Category Archives: Op-eds

It’s been a really good week for Kirsty Williams

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 15th November 2014 - 2:30 pm

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Kirsty Williams gives her keynote speech to the Welsh Conference today. She’s had a barnstormer of a week.

First of all, on Monday, she gave a speech to the Electoral Reform Society in Wales in which she called for more Assembly Members and for Assembly Members to be subject to recall, resulting in this very on message headline:

Tagged kirsty williams and Wales | 14 Comments

Malcolm Bruce MP writes…Dealing with British citizens who fight for Islamic State

By Malcolm Bruce | Fri 14th November 2014 - 6:10 pm

According to Benjamin Franklin’s over-used phrase, those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.

However compelling this pithy quote is, it masks the fact that you can increase both liberty and safety at the same time. This isn’t an easy task. I don’t think that anyone doubts the extraordinary pressure that Nick Clegg and other Lib Dems in government have come under when they deal with the Tories. But I certainly think that we have managed to do both.

Thanks to the Lib Dems, this is the first government for generations to increase our civil liberties – introducing a Freedoms Bill, scrapping ID cards, reducing detention without trial, ending fingerprinting in schools and improving oversight of the intelligence agencies.

Tagged counter-terrorism legislation | 21 Comments

Vince Cable writes… Remembering Alan Turing

By Vince Cable | Fri 14th November 2014 - 12:02 pm

Today sees the general release of the film The Imitation Game, a dramatic portrayal of the life and work of Alan Turing.

By all accounts the film, with the leading role played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is set to be a great success. Oscars are already being talked about.

But why am I drawing attention to this specific film?

Tagged alan turing | 9 Comments

Paul Tyler writes… Voter engagement and Votes at 16: progress!

By Paul Tyler | Fri 14th November 2014 - 8:10 am

Today, the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee is doing something I don’t recall any other Committee doing before it. It is publishing a report in draft, and asking for public feedback before making final recommendations.

In announcing this initiative Graham Allen, the Committee’s Chair, writes, “we raise issues around re-building our political parties, their funding, conduct of MPs, how the Media can work to improve public involvement, and how we can restore a sense of excite around our democracy”. These are all clearly crucial issues for Liberal Democrats.

Tagged votes at 16 | 8 Comments

Opinion: EU court gives lie to Cameron’s free movement scaremongering

By Giles Goodall | Thu 13th November 2014 - 4:25 pm

It’s probably fair to say that the European Court of Justice is unused to tabloid adulation. But this week’s ruling in Luxembourg on the case of a jobless Romanian woman in Germany led even the arch-anti-EU Daily Express to hail ‘a rare outbreak of common sense’.

The judgement by the EU’s highest court that the right to free movement does not equate to a right to free access to benefits was warmly welcomed all round, including in Germany – which has higher rates of migration than the UK. Even David Cameron called it ‘good news’.

Tagged david cameron, eu and freedom of movement | 11 Comments

Opinion: Have we forgotten the basics of community politics?

By Jim Forrest | Thu 13th November 2014 - 2:55 pm

Do we still do community politics? “Of course we do,” all Lib Dems will say, particularly after press comments on Lorely Burt’s “dog poo” speech at a conference fringe meeting. But I’m not so sure.

A while back when I advised residents to use the local Text the Council number to report flytipping etc, my colleague, a hard working ex-councillor was horrified. ‘Don’t do that,” he told me, “get them to text you so that we get the credit for reporting it.”

And of course we do that all the time and it earns us votes.

But wasn’t part of the point of community politics, as set out in the 1970s by the ALC and the Young Liberals, to create an empowered citizenry, to help residents to take responsibility for their neighbourhoods and hopefully absorb Liberal values in doing so?

Tagged community politics | 14 Comments

Ed Davey MP writes….The politics of renewables

By Ed Davey | Thu 13th November 2014 - 1:25 pm

Yesterday I was in Manchester speaking at the RenewableUK Annual Conference, and then on to see a fascinating energy efficiency project led by students in Parrs Wood School in John Leech’s constituency.

My Manchester speech focused on the politics of renewables – both the good news and the bad.

The good news is that renewables investment is in great shape. Since 2010, an average £7 billion a year has been invested – more than double that under Labour’s last term in office. We are now seen as No.1 in the world for attracting investment in offshore wind, wave and tidal.

Tagged climate change, environment, featured and renewables | 11 Comments

Norman Lamb writes… NHS needs an extra £1.5 billion

By Norman Lamb MP | Wed 12th November 2014 - 4:54 pm

For too long mental health has been seen as a second-class issue in the NHS and I am determined to change that.

Today I’ve called for up to an extra £1.5 billion to be invested in the NHS next April. A significant amount of that money would go towards improving mental health services, especially for children and young people.

At our party conference in Glasgow, Nick Clegg said the Liberal Democrats will spend at least £1bn extra on health and care in each year of the next parliament, including £500m each year for mental health.

Tagged mental health | 7 Comments

Catherine Bearder MEP writes… We need to act now to protect elephants

By Catherine Bearder | Wed 12th November 2014 - 12:54 pm

Every 15 minutes an elephant is killed for its ivory. This rapid rate of human destruction has seen the population of African elephants plummet from 10 million in 1910 to a low 434,000 now.

If we want to protect elephants from being confined to the history books we need to act now.

That’s why this week I called for an EU Action Plan to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade in a letter to the new European Commission, co-signed by 82 fellow MEPs from 24 countries.

The joint campaign with the Sunday Mirror and Born Free has already attracted broad-based support from all of the party groupings in the parliament. Many of my colleagues can see that we can no longer dilly-dally if we want to halt and reverse the terrifying trend which sees many creatures firmly on the road to extinction.

2 Comments

Opinion: The High Street Is Dead…Long Live the Retail Park!

By S | Wed 12th November 2014 - 11:54 am

The high street, as we know it, is in its death throes and I, for one, will not be mourning this loss. The reason for its demise is not, as many may think, the capitalist bad boys of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s et al. but the refrigerator. Yes, you heard me correctly, the humble fridge. My grandparents didn’t own a fridge for most of my mother’s childhood. My grandmother walked to the nearest town (just under 2 miles away) most days, except Sunday, and then back again with her shopping. She would deliberately plan and buy different food for Sunday to account for a lack of means to store perishables.

Women were not freed from this daily task until refrigerators became widely affordable, which meant women were able to get jobs instead.

Tagged retail | 35 Comments

Opinion: Why the First World War matters for government for,and by, the people

By Antony Hook | Wed 12th November 2014 - 10:54 am

In this 100th year since the Great War’s outbreak, and especially around Remembrance Day, we have all been united in sorrow for the pain and loss of life, respect for the ultimate subordination of self to a common good, and gratitude that war on such a scale has been unknown to us for decades and may, with wise leadership, never be seen again.

There is sometimes a view that the First World War was a pointless slaughter. That analysis is too simplistic, in my view. At university, I was privileged to spend a whole year looking at primary sources on British political, economic and military strategy in the First World War. The strategic picture reveals what was at risk in 1914-18. Beyond the pain there was a reason and a purpose.

Today, we see the First World War through the prism of the Second World War, which appears a blatant struggle between good and evil.

Tagged democracy, featured and first world war | 24 Comments

Is John Hemming right to seek guidance on when children can be left home alone?

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 11th November 2014 - 5:36 pm

I was interested by this report in this week’s Sunday Times (£) concerning John Hemming, a long-standing campaigner against overbearing child protection policies and practices and secretive family courts. I’ve seen enough instances in my time where social workers have made serious errors, causing horrendous distress, to make me glad that he’s on their case.

He’s tabled a Parliamentary Question asking the Government for guidance on the age at which a child can be left at home alone after being approached by a mother who was given a police caution some years ago for leaving her then 6 year old in the house while she went for a driving lesson. That caution has been held against her as she now wishes to train as a mental health nurse.

I have to say that I have absolutely zero sympathy with anyone who thinks that it’s ok to leave a 6 year old in the house rather than cancel a driving lesson. The last time ROSPA had the funding to collect statistics on home accidents, they found that 120 children died in a year as a result of an accident in the home. The whole list makes sobering reading. More recent research looks at the reasons behind child hospital admissions and deaths. So I think it was right that she received a police caution. Whether that should stop her becoming a nurse now, many years on, is a different matter. One stupid mistake shouldn’t automatically blight a whole career choice.

Tagged child protection and john hemming | 20 Comments

Lord Roger Roberts writes: Peers must resolve crisis of democracy in Wales

By Lord Roger Roberts | Tue 11th November 2014 - 3:24 pm

This afternoon, with the full support of all the main parties in the Welsh Assembly, the House of Lords will debate cross-party amendments to the Wales Bill, designed to radically improve voter engagement in Wales. The UK Government will instruct Coalition Peers to vote against them. How can we arrive at such a situation?

There is a crisis of democracy in Wales which the UK Government and The Electoral Commission have stubbornly, and repeatedly, refused to acknowledge.

Despite the sterling efforts of some Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), only 51% of our youngest citizens are registered to vote. And, in 2011, only 35% of 18-24 year olds voted in Welsh Assembly elections. If this status quo persists much longer, than less than half of young people in Wales will have an opportunity to voice their opinions at the ballot box on 7 May 2015.

Tagged voter registration and Wales | 7 Comments

New report highlights need for action against homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 11th November 2014 - 12:55 pm

If I saw a transgender person, I’d kill them.

That happened. A young transgender person heard that fall casually from the lips of a classmate one day in class. The classmate didn’t know they were talking about someone not three feet away from them, but that’s not the point.

Even though my young acquaintance knew that they weren’t in the wrong, it was still a huge dent to their confidence. A blatant attack on your right to exist is never going to be easy to deal with. All school pupils, staff and parents should know that homophobic, transphobic or biphobic abuse will never be tolerated. That threat of physical harm in that example of hate speech was particularly appalling but those phrases like “You’re so gay” are just the stop of a slippery slope and need to be challenged by education from the earliest age.

It’s been good to see the Government, in a move personally championed by Nick Clegg and Jo Swinson, ensure that £2 million has been allocated specifically to combat this abuse. Jo said:

Tagged daily record, homophobic bullying, jo swinson ruth davidson and stonewall scotland | 40 Comments

Opinion: Jewish and Muslim voting intentions

By John Kelly | Tue 11th November 2014 - 8:55 am

The Independent on Sunday headline on 9 November suggested that Jewish donors were deserting Labour because Miliband and Alexander have been so forthright in their criticism of Israel over the Gaza invasion this summer and their strong support for recognition of the state of Palestine. A day earlier Jewish News published the results of a poll carried out within the Jewish Community.

The headline was that Jewish voters were 30% less likely to vote Labour because of its leadership’s stance. What was much more interesting was that 19% say they would vote Labour compared with 15% who actually voted Labour in 2010 – i.e. at a time when the Brown/Blair governments had been pretty slavish in their support of Israel even during previous Gaza conflicts and the invasion of Lebanon. Could this perhaps show that the most vocal leaders of the Jewish Community are out of step with the masses and that significant numbers in that Community in fact would rather support a Party that is highly critical of the present government of Israel?

Tagged general election 2015, jewish and muslim voting intentions and opinion polling | 25 Comments

Opinion: Equality – a suggestion

By Teena Lashmore | Mon 10th November 2014 - 11:17 am

We have seen the application of the women’s Leadership Program. This became necessary due to historical disadvantages. If we could have trusted the political system, there would be no need to introduce such measures to achieve better representation for women.

I suggest we can achieve similar Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic representation, by learning from experiences and voting progressively. Allow me to share…

I had a fantastic time running for Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PCC). I crammed national policy into five days and along with dedicated enthusiasts, undertook the assessment day.

Tagged ppc selections | 25 Comments

Speaking up for the civil liberties of dogs

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th November 2014 - 4:45 pm

After the Federal Executive meeting this week where we discussed preparations for the election campaign (heartening to see so many people coming forward to be approved as candidates), arrangements to implement the One Member One Vote decision at Conference (and good to see that Mark Pack and Duncan Brack who proposed the amendment passed are to be invited in to work on that), the implementation of the Morrissey Report (amazing progress made, driven forward by our fabulous Pastoral Care Officer), we headed to the pub.

I was talking about my excitement/slight apprehension about picking up our new puppy the next day. The picture on the right shows little Hazel, who is now happily settled and busily involved in training us to meet her needs.

Anyway, Martin Tod reminded us all that he had once spoken up for the civil liberties of dogs in response to an animal welfare debate at Conference in 2003. He and Mark Pack wondered how it would look if the motion applied to humans. He posted the speech on his blog last year and here’s a snippet:

Tagged animal welfare, federal executive, martin tod, norman baker and orange book | 17 Comments

Caron’s Sunday Selection: Must-read articles from the Sunday papers

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th November 2014 - 1:37 pm

A little later today, but here is what I’ve found interesting from today’s newspapers:

First of all, infighting in the Labour Party surely can’t count as news as it’s its default state in that organisation. It strikes me that Norman Baker’s resignation, while highlighting the massive difference between the two governing parties in the Coalition, was at least couched in dignified and respectful language. The previous government operated in an environment of toxic dysfunctionality. This one has its moments but never comes close to that pure poison. Anyway, the Observer reports on poor Ed Miliband’s latest woes. For me, he’s the most likeable Labour leader since John Smith. While his flaws in leadership are clear, even if he had a significant narrative, half the party would be trying to undermine it. The paper’s advice in its leader is, basically, to feel the fear and go radical anyway.

8 Comments

For Remembrance Sunday – my visit to the Tower of London poppies

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th November 2014 - 11:30 am

Last Monday I was down in London for a meeting and had an hour spare to nip down to the Tower of London to see the poppy installation where 888,246 ceramic poppies have been laid out in an act of remembrance for all those who died in the First World War.

I found it incredibly moving. The atmosphere was one of humble quiet reflection. You know when you normally go to things, people can be pushing and shoving and trying to get the best view. Actually, here, everyone was respectful, giving each other space, despite the massive crowds.

I think what got me more than anything was seeing that this huge sea of red, made up of individual stems, symbolised one part of one side who lost their lives in the First World War.

Tagged remembrance sunday and tower of london poppies | 3 Comments

Let’s match up Doctors and (Liberal) Democrat leaders

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 8th November 2014 - 6:13 pm

Tonight is the finale of Peter Capaldi’s first season playing the Doctor. I have been a very poor excuse for a Doctor Who fan this year. I had to cram in four episodes last night to catch up. It’s been difficult to watch them live due to the Referendum, Conference and, ironically, a Doctor Who convention keeping me busy. The added complication is that our house and lounge where our only television is, has been taken over by teenagers every week.

Anyway, I’m now caught up and am livid and awestruck in equal measure. Don’t get me wrong, Capaldi’s Doctor is brilliant – and played fantastically. I hear from people who know that he is so immensely professional on set with every single aspect of his performance fully prepared and worked out. He’s also great at supporting other members of the cast. I also love the fact that we’ve seen different aspects to Clara from grief-stricken derangement to superb leadership. It shows he can write decent female characters (though he managed it with Kate Stewart) so if we could have more of them and fewer of the River Song/Tasha Lem types,I’ll be happy. It’s not that I don’t like River and Tasha, but Moffat’s women come from a very small range.

Tagged doctor who and liberal democrats | 8 Comments

“Like you, the Liberal Democrats…” Not the most tactful way to write to your members

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 8th November 2014 - 11:15 am

A well-written email is a very useful tool in informing and activating your supporters. One that’s not so well-written or targeted can be counter-productive. There have been a fair few howlers in the past few years from LDHQ, not least that Annette Brooke email following the elections in May this year and one from Nick Clegg a couple of years before in similar circumstances. I also remember a Simon Hughes one in 2011 the week after the appalling Scottish elections when we were still all punch-drunk and heartbroken that started: “This is a good week to be a Liberal Democrat.”

That opening line is oh, so important. It draws the reader in, grabs their attention, persuades them to read on and to take the action requested within it. If the opening is poor, the red mist descends and people hit the delete key.

And so it was last night with an email from Director of Strategy Ryan Coetzee. This presumably went to members and supporters alike. It was nowhere close to even the field next to the ballpark of being as bad as previous examples, but, unfortunately it started with the words:

Tagged fundraising, internal emails and party communications | 28 Comments

Opinion: A new member’s views on equality

By Lauren Jayne Salerno | Fri 7th November 2014 - 1:04 pm

We have heard Nick and Tim’s comments on advancing women by means of all female shortlists. In many ways this is admirable but it’s arguably discriminatory. Firstly it reflects the outdated, but still common, view of gender in terms of men and women when it fact gender variance is far broader; we should be and are the party of the androgynous, gender queer, intersex and all other genders, however by not including them we exclude them, discrimination by omission.

Secondly we are a broad party and need to ensure that all can truly fulfil their potential regardless of whether they fall within the protected characteristics of the Equality Act or not. Yes there may be, and I would argue are, more obstacles for some groups than other but that does not mean that anyone group should be prioritised thus creating or reinforcing “a hierarchy of diversity”
I have often heard and indeed even today heard that it is easier and more effective to focus on one issue and when we have got that right to move on to others. The problem with this thinking is at least twofold.

Tagged equalities | 13 Comments

Paul Burstow MP writes…Putting mental health at the top of the agenda

By Paul Burstow | Thu 6th November 2014 - 10:13 am

Mental health is so often in the news for the wrong reasons its good to finally have a few things to cheer about. Last month, though little noticed, Nick Clegg announced the start of a genuinely preventative programme in mental health with the launch of a series of front line mental health support pilots for blue light workers. People working in the emergency services experience some of the highest levels of work related stress, so it is absolutely the right place to start. And with poor mental health costing UK businesses £26 billion a year, taking mental health seriously in the workplace needs to be on every employers’ agenda – with government leading the way.

This followed on from ministerial commitment from Norman Lamb to continue funding for Time to Change, the campaign to end mental health stigma, and a rallying call for all FTSE 100 companies to sign up. It is a clear statement that good mental health should matter to all of us, and its heartening to see that companies like Royal Mail, Marks and Spencer and Barclays have already come on board.

Tagged centre forum, mental health and paul burstow | 3 Comments

Opinion: No taxation without explanation – tax summaries are welcome but flawed

By Adam Corlett | Wed 5th November 2014 - 10:54 am

Starting yesterday, and over the next month or so, ‘tax summaries’ will be delivered to 24 million taxpayers, detailing how much income tax and National Insurance they paid in 2013-14, and where that money went. You can see examples here.

As Nick Clegg said in 2012, this will deliver “greater transparency accountability in government … empowering citizens” with information on what they pay in, and how their taxes are spent. It sounds rather like the ‘Annual Tax Contract’ policy from the party’s manifesto in 1997 and 2001:

No taxation without explanation: Central Government should inform taxpayers of the ways in which their money is raised and spent, just as local councils now do.

You can draw your own conclusions from the pie chart on the right, but it looks like these annual tax summaries will be important.

Tagged taxation | 25 Comments

Opinion: Limited Devolution may be ok for Manchester, but Yorkshire deserves better

By Alisdair Calder McGregor | Wed 5th November 2014 - 8:54 am

The news that George Osborne is offering further powers to Manchester (if – and only if – they turn their backs on the democratic will of the people and implement an elected Mayor in spite of Manchester voting “No” to having one) has been enthusiastically accepted by the Manchester Labour Party, because, as with all local Labour parties, they very much prefer a government that cannot be scrutinized and wields power in secret, unaccountable meetings.

Yorkshire deserves far better than this Tory & Labour stitch-up of an end-run around democracy and accountability.

Tagged devolution and yorkshire | 44 Comments

Opinion: Why I signed up for Devo Manc and a mayor for Greater Manchester

By Iain Roberts | Tue 4th November 2014 - 11:55 am

On Monday morning I was very pleased to be able to sign up to Devo Manc. I was deputising for Stockport’s Lib Dem leader Sue Derbyshire, joined in Manchester Town Hall by the leaders of the other nine Greater Manchester authorities along with George Osborne.

The Greater Manchester devolution deal came out of months of negotiation with the government, and it gives the city region more devolved powers than anywhere else in England, London included. I was surprised at how much we got. To give one example, I was assured just weeks ago that a regulated bus network for Greater Manchester was quite impossible: the DfT would never allow it. Yet there it is, in the deal.

Tagged devolution, manchester and stockport | 55 Comments

Joan Walmsley writes … Campaigning in York

By Joan Walmsley | Mon 3rd November 2014 - 2:38 pm

I visited York recently to campaign with our council group there, led by Councillor Keith Aspden, on a couple of important local issues.

One was the Labour decision to close a multi-agency youth advice centre at Castlegate without putting appropriate alternative provision in place. This very successful centre has helped thousands of young people with issues to do with jobs, housing, benefits, drugs, education courses and a whole lot of other matters, many of them linked together. That’s why the multi-agency model is so effective. We were able to highlight how short-sighted the Labour Group were to propose closing it down.

Tagged york | 9 Comments

Opinion: Will the EU miss us if we leave?

By Scott Stables | Mon 3rd November 2014 - 12:30 pm

It was central to David Cameron’s EU bargaining position: the assumption that ultimately the EU would do everything it could to avoid our exit. It would yield to every request placed upon it because, after all, the UK is important. It is a bargaining position that has been fatally undermined by Angela Merkel as she suggested that the UK has reached a “point of no-return”, and that if the UK maintains its pressure on allowing curbs on EU migration she would be prepared to see the UK leave. In other words, the principles of the EU are more important than one individual member.

This rationale, although likely to frustrate sentiments of British Exceptionalism displayed by some, is not wholly surprising. Rewriting fundamental aspects of any political settlement does not come easy, perhaps precisely because relenting on one aspect of an institution undermines the ability to stand up to other requests for substantial renegotiation.

Tagged angela merkel and european union | 36 Comments

Opinion: Why Liberal Democrats must oppose any criminalisation of sex workers

By Sarah Noble | Mon 3rd November 2014 - 10:50 am

On Tuesday, Parliament will debate the Report Stage of the Modern Slavery Bill, and in particular, an amendments that would criminalise the purchase of sex in England and Wales, similar to the one that was passed in Northern Ireland just a couple of weeks ago. It’s important that, as Liberal Democrats, we oppose those amendments.

When Belinda Brooks-Gordon and I, with the help of too many sex workers to list, put forward a policy motion towards safer sex work at Conference in Glasgow,

Tagged modern slavery bill and sex workers | 15 Comments

East Midlands Regional Conference Report: useful training, policy debates, Presidential hustings and inspiring speeches

By Greg Webb | Mon 3rd November 2014 - 8:55 am

I’d thought about going to Liberal Democrat conferences before, but always ended up doing something else on the day. But this time, the East Midlands Regional Conference, which took place on Saturday, was on a date I could do. It seemed worth trying it at least once!

It’s difficult to know quite what to expect when attending an event as a first timer, or whether it’s typical, but the Conference definitely had a significant amount on and a healthy turnout. We opened with training sessions on canvassing, fundraising and being a returning officer, with good content from experienced speakers and useful discussion among the group.

Tagged east midlands and regional conference | 2 Comments

William Wallace writes: What do Liberal Democrats have to offer the…

“Build, baby, build” but don’t lower our ambitions on…

Actually, this Summer of Strategy could be quite good…

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Category Archives: Op-eds

It’s been a really good week for Kirsty Williams

Malcolm Bruce MP writes…Dealing with British citizens who fight for Islamic State

Vince Cable writes… Remembering Alan Turing

Paul Tyler writes… Voter engagement and Votes at 16: progress!

Opinion: EU court gives lie to Cameron’s free movement scaremongering

Opinion: Have we forgotten the basics of community politics?

Ed Davey MP writes….The politics of renewables

Norman Lamb writes… NHS needs an extra £1.5 billion

Catherine Bearder MEP writes… We need to act now to protect elephants

Opinion: The High Street Is Dead…Long Live the Retail Park!

Opinion: Why the First World War matters for government for,and by, the people

Is John Hemming right to seek guidance on when children can be left home alone?

Lord Roger Roberts writes: Peers must resolve crisis of democracy in Wales

New report highlights need for action against homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

Opinion: Jewish and Muslim voting intentions

Opinion: Equality – a suggestion

Speaking up for the civil liberties of dogs

Caron’s Sunday Selection: Must-read articles from the Sunday papers

For Remembrance Sunday – my visit to the Tower of London poppies

Let’s match up Doctors and (Liberal) Democrat leaders

“Like you, the Liberal Democrats…” Not the most tactful way to write to your members

Opinion: A new member’s views on equality

Paul Burstow MP writes…Putting mental health at the top of the agenda

Opinion: No taxation without explanation – tax summaries are welcome but flawed

Opinion: Limited Devolution may be ok for Manchester, but Yorkshire deserves better

Opinion: Why I signed up for Devo Manc and a mayor for Greater Manchester

Joan Walmsley writes … Campaigning in York

Opinion: Will the EU miss us if we leave?

Opinion: Why Liberal Democrats must oppose any criminalisation of sex workers

East Midlands Regional Conference Report: useful training, policy debates, Presidential hustings and inspiring speeches

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William Wallace writes: What do Liberal Democrats have to offer the…

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