priority.  It’s certainly not more important than the above qualities. It’s one of the skills that can most often be generated truly as a team effort whilst potentially being most successful when lead by the candidate themselves.

I learnt so much during the recent GLA London List Election. As a first timer I was clearly delighted with the result and I loved the opportunity to speak to literally thousands of members. Having phone canvassed for lots of candidates as part of the Team 2015 efforts in the General Election, it was a really interesting next step to be phoning and listening to people’s concerns as the potential candidate myself.

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Caron Lindsay

Scottish Conference Countdown: What’s on the agenda? And get writing your amendments today

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 18th October 2015 - 10:35 am

Scottish Liberal Democrats gather for their Autumn Conference in Dunfermline on Saturday 24th October. The agenda contains no fewer than 8 policy debates – not bad for an event that lasts for just 7 hours. There are keynote speeches from Willie Rennie and Tim Farron and the day ends with a tribute to Charles Kennedy.

The policy motions to be discussed are:

A penny on tax for the NHS: This one will be controversial. The MSPs will be very scared of it passing because it’s way more radical than they can cope with. Perhaps Conference needs to give them the confidence to say something bold. One of the great tragedies of the current constitutional debate in Scotland is that nobody seems to have any great ideas for using the powers we already have, which are pretty significant. Paisley and Renfrewshire local party have put the cat among the pigeons with this motion. Will it pass? Expect to see an amendment from the Policy Committee.

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Ruth Bright

The condescension of Camila

By Ruth Bright | Sun 18th October 2015 - 8:55 am

Two years ago I was in acting charge of a London day care setting for the elderly not a million miles away from the fabled Kids Company. My young colleague put together a craft afternoon for our clients. She sent off for £20 of glass beads on Ebay. A lot of elderly people with dementia had a lovely time making jewellery thanks to her. The £20 was authorised by my manager beforehand and accounted for afterwards. Of course it would have been nice to give handouts to our clients, many of them in great need, but we had to vouch for every penny spent.

It was therefore utterly bewildering to watch former head of Kids Company Camila Batmanghelidjh give evidence to a select committee yesterday and admit that large sums were handed to young people just because she and her colleagues deemed them vulnerable.

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Catherine Bearder

Catherine Bearder MEP writes: Europe is about more than the economy, it’s about opportunity

By Catherine Bearder | Fri 16th October 2015 - 1:05 pm

Catherine Bearder with Liberal Youth members October 2015At the official launch of the Stronger In Campaign on Monday it was great to see such a huge range of people, of all ages and from all walks of life, prepared to work together to secure Britain’s place in Europe. The board of the campaign represents all sections of society – students, the arts, business and trade unions – and almost half its members are women. This couldn’t contrast more with the male, pale and stale line-ups of the Vote Leave and Leave EU campaigns.

The challenge now for Stronger In will be to translate such a broad base of support into a coherent and positive message. We don’t just need to win over undecided voters, we need to make sure those who are broadly in favour of remaining in Europe turn up to cast their vote and play an active role in the campaign. Young people in particular are historically the least likely to vote, but the latest polls show 83% of them want to stay in the EU. They probably won’t get passionate about dry economic facts on the impact of Brexit on trade and investment. We need to develop a powerful and uplifting narrative about why Britain’s future in Europe matters to them and their everyday lives.

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NewsHound

In video: Nick Clegg on Newsnight

By NewsHound | Wed 14th October 2015 - 7:22 pm

In case you missed it, here’s Nick Clegg talking on last night’s Newsnight about the EU referendum. When asked whether hope or fear would win the day for the In campaign, he said that the simple fact was that it was in our national interest to be part of the EU.

He also said that he regretted sitting next to David Cameron at PMQs for five years, saying it looked like we were passive rather than architects of many aspects of the government’s programme.

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Caron Lindsay

Jeremy Corbyn’s kinder, more caring politics in action #2: social media commentary

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th October 2015 - 5:35 pm

Remember Jeremy Corbyn’s kinder, more caring politics where there will be no personal abuse? He said in his Labour conference speech:

I want a kinder politics, a more caring society. Don’t let them reduce you to believing in anything less. So I say to all activists, whether Labour or not, cut out the personal attacks. The cyberbullying. And especially the misogynistic abuse online. And let’s get on with bringing values back into politics.

To be fair to Corbyn, at least he said it. However, some of his party weren’t listening.

You just need to look at the Twitter feed of Labour MP Mike Gapes to see the abuse he’s getting from Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters for not toeing the party line. Like Corbyn clearly used to do for all those years Labour was in Government. To be fair, Corbyn himself has a more realistic outlook than some of his supporters, who are shaping up to rival the cybernats.

Gapes decided to go in for a lengthy spell of troll feeding yesterday and copped a load of abuse for his pains.

In today’s Times (£), Lucy Fisher uncovers evidence of the hard left seeking to deselect moderate Labour councillors:

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