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Mark Pack

Mark Pack’s monthly report: This is what you did

By Mark Pack | Published Wed 24th July 2024 - 8:47 am

Thank you

From our low of 6 seats in 1959 through to our then peak of 63 in 2006, gaining 57 seats took 47 years. We’ve now gained 61 seats in just 5 years. It was an amazing team achievement, and we all should be proud of the roles we have played.

Perhaps the most amazing helper is our kind deliverer Geoff, who both campaigned locally and in a target seat, a mere 79 years(!) after he delivered his first leaflet as a very young deliverer in the 1945 general election.

Whether it was your first or your twenty-second general election, and whether you helped with leaflets, canvassing, money or in one of many other ways, thank you.

This is what you did:

A particular thanks too to those who worked so hard on campaigns that did not quite make it this time. Just missing out is always frustrating, and all the more so when so many others around you are celebrating. I hope though our other successes can give you hope that success will come in your area too in the years to come.

What happened

That photograph did not happen by accident. Although Rishi Sunak, and before him Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, gave us a helping hand, it was a result we created – deliberately, following a plan all through the Parliament.

We did so by breaking all previous records for the effectiveness of targeting.

Nor was this just due to split opposition votes, because the Lib Dem vote share in the seats we won was impressively high, as Patrick Dunleavy’s figures show:

1983 was the high point of the Alliance and previous attempts to break the two-party system in Westminster. Compared to then, we secured half the votes this time – but three times as many seats. In a political system where the currency of success is seats, that is quite the success.

Of course, the national campaign had an important part in that too. It was a national campaign focused on the voters and media outlets that most mattered for winning seats, and which caught the public’s imagination:

That image captures one of the important lessons from our 2019 election review: the importance of strong visual images to cut through a crowded media landscape and to reach a public often not that interested in the details of politics.

Though I suspect none of that review team – whose work was essential to guiding our work through the last Parliament – quite foresaw what visual images would be coming…

The response from voters came through clearly in the polls:

How it happened

There will be more lessons to digest as there is more time to hear feedback and analyse the evidence, both of what worked well and of what areas we need to work on for next time.

The broad picture though has some clear features. Success came from:

  1. Concentrating on the issues that mattered most to voters;
  2. Building strong teams in our most promising areas;
  3. Explicitly targeting seat numbers rather than vote share – aiming to win seats where we could and to build up our organisational strength elsewhere;
  4. Investing early in intensive support for our candidates and campaigners in our most promising areas;
  5. Taking each round of elections seriously, with each important in its own right but also as a building block for the next too; and
  6. Working together as one team, following a collective strategy based on what you, party members, decided at our conference.

That comes through in the reasons people gave pollster More in Common for voting Liberal Democrat:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: How Did We Get Here?

By Tom Arms | Published Sat 6th July 2024 - 10:06 am

It has been a bad week for democracy. In fact it has been a bad year for democracy. The only exception is the UK. But don’t worry Britain’s time will come.

Now, however, the rise of the populist far-right just about everywhere else is dominating the world’s headlines. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally is knocking on France’s gates to power. A conservative-dominated US Supreme Court has granted serial law breaker and liar Donald Trump immunity from prosecution. A cognitively-impaired Joe Biden is endangering democracy by clinging to power. A far-right anti-immigrant government has been formed in the Netherlands.

And those are only the most recent examples. In Israel, Hungary, India, Slovakia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Austria, and Germany the far-right is either in government or growing in power and influence.

So how did we get here and where are we going?

Back in the naughty nineties everything looked so different. The collapse of the Soviet Empire appeared to be a great victory for liberal democracy, globalism, free markets and capitalism. We won, and countries around the world flocked to democracy’s banner.

First in the queue were the members of the old Soviet system, with Russia right at the front. That was the first problem. The transition from a Soviet-style command economy and from dictatorship to democracy was more difficult than envisaged.

A broken system was replaced not with capitalist prosperity but with hyper-inflation, economic breakdown and mass unemployment. Life expectancy in Russia fell with up to five million excess adult deaths between 1991 and 2001. Birth rates collapsed and organized crime grabbed the levers of power.

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The Voice

This is why you need to help Lib Dem target seat candidates win

By The Voice | Published Wed 26th June 2024 - 9:19 am

With just 8 days to go before the election, our target seat candidates need the help of every single one of us between now and polling day.

They have a huge amount to do and the more people we can talk to between now and polling day, the better the chance we have of filling up those green benches and once again being the third party in the House of Commons. That will guarantee us more media coverage and Ed will get two questions to the Prime Minister every week.

Our target seat candidates have been campaigning at high intensity for years. Some of them have completely given up other work this year to concentrate full time on their campaigns. That is a huge personal sacrifice. But it’s what we need to do to win.

The last thing we need to wake up to on 5th July  is a string of near misses. Remember in the local elections, a handful more votes would have given us control of another 3 councils.

We know that the Conservatives are going to pull out all the stops in the last few days of the campaign to stop us winning. They are very worried about the scale of the losses we can inflict. On the For the Many Podcast last Friday, broadcaster Iain Dale said:

I hear on the grapevine that Conservative candidates in Conservative seats with a majority of, say 5000 or 6000,  they are all being re-deployed to seats which have a majority of say 15,000 or 20,000.

He confirmed to co-host Jacqui Smith that this included candidates who are defending their seats.

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Mark Valladares

It’s official – Autumn Conference has been reinstated*

By Mark Valladares | Published Mon 27th May 2024 - 4:22 pm

At a meeting of the Federal Board last night, it was decided to reinstate September’s Autumn Conference to its normal length.

As Party President, Mark Pack, stated this morning on Facebook:

The Federal Board met last night and agreed to rescind the cancellation of Autumn Conference in the light of the General Election.

This means we return to the original dates and venue for the event.

As both the key staff and key volunteers who prepare a conference will be working flat out on the campaign, the Board also ask Federal Conference Committee (FCC) to consider using its powers to set later deadlines for

…

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Caron Lindsay

Autumn Conference: What did Federal Board decide?

By Caron Lindsay | Published Tue 21st May 2024 - 8:32 pm

We have known for some months that the Federal Board was going to decide at its May meeting what to do with Federal Conference in Brighton this Autumn. Last night they discussed the matter looking at feedback from party committees and staff as well as a consultation exercise carried out in March.

They had a lot to consider. What if Rishi Sunak called the General Election and we ended up having our Conference in the short campaign? What opportunities were there from having Conference just before the General Election if he didn’t? And what damage could it inflict on our campaign if we did not take the opportunity to set out our stall when the other parties would at their own events? What impact would two major events in quick succession, a conference and a General Election, have on staff?

So what did they decide?  Well, Conference is going to happen – sort of. It’s going to be shorter. It will now only run from Saturday 14 to Monday 16th September and technically will be a special Conference.

Party President Mark Pack explained on the party website:

After extensive feedback from members, the Federal Board has agreed a plan for our Autumn Federal Conference.

We agreed that it would be in the best interests of the party to hold such an event if possible, and that due to the unusually close proximity between the event and the next Westminster general election, the maximum benefit would come from amending our normal conference plans so that it can be tailored to the requirements, opportunities and risks of an event so close to a general election.

These include making it a 2.5 day event (14-16 September 2024 in Brighton), providing the best trade-off between a shorter conference lowering costs and staff time while also preserving enough time to maximise the benefits of conference, including commercial income. The Tuesday rather than the Saturday would be dropped in order to maximise the chances for members to participate.

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Chris Northwood

The culture war of the “gender-critical” has broken the NHS

By Chris Northwood | Published Wed 10th April 2024 - 12:55 pm

The Cass Report, billed as an independent review into NHS provision of transgender provision for adolescents was published today. I’ve read the summary and recommendations (the whole report runs to over 300 pages), and running throughout it are the scars of the so-called “culture war”—a social movement where transphobes who hold so-called “gender critical” beliefs have been campaigning to marginalise trans people and roll-back hard won protection in equality law.

The report itself acknowledges the toxicity of debate around transgender healthcare. I’m going to try and be fair to the report here and deal with it as neutrally as I can. Transphobia does not seem to be seeping out of its pores in the same way that a recent Department for Education consultation did, which explicitly framed the discussion through the lens of the “gender critical” philosophy.

It is undeniable the harm that the culture war fuelled by transphobia has caused, and this comes through in the report.

Anti-trans campaigners are litigious and well-funded (allegedly by far-right American fundamentalists), and using these legal weapons has been effective in securing their campaign goals in places with a management culture focussed on risk management and minimisation.

The result of this atmosphere of fear created by the anti-trans movement is one the review describes as a situation where other services in healthcare are scared to do anything when gender dysphoria is present. Instead, everyone is referred to the specialist gender services for unrelated or co-existing conditions, which they might not be able to deal with. This is well-known in the trans community as “trans broken arm syndrome“. This is true in both children and adults.

There is no doubt that in part this is due to the fear within the healthcare community of being dragged into the frontline of the culture wars, which has had the chilling effect of marginalising trans people so that only the gender clinics can help.

The Cass Review strongly advocates moving away from single specialist centres to a regional model of trans healthcare, closer to primary care. This is also something many trans people and advocates (including myself) believe would be a better system of healthcare delivery, but it describes the current situation as far from that. Other recommendations in the report are fair assessments of the current situation. In the void left by the failure of NHS healthcare, private providers like GenderGP have emerged, but their standards of care fall short of best practice (trans streamer F1nn5ter recently did a video about this). The Cass Report is right to be critical of this, and this is one of the biggest indicators of how current NHS provision fails.

Much is made in the report of the lack of quality research covering transgender health. Transgender health has often been seen as at best niche, and at worst, something to be actively destroyed. During Nazi rule, the world’s first and leading research centre was ransacked and the research burnt, as well as trans people being among the identities targeted in the holocaust. Other research has overly focussed on transgender women and bears an undercurrent of the fetishisation that we’re often targets of, yet remained influential in the field for decades.

One example of this is that there has never been a longitudinal study of the impact of progesterone alongside estrogen in feminising hormones, which are routinely denied due to evidence showing no effect on breast growth, but anecdotally has an effect on mental health, which has never been evaluated. The assumption of medical researchers that trans women are only interested in breast development, and not in the mental health benefits of the hormone which is available to cis women, is one example of research being rooted in trans misogyny.

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Mo Waqas

Sometimes sorry just isn’t enough

By Mo Waqas | Published Sun 7th April 2024 - 1:08 pm

Wednesday was a day filled with sorrow and reflection as I learned about a tragic event unfolding in Gaza. A missile strike by the Israeli Defence Force claimed the lives of seven individuals associated with the World Central KitchenAid organization. Among them were three British citizens: John Chapman, James Anderson, and James Kirby. My heart goes out to the families of those who lost their lives in this catastrophe, particularly those working tirelessly to alleviate the severe food shortages plaguing the people of Gaza.

The mission of World Central Kitchen, to feed the most vulnerable under dire conditions, where some have had to resort to animal feed for sustenance, is nothing short of heroic. This calamity, however, casts a shadow on their noble work, revealing the precarious nature of providing aid in conflict zones.

The admission by IDF Chief Herzi Halevi, attributing the strike to misidentification, does little to assuage the gravity of the situation. The meticulous targeting of vehicles marked with the World Central Kitchen emblem seems to point to a breakdown not just in the fog of war but in accountability and oversight by one of the world’s most technologically advanced militaries.

In a separate, equally disturbing event, a suspected Israeli strike demolished the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. This act, resulting in the death of seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), escalates tensions further and breaches the sanctity of diplomatic missions, a cornerstone of international relations.

These events have reignited the discourse on the Israel-Palestine conflict, underscoring the urgent need for peace and the problematic nature of ongoing arms sales to Israel. Calls for a ceasefire from former Supreme Court Justices and reconsideration of support for UNWRA highlight the potential complicity in serious violations of international law.

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David Brunnen

The Media Bill: a thing of shreds and patches

By David Brunnen | Published Mon 25th March 2024 - 11:50 am

The Media Bill, currently en route between Houses and Committees, is (ostensibly) the first attempt in twenty years to ‘modernize and future proof the UK media regulatory environment’ – a grand claim, and an overstated and misdirected challenge distorted, I believe, by the blanket of Conservative competitive credo that has stifled progress since the Thatcher/Reagan years.

After years of avoidance, visiting legislators seem taken aback by the shock realisation that the media landscape has changed. In contrast to conventional regulatory assumptions, this spotlight has been welcomed by various parts of the ‘recognised’ media sector and assorted culture warriors – a glorious performance space and (of course) an opportunity to sharpen axes.

The expanded stage is now not merely dressed for larger productions but is enriched/threatened by the creative capacities of Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Realities, and armies of semi-professional producers with a diverse range of attitudes towards monetization whilst rejoicing in the relatively unmoderated freedoms of platforms like YouTube or Amazon or umpteen Podcasting channels, all competing for your eyes and ears – but not necessarily for your money.

Do the authors of this Media Bill fully grasp the enormity of these technological typhoons? The tools of the trade, previously the preserve of major production houses, are now widely available to anyone with a creative bent, and many will be seeking wider audiences. Fewer and fewer citizens looking to be ‘informed, educated, or entertained’, will turn first to check, ‘what’s on the telly?’ The scope for ill-informed conspiracy hawkers is open-ended

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Changes to the party’s Complaints procedure

By Candy Piercy | Published Thu 14th March 2024 - 12:40 pm

At Conference, members will have the chance to approve updated rules to the party’s Independent Complaints process.

These changes are informed by feedback from complainants, respondents and people involved at all stages of the complaints process over the last few years.

They aim to clarify parts of the process that were unclear, simplify much of the language used and ensure that the Complaints process is well-run.

But we appreciate that reading two extremely long documents to compare for changes is an arduous task – and often won’t explain why we made many of the changes.

We also appreciate that most members maybe don’t live and breathe the minutiae of the party’s Complaints Process, like the Disciplinary Sub-Group do.

So, to help make the changes more understandable and explain why, we’ve produced a video that explains both the process as a whole and this latest round of changes to it.

You can watch that here:

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Mark Pack

Mark Pack’s March report

By Mark Pack | Published Tue 12th March 2024 - 1:30 pm

Why we need more council candidates

When we debate party policy, strategy or election tactics, questions about what might attract or put off voters often – and rightly – come up.

But there’s one sure-fire, 100% guaranteed, rock-solid way of repelling voters from us, and it’s one we use far too often.

It’s not having a Liberal Democrat on the ballot paper. Zero votes for the party guaranteed.

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Caron Lindsay

LIb Dems demand that Sunak removes the Whip from Lee Anderson

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sat 24th February 2024 - 12:30 pm

Lee Anderson has spent most of the past 2 years saying horrible things to excite the Tory right. From telling anyone unhappy with how the UK treats migrants could “f**k off back to France” to saying that people should be able to feed themselves for 30p per day, giving him his “30p Lee” nickname, to horribly transphobic comments about Eddie Izzard, he has been one of the commanders of the Tory culture wars.

Last night, talking to GB News, he took it all a step further by being unambiguously racist and islamophobic about London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan.

From the BBC:

He told GB News Islamists had “got control” of Mr Khan and he had “given our capital city away to his mates”.

His words, which follow pro-Palestinian protests outside Parliament, have also been condemned by Tories.

Not condemned enough by Tories as the same article reports a Conservative source trying to play down what he had said. The fact that he still had the Tory whip 5 minutes after making these comments is an absolute disgrace. As the hours drag on, this looks increasingly like Rishi Sunak is either too weak to discipline Anderson or he agrees with him.

Anyone with an ounce of decency has called on Rishi Sunak to remove the Conservative whip from Anderson for these comments, including Labour’s Annaliese Dodds and Theresa May’s former Chief of Staff Gavin Barwell. Here’s what Lib Dem MPs have been saying.

Daisy Cooper said:

These comments from a Conservative MP are despicable. Rishi Sunak should remove the Conservative whip. There should be no space for this in our country, let alone in our Parliament.

Tim Farron:

This isn’t dog whistle, it’s fog horn. Sunak will remove the whip for this if he has an ounce of either decency or strength.

Munira Wilson:

Utterly disgusted by Lee Anderson’s racist comments. Stirring up hatred and tension in our great capital city in this way is downright dangerous. If Sunak has an ounce of decency and courage, he will kick Anderson out of the Tory party.

Alistair Carmichael:

This is entirely wrong and harmful from Lee Anderson, and comes after a similarly malign attack by the Conservatives in recent weeks. Criticise Sadiq Khan all you like on policy but these dog whistle arguments about his character have no basis and no justification.

Beyond Westminster, Lib Dem AM Caroline Pidgeon:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Famine

By Tom Arms | Published Sat 20th January 2024 - 11:07 am

The world is suffering one of its worst post-war food crises.

Before the Hamas attack on October 7, 333 million people in the 78 countries covered by the World Food Programme were suffering what food gurus call “acute levels of food insecurity.”

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Christmas around the World

By Tom Arms | Published Fri 22nd December 2023 - 9:00 pm

Tis the season. Egg nog, mulled wine, presents, Christmas trees, yule logs, Christmas cards, Midnight Mass, food, food and more food…. The list goes on and on. The Holiday Season is one tradition after another.

In fact, you could call it the Tradition Season just as easily as the Christmas or Holiday Season. But when and where did the traditions start? Well, they came from all over the Western world and some of the Eastern. Some have deeply religious roots. Others tell a political story. Some are strictly secular money making operations.

There was a time when Christmas was banned. And then there is the controversy about the actual birthday. The Bible does not actually give a date for the birth of Jesus, but Biblical historians believe that references to shepherds sitting outdoors at night on hills indicates that it was in the spring.

Early Christians didn’t bother with celebrating the birth of Jesus. Birthday celebrations were considered a pagan tradition. They concentrated on Easter. But fourth century Pope Julius I saw an opportunity to pull in pagan converts by setting a date for the birth of Jesus that coincided with the “birthday” of the Roman gods Mithras and Sol Invictus (25 December).

The chosen day also coincided with the feast of Saturnalia when Romans decorated their homes with wreaths (which symbolised eternal life) and greenery, including trees. They also indulged in a week of constant partying and exchanged gifts. Sound familiar?

But other Christmas traditions go back further. Archaeologists have uncovered proof that Druids made extensive use of the parasitic mistletoe during winter solstice celebrations. They believed it encouraged fertility which of course led to the association with kissing, and we all know what kissing leads to.

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Mark Pack

Mark Pack’s Monthly Report – Turning our policies into practical action

By Mark Pack | Published Wed 22nd November 2023 - 11:30 am

Getting council housing built

Congratulations to the Liberal Democrat team on Kingston Council who have just celebrated the completion of the first set of council flats for over 30 years in the area.

It’s another sign of how Liberal Democrat councils can both build high quality homes in the right places, and win elections – by turning our policies into practical actions to improve people’s lives.

Israel/Palestine

I know we have all been moved by the horrific news from the Middle East in the last few weeks. The bedrock of the Liberal Democrat approach is support for international law and for a …

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Chris Northwood

Scrutiny in Federal Council – why we are not there yet

By Chris Northwood | Published Thu 28th September 2023 - 1:41 pm

Federal Council is not yet a productive committee. In fact, given I’ve had to skip at least one canvassing session to attend it, I might go as far to say that it’s been a net negative in terms of achieving the party’s goals of getting liberals elected.

It has so much promise. In the handy visual diagram of the party’s committees provided in the conference handbook, it’s shown as equal to Federal Board, so is a committee that if effective yields important power. But so far, we have little to show for our time.

Much has been said about our power to call-in and overturn Board decisions, but for me, the call-in power should only be one of last resort—an Emergency Stop to the workings of the federal party only to be used in extreme circumstances. Our other power, that of asking the Board to respond on any issue, has barely been used. We have had Q&As with the president, but if all Federal Council can aspire to be is another forum for Q&As, indistinguishable from those asked of the Board at Conference, then we are failing in the responsibility to Conference when the Federal Council was created as the compromise for a smaller, more agile Federal Board.

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The Voice

WATCH: Ed Davey’s speech to Conference

By The Voice | Published Wed 27th September 2023 - 4:45 pm

Here’s Ed Davey’s leader’s speech to Conference.  Enjoy.

The text is below:

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Mark Pack

Mark Pack’s September report to members

By Mark Pack | Published Wed 20th September 2023 - 4:00 pm

Many unexpected events, good and bad, have happened to our party during this Parliament. If you’d asked me in January 2020, I don’t think any of us would have expected that three and a half years on, I could write a report to members about how our first-in person autumn Federal Conference this Parliament was coming up and about our chance to secure, just after it, our fifth Parliamentary by-election gain from the Conservatives.

It’s been quite the journey since our last in-person autumn conference. That was also in Bournemouth but back in the very different political times of 2019. We’re on the third Conservative Prime Minister of that time and – at time of writing (!) – seven Secretaries of State for Education.

But most importantly for our party, we’ve made huge progress since then in rebuilding our organisation and starting a sustained, long-term recovery.

We’ve made net gains in every round of council elections this Parliament. Alongside our four new MPs, we’ve also won control of more councils – taking the number of Lib Dem majority authorities to a tally higher even than it was before we went into government in 2010. We have a new scheme to support the new generation of candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds and we have a much expanded network of staff supporting grassroots campaigners right across the country. New, and much better integrated, website and email tools are being rolled out and, after over thirty years of people saying the Federal Board and its predecessors was too large, we finally did something about it.

But there’s much more still to do, starting with the need to turn that run of four by-election gains into a run of five next month. Find out more on how to help Emma Holland-Lindsay and the Mid-Bedfordshire by-election campaign on her website.

Rebuilding trust in politics

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How a Universal Basic Income could make Britain more liberal

By Hina Bokhari AM and Julia Hines | Published Wed 20th September 2023 - 11:55 am

The news of a trial of universal basic income in Jarrow and East Finchley sparked a true watercooler moment. For a party like the Lib Dems, it is important to recognise what that means. It wasn’t a viral meme to like, or share, and it wasn’t a culture war issue that triggered rage, or anxiety. In conversations in staff rooms and pubs, in social media spaces from LADBible to Gransnet, people were talking about an idea. 

There are lots of reasons why. The cost of living crisis, obviously; the fear by every political party that they interrupt the Tories whilst they are making mistakes has led to a dearth of ideas; and, finally, the pandemic.  Arundhati Roy wrote in April 2020 “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.”

The idea is simple to grasp. It is money that is always there, if your life changes, or you want to change your life. It appeals to both optimists and pessimists. Post Covid, we all know that our lives can change in a moment. UBI supports those in need, with the dignity of liberal choices. 

This national conversation echoes the support we found on the doorstep and in focus groups. 

The trial will not tell us everything we need to know about basic income, but it will tell us a lot about damage the current welfare system causes. The gap between losing your job and receiving Universal Credit is a minimum of 5 weeks, and can be up to 12 weeks. Very few people can sustain that wait without getting into debt that is almost impossible to climb out of. Sanctions cause the same problem. Being unable to feed your family, owing money everyone you know, is bound to make you feel worthless and a failure. When a bill you cannot pay lands, you will panic. The cure is not antidepressants or mindfulness. The cure is money. The thousands of people queuing at foodbanks are not there because they need help to shop. They know how to do that, they just lack the means. 

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Simon Hobson

Drop the oath to the Crown – put the people first

By Simon Hobson | Published Wed 13th September 2023 - 1:29 pm

At the beginning of September, Sarah Dyke, the recently elected Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Somerton and Frome, began her work as an MP. Before she could take to the green benches of the House of Commons, she was required to be sworn in. Lib Dem social media channels showed a video of Sarah taking this oath. The ceremony is bland and matter of fact, what was of greater interest were the comments expressing outrage at the proceedings. Party supporters, activists, and voyeurs of the event on Instagram showed particular distain for the words of the swearing in.

Every Member of Parliament must make one of the following declarations. The first is known as the oath and the other the affirmation. Which is chosen is a decision for the newly elected MP:

I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs, and successors, according to law. So help me God.

Or, 

I do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law.

The confusion and hostility on social media over these words of allegiance to a King and his family where clear. “Politics needs modernising, what does the King have to do with anything?” “Not one mention of the people” and, “Does that mean republicans can’t be MPs?” All reasonable statements and questions.

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Laurence Howe

Grid capacity

By Laurence Howe | Published Thu 10th August 2023 - 12:00 pm

In order to meet the needs of moving to carbon zero over the coming years, it will be necessary to increase the power transmission capacity of the National Grid by a factor of at least two. Currently, the perceived view is that a large number of additional grid links will be needed to facilitate the increased capacity. That would require extensive planning applications and would further delay any project planning and design development. It is thought that this could involve a delay of up to fifteen years. However, there is a simpler solution that would not require any additional power lines. Of course, there would be additional work to be done on the infrastructure, but it should not involve any additional planning permissions.

Outline Solution

Additional power can be transmitted via the existing grid. Now power is the product of voltage and current, so increasing either or both would increase the capacity of the grid. However, there are problems with both potential solutions.

Increasing the voltage would be the most problematical because the distance between adjacent phases may need to be increased and the distance between the transmission lines and the pylon may also need to be increased. This is because, particularly during damp conditions or periods of high humidity, leakage between phases or between the transmission lines and the pylons may be an issue. That may involve the complete redesign and replacement of all pylons. It would also involve replacing the transformers and upgrading the voltage rating of the infrastructure within the grid substations.

Increasing the current would require increasing the diameter of the transmission lines. Such an increase may cause the physical load capacity of the pylons to be exceeded, requiring additional strengthening of the pylons and insulators.

It is clear that increasing the current would require significantly less work than increasing the voltage. Therefore, increasing the current is the preferred solution.

Practical Considerations

Doubling the diameter of the transmission lines would enable the grid to carry four times its present capacity. However, there would need to be a significant increase in the capacity of the grid substations and local transformer stations. Increased capacity between the grid and local transmission networks would also be required. The loadbearing ability of all existing pylon designs would need to be assessed to ascertain whether or not any strengthening work or insulator replacement would be necessary.

Another consideration is the connection of the onshore converter stations to the grid. It will be necessary to construct links between the converter stations and the existing grid. It is assumed here that the planning of these connections has been incorporated into the converter station project plans. However, some reconfiguration of the converter stations may also be required in order to feed increased current to each grid link.

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Michal Siewniak

The impact of the inflation and cost of living crisis on individuals and families

By Michal Siewniak | Published Mon 31st July 2023 - 2:43 pm

It would be a huge understatement if I was to say that the inflation, the current energy and the cost of living crisis is negatively affecting people’s lives. There is no doubt in my mind that we are not even close out of the woods and as predicted by many economists, the aftermath of the ongoing hardship will continue for many months, if not years.

The consequences of government policies, since COVID but also in recent years, has dominated many of my conversations with my friends and colleagues. There are thousands of stories of people, who are having to make a …

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Mary Reid

Rosie Jones is a brave woman

By Mary Reid | Published Fri 21st July 2023 - 4:14 pm

Yesterday evening I watched Rosie Jones’ programme on Channel 4 about ableist trolling and would strongly encourage you to watch it too. In case you haven’t come across the term before I rather like this explanation:

Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. Like racism and sexism, ableism classifies entire groups of people as ‘less than,’ and includes harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalizations of people with disabilities.

There is meta-irony in the fact that Rosie Jones has been trolled for her choice of title for the programme: “Rosie Jones: Am I a R*tard?”. In fact she spends the first few minutes explaining why she decided to go with those words, and even before the programme started the continuity announcer had warned us that it contained offensive language.

But the shock value was justified. Some time ago the she had used a company to remove offensive material from her Twitter feed, but in the programme she asked them to show her what she had been missing. I do hope she was receiving counselling at this point, because it was pretty awful.

She homed in on the use of the term “retard”, and then decided to report one of the comments to Twitter as a test case and ask them to remove it. Twitter responded suspiciously quickly and said that they couldn’t see anything offensive in the use of the term. She became very angry at that point, on behalf of the many disabled users who might have also reported similar tweets. When she discussed that response with a social media expert she learnt that it was an automated response, so she needed to find a way to speak to a real person. So she delivered a cookie (geddit?), decorated with the offending tweet, to the headquarters of Twitter UK, and that seemed to do the trick.

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The Voice

The reactions and the speech

By The Voice | Published Fri 21st July 2023 - 10:24 am

Last night’s result in Somerton and Frome was astonishing, wasn’t it?  Ed Davey released a comment soon after the result was announced.

This stunning victory shows the Liberal Democrats are firmly back in the West Country.

Sarah Dyke will be an incredible local champion for the people of Somerset who have been neglected for far too long. She will fight for stronger local health services, better access to GPs and a fair deal for rural communities during this cost of living crisis.

The people of Somerton and Frome have spoken for the rest of the country who are fed up with Rishi Sunak’s out-of-touch Conservative government.

Then Twitter got pretty busy.

And here is the moment when the result was announced.

Here is Sarah Dyke’s victory speech:

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Nick da Costa

Federal Conference Committee report – agenda selection for Autumn Conference

By Nick da Costa | Published Thu 13th July 2023 - 10:13 am

The Federal Conference Committee met on Saturday to run through a number of items leading up to the Autumn Conference in Bournemouth, which is being held from 23 to 26 September. If you have not yet registered for the conference you can do so via this link. As in Spring we also have an online registration option, which includes streaming of the auditorium and online voting.

Just jumping a little ahead as well, the Federal Conference Committee has announced the 2024 dates and venues for Spring and Autumn Conferences.

Spring Conference

15 to 17 March 2024 to be held in York

Autumn Conference

14-17 September 2024 to be held in Brighton

At our meeting this Saturday we discussed a number of items relating to the upcoming and future conferences, including the agenda selection (which I will come onto shortly), and also set-piece speeches and the structure and format of conference. We also reviewed some of the options for future conferences as well and will be announcing more on this once we have confirmed venues and options.

As part of the agenda selection process, we also reviewed a number of standing order amendments that the Federal Conference Committee will be submitting ourselves, as part of our Constitution and Standing Orders Tidy Up Working Group. This initial round is based on feedback from members and also the Committee.

Aside from this meeting, the FCC’s Innovation Working Group will be meeting in the next few weeks to start preliminary works on ideas and concepts that will then be introduced at the Conferences in 2024 and onwards. One of the areas the Working Group will most certainly consider will be further enhancements to the hybridisation at Conference.

Conference is an excellent opportunity to engage with members from all across the country, to influence the party policy and strategy, and to a huge array of fringe and training events, which I recommend those attending to take full advantage of.

The agenda for conference, including the text of motions, policy papers and timings, will be published soon. As per usual, the Conference will include a range of different and interesting policy motions and debates, the Leader’s Speech, various committee and parliamentary reports, the Leader’s Q&A, plus a couple of policy consultations and a few set-piece speeches. As confirmed earlier this year, Kira Rudik (Leader of our sister party in Ukraine, member of the Ukrainian Parliament, and Vice President of ALDE) will be speaking at Conference, and also taking part in a Q&A fringe session as well.

It is possible that this is the last Autumn Conference in advance of a General Election, we have also asked the Chair of the Federal Elections and Campaigns Committee, Baroness Kath Pinnock, Director of Field Campaigns, David McCobb, and the Party CEO, Mike Dixon, to provide a General Election Briefing as an auditorium session.

We received a large number of motions from across the party, and are extremely grateful for the time and effort that members make in formulating policy motions and ideas for debate at Conference. We really wish that we could select so many more that ended up on the final list, but as always time at conference is at a premium and a large number of motions, although selected in the first round, did not make it through the second round when we then started to look at reducing timings.

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Max Wilkinson

Lib Dem Cheltenham launches free leisure passes for food bank users

By Max Wilkinson | Published Mon 12th June 2023 - 3:12 pm

Health and wellbeing is top of our party’s agenda. All of our local campaigners have a strong message on NHS services.

While leading campaigns about treatment, we must also pursue innovative approaches to measures that prevent ill-health. Liberal Democrat-led Cheltenham Borough Council is partnering with the NHS and local food banks to do just that. It’s a part of our response to the cost-of-living crisis.

I’m a strong believer in the power of physical activity to transform people’s lives. It has made my own life immeasurably better, despite an unexpected arthritis diagnosis at age 29. Whether it’s regular walking, having a swim, lifting weights, doing water aerobics, or going to a HIIT class, physical activity is proven to help people improve their health and wellbeing. In fact, it can be a ‘miracle pill’ for mental and physical wellbeing, as argued in the recent book by Guardian journalist Peter Walker. Sadly, the cost of living crisis means that so many people across Cheltenham have had to make sacrifices. In a town that many characterise as wealthy and prosperous, we have more than 600 families registered with local food banks and more getting help in other ways. Often, it’s nice-to-have activities like leisure centre trips that are sacrificed when people can’t make ends meet. That can have a big knock-on impact, not just now, but for people’s long-term health. People who lead sedentary lifestyles are more likely to suffer ill-health in the short and long-term, storing up problems for our NHS.

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The Voice

WATCH: Ed Davey’s message for Carer’s Week

By The Voice | Published Wed 7th June 2023 - 2:55 pm

This week (5-11 June) is Carers’ Week, a chance to raise awareness of the pressures faced by carers, to recognise the work that they do, and to encourage those who care for their loved ones to see themselves as carers and access available support.

Ed Davey, who has cared for family members from a very young age, has recorded a video to mark the event.

Making sure the country’s 5 million unpaid carers are properly looked after has always been core to Liberal Democrat thinking. In fact, when I used to get the Social Democrat as a teenager, articles relating to carers were frequent and often front page.

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Our party needs to take childcare seriously – and the tax to pay for it

By Alison Willott | Published Wed 7th June 2023 - 11:58 am

In 2021 childcare took 30% of the average UK wage compared with Finland (18%), Netherlands (17%) Canada (16%) and Denmark (9%). Overall it is clear that the UK lags far behind most other developed countries.

At the same time, the UK continues to have the second-highest rate of social inequality in the G7, behind only the US, according to statistics published by the OECD.

Our inequality is fuelled by educational disadvantage.

Last week  a survey of primary school teachers said that nearly half of their new entrants weren’t toilet trained, could not give their name and couldn’t eat by themselves. Nearly half!

How can teachers teach properly while they are having to change nappies, teach children how to talk, and feed them by hand?

Early years’ education is hugely important. A child without basic skills at the age of 5 is likely to continue to lag behind all through their school career. What’s more, when they become parents in their turn, their children are likely to lack skills as well.

Levelling up won’t happen unless we educate our children properly. Professional childcare is vital to help our children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Published Sun 4th June 2023 - 9:46 am

NATO

The current Arctic military exercises are relatively small by NATO standards. But they are hugely significant. They are they the first manoeuvres in which Finland has participated as a full member of the Alliance.

In fact, 12 countries are participating; two of whom are NATO partners: Sweden and Switzerland. The latter has been neutral for more than half a millennium.

There is no chance that the Swiss will end their neutrality, but in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Sweden decided that the NATO umbrella was more important than its 200-year non-alignment policy. Unfortunately, NATO membership requires the support of all 31 member countries. Two members, Turkey led by President Tayyip Recep Erdogan and Hungary led by self-declared illiberal Prime Minister Viktor Orban, blocked it.

The hope of the rest of the Alliance is that Erdogan will be more receptive to compromise following his 28 May re-election for a further five years. In the next few weeks there will be a constant stream of visitors to Ankara to try to persuade the Turkish leader to drop his veto. They will be led by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg but will also include senior officials from the US, UK, France, Germany, the Baltic states and, of course, Sweden.

The aim is to change Erdogan’s mind so that the Alliance welcome the Swedes into NATO alliance at the heads of government summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on 11-12 July. But NATO has to overcome Hungarian objections as well as Turkish.

Hungary’s veto is based on two important foreign policy pillars: good relations with Russia and Turkey. The former is rooted in land-locked Hungary’s total dependence on Russian oil and gas. This is also the reason Hungary continues to defy Western sanctions by buying Russian energy. The Turkish connection is based more on a common ideology between the two right-wing populists – Erdogan and Orban.

The official stated reason for Hungarian opposition is Swedish criticism of Orban’s democratic credentials. “Stockholm,” wrote a Hungarian government spokesperson recently, “sits on a crumbling throne of moral superiority.” It is a weak argument. Swedish criticism of Orban is no greater than that of most of Western Europe, and the hope is that if Erdogan has been brought into line, Orban will follow.

USA

America will NOT default on its debt. That is a near – but not quite – certainty. The House of Representatives has voted to raise the debt ceiling. The Senate has to follow suit by 5 June and is almost certain to do so.

In the end there was the inevitable compromise between the Republican-controlled House and Democratic President Joe Biden. To please the Republicans $1.3 trillion was shaved off the federal budget.

There were some cuts to welfare spending but not enough to alienate Democratic Congressmen but enough for Republicans to point to an achievement. The biggest White House concession was to allow the building of an oil pipeline through West Virginia in order to secure the support of troublesome Democratic Senator Joe Manchin as well as Republican congressmen.

In the context of the bigger picture the amount saved is insignificant. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the federal government will spend $80-plus trillion over the next ten years.

The problem that both parties face is that there is virtually no room for discretionary spending cuts. To start with there is defense. Both parties support a large defense establishment. The result is that US defense spending is 3.1 percent of GDP and 12 percent of the federal budget.  American government spending on its military represents 40 percent of military spending in the entire world.

But an untouchable military is only part of the budget problem. Two-thirds of federal spending is the even bigger sacred cow of social security (state pensions) and medicare (medical insurance for the elderly). Both of these are increasing in line with an ageing American population.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an expat: De Santis – Trump with Brains

By Tom Arms | Published Sat 27th May 2023 - 8:30 am

Governor Ron DeSantis is a clever version of Donald Jesus Trump. And because of that, he could be even more dangerous than the most dangerous person to ever occupy the White House.

Trump was fond of boasting that he was “the smartest US president ever.” Well, that was obviously another one of his lies, and there was a reason his academic records were kept under wrap.

DeSantis can legitimately lay claim to a well-stocked cranium. He graduated top of his class at Harvard and near the top at Yale Law School.

Trump spent the Vietnam War years doing his best to not acquire a venereal disease while sleeping with as many women as possible. “My own personal Vietnam,” he said.

DeSantis went almost straight from law school into the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s office where he received a bronze star for his attachment to Navy SEAL teams in Iraq and Afghanistan. The only blot on an exemplary medal-strewn military career is a claim that he oversaw force-feeding at Guantanamo Bay.

DeSantis went straight from the navy into politics and in 2012 was elected to Congress where he became a founding member of the Freedom Caucus which can be described as the right-wing of the far right wing of the far right of the right wing of the Republican Party.

In 2016 Ron DeSantis was narrowly elected Governor of Florida and started putting his far-right views into practice. The teaching of critical race theory, gender identification and sexual orientation has been banned in state schools. Asylum seekers were flown to Martha’s Vineyard. Transgender girls were banned from competing in school sports. Corporation tax been lowered. Florida was one of the most open states during the pandemic. Abortions after six weeks were banned….

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Published Sun 7th May 2023 - 10:25 am

UK

The advisers to King Charles III have scored an own goal on the eve of his coronation.

The crowning of a new monarch is the obvious opportunity for the British public – and the Commonwealth – to re-examine their monarchical v republican sympathies. And the resultant opinion polls make grim reading for King Charles III and his “heirs and successors.”

A YouGov poll for the BBC this week showed that a majority of the British public – 58 percent – supported the monarchy. However, among 18-24 year olds the figure was only 32 percent.

King Charles is also head of the Commonwealth and head of state in 15 Commonwealth countries. A straw poll of the 15 indicates that almost all of them are likely to become republics during the coming reign. As for the head of the Commonwealth, that is an elected position and Charles had to campaign hard to succeed his mother in the role.

In the midst of this monarchical uncertainty, Buckingham Palace (or possibly the Archbishop of Canterbury) has dramatically changed a key part of the coronation ceremony and in doing so alienated millions. The king’s subjects watching the ceremony on television are being asked to stand and swear “that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty and to your heirs and successors, according to law, so help me God.”

I have no problem with this because I separate the person from the institution. To my mind the monarch is the physical repository of British history, tradition, culture and law. Swearing allegiance to him (or her) is a bit like Americans swearing allegiance to the Star Spangled Banner.

But most people fail to see this distinction, and the wording of the oath does not help.  They don’t go beyond the person, whose faults include committing adultery against the glamorous and much loved Diana. They may support the monarchy but not necessarily the monarch and resent being asked to do so.

France

France appears to have a self-image problem. It also has a problem with economic realities, political crises and their relationship with their president.

This week the annual May Day parade descended into riots which in turn led to accusations of heavy-handed police tactics. Another general strike (which probably means more riots) has been scheduled for 6 June.

The immediate cause of the general discontent is President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to a decree that raised the pension age from 62 to 64. The rise made was backed by sound economic reasoning and undermined by poor political logic and tactics.

The row over the pension age was the straw that broke the back of the French body politic. Voters have been disturbed for some time by Macron’s tendency to do what he thinks best with scant regard for the views of his fellow Frenchmen.

This week the French president has been on a countrywide tour to try to explain his pension policies. It is too little too late. Almost everywhere he has gone his speeches have been drowned out by the angry banging of pots and pans.

On top of that, a recent survey exposed an underlying French discontent with their lot in life.  The poll revealed that 67 percent believe that France ranks with the United States in social and economic inequality. The United States is 71st out of 169 countries with 169 being the least equal. France is 6th, just below the Scandinavians.

Discontent has political consequences. It feeds populist politicians who promise simple solutions to complex problems.  A poll last month by the Elabe Group for BFM TV revealed that if a presidential election was held then it would be won by Marine Le Pen, leader of the Far Right National Rally. She would, according to the survey, garner 55 percent of the vote compared to 45 percent for Macron.

Marine Le Pen has already announced that she will stand again for the presidency in 2027. Macron is constitutionally barred from standing for a third term. His greatest fear is that he will be known as the president who paved the way for Marine Le Pen entering the Elysee Palace.

Russia

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Recent Comments

  • Roger Billins
    I joined ULS at UCL in 1975 and the party at the same time. I am still a member 50 years on. My activism is circumscribed by the drugs I take to fight prostate ...
  • Peter Chambers
    > £17bn of tax cuts to Income Tax and Fuel Duty So we are said to be proposing increased subsidy for fossil-fuels? Instead of pushing ahead with a Green t...
  • Bridget Biggar
    A great article Simon. And you are one of my dearest friends. We’ve been through those decades of activism. What would be your greatest argument for me even...
  • Mike Sammon
    A pleasant read. Well done Simon and thank you for all that you’re doing to support members as well as residents....
  • Rif Winfield
    Well said, Simon. I too remember you from 50 years ago, and discussions and campaigning we shared at that time, including not only the Party but including NLYL,...