Not a week goes by without a dozen invites to various groups on Facebook. (Well, maybe the week my ISP turned my email off without warning…) Here’s a selection that have crossed my path in recent days:
We agree with Vince Cable and Compass. Lets have a high pay commission.
Ever since the collapse of Northern Rock, Vince Cable has led the way in support of demanding an end to excessive pay and bonuses for greedy bankers who are more interested in short term profit than the long term interests of the economy.
Recently the Left Leaning think tank Compass has proposed a “High Pay Commission” to stop this kind of nonsense. We welcome Vince Cable’s support of this proposal and urge political leaders from all political parties to do the same.
According to Vince Cable; “There is no justification for massive pay and bonus awards in financial institutions, the most important of which are guaranteed or owned or have been rescued by the taxpayer”.
It’s not the first time that Compass have spread their net to include Lib Dems; but I have to say I’m a little angered at them taking my council email address and writing to me every day.
We’re supporting Jonathan Fryer to become an MEP in 2014
Nothing beats a good bit of organisation.
Jonathan Fryer responds: “Thank you so much everyone for your support duing this year’s campaign. We put in a tremendous amount of effort and it is sad that this time, it didn’t quite pay off. But being an MEP is the only job I really want and with your help, I will get there in 2014!”
This group’s 2,000 strong membership is demanding:
Help us reform parliament in Britain and Change Politics for Good: I want the right to sack my MP I want to know MPs can’t be bought off by party donors I want the right to find out what government is doing I want the power of government to be cut down I want my vote to count Visit TakeBackPower.org and read the full plan for reform: 100 Days to Save Democracy. Sign the petition, spread the word and join the campaign online
The 100 days may be over, but the demands are still unmet.
Liberal Democrats for the Single Transferable Vote
The Single Transferable Vote electoral system has long been the electoral system of choice for Liberal Democrats across the UK, but it is unfortunate that the Party leadership seems too ready to compromise on this policy and sign up to the inferior Alternative Vote Plus system.
‘Liberal Democrats for the Single Transferable Vote’ is a group for Liberal Democrats who believe our Party and its members, supporters and activists shouldn’t compromise at this early stage for the Alternative Vote Plus system.
This group wishes to influence the Party leadership by arguing that Liberal Democrats should campaign to influence the voters of the benefits of the Single Transferable Vote system.
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One Comment
I would have thought Alex that you must have a way of unsubscribing to Compass emails, otherwise they are breaking the law?
Anyway I often start groups on FB, including the Vince Cable/Compass group referred to above.
Where these groups have a political perspective they can be seen as “political grafitti” similar to Early Day Motions (EDMs) in the House of Commons.
In addition to that, FB groups can also raise the profile of the party, sometimes on issues where people do not have a clear idea where the party stands. We may be blanked by the national media, but on FB it is entirely up to us. We can set our own agenda in the way we want and not rely on unsympathetic journalists.
The most successful group I have started is “We agree with Nick Clagg, stop arming Israel”, see http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54403996833&ref=ts.
This has well over 1,000 members, many of whom are not members of the party (yet), and some who never will be and support other parties. And to be fair many members are not even voters in the UK, although all are very welcome to join.
FB gives me the facilty to message all of the members, so if I see an event on the Arab-Isreali conflict, I can send a message to the membership about it.
As things stand it is important to get some perspective. The group that wants Jeremy Clarkson to be prime minister has 1/2 million members. I cannot see how we can match that scale of operation. But on balance I think it is worth doing.
There are difficult decisions to make running these groups. Some people get group request fatigue. And if the group does reach out beyond the usual Lib Dem membership, it is important not to engage in crude party politics – which personally I dislike anyway. Also if I am supporting a particular cause, I need to do the cause justice in the way I publicise it, make the argument and respond to critical messages. It becomes a responsibility that I would never have imagined before I joined FB.
Incidently I have hit the limit to the number of groups I can join (300). I now have to leave other groups in order to join new ones or start new ones. So if I do not join your fantastic new group, you know why.