Tag Archives: slogans

What do you think of “Demand Better”?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 17th August 2018 - 10:25 am

So we have our new strapline. Demand Better.

I like it.

It’s active and aspirational. It tells us that we are not stuck with this crap. We can have a fairer, happier, more equal country and we all have a part to play in making it happen.

Optimistic, from-the-heart vision and ambition is long overdue in politics. Clinton and Obama won with strong messages of positivity and hope. We will overcome the negative, divisive, anti-democratic rhetoric from the extremes and solve problems in an inclusive way.

It’s versatile – Demand better for health, for Scotland, for Petersfield, where our excellent Sarah Brown hopes to unseat Labour in a by-election on 13th September.

And we can also think of it as an inspiration and a challenge for us to always push ourselves to deliver the best we possibly can for people. We will never have solved all the problems of the world. We will forever have to come up with creative, liberal solutions to the problems we know about and can predict or new ones that come along. And we can, of course, demand better of our party processes and, for example, any controversial policy papers on migration that might happen to come along.

Posted in News | Also tagged demand better and liberal democrats | 85 Comments

Does “Open, tolerant and united” fully project what the Liberal Democrats are about?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 11th September 2016 - 5:50 pm

“Open, tolerant and united.” It’s the phrase you will hear in many Liberal Democrats speeches and press comments at the moment. It seems to be taking the place of “Stronger Economy, Fairer Society.” But is it what we should be saying right now?

It’s not a bad thing. You wouldn’t have found anyone saying that they actively wanted a weak economy and an unfair society, but here is evidence everywhere that some people want us to be isolated, intolerant and divided. The referendum result gave a massive boost to those malevolent forces who thrive on fear and hatred and brought them from the fringes into the very heart of our political culture. Being openly racist is becoming more acceptable and that’s something we need to be standing up against.

So, it’s ok to have those values at this time. Openness – which to me encompasses co-operation, generosity of spirit, curiosity and willingness to listen. Tolerant means that we accept our differences and let everyone live life as they wish so long as it doesn’t infringe anyone else’s rights. United. Now, that’s a funny one. I don’t want a divided country like we quite obviously have at the moment. I don’t want my country to break up, either, however much I might have wanted to saw England off and cast it into the Atlantic on its own at around 5 in the morning of 24th June. But I’m not sure I absolutely want a united country. That’s a bit too conformist for a free spirit like me. I want a country where everyone lives together peaceably, with common values of freedom and generosity. I’m just not sure united is the right word when it’s our differences that help us learn and explore and succeed.