Tag Archives: #libdemfightback

Opinion: One month on, why I just joined the Lib Dems

By Dominic Collard | Fri 5th June 2015 - 8:55 am

Since the UK elections, something’s been nagging at me. It’s not so much the result – politics needs to create losers so it can create governments. I get that. I backed a losing horse. But heh, that’s good old democracy for you. No point dwelling on it, life plods on.

No, what’s been nagging at me, still one month on, is why I’m still feeling interested. Could it be that I’m flirting with the idea of stepping off the sidelines? Might I be about to unmute myself? Is this how it feels to care about what happens next?

I joined others to find some answers; other people on the verge of becoming a Lib Dem.

I followed the signs to an area ironically marked “Reserved for a private party”. I nestled myself in. In amongst a bunch of very, very normal people. A totally and utterly unspectacular crowd. You could have fished us all up from any old street anywhere in the UK and dropped us right here. It was wonderfully relieving, and revealing.

Posted in Op-eds | 16 Comments

A new milestone on #libdemfightback

By The Voice | Mon 25th May 2015 - 9:59 pm

And welcome to you all.

Do read Caron’s guide to the party here and Jennie’s reading list here.

Posted in News | 6 Comments

Opinion: Fighting to win you back

By Craig Ling | Thu 21st May 2015 - 11:54 am

The Liberal Democrats and the public have been going through a messy divorce. Things haven’t been right for some time and there is no shying away from it.

Perhaps the problems started when we were unfaithful and began a fleeting affair with the Tories? And when the lies began, including over how to fund the children’s university education, it was clear that there had been a breakdown in trust which we were always going to struggle to repair (things are always more complex when kids are involved).

I know we didn’t pay you enough attention, preferring to spend time on the things that mattered to us likes Lords Reform and the AV referendum. Instead we should have tried to love the things that you were passionate about like making sure there were jobs for everyone, lowering the cost of living, putting food on the table and improving healthcare and schooling. They should have mattered to us, because they mattered to you. We should have taken you to the ballet, even though we loath it!

Posted in Op-eds | 13 Comments

Opinion: The passing of the torch

By David Green | Tue 19th May 2015 - 8:48 am

When I joined the Liberal Democrats, I told my family that I didn’t join for a job or for a career; sadly for too many that was the reality on 8th May.

We should thank, above all else, colleagues in HQ and around the country who campaigned tirelessly and with such dedication. They deserved much better and we owe them so much.

Charles Kennedy was straight off the mark with his thanks and in return I would like to thank him. Thank him for his service, for inspiring a generation of activists including myself, and for giving me the opportunity to work …

Posted in Op-eds | 5 Comments

Opinion: Though not a big presence in Parliament, our collective voice should be louder than ever

By Michael Wilson | Mon 18th May 2015 - 9:06 am

It is eleven days after the election, and the wounds are still very much present. We have lost great fighters in our parliamentary party: visionaries, firebrands, wholehearted devotees to the Liberal vision for our country.

Though this loss has been devastating for our party and our morale internally, it has been even more debilitating for the country as a whole. Now, for the first time in 23 years, there is a Conservative majority government at our nation’s helm, and we are already seeing their vision for our country: snooping on our own citizens, denying us our human rights, and using the veil of extremism to obliterate free speech and crush religious groups who don’t agree with them.

This election has been the biggest disaster for Liberalism in the history of our country, and it is for that reason that this is not the time to sit back and lick our wounds – this is the time to stand up, brush ourselves off, and fightback.

Posted in Op-eds | 15 Comments

Opinion: Help, I’ve got lots of new members. What do I do? #libdemfightback

By Mark Pack | Thu 14th May 2015 - 9:13 pm

It’s a nice problem to have. It’s an unexpected problem to have. But it’s still a problem: quite what should local parties do with all the new members flooding in since polling day, the vast majority of whom are new to political parties.

Party HQ itself is getting much right that it hasn’t with previous bursts of new members: prompt member surveys, new member packs, welcome calls and getting people signed up to direct debit (much easier to renew) are all things done a bit in the past but now happening much more systematically.

Yet that isn’t a substitute for local embrace of new members and the record of local parties – as my mystery shopper showed – has been rather variable. So here are my five top tips:

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged local party organisation and membership | 15 Comments

Sal Brinton writes…The phoenix is rising, and that is down to you

By Sal Brinton | Thu 14th May 2015 - 1:28 pm

It’s just under one week since the polls closed, and we have now recruited over 11,000 new members and it’s growing all the time. There is an extraordinary public endorsement of a liberal voice – a Liberal Democrat voice – in the UK today, and this is so exciting.

I want to thank everyone who has contacted me by email, text, Facebook, Twitter and phone. Please forgive me for being slow in replying personally, but I am receiving hundreds every day. I am extremely busy with everything that the President has to do, the Leadership election, and as you can imagine there are other responsibilities emerging and I have very limited resources. The best email to reach me is [email protected].

The Federal Executive (FE) met on Saturday, and I wanted to let you know more detail of what was decided.

Firstly, we agreed that we wanted the Leadership contest to conclude before the summer recess, so that the new Leader would have time to set up his office and be ready for his first conference as Leader. We also agreed to extend the period between nominations opening (which they do today) and close of nominations, to encourage everyone including candidates and their teams to get lapsed members to re-join. The Returning Officer has now agreed this can happen. We also asked the Returning Officer to set out the list of official hustings as soon as possible, so that members would have access to hustings. The agreed list means that virtually all members will have a hustings within 75 miles, or in the very rural areas (e.g. some parts of Scotland and Wales) within 100 miles. There may also be other hustings including online and virtual meetings.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged federal executive | 12 Comments

#NewMembersDay: Why I joined the Liberal Democrats #1

By Phoebe Demster | Wed 13th May 2015 - 11:25 am

My first few elections were easy – I knew I liked the LibDems, and they were the only ones who stood a chance of beating the Tories in my hometown. A no-brainer, you might say.

It wasn’t until I moved to Scotland that I had to wrestle with tactical voting. SNP v Labour, and not a LibDem in sight. I talked it over with my partner at the time, and we both decided to vote LibDem regardless. But lo, suddenly I found myself in the polling booth, ticking a Labour box in a moment of blind, tactical terror. It is the only time I have voted out of fear rather than hope. I regretted it almost immediately. Turned out my partner had done the same.

I made a resolve never to vote tactically again and so, when the Holyrood elections rolled round a year later, I voted LibDem (to little avail).

To little avail, did I say? It’s true that my vote did not count for much, and I knew in advance that it would not. My previous Labour vote had “made a difference”, by which I mean it had picked a person and policies I disliked over those I disliked even more. My Labour vote mattered in Westminster. But it also made me feel sadder, smaller, a little more cynical.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged #newmembersday | 8 Comments

Opinion: The Liberal resurgence – a time to spread like wild flowers

By Ben Maitland | Tue 12th May 2015 - 3:47 pm

Like many Lib Dem voters, supporters and sympathisers, I spent much of the weekend lurching between disbelief and despondency, and genuinely worried whether the party could or would ever recover. In an effort to cheer myself up I went for a walk in the countryside only to encounter an ironic sea of yellow dandelions. Initially, it felt as if nature itself was mocking me, but in retrospect the vivid spring flowers seem provide a wonderful analogy of what the party needs to achieve if it is going to pick itself up and thrive again.

Traditionally, the Liberal Democrats have punched …

Posted in Op-eds | 27 Comments

Opinion: This is our #LibDemFightBack

By Rebecca Plenderleith | Tue 12th May 2015 - 12:06 pm

As a long-time supporter of the Liberal Democrats I decided to join the party about two weeks before polling day. I was a member of the BBC project “Generation 2015” which was giving young people aged 18 – 24 the chance to get their voices heard and put across what matters to them when it comes time to cast their – or should I say our – votes and I came across so many passionate people my age and some a lot younger than me who were members of the parties they supported. Even though those who had the most influence on me were members of the Conservatives and the Labour party their support was one of the main reasons I wanted to join my party and make a difference.

Posted in News and Op-eds | 13 Comments

#Libdemfightback isn’t just for newbies

By Stephen Harte | Mon 11th May 2015 - 8:21 pm

I joined the Liberal Democrats as a Scottish Liberal Party member on merger and have held a membership ever since. Like many, I am keen to turn my grief at last Thursday’s results (and, being honest, the results of the last Scottish Parliament elections too) into determination that liberalism is too important to be allowed to die. But, unlike the much appreciated surge of new members, I can’t join a party I am already a member of.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Op-eds

Protecting children shouldn’t mean abolishing their right to privacy (Tara Foster)
AI and Liberal Democracy (Robin Ashby)
The chaos dividend: Why the ultra-rich thrive on an unstable world, and why that’s rational in the short term and suicidal in the long term (Tanya Park)
Vince Cable writes…Labour and Fiscal Rules (Vince Cable)
Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy (Josh Babarinde)

Advert

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Tag Archives: #libdemfightback

Opinion: One month on, why I just joined the Lib Dems

A new milestone on #libdemfightback

Opinion: Fighting to win you back

Opinion: The passing of the torch

Opinion: Though not a big presence in Parliament, our collective voice should be louder than ever

Opinion: Help, I’ve got lots of new members. What do I do? #libdemfightback

Sal Brinton writes…The phoenix is rising, and that is down to you

#NewMembersDay: Why I joined the Liberal Democrats #1

Opinion: The Liberal resurgence – a time to spread like wild flowers

Opinion: This is our #LibDemFightBack

#Libdemfightback isn’t just for newbies

Most Read

Op-eds

Recent Comments

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Tag Archives: #libdemfightback

Subscribe

Most Read

Search

Op-eds

Recent Comments