I left the Liberal Democrats in 2012 after 25 years to stand as an Independent in the Police Commissioner elections. I opposed the new Police Commissioners being party political, and thought it was a ridiculous decision of the Liberal Democrats in Merseyside to contest the election. As a lecturer in law at the University of Liverpool I'd spent many years telling people that I was an expert in police accountability, and criticising the accountability system, it seemed hypocritical to me if I didn't stand. In the event I got 14,000 votes and came second in every district on Merseyside except Wirral, but a narrow third behind the Conservative overall.
It is disgraceful that the main parties and the Electoral Commission failed to carry out any adequate investigation into the fiasco of the elections or the 150,000 spoilt votes. One of the biggest protests in decades has been largely ignored by official responses to the disastrous election, as I predicted. Will the Conservatives scrap this system now that its creator, Douglas Carswell, defected to UKIP. Has it saved any money as intended? I doubt it. Has it brought police accountability closer to the people – the people are as oblivious as before. Will Conservatives and Labour who won most of the positions want to give them up? And the Lib Dem and Labour policies were half baked on reform as well. Some of the non-party political PCCs have made just the kind of blunders that they criticise politicians for – squandering finance, splashing out on expenses, being out of touch. Some of the PCCs, including both independent and some the party political ones (mostly Labour politicians) appear to have tried to make a real difference but get very little attention. Some of the career Labour and mostly Conservative ex-Minister or MP Police Commissioners appear to have had very little visibility at all. Is it time to abolish PCCs now and put police accountability under the supervision of the New Labour next generation city region Mayors / region authorities that the Conservatives are imposing on local government? In effect that is what happens in London (always given special – usually more sympathetic – treatment in policy reforms).
The Coalition followed the Labour and Conservative obsession with reorganising things (such as national policing structures) and the Conservatives seem intent on reorganising the police yet again, rather than letting them do their job of catching criminals and investigating and deterring crime. They should at least try and avoid another wasteful set of PCC elections, by adding the accountability function to give local leaders something to do, or decide they will keep them – NOT do something else – but have a genuinely fair and competent election.
Largely based on my comments on Facebook several days after learning of the election results while in Ukraine. The Conservative Party won 51% of the seats with 37% of the vote from only 24% of potential voters.
This tweet showed the unfairness of the British electoral system in all its glory:
amol rajan @amolrajan · May 8
How many votes on average it took to elect an MP, as of 11am today. Via @electoralreform
SNP 26k
CON 34k
LAB 40k
LD 291k
GRN 1.1m
UKIP 3.8m
I can’t believe how terrible the election was. For me Labour Party and voter tribalism and a nasty populist press have pushed us to this extreme – along with the rise of populist ‘New progressive’ SNP, and the Lib Dem leadership destroying themselves and our work by early on destroying trust that they never regained. A Conservative majority is really bad given the ideological wing of the party. Ed Milliband was actually a decent intellectual Labour leader, but our public don’t seem to like intellectuals as leaders. In Scotland and in England the largest number of voters have voted for thin ill thought out policies designed to attract votes but in many cases not build a consensus or solve some of our major problems.
The most shocking thing about the night – or the next days – was the maps that appeared on Twitter showing an awful polarisation between Conservative blue in Southern and rural England, Scottish Nationalist Party mustard colour across nearly all of Scotland, Labour in the M62 city and urban belt of the north, in central London and South Wales. An appalling political division of the country into segments of opposed support.
via @favData source http://i.imgur.com/ly01ImK.png Please let me know proper attribution for acknowledgmen
So if Liverpool Wavertree voters had voted for Colin Eldridge five years ago instead of Labour there would have been more Lib Dem MPs, and if only 10,000 extra voters had voted Lib Dem across the country in other seats, there would have been 10 more Lib Dem MPs, more Liberal Democrat policies enacted, fewer Conservative ones and less destructive Conservative polices. The Coalition would not have been so unpopular and the Conservatives would probably not have won this time.
In my experience in the urban north especially, and among some suburban areas of intelligentsia, the Labour Party are incredibly nasty and authoritarian – though I believe the Lib Dems and Labour Parties have mostly cleaned up their acts a lot from how many of us behaved as activists in hotly contested elections say 15 years or twenty years ago. With exceptions, by the Labour Party who think like the Tories they have a God given right to win some seats, and sometimes by young activists who often make foolish mistakes which are dealt with by overreaction. I often found many Conservatives more moderate, friendly and with more of a sense of humour. But now anti-Europeans, anti-civil liberties, ideologues and nihilist type monetarists à la the ’80s will have more influence I am very worried. I support cutting back the State but I am also an old fashioned Keynesian who still supports a mixed economy, which works well in most countries in Europe. I’m telling people in Ukraine and Poland not to make the mistakes in privatisations that we did.
The polarisation that we see in our politics has been repeated in many countries across Europe in the last decade and more – with largely ‘centre left’ and ‘centre right’ parties evenly balanced in many contests from Britain to the Balkans, but with their supporters unwilling to recognise the legitimacy, and sometimes the right, of the ‘other sides’ arguments, and the public often failing to vote rather than vote for the Liberal parties that could help break the stalemate because they’re the ones who’ve been putting the arguments to do just that. In Britain the unhealthy right wing media domination has fuelled this polarisation – with that most sickening of papers, the Sun, pushing a nasty Little Englander bigotry in England and a populist nationalism in Scotland. The failure of mainstream parties firstly to articulate different political positions, or to work together for the common good, has driven many into the hands of the far right in Britain and far left and right in other countries. Yes an ideological Conservative cabinet is in place now but the Conservatives stood for election in Britain without any coherent intellectual platform. The press have helped fuel ignorance and cynicism of politics for years, but this election in my mind was the worst yet. The Wikipedia graphic on election endorsements shows just how biased our press is (even if Labour’s supporting corporate mag the Daily Mirror is just as bad as the main conservative press): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorsements_in_the_United_Kingdom_general_election,_2015 5 major dailies Conservative, 2 Labour, 1 UKIP, 1 Lib Dem (though 2010 was more Conservative biased, while the the Guardian endorsed the Lib Dems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_2010 see Endorsements).
The daily character assassination of Ed Milliband who is an educated and decent person – constantly portrayed absurdly as some extreme left winger – was a record low for the British trashy press. As it happens, despite support for the New Labour project he was not at the heart of it, nor was Milliband obviously left wing, reasons why both factions within the Labour Party were very critical of him.
The reaction of the major Trades Unions to the Conservative win – confrontation and strikes, like their stance when the Coalition got in – is just as ideologically or selfishly pig headed as the Conservatives pushing forward plans to restrict the right to strike on utterly hypocritical arguments about democracy, that if applied to themselves would mean they would not be the Government, or many even MPs.
I think that problem is two fold – that the country is now incredibly polarised both geographically and between parties (many Labour and Conservative and SNP supporters seem unable to accept that their opposites have legitimate views). At the same time the Conservatives won the election with 37% of the vote with 2/3s of people voting. So A clear majority support other parties and the new Government will need to be conciliatory in some way towards them. David Cameron said he will strive to “bring the country together” but Mrs. Thatcher said that in 1979 and brought further conflict and discord. Can Cameron be better?
Conservative ‘Eurosceptics’ and UKIP: Anti-EU or anti-Europe?
One friend, Paul Wesson, challenged my description of many Conservatives as anti-European. This was my reply:
“many people are anti-EU not anti-Europe, some of them for rational evidence based reasons, but the vast majority of people who are anti-EU are simply anti-Europe. They say anti-Europe (talking about the EU) but actually they say what they really mean. They are insular, narrow minded, turn the clock back blame foreigners and anything foreign they don’t like. Yes people were never given a vote on the EU political project. Yes I believe the starry eyed Eurocrats and politicians in Brussels are over centralising and out of touch. Like you it is obvious to see that they have failed to take people with them on a political project. I’ve argued like most Liberals for EU reform for a long time. At the same time anti-EU people like you and other friends have been predicting the same collapse of the Euro for 15 years and never acknowledge that it is one of the best and most trusted currencies in the world.”
The last line on the Euro does throw in a different issue, but is indicative of the fact anti-EU people never acknowledge the non-economic successes of the EU, such as the great benefits to education, travel and interaction, including the convenience and success to date of the Euro. €.
Why blame Labour for the General Election result?
My longstanding Labour friend Antoine Tinnion quite reasonably observed:
“Don’t blame the Labour Party. Politics is about choices and consequences. The LibDems made a choice in 2010, they are now living with the consequences in 2015. No-one said politics is fair. History is riddled with good MPs who lost their seat when the tide of politics went against their party, the LibDems are no different.”
Why am I blaming Labour – or more precisely Labour voters? Because their tribal voting behaviour actually has twice delivered the result they feared. I saw this time as usual the futility of intelligent people voting Labour ‘to keep out the Tories’ in safe Labour seats (the Labour Party’s vote did go up) and yet Labour’s claim to be ‘better’ than the Tories (more principled) is foiled by supporters voting on grounds of narrow self-interest (like the activities of the major Trades Unions). I’ve written elsewhere about the successes of the Coalition and hypocrisy of the British public. A large section of the public have themselves to blame if they don’t like the election result. Coalitions are normal in other countries and deliver good government. X and Y Party and supporters don’t like Y or X Party forming a Government. Yet their answer is to perpetuate an unfair two party system. The Liberal Democrats delivered on many of their promises despite being a small partner. People always said they would not vote Liberal Democrat because they could not get power but when they did and delivered most people stuck or returned to voting on sectarian grounds. Tory voters feared some mythical ‘left wing’ Labour Party and now are likely to get a country and a continent riven by divides which shake the stability and economic confidence that they want.
On the day of the election I said: “Here’s hoping for a high turnout and a national inclusive dialogue after the election to get some priorities that everyone can agree on”
With minority support the Conservative Party MPs are doing the opposite.
The unfairness of the British electoral system.
Peter Tatchell has been prominent in the campaigning for electoral reform “At the May general election, the government won 51% of the seats based on 37% of the vote and the support of a mere 24% of registered electors.”
How many votes on average it took to elect an MP, as of 11am today. Via @electoralreform SNP 26k CON 34k LAB 40k LD 291k GRN 1.1m UKIP 3.8m
Notes.
“A Conservative majority is really bad given the ideological wing of the party.” This has proved true much more quickly than I expected, with the Conservatives moving to dismantle the restraints or positive measures that the Lib Dems put in place, and attack key British institutions like the BBC.
“David Cameron said he will strive to “bring the country together” but Mrs. Thatcher said that in 1979 and brought further conflict and discord. Can Cameron be better?”
Since I first posted these comments on social media after the election the answer to the last question is it seems not, so far.
I’d forgotten how unfair the 2010 General Election result was:
Party
Seats
Gain
Loss
Net
Votes
%
+/-%
Conservative
307
100
3
+97
10,726,614
36.1
+3.8
Labour
258
3
94
-91
8,609,527
29.0
-6.2
Liberal Democrat
57
8
13
-5
6,836,824
23.0
+1.0
The Greens should have got about 6 seats (1), UKIP 18 (0) and the Ulster Unionist Party 2 (0) in 2010.
The Liberal Democrats actually gained 8 seats but lost 13. (I think 5 real gains, the others due to changed boundaries).
Even given the unfair voting system if only 9,000 votes had been different the Liberal Democrats would have won 10 more MPs in 2010, and another 35,000 votes another 10 seats. That is out of 29 million votes – less than half of .1% of the total vote. How different things could have been.
An unpublished letter to the newspaper of the UK Campaign for Real Ale, CAMRA (What's Brewing). The real wisdom in the letter is the quote from Roger Protz at the end, noted beer and brewing writer, and campaigner. I'd tried to get some of the points in this text published on a couple of occasions in the past few years, unsuccessfully. On the one hand, the newspaper editor Tom Stainer had a habit of nearly every month publishing two or three letters from his favoured correspondents. On the other hand, and as the editor pointed out, letters not published (like this one) were often (far) longer than the recommended length. This was my attempt at a more concise version to make several points.
Dear Sir,
A while ago there was a case to answer about favoured correspondents in What's Brewing. Many of the concerns appear Southern dominated – debate over £4 a pint; flat pints with no head (the custom down south is as eccentric as not serving mushy peas). I have been pleased more recently to see some resistance (including by CAMRA founders) against technical obsession, or the tyranny of extremely hoppy ales and golden beers, or every beer having to come from an obscure micro. Though the great new beer bars in Liverpool have London type prices, and £3.20+ is now common for guest ales in pubs. I'm with the school that says if Sam Smiths can serve a reasonably priced pint in London then others could do too. But I also see the view that we pay for a whole experience which is worth it.
While there is often controversy over issues in What's Brewing (leaving alone 'craft' ale or whether members can like canned beer) I believe there are some things on which we all agree. One is that support for traditional British ale production can help the country out of the recession. As Mike Benner said "drinking real ale to get out of recession is a very good idea." Writing in Country Ales and Breweries (Roger Protz and Steve Sharples, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1999) Roger Protz highlighted the Felinfoel Brewery in Wales which put beer into tin cans in the 1930s to help the local tin plate industry during a recession (p. 146). The Coalition should be looking at more ways to encourage brewing innovation now.
On the English translation there is one key word I would add in the second to last paragraph, Western: Zaporizhzhya is interesting for tourists in the way of its distinction from Western European cities. The rest of the translation may be particular but understandable. 'On changes at ZNU' two points do not translate clearly: "repaired three audiences" – classrooms (seminar rooms), Ukrainian uses 'auditorium'; "several young researchers passed candidate examinations" – this is the equivalent of our PhD in Western Europe. The full PhD in Ukraine is a higher qualification additional to our doctorate level.
The questions were asked by numerous Ukrainians I met while I was there, myself, and people I met along the way as well as numerous friends at home and elsewhere.
I will add the English translation of this interview by the University Head of Press, Oleksandra Usenko, when it becomes available.
Of course I think it is a fantastic article because it is all about me; more usefully though it sums up my visit to Zaporizhzhya National University and the city of Zaporizhia quite well. In my interview with Oleksandra we talked about everything I did in my visit to the University and the city. These news stories are useful for me to demonstrate my experience from Ukraine. More importantly they also help all the many volunteer students who helped me with interpreting, translation and general information and advice, as they can use the stories to show prospective employers what extra professional experience they have. There are nearly twenty articles in Ukrainian featuring different aspects of my two visits to #ZNU / #ЗНУ, and about half that number in English (including articles mentioning the visits and contributions of Frances Willmott and Steven Andrew).
As I had been the only visiting British academic in about ten years, and seemed to be the only British tourist in the city that anyone had ever met (the only other British visitors I know of are fellow election observers deployed there working for the OSCE in different elections), I was delighted to hear that while I was in Zaporizhia the BBC had come to film a programme about the famous Zaporizhia Cossacks. Khortitsa island is very famous in Ukraine and the whole region as the birthplace of the Ukrainian cossacks. According to www.hortica.zp.ua (story below) "On Saturday, April 25, the British broadcaster BBC began filming the series "Islands of the World", which will be dedicated to the island of Khortytsya."
I get asked many questions about what I was doing in Ukraine, especially in South East Ukraine, in the region next to the war zone. This is the CV summary from LinkedIn with a little extra explanation. I hope to add links to some of the recent news stories from the ZNU website, and photographs in due course.
Honorary visiting Professor in the Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages, the Faculty of Law, including Department of Criminal Law, and the Faculty of Journalism. April – May 2015; previously October – December 2014. Zaporizhia National University is a large established state University in south east Ukraine, in Ukraine's 6th largest city. ZNU has a long history of expertise in language teaching (particularly English) and the Law Faculty has just celebrated it's 25th anniversary. I am also contributing to professional events in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, and contributing talks and Q&A sessions for students in the Faculty of Journalism, and in the Department of Tourism, and to student speaking clubs. I contributed to both University outreach work (including school visits) and talked English to many others who were interested including an English speaking club for volunteers.
In addition I met a wide variety of civil society, volunteer, and official organisations discussing the UK, English, policy, political and law reform. In October I shadowed international, civil society and local contacts during the Parliamentary elections. On my second visit I spoke on legal system to judges of the Regional Court of Appeal; gave a seminar to district and regional officials on anti-corruption law and policies; discussed the monuments / anti-Sovietisation law with journalism students & staff; discussed education, identity and peacebuilding with the regional Centre for Patriotic Education; & talked about human rights, peacebuilding & regeneration / development to a Social Forecasting conference. I am particularly proud to have worked with about twenty students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages as volunteer interpreters and translators, including working with a dozen more than once, genuinely volunteering to help outside of their University duties. I have worked with several volunteer interpreters repeatedly, further increasing my understanding of Ukraine and their professional skills in English.
I listed Al along with MPs and candidates that I know and the othes are all Liberals. Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, comedian, writer and historian, merits special mention.
Al Murray (South Thanet). Intelligent, educated, intellectual – and more importantly right on many political issues. Al is the best candidate in South Thanet, he has more knowledge of history and of the importance of political, social and historic context than the other serious candidates. Few people don't now realise that Al Murray's 'the Pub Landlord' character is comedy satire, but many people don't realise that Al Murray is serious, a very capable candidate for Parliament who would be a superb MP.
People say politicians are all the same but it is not true. They say they are all in it for themselves and to line their own pockets and that definitely is not true. Most people don't go into British politics to try and make money. But some MPs just toe the party line, rather than thinking for themselves, and do little in their constituencies except go through the motions. I know Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs. The ones I know well are Liberal Democrats because that has been my political party for many years.
I know these MPs personally and recommend anyone in their seats to vote for them as they are hardworking, principled, care and don't just follow a party line.
John Pugh. Southport.
Tim Farron. Westmorland and Lonsdale.
John Leech. Manchester Withington.
Stephen Williams. Bristol West.
Adrian Sanders. Torbay.
Jenny Willott. Cardiff Central.
Simon Hughes. Bermondsey and Old Southwark.
A mention also for my friend Richard Younger-Ross, the former MP for Teignmouth in Devon, who lost out in the new Newton Abbott seat by just 500 votes last time. I would certainly recommend Richard to any voters in Newton Abbot where he is standing again. No affected airs and graces, a decent guy.
I don't know Nick, Ed or John so well, but do know them and many of my close friends highly recommend them.
Nick Harvey. North Devon.
Ed Davey. Kingston and Surbiton.
John Hemming. Birmingham Yardley.
I don't personally know
Norman Baker (Lewes)
or
Naomi Long (East Belfast)
but they are principled Liberal MPs who have both made a real difference, on the environment and civil liberties, and challenging Northern Ireland's stale sectarian divide respectively.
Al Murray (South Thanet). Intelligent, educated, intellectual – and more importantly right on many political issues. Al is the best candidate in South Thanet, he has more knowledge of history and of the importance of political, social and historic context than the other serious candidates. Few people don't now realise that Al Murray's 'the Pub Landlord' is comedy satire, but many people don't realise that Al Murray is serious, very capable candidate for Parliament who would be a superb MP.
I know more MPs, and many more candidates but I mention just two other Lib Dem candidates here who have a good chance to win as MPs and represent local people.
Candidate Richard Marbrow. Oldham East and Saddleworth.
Candidate Dorothy Thornhill. Watford.
There are local elections as well as a General Election. This column is my urging friends and any readers to vote for certain MPs or candidates for Parliament, not about local politics. One Council candidate I want to mention is Richard Kemp. An outstanding voice for Liverpool. Many of my friends are standing in elections to Councils in Liverpool and elsewhere. I single out Richard as a Liberal voice is needed in the city, even though (as with everyone I mention here) we don't always agree.
I know a couple of good hardworking Conservative female MPs but I'm not going to recommend anyone to vote Conservative, and there are a couple of good hardworking Labour MPs in Liverpool but likewise I am not going to support Labour. (Maybe even three of the five Liverpool Labour MPs now I think work hard in their constituencies up from only a couple in the previous Parliament).
I am most well known as a Liberal Democrat activist, from my days as Liverpool City Councillor (a World famous city), and also as someone who taught students Criminal Law at the University of Liverpool for many years. Even many friends do not remember that I left the Liberal Democrats in 2012 to stand in the election for Police Commissioner for Merseyside, and that I have not rejoined the party. (My website, by the excellent Prater Raines, is branded as an official Lib Dem website from when it was first created but in fact has always been my personal political website). It was my intention to rejoin the Liberal Democrats before this General Election because Britain really does need a Liberal party, and the Liberal Democrats are our best hope for a Liberal party. However, I am away doing voluntary work in Ukraine for a month as a visiting Professor in South East Ukraine and never got round to rejoining. Why am I still supporting the Liberal Democrats?
The Liberal Democrats are incredibly unpopular in Britain because of Nick Clegg's decision to go into Coalition with the Conservative Party in 2010. In addition no one trusts the Lib Dems because of Nick Clegg reneging on his promise not to increase Tuition Fees for University students. I bitterly disagreed with Nick Clegg on the Tuition Fees policy (a policy that I supported but he never really did). I also believe that it would have been better for the Liberal Democrats to not enter a coalition but simply support votes in Parliament on their merits. Nevertheless, Nick Clegg was both brave and honest in entering a coalition. I like Nick but believe he is a failure as a Leader, but I don't doubt he went into Coalition for the good of the country, and the UK is better in 2015 because the Liberal Democrats are in Government than if the Conservatives had ruled alone. The Liberal Democrats have mitigated the worst excesses of the Conservative ideologues.
And don't tell me the tosh about a Coalition with Labour in 2010. The Conservatives won the election. They got the most votes and the most seats. Labour were rejected because they were out of touch and unpopular – something Labour activists and MPs who won their seats forget. Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats have been very unpopular because they went into Coalition with the Conservatives, but they would have been equally unpopular in most of the South of England and with 'middle England' if they had gone into Coalition with Labour, something that Labour voters fail to think about. There are actually genuinely different views in the country and your tribe is not necessarily right. The Liberal Democrats are the third party in Parliament and most people voted Conservative, more people Labour, but – despite everyone remembering one broken promise – to be fair to Nick Clegg he has implemented a very large number of Liberal Democrat polices in Government. The Liberal Democrats did not win a majority, they are not the Government, and they have enacted a very large number of Liberal Democrat policies. I like Nick Clegg personally but disagree with him severely on political strategy. But it is a fact that he has kept a lot more promises than he has broken. I believe most people in British politics are honest, and Nick Clegg is more honest than most. After the election I hope he is swiftly replaced by Tim Farron as Party Leader because some miracle would be needed to restore Nick Clegg's reputation and trustworthiness, fair or not, and a miracle has not been forthcoming. Paddy Ashdown, Charles Kennedy, these are our popular leaders and I'd put them on leaflets, not Clegg.
For me the most important political areas are the Economy, Foreign Affairs (internationalism), the Environment, and Civil Liberties. With the exception of the Economy, the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition government has been better on each of these areas than Labour were in 1997 – 2010. Labour started well on most of these issues, and under Gordon Brown as Prime Minister it actually finished quite well, but in between, the Tony Blair, Ed Balls, Gordon Brown roller coaster was a disaster in many areas. Labour crashed the economy through the boom and bust that they promised to avoid because they would not rein in people's greed in the housing bubble and the credit and claims cultures. They failed to tackle generations of unemployment by getting third generation families off benefits and into work. On foreign policy they usually followed United States' Presidents' policy right or wrong. And on civil liberties they were obsessed with legislation and social control. (Incidentally I used to list only civil liberties, the environment and foreign affairs, but my view on the importance of the economy – jobs – both changed over time, as jobs are so important, and because of a conversation once with a girlfriend, Emily, who pointed out very clearly that issues that were important for me might not be those that were of most real importance to other people. And I realised that for many people the economy is actually most important because they have no choice otherwise). On the economy, the Conservative policy has been too ideological – swingeing cuts driven by political dogma; too fast; too much. Drastic action was needed, not Labour's proposed sticking plaster, but this has been the worst of Thatcherite slashing. Tuition fees was important and symbolic for me – but students have been better off because of the Coalition policy than if the Labour Party policy was still in place. Most people – particularly the vehement Labour activists, student politicos and the legions of Middle Class Labour supporters – who criticise Nick Clegg (and by unfair extension all the Liberal Democrat MPs and party) on tuition fees, actually voted for parties that support Tuition Fees and didn't vote for the one main party that opposed Tuition Fees. If they had voted Liberal Democrat then there would have been more Liberal Democrat MPs and tuition fees and other unpopular polices might have been stopped. Instead the public reverted to voting by tribe – in Liverpool wasting their votes by voting Labour, that achieves nothing as it makes no difference to the result, and in many marginals backing Conservatives because of fear of Labour. As the Icicle Works sang, "Be careful what you wish for it may come up and surprise you .. ".
It it simply a fact Nick that because of the Liberal Democrats the Coalition Government has been better on the environment than Labour was. Labour did some things. The Coalition promised a lot and has delivered some things, but it has definitely done more than Labour. It has also been overall better on Foreign Policy (it started well, as did Labour but then retreated to populism more, but still largely very good on overseas aid), and on civil liberties. The same with civil liberties – it started very well and then retreated into some of the same mistakes as Labour – presumably because of pressure from some senior civil servants, some wings of the police, and the authoritarianism of some in the Conservative Party. Labour under Tony Blair (because of the Cook – Maclennan agreement) were better on civil liberties at first than I expected, and good on constitutional reform. In fact the Labour Government of 1997 made the most important constitutional reforms in nearly a century, and introduced important measures on police accountability, thanks in large part to Jack Straw, someone I have usually personally strongly disagreed with. The one Labour policy that I disagreed with that proved a huge success was the minimum wage.. I thought it would drive costs up in the North and damage our economies outside of the South East but Labour were right and I was totally wrong. On the other hand, while Cameron and Osborne and their party have been wrong on cuts – the scale and pace – they still make more economic sense than current Labour Party policy. Ed Milliband is deeply unpopular among Conservative voters and many 'left wing' Labour activists but this is unfair. He is not tainted by the mistakes of New Labour, he is principled and honest. He actually seems to say what he believes. Clegg and Cameron do too I think, but with Milliband it is more intellectual. For me the best government after the election would be a coalition of all the talents, including Al Murray as Foreign Secretary as one of our very most intelligent political commentators on history and foreign affairs, but this is probably a step too far for the conventional British public, let alone our political parties.
An issue for me that is both symbolic of the Coalition failure, and a real significant social problem, is the destruction of public libraries. I appreciate there are many views and arguments, and that libraries are not a priority for many people with other concerns, but for me – had campaigning by civil and political activists not stopped closures – the near wholesale destruction of our network of free public libraries would have been the historical legacy of failure of the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Government. As it is, the philanthropy, the huge generosity of that great human Andrew Carnegie, has been been hugely damaged by a mean Government and I regret that my political party nationally has failed to stop this and been worse than Labour were (even though locally, Liberal Democrat Councils have protected libraries better than other parties).
PS Three other answers to questions.
Yes I will rejoin the Liberal Democrats if Tim Farron is Leader. In fact I will rejoin after the election to campaign for my very good and principled Liberal friend Tim Farron to become Leader.
Yes, after the election principled Liberals within the Liberal Democrats will try and rebuild the Social Liberal party that Britain needs – and I will support the group led by our leading Liberal intellectual Michael Meadowcroft – who try to achieve this by providing intellectual leadership to the social Liberal activist community.
Yes I have run away to Ukraine to deliberately hide from the election. I am in a part of the World now where issues are rather more important than the debates in Britain. Also I have been a political activist from the age of 15 (with Crosby Liberals / Liberal Democrats) for 25 years (yes I did start young) and wanted a break. Even last time getting married and having a honeymoon during the election campaign was not successful in giving me a break as of course I still got stuck in helping my friends when I got back. So I am sorry I am not helping my friends this time – in another post I will ask you to vote for them and help them – but I wanted a break for the first General Election since 1987.
PPS My wife, Frances, has my proxy vote and will use it however she sees fit. It is entirely her decision. I believe we both voted Green locally, in my case of course I oppose many Green Party authoritarian or unrealistic policies, but our local Green Party councillors in St. Michaels ward in Liverpool are exceptionally good (the same reason many people always voted Liberal in local elections). I'm happy for Frances to use an extra vote entirely as she sees fit. And here in Ukraine, politics really is a matter of life and death through no choice of the Ukrainian or Russian people.
A wider statement on rebuilding the Party after a poor election result.
Yes, after the election principled Liberals within the Liberal Democrats will try and rebuild the Social Liberal party that Britain needs – and I will support the group led by our leading Liberal intellectual Michael Meadowcroft – who try to achieve this by providing intellectual leadership to the social Liberal activist community. I've read Michael Meadowcroft's arguments in support of Liberalism from his Liberator magazine published pamphlets of the 1980s, through his days as President of the independent 'Liberal Party' to now, and continue to believe with him and my many friends that a quick fix solution to create a Liberal tolerant society is not possible. Like Simon Titley , Greaves, Lishman, Le Breton, Wilcock, Smulian and others I believe that continued promotion of the values of tolerance, fairness and liberty is needed. As both friends and opponents remind me, I constantly need to remember these values myself. Re-reading the work of Conrad Russell is always a good place to start. Plus anything recommended by Alex Wilcock, Mark Pack or Bill le Breton.
In April – May 2015 I am on a return visit to Zaporizhia – to Zaporizhzhya National University #ZNU / #ЗНУ SE Ukraine as volunteer Visiting Professor. I will be tweeting again about normal life in SE Ukraine as before using the hash tag #thisisSEUkraine www.znu.edu.ua
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
![""](http://image/jpeg;base64,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")
![http://i.imgur.com/ly01ImK.png](http://i.imgur.com/ly01ImK.png"){kind=link}