Party president Sal Brinton has emailed party members tonight to let them know what is happening with the general election review and leadership election. The Federal Board discussed both yesterday. We decided that everyone was knackered over the election and needed a rest over Christmas. The Federal Board meeting in January will look again at when to hold the leadership election but the feeling was that we aren't in a massive hurry. The process takes around 9 weeks once it is kicked off. I think this is a good idea. The 2015 leadership election was conducted when we were all ...
Interesting initial analysis by Chris Hanretty based on looking at the difference that being backed by a tactical voting site made to the Lib Dem vote share in a constituency, after allowing for differences between seats such as previous levels of party support and different demographics: We find that the estimate of the effect on the Lib Dem vote share of being endorsed by Best for Britain is around 5 percentage points (95% CI*: 4 to 6 percentage points). The equivalent figure for Remain United is smaller (2.6 percentage points), but significantly different from zero (95% CI: 1.1 to 4.1 ...
Simon Beard explains, with help from Edmund Burke, John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Clarkson. It seems to me that Liberals have a peculiar obsession with self-justification. Keynes first posed the question "Am I A Liberal?" (he was) in 1925, and many have asked it, or something like it, since. Indeed, Bertrand Russel felt called to provide two justifications "why I am not a communist" and "why I am not a Christian", while even Margaret Thatcher's favourite Liberal Fredrick Hayek wanted to explain to his readers "why I am not a conservative". This is hardly surprising. Liberals are, after all, in ...
Populism, all right-thinking people agree, is a Bad Thing. Yet in the far-off days when I was a Liberal activist and then councillor, there was a definite populist strand to our campaigning. We were the people who stood up for the unfashionable end of town. We were the people who stood up for the voters against council ruling groups and senior officers. I remember doing a survey on council house repairs here in Harborough and being told the next day that the council offices were thronged with people we had encouraged to make complaints. I was proud of that. Somewhere ...
Two days on from the sheer awfulness of Friday morning, how are you bearing up? I have not yet finished with the crying. I spent much of Friday in tears. I'd got home from the count at about 7:30 after nipping in to Scottish HQ at Clifton Terrace to await the results from Orkney and Shetland. I then went home and wrote this, almost falling asleep many times as I did so. Then, after three hours' sleep, spent the afternoon crying and talking to various people. Then Jo spoke and I cried some more. How on earth she managed to ...
The Meols Ward Liberal Democrat Focus Team, John Dodd, Daniel Lewis and Yaso Sathiy wish everyone all the best throughout the Festive season. A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2020.
Every year since 2005, I have posted a list of the cities where I have spent a night away from home in that calendar year. I am just back from a four-city seven-day trip, which I hope is the last of this year, so this should be the final list for 2019. Previous years: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. This year's list is as follows (an asterisk marks places where I spent more than one non-consecutive night): *London, UK *Zagreb, Croatia Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina *Rome, Italy Prishtina, Kosovo The ...
Over the next wee while, we'll have to reflect on what went wrong in the election and how we can avoid some of the mistakes in the future. We know that our vote share went up more than any other party's. Our bonkers electoral system ended up giving us one fewer seat. The Tories gained a quarter of what we did and were rewarded with tens of seats. But we thought we were going to end up with many more MPs. We should have ended up with more MPs. The narrow losses in places like Carshalton where we lost Tom ...
Liberal Democrats are agreed on equality and democracy, right? We all assume that this so. I am reminded of the old adage that to 'assume' can sometimes 'make an ass of you and me' (ass-u-me)! In the run up to the European Parliamentary Elections in April 2019, we went through the procedure for the selection of our candidates for each European Parliamentary Constituency and, as expected, Party HQ sent out emails informing all the Membership of the process for these elections. Good so far? Many LibDem members living outside the UK were registered and eligible to vote in these European ...
Sounds interesting, but what's it about? Gary Winchester Martin explains: I did a little bit of research and found that the song "Taro" describes the life of Gerda Taro and her life partner Robert Capa who both died separately covering wars in the mid 20th century. Gerda died during Battle of Brunete on July 26, 1937 while Robert died several years later in 1954 by stepping on a land mine. The song Taro describes the events and the reunion of the two in the afterlife.
Sat, 12:56: The Tory landslide and the Irish Sea https://t.co/lRWcp0HspP @TConnellyRTE on form again. Sat, 13:06: I hear that Roy Johnston has died. His role in creating today's Ireland is insufficiently appreciated. Important fo... https://t.co/JgmLlOvR4V Sat, 13:31: A couple of people think they are being smart by reminding me of the "predictions" I was quoted as making in the... https://t.co/qdasP99krQ Sat, 16:50: Suvivants: Amnomalies Quantiques, by Leo https://t.co/SxVUi6uPal Sat, 20:01: My week on Twitter 🎉: 55 Mentions, 397K Mention Reach, 279 Likes, 74 Retweets, 618K Retweet Reach. See yours with... https://t.co/G4qOkSQ1gM Sun, 10:45: Very good analysis, especially the last point. ...
As I start writing this post, it is less than 24 hours since the polls closed and that dreadful Exit Poll was published so this is to some extent a first draft of what where I think we got it wrong and why we must not assume that we have 4 years to prepare for the next General Election. I am writing and publishing it to start a discussion rather than be dogmatic about what needs to be done, so please join in and give our new President and new Leader a start in working out how to move forward. ...
Sun 15th
09:01
Shropshire Council sets out its climate strategy as COP25 looks like becoming COPOUT 25
In May, Shropshire Council declared a climate emergency, though the council's leader to commit to any urgency. Cabinet members, councillors and council staff have shown a greater commitment to tackling the biggest issue of our age and the biggest issue for generations to come. The newly published route map to a Zero Carbon Shropshire only really deals with a Zero Carbon Council (Agenda 6). And it says an ambition of net zero council by 2030 may not be met. The Shropshire Climate Action Partnership agreed in May has still not been set up. After six months, I would have expected ...
I am honoured and delighted to have been elected as President of the Liberal Democrats. The news is overshadowed by the results of the general election where, in amongst individual brilliant results, there were so many disappointments and tragedies. After such a promising start as our party leader only a few months ago, Jo's own defeat is particularly saddening. Our increased share of the vote, more second places and enlarged party membership, added to the fantastic growth in our local government base earlier in the year, does, however, provide us with the foundations to recover from. As does the welcome ...
It's fair to say that these have been a disappointing set of election results. I don't want to get into the election campaign itself, but instead I want to thank Jo Swinson. I am beyond proud of the leadership Jo has provided in these volatile political times. Her dedication to upholding and defending liberal values in the face of extremist politics has not gone unnoticed and has set an example for all of us. Although her leadership of the Liberal Democrats was short-lived, she has been an extraordinary leader, and I truly mean that. She has provided a home for ...
The University of Dundee's annual service of Carols by Candlelight will take place tonight at 5pm and will return to St Paul's Cathedral at 1 High Street. The service takes the form of nine lessons/poems and traditional carols. The singing will be led by the University Choirs who will also contribute a number of choral pieces. There will be a reception with mince pies and mulled wine after the service. University Chaplain, Rev Dr Fiona Douglas says, "The Carol Service is one of the highlight of the University year when staff and students, their families, and the local community come ...
Over at the Independent, Michael Heseltine injects a dose of reality by saying out loud what we have all been thinking since Thursday's Tory landslide victory. His view is that the battle for UK membership of the European Union is lost and the question will not be reopened for 20 years: Lord Heseltine, who lost the Tory whip after urging people to vote against Conservatives to stop Brexit, played down the prospect of an immediate campaign to rejoin the EU, and said the focus must now be on ensuring that Boris Johnson's withdrawal deal works for disadvantaged areas of the ...
