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Newspuppy

About Nigel Farage and the British fishing industry

By Newspuppy | Published Wed 15th June 2016 - 4:20 pm

You may have read, seen, giggled at reports of the Leave and Remain camps taking to the Thames today. Nigel Farage led a flotilla of “fishermen for leave” from Southend to the Houses of Parliament.

This is particularly interesting because, as Catherine Bearder points out, Nigel is spending more time showboating on the Thames than he has ever spent actually standing up for the British fishing industry at the European Parliament Fisheries Committee which it’s part of his job to be on.

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Belinda Brooks Gordon

For peace, healthcare, medical research, animal welfare, workers’ rights and equality: why I’m voting Remain

By Belinda Brooks Gordon | Published Fri 10th June 2016 - 2:55 pm

This is a speech I gave recently at a debate on the European Union at Selwyn College, Cambridge.

I want to tell you why Europe matters. Why it matters to me, to all of us, and our families.

I was born in the Caribbean after Hurricane Hattie, with the windows still broken in the hospital. We know extreme weather events are now more common elsewhere too.

But for our planet, and a greener future, Europe is taking the lead in the global effort to halt climate change. To prevent rising sea levels, and cut greenhouse gases. Our fragile, flood-ridden region, here in Cambridgeshire, needs that protection and forward thinking.

I grew up in Nigeria under a dictatorship. I saw division and bloodshed following the Biafran war. Burnt-out cars lay by the roadside. Roadblocks where soldiers had guns as likely to go off in their own face as mine.

THAT’S WHY I VALUE THE EUROPEAN PROJECT OF PEACE AND I WANT IT TO BE THERE FOR OTHERS TOO.

My work is on civil liberties and protection of the vulnerable. Especially migrant populations, trafficked women, and abused children. It’s why I feel that the EU, which funds programmes and refuges that protect women and young people from violence, is necessary.

It’s why I am grateful for the European Arrest Warrant. It means that thousands of criminals are no longer on our streets because our police can share information.

Now, I live with a vet and I’ve seen the impact of disease through intensive farming. Not only is animal welfare very important to us as a family. But as a mother, the safety of the food I feed my family matters.

So I am glad that EU food safety watches over all stages of food production. From animal feed, plants and crops, to the movement of animals. To ensure food across Europe is safe for us to eat.

And safer goods too. Because Europe gives us better consumer protection. Take standardization – people often laugh at Brussels for it. But it means that manufacture costs are lower and it ensures safer, better quality goods.

More than two thousand faulty items are banned each year – from Chinese rubber ducks to suspect tattoo chemicals from the USA. It means we can make informed choices.

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Stuart Bonar

Muscly Putin stickman – my part in the #EUref

By Stuart Bonar | Published Fri 10th June 2016 - 11:55 am

Whenever I’ve tired during this long referendum campaign I’ve thought about how I will feel as I watch the results come in during the small hours of 24th June. Fear of losing, especially if not by much, has driven me to throw myself into the campaign.

And one of the benefits of a truly national election is that there are no safe seats or swing seats. Every vote genuinely counts as much as any other. It’s given me the freedom to get out and about as I campaign. It means that last weekend I was in Bournemouth, the week before in Liskeard, and this Saturday I’ll be at home in Plymouth (feel free to come along).

I wanted to do even more though, so my partner and I set up a Facebook group as somewhere to try out ideas and see if anyone thought they were any good. We called it Campaign to Remain – keep Britain in Europe.

We didn’t expect much. At first we thought it would be a niche little thing where we’d be breaking open the champagne if a post ever got over 10 likes. But we’ve been really lucky.

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Dipa Vaya

How I am trying to improve diversity in the Liberal Democrats

By Dipa Vaya | Published Wed 8th June 2016 - 2:55 pm

In December 2015 the ‘Diversity Monitoring Group’ was created which consisted of five people passionate about ensuring progressive change is made to address diversity. Most people are aware that diversity needs to be addressed in the Liberal Democrats. Everyone has heard Tim Farron say ‘we are a male and pale party’. Instead of waiting to see what the Party will do next we’ve decided to create a member-led diversity survey.

The results of the survey have been shared with  Liberal Democrat Headquarters,  chairs of SAOs and AOs and some Federal Executive members.

How it happened

We created a set of questions, set up a Google form, and started publicising the survey, mostly across social media. The survey was shared on social media from December 2015 to February 2016.

The results show that we had 132 responses from Liberal Democrat members, all of who are anonymous. The main issues raised were: communication, party culture, gender equality and unconscious bias.

Questions include:

  • Are there specific areas in the party which you feel men and women are not treated equally?
  • Do you feel better guidance on equality and diversity (via training) could come from diversity team HQ and ALDC?
  • Do you have any more comments regarding the party’s understanding of equality and diversity?

Conclusions from the survey include:

  • The need to take into account accessibility when communicating with members.
  • Party culture  – the “misogyny and sexism” in the Party and the “need to be educated about gender issues eg unconscious bias”.
  • We have passed on specific feedback to diversity SAOs and AOs
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Lord William Wallace

Lord William Wallace writes… How you can make sure we win this referendum

By Lord William Wallace | Published Wed 1st June 2016 - 12:45 pm

The betting odds on the outcome of the EU Referendum are comforting. And the polls so far are not too bad. But once you are out of London, and on the doorstep, it doesn’t feel good. The messages that feed back, picked up from social media and the subtle messages that the Leave campaign are putting out, show how many people have picked up their portrayal of the EU as draining both our sovereignty and our budget. Their latest political broadcast played heavily on the idea that the NHS will get worse if we stay in, and will benefit from extra funds and fewer patients if we leave.

Not all Liberal Democrat party members feel passionate about Europe. For many, local issues and local campaigning is more important – and more directly relevant to those whose votes we are seeking. The ALDC has fixed a full-day conference the weekend before the Referendum to discuss local campaigning, which will I imagine include a session on how to combat the appeal of UKIP at the local level. But local and international issues do not exist in separate compartments: concerns about immigration and diversity, competition for housing, schools and jobs (and hospital admissions), bridge the two. UKIP, and some local Tories, play skilfully on fears of change and mistrust of incomers, to our disadvantage.

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ALDC

ALDC Campaigner awards: Nominations now open

By ALDC | Published Wed 1st June 2016 - 8:53 am

ALDC Master Logo (for screen)Each year, ALDC recognises the outstanding work of local Focus teams through our Campaigner Awards and nominations are now open.
The Campaigner Awards are presented at the ALDC AGM at Federal Conference. Winners in each category and our Overall Winner will receive cash prizes and a signed and framed certificate for their office!

This year, after shortlisting, we will also be opening the vote to you! We want members of the party to have a say in this year’s winners and will be opening the vote to the public.

This year, our categories are:

Best By-election Campaign

Bedford win ALDC campaigner awardBest Fightback

Best Innovation

Best Literature Campaign

Best Squeeze Campaign

Best Community Campaign

Overall Campaigner Awards Winner

For more details about each category go here.

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James Baillie

We need to talk to Yanis

By James Baillie | Published Tue 31st May 2016 - 1:55 pm

 

We’re fighting hard to stay in the EU in this campaign, and we’ve got a good fighting chance of winning it. But it’s important to remember that this has been the campaign that never should have happened. What we’re fighting against isn’t just the lacklustre waffling of a Tory-led Vote Leave campaign that’s largely been hijacked by a fluffy-headed careerist Etonian. That would have been no problem. The real enemy is a drip-feed of decades of anti-EU propaganda and domestic politicians deflecting blame to Brussels – which is in turn made possible by the catastrophic scale of voter disengagement with European politics.

And that’s at the heart of why we should take the leftist reformers of Another Europe is Possible seriously.

The EU needs reform. This oughtn’t be a controversial statement to make; it’s self-evident that in most European elections voters have been wholly disengaged from the issues upon which they were electing their MEPs, and that’s not largely the fault of the voters. It doesn’t help that the appointed commission wields a great deal of authority with little direct accountability, and the tendency of national politicians to use European elections as mid-term referenda on national governments compounds the problem.

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Paul Walter

Updates from the special Welsh Liberal Democrat conference today #wldconf

By Paul Walter | Published Sat 21st May 2016 - 12:30 pm

There’s a special conference for Welsh Liberal Democrat going on today. It’s to decide whether or not to endorse the “Progressive Agreement” reached by Kirsty Williams AM and the Labour Welsh Assembly group.

There are live tweets coming from the hall. #wldconf is the relevant hashtag. @peterblackwales and @liberalmorgan are particular Twitter handles to watch, if you’re interested. I’m retweeting most of the tweets on @paulwalteruk, so you can see them scroll up on our Team Twitter feed on the right hand column of this site.

Update 1pm: It appears that tweets from the conference hall have stopped. We’re expecting the conference to end around 2pm or shortly afterwards, so we hope to bring news then.

Update 1:30pm: The stoppage of tweeting is because they’re having lunch, bless them.

Here are some of the tweets so far:


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Caron Lindsay

Alex Cole-Hamilton’s first week in Holyrood

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sun 15th May 2016 - 4:39 pm

It’s been a wee while since we’ve had a brand new Parliamentarian. Here’s how Alex Cole-Hamilton, who gained Edinburgh Western from the SNP last week, spent his first week in office.

Monday

Outgoing Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick instituted a 3 day induction for new MSPs so that they weren’t just thrown in the deep end. Here’s Alex enjoying his new office:

BBC Scotland were there filming. Watch from around 14 minutes in to see him have a wee bit of a jazz hands moment:

Tuesday

We always knew Alex would be a hard-working constituency MSP. On election day, the Post Office closed a vital Post Office with no notice. Alex was quickly on the case supporting local residents and explaining why this was such a problem for the community:

It’s terrible. The other closures in the area were carried out with the assurance that the office at Duart Crescent would remain open. If you are elderly, infirm or have kids it is too difficult to get down the hill to St John’s Road.

A post office is the surrogate hub of the community and much more than just somewhere to pick up your pension. It is the only slice of social inclusion available to some of the elderly residents. As we close these counters it is another barrier to their involvement in society.

I am sure we have all heard anecdotes of people raising the alarm as someone has not collected their pension for a couple of weeks. That will all be lost if this is a permanent closure.

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Caron Lindsay

Don’t let the Tories airbrush us out of history

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sat 14th May 2016 - 9:45 am

The Conservatives’ Twitter feed has annoyed me even more than usual today.

It’s no different. They are always taking credit for things that Lib Dem ministers drove forward in Government, but we shouldn’t let them away with it.

Remember when David Cameron told Nick Clegg in the 2010 leaders’ debate that the rise in the tax threshold was unaffordable? Now they are proudly claiming credit for it as if it was there idea when everyone knows it wasn’t.

They also highlight the rise in the State Pension. Ah yes, but who was responsible for the triple lock, ensuring that the pension rose by earnings, 2.5% or inflation whichever was the biggest? Step forward Steve Webb, former Lib Dem Pensions Minister.

And they are also boasting about the Pupil Premium, an idea implemented and boosted by education ministers Sarah Teather and David Laws.

It’s funny that they’re not boasting about that other Lib Dem achievement, the massive investment in renewables. Ah, that will be because they’ve dismantled that one.

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Federal Policy Committee Report – 11 May 2016

By Geoff Payne | Published Thu 12th May 2016 - 4:20 pm

The Federal Policy Committee had its most recent meeting on 11th May 2016. The agenda was a fairly light one with two major substantive items.

Further Discussion on Liberty and Security Working Group Paper

Brian Paddick attended the committee again to discuss the progress of this working group. It is nearing its closing stages now and will report to conference in the Autumn.

The group has consulted very widely throughout the party; firstly at a consultation session at Spring Conference which was extremely well attended, secondly, through an online survey that was promoted on Twitter and Facebook, thereby doubling the number of responses, and finally through actively soliciting submissions from various groups within the party.

There was a short paper presented to the committee setting out various provisional conclusions that had been reached and that formed a basis for discussion.

The areas that are to be addressed in the paper will follow the remit that was set. Those areas include the range and severity of the threats to the country arising from terrorism, extremism and cross-border crime, the necessary powers of the police and security services in order to deal with those threats, online surveillance by the authorities, the regulation and accountability of the police, the encroachment on individual liberty by entities other than government such as private companies and news media and, finally, the steps that government can take to reduce threats to public safety other than through the police and security services.

It would not be right for me to go into the conclusions of the group now and before the release of the final paper. That said, the paper will cover issues such as the current threat level facing the United Kingdom and the sources from which that threat is derived, the Investigatory Powers Bill and its predecessors, secret courts, the PREVENT strategy and potential changes to it, data collection by private companies, the stripping of citizenship and the potential for someone to be left stateless, covert human surveillance, the Digital Bill of Rights, data protection, trust in the police and the effect of government foreign policy on community relations and perception.

There was a range of comments from members of the committee. There was an extremely interesting discussion about bulk data collection, dark areas of the net and social media and the ability of the security services to access that material and those areas. There were also comments about PREVENT and CHANNEL, Secret Courts and a new requirement to prove nationality if a person is stopped that the government has imposed.

The final paper will return to the Federal Policy Committee on 8th June 2016.

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Simon Foster

Different perspectives on election results

By Simon Foster | Published Thu 12th May 2016 - 3:19 pm

National vote third at 15%, up  45+ Councillors!  Scottish mainland seats gained!  Overall, these elections were an important step forward in recovery for the Liberal Democrats.

However, this was not a uniform set of results.  There were disappointing results in Wales and London, along with some English areas.  We should think twice when discussing with colleagues how we did.

Candy Piercy wrote this which struck a chord with me:

The hard working candidates and teams who lost will be feeling out of step with the rest of the party. It is not just Wales and London feeling the pain. There are many candidates who bravely put themselves forward hoping against hope that they would win.

So how should we be approaching things?  Well, the field of communication skills has some suggestions.

There’s a saying “the map is not the territory.”  People have different ways of interpreting the world.  A mental map of how they interpret things.  Their map may not only different from yours, but different to what is actually going on.

We should understand these different points of view, which comes naturally to liberals.  Avoid assuming people feel the same way about these election results. Instead, ask people “How do you feel we did?”  Listen to their experience. Feel how they feel. See things from their point of view. Empathise if they have lost and you have won.

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Lord Anthony Lester

Lord Anthony Lester writes…We will march in the streets for the BBC

By Lord Anthony Lester | Published Wed 11th May 2016 - 11:58 am

Tomorrow the government will publish a white paper setting out its plans for the future of the BBC. At the BAFTA awards on Sunday the director Peter Kosminsky rightly received a standing ovation. He used his acceptance speech to voice his fear that the White Paper will compromise our precious, independent, world-renowned organisation. He cautioned that the BBC was on a path to evisceration that would leave the broadcasting landscape bereft – and the output of television and radio determined solely by what lines the pockets of shareholders.

Those fears are not fanciful. The BBC has retained its reputation for world-class programming over the last decade despite increasingly painful cuts. As Lord Patten pointed out in a major lecture at the Reuter’s institute last week, the BBC’s real income has fallen over the past decade by more than 15%. In the past five years alone BSkyB’s revenues went up by more than 16% and ITV’s increased by 21%.

Being effective as a public services broadcaster depends on having a guaranteed source of revenue. That is and has been the licence fee. It must be owned by the BBC, not by the government. It must not be sliced off to feed commercial rivals. The government has no business raiding it, like when it dumped the cost of free licences for the over 75s on the BBC rather than taxpayers. That undermined morale within the BBC as well as public trust and confidence. The BBC is not an arm of government that sets welfare policy and it would cause public outrage if it were forced to become one. The BBC must stand independent from government, free to call it to account.

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Fiona Milne

“Press print”: Reflections on the heartbreak of losing a unique job

By Fiona Milne | Published Sat 7th May 2016 - 6:45 pm

I’m rubbish at predicting elections. Always have been. Too many variables for my simple brain. What I do know is that working in politics puts you at the mercy of electoral ups and downs that can be weighted heavily against you at the drop of a box count. Beyond that, I leave the number crunching to those with better minds than this tragic idealist. For me, my 17 years in politics has been about believing in liberal values, sharing in those values with oddballs just like me and making firm friendships.

Stunt sheep; overnight bulk buy balloons; a giant toothbrush; and driving many weary miles to meet in the market square to start good mornings at 5am sharp “so don’t be late, Fee!” are just a few of the daft memories that will forever warm my heart. “Your job’s weird”, my friends outside  politics would say as I tried to explain GOTV and the need for the stunt sheep.

But this year’s Scottish Parliament elections handed me my saddest, and currently all too raw, memory with the loss of the brilliant Jim Hume.

When I first started working for Jim I had no idea that the nine years to follow would be jam packed with so many fantastic grassroots campaigns. It was the start of a teamwork of three bonded through a common work ethic and love for the cause, first with Charlotte, then Craig and now the talented Eleana. There was no room for half heartedness. From the chief’s messy office would come the clarion call, “press print”, which still now is a source of much comic value as we would set about bulk buying a volume of envelopes that would make even the parliament posties wince at the franking prospect. When facilities management tell you the volume is a safety hazard, you know you’re doing something right. Mailmerge was on. Jim has been an insightful and tenacious local campaigner, and an outspoken champion for mental health. He’s also a really good bloke and the South of Scotland is easily much the poorer for his absence. If politics isn’t a meritocracy, as a wise fellow staffer and friend once sagely observed, then it’s certainly reflected in losing Jim and the  fearless Alison McInnes. Even after umpteen years I still can’t fathom elections or the psychology at the ballot box. Sometimes it’s just painfully bloody unfair. But that’s life, I guess. It’s just politics.

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Kris Brown

Liberal Democrat success in Liverpool

By Kris Brown | Published Sat 7th May 2016 - 11:45 am

I tend not to write pieces for political websites as I don’t consider myself a great writer and often shy away from the challenge.

However, I couldn’t resist an opportunity to talk about, and thank our many volunteers, for the excellent results we had in Liverpool on Thursday night and Friday morning.

First, a bit of context.  When I became Chair at the end of 2014, the Liberal Democrats in Liverpool were facing an enormous challenge.  Once the largest Lib Dem groups in Europe could soon face having just one councillor left with Erica Kemp CBE. As brilliant as she is, I’m sure she wouldn’t have enjoyed the council on her own.  So we put in place a strategy to identify a number of different wards where we could hold and finish a strong second – not just spread our resources too thinly across the city.  We decided that a huge door-knocking effort would be to key to success alongside lots of hard hitting leaflets.  The result was holding on to Richard Kemp CBE with an increased majority and a good result in our target wards going forward.

A year on, nearly 11,000 doors knocked and hundreds of thousands of leaflets delivered we have reaped the rewards of our strategy.

Richard Kemp secured 21.1% of the Mayoral vote (up from 6% previously), finishing second and cutting into the ‘gutter politics’ Labour Mayor’s vote, and finishing well above the Greens.

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Paul Walter

Lib Dems “over the moon” in Gosport

By Paul Walter | Published Fri 6th May 2016 - 6:45 am

Portsmouth News reports:

THREE Liberal Democrat gains saw the party grow in Gosport.

Now the party has nine councillors, after plucking two wards from the Conservatives and one from Labour.

New councillors Dawn Kelly, Richard Earle and Angela Prickett were victorious as the Tory majority shrank.

Lib Dem leader Peter Chegwyn said: ‘I’m over the moon.

‘It’s a fantastic night for us.’

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Paul Walter

Lib Dems gain two seats to win over half of the seats contested in Portsmouth

By Paul Walter | Published Fri 6th May 2016 - 6:39 am

Well done to Gerald and the team!



The full results are here.

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Caron Lindsay

Ten ways Willie Rennie made Scotland smile during #sp16

By Caron Lindsay | Published Wed 4th May 2016 - 12:45 pm

Many of the defining images of the election in Scotland have come from Willie Rennie. He has had a lot of serious points to make during this election, highlighting the need to invest in education, transform mental health, stand up for civil liberties, protect the planet from climate change and stop the SNP’s suffocating control and centralisation of public services, but he’s had tonnes of fun illustrating them.

In 2006, his by-election victory in Dunfermline was helped by an image on the front page of the Courier from the top of the Forth Rail Bridge. He’s had some similarly fantastic photos and videos this campaign.  On Monday he went go-karting and his photo on the podium afterwards, doing the “Schumi Jump” that Michael Schumacher always used to do when he won, made it into virtually every paper.

His bright and exuberant campaign has had loads of coverage and has caught people’s imagination. You know you are on the right track when people start repeating your campaign messages on the doorsteps. From a very challenging outlook, he has brought the party to the very real possibility of gaining a constituency seat against the SNP tomorrow. The media is watching Edinburgh Western and Alex Cole-Hamilton.

A lot of these photo-ops were very risky. Some could have been disastrous. Imagine the headlines if the canoe had capsized. Of course, one did go memorably wrong, but a few packets of Percy Pigs later, the journalists were laughing with rather than at us.

The manifesto launch was bright, exuberant and unforgettable. He got interviewed on a slide, for goodness sake.

There was the day they let him fly a plane.

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Jonathan Ferguson

No criticism is bad criticism (and none is worse)…

By Jonathan Ferguson | Published Mon 2nd May 2016 - 11:00 am

Not long ago, I wrote a piece on how pacifists and non-interventionists might respond to the recent decision on foreign intervention.

Although, on balance, I don’t regret writing it, I am deeply dissatisfied with some aspects of my article. The feedback from a large number of people has been very helpful not only in helping me clarify my own views to myself, but also to think very carefully about matters of presentation and framing.

If I am reading them correctly, some commenters felt that my stance was not robust enough. My problematic reference to ‘maintain(ing) unity’ and worse still, to the purported risks of ‘irresponsible criticism’ (sic) could easily be read as conformist, condescending, authoritarian, or any combination of these things. Certainly, there were some poor choices of words.

I will acknowledge that as I only recently joined the Liberal Democrats, it is possible that I have a distorted view of the boundaries of criticism. Certainly, I would not wish to indulge in tone policing. I am as outraged at anyone else at the recent decision to go along with David Cameron and the self-styled ‘International Community’s’ self-serving crusade in the Middle East; the latest in a long line of cynical interventions.

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Caron Lindsay

Farron makes pitch to centre left voters – support Lib Dems for good local councillors and effective opposition to Tories

By Caron Lindsay | Published Fri 29th April 2016 - 8:54 am

Farron in Edinburgh Western 28 April

At about 8:45, Tim Farron made a flying visit to Alex Cole-Hamilton’s campaign HQ in Edinburgh Western. He did notice that the SNP office next door was  already in darkness.

The visit had an additional bonus for us as the campaigns staff from Scottish HQ pitched up yesterday afternoon and pronounced the place not tidy enough to receive the leader and proceeded to tidy it up for us. No doubt we won’t be able to find anything this morning.

Tim was highly impressed with what he’d seen, which is definitely a compliment given the amount of campaigning that goes on on his patch.

He also told us of his visit to Cardiff Central and candidate Eluned Parrott where he visited a refugee centre and played football with some of the refugees.  We know how strongly he feels that we should be doing more to help refugees from conflict and particularly those children already in Europe. He told us how he’d just been speaking to one of the “Windermere Boys”, a group of young men who were welcomed to the Lake District after being rescued from the death camps at the end of World War 2. They had gone on to build successful lives for themselves, serving the community in many ways, too. Helping people in these desperate circumstances is, Tim said, the least we can do.

This morning, he is visiting a nursery in Cowdenbeath with Willie Rennie, with the challenge from us that he has to at least match Willie Rennie being interviewed on a slide at our manifesto launch.

First, though, he was up early to be on both Radio 5 live and the Today programme to talk about the Lib Dem local election campaign. He made a very clear pitch to centre left voters, asking them to lend their vote to the Liberal Democrats. For that, they’ll get a brilliant local councillor to represent them locally and the appalling Tory government would be held to account He emphasised how the Liberal Democrats had shown more gains in votes and seats in local council by-elections since last May than anyone else. 

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NewsHound

Norman Baker’s Reform Club band plays London

By NewsHound | Published Sat 16th April 2016 - 8:55 am

Norman Baker hit the stage in London recently with his band. Buzzfeed, and a whole load of Lib Dems, were there.

“Where are all the Lib Dems?” one bearded fan heckled at him at one point. Baker replied: “He’s over there.” That prompted some wry chuckles from my Lib Dem companions, perhaps tinged with a hint of sadness. Baker didn’t shy away from politics during the gig. “We wrote this one before May 2015 but it’s a good song to play afterwards,” he said, introducing “Never Yesterday”.

“But the road to the past is just another dead end / And so, my friend, think about today, never yesterday,” he sang with feeling. The band also enjoyed belting out “Give War a Chance”, an incredibly unsubtle takedown of Tony Blair. It begins: “I am an envoy for peace / But I’ve got war on my mind.”

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Caron Lindsay

The “trailblazing, hell-raising rule breaking Rennie”

By Caron Lindsay | Published Fri 15th April 2016 - 4:28 pm

Another Friday, another day Willie Rennie wins the internet.

I don’t think there has ever been such fun at a manifesto launch ever.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats’ manifesto is centred around opportunity in so many ways. Children are at the very heart of it, so it seemed appropriate that the event took place in a soft play event in Edinburgh. And if you are going to go there, you need to get into the spirit of the place. You can’t afford to look too stiff and sober. And Willie didn’t.

The team got three specific things right. First a bit of humour, reminding everyone how you won the internet last week too.

And, let’s be honest, it’s a bit of a treat to imagine hard-nosed political hacks being asked to wait in a room like this:

Finally, if you have a leader who can do a 3 second pitch while going down a slide, then that’s a talent you have to exploit.

Jamie Ross from Buzzfeed absolutely loved it:

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Keith Aspden

Bosnia’s Nasa Stranka visits York

By Keith Aspden | Published Wed 13th April 2016 - 3:20 pm

Nasa Stranka in YorkOne of the highlights of this year’s Spring Conference for us as a Local Party, led by our deputy group leader Cllr Ann Reid, was hosting some representatives of our Bosnian sister party, Nasa Stranka.

Nationally links between our two parties are already well-established, with joint working around campaigns, training and promoting women in politics. But for anyone who doesn’t follow Bosnian politics as closely as we do….

Nasa Stranka (‘Our Party’ in Bosnian) was founded in 2008 to offer an alternative to the dominant nationalist parties, and over the past six years has established itself as the leading socially liberal and progressive voice in Bosnian politics. Nasa Stranka is also a shining example of achieving gender equality, with 46% female representation at the local level.

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Caron Lindsay

Should politicians publish their tax returns?

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sun 10th April 2016 - 8:33 am

Here’s Tim Farron telling Sky News on Friday that he is going to release his tax return, regardless of whether anyone else does. He said he made his decision because he thought that people had “a right to have their confidence in their leaders enhanced and not further diminished.”

Tim Farron: “I’m Going To Publish My Tax Return”“It’s up to him. I’m going to.” Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron on whether David Cameron should publish his tax return.

Posted by Sky News on Friday, 8 April 2016

And so, David Cameron has now published his tax return. It doesn’t really tell us anything that we didn’t know already. We discover that he’s a rich man. We discover that he and his wife get more in rent for their Notting Hill home every year than some of our homes are worth. They are getting in more than £7,500 per month.

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Caron Lindsay

Friday fun: The story of Willie Rennie and the friendly pigs

By Caron Lindsay | Published Fri 8th April 2016 - 7:12 pm

An awful lot of planning goes into those photo-ops you see every night on the telly during an election campaign. The party leaders have a specific message they want to get out.

Today, Willie Rennie was at Gorgie City Farm in Edinburgh to talk about the importance of vocational training. He’s done a lot with animals this campaign. Remember those ultra cute therapets? He also got the “seal” of approval at Deep Sea World. What could possibly go wrong?

Today’s visit started so well:

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Iain Donaldson

North West Liberal Democrats Conference Spring 2016

By Iain Donaldson | Published Mon 4th April 2016 - 11:28 am

Members attend regional conference to debate policy, receive training, question the decision makers in the party, and, of course, to socialise with old friends over a cup of tea or an excellent lunch.

On Saturday, following the opening of North West Liberal Democrats Conference by the Deputy Leader of Stockport Council, we heard an upbeat presentation from Sir Vince Cable about the work the Liberal Democrats did in Government, and where we go from here.  This was followed by a presentation by former North West MEP Chris Davies on the progress of the #intogether campaign to keep Britain in the EU.  …

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Paul Walter

Must-see TV series: Inside Obama’s White House

By Paul Walter | Published Fri 1st April 2016 - 11:40 am

While I was on holiday, BBC 2 sneaked out the first episode of a fantastic series: Inside Obama’s White House. You can currently watch the first three episodes of the series here on BBC iPlayer.

This is a brilliant series produced by Brook Lapping for the BBC. They’ve got some truly sensational behind-the-scenes footage. So, as they tell the story of Obama’s presidency, they are able to show specific video of that event behind-the-scenes – advisers emerging from a crunch meeting or whatever. And they have a remarkable parade of players giving their retrospective view on events: from Rahm Emmanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, to John Kerry, Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and chief adviser David Axelrod.

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Mary Reid

Deadline for responses to second consultation on the governance review

By Mary Reid | Published Mon 28th March 2016 - 3:33 pm

You should have received an email from Sal Brinton last week inviting you to give your views on the consultation paper on the governance review. The deadline is TODAY!! So if the weather is keeping you at home you could do worse than spend a few minutes reading the consultation document and sending in your views on it.

You do need to click on the button on the email that you received, so we can’t direct you to the survey from here.

The feedback at this, the second stage of consultation, will help to determine the proposals which will be put to …

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Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie’s week – a whirlwind start to the campaign featuring children, animals and the other party leaders

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sun 27th March 2016 - 4:55 pm

You can tell there’s an election on. This week, Willie Rennie has painted Easter eggs, sung songs with children at a nursery, visited a farmers’ market and fed seals.

Here’s a look at a whirlwind week in Scotland. Some of it is quite funny.

Monday

Willie was supposed to be going to Amazon in Dunfermline to discuss working practices and pay with employees. At the last minute, Amazon cancelled the meeting. Undeterred, Willie went anyway and recorded this video outside the depot:

Locked outToday, I was supposed to visit Amazon in Dunfermline.At the last minute, they cancelled the visit, because they were too embarrassed to let me see conditions in the center – and too embarrassed by the wages they pay their staff.Big companies like Amazon, that receive government grants, should pay their staff the living wage.That’s why we will never pay government grants to companies that don’t pay the living wageAgree? Add your name here: scotlibdems.org.uk/livingwage

Posted by Willie Rennie on Monday, 21 March 2016

Tuesday

He was on Scotland 2016 to talk about the SNP’s tax plans, or lack of them. In short, they say they can raise £1.2 billion without anyone paying any more tax. That seems to defy the laws of any sort of finance.

Last night I was on Scotland 2016 talking about the SNP’s tax plans and challenged John Swinney’s claims over what this would mean for public services. The truth is that their plans will not raise an extra penny to invest in schools and deliver the transformation in education that we need.

Posted by Willie Rennie on Wednesday, 23 March 2016

Wednesday

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Paul Walter

Liberal Leave campaign

By Paul Walter | Published Sat 12th March 2016 - 7:03 pm

LiberalLeave

We’ve been asked about the Liberal Leave campaign, which is working for a “No” vote in the forthcoming EU referendum.

The campaign has a Facebook page, a website and a Twitter feed.

The Facebook page features a couple of pieces of literature being given out by supporters at the York conference. One of them is on the right and, together with the Liberal Leave website, tells us about some of the people supporting the campaign:

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