Liberal Democrat Voice

An open letter to Allison Pearson: Don’t use terror attacks to justify Brexit

By Chris Key | Wed 23rd March 2016 - 1:59 pm

I read the following tweet by Allison Pearson yesterday in response to the terrorist attack in Brussels.

Brussels, de facto capital of the EU, is also the jihadist capital of Europe. And the Remainers dare to say we’re safer in the EU! #Brexit

— Allison Pearson (@allisonpearson) March 22, 2016

Here is my letter to her in response.

Dear Allison,

We all agree today’s events were terrible. However we have a choice as to how to react.

Even Nigel Farage managed to be restrained within the first hour of the attacks today. Today you have won the “who can make political capital out of a terror attack the quickest award”.

Posted in News | Tagged allison pearson and brussels attacks | 13 Comments

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Story telling might lead to economic revolution

By David Boyle | Wed 23rd March 2016 - 12:22 pm

It is extraordinary how compartmentalised everything is – especially when we are campaigning in local elections.

We, few of us, who know a little about the way public responsibilities are demarcated between different layers of government, have a kind of sense of corrosive superiority as we expect campaigners to demand the right reform from the right level.

But partly this is just a function of sclerotic centralisation. The Treasury has a crushing monopoly on economic policy because, well – it always has.

Partly because of that, and because there is almost no local economic data collected about where money flows (the exception is bank lending to postal district level, forced on the banks by Lib Dem peers in 2012) – Whitehall doesn’t see the economic innovations at local level.

And in particular, they don’t see the emergence of a new generation of local entrepreneurs who are no longer prepared to wait patiently for the Chinese to invest or the government to give them a grant – and are trying to transform their local economies a bite at a time.

Posted in News | Tagged economics, entrepreneur and local | 1 Comment

The Nitty-Gritty: Evidence of the #LibDemFightback

By John Grout | Wed 23rd March 2016 - 10:54 am

Lib Dems love facts and figures – and evidence-based policy – so I thought I’d do some digging of my own to see how the #LibDemFightback is looking in the run-up to May’s elections. While we only have opinion polls to guide us for the devolved assembly elections, there have been dozens of council by-elections already in 2016.

This year, up to February 19^th, Britain Elects calculated that Lib Dems stood in 17 first and second-tier council by-elections across the country where the party had contested the seat last time around – fewer than the Conservatives or Labour (26 and 21 respectively), but half again more than UKIP (11). However we were the only ones with a positive average swing – +4.2%, versus average swings of -0.97% for Labour, -1.26% for the Conservatives, and a wince-inducing -8.06% for UKIP.

Since then, by my count, we have stood candidates in ten out of thirteen by-elections, gaining two, holding two, losing none. Seven were in wards where Lib Dems stood last time – these averaged a +11.73% swing (the only fall was in Whissendine (Rutland), where we were the prohibitive winners with 65.1% of the vote, despite a -0.7% swing). In the three where we stood anew, we netted 4% in Bloomfield (Blackpool), 8.4% in Ashby-de-la-Launde (North Kesteven), and a stonking 46.5% in Alderholt (East Dorset) – an 8-vote near-miss to the Tories at the first attempt.

What does this tell us? Well, three things leap out at me.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged local government by-elections | 22 Comments

EURef: Our Europe Policy Paper – an essential source for campaigners

By Antony Hook | Wed 23rd March 2016 - 9:53 am

No-one should think the Lib Dems want the EU to stay the same.

No-one should be in any doubt about the ways in which we want to improve the EU.

No-one should be in any doubt about detailed information on the advantages of membership.

That is because in 2013 the FPC commissioned a working group chaired by Ben Jones to update Liberal Democrats policy on Europe. That resulted in a first-class policy paper that was passed by an overwhelming majority at the Party Conference at Glasgow in Autumn 2013. The debate is remembered for a barnstorming speech by Charles Kennedy that brought conference to its feet for a spontaneous standing ovation.

Posted in News | 9 Comments

Disability is nothing to hide, so let’s not act like it is

By Henry Foulds | Wed 23rd March 2016 - 8:46 am

As a candidate for my home town in May’s local elections, I’ve helped residents fight for repairs to roads, I’ve lobbied for more action on dog mess and I’ve campaigned to prevent closures to residential homes.

As a blind candidate for my home town in May’s local elections, I’ve done all this while helping changing a few attitudes along the way. I spoke here about a mother who was delighted to see someone like her visually impaired daughter standing for election but a lot more has happened too – I’ve even received messages from young disabled people saying that me standing is a confidence boost for them.

I’m sure many readers will agree with me that standing for election is a mix of emotions – there are ups and there are downs.

But after the diversity debate, there’s a particular part of being a blind candidate that needs to be tackled head on – and so I turn to Lib Dem Voice.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged behaviour which needs to be challenged, disability, diversity and ignorance | 24 Comments

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WATCH: Caroline Pidgeon excels in first LBC London Mayor hustings

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 22nd March 2016 - 9:59 pm

This morning, Caroline Pidgeon took part in LBC’s first mayoral debate alongside UKIP’s Peter Whittle, the Greens’ Sian Berry, Tory Zac Goldsmith and Labour’s Sadiq Khan.

I know I’m not unbiased, but if I had listened as an undecided voter, I’d have thought that Caroline would be the best Mayor. She had facts to back up what she was saying, she understood the key transport, housing, policing and childcare problems and talked like a Mayor. This is in contrast to her Labour and Conservative opponents, who sound more like Stadtler and Waldorf from the Muppets every time I listen to them.

Zac’s pitch boiled down to: “I’m a Tory so I know how to talk Tory to other Tories, vote for me.” and Khan’s was “I’m not a Tory, vote for me.” Neither of these inspire any sort of confidence.

Caroline talked about building houses and making sure the workforce has the sufficient skills to deliver, of making sure the lowest paid can get to their work with cheaper fares before 7:30 am, of investing in cleaner taxis & making them affordable for taxi drivers, of building cycleways. It was all good, solid practical stuff.

You can watch the whole thing in these two videos. Enjoy.

Posted in News | Tagged Caroline Pidgeon, london and lvc | 5 Comments

What is Nicky Morgan doing to school governance?

By Helen Flynn | Tue 22nd March 2016 - 5:40 pm

I’d love to know who is advising the Tories and Nicky Morgan with respect to much of what is contained in the education white paper.

What I sense overall is panic. They are terrified that we will not have the skilled individuals to make us globally competitive. So they are embarking on a series of measures that they think will give more flexibility in the education system and modernize it in terms of structure and accountability, on the one hand, but rigidly defining what children should learn, particularly at primary level, and sticking with archaic, sudden death-style …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged academies | 18 Comments

Kerslake report: some strikingly Liberal Democrat conclusions

By Jim Wallace | Tue 22nd March 2016 - 3:38 pm

One of our proudest achievements as a party is the success of our unwavering advocacy of devolution to Scotland and Wales. Without us, and without the pressure of the Scottish Constitutional Convention, it is likely Tony Blair would have abandoned the project. And some of our party’s first successes in government were as part of the partnership agreement with Labour in Holyrood, where I was proud to lead the first Scottish Executive alongside the late Donald Dewar.

Political developments in Scotland since might lead some to say that devolution has been dangerous for the Union. I disagree. It is bad enough …

Posted in Op-eds | 3 Comments

Keep London in Europe

By Jonathan Hunt | Tue 22nd March 2016 - 2:33 pm

Almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of Londoners polled recently want Britain to remain in the EU. It is the highest number among all UK regions polled. In addition to the normal electorate, who will vote in the referendum on 23 June, some 500,000 EU citizens will also have a vote in the GLA / Mayoral elections on 5 May.

In the capital, mark the lack of enthusiasm in the Labour Party for the cause of staying IN, mirrored by its mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan. Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate for mayor is described as a Euro-sceptic, and Boris Johnson …

Posted in Op-eds | 12 Comments

What is the Osborne/IDS row all about?

By Joe Otten | Tue 22nd March 2016 - 12:51 pm

As some commentators are expressing incredulity that Iain Duncan Smith has found himself a conscience over welfare cuts for disabled people, not long after signing off those very same cuts, or are attibuting these events to a phoney war over Brexit, I think there is a more interesting possibility.

If we take IDS position at face value, this reveals something about how government works – or about how it did work under the coalition and is now liable to go wrong.

Posted in Op-eds | 3 Comments

Liblink: Clegg warned Osborne that £12bn welfare cuts were wrong

By NewsHound | Tue 22nd March 2016 - 10:43 am

In today’s Times, Nick Clegg relates the warning he gave to Osborne over Tory plans for welfare

Shortly before the election last year, I privately warned George Osborne that his ambition to cut £12 billion from the welfare budget whilst refusing any additional tax rises on the better-off was a strategic error.

Any further savings were bound to hit the working poor — strivers, not shirkers — and the vulnerable and sick. It would confirm the public’s worst suspicions about the Conservatives: they would be seen as the party of the rich.

The full article is behind a paywall, but we …

Posted in LibLink | 25 Comments

Former Lib Dem councillor enstooled (enthroned) as prince and chief advisor in Ghana

By The Voice | Tue 22nd March 2016 - 9:20 am

Godfried Gyechie was a Lib Councillor in Lewisham from 2006 to 2010. In a ceremony in Akwamufie in Ghana earlier this month he was formally installed as the Tufohene (Chief advisor) to the Osomanyawa of the Akwamu state. The Osomanyawa is the second in command to the paramount King of the Akwamu. Akwamufie is the capital of the Akwamu state, which was once a great empire and ran from the Ivory Coast, through Ghana to Togo in its height.

As the Tufohene, Godfried has the responsibility of settling disputes across the area. He is Head of the Armed Forces and leader of the asafo companies (the warrior groups in Akan culture).

Posted in News | Tagged Godfried Gyechie | 5 Comments

EURef: New Lib Dem Leaflet – order yours by Friday!

By Antony Hook | Tue 22nd March 2016 - 8:10 am

LDHQ have published a new A4 leaflet making the case for IN. This leaflet focuses on the specific and very important issue of cost of living. Being IN we have the opportunity to enjoy cheaper prices.

You can order this leaflet at £40 per 1000 including delivery, which is about as good value full-colour printing can go. Orders can be up to 40,000 copies.

You need to order by this Friday 25/3/16. But further leaflets and offers to order them will …

Posted in News | 26 Comments

LibLink: Floella Benjamin on International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

By Mary Reid | Mon 21st March 2016 - 8:30 pm

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Floella Benjamin has written an article on Huffington Post titled: Let’s End Discrimination in All Its Forms

She writes:

I have been dealing with the issue of diversity all my life and professionally for over forty years. That started when I asked a television producer why we couldn’t have a more diverse portrayal of professional black characters, such as lawyers and accountants and he dismissively told me ‘that is not realistic’!

I knew it was blatantly not true because my family were all high professional achievers and I was surrounded by ambitious and successful people from minority groups.

Posted in LibLink | Tagged discrimination and floella benjamin | 3 Comments

Liberalism vs. authoritarianism in the debate over cannabis

By Ben Lawrie | Mon 21st March 2016 - 7:51 pm

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In York, conference voted to create a regulatory framework for cannabis. This is a move that I wholeheartedly support and I’d like to draw on the example of Colorado to explain why.

On the 1^st of January 2014, Colorado fully legalised cannabis for recreational purposes. Within four months they raised $10 million dollars in tax revenue which they invested in education and infrastructure.

Crime dropped by 10% and violent crime dropped by 5%. The marijuana industry also created thousands of jobs and by October unemployment was at its lowest since 2008.

Colorado also legalised marijuana for medicinal purposes meaning that people suffering from ailments such as chronic pain and cancer could effectively alleviate their pain without fear of prosecution or risking their freedom.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged cannabis and liberal democrat spring conference 2016 | 32 Comments

EURef: New Stronger IN Leaflet

By Antony Hook | Mon 21st March 2016 - 7:00 pm

Royal Mail delivered a new Stronger IN leaflet to me this morning. It is going out around the country this week. This is the second Stonger IN delivery this year – so far none from the Leave campaign, at least not in my postcode area. It’s a A3 leaflet setting out advantages for us all of being IN and dangers of leaving Europe.

It is my understanding that the last Stonger IN delivery went to 10m households (about a …

Posted in News | 3 Comments

Five years into a revolution betrayed – Liberal Democrats need to build links with Syrians

By Jonathan Brown | Mon 21st March 2016 - 5:28 pm

Note, this post contains descriptions of torture that some readers may find distressing.

Five years ago, on Friday 18th March 2011, Syrian civilians in the southern town of Deraa took to the streets to demand freedom, dignity and a fair future. The regime of Bashar al-Assad and his coterie responded immediately with deadly force, and over the following weeks more and more protesters were shot down, more and more mourners were murdered while attending funerals and more and more innocent Syrians were rounded up for torture – in many cases never to be seen again.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged syria | 8 Comments

Avoiding the Tory disaster in Education

By Jamie Dalzell | Mon 21st March 2016 - 3:47 pm

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Last week, as a governor, I spent my morning at my local primary school completing an annual return and reviewing our budget for the next financial year (as an accountant, I get all the fun jobs). The atmosphere was a strange one. As a school that has successfully fought off an attempt at academy conversion, the staff were deeply upset about the grand announcement from George Osborne, that all schools will become academies by 2020. Meanwhile, our excellent Local Education Authority advisor was clearly and understandably out of sorts having just been made effectively redundant.

The policy being pushed forward by the government is going to be a disaster for primary schools, and everyone working in the sector knows this. Quite simply, the size of primary schools prevents them from having the necessary infrastructure to make an academy structure feasible. The destruction of the Local Education Authority support network will do irreparable damage to our capacity to support primary leaders in their incredibly varied roles.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged academies and george osborne | 20 Comments

Agenda 2020 Essay #21: What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today

By Denis Rixson | Mon 21st March 2016 - 2:23 pm

Editor’s Note: The party has been running an essay competition for members of the Liberal Democrats, to submit 1000 words on the theme “What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today.” The deadline for contributions was in November and the winner was announced at Spring Conference. If you would like us to publish your submission, send it to [email protected].

Some things do not change. Liberalism is always, everywhere, about freedom. Historically this was freedom from – from political or religious authority; from the king, the church, or foreign power. In the west many such freedoms have been won, or rewon. But, though freer, are we free from want and sickness, custom and convention, from the pressure of the norm, from worry, fear and hate, from ignorance and prejudice? There are many battles still to be fought.

The test for a liberal is always freedom for an individual, not a sect or class, nor group nor gender – but freedom for the person, however they term themselves. We judge our freedoms by ever-changing benchmarks; as each summit is reached we see distant horizons, further freedoms beckon. Gaining political freedom, we seek social, sexual, economic freedoms now. We are ambitious for our selves. We treasure personal liberties. Being free, growing in freedom, is a process, not an achievement; a journey, not an ending.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged agenda 2020 essay competition and liberalism | Leave a comment

Can the long-term decline in government investment spending be reversed?

By Nick T | Mon 21st March 2016 - 12:54 pm

If actual government investment spending bore any relation to the amount of time politicians spent talking about it, Britain would surely have one of the highest rates of government investment in the world. In fact, for all the talk there are few signs of a reversal in one half of the most notable trend in Britain’s public finances over the last half century: the decline of government investment.

I say one half because there is another part of the trend, and it is the flip side of the same coin: the general trend of increasing spending on social security.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured and investment spending | 25 Comments

Progressing with evidence-based politics

By A Liberal in Leeds | Mon 21st March 2016 - 11:41 am

The Liberal Democrats are the party of evidence-based politics. We form our policies not based on blindly-followed ideology, but by proposing workable solutions to society’s problems. In my view this is what makes our party great. With this in mind, I broadly welcome our approach to the public versus private sector debate, which I’ll address in the latter part of this post.

However, Conference’s vote to approve fracking in Scotland is concerning in comparison to the party’s renewed opposition in England. I welcome this opposition for two pragmatic reasons. Firstly, there are serious short-terms risks to fracking, such as water pollution. This is a serious risk, because the private companies which frack love to cut corners, as has been seen in the US. Until such time as there is fracking regulation with real teeth, supporting fracking is a massive. Simon Oliver recently wrote an excellent explanation of findings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh report here on Lib Dem Voice. Basically, fracking could be done well in the UK, but won’t be due to the weakening of regulations. Selective citation of the report in the Scottish debate seemed to use the evidence to justify a response, not having a response based on the available evidence. That isn’t how our party debates should work.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged evidence-based policy | 22 Comments

Willie Rennie banned from discussing working conditions with Amazon employees

By The Voice | Mon 21st March 2016 - 10:35 am

Willie Rennie, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, has been banned from meeting staff at Amazon’s base in Dunfermline today. He was planning to meet staff there to discuss their working conditions, but the meeting was cancelled at the last minute by Amazon bosses in London.

Willie is campaigning to stop the Scottish Government from giving hand-outs to companies which do not pay their staff at least at the Scottish Living Wage rate of £8.25 an hour. Under the current arrangements, over £5 million has been paid to Amazon in Scotland even though the company is only paying staff £7.20 an hour.

Posted in News | Tagged amazon and willie rennie | 9 Comments

Reflections of a conference first-timer

By Diane Reddell | Mon 21st March 2016 - 9:12 am

Hi! My name is Diane and I am disabled. Now I have made that confession, I would like to share my reflections of being a first time attendee at conference.

A few months before the conference I deliberated whether or not to attend the spring conference in York. Due to my disability I required support to attend the conference and this can be quite costly as most things are for disabled people. Also I was unsure what actually happens at conference and I was concerned that I did not have enough knowledge to fully engage with the motions being put forward.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged access fund and liberal democrat spring conference 2016 | 13 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #452

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 20th March 2016 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 452nd weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (-, 2015), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Posted in Best of the blogs | 6 Comments

Willie Rennie: The way we tackle drug addiction is broken

By The Voice | Sun 20th March 2016 - 5:30 pm

Willie Rennie has called for a sea-change in drugs policy after new analysis showed that 1,000 people in possession of drugs for personal use have been imprisoned in the last five years instead of being sent for treatment or education.

The figures, compiled by Scottish Government analysts at the request of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, revealed an average of 200 people in Scotland were incarcerated for drug offences between 2010 and 2015. In contrast, an average of just 55 Scots per year were handed drug treatment and testing orders.

Our manifesto for the Holyrood election proposes to end the use of imprisonment for vulnerable people addicted to drugs, calling for it to be treated as a health issue instead. Drug dealers would still face tough criminal sanctions and people failing to abide by treatment or education plans would be subject to additional penalties.

Willie spoke to Liberal Democrat campaigners in Glasgow, where 189 people died as a result of drug misuse in 2014.

Posted in News | Tagged drug addiction, Scotland and willie rennie | Leave a comment

EURef: An example local newspaper article for IN

By Antony Hook | Sun 20th March 2016 - 4:00 pm

Letters to your local newspaper are a great way to get the IN message across. You may even be able to persuade the editor to print a full article making the case.

Effective writing in a typical local paper needs to be punchy, direct and local. Short words in short sentences and a local angle on the bigger picture. It also helps to tell a story. Start with where we were, then where we are now, followed by where we could go if the reader joins this great adventure.

My view is the key points to make are Peace, Prosperity, People and rebut Cost and Sovereignty objections. If you do that you make a good case to motivate IN supporters, sway Undecided voters and give some OUT supporters pause for thought.

Above all, stay positive. #INtogether is fundamentally about the hope of a better tomorrow.

England’s geographically closest local newspaper to continental Europe, the Dover Express, asked me to write an IN article, printed opposite a pro-Leave argument.

Posted in News | 4 Comments

How are you getting on with Tim Farron’s membership recruitment challenge?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 20th March 2016 - 2:52 pm

When we went into the rally at Conference 9 days ago, there were two bits of paper on our seats. Och, that’ll just be Euro campaign tat, I thought. Actually, it wasn’t. Tim issued a challenge to everyone in the room. These bits of paper were membership forms and he told us to get out there and recruit two members each by the end of this month.

Leaders have made such challenges before and not much has come of them. You see, it needs us to actually make the effort and once the passion of the rally has died down and we’ve got into the bar, we forget all about it. But we shouldn’t.

Why should we bother?

There are three very good reasons why we should get out there and recruit as many people as possible.

The more the merrier

You might be looking at a garage full of Focus leaflets wondering how you are going to get them all delivered before the next leaflet is ready. You might be the only Lib Dem in the village wondering if you are ever going to have company. There isn’t a circumstance in which having more people is going to anything other than a very good thing. More people to share the load. More people to help you achieve more than you ever thought possible. More people who have different friends and contacts and networks.

New ideas

You can just see what the amazing people who have joined us since May have brought us. It was brilliant to walk into rooms in York and see lots of people I’d never seen before. They have brought with them creativity and new ideas, things like Your Liberal Britain and Lib Dem Pint which have become part of the party’s vocabulary. They didn’t even exist this time last year. Heavens, Lib Dem Pint is so popular, it’s even happened in Glasgow. Amazing people came our way, like Becca and Wendy and Joyce Onstad and Jim Williams. At the Conference rally, Dr Saleyah Ahsan spoke so powerfully about her work as a junior doctor, inviting us to stand with her through a gruelling shift – eating when she does, going to the toilet when she does. I doubt many of us would last.

And look at fantastic people like Lauren Pemberton-Nelson who ran such a spirited campaign in the Faraday by-election in Southwark.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured, membership, recruitment and tim farron | 17 Comments

LDV’s Sunday Best: our 7 most-read articles this week

By The Voice | Sun 20th March 2016 - 1:55 pm

7 best Many thanks to the 12,000 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Sexual harassment reports from Conference (53 comments) by Baroness Sal Brinton

Why culture change is a necessary pre-requisite for gender balance (68 comments) by Rachel Edwards

Liberal Leave campaign (50 comments) by Paul Walter

Posted in Site news | Leave a comment

Shas Sheehan talks to the heroes of Calais and Dunkirk

By The Voice | Sun 20th March 2016 - 12:25 pm

Baroness Shas Sheehan went to Calais and Dunkirk with some supplies a few weeks ago. She is going again this week and invites you to help her get supplies together.

On her last visit, she spoke to some of those heroic volunteers who have given up months of their time to help the refugees survive the Winter. Here’s the video she made.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged calais, dunkirk, refugees and shas sheehan | Leave a comment

David Laws on Marr: I want to expose how NHS chief was leant on to encourage debate on NHS funding

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 20th March 2016 - 10:59 am

It’s the second week of David Laws’ coalition revelations serialised in the Mail on Sunday. This week we have him telling us that:

To take them in turn:

You have to wonder why we bought and publicised the £8bn figure, too. It’s all very well for David Laws to tell Andrew Marr today that Norman Lamb was always sceptical about it, but I seem to recalls making a massive thing about how we were the only party who was going to meet the £8bn request in full. If we knew that the figure was nonsense then, why on earth did we not say loudly and lay out the choices that the nation faced in a much more realistic way?

On Marr, David Laws emphasised how the Lib Dems helped IDS veto Treasury requests for further welfare cuts, confirming that Osborne saw it as a cash cow.There are problems with this analysis, though. Danny Alexander seemed to be hand in glove with Osborne on a lot of this stuff, at one point calling people affected by the Bedroom Tax “bedroom blockers.” Also, a lot of the really awful ideas, from the rape clause to the capping at two children were IDS’s idea.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged coalition, david cameron, david laws, eric pickles, george osborne, ids and theresa may | 20 Comments

Op-eds

Observations of an Expat: West Bank Settler Sanctions (Tom Arms)
Recollections of 9/11 (George Cunningham)
Why we need a Trade NATO (Dominic Sokalski)
‘I Fear a Target on My Back’ — A Liberal Democrat’s fight for Hong Kong’s freedom (Alan Dai)
Making the most of the Government’s belated action on illegal Israeli settlements (Jonathan Brown)

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Sarah Olney bids to become candidate for Mayor of London

Going for four in a row in Scotland

Observations of an Expat: Canada

Happy Birthday to us!

An open letter to Allison Pearson: Don’t use terror attacks to justify Brexit

Story telling might lead to economic revolution

The Nitty-Gritty: Evidence of the #LibDemFightback

EURef: Our Europe Policy Paper – an essential source for campaigners

Disability is nothing to hide, so let’s not act like it is

WATCH: Caroline Pidgeon excels in first LBC London Mayor hustings

What is Nicky Morgan doing to school governance?

Kerslake report: some strikingly Liberal Democrat conclusions

Keep London in Europe

What is the Osborne/IDS row all about?

Liblink: Clegg warned Osborne that £12bn welfare cuts were wrong

Former Lib Dem councillor enstooled (enthroned) as prince and chief advisor in Ghana

EURef: New Lib Dem Leaflet – order yours by Friday!

LibLink: Floella Benjamin on International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Liberalism vs. authoritarianism in the debate over cannabis

EURef: New Stronger IN Leaflet

Five years into a revolution betrayed – Liberal Democrats need to build links with Syrians

Avoiding the Tory disaster in Education

Agenda 2020 Essay #21: What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today

Can the long-term decline in government investment spending be reversed?

Progressing with evidence-based politics

Willie Rennie banned from discussing working conditions with Amazon employees

Reflections of a conference first-timer

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #452

Willie Rennie: The way we tackle drug addiction is broken

EURef: An example local newspaper article for IN

How are you getting on with Tim Farron’s membership recruitment challenge?

Why should we bother?

LDV’s Sunday Best: our 7 most-read articles this week

Shas Sheehan talks to the heroes of Calais and Dunkirk

David Laws on Marr: I want to expose how NHS chief was leant on to encourage debate on NHS funding

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Observations of an Expat: Canada

Happy Birthday to us!

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