Tag Archives: featured

Stephen Tall

Liberal jottings: Stephen Tall’s weekly notebook

By Stephen Tall | Fri 13th November 2015 - 8:43 am

Status Quo’s winning record

Painful though it might be for liberals to admit the fact, Britain is a fundamentally conservative country. Opposition is more often expressed with a tut or a sceptically-arched eyebrow than a revolution. And then things generally revert to how they were before. Which is why, though I’m more careful these days about predicting what will happen next in British politics, I remain sure ‘remain’ will win the EU referendum.

A few years ago, after our AV knock-back, I looked back at the history of referendums in this country (starting with the first ever UK plebiscite, the 1973 Northern Ireland sovereignty referendum). Doing so, I formulated what I’m going to call Tall’s Law in the hope it catches on (though Tall’s Rule of Thumb would be more accurate): “the public will vote for the status quo when asked in a referendum except when the change proposed in a referendum is backed by a coalition of most/all the major parties”. Come the EU referendum, we will see the Conservatives and Labour (to one degree or another) as well as the Lib Dems united in favour of Britain’s continuing EU membership. Sure, take nothing for granted — but a defeat for ‘remain’ would be an unprecedented occurrence. And precedent is a very British custom, for better and worse.

Burnham down

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Peter Ramrayka

London Region elections: Peter Ramrayka’s pitch for Chair

By Peter Ramrayka | Thu 12th November 2015 - 8:15 pm

Peter Ramrayka for London Regional Chair for Continuity and Expertise – Grounded and Rounded

1. The ASKS of the Region
As we start the fight back The priorities of the Region must include: Looking at different ways to maximize campaigning; identifying fundraising streams to support our activities; working on maximizing the involvement of new members and in the process developing a distinctive London voice; supporting local parties and energetically working on diversity in all forms so that we truly reflect London’s demographics. A significant additional feature for the Regional Executive is to have a balance between old and new members- the former providing continuity and “institutional knowledge”, especially for the more prominent positions and the latter infusing the group with new ideas and challenges. The Chair’s position should be someone who has recent and direct experience of the key challenges of the Region, the ability to hit the ground running mindful of the imminence of the GLA elections, the ability to work well with and support the candidates on the GLA list, in particular the top three and some of the traditional chair’s skill of leadership, time commitment, communications and judgment.

How do I fit into those asks? – Meeting the Person Spec

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Anuja Prashar

London Region Elections: Anuja Prashar’s pitch for Chair

By Anuja Prashar | Wed 11th November 2015 - 5:04 pm

I am standing for Chair of London region because after the European and local elections 2014 and GE 2015 election, Liberal Democrats need committed support and dedicated focus to rebuild local party capacity for important elections coming up in the next 3 years. The Chair will have a pivotal role, to build up local party teams for a series of campaigns, by providing them the resources and support needed to take their energy and turn it into election wins.

I have served as Chair of my local party for 3 years, executive of London region for 3 years, stood in a council by-election 2012, campaigned all over London as European list candidate 2013-2014, PPC in GE 2015, worked on several policy working groups and worked at many levels of the party – including chairing the GLA selection committee 2015 and representing Lib Dems at ALDE policy groups in Brussels. I have also seen what our new members can do if given the right institutional support at the local level. I have complete conviction that Lib Dems in London can regain and indeed acquire new political territory over the next 3 years. 

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Chris Maines

London Region elections: Chris Maines’ pitch for Chair

By Chris Maines | Wed 11th November 2015 - 4:04 pm

The party has entered a new phase in our history, recovering from the electoral fallout of coalition, a new Leader, new members and a renewed determination to build a more tolerate and Liberal society.  Our first test in London will be the high profile Mayoral and Assembly elections. We have probably our best ever team, led by the experienced and highly regarded Caroline Pidgeon. For the first time Caroline, as our Mayoral candidate tops a well-balanced regional list to ensure a campaign focused on improving our representation at City Hall.  A London-wide election is always a challenge to the region; it needs to find the resources, fight for media coverage and ensure consistent messages across the capital. It is also a great opportunity to ensure we campaign in areas not used to Liberal Democrat activity and to motivate our thousands of new members.

I am confident that the Liberal Democrats will do surprising well in London next May. We will demonstrate to the media and the public we are back.

The role of regional Chair and regional party is look beyond the next 6 months. It needs to build the foundations for local parties to win back support, councillors, MEPs and MPs over the next 5 years. I have three priorities

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Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron writes… Liberal Democrats can and must oppose a snoopers’ charter

By Tim Farron MP | Tue 10th November 2015 - 12:00 pm

snowdenLast week, Theresa May finally published the Investigatory Powers Bill. It isn’t surprising it has taken her so long to come back with a new Bill after we blocked her first attempt in 2012. At the time, I said the Liberal Democrats can and must oppose a Snoopers’ Charter. The 2012 bill was a disproportionate invasion of all our privacy, forcing internet service providers to keep a record of all your texts, emails and every website you visited.

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Sheila Thomson

Scottish Party elections: Sheila Thomson: My pitch for Convener

By Sheila Thomson | Sun 8th November 2015 - 6:00 pm

I am seeking election as Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats because I believe Scotland needs a strong Liberal Democrat party at all levels of representation from our individual communities, local authorities and Scottish, Westminster and European parliaments. To achieve this we need to ensure our party here in Scotland has a strong team supporting our members and the communities we live and work in, including the Scottish Executive, political leadership and staff team.

I have been a life-time supporter of liberalism, and I have a track record of over twenty years of party activism, working at all levels within the Scottish Party. I joined the Liberal Democrats because they were and remain the only truly liberal party, where we believe in allowing individuals to make their own choices, whilst ensuring that there is a safety net to help those who cannot manage without support.

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Willie Wilson

Scottish Party elections: Willie Wilson: My pitch for Convener

By Willie Wilson | Sun 8th November 2015 - 5:00 pm

It is a privilege to have been nominated for the post of Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. We find ourselves at a difficult time for the Party. Our electoral base, both at Holyrood and Westminster has been eroded and at Local Government significantly reduced since the last Local Government Elections. I have no illusions that the challenges we face are enormous, however, they need to be tacked with hard work, determination, co-ordination and targeting. This will help us tackle effectively the financial, electoral and organisational challenges we face. The Leadership of the Party needs to be a spearhead in this process. I consider that I have got the necessary experience, knowledge and skills to tackle the post of Convener.

The work will not be easy and will require a huge amount of effort from Office Bearers, MSPs, our MP, Local Councillors and activists throughout the country. I have now been a Party Member since 1966 and a Councillor since 1980. I currently am Chairman of the Association of Scottish Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners, Vice-Chairman of the Conference Committee, Chair of the Mid-Scotland and Fife Region and Secretary to our local party in Perth and Kinross. I also play an active role as a Returning Officer for the Party. Clearly, if I were to win the election for Convener, this workload would be reviewed!

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Caron Lindsay

Reprise: For Remembrance Sunday, some reflections on my visit to the Tower of London poppies

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 8th November 2015 - 10:45 am

It’s a year since I wrote the post below, but I wanted to repeat it this year partly because that brief hour at the Tower of London has stayed with me. The symbolism was compelling and should make us all think about the reality of war and what everyone affected by it goes through.

Poppies through BridgeLast Monday I was down in London for a meeting and had an hour spare to nip down to the Tower of London to see the poppy installation where 888,246 ceramic poppies have been laid out in an act of remembrance for all those who died in the First World War.

I found it incredibly moving. The atmosphere was one of humble quiet reflection. You know when you normally go to things, people can be pushing and shoving and trying to get the best view. Actually, here, everyone was respectful, giving each other space, despite the massive crowds.

I think what got me more than anything was seeing that this huge sea of red, made up of individual stems, symbolised one part of one side who lost their lives in the First World War.

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Jennie Rigg

Making Liberal Democrat Policy – the Calderdale Solution

By Jennie Rigg | Sat 7th November 2015 - 12:22 pm

Flick through a Federal or Yorkshire Regional conference agenda these days and it’s likely that you’ll see Calderdale as the sponsor of several motions or amendments. This article shows how we’ve made that happen:

The short version for those who just want the how and not the why

  1. keep policy and admin totally separate,
  2. always involve people at every step of the way,
  3. have a definite aim to a definite deadline,
  4. have visible outcomes so people can see they are making a difference, and
  5. always make sure there is food/drink at every event.

The longer version: when I took over as chair of Calderdale one of my main frustrations was that most exec meetings went on for hours and hours and would get bogged down in policy arguments (as well as other off topic rambling discussions). It’s not that I don’t like policy arguments and rambling off topic discussions – I love them – it’s just that an exec meeting is not the time or place to be having them. Exec meetings should be about getting the boring admin stuff done and out of the way as quickly as possible.

When I mentioned this to him, Alisdair Calder McGregor recalled a solution that had been used in a couple of other local parties he’d been involved with, to greater or lesser effect: if you hive off policy to a policy working group then exec meetings go much better. So Calderdale’s policy working group was originally formed purely as a device to speed up exec meetingsWhat makes it so successful is a different story.

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Mark Valladares

Building a more accessible candidate selection process – the campaign phase

By Mark Valladares | Fri 6th November 2015 - 12:00 pm

 

Three weeks ago, Zack Polanski offered us a perspective on the way we, as Liberal Democrats, select candidates, focusing in particular on the barriers to participation that campaign spending limits create. And, whilst I am not Mark Pack, I am prompted to offer a different perspective on the problem by Mark Platt’s suggestion of a ‘Packian response’.

First, some context. The 1997 European Parliamentary selection was the first where, almost regardless of where you were, there was a serious prospect of a Liberal Democrat being elected. In South East England alone, seventy-two members applied to be on the shortlist. In the absence of restrictions on spending, certain candidates were seen to have attempted to buy a place high up on the list. As a result, it was strongly suggested that spending caps be introduced, a concept that the English Party adopted readily. As Anthony Fairclough noted, it was for local shortlisting committees to determine a limit appropriate to their circumstances, with an overriding limit of £1 per head – one letter to a member would take up a chunk of that.

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Stephen Tall

Liberal jottings: Stephen Tall’s weekly notebook

By Stephen Tall | Fri 6th November 2015 - 7:35 am

Blind chance

Here’s a paradox I’ve often pondered – why are so many Lib Dems who support name-blind job applications against external assessment of children in schools? What’s the link, I hear you ask. Okay, let me explain… Lynne Featherstone did a great job over many years highlighting the need for applicants’ names not to be disclosed on job applications to avoid employers’ bias (inadvertent or otherwise) against individuals, especially those whose gender and, in particular, race is evident from their name. There’s a stack of evidence demonstrating that equally qualified candidates are less likely to get called for interview if, for example, they have a non-white-sounding name. Increasingly, companies are going further, introducing ‘CV blind’ methods so that applicants are interviewed by panels who know nothing about their educational backgrounds. Of course, none of this is a guarantee against discrimination – after all, race and gender cannot be hidden at interview – but it does get closer to eliminating bias, conscious or unconscious. A good thing, yes?

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NewsHound

Draft Investigatory Powers Bill – the key points and link to the full text

By NewsHound | Wed 4th November 2015 - 1:13 pm

The Guardian has helpfully just published this handy guide to the draft Investigatory Powers Bill, just announced in parliament by Teresa May:

  • Requires web and phone companies to store records of websites visited by every citizen for 12 months for access by police, security services and other public bodies.
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Ed Fordham

Proud of Pride in Belgrade

By Ed Fordham | Mon 2nd November 2015 - 2:11 pm

Belgrade-Pride-1

International Office_with textI have been working with the LDP (Liberal Democrat Party of Serbia) for a few years now through the International Office and we have been concentrating on human rights and LGBT issues for the last 18 months. The first stage of the work the International Office and I have been doing, focusing on building LGBT competency within the wider LDP and supporting them to create their own LGBT specific committee in the Human Rights Council, culminated last month when I joined the Human Rights Council and LDP leadership at Belgrade Pride.

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The Voice

The #libdemFRIGHTback is go: The 2015 Liberal Democrat Voice Pumpkin Parade

By The Voice | Sat 31st October 2015 - 5:00 pm

It’s Hallowe’en. It’s dark. The streets are starting to fill with witches, goblins, ghouls, zombies and all sorts of scary creatures.

It’s time for the 2015 Liberal Democrat Voice Pumpkin Parade. What have talented Liberal Democrats round the country been carving? Have a reminder of what they produced two years ago.

Don’t for a minute think that we invented that hashtag, by the way. It came from Lib Dem organiser Alice Megan and it’s for that reason that she’s kicking off our festivities:

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Caron Lindsay

Farron: Ministry of Justice need to be “dragged into 21st century” over Tara Hudson

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 29th October 2015 - 8:58 am

Tim Farron has intervened in the case of Tara Hudson, the transgender woman from Bath who has been sent to serve a 12 week prison sentence at an all male prison because, basically, of some paperwork. She’s never applied for a Gender Recognition Certificate, but she has lived as a woman for all of her adult life.

Tim expressed his fears for Tara’s safety to Pink News. He said:

The Liberal Democrats will raise this case in Parliament.

There is a clear need for a policy change in this area. It looks like the Ministry of Justice needs be dragged kicking into the 21st century.

As I understand it, Tara has lived all her adult life as a female. I worry potential risk of harm to her in a male prison which was deemed to have levels of violence ‘considerably higher than in similar prisons’ by the prisons inspectorate.

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Paul Walter

Tim talks: Talking to refugees in Lesvos and a question to the Prime Minister

By Paul Walter | Wed 28th October 2015 - 7:05 pm

The latest “Tim Talks” video below looks at Tim’s visit to Lesvos and his question to the Prime Minister:

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Sarah Noble

A Labour leopard doesn’t change its spots

By Sarah Noble | Tue 27th October 2015 - 4:36 pm

Don’t tell anyone, but George Osborne probably let out a sigh of relief when Baroness Manzoor’s fatal motion failed last night.

Of course, it was inevitable that Labour peers would rather bravely abstain on the cuts to tax credits, as their elected counterparts did in July. And Jeremy Corbyn is probably skating on thin ice, given that the scandal of Labour abstaining in July put him where he is today.

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Caron Lindsay

In full: Willie Rennie’s speech to Scottish Lib Dem Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 24th October 2015 - 1:45 pm

IMG_6340-0.jpg
Here is Willie Rennie’s speech to Scottish Lib Dem Conference in full, delivered 15 minutes late after the conference was evacuated when the fire alarm went off.

I have been a member of the Liberal Democrats for twenty eight years.  
I have stood up, spoken up and campaigned for this party all over the country. 

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NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg: The Tory assault on housing associations is another betrayal

By NewsHound | Fri 23rd October 2015 - 1:10 pm

Nick Clegg has a new regular Evening Standard column and in the latest edition, he talks about housing.

After a look at the history and importance of housing associations, Nick writes about how he and Danny Alexander secured assurances that housing associations would receive support to continue building more houses for rent. These assurances have now been trashed now the Tories have a majority:

Five years ago I dissuaded the Conservatives in Coalition from fiddling with social rents to cut the housing benefit bill because it would have had a disastrous effect on the ability of housing associations to raise the money

…

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Stephen Tall

Liberal jottings: Stephen Tall’s weekly notebook

By Stephen Tall | Fri 23rd October 2015 - 7:30 am

Heidi Hi

The maiden speech of Heidi Allen MP, Tory successor to Andrew Lansley in South Cambridgeshire, received acclaim this week for its outspoken attack on her party’s plans to slash tax credits for 13 million households.

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Tristan Gray

Drug reform should be our new flagship policy

By Tristan Gray | Thu 22nd October 2015 - 10:38 am

In my past two articles I argued for a more muscular liberalism that was more strident in championing liberal causes and for occupying the liberal ground whilst still appealing to a broader audience than ourselves.

In the interests of achieving this aim we need to pick our fights and causes carefully. We need a new flagship policy, one which wipes away the memory of tuition fees and sets us apart from our opponents. We must lead the charge on an issue and make it our own in a way we never quite managed in the public perception of equal marriage and green energy in coalition.

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Jonathan Fryer

We must take Oldham seriously

By Jonathan Fryer | Thu 22nd October 2015 - 8:00 am

The Obelisk on Alderman's HillBy-elections caused by the death of the incumbent are always an occasion for sadness, so our first reaction to the passing of Michael Meacher, Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton, must be a sincere expression of sympathy to his family and friends. However, politics is politics, as Michael would have said himself, and therefore we have to face the fact that there will be a by-election before too long. Even if we should not campaign until after the funeral, that does not mean we should avoid thinking about the challenge ahead.

During the Coalition government the Liberal Democrat powers that be took what I believed to be a misguided decision to virtually ignore northern parliamentary by-elections, with predictably disastrous results. In a couple of cases there was, however, a tremendous surge towards UKIP, almost causing shock Labour defeats. We lost our deposits spectacularly, despite the hard efforts of by-election candidates and mainly local party support. The impression given to the wider public, however, was that in the North of England the LibDems are rubbish, even irrelevant. We must not allow that to happen again.

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Paul Walter

Why are you a Liberal Democrat?

By Paul Walter | Tue 20th October 2015 - 8:38 pm

That’s the question Tim Farron is asking this evening in the following mail to members:

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Joe Otten

+++Liberals sweep to power

By Joe Otten | Tue 20th October 2015 - 10:58 am

The Liberal Party has swept to power, winning 184 seats out of 338, an overall majority of 30. The election platform included such policies as

  • Cutting income taxes for the middle-classes while increasing them for the wealthy
  • Running deficits for three years to pay for infrastructure spending
  • Doing more to address environmental concerns over the controversial Keystone oil pipeline
  • Taking more Syrian refugees; pulling out of bombing raids against Islamic State while bolstering training for Iraqi forces
  • Legalising marijuana
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David Warren

We need more blue collar Liberals

By David Warren | Tue 20th October 2015 - 9:50 am

There is plenty of debate across the political spectrum about how unrepresentative of the overall population our elected politicians are.

Much of this discussion focuses on the lack of women and BAME people in the corridors of power.

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Zack Polanski

We need to make internal selections affordable for all

By Zack Polanski | Mon 19th October 2015 - 11:55 am

What makes a great candidate? It can be an incredibly demanding job and I imagine it’s lots of things. A strong ability to communicate, to listen, to represent people effectively. To demonstrate generous leadership, to inspire and to continually learn. These are all what I’d consider the headlines.

What about fundraising? It’s certainly vital – but I’d argue that not only is it not the single *biggest* priority.  It’s certainly not more important than the above qualities. It’s one of the skills that can most often be generated truly as a team effort whilst potentially being most successful when lead by the candidate themselves.

I learnt so much during the recent GLA London List Election. As a first timer I was clearly delighted with the result and I loved the opportunity to speak to literally thousands of members. Having phone canvassed for lots of candidates as part of the Team 2015 efforts in the General Election, it was a really interesting next step to be phoning and listening to people’s concerns as the potential candidate myself.

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Stephen Tall

Thank you! 9,727 reasons getting naked on TV was well worth it

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th October 2015 - 5:33 pm

st runAs my LibDemVoice colleagues have been kind enough to highlight, I fulfilled my pledge* this week to run naked down Whitehall. My daft fault for claiming on live telly that’s what I’d do if the Lib Dems were reduced to 24 MPs. Never bet more than you can afford to lose, folks.

In any case, it was all in a good cause. I wasn’t going to go through with it for the lolz. But when Kelvin McKenzie challenged me on the Daily Politics — and said he’d back up the offer with £5,000 to the charity of my choice — I didn’t have to think twice. (My main regret now is I didn’t dare him to double it: as a professional fundraiser, I should know better than to accept the first offer made…)

I wanted the money to go to a charity working on the current refugee crisis. Having done a little research, I decided on Médecins Sans Frontières, aka Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian medical aid organisation providing medical aid where it is most needed, regardless of race, religion, politics or gender.

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Ruth Bright

The condescension of Camila

By Ruth Bright | Sun 18th October 2015 - 8:55 am

Two years ago I was in acting charge of a London day care setting for the elderly not a million miles away from the fabled Kids Company. My young colleague put together a craft afternoon for our clients. She sent off for £20 of glass beads on Ebay. A lot of elderly people with dementia had a lovely time making jewellery thanks to her. The £20 was authorised by my manager beforehand and accounted for afterwards. Of course it would have been nice to give handouts to our clients, many of them in great need, but we had to vouch for every penny spent.

It was therefore utterly bewildering to watch former head of Kids Company Camila Batmanghelidjh give evidence to a select committee yesterday and admit that large sums were handed to young people just because she and her colleagues deemed them vulnerable.

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Catherine Bearder

Catherine Bearder MEP writes: Europe is about more than the economy, it’s about opportunity

By Catherine Bearder | Fri 16th October 2015 - 1:05 pm

Catherine Bearder with Liberal Youth members October 2015At the official launch of the Stronger In Campaign on Monday it was great to see such a huge range of people, of all ages and from all walks of life, prepared to work together to secure Britain’s place in Europe. The board of the campaign represents all sections of society – students, the arts, business and trade unions – and almost half its members are women. This couldn’t contrast more with the male, pale and stale line-ups of the Vote Leave and Leave EU campaigns.

The challenge now for Stronger In will be to translate such a broad base of support into a coherent and positive message. We don’t just need to win over undecided voters, we need to make sure those who are broadly in favour of remaining in Europe turn up to cast their vote and play an active role in the campaign. Young people in particular are historically the least likely to vote, but the latest polls show 83% of them want to stay in the EU. They probably won’t get passionate about dry economic facts on the impact of Brexit on trade and investment. We need to develop a powerful and uplifting narrative about why Britain’s future in Europe matters to them and their everyday lives.

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NewsHound

In video: Nick Clegg on Newsnight

By NewsHound | Wed 14th October 2015 - 7:22 pm

In case you missed it, here’s Nick Clegg talking on last night’s Newsnight about the EU referendum. When asked whether hope or fear would win the day for the In campaign, he said that the simple fact was that it was in our national interest to be part of the EU.

He also said that he regretted sitting next to David Cameron at PMQs for five years, saying it looked like we were passive rather than architects of many aspects of the government’s programme.

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