I ought to start by apologising for the sense of editorial absence in recent weeks. In truth, I’ve struggled a bit for motivation but let’s see if we can get back on the horse and push on…

We won… and wasn’t it great?

So, the world of local government in England is a rather different place, as Liberal Democrat groups across the country have found themselves, expectedly or otherwise, in a position where they may, or may not, be part of administrations. Here in Suffolk, for example, the Conservatives lost control of Mid Suffolk, West Suffolk and East Suffolk, and Liberal Democrats are part of the mix in East Suffolk and Babergh. Here in Mid Suffolk, the Greens swept to power, taking twenty-four of the thirty-four seats to become the first majority Green administration in the Northern Hemisphere (and don’t we all know it?…).

And you might recognise the theory behind Green Party claims that the new Waveney Valley constituency is in play – after all, we tend to do the same thing after local government success. But, whilst we had an excellent set of results on 4 May, there are places where we are challenged by the Greens, and we need to give some thought to addressing where we’ve been pushed into third/fourth place by them.

Welcome to the Nat-C Party…

Meanwhile, instead of using their key weapon of loyalty, the Conservatives continue as though they’re determined to implode completely and utterly. The National Conservatives offer a programme for government which merely reflects the prejudices of a group of people who clearly don’t get out much and appears to deny the fact that a number of key players are actually responsible for the things they don’t like. For example, if immigration is so bad, and we have control, why are net migration levels likely to be at historic highs? You’d almost think that the Conservatives have been in opposition since 2010. We shouldn’t forget though, that there are plenty of supposedly more moderate Conservative MPs who are just as guilty as the extremists. They’ve stood quietly by, voting through most of this stuff and, through their lack of spine, should be seen to be just as responsible for the fate that has befallen our nation.

I suppose that I should be reassured that the positions espoused at the recent conference seemed not to appreciate the fact that younger generations are, on the whole, more socially liberal, less afraid of diversity and generally more internationalist. How their views enable the Conservative Party to win back those who have become increasingly distant from their ideological stance is anyone’s guess.

Liberal Democrats do internationalism

Next weekend sees the annual Congress of the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), and the Liberal Democrats will be sending their usual delegation to Stockholm for debates on a huge range of subjects, both regional and global, with a soupcon of more local issues, plus some potentially fascinating seminars. We’ll be covering the Congress in some detail over the coming week, with previews and commentary to look forward to. If you’ve never attended an international gathering of liberals, hopefully we’ll be able to entice you to get involved in the future.

And with that, it’s perhaps time to start the week. Hopefully, gentle reader, it will be a good one for all of us…

* Mark Valladares is the Monday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and, much to his surprise, one of the party’s cadre of trained Returning Officers.