Zoe O’Connell

Federal Conference Committee report – Spring Conference amendments edition

By Zoe O’Connell | Sat 12th March 2016 - 8:25 am
Federal Conference Committee (FCC) met late yesterday afternoon to discuss the Amendments and Emergency Motions for York – the full text of accepted amendments will appear in Conference Daily. The usual caveat regarding descriptions of amendments applies. Amendments don’t have titles with them, so these are my own entirely unofficial summaries which may not be entirely accurate or complete. The list of accepted/rejected amendments is also based on my own notes as Spring conference is very intense and moves quickly – so I apologise in advance for any errors.
There are a few more options open to FCC compared to full motions – in particular, we can often “draft in” uncontroversial amendments so that they can be accepted without needing to spend time moving and voting on them. Conversely, we can be quite restricted in that it makes no sense to accept two overlapping amendments
Continue reading »
Posted in Conference and News | Tagged | 3 Comments
Advert
Jo Swinson MP

Jo Swinson writes…Been there, got the t-shirt

By Jo Swinson MP | Sat 12th March 2016 - 7:26 am

As part of the Committee for the fabulous WOW Festival at the Southbank Centre, I find myself in London this weekend, which means I’ll miss the diversity motion in York.

Passions run high on this issue, and I hope the debate will unfold with respect and kindness on both sides.  Whichever side of the debate we are on, we should acknowledge that our aim is the same – a party where every individual can feel supported and welcome, with many more elected representatives at all levels, reflecting the diversity of our society in all ways, and making a positive impact on our communities.

In 2001, I took to the conference platform in Bournemouth, summating an amendment to a similar motion, in much the same vein as this weekend’s amendment submitted by the East Midlands.  Liberal Youth have also voiced their opposition to all-women shortlists. The group of us campaigning on this issue had t-shirts specially printed for the occasion, declaring “I am not a token woman.  Say No to all-women shortlists.” Our amendment was successful, and the Gender Balance Task Force was formed, now the Campaign for Gender Balance.

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 23 Comments
Lynne Featherstone

Baroness Lynne Featherstone writes…We must be an anti fracking party

By Lynne Featherstone | Fri 11th March 2016 - 4:15 pm

This weekend we have an opportunity to change our position on fracking. I believe we should take it.Since becoming party spokesperson for energy and climate change, I have spent many hours listening to party activists, experts and public reaction. It is clear to me that it is time for change.

We need energy security. We need sustainable energy. We need to meet our legally binding targets. Fracking will not deliver any of these. But it will deliver greenhouse gases.

It is not logical or sensible to develop fracking at the very moment we have signed up to the Paris agreement on climate …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 18 Comments
Shoaib Bajwa

Faith values in politics can be a force for good?

By Shoaib Bajwa | Fri 11th March 2016 - 2:55 pm

You don’t need to be a church going person to learn and practice positive faith values in the society. The separation of church and state is a phrase that’s often used in reference to politics in the context of religious faith. In the US, the distinction between religion and politics is often blurred – you only have to listen to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio addressing party loyalists to see just how intertwined the two are. But here in the UK there’s something of a taboo about conflating the two. In fact faith values in politics can be an immense force for good, just as they can outside politics.

Here in the UK, unlike our cousins across the Atlantic, we have an established church and our head of state is also the head of this church. This dual rule has been much reduced since the days of Henry VIII. There was once a time when the UK politics was presided over by a monarch who was both president and pope. Gradually their role faded, and religion was replaced by political philosophy as the driving force behind British political ideology. It has led to something of an institutional silence by our political leaders to use the language of faith in political discourse. Think of the reaction that Prime Minister David Cameron received when he stated that he was prepared to ‘do God’ and take his faith into account when carrying out his duties. He was lauded and criticised in almost equal measure. But ‘doing God’ – or allowing your religious beliefs to impact upon your political outlook – does not need to be a negative thing. In fact, faith can be an immensely positive in politics and the society as long you interpret it correctly and of course you don’t try to force it on others. 

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Ben Midgley

What would a truly liberal Britain look like?

By Ben Midgley | Fri 11th March 2016 - 12:55 pm

Your Liberal BritainWell, let’s begin with this, it won’t be heaven on earth, but it certainly wouldn’t be hell on earth either.  Liberalism is not in my view, utopian, it is pragmatic and ethical, stemming from a set of principles for governance that tend towards the capacity for any society to thrive.

Britain is class ridden, and economically and socially divided, naturally these groups collude and come into conflict, a Liberal Britain would prevent these special interest groups from overpowering the rights and responsibilities of each and every citizen in law and opportunity. Harnessing to the greater good, the productive capacity of competition through regulation, rather than allowing conflicts to simmer into a demoralising morass through indifference or monopolies.

The different endowments in society suffer if political representation is skewed away from something which reflects the situation on the ground, and that in turn chokes our capacity to thrive, it turns people towards authoritarian solutions. So, a Liberal Britain would have an accessible political system that proportionally represents the will of the people, lives with the compromises that it produces and engenders something more tolerant than we now see. It rests on good will, rather than the desperate and often immoral striving for self assertion. 

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 4 Comments
Advert
Meral Ece

Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece writes: 117 years is too long to wait for gender parity

By Meral Ece | Fri 11th March 2016 - 11:55 am

This week we marked International Women’s Day, the theme of which was ‘Pledge for Parity,’ borne of the latest prediction from the World Economic Forum that we won’t achieve global gender parity until 2133. This date is further in the future than the previous prediction, reflecting the fact that progress internationally, is slowing down, not speeding up. We must take action to tackle it, here and abroad.

Although we have made great strides here in the UK, there is still much to do. The gender pay gap is still real; women make up just 29% of House of Commons, we have too few women in leadership roles in the civil service, business, as newspapers editors and in the diplomatic service.

Violence against women domestically and globally is still endemic. I’m a member of the Select Committee on Sexual Violence in Conflict, where we’ve heard some appalling evidence of how in some countries women’s lower status contributes to the violence they face. While there are so few women in positions of power internationally, violence continues to be widely used as a tool to keep women in their place.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 2 Comments
Alex Paul Shantz

A morning at the White House

By Alex Paul Shantz | Fri 11th March 2016 - 10:55 am

A frisson of expectation sweeps the crowd as the tannoy crackles to life and the announcer declares “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.” The honour guard comes to attention, the band strikes up Hail to the Chief and the most powerful leader in the world emerges. And when moments later, a black SUV sweeps round the drive and stops in front of the White House to deposit Justin Trudeau, the new Canadian Prime Minister… well, perhaps only a visit from the Queen herself would top Washington DC’s current level of excitement.

This was the scene on the South Lawn of the White House as President Barack Obama welcomed his Canadian counterpart to the capital of the United States yesterday. Clutching my ticket, I had joined the great and good of Washington in a line that stretched halfway round the block, excited to be part of the occasion. Three ID and security checks later and I was in.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 6 Comments
Caron Lindsay

One Liberal Democrat man’s view of International Woman’s Day

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 11th March 2016 - 9:55 am

Austin Rathe, formerly Head of Membership at LDHQ, posted this as his Facebook status on Tuesday, International Women’s Day. I thought it was worth reposting here, with his permission of course. .

So, guys, I’ve seen a couple of you post today asking why there isn’t an International Men’s Day*.

OK, I get it, it’s supposed to be about equality right? So why do we have something for women we don’t have for men?

I’ll explain why, but before we begin I’d like you to stop, look up from your desk (or other place of work) towards a female college. Don’t stare, but just imagine for a few moments that you’re not you, you’re that woman who you know, probably respect and hopefully care about.

Ok. So let’s go.

Now you’re a woman, your pay just got cut by 24%. Put that into pounds and pence and think how pissed off you are. You should be, it’s outrageous that because you just switched gender you’re getting paid less, but that’s what happens. And it adds up. Over your life as a woman you’re going to earn on average £300,000 less than you would have done as a man. Now we’re all proud of our penises, but I don’t think any of us would claim that it makes us 24% more productive at work. If yours does, please post tips in the comments.

Let’s head outside for a bit to calm down. Maybe a bit of shopping over lunch? Well, get ready for the double whammy, because not only do you have a lot less cash now, but you have to pay more for the same stuff. That’s right, on average the female versions of products (for example clothes) cost 7% more than the male ones. And of course, from now, your going to have to buy sanitary products once a month whether you like or not. And they’re a luxury, so you pay VAT on them as well. Lucky you.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 25 Comments
Caron Lindsay

The Party President, the Federal Conference Committee Chair and a new member discuss Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 11th March 2016 - 8:55 am

This is the audio feed of a pre-Conference webinar held on Monday night where Party President Sal Brinton, new member Emily Barrass and Federal Conference Committee Chair Andrew Wiseman discuss Conference. Hear them talk about their funniest Conference memories (Mr Wiseman’s is particularly tame. He’s going to have to do better over the weekend, so he’d better have a good story lined up), the Glee Club, and speaking at Conference (Sal has some really good tips on that). Emily came to Conference in Bournemouth and has seriously caught the bug.

They strongly recommended chatting to anyone you meet. All our VIPs are incredibly approachable. If you have a question, just go up and ask them.

Mary, Joe and I will be there from LDV. Please come and say hello.

Enjoy the video.

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference and News | Tagged , , and | Leave a comment
Paul Walter

Data: If we’d won more seats in 2015, our Commons team would still have been over-whelmingly white and male

By Paul Walter | Fri 11th March 2016 - 8:33 am

If you don’t already get Mark Pack’s Liberal Democrat Newswire, it’s worth signing up to it. I’ve also heard he’s co-written a book on how to win elections.

In this month’s Liberal Democrat Newswire, which is number 77, Mark presents some very clear statistics on a key point which has come up in the diversity debate:

One comment often made is that the party’s current all male, all white line-up in the House of Commons is due to the party having only 8 MPs – and that if they party had done better at the last election, it would have been more diverse.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 13 Comments
George Kendall

What do you think will happen to the Centre-Left?

By George Kendall | Fri 11th March 2016 - 7:35 am

At conference, this Saturday, Vince Cable and Roger Liddle will respond to the question, “where now for the centre-left?” It is a good question.

Around the September conference of last year, Vince Cable wrote “progressive centre-left politicians from Labour and the Liberal Democrats need to ‘come together’ to stop the Conservatives monopolising power in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s victory.”

That sounds to me like a repeat of the 1980s, with either an Alliance, or a new merged party.

Shortly after, Tim Farron pointed to a possible future where disaffected Labour MPs would switch directly to our party.

He made an open pitch to Labour’s members and elected politicians to jump ship to the Liberal Democrats, and he also invited disaffected Tories. In his leader’s speech, he said “if you are in your heart a liberal or a social democrat, you have a home in the Liberal Democrats.”

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 26 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem MPs split 3 ways over Sunday Trading laws

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 10th March 2016 - 7:59 pm

Our band of 8 split 3 ways last night in the Sunday trading debate which saw the Government defeated. That is not actually as bad as it sounds. Alistair Carmichael quite rightly decided it was none of his business as it was relating to England and Wales only. The SNP voted against, presumably to distract attention of the London media from the disastrous figures which showed that the oil price would have an independent Scotland with a massive £15 billion deficit. Maybe that will make people realise the bullet we dodged when we voted against independence. I won’t hold my breath, though. The SNP seem to be on a mission to upset England, too. Their excuse was that they were protecting workers’ rights in Scotland, a spurious assertion given that shop workers don’t generally get paid more for working Sundays, which are not restricted here. And if they were that bothered about workers’ rights, surely Nicola Sturgeon wouldn’t be quite as snarky with Willie Rennie when he brings up working conditions at Amazon. Let’s not forget that SNP cuts to local government are going to mean thousands of council workers losing their jobs, too.

A cynic might think that they were actively creating such antipathy towards them in the hope that it would encourage England to vote to leave the EU, even though they are in favour of and are campaigning for a Remain vote. It’s like when they said they wanted Ed Miliband as PM last year but told everyone in England and Wales to vote for the Greens and Plaid.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 18 Comments
Michael Taylor

The myth of “the best candidate”

By Michael Taylor | Thu 10th March 2016 - 6:28 pm

I think it is time to debunk the myth of ‘the best candidate’.

Many people in these various threads on the diversity motion say we would end up not selecting this mythical person if we were to allow AWS.

Leaving aside for the moment the aspersion this casts on women candidates, let’s have a look at the best candidate argument and see if it holds water.

The first thing we need to consider is what wins elections at a parliamentary level? Is it the candidate or is it the campaign? I would argue strongly that it’s the campaign that is built around the candidate and the work that is put in by the team around the candidate that is most important. Of course a personable and hard working candidate is also an asset, but a new PPC will have almost zero personal vote and incumbency doesn’t kick in at all until someone has been elected more than once. Even if a local candidate has been an active councillor this will at best be in 10-15% of the seat and there is scant evidence that this transfers to the parliamentary contest. On this I speak with personal knowledge having been in just that position in 2001, where having been elected as a councillor is 1998 AND 1999, my vote in the 2001 GE was not much different in my ward than anywhere else in the constituency.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 35 Comments
Lee Dargue

Person X supports the legalisation of cannabis

By Lee Dargue | Thu 10th March 2016 - 5:02 pm

 

“Person X supports the legalisation of cannabis” is quite a headline. For that person to be a sports star or celebrity generates some interest. For it to be a user of cannabis, it often generates derision.

If X is the leader of a political party, or a former government health minister, it surely is big news. This is why I joined, and have stayed a member, of the Liberal Democrats: to have radical, evidence-based policies which strike out as making us distinctive and pleased Norman Lamb has put a motion forward to conference for this policy, and please Tim Farron has supported it.

When it comes to policy-making, we are the party that prides itself most on having an evidence base. Some parties go for populism over evidence, whereas we often prefer radical policies. And some parties go on mainly grabbing headlines. These three elements are often at odds and one usually wins over the other.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 38 Comments
The Voice

York’s best pubs for Conference attendees

By The Voice | Thu 10th March 2016 - 4:02 pm

Nick Love, the former Parliamentary candidate for York Central, has put together an indispensable guide to the best watering holes in York.

You can download his recommendations and a useful map:

York Pubs for Lib Dem Conference 2016

York A-Z Pubs Map

 

 

 

 

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Harry Hayfield

My personal thoughts on Motion F7

By Harry Hayfield | Thu 10th March 2016 - 3:04 pm

I have lived with my grandparents all my life and as a result, especially since 2005 as I have been their registered carer, I have moved wherever and whenever they have moved and this means that since I became a Liberal Democrat in 1992, I have been all over the place.

However, there is one small downside to this and that is being able to get to big Lib Dem events. In those 24 years I have only managed to attend one regional conference, three Welsh conferences and no federal conferences or special conferences, which brings me to the reason for this (as the Americans would say) op-ed: Motion F7 at the conference in York discussing the paper launched a few days ago entitled “A Framework for a Regulated Market for Cannabis in the United Kingdom“.

Now, let me make this clear from the get go, having read the report I agree with a large number of things. For instance, “Each year, criminal gangs generate billions of pounds from the illegal drug trade – money which in turn funds organised crime. And each year thousands of people receive convictions for drug possession which will harm their education and employment prospects for the rest of their lives” is absolutely true.  Similarly “Liberal Democrats argue that we need an evidence based approach to drugs law, one which is based on independent and scientific advice, rather than fear and prejudice” is a statement I think we can all agree on.

However, I have to draw the line at the conclusion of the report that cannabis should be legalised and distributed via dedicated retail outlets, social clubs and via home growing.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Alex Meredith

A former candidate reflects on the diversity motion

By Alex Meredith | Thu 10th March 2016 - 1:55 pm

hero_eu

As a white, straight, able-bodied, British man who was a candidate last May and has aspirations to run again, I wanted to offer the perspective of one of the ‘over-represented’ as we approach Sunday’s diversity debate.

When I saw the text, the realisation that the motion would have significant consequences for me and my ilk was unavoidable.  The motion promises us training and support and that we will be ‘valued’.  But along with positive discrimination in general election selections we are also promised proposals on wider party diversity including in party structures and local government.  The feeling I experienced on reading the motion must be akin to turkey being offered training and support in the run up to a gender-neutral, multi-faith Winter festival.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 18 Comments
The Voice

LibLink: Olly Grender on protecting tenants from wrongful eviction

By The Voice | Thu 10th March 2016 - 1:01 pm

olly grenderOlly Grender has been writing on this subject on Huffington Post. She writes:

The Lib Dems have a good track record on fighting for tenants against wrongful evictions. Sarah Teather successfully pushed for legal protections against ‘revenge evictions’ when we were in Government, to stop tenants losing their home if they asked for safety repairs to be done.

We got that law passed despite determined attempts from Tory backbenchers to keep the power firmly in the hands of landlords.

Now there is another opportunity to protect tenants. The Government is attempting to give landlords the power to evict tenants on the basis that they have ‘abandoned’ the property, if they have not paid rent for eight weeks or responded to three notices. If those conditions are met, the landlord could reclaim possession within 12 weeks.

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | Leave a comment
Jezz Palmer

The Liberal Democrats have a diversity problem

By Jezz Palmer | Thu 10th March 2016 - 11:41 am

liberalyouth2015I will say it again: the Liberal Democrats have a diversity problem. We are “too male and too pale” – and too straight, and too able-bodied. But All-Women Shortlists are not the only solution to this, and this is why Liberal Youth Youth (backed by our own policy, as passed at our Youth Conference) are proposing an amendment against them. We are under no illusions about the state of our party. Like those that proposed the motion in the first place, we want to be better.

However, we believe that All-Women Shortlists do not tackle the root of our diversity problem. They throw all our energy at papering over the cracks, without pausing to wonder why women aren’t putting themselves forward. We, as a party, are full of absolutely incredible women.  Are we seriously suggesting that the only reason we don’t have 650 female Parliamentary Candidates is because they won’t compete with men for a selection, or that our party is so unbearably sexist that they’ll only vote for a woman if they’re given no other choice?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 28 Comments
Mary Reid

Tim Farron tweets once every 36 minutes (according to the Mirror)

By Mary Reid | Thu 10th March 2016 - 10:18 am

 

Now I don’t often link to the Mirror, but Tim Farron has made a slightly unusual appearance (for a party Leader) as a prolific tweeter.

Apparently, the Labour MP Wes Streeting is the Twitter parliamentary champion, having tweeted 68,800 times in the last seven years. That is an average of one tweet every 36 minutes during waking hours. The Mirror reckons that he has written over one million words, which is half a million more than can be found in ‘War and Peace’.

Tim is very close behind Wes Streeting with 67,600 tweets since he started in February 2009, making his tweet- rate the same, at one every 36 minutes.  Of course, a high proportion of those were retweets, rather than original tweets, but it is still pretty impressive.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Elizabeth Jewkes

Equality motion 15 years on

By Elizabeth Jewkes | Thu 10th March 2016 - 9:15 am

Spring Conference Agenda 2016Back in Autumn 2001, we in the Liberal Democrats had the opportunity to take action to improve the gender balance of our parliamentary party.

Among those who spoke out against was a young woman who declared that she did not need help to be elected as a female MP. She insisted she would manage it by herself. I spoke to her after the debate and pointed out to her that in 20 years time, when the gender balance of our parliamentary party has barely improved, and once again, a young woman, who today is not yet born, stands up she insists that she doesn’t need positive discrimination, she will get elected all by herself, I predict she will be as angry with that young woman as I am with her today.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 34 Comments
Tom Brake

The Diversity Motion – a spring board to bring greater fairness, diversity and openness to our party

By Tom Brake | Wed 9th March 2016 - 7:36 pm

The Diversity Motion being put forward this weekend at the Spring Conference in York, is an important, necessary and long overdue motion, one that Liberal Democrats need to unanimously support. As a party we have always been committed to eliminating all types of prejudice, discrimination, inequality and privilege, and must continue to do so when it comes to the country’s elected bodies and party structures. For the myriad voices present in our society to be heard and valued, our political system must reflect the diversity that exists, not just a narrow section. This unfortunately is not case, and also is sadly not true of the Liberal Democrats.

There is wholly inadequate diversity among Lib Dem members of parliament and candidates. Despite efforts to increase diversity, in the form of the Campaign for Gender Balance and the Leadership Programme, there has only been a limited impact on the proportion of individuals elected from under-represented groups and low socio-economic backgrounds.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 44 Comments
Antony Hook

EURef Talking Points: “The best 36p you’ll ever spend”

By Antony Hook | Wed 9th March 2016 - 6:15 pm

EURef Talking Points is a new series of articles about words that work in everyday conversation,public debates or in writing when you make the case to remain in Europe.

Having spoken at hundreds of meetings on Europe, my personal view is that to make a winning case for IN you need to make 3 points and rebut 2.

The 3 points are Peace, Prosperity, and People.  The 2 to rebut are sovereignty and cost, which are the two Leave arguments that have traction with many people but can both be answered.

In this article, I shall deal with rebutting the cost point.

Leave say that being in Europe costs us £50m a day or £350m …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 10 Comments
Mary Reid

Conference app now available

By Mary Reid | Wed 9th March 2016 - 5:14 pm

The Conference App is now available, and it can be downloaded free from the App Store or at Google Play. If you want a version for Blackberry or Windows you can find it here.

PS. Is this the shortest post ever on Lib Dem Voice?

Posted in Conference | Tagged | Leave a comment
Simon Foster

Inside the Hillary Campaign in Florida

By Simon Foster | Wed 9th March 2016 - 3:25 pm

Florida

ORLANDO, Florida.  A state with a rich political history, of hanging chads and contested election results back in 2000. A vital state in the primary calendar for the American Presidential election, given its winner takes all rules for delegates.  The perfect place to campaign for Hillary on International Women’s Day.

The Democratic race is fairly straightforward here. Hillary is going to beat Bernie in Florida, and Bernie knows it.  However, perception is everything in the US media, and so Bernie is campaigning to close the gap.  The Democratic debate here is on Wednesday 9th March. Barring a mishap, Clinton will be fine.  Canvassing 100 advance ballot voters (sorry, postal voters), Hillary is clearly ahead, but the talk is all elsewhere.

It’s red on red (*) Republican warfare in Florida.

Continue reading »
Posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged and | 18 Comments
Keith Aspden

Lord Jonny Oates at the Pudding Club at York

By Keith Aspden | Wed 9th March 2016 - 1:51 pm

Lord Oates

I was delighted to welcome Lord Jonny Oates to York last month for a visit to our annual Pudding Club – one of the highlights of our local parties social calendar!

Lord Oates, who was recently made a life peer after serving as a councillor in Kingston Upon Thames and later as Chief of Staff to Nick Clegg, highlighted his concerns about proposed cuts to Universal Credit to local party members in York.

As readers will know, last year George Osborne was forced to re-think cuts to working tax credits after a local and national campaign by the Lib Dems. The changes were set to hit 8,000 families in York, but the Chancellor said households claiming the benefit would be helped by “transitional protection” as they moved to the new single Universal Credit.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, claimed that “nobody will lose any money on arrival on universal credit from tax credits”. Many residents in York were reassured and pleased that a U-Turn had been made.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Ruth Bright

Time for some Liberal Herstory

By Ruth Bright | Wed 9th March 2016 - 12:35 pm

British Liberal LeadersTraditional Mothers’ Day treats do not really appeal to me. My gift on Sunday was the new(ish) book British Liberal Leaders (Brack, Ingham, Little et al) and the free time to finish reading it. I love tales of Lloyd George’s derring-do and of Steel’s “going back to your constituencies” as much as the next Liberal. All human life is there in the chapters on each party leader: Asquith’s failings, Ashdown’s verve, Clegg’s self-pity.

Well I say all human life is there but is it? In many ways it is an admirable book, John Campbell’s chapter on Roy Jenkins is a particular treat. There is a catch though. Where on earth are the women?

There are 24 chapters on each of the 24 Liberal, SDP or Lib Dem leaders. All the leaders analysed are men of course. Fair enough. We cannot go back in time and insert Nancy Seear or Shirley Williams as party leaders in a retrospective All Women Shortlist!

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 17 Comments
Will Wilshere

Watford Action Weekend

By Will Wilshere | Wed 9th March 2016 - 10:41 am

Watford march action day

After many months up in Hull, where I’m currently at University, I jumped at the chance to get back to my home turf of Watford for an action weekend, and what a weekend it was.

First things first, much of the credit has to go to Nassar who managed to get such a great turn out, including a large number of fellow Liberal Youth members, as well as an appearance by Mike Thornton, Jo Swinson, Duncan Hames and Norman Lamb. It was a fantastic weekend and if I heard correctly we managed to knock on over 5000 doors on Saturday alone! We all know what a challenge it is to organise Lib-Dems.

Secondly a massive thanks to the wonderful Richmonds who put up their home as our base of operations; to stand having 20+ Liberal Youth in your home is a feat that would make Hercules himself sweat with fear.

Continue reading »
Posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged and | Leave a comment
Judy Abel

Is regulation becoming the new religion?

By Judy Abel | Wed 9th March 2016 - 9:27 am

 

In whatever field you care to mention – whether it is education, services or business – employers and organisations are checking up on us as never before.

Recently my car broke down in Glastonbury, so I called the AA. Out came the AA repair person, who did a great job, but he then asked me to rate the service he had provided on a tablet, by clicking on a happy face, sad face, or categories in between. Not only that, I got a follow up phone call asking me whether he had done a good job. Why couldn’t the AA just let me call to complain I there had been a problem? This all creates so much pressure on working people.

Last time I went to my GP surgery there was a plastic plinth asking me to rate my experience, with the happy and sad faces again. I tried to type in a message saying “Stop checking up on people, the pressure on staff must be intolerable”, but the message box vanished! On the back of many lorries there is a number to call, inviting us to rate the lorry driver’s performance – and on it goes. And, in my experience, when performance-related pay is introduced in a company the spirit of collegiality can quickly turn into one of competitiveness and dissatisfaction.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Newsmoggie

Did Clegg and the Queen have a huge bust-up over the EU?

By Newsmoggie | Tue 8th March 2016 - 11:31 pm

If you read tomorrow’s Sun, you might think they did:

The account of the bombshell lunch during the last government – which a handful of other government ministers also attended – has been relayed to The Sun by a highly reliable source.

The senior source said: “People who heard their conversation were left in no doubt at all about the Queen’s views on European integration.

“It was really something, and it went on for quite a while.

“The EU is clearly something Her Majesty feels passionately about.”

The monarch is also said to have revealed her Eurosceptic feelings during a separate conversation with MPs at a Buckingham Palace reception.

Nick is quoted as saying:

Former Lib Dem boss Mr Clegg told The Sun: “I have absolutely no recollection of it.

“I don’t have a photographic memory. But I think I would have remembered something as stark or significant as you have made it out to be.

“No doubt you’ll speak to someone else and they’ll say, ‘I was there I heard it’. Fine.

“But I really can’t remember it at all.

“Anyway, without sounding pompous, I find it rather distasteful to reveal conversations with the Queen.”

He backed that up on Twitter:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 24 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Jonathan Brown
    @George - me too. I know that not everyone is happy about this, but it's perfectly reasonable policy and I think all care is being taken to try to reassure thos...
  • George Thomas
    It follows the position of what I believe is a majority of UK population of supporting Israel but being against these unlawful settlements. Maybe not brave in t...
  • David Le Grice
    I don't get your point. Starmer's problem was that he had no charisma or any broader understanding of how to be popular. Boris Johnson managed to deliver the ...
  • expats
    Dr Ruvi ZIEGLER 11th Sep '26 - 10:44am You ref..."These measures are a direct response to continuous shifts in policy in Israel over many years which have deep...
  • Jonathan Brown
    @Andy Daer - there is certainly a LOT I haven't addressed in my article, and am not going to address here, if only for lack of time and space. But a few points....