Tag Archives: immigration policy

Happy September 1st, folks.

And if it’s the first Monday in September, the return of Parliament, and the start of the new political season, it must mean the return of your favourite column by a Lib Dem, gay, Christian, (anti monarchist) Republican, Woke, progressive former Councillor… er, that’d be me then.

But seriously I’m delighted to be back in this space after a month off; rejuvenated, revitalised, and ready to give my forthright but hopefully also well informed and nuanced views about the Lib Dems and politics more widely as head towards Conference season, a possible Government reshuffle, the Budget, internal party elections, and lots more.

So, where to start?

Well, as we all know, the summer has been dominated by the issue of migration, small boat crossings, flags, patriotism, hotels, and protests. And what a deeply unedifying spectacle it had been.

Some in our country, in our media (both old and new) appear to have lost the ability to talk about potentially contentious issues in a way which deals with facts and from a place of care, rather than with falsehoods and from a place of hate.

On Saturday evening I made my debut on GB News. Now I appreciate that is very unlikely to be the channel of choice for most readers of this column, but we have to face the reality that lots of people do watch/listen to it and we as a party need to be trying to communicate with them as much as any body else; we shouldn’t just write them off as ‘not our people’ or ‘beyond the pale.’

I was chuffed to be invited on the debut edition of ‘Alex Armstrong Tonight,’ to talk about the flags issue. Or, more specifically, the alleged ‘hypocrisy’ of Lib Dem run Portsmouth City Council having apparently said that it’ll clean away the St George’s crosses painted on roundabouts in its locality whilst at the same time having previously agreed a rainbow pedestrian crossing.

On the programme I said, “In terms of the rainbow pedestrian crossing, that will have had to go through safety checks, and been agreed by the Council, and be voted on. That’s a bit different, isn’t it, to people taking it upon themselves to paint stuff on a roundabout.”

Later in the segment I said, “The rainbow flag represents diversity, it celebrates modernity, it celebrates the right to be different, and I just worry that there’s something much darker going on in terms of some of these people that are painting the St George’s Cross. I’m really concerned about it. I think it’s supposed to stoke fear, it’s supposed to stoke resentment, and I believe it’s starting to do that.”