Tag Archives: belinda brooks-gordon

Caron Lindsay

Belinda Brooks-Gordon on Today talking about making sex work safer

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 3rd March 2016 - 12:57 pm

Belinda BG at BBCDr Belinda Brooks-Gordon, who led on the development of our policy on sex work, was on the Today programme this morning debating whether managed zones for sex workers are effective. She cited huge amounts of evidence which suggests that they are. The retired police officer was pretty aggressive in the way he made his points and was really patronising to Belinda who has done so much academic research in this field.

The police officer said that we should be looking to eliminate rather than enable sex work. Belinda cited how this makes life much more difficult and dangerous for sex workers with actual examples. The occupant of the blue Police Box would have given a much more sensible answer, I’m sure.

You can listen to the debate here at about 2:31 in.

Belinda referred to a paper she had given at the British Psychological Society about the effects of the then Government’s action to crack down on sex work. You can read that paper by clicking here

You can read a letter signed by Belinda and other academics,arguing against the so-called Nordic Model, which

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 7 Comments
The Voice

ALDE Congress – feedback needed before Thursday

By The Voice | Mon 19th October 2015 - 4:35 pm

Belinda Brooks-Gordon represents the East of England on the ALDE Congress. She’s asked us to share the report she gave out to members in her region. Please note the looming deadline of this Thursday for amendments to motions to be discussed at the Congress in November.

ALDE Report

The post of President and five, possibly six Vice-Presidents are to be voted on at the ALDE Congress in Budapest from 19th – 21st November.  ALDE is now the fourth group in the European Parliament, and unable to do accomplish as much as it was able to do when it was the third party (don’t we just know how that feels in Westminster too). The new President certainly has their work cut out.

I was delighted at a briefing for the ALDE representatives and meet a candidate for ALDE Bureau President Hans van Baalen MEP as he laid out his vision. A prominent liberal, Hans spoke of the value of a joint action on sanctions to deal with international threats and of co-operation between liberal parties in the forthcoming referendum, Hans said he and his party VVD of the Netherlands would be helping with the LibDemFightback: “It is vital that we stick together to bring Liberalism together as a force.”

Baroness Ros Scott selected for VP of ALDE Bureau

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
The Voice

Jo Swinson’s SNP rival has row with Lib Dem on Twitter – then complains to their employer

By The Voice | Wed 6th May 2015 - 9:59 pm

So, you have a row with someone on Twitter. Most of us would just shrug it off and get on with our lives. Not John Nicolson, the SNP candidate up against Jo Swinson.

After a Twitter exchange with Federal Policy Committee member Belinda Brooks-Gordon, he blocked her and then took the unusual step of writing to her employer.

The Daily Record has the story:

East Dunbartonshire hopeful John Nicolson sent a bizarre email to the master of Birbeck College in London after the fiery Twitter exchange with Dr Belinda Brooks-Gordon.

The lecturer in forensic psychology is standing for the Lib Dems in the Cities of London and Westminster seat and had voiced her support for Nicolson’s opponent Jo Swinson.

Brooks-Gordon had referred to former BBC journalist Nicolson’s property portfolio in London and suggested he could return to the city and questioned his credentials as a local candidate.

Nicolson joined the Twitter exchange to rubbish the claim.

But he did not let the matter rest there and decided to send off an email to Brooks-Gordon’s boss at the college, which is part of the University of London.

Belinda made a very good point, asking what he would do if a constituent disagreed with him or criticised him. Would he be complaining to their boss, too?

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 14 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Belinda Brooks-Gordon on Women’s Hour speaking out against “Nordic Model” on sex work

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 4th November 2014 - 3:16 pm

IMG_9128Today the Commons debates amendments to the Modern Slavery Bill which would criminalise the purchase of sex. Sarah Noble argued against this approach yesterday. The party emphatically passed policy which rejected this “Nordic Model” on the basis that all the evidence suggests that this puts sex workers in danger.

Dr Belinda Brooks-Gordon, who summated on that motion at Conference, debated the issue on Women’s Hour on Radio 4 with the amendment’s proposer Fiona McTaggart MP. You can listen here from about 20 minutes in.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 18 Comments
Stephen Tall

Mary Beard explains why she’s voting Lib Dem this Thursday

By Stephen Tall | Mon 29th April 2013 - 9:55 am

Mary-BeardProfessor Mary Beard (Cambridge University’s “wickedly subversive commentator on both the modern and the ancient world”) explains on her A Don’s Life blog why she’ll be voting for the Lib Dems’ Belinda Brooks-Gordon this week:

Since the Iraq War I have been a semi-floating voter. Up to then I had been Labour by default (unless tactics demanded — as they sometimes did in Shropshire — that one put one’s cross by what was back then still the Liberal Party). Since then I’ve looked afresh at each election for someone, somewhere on

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
The Voice

Cambridge Liberal Democrats publish shortlist

By The Voice | Wed 16th December 2009 - 11:09 am

The Cambridge shortlist has now been published and, contrary to some hopes and wild rumours, has neither a nationally known media star nor a BME candidate on it. But then no member of either group applied.

The candidates are all councillors or former councillors in Cambridge but, as the Returning Officer said, “The shortlisting committee was chosen by the local party and I was happy that it was a balanced one. They drew up the selection criteria and marked the applications independently of each other. We only came together to total the scores, the result of which showed that the 6 shortlisted candidates were well clear of the rest”.

This press release has gone to the local paper giving a mini biog of the six:

Continue reading »
Posted in Selection news | Also tagged , , , , and | 6 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Alex Macfie
    Surely the Corbyn/Sultana party, whatever it's calling itself now, is an illiberal movement of the British left. Also George Galloway's party and satellite grou...
  • Roger Billins
    I am one of the "I have been in the party for 50 years" brigade and I agree with Richard and David. I was enthused to join The Liberal Party in 1974 by the fact...
  • David Allen
    Burnham and Macron face similar challenges. There is huge demand for money to be spent to tackle failing public services - such as crumbling schools in France,...
  • cim
    @Graham Jeffs "Some non LDs might like to kid themselves that our preamble mirrors what they stand for" Do you think that this might be a serious problem fo...
  • Matt (Bristol)
    This article is arguing for a version of kindness that is as idelogically charged and specified as a socialist party's notion of justice. It's nice to be nic...