Michael Crick on the Make It Happen debate

Via the BBC blogs:

This afternoon’s discussion at the Lib Dem conference on tax cuts was one of the best debates I have heard at a party conference in many a year. In fact, not since Labour’s big nuclear disarmament debate of the 1980s have I heard exchanges so passionate and genuine.

The Lib Dems managed to organise it so that both sides were properly represented without trying to stage manage things in the way that other parties are occasionally suspected of doing. And I even got the impression that one or two people may have cast their votes on the basis of the arguments they had heard – it’s pretty rare that happens in politics these days.

But the best little feature – amidst a long series of five minutes speeches – was a ten minutes gap where ten delegates were given just 60 seconds to make their point. And it was remarkable how people spoke better in 60 seconds than they would probably have done in 5 or 10 minutes.

Read the full piece here.

Read more by or more about .
This entry was posted in Conference.
Advert

3 Comments

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Mick Taylor
    Hi Chris. A brave man to take on a seat on Lambeth. I suspect that the great increase in casework is at least partly caused by the huge cutbacks in Local Govern...
  • William Wallace
    Roz: This is exactly what we need to get us all thinking. I would add that we need to rethink our approach to political economy. Liberal democracy is easiest t...
  • expats
    @ Catherine Hodgkinson 24th Aug '26 - 2:16pm Trump keeps stating, without ever producing proof, that his Tariffs are working.. However, .Pulitzer Priz...
  • David Allen
    @cim Good post. I guess what we're both identifying is that neither an "establishment" nor an "insurgent" position is good enough. The trick must be to pro...
  • David Raw
    @ Catherine Hodgkinson Completely agree, although I suspect Mark Carney is perfectly capable of looking after himself (and Canada)....