My Conference agenda arrived this morning. I know I can see it all online, but I like that I can write all over the paper copy and highlight things. It’s old-fashioned but it’s kind of like sitting down with a cup of tea and the Radio Times at Christmas and ticking off what you want to watch.
The agenda has details of all the debates, speeches and almost all the fringe events and exhibitors so you can at least try and plan out your weekend.
You might also want to know that Alistair Carmichael is having a whisky tasting on the Saturday night from 9:30-11:00 pm which is not advertised in the Directory. These are amazing events. Not only do you get seriously good and tastefully chosen whisky, but you get Alistair’s inimitable and very funny commentary on each whisky’s origins and manufacture. If you fancy it, email me on [email protected] and I’ll tell you how to try to get a place – but you will have to be quick. Tickets are like gold dust.
I have already paid for mine. I can’t go to the one at Scottish Conference next weekend because I am on vicious antibiotics which tolerate no alcohol whatsoever and am likely to stay on them for another week. That, by the way, is why I have been unusually quiet this last week or so. Anyway, there was no way I was going to miss the York one.
In the agenda you will find details of all the motions to be debated. There is no doubt you will find some that you agree with, some you think are daft and some that you reckon could be improved with a bit of tinkering. For those in the latter category, you might want to submit an amendment. If you have never done this before and want to get some help, you can still get drafting advice from Federal Conference Committee as long as you put in your request by 1pm next Monday, February 18th.
Once you have finalised your text, you have until 1pm on Monday 4th March to find 10 like minded souls to sign up to it and then submit it.
You might also want to think about putting in an emergency motion on a topic that has com up since the motion deadline on 9th January.
So whether you do it online or by leafing through the paper copy, take some time this weekend to go through the motions and think about how you could improve them.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
3 Comments
I received my agenda today too. I also note that the consultation and policy papers are available on the party’s website … and assume that the various conference reports will appear there in due course?
However, looking at agenda item F9 (the business motion on Vince’s proposed registered supporters’ scheme), paragraph I of “Conference therefore recommends that …” refers to “… arrangements … set out in the accompanying paper” (see lines 69-71 on page 44). Any idea when and where this paper will be published, Caron? Perhaps this could be previewed on LDV?
Stupid having to help set up for glee means I will miss Friends of Whisky 🙁
I didn’t know there was still a Radio Times published. I like to get a paper copy too. I do tick things off and then forget to look at the ticks. I blame fake news.