Tag Archives: 2015

Reprise: My first post of the year

This is the post I wrote 365 days ago that went live as 2015 dawned.

Despite all our efforts, it ended up being one of the worst years ever to be a Liberal Democrat. The devastation of election night, followed less than a month later by the death of Charles Kennedy could have knocked the stuffing out of us. In many ways, we are still grieving and adjusting to our new circumstances, while simultaneously engaged in that #libdemfightback.

There are huge challenges ahead of us in this coming year – the Welsh and Scottish elections, the London Mayoral election and local elections, as well as the EU Referendum and making sure that all these new members stick with us. Where the referendum is concerned, it will be up to us to make the case to remain a positive one and not a choice that people are scared into making.

Thankfully, we have a leader who is very good at articulating what liberalism is all about and who is good at getting himself and the party noticed. We have many committed long standing activists and new campaigners all over the country. If we can harness that energy and articulate a bold, radical message, we may even take some steps forward, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves that we’ll make any more than that. The giant leap will take more time but there is a determination to claw our way back. 

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments

The path to 2015 should be one guided by our principles, not by doubt

Before the Christmas break, I produced an article on Lib Dem Voice about how the EU veto could and should be the first step of many where our party expresses its individuality in coalition loud and clear. After this blog I saw many opinion articles about where we stood on various issues. The conclusion? Varied.

Let’s just take one example – tuition fees. Some of us think we will be congratulated at the next General Election for making the loans system fairer. Wrong. While ensuring that up-front fees are in the past and protecting graduates by asking no one to

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 17 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Chris Rennard
    Great recollections. I joined a few years before Simon but we overlapped and worked together in ULS when we both shared a commitment to the distinctiveness and ...
  • Tony Robertson
    Well said, I'm with you and think your assessment is spot on. Too much treading water, not enough radical Liberalism. I've been a member since 1980 and fear we'...
  • Alex Macfie
    Not all vapes contain nicotine. What I really don't understand is the decision to tax all vapes the same, whether or not they contain nicotine. Also it isn't th...
  • Brigid Gardner
    @ Sarah: absolutely...
  • PM
    @ David, "I assume you refer to the people of England, Andrew..." Maybe Andrew will correct me, but I took him to mean the people of the UK. Or...