Well, that was a pretty good Conference, wasn’t it? Passion, enthusiasm, and a whole bunch of people I’d never met before. I have to admit that I left Bournemouth rather more enthusiastic than I was when I arrived.
And so, what to do with all of that enthusiasm? Well, I’d like to try a few things.
Firstly, our new members are still feeling their way into the Party, and that offers an opportunity for the various groups withing the Party – Specified Associated Organisations, Associated Organisations, thinktanks, pressure groups and the like, to reach out to new people. So, if you are on the Executive Committee of one such group, why not write something for us, telling readers what you do and why, perhaps advertising future events you might be running?
Secondly, I really ought to try to commission more articles, as suggested by one of our more illustrious readers (he might have a beard and come from north of the Watford Gap). So, if you’re doing something interesting, and it crosses my line of sight, you might well hear from me.
We rather need someone to cover Parliament for us too. I somewhat erratically cover the Lords for reasons that will be obvious to those of you who know me, but we don’t really cover the Commons much, possibly because it can be a bit depressing. So, if anyone fancies it, preferably in an informative but not too serious manner, get in touch.
Finally, we’ve now published an opening salvo from each of the declared Presidential candidates;
and from here on in, we’ve offered each candidate a weekly slot, first come, first served. Of course, if any other candidate emerges (and there is still a week left for further candidates to emerge, if anyone out there is seized by an urge to run and can get the required number of nominations), we’ll naturally offer them a similar opportunity. Readers are reminded that Liberal Democrat Voice will be taking its usual neutral position with regard to internal party elections.
And so, let the week commence!
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2 Comments
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend conference this year, but this allowed me to get a better take on what was seen by the general public, not from within the conference bubble.
Watching coverage on the news and other conference coverage, combined with the debate over Westminster having closed down, it did appear that continuing with the annual shutdown of Parliament for the conference season is no longer justifiable and that we should take the lead on this by suggesting that life at Westminster should go on as normal during the conference season.
Circumstances this year are very different, but normally every other year, we go along with the proroguing of Parliament at this time of year. The outrage this year, by people who had clearly planned not to be there, did not go unnoticed.
There is no need to cancel any conferences, but many people in all parties must see that there is no real reason why conferences could not take place while Parliament is sitting. We could make ours start on Friday and end on Monday, when there is virtually no Parliamentary business anyway.
Hopefully this might stimulate some debate on Lib-Dem Voice, as you suggest.
Even with 18 MPs we can not support the other 630 having a week off so that we can have our conference. The numbers are different for other parties, but the principle is the same.
Personally I have never understood why we shut parliament for party conferences. So I think the proposal is sensible and would probably be popular amongst the public who likely see politicians having time off work for a jolly.