The battle against poverty and ignorance is integral to what it means to be a Liberal Democrat. That is why Liberal Democrats should be proud that one of the Coalition Government’s main priorities is closing the attainment gap between the poorest children and their more well off peers. By getting things right from the off […]

Generally, one can get by without politics. It is at best an amusing sideshow on the news of an evening, or, at worst, something to blame when you haven’t had a pay rise in years. However, I think this sort of attitude, although both pervasive and understandable, is simply nonsense. Politics is important, and the […]

There has been a lot of talk of the coalition getting it wrong on pensions, since the budget. This, to me, seems to be because the media, in search of a fantastic headline, refuses to be didactic as opposed to outrageous. There is no ‘granny tax’. All there is is a proposal for a single, […]

Liberal Democrats have successfully scaled back plans to hold more court hearings in secret. Last month Nick Clegg said the proposals in the Justice and Security Green Paper did not strike the right balance, and in the Bill published this week, all of the conditions he set out have been met. The FT said the […]

The weather looks a bit ominous for the Jubilee weekend, but I know that that won’t stop people celebrating. Local residents in Upper Beeding are organising a Talent Competition, Children’s Party and Tug of War on the 2nd June in the Memorial Playing Fields. Commemorative mugs will be given to each child that attends. There […]

Last night my 14 year-old and I went to Pembury, north-east of Tunbridge Wells, to offer a couple of hours to a fellow Lib Dem team, where David Neve is hoping to get elected to Kent County Council on June 14th. David is a hard-working special needs teacher who has been a Borough Councillor for […]

I became an active member of my local Lib Dems last year, when I was asked to run in the District elections. We lost, badly, and one reason was a lack of understanding of the coalition with the Tories, especially as, locally, they are the party we are continually fighting against. After those elections last […]

An old friend recently complimented me on my hard work as a Lib Dem. I was quite embarrassed as I don’t feel that I do that much, and I know others who do more. As a Lib Dem voter with a full time job, four children, and very little time to be politically active, he […]

I was lucky enough to visit Moscow, just for one week at the beginning of the 1990s, around the time of the fall of communism. One of the things I remember is seeing elderly people crying openly in the streets – my friend told me they were crying because the world they knew, the state […]

Today, like many people I imagine, I have been out walking. What a beautiful day it has been! And how wonderful to walk along verdant footpaths surrounded by cow parsley, with the sun filtered by the new leaves on the trees.  So I am in the country. All agreed? I thought so, as I walked […]