What’s inside this issue?
You can download Liberator 422 for free here: https://liberatormagazine.org.uk/recent-issues/
Find out in Radical Bulletin why there was a row over Lib Dem participation in the South Devon primary election, why members got four conflicting messages about Rochdale and about a mind-bending case for STV enthusiasts, and much more.
Also in this issue:
Why Putin Cannot be Allowed to Win
Lib Dem MP Sarah Green joined a parliamentary delegation to Ukraine and saw a country still determined to resist a tyrant with whom negotiation is impossible
Ukraine Resists – With Some Help From Shakespeare
Nataliya Torkut is Ukraine’s leading expert on Shakespeare and a professor at Zaporizhzhia National University. She was interviewed by Kiron Reid about Ukraine’s continued resistance to Russia and the role in this of intellectual life
How to Look for the Next Leader
With no Lib Dem leadership contest due, Liz Barker looks to the long term of how the party should choose its next leader
The North is Red – at Least for Now
The Rochdale by-election showed the realities of fighting Labour where it is entrenched in its heartlands, even with the unusual circumstances of disowned candidates, says Jackie Pearcey
Does a Decade Make a Difference?
It’s 10 years since the death of Liberator stalwart Simon Titley. Jonathan Calder delves into his writing and finds it alarmingly relevant today
Traffic in a Jam
Mark Smulian looks at why councils’ installation of low traffic neighbourhoods can cause such rancour
Reviews
Norman Fowler, The Best of Enemies – Diaries 1980–1997
The Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson Channel 4
Planes, Trains and Toilet Doors, 50 places that changed British Politics, by Matt Chorley
Plus: Lord Bonkers’ Diary, Commentary, Letters.
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Calling them out
The railway wars come to Market Harborough
Constructive opposition: a phrase you will hear a lot
Friends of Riverside Nature Park AGM #dundeewestend
Hugh Young
Roland
Kevin Hawkins
Steve Trevethan
7 Comments
An interesting read as always. I did find it sad, however, to read the comment in the context of Tim Fallon stating that anyone who was a member of a church that doesn’t allow any woman any leadership role could not be leader of the Liberal Democrats. I find this troubling. How long will it be until someone is going to argue that a Catholic can not lead the Liberal Democrats because they are a member of a church in which the leader (the Pope) is a male only position? We would do well to remember that Religion is a protected characteristic and not be trying to block individuals due to their church affiliation.
A quick word about the Social Liberal Forum (SLF) conference taking place on the Saturday 13th July in St Albans with headline speakers Daisy Cooper MP and Layla Moran MP.
You can book now for the SLF conference with an early bird price ticket via our website on https://www.socialliberal.net/slf_conference_2024_in_st_albans
However if you subscribe to Liberator and get the latest copy, then turn to page 19 and you can get a ticket to this event with a special offer price!
As someone who is eager for us to begin taking the fight to labour in preparation for them being useless in government, the “North is Red” article seems frustrating fatalistic, and rather than really talking about what it’s like fighting labour it just lists excuses for not fighting Rochdale harder.
Maybe this decision was forgivable in a seat where we’re hacking away with a chisel and one council ward, but there are a bunch of labour facing seats seats where we’ve either regained second place or have several council wards (City of Durham, Newcastle north, Hull north, Sunderland central, Gateshead Central, Manchester withington, Liverpool Gaston, and Liverpool wavertree, Bermondsey, Vauxhall, Clapham, Streatham, Hornsey, Islington south)
Failing to go hard for these in a by election or indeed failing to fight them all hard enough to at least gain/maintain second place so we can win them after labour gets into power would be criminal.
Especially when you consider that our only four Tory facing seats in the North are such easy wins that if they were located in Somerset or Surrey they’d barely get any help at all from other local parties.
Mary Fulton,
While I haven’t read all of Liberator yet, I think you are mistaken in your attribution to Tim Farron of something Liz Barker wrote when talking about Tim. She wrote, “In this day and age you cannot be a member of church which refuses to allow any woman any leadership role and lead the Liberal Democrats”.
I think it could have been better worded – someone who accepts that it is fine for their church to refuse to allow any woman any leadership role will have difficulties in leading the Liberal Democrats. However, it was not this issue which was the problem for Tim. It was he believed that his God still declares sex between people of the same sex as a sin and therefore should not be done.
@Michael: Mary didn’t attribute Liz Barker’s remark in the article to Tim Farron: She stated (correctly) that it was written in the context of discussing Tim Farron.
FWIW I totally agree with Mary. It’s not liberalism – but is actually intolerance – to rule people out of the leadership on the basis of religious beliefs and practices of churches that those people are members of. Particularly since membership of a church (or any other organisation) does not imply agreement with everything that organisation does. A person can quite legitimately be a member of an organisation because they agree with much of what that organisation does, while seeking to change the things they disagree with.
Mark Smullyan’s article about LTNs (low traffic neighbourhoods) struck a chord with me. I have no doubt that LTNs – or anything else that discourages driving and encourages walking/cycling/public transport, are absolutely vital. But I find it astonishing the way councils (mostly Labour councils) have imposed them without any meaningful attempt to get residents on board, or to even explain to people why the schemes are needed.
I think in our society there is still far too little awareness of just how harmful driving is to the community/the environment/people’s health compared with the alternatives, and if we are to be successful in promoting a less car-based transport system, councils and the Government need to be willing to engage with people and actively communicate why we need to drive less, rather than simply imposing measures without any explanation.
“I think in our society there is still far too little awareness of just how harmful driving is to the community/the environment/people’s health compared with the alternatives”
Indeed – and the 20 mph speed limit issue is relevant as well.
A car doing 30 mph hitting a pedestrian can do a great deal more damage than could the same car doing 20 mph.