The Libertine is back!
For those of you who don’t know, The Libertine is Liberal Youth’s online blogging platform. It is quite similar to LDV in that its articles are written by Libdem members, its youth members. This means that we, like LDV, are always looking for new submissions and fresh topics for discussion.
As the title suggests, The Libertine has fallen out of use for a significant period of time. The LY exec asked for applications for the positions of co-editor, and selected myself and Tom Davies. We can be found at [email protected] or [email protected]. If you have any submissions please send them here.
Alternatively, you could join our Libertine Writers’ Facebook group, where updates about the blog will be posted and where you can ask questions regarding it. So far we’ve solved how to change the blog’s favicon, how to not have a giant picture of Jeremy Browne plastered across the top, and are considering whether to pay for our own domain.
Speaking of getting started, our first post is already online. The post is written by LYer Ciaran Morrissey and is on a current sensitive topic. Feel free to leave a comment or, even better, submit a response article (assuming you are a member of LY)!
If you do leave a comment, we have some guidelines for doing so. If you do not adhere to these guidelines, your comment will not be published:
- No comments will be accepted if they are deemed to personally attack the author of the article as opposed to the article’s contents.
- No comments will be accepted if they contain unsubstantiated claims which could be considered libellous (a publication which engages in comment moderation can be liable for such statements).
- Anything considered spam (multiple comments in rapid succession, comments completely irrelevant to the article itself) will not be accepted.
If circumstances highlight the need for any additional guidelines, we will add them to the list. Hopefully these guidelines will ensure debate remains polite and productive.
So if you’ve any questions, feel free to contact myself or Tom either via email or Facebook message, or by joining the Facebook group. We would love to hear from as many Liberal Youth members as possible!
* Joanne Ferguson joined the Liberal Democrats in May
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15 Comments
Thanks for making me aware of Libertine! Will be thinking of a post to write for it soon 🙂
This could be good for recruiting in local parties. Perhaps Liberine could discuss whether there should be two groups, Youth and Students.
An odd name.
Two things . Firstly , Joanne , very good to have such youthful , or any , new and strong political involvement , and do you have to be a youthful member to contribute , I am in my youthful late forties! I do feel our party needs to keep in real touch with student age members , especially after the tuition fees debacle . Secondly , Lord Greaves, why an odd name , in your view ?
Lorenzo, thank you! I’m afraid you do have to be a member of youth. The fact that it’s for LY is pretty much the only thing that distinguishes it from here, so we’d just end up with a second LDV. My guess for why it is seen as an odd name is because there is a rockband called The Libertines XD
Joanne , thank you , I meant that the party in general needs to be aware of whats beyond the end of the nose of any of us , shall look at it as a site from time to time , as I find the views of various party groups interesting . Not sure Lord Greaves is thinking of the rock band orJohnny Depp film of the same title , more likely conotations of lack of moral fibre !
I don’t think Lord Greaves is THAT odd a name… oh, wait…
In reference to Lord Greaves, I must admit I am not entirely sold on the name myself. I would possibly take a guess the name may be some reference to it being for youth members. Liber-teen as it were. However of course Liberal Youth caters to members well into their 20s and full time students of all ages.
I’m sure if anybody had any ideas of a better name we would certainly consider a change!
Well, the problem is that words have meanings.
A few definitions of “libertine” culled from a quick google of online dictionaries:
“1. a person, especially a man, who freely indulges in sensual pleasures without regard to moral principles.
“his image as an unbridled libertine is a total myth.
synonyms: philanderer, ladies’ man, playboy, rake, roué, loose-liver, Don Juan, Lothario, Casanova, Romeo…
2. a freethinker in matters of religion.”
“Full Definition of libertine. 1 usually disparaging : a freethinker especially in religious matters. 2 : a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality; specifically : one leading a dissolute life.”
“1:(Noun)A person with low or no moral values
2:(Noun)A freethinker
3:(adj)Moraly unrestrained ”
Wikipedia says: “A libertine is one devoid of most moral restraints, which are seen as unnecessary or undesirable, especially one who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour sanctified by the larger society.[1][2] Libertines put value on physical pleasures, meaning those experienced through the senses. As a philosophy, libertinism gained new-found adherents in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, particularly in France and Great Britain. Notable among these were John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and the Marquis de Sade.”
People can live the lives they wish to live, and they should accept the consequences. But “libertine” is not a description that one would think was naturally used to describe a Liberal, nor one that we would wish to associate with.
I can’t think that even the tiny ultra-libertarian coterie who for mysterious reasons seem to want to form a far-right fringe in our party would want to be called libertines!
Tony Greaves
Do members of our Lords Party have nothing better to do with their December evenings other than trying (and failing) to mock Liberal Youth’s blogging platform for it’s name? Heavens above, such patronising nonsense from Lord Greaves.
On a note that isn’t dripping with miserliness and whisperings of conspiracies against myself – I’m glad LY have this platform up again, and I can’t wait to see what the editors and writers produce in the months and years ahead. Bravo 🙂
The blog has been called The Libertine for years, I believe. I’ve not a clue who first came up with it XD
Look after your liver, you may need it.
Jennie, I got it , it made me laugh out LOUD! Happy Christmas !
Seasons of goodwill and all that. I can’t believe that a poster’s comment on the choice of a word and its multiple meanings can generate such unpleasantness.
@ Tim Oliver.
Maybe its a generational thing, but in the days when I had a greater facility for the English language and could exploit its nuances, I was taught that the words one chose to communicate a message, should be unambiguous so that the receiver received the message with the meaning that was intended. Libertine has multiple meanings, so some might indeed find it odd. No-one is saying it should not be used.
I am still amused when I remember one one young chap who told me he never travelled without a Trollope in his backpack.
Merry Christmas to all, and I really do mean that.
Young voters have the longest future ahead of them. 2014 saw those in Scotland make the biggest decision of their lives so far. 2016 will see another referendum, on a bigger scale, which will affect all their life chances. Please travel, campaign and vote.