Category Archives: Op-eds

Mary Reid

On capitalisation

By Mary Reid | Thu 22nd May 2025 - 1:21 pm

This is not a treatise on economics, but a minor rant about the use of capital letters.

American media often like to capitalise every word in their headlines. For example: Trump Lectures South African President in Televised Oval Office Confrontation (New York Times) and Trump Claimed This Photo Proved ‘Genocide’ Of White South Africans, But There’s 1 Big Problem (HuffPost)

There are some exceptions to this practice in the US: see Trump confronts South African president, pushing claims of genocide (Washington Post). However in the UK none of our media capitalise headlines. For example: Trump ambushes South African president with video and false claims of anti-white racism (The Guardian) and Trump makes South African president squirm by playing ‘white genocide’ video montage during astonishing Oval Office moment (Daily Mail).

Being a kind of language nerd, on my editorial days I tend to carefully remove unnecessary capitals from the headlines of posts submitted to Lib Dem Voice.

I am equally strict about American spellings of words when the context does not justify it.  “Defense” written instead of “defence” is a common error, and don’t get me started on “gotten”.

There is one exception to my rules – our wonderful contributor Tom Arms. Tom is an American, hence the Ex-Pat. I do leave his spelling intact, but I still can’t resist removing capital letters from headlines.

In his day as editor on Lib Dem Voice Mark Pack campaigned about the use of spaces after full stops – only one allowed, not two. For my part, I have been known to have a prolonged discussion with one of our academic contributors on the correct use of single and double speech marks, to the amusement of the other members of the LDV team. Mark and I are both published authors so we have had the experience of justifying our writing style and use of terminology to copyeditors and proof readers, which does help us to consolidate our position on these rather esoteric issues.

We don’t expect that level of linguistic nit-pickery in our contributors – but I would ask you, please, to avoid assigning random capital letters in your headings and general text. And do not use American spellings for good English words.

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Jonathan Brown

Action on Gaza at last – but is it fast and far-reaching enough?

By Jonathan Brown | Thu 22nd May 2025 - 10:14 am

This week, as Israel intensifies its ground operation in Gaza and aid agencies warn of impending famine, the UK government seems to be finally taking a stand. On Tuesday, the UK joined France and Canada in issuing a joint statement condemning Israel’s ongoing aid blockade and military escalation and warning of “concrete actions” if the Israeli government fails to change course. The following day, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced a series of new measures, including a formal pause on UK-Israel trade negotiations, targeted sanctions on illegal settlers, and the summoning of the Israeli Ambassador to the UK – a rare diplomatic move not taken since the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers in April 2024.

These are important and long-overdue steps, signalling a shift in government rhetoric and a new willingness to intervene after months of equivocation. But in the face of daily mass atrocities in Gaza, tougher and more comprehensive measures are required to compel urgent, on-the-ground change and pave the way to just and lasting solutions.

The need for decisive international action could not be clearer. After eleven weeks of total blockade, at least 500,000 people in Gaza face a critical risk of famine. Following mounting international pressure, Israel is now allowing a “basic amount of food” to enter, but this is a fig leaf, nothing more, certainly nowhere near enough to avert mass death from starvation. The UN’s humanitarian chief has warned that 14,000 babies could die within days without immediate help. At the same time, Israel has launched a fresh ground offensive aimed at seizing yet more Palestinian territory and forcibly displacing the population, killing at least 500 Palestinians since the offensive began last week. In the West Bank, illegal settlement building, land seizures and settler violence continue to surge, with senior minister Smotrich vowing that Israel will “apply sovereignty” i.e. illegally annex the land before the current government’s term ends in 2026.

For too long, the UK government has enabled these atrocities through inaction, evasion, and quiet complicity. Even as international legal bodies have made clear that the Israeli government is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and that its occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful, UK ministers have carefully avoided directly acknowledging Israel’s breaches of international law, preferring instead to reference “risks” of breaches. Rather than using its leverage to press for compliance with international law, the UK has consistently sent a dangerous message: that Israel is free to violate international law with impunity.

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In service of the common good

By Graham Garvie | Wed 21st May 2025 - 12:41 pm

Retirement offers many opportunities the most important of which is time to enjoy some pursuits which employment rarely allows. Reading more books is one of these. And, in parallel with reading goes the opportunity to write. 

As you may know, I have written previously about my time working in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Recently, I have tackled a much bigger writing task – that of an autobiography. This has been a laborious but a hugely enjoyable exercise – digging out diaries, documents, photographs, press cuttings and perusing and choosing which to use.

Core to the book In Service of the Common Good is the fundamental importance to humankind of the common good, empathy and kindness especially in today’s increasingly dangerous and selfish world.  Interspersed with reflection and humour, there are naturally strong liberal themes throughout; professional advice on councillor/officer relationships and the pitfalls and opportunities of political coalitions.

The book has now been published and is on sale for £10 and £5 p and p.  All proceeds will go to that excellent charity The Samaritans which has a branch in Selkirk. 

To give you a flavour of the book which has 126 pages, the chapter headings are as follows:

Musings from the Second Top Diving Board

  1. An Edinburgh Foothold

       2.Path-Finding

  1. An Unexpected Diversion  
  2. Making Waves
  3. The World as Workplace
  • Land of the Long White Cloud
  • Democratic Aspirations
  • And Iraq
  • Not Brexit
  1. A United Kingdom
  2. Art is the Heart of Things
  3. Influence and Encounter
  4. A Royal Salute

     10. And More Besides

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Roderick Lynch

Britain is adrift, and the silence is deafening

By Roderick Lynch | Tue 20th May 2025 - 5:32 pm
I didn’t plan to write this. I’ve just come through an intensive weekend, much of it spent in hospital. And it’s from my bed, in the quiet hours between the beeping monitors and the routine checks, that I’ve had time to reflect not just on health, but on the health of this country. This is after I have witnessed two Filipino nurses spoken to and treated like something under a shoe. They did not deserve to be racially embarrassed in public, simply for stating they finished their shift three hours ago.

Racism in Britain isn’t always loud. It’s often quiet, strategic, systemic. It’s in the job you don’t get. The voice you’re asked to lower. The opportunities that somehow never arrive. I’ve seen it play out in boardrooms and back rooms, on doorsteps and in data. And I’ve watched how it’s brushed aside by a political class that either doesn’t care, or pretends not to see it.
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Adam Bennett

We should be proud to be the party of business

By Adam Bennett | Tue 20th May 2025 - 9:00 am

After a moment of epiphany, everything changes. Our brains get re-wired, and the world looks like a different place. Some people travel the world in search of these epiphanies, seeking spiritual guidance in some far-flung, lush, or exotic corner of the planet

Me? My defining moment of epiphany struck in the West Midlands Town of Dudley, in an office block besides a roundabout off the A4123. I guess that’s the thing about epiphanies: they tend to surprise you.

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Mathew Hulbert

Mathew on Monday – An opportunity is opening up for Lib Dems…will we take it?

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 19th May 2025 - 5:00 pm

We live in strange political times. Polarised politics, suffocating social media, a faltering economy. People want certainty in an age of ever swifter geopolitical change.

Some fall for the easy answers of the hard Right and the uncompromising Left. Where does that leave the moderate Centre? Sat on the fence? Stuck in the middle of the road, primed to become roadkill? Never prepared to give an opinion or pick a side? Always waiting to see which way the wind blows before choosing a direction of travel?

That is certainly how some see us. Are they wrong? Are we just the least worst option? A protest vote? Can a party which once saw in its ranks (even if not at the same time) both Darren Grimes (right-wing media regular and now a Reform deputy County Council leader) and Zack Polanski (now deputy leader of the Greens and running to lead that party on an unapologetically eco-Left agenda) really believe in anything? Are we just a blank canvas on which anyone can paint their particular brand of politics and sell it as Liberalism?

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Chris Bowers

We must be brave on immigration – now!

By Chris Bowers | Mon 19th May 2025 - 12:30 pm

The Liberal Democrats have always been at their best when they’re brave – when we shout about things we believe in, even if they go against the current trend. Things that can tap into a seam of public opinion that is sympathetic but whose members have been wondering whether they are the only ones to think what they’re thinking.

At the end of a week that has seen Keir Starmer do his best Enoch Powell impersonation with his ‘island of strangers’ speech, we have an opportunity – nay, a responsibility – to stand up for immigrants to the UK. This is …

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Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day: 19 May 2025 – Keir, you can only take progressive voters for granted if they don’t have a choice…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 19th May 2025 - 7:30 am

Watching the Starmer administration thrash about as it attempts to put Reform “back in their box” has been an increasingly unedifying experience over the past few weeks. And yes, it’s probably time to treat them like any other opponent now that they’re in a position of power in a number of county councils, but apeing them on immigration policy isn’t exactly doing that, is it?

I am not naive, however. Many Reform voters (in fairness, most voters) pay little attention to the day to day of modern politics. They don’t care who runs local services unless things go wrong, have little understanding of, or care about, the difficulties of local government finance. They just know that their council tax bills goes up every year, and the services get worse. And, if nobody else is active in their neighbourhood, why not vote Reform? It couldn’t get worse, surely?

Obviously, it can though. Letting a bunch of people who have little knowledge of how local government really works and whose prejudices are unsupported by the facts risks either a series of poor decisions or effective officer control. The former leads to ever more diminishing services, the latter to a loss of democratic oversight and accountability. But there will always be someone else to blame, and that will be what some voters will be happy to accept.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 18th May 2025 - 8:30 am

A divided Supreme Court?

Birthright citizenship coupled with the power of the courts v. the executive was up before the Supreme Court this week. And it looks as if the court is divided.

A decision will take time, probably a couple of months. But based on the questioning from the Bench it appears as if a decision could go either way, or be wrapped up in so much qualifying legal mumbo-jumbo as to be nearly useless.

Birthright citizenship and the courts v the president are two separate issues but they have been judicially linked because the lower courts have been blocking Trump’s plans to deport more than 5 million people who were born in the US to parents who were illegal aliens.

There are 94 District Courts in the US that hear cases involving the US constitution that are brought to them by people in their district. A ruling by one of the federal judges in those districts can be applied nationally. This means that one of Trump’s Executive Orders can be blocked until the Supreme Court finds time to make a final ruling. This could take many frustrating months—if not longer.

The Trump Administration wants the law changed so that a District Court’s judgements apply only to their district. This would, of course, substantially increase the power of the presidency and his Executive Orders, but could create a confusing judicial quilt of which laws apply where.

Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the The 13th Amendment of the US constitution. The amendment is a direct result of disputes leading up to the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery after it. In 1857 the Supreme Court ruled that African American slaves had no right to citizenship. That meant that when Lincoln issue the Emancipation Declaration on January 1, 1863, the slaves were freed but they were also stateless. The 13th Amendment was meant to correct that.

When it was passed in 1865, no one thought at the time that the amendment would become a loophole for illegal aliens to establish citizenship for their children and a moral right to residency for themselves. But it is still the law. And because it is in the constitution, it is a chiselled in legal granite law.

The only way it can be changed is by amending the constitution. This involves one of two processes. The most difficult is a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress followed by passage of the change by three-quarters of the state legislatures. The second, more usual route, is by ratifying conventions in three-quarters of the states. Both are difficult and time consuming and the reason why the constitution is rarely amended.

Trump likes moving at speed, which is why he is hoping that the Supreme Court will either find a way to declare the 13th Amendment null and void or come up with a work around that will allow him to circumvent it.

Midterm dilemma

Republican Congressmen and Senators are in a bind. Or at least they will be in November 2026 when all of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are up for election.

I keep hearing that a growing number of the Republican congressional club are fed up, appalled and seriously worried at the way that Donald Trump is riding roughshod over the constitution, destroying established trade patterns with his tariffs and jettisoning important allies.

But they feel trapped. If they speak up. If they oppose him. They risk losing their seats. And if they lose their seats they lose the platform from which they can oppose him if they can find a way to do so.

It has happened before. Liz Cheney was a highly respected, extremely conservative, Republican senator who vociferously opposed Trump because she thought he was a dictator in the making. Trump turned to his loyal MAGA base and told them to dump Cheney in the Senate primaries and support the far-right MAGA alternative. They did as instructed.

Cheney’s demise was an object lesson for ever centrist-minded Republican in Congress. Tow the Trump line are you are out. Hence the climate of Omerta which has descended on Capitol Hill.

But, Trump is falling in the approval stakes. The majority is starting to turn against the president. Not everywhere. In some states MAGA remains dominant. But enough states that the anti-Trump vote is like to return enough Democrats for the Republicans to lose control of the House of Representatives.

Republican anti-Trump lawmakers are thus caught in the middle between Trump and the MAGA crowd on one side and baying Democrats on the other. It may just be possible that moving against Trump now could win them enough centrist and Democratic votes to keep their seats. That, however, seems unlikely.

Anti-Trump Republicans still, have 18 months until the next election. Will they remember their oath to defend the constitution, rediscover their morals and fight against Trump’s increasingly corrupt authoritarianism? If they do—and lose—at least they will have the knowledge that they went down fighting.

Nobel ambitions

Donald Trump desperately wants the Nobel Peace Prize. One of his success v failure yardsticks is outdoing Barack Obama. Obama won the peace prize. Trump must have it too.

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Caron Lindsay

IDAHOBIT: How Lib Dem Councillors are fighting for LGBT rights

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 17th May 2025 - 3:13 pm

The recent Supreme Court judgement on the definition of a women by “biological sex”, a concept described by BMA resident doctors as “scientifically illiterate” has caused real anxiety amongst trans people whilst not making women any safer. In fact, with the current media focus on toilets and changing rooms, it’s likely to lead to all women being less safe and subject to challenge if they don’t conform to gender stereotypes.

It’s a lose-lose if ever there was one. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has issued interim guidance regarding the use of single sex facilities which is about as extreme as they could manage. It’s interesting to note that one of the judges who wrote the Supreme Court judgement said that these issues were beyond its scope, yet the EHRC has taken the cruellest approach that it could.

However, the Guardian reported this week that staff at the EHRC have expressed concern about the guidance and the fact that two weeks consultation was given. This is likely to be extended to six weeks.

One EHRC source said there had been significant disquiet among staff about the interim guidance and the way it was drawn up before being published on 25 April.

They said: “Most people, including some fairly senior ones, had no idea the interim guidance was coming until it was published late on the Friday evening.

“They woke up to texts from family members and friends saying: ‘What’s going on?’ Staff working on sex and gender issues hadn’t been told, and nor had the duty press staff who were meant to explain it to the media. It was completely shambolic.

“This is, understandably, a fairly inclusive workplace and quite a few staff have trans friends or even partners. They suddenly had to try and explain this guidance which made no sense.

All of this will affect Councils as they will have to look at they provide services. Lib Dem Councillors across the country will soon be able to access suggestions for their own trans-inclusive motions to submit  for debate in their areas. Lib Dem Women has been working with LGBT+ Lib Dems and ALDC to put together a draft for Councillors to use. it will be circulated to their members very soon.

In Edinburgh, Lib Dem Councillor Euan Davidson was instrumental in ensuring that the Council passed a motion recognising that trans people were anxious and re-affirming its position that LGBT people should feel welcome in the city.

Here is his speech in full, which you can watch here.

I want to start by saying that whilst we accept the Supreme Courts ruling let us be clear: trans people have been quietly and respectfully using the facilities that match their gender for over two decades. Without incident. Without uproar. Without chaos. What has changed is not their conduct—but the temperature of the national debate and the fear being sown in its wake by politicians pitting two vulnerable groups again one another.

And that fear is real. I have heard from LGBTQ+ constituents who are frightened to go about their daily lives. Who now feel they must look over their shoulders. Who feel less safe, due to the confusion and chaos left in the wake of the court’s rulng.

Let’s also be clear on this: trans rights are human rights. The Equality Act still protects people from discrimination on the basis of gender reassignment. The Supreme Court ruling affirms this. But in the absence of leadership from the UK Government—indeed in the presence of active confusion and hostility—too many public bodies are retreating. They are excluding. And they are, in some cases, going further than the law ever intended.

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Christine Jardine MP

IDAHOBIT: Christine Jardine “I will fight for entire LGBT community

By Christine Jardine MP | Sat 17th May 2025 - 12:30 pm

Editor’s Note: This first appeared on the party website:

As we mark International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia this year, I am sadly reminded of how much more still needs to be done.

The past few years have been difficult and worrying, particularly for trans people. They have been targeted by divisive culture wars, too often stoked by the Conservatives and right-wing media. It’s more important than ever that the Liberal Democrats stand up for trans people – including by pushing the Government to ensure the Supreme Court ruling doesn’t lead to a roll back of trans rights.

Today gives us an important opportunity to acknowledge the violence and discrimination that too many LGBTQ+ people face, and reflect on what we can do to help change it.

Because far too many LGBTQ+ people face discrimination, prejudice and abuse, just for being who they are.

The statistics paint a sobering picture. Two-thirds of LGBTQ+ people report that they have experienced anti-LGBTQ+ violence or abuse. The number of hate crimes recorded against trans people have more than doubled in the last five years.

The LGBTQ+ community deserves so much better than this – and I believe that us politicians have a responsibility to help push for that positive change. Not just in the language we use, but also in the policies we push for.

I’m delighted that our party reaffirmed its commitment to LGBTQ+ rights at our Spring Conference. That includes bringing forward a clear plan to tackle anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime. Like ensuring that hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people are counted as aggravated offences, and delivering better training for police on preventing and prosecuting anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime.

It’s not just about hate crime, either. Homophobia, biphobia and transphobia touches on every aspect of people’s lives. We want to see a world where nobody’s life chances are limited by their sexual orientation or gender identity.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems mark IDAHOBIT 2025 – we support you, we stand with you

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 17th May 2025 - 10:34 am

The sun is shining, it’s Brussels Pride (where Lib Dem Women chair Donna Harris is today),  Doctor Who Eurovision (the Interstellar Song Contest featuring Rylan) and Actual Eurovision from Basel and it’s IDAHOBIT, the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. Could a day be any more fabulous?

The LGBT community needs a moment of respite. Life for them, particularly our trans colleagues, is fairly unremittingly awful at the moment. I don’t know a trans person who isn’t scared about doing something as fundamental as going to the loo when they are out.  The UK is sliding down the international rankings as a good place for LGBT+ people to live at an alarming rate.

It’s not long after 10 as I write this, and already there have been a fair few good things from Liberal Democrats. Way too much to fit into one post, so there will be a few throughout the day.

First up, is Ed Davey’s video message which sends an unequivocal message to the LGBT+ community: the Liberal Democrats will never stop fighting to build a country where you are truly free to be who you are.

LGBT+ Lib Dems said:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: Middle East

By Tom Arms | Sat 17th May 2025 - 8:30 am

The Middle East has been called Byzantine, a snake pit and a political cesspit. It is a land where there are said to be no national interests, only interests. Where today’s enemy is tomorrow’s bedfellow and vice versa.

The region’s many leaders have changed horses so many times that the horses are dizzy.

All the above is especially true today when the region’s faraway overlord—the President of the United States—is likely to change his mind at the drop of a bitcoin, especially if the coin drops into his account.

This week Donald Trump has been touring the region and it has changed. The Arabs and the Turks are very happy with America. The Iranians may be coming around. The Israelis are—surprise, surprise—unhappy with the mercurial president.

One of the reasons that the Turks and Arabs are pleased is that the US is lifting sanctions on Syria. This became a certainty when Trump met with Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa and pronounced: “I think he has got potential.” Not so many months ago the US had a $10 million dead or alive bounty on his head.

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Joan Walmsley

Joan Walmsley writes… We need to remove nitrites from our food

By Joan Walmsley | Fri 16th May 2025 - 12:48 pm

It’s time to fact facts- the UK’s food system is broken, and the food industry is to blame. In addition to failures by successive governments over the last 30 years to reduce obesity rates, get a grip on the advertising of healthy foods, and stop food companies from using misleading labels, there is one major failure which has gone unaddressed for too long – the failure to protect the public from the carcinogenic chemicals being added to our everyday foods. 

A clear scientific consensus has developed which shows that nitrites, chemicals which food companies add to processed meats such as bacon and ham to enhance their flavour, colour and shelf life, cause cancer. Globally, around 34,000 cases of colorectal cancer could be prevented each year if these chemicals were phased out of our food chain. Europe has already started doing this, but the UK is falling behind.  

With more than 7 million people currently waiting for NHS treatment and cancer care targets continuing to be missed across the board, the UK desperately needs relief from avoidable external factors like nitrites. And given new technologies are now available to produce cured meat products without nitrites, turning a blind eye to this issue is simply not an option – especially at a time when our NHS is facing severe challenges.  

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William Francis

How the Liberal Democrats can benefit from the rise of Reform UK

By William Francis | Fri 16th May 2025 - 10:11 am

In the 1950s and 1960s, the leader of the Liberal party, Jo Grimond, believed our long-term aim should be to supplant the Labour party as the main party of the left in Britain. Over half a century later, our current leader, Sir Ed Davey, has said that it is the Tories that we should push into third party status.

Both these strategies assumed that the Labour-Conservative duopoly was too strong to be completely removed. Over the past couple of years, this assumption has been put to the test by Nigel Farage and Reform UK (RUK). Now the old duopoly is weaker than ever before, as support for Labour and the Conservatives crumbles. RUK’s rise to prominence should alarm liberals, given their policies on taxation, immigration, renewable energy, and flags, but there is a silver lining to this large cloud. The rise of RUK presents a golden opportunity for the Liberal Democrats to eclipse both Labour and the Conservatives in terms of political power and relevancy.

During the recent local elections, only RUK and the Liberal Democrats exhibited any material amount of growth, with the Conservatives reeling from a wipeout and Labour sliding backwards. As such, in many places, a RUK-Liberal Democrat contest for power will be the defining lens through which politics is viewed. In Cornwall, Gloucestershire, and Devon RUK is likely to be the official opposition to a Liberal Democrat led administration. The Liberal Democrats are also now the second largest party in many areas where RUK is the largest party, including Durham, Warwickshire, and Kent. These sorts of contests will be very beneficial for us. According to YouGov, the Liberal Democrats stand to benefit more from tactical voting against RUK than either Labour or the Conservatives.

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Julliet Makhapila

Challenging the complex visa application process for African citizens

By Julliet Makhapila | Thu 15th May 2025 - 2:27 pm

I am concerned about the persistent and systemic challenges faced by African nationals in obtaining visas to enter the United Kingdom. Despite longstanding diplomatic and trade relations between the UK and numerous African countries, the visa application process for African citizens remains disproportionately complex, opaque, and frequently unsuccessful, particularly for those travelling for business, academic, or cultural exchange purposes.

African applicants must navigate a rigorous and often burdensome visa application system. This includes submitting extensive documentation, providing certified translations of any non-English materials, proving financial solvency for the duration of their stay, and paying significant fees to the UK Home Office. In many cases, applicants must travel to neighbouring countries simply to attend visa interviews or access Visa Application Centres—an additional logistical and financial barrier that citizens of many other countries are not required to endure.

Empirical data from the UK Home Office substantiates claims of systemic bias: African applicants are over twice as likely to be refused a UK visa compared to applicants from other regions. A 2019 report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Africa, facilitated by the Royal African Society, revealed that refusal rates for African visitors applying for short-term visas to the UK stood at 27%, compared to a global average of 11%. These disparities are particularly stark for individuals invited to the UK for professional engagements or partnerships with British institutions. As the APPG report concluded, “The problems are real, they are systemic, and they are avoidable.”

The consequences of these inequities extend beyond individual applicants. There is growing evidence that the UK’s visa policies risk undermining its soft power, trade potential, and academic diplomacy in Africa. Increasing numbers of African professionals, entrepreneurs, artists, and scholars are choosing to engage with more welcoming nations, redirecting their collaborations and investments away from the UK. This not only disadvantages British institutions but also contradicts the UK government’s stated ambitions to strengthen relations with African partners post-Brexit.

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Mary Reid

A letter to Pride

By Mary Reid | Thu 15th May 2025 - 1:12 pm

I sent this letter to the Pride organisers yesterday.

I was proud to be described as an LGBT+ ally some years ago at a Pride event – indeed I have been supporting LGBT issues all my adult life at both a personal and institutional level.

I have also been proud of what my party, the Liberal Democrats, has achieved in this area – from opposing Section 28 to proposing the Alan Turing Law, bringing in equal marriage and championing trans rights.

I was therefore deeply shocked and unhappy that political groups are being banned from Pride marches this year. In our case LGBT+ Lib Dems have been in the forefront of the party’s campaigns. It feels like a terrible snub for them to be banned from an event that they have always enthusiastically supported. Without the Lib Dems some of the freedoms that are now enjoyed by people on Pride marches would not have happened.

I should also add that all of us, of whatever political party or none, should also be encouraging LGBT+ groups within other less supportive parties. For some it is a deeply uncomfortable place to be, but their groups are essential to bring about a change of culture from within.

I would therefore ask you to reconsider the decision to ban political groups from Pride events this year.

They have just replied to say:

“We are currently in talks with your colleagues on the way forward.”

Let’s hope the ban is lifted.

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Ruvi Ziegler

Starvation in Gaza

By Ruvi Ziegler | Thu 15th May 2025 - 12:10 pm

This is the text of a speech I delivered at a demonstration in London on 11 May 2025 organised by ‘We Democracy’.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against the Israeli PM Netanyahu and the then defence minister Yoav Gallant. Among the many charges, one egregiously stood out: the war crime of starvation: already then, there were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and his government have been ‘intentionally using starvation of civilians in Gaza as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies’.

We stand here over two long months since Israel imposed a complete blockade on the Gaza Strip. The hunger and food shortage situation in the Strip is worsening. However, for Israeli ministers and members of Parliament, what we have is a Schrodinger’s starvation: they would tell you, sometimes in the same interview or Knesset hearing, that there is no starvation, it’s all fabrication; but that if there is starvation, it is Hamas’ fault for stealing supplies; and that even if it is not the result of stealing, Hamas is ultimately responsible for the outcome because it continues to hold hostages. The latest ‘creative’ explanation, comes from a UK charity, UKLFI: they claim Israel is helping tackle obesity, which was one of the biggest health issues in Gaza prior to October 7th.

To state the obvious: hostage-taking is a vile, horrendous crime. Hamas’ behaviour is morally depraved. But there is never, ever, justification for a deliberate policy of starvation. It is never, ever, permissible to use civilians as bargaining chips, starving them in order to pressure an armed group to surrender. The fact that, in 2025, this is something that needs to be said; that, in Israel, saying it will be met with considerable hostility, shows how low we have sunk.

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Vince Cable

Dog whistles and panic about immigration

By Vince Cable | Thu 15th May 2025 - 8:52 am

Nigel Farage can congratulate himself. His party did well in recent local elections; but so did the Liberal Democrats and Reform’s support may not last.  What he can be especially pleased about is to have reduced the leaders of the Conservative and Labour parties to quivering jelly: terrified that their supporters will abandon them unless they are fed a diet of dog-whistle slogans and impractical but draconian-sounding immigration policies.

The Conservatives’ odd Soviet era obsession with planning targets for net immigration comfortably meets Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. They somehow fail to have noticed that the statistics on net migration are largely meaningless: massively inflated by overseas students who are wrongly counted as immigrants.

The Labour government’s proposals by contrast have some perfectly sensible bits. Who would seriously quarrel with the idea that policy should aim to maximise the contribution immigrants make to the UK? Or with the idea that employers should cease regarding immigrants as an excuse for not training their British labour force. There are no numerical targets: good. But why spoil it with demagogic dog-whistles about ‘an island of strangers’ or Brexit bromides about ‘taking back control’ or – worst – denouncing liberal immigration as ‘squalid’.

The political debate would benefit from more reflection on the history of immigration politics, survey data on public attitudes and rigorous research on the impacts of immigration.  I have tried to pull together this material in a Working Paper for ODI/Global.

Immigration panics are not new. At the turn of the 20th century, the populist Tory MP, William Evans-Gordon, led a movement to stop Jewish immigration from – mainly – Russia.  Crime, disease, stealing jobs: the usual.  The Balfour government was panicked into the 1905 Aliens Act whose institutionalised antisemitism so disgusted Winston Churchill that he left the Tories for the Liberals.

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Lord William Wallace

Churches and chapels, Liberalism and faith

By Lord William Wallace | Wed 14th May 2025 - 11:55 am

Liberals will have followed the papal Conclave with mixed feelings.  Liberalism was forged in opposition to state power and state churches, their enforced orthodoxy and suppression of dissent.  On the European continent that gave early Liberalism a strong anti-Catholic tinge, which hasn’t entirely disappeared.  In England and Wales the alliance between Whigs and nonconformists became central to the 19th century Liberal Party, with campaigns to disestablish the Anglican church and to remove its control over schools and universities.  The high point of nonconformist influence in the party was between the 1880s and the first world war. In recent decades, some active Liberal Democrats have become hostile to faith and religion as such – in some cases intolerant of those in the party who hold to a faith and belong to a church.

I grew up as a Protestant Anglican.  I learned what I now understand as social liberalism from the sermons of Canon Marriott, preaching the ‘social gospel’ in Westminster Abbey (putting down my Biggles book, which choristers were allowed to take in to keep us quiet during sermons),   I had instinctive anti-Catholic prejudices, probably from the English history I was taught and the children’s histories I read.  I was shocked when, as a student, I first met an active Liberal who said he was also a Catholic.  His name was Geoff Tordoff, and he later became a key player in holding the party together during the last years of Jeremy Thorpe’s leadership and the Lib-Lab pact.  Then I worked throughout the 1966 election campaign for Pratap Chitnis, educated by the Jesuits and a practising Catholic, and learned to admire his intellectual as well as campaigning skills.  My prejudices evaporated as I worked with a succession of liberal Catholics whose faith and values went together.

What Liberals (myself included) dislike about religion is the claim to certainty that fundamentalists assert, the hierarchical structure of the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and (often) Evangelical churches, and the corruption of authority when priests defend their institution instead of their faith.  Popes 150 years ago condemned liberalism and the separation of church and state; the Church of England was a pillar of social order and Tory rule.  As institutions, both have fallen a long way short of the faith they proclaim.  Both these ‘establishment’ churches have struggled to adapt to open and democratic societies, and to the uncertainties of reasoned debate and honest doubt that such societies depend on.  But both have adapted, to the point where right-wing media in the USA are bitterly criticising the new pope. 

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Janey Little

Championing gender equity in healthcare

By Janey Little | Wed 14th May 2025 - 8:55 am

Gender inequity is pervasive in healthcare. Between stigma, delayed and incorrect diagnoses, gender bias, not being taken seriously, under-representation in clinical trials, and insufficient funding for health issues impacting women and gender diverse people, women face numerous barriers to high-quality care and equitable outcomes in healthcare. These issues are just the tip of the iceberg, and racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia further shape women’s experiences of healthcare.

This week is Women’s Health Week, which was started by the U.S. Department of Health to help raise awareness of women’s health issues. Here are three areas we as Liberal Democrat Women would like to draw attention to for this week.

Abortion

With the Trump administration continuing to attack the right to abortion and reproductive healthcare, now more than ever we as Liberal Democrats must be firm in our support for the right to choose, and in our solidarity with those who have lost that right.

Women across the globe are impacted by the actions of the Trump administration. For example, the global gag rule was reinstated in January, which prevents NGOs who provide abortion services or advocate for abortion rights from receiving aid from the US. Billions of dollars of foreign aid are affected by this, and 690 million women of reproductive agelive in countries impacted by the global gag rule. This is denying women and gender diverse people safe access to healthcare.

In the UK, Liberal Democrat Women will continue to advocate for the decriminalisation of abortion, because nobody deserves to be criminalised for accessing healthcare and making decisions over their own body. Abortion is healthcare.

Healthcare in pregnancy and the neonatal period

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Caron Lindsay

History at Holyrood as Assisted Dying Bill passes first stage

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 13th May 2025 - 9:03 pm

Since this session of the Scottish Parliament started in 2021, Lib Dem MSP for Orkney has been working diligently through many consultation stages to bring in a Members’ Bill which would allow terminally ill adults with capacity a choice to have an assisted death. Today, the Bill passed its first parliamentary stage by 70 votes to 56.

This is the first time an assisted dying bill has reached this stage. Previous attempts, led by then Lib Dem MSP Jeremy Purvis (now Lord Purvis of Tweed), and Margo Macdonald had fallen at this hurdle.

After the vote, Liam said:

This is a landmark moment for Scotland. I am pleased that after four years of careful and diligent work, the Scottish Parliament has backed the general principles of my bill.

I understand that for many colleagues this has been a difficult decision but I believe the quality of debate today has shown our Parliament at its finest.

Over the coming months, I will continue to have discussions with my parliamentary colleagues, medical bodies and legal experts to ensure that this bill is robustly safeguarded so that terminally ill adults can have the choice of accessing assisted dying, alongside other palliative care and support at the end of life.

This bill has been a long time coming but, at long last, it can offer that compassionate choice for the small number of terminally ill Scots who need it.

Earlier he had asked the Parliament to support the general principles of the Bill, saying that they would then have the chance to debate specific amendments at the next stage.

There’s a lot of work to do to get this through the next few parliamentary stages.

Liam has been incredibly gracious, wise, inclusive and considerate in the way he has taken this forward. He could not have done a better job and, whatever our views on the Bill, we can be very proud of the way he has led on this.

Here’s his opening speech in full:

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Tony Paterson

Confront Farage – or do our own thing?

By Tony Paterson | Tue 13th May 2025 - 12:00 pm

Embed from Getty Images

A lively debate is going on in our local borough party about how the Lib Dems should deal with the Tories and Nigel Farage, following Reform UK’s big advances in the Elections held on 1 May.

One view, held by some senior figures whom I respect, and who know how to win elections, is that it is important not to amplify your opponent’s message. They consider the first rule of politics to be `Never allow yourself to be lured on to your opponent’s territory.’.

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Time for a Co-Presidency: Making the Liberal Democrat Presidency fit for the future

By Callum Robertson and Simon McGrath | Tue 13th May 2025 - 8:57 am

As Liberal Democrats, we are rightly proud of our commitment to pluralism, participation, and fairness—not just in policy, but in the way we run our own party. Yet our system for electing and supporting the Party President falls short of these values. The role is unpaid, heavily time-consuming, and increasingly inaccessible to the very members we say we want to empower. It’s time to consider reform—and a co-presidency model is a logical next step.

Unpaid and Unsustainable

The President chairs the Federal Board, sits on multiple key party committees such as the Federal Policy Committee and Federal Conference Committee.

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Fraser Graham

“Are you kidding me?” – A Response to the Lib Dem Home Affairs Spokesperson’s Response to the Labour Government

By Fraser Graham | Mon 12th May 2025 - 4:12 pm

I joined the Liberal Democrats in 2016, when then party leader Tim Farron made clear that the Liberal Democrats would continue to fight for the UK’s place in the EU. A place in the EU that would have preserved freedom of movement and allowed for us to remain a vibrant and multicultural society which recognises that foreign workers strengthen our economy and industries, not weaken them.

I have since stayed in the party, a party which I believe reflects my feeling that immigration is not a bad thing. I have supported and spoken up for calls such as Christine Jardine’s to …

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Caron Lindsay

Dear Keir, there are other options than pandering to prejudice

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 12th May 2025 - 10:59 am

I feel absolutely sick to my stomach this morning.

I really need to get out of the habit of thinking that Labour Ministers will somehow have more sense, or that their values will align more closely with mine even if they get stuff wrong sometimes. That mindset only leads to crushing disappointment.

We have had decades of the right wing press drip-feeding prejudice against immigrants. All political parties, including ours to a certain extent, have failed to stand up against this and unashamedly make the positive case for immigration. This has been remarkably stupid given that we are living in a world that has been getting smaller. People fall in love with people from other countries. If every country pulls up the drawbridge on immigration, that has a huge impact on their freedom to live their lives as they please.

It’s been incredibly depressing to see, particularly over the last decade, politicians in parties who should know better taking on board the talking points of the far right. Rather than, you know, invest in public services so that everyone can have a decent standard of living, they blame immigration for all the country’s ills, poisoning the minds of the public.

We reached a new low this morning.  I’ve heard Labour referred to as the Red Tories before. Today they are basically Red Reform. Starmer is no better than Farage. A couple of weeks ago, Farage had a go,  out loud in our Parliament, about “cultures alien to ours.” This was a comment that Christine Jardine said made her blood run cold in her Scotsman column last week. 

This week I heard the leader of Reform proclaim confidently in the Commons that the problem with immigration was that it was bringing people here with cultures not compatible with our own. I felt my blood run cold.

That sort of language used to be, and should be still, unthinkable. We cannot accept it, we cannot run from fighting for the rights of minorities. It’s time for us to stand up to be counted. Like our grandparents did.

Why does it take an opposition MP to make this point? Why did our Prime Minister not make mincemeat of Farage and his horrible agenda right there, right then?

It’s the least we could expect.

But, no, this morning, he apes it, saying we are:

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Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey’s “Why I care and why care matters” out on 22 May

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 11th May 2025 - 5:00 pm

Ed Davey has written a book about his own varied and lifelong caring experience and it’s coming out on 22 May, just in time for me to tae my copy with me on my Highland holiday.

He sent an email to party members telling us about the book and letting us know that we can get 30% if we pre-order by 21 May.

He said:

As you know, caring is, and has been, much of my life. And yet, it is only since becoming Leader that I have felt comfortable and compelled to speak about it. In my first speech, I talked about being a voice for carers, and you will remember how the message grew into the story I shared in our election broadcast.

Opening up like that was a big decision for both Emily and me. But since then, we have received a fairly constant stream of support and kindness. My inbox has become almost like a meeting place for carers from all over the country to share their support, advice and kind words, and talk about their problems.

It truly solidified for me that telling our stories – the realities of caring, the joys and the struggles – is the most powerful way to change things. It cuts through the noise and reminds everyone of the human beings at the heart of this issue.

The thought that care might slip down the priority list scares me. It too often feels like governments see care as something that’s just… too complicated, too difficult to really tackle. And that’s a shame, because I believe it’s the very foundation of a healthy society.

And so, I have written a book.

I will be honest, it’s deeply personal for me, and for the four other carers whose stories I tell. At times, I found it difficult to write.

But with these personal stories, and my reflections on what it’s going to take to really fix care, I hope we can put care at the forefront of people’s minds, make it so real that it can’t be ignored.

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An alternative VE Day message – Standing with Ukraine

By Richard Kilpatrick and Michael Anderson | Sun 11th May 2025 - 10:56 am

An alternative VE day message – Standing with Ukraine. 

In 2025, the world marks 80 years since Victory in Europe (VE) Day. But the war in Ukraine rages on – a stark reminder that peace and freedom can never be taken for granted.

While we celebrate the end of an old conflict, millions of Ukrainians are still living through the devastation of an ongoing war.

On behalf of the European Movement UK we went to Ukraine, to put Ukrainian voices in front of a British audience and to ensure their voices are not forgotten.

We are presenting these stories in a new film: Flags in the Wind.

In Flags in the Wind, we hear from the voices of everyday Ukrainians forced to flee their homes in Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Kyiv, relocating to the humanitarian hubs around Lviv.

By hearing their experiences, we discover the resilience of a people, the horrors of war, and the determination to set an example to the people of Europe in the face of tyranny. 

With contributions from Ukrainian citizens, veterans, senior politicians, and rehabilitation centre clinicians, Flags in the Wind delivers a sober message at a time when Europe is remembering the end of World War II.

Since we were founded in 1949,our mission at the European Movement has always been to promote peace, democracy, and unity across Europe.

This film is a direct expression of that purpose – reminding us that standing together in the face of aggression is essential to protecting our shared, European future.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 11th May 2025 - 8:59 am

The Vatican

What’s in a name? If you’re the Pope, quite a lot.

With 2,000-years of history, the incoming Bishop of Rome is able to choose a name from among his 266 predecessors whose career best reflects his values.

American-born Robert Prevost has chosen to be known as Pope Leo XIV. This is an important nod to Pope Leo XIII, who led the church from 1878 to 1903 and is generally regarded as the father of modern Catholic social teaching. He called for the church to address social and economic issues, and emphasized the dignity of individuals, the common good, community, and taking care of marginalized individuals.

In the midst of the Gilded Age, Leo XIII defended the rights of workers and said that the church had not just the duty to speak about justice and fairness, but also the responsibility to make sure that such equities were accomplished.

Prevost’s choice of the name Leo invokes the principles of both Leo XIII and his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis. In his own lifetime he has aligned himself with many of Francis’s social reforms, and his election appears to be a rejection of hard-line right-wing Catholics in the U.S. and elsewhere who have used their religion to support far-right politics.

Leading the American pack as a self-appointed moral arbiter of the Catholic community is Vice-President JD Vance. Shortly after taking office in January, Vance began to talk of the concept of ordo amoris, or “order of love.” He claimed it justified the MAGA emphasis on family and tribalism and the mass expulsion of migrants.

Vance told Sean Hannity of the Fox News Channel, “You love your family, and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then, after all that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.”

The Pope’s job is to be a moral arbiter and interpreter of Christian doctrine. Much more so than that of any politician, all of whose morals are generally regarded as suspect. On February 10, Pope Francis responded to Vance in a letter to American bishops. He said the vice president was wrong.  “Christians,” wrote the Pope, “know very well that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as persons and as communities reaches its maturity,” he wrote. “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups…. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by…meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”

“Worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations, easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth,” Pope Francis wrote.

He acknowledged “the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival,” but he defended the fundamental dignity of every human being and the fundamental rights of migrants, noting that the “rightly formed conscience” would disagree with any program that “identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.” He continued: “I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”

The next day, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, who described himself as “a lifelong Catholic,” told reporters at the White House, “I’ve got harsh words for the Pope…. He ought to fix the Catholic Church, concentrate on his work and leave border enforcement to us.”

As an American-born pope in the model of Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV has the power to present himself as a moral alternative to MAGA in the same way as Polish-born Pope John Paul II countered the Soviet empire. He has already re-tweeted Pope Francis’s criticisms of Vance. This would explain the furious response to the new pope by the MAGA crowd. Laura Loomer, the far-right influencer close to the ear of Donald Trump, Pope Leo, wrote “another Marxist puppet in the Vatican.” Influencer Charlie Kirk suggested he was an “open borders globalist installed to counter Trump.” Kirk is probably right. Is that such a bad thing?

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Kashmir in a changed world

By Tom Arms | Sat 10th May 2025 - 9:54 am

Fifteen years ago there were probably three major hotspots in the world: The Korean Peninsula, the Middle East and Kashmir. All three of them involved nuclear weapons.

Ranked in terms of potential flare-ups, the Middle East was at the top followed by Korea because the United States was heavily involved in both those disputes. Kashmir was well down the list because it was mainly a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, although China also had a foothold in the picture postcard mountain region. Kashmir, however, seemed more manageable than the other two hotspots.

This month, however, Kashmir moved up the troublesome leader board after Muslim terrorists murdered a group of Indian tourists. The links between the Pakistan government and the terrorists is uncertain. What is known is that Pakistan is controlled by the army and the army is control by General Asim Munir, an Islamic scholar who recently referred to Kashmir as “the jugular vein of Pakistan.”

The Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi does not need much to encourage it to go after Pakistan. It did so this week by threatening to cut Pakistan off from vital water supplies and by launching a surgical strike 70 miles inside Pakistan in the important Punjab region.

Pakistan responded by shooting down Indian war planes and by firing the opening shots in South Asia’s first drone war.

Then, both sides appear to have taken a step back to catch their breath and review the situation. Pakistan has said it will respond to the latest fighting “at a time and place of its choosing,” which is usually interpreted a step towards a ceasefire.

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