"The Government won't let my husband into UK - while they talk about bombing the bejeezus out of his neighbourhood!"

This morning, Christine Gilmore wrote an article on Liberal Democrat Voice about why she believes intervention in Syria is critical. She has a different perspective than most of us as she has lived in Damascus. She moved there in 2010 to do her PhD at the university. While she was there, she met and fell in love with Ziad, whom she later married.

Sadly, she had to leave Syria, and her husband, behind in October 2012, because it was getting too dangerous for her to remain there. She has since been trying to get him a spouse's visa to come in to this country. She meets all the qualifications under the new, family rules (of which I am no fan), but the Home Office rejected the application on a technicality. Another application has been submitted, but her husband's situation is becoming increasingly perilous. She told me:

Now the problem of course is that there has been a serious escalation in the war in Syria particularly in and around Damascus. Ziad my husband lives only 15 mins away from the chemical weapon attack sites. One day later there was a huge car bomb near our house. Just yesterday his car was sprayed with bullets and he was detained. I still don't know why. He says he is under threat from the regime who may not now allow him to leave the country. 

She spoke to BBC Radio Leeds earlier this week - listen all the way through as there are several segments with her in which she talks about the danger of her husband's situation and, poignantly, says there are times when she loses hope of seeing him alive again.

Surely the Home Office should be doing something to help UK citizens' families and spouses on humanitarian grounds. As Christine says herself:

Does the UK Government not have a duty of care to the Syrian spouses of UK citizens? Given the imminent military intervention should they not help get them out the country or at the very least speed up their visa decisions? Given Cameron's determination to 'protect civilians in Syria' why can he not start by protecting Syrians with proven ties to the UK? I am not asking for special measures to circumvent the rules (in any case I meet the visa requirements) but simply for my government to stop dragging its feet in determining his visa case in this emergency situation. If my British citizenship, and indeed British values, means anything I beg my government to do something to help my husband get out of there.

There is something inherently unfair about bureaucracy keeping a spouse in danger, particularly if the same government is about to add to that danger. Christine can't be the only person affected like this. I hope that one of our MPs will ask the Government to help these loved ones of UK citizens.

The Liberal Democrat Voice team as you've never seen them before

There's a silly meme going round Facebook by which you can work out your Easter Bunny name.

The Liberal Democrat Voice team are as follows:

Sparkle Snuggle Bunny

Sparkle Sugar Kiss

Thumper Marshmallow

Loco Doodles

Lily Happy Feet

Lily Cotton Tail

Smartie Sugar Drop

Nibbles Sugar Drop

Daffodil Sprinkles

Smartie Bunny Hop

Candy Blow Pop.

Fancy hazarding a guess at who is who?

Two days left to pick your Liberal Voice of the Year

On New Year's Day, Liberal Democrat voice launched their annual search for the Liberal Voice of the Year poll, chosen from a shortlist of people who are not members of the Liberal Democrats.And, thanks to some internet wizardry, we get preferential voting this year. The poll closes on Sunday, so make sure you have your say if you haven't already by voting here.

The shortlist is made up of nominations submitted via the Lib Dem Voice readers' survey. Again, it is shamefully low in female nominees. Putting a photo up of Naomi Long MP when the actual nominee is the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland does not extract us from a pretty embarrassing hole. I have to take my share of the responsibility for that - not as a member of the Lib Dem Voice team, and this is not a criticism of Stephen Tall - but as a blogger. I obviously voted in the poll, but I didn't do much to drum up any potential nominations for women. This will not be the case next year, believe me. Although there have been a number of female winners, like Shami Chakrabarti and Aung San Suu Kyi, there have been a pathetic number of female nominees.

I hope that the sole female nominee will win this year. She certainly deserves to. Malala Yousafzai is an example to everyone. We all stand up for our liberal beliefs, but it's really easy to do so. All that happens to us is that we get the odd bit of abuse online from other party's trolls (hello to any cybernats reading this) or we get shouted at on a few doorsteps. Not pleasant, but we're not in any danger.

All Malala wanted was to go to school. To have the same rights to education as a male child. That doesn't always happen in Pakistan and it takes a huge amount of courage to speak out on these issues. If you do, you face a real danger of violent repercussions. Malala is not much older than my daughter, but already she has suffered a critical injury for her beliefs. She was shot in the head by the Taliban in October and it's amazing that she's still alive. She's now in this country and was recently discharged, albeit temporarily, from hospital in Birmingham. You don't get much more liberal causes than advancing education and you don't get much braver than this 14 year old. My first preference was never going to go anywhere else.

I can't actually remember the exact order of my preferences. Hacked off and Leveson were near the top. 38 Degrees were higher than they otherwise might have been because of marks taken off other nominees. The Alliance Party has stood up for liberal values in some areas this year, but fell short on equal marriage, so they were mid table. Obama was mid-table too - extra judicial killings  and drone attacks are not examples of liberal behaviour despite his many attributes. Sharing the bottom were Sam Bowman and Rowan Williams. In fact it was the Archbishop on the bottom not just because of equal marriage but because of that utter mess on women bishops.

Last year, many people were surprised that Mark Littlewood won. If you don't want to see a repeat of such an unexpected result, you know what to do....

That Nick Clegg leadership poll: what the papers say

Strangely, that Liberal Democrat Voice poll which showed that members were split 47%-46% on whether Nick Clegg should still be Liberal Democrat leader at the next election has attracted a bit of coverage in the press.

The Guardian suggests that:

Clegg is vulnerable because he is seen as one of the few people at the top of the party who is ideologically sympathetic to the Conservatives.

Well, that's maybe because Polly Toynbee and the Guardian are always trying to paint him that way. David Cameron, on the other hand, who is probably in a better position to judge, is always whinging about how that pesky Nick Clegg is stopping him from doing the proper Tory stuff he really wants to do.

The Daily Mail says David Cameron is going around telling people Nick Clegg's position is precarious. That would be the same David Cameron who's having severe problems with about a third of his parliamentary party.

The Sun says Cameron is frightened Clegg will be toppled. He clearly hasn't either read the poll, which only has 14% of people wanting him to go this year or next, or the Liberal Democrat constitution. There are only two ways to trigger a hostile leadership election: A no confidence motion must be passed by a majority of MPs or 75 local parties, after quorate general meetings, can send a request to the party president.  I cannot see either of these things happening any time soon. They also, bizarrely, say that Vince Cable has put himself forward as leader. Let's look at what the Financial Times article actually said:

Should a vacancy arise for the leadership of his party, might he be a candidate? “I wouldn’t exclude it,” he replies in his flat, nasal tones.

It's not quite watch out, Cleggie, I'm coming to get you, is it?

The Mirror mentions it in passing in a story which says that plans to issue a revised Coalition Agreement have been delayed.

The Liberal Democrat blogosphere, on the other hand, has been largely silent which indicates that we really don't see this kind of stuff as a big deal. Whether we're fans of Nick or not, bloggers generally have a reasonable knowledge of the party and clearly nobody thinks there are  any imminent leadership shenanigans afoot. Frankly, our party is not known for deference to its leader. We are generally a bolshy and argumentative lot and the fact that only 14% want him to go this year is a pretty good show. I'm fairly certain Paddy, who is pretty much universally adored now, would have had higher anti ratings in his time.

I wrote my response in a comment to the original piece but other than that, the only person I can see who's written anything else is our Stephen Tall himself, who asks whether he was right to publish the poll. He said, in response to somebody who had complained to him:

For the record, I’m a fan of both the Coalition and Nick Clegg as anyone who’s read my stuff will know. But I think it’s important that members who disagree with me — and who feel at least as passionately about the party as you do — have the opportunity to express their views, even if they’re not very convenient. Indeed, even members of Nick’s team I’ve spoken to feel it was a reasonable question to ask. A good friend will always let you know the truth.

Let's not miss the point on Trident

Today's Telegraph reports that a new Government contract for nuclear reactors in submarines brings the renewal of Trident a lot closer and creates a rift with the Liberal Democrats.Well, I'm glad that they recognise our point of view on this, that we fought the last election on a policy of there being no like for like replacement of Trident. Can I suggest that before we get ourselves in a twist about this, we read what Liberal Democrat defence minister Nick Harvey wrote on Liberal Democrat Voice last month. The main decision will not be made until after the next General Election. We have seen to that.

I for one was never entirely comfortable with the notion of no "like for like" replacement of Trident. I have no desire to go shopping in the bargain basement for nuclear weapons. I actually don't think we have any business investing squillions in weapons of mass destruction at all. I want to see our entire nuclear weapons programme ended. No ifs, buts or maybes. Keeping a stock of these weapons is absolutely unjustifiable in my opinion. Why would you want to have missiles whose prime purpose is to cause widespread devastation, death and destruction amongst innocent civilians, people like you and me.

What those of us who feel the same way, whatever party they're in, should be doing is spending the next 3 years building a campaign against a nuclear deterrent in principle. That's going to be a huge issue in the next election. I am far from convinced that we'll be out of the economic mire by then and we will have better things to spend our money on than stellar guided wickedness. The Labour Party needs to think long and hard about whether it can justify it. They may well be haunted by their 1983 manifesto which advocated unilateral nuclear disarmament but we are in a different world now. If the biggest threat we face is from international terrorism, as the US and UK Governments would have us believe, then there is no point investing in more nukes, because they will do nothing to deal with that threat.

My Nationalist friends will no doubt rush to tell me that an independent Scotland wouldn't have any nuclear weapons. How selfish can you get?  As part of the UK, we Scots, who tend to be less convinced by the argument for these things, have a chance to bring about a change of policy which will rid the whole island of them. Narcissistic nationalist nimbyism isn't going  to help make the world non nuclear place. A UK without Scotland would, I think, be less likely to abandon nuclear weapons, leaving all on these islands worse off.

We know that the Tories like to scare people into accepting the unacceptable - just look at Theresa May's comments on the Draft Communications Data Bill (which is only a draft bill due to Nick Clegg putting his foot down). She's clearly trying to convince us that unless she's given unbridled power to snoop on all our Facebook messages, terrorists will run amok. Of course, the people who are really up to no good will be able to circumvent such measures. In the same way, they will build a frightening case for maintenance of the deterrent. The  opponents of nuclear weapons need to build a more compelling, evidence based case for getting rid of them. We don't have long - just around half a year further away than the Independence Referendum. Let's get to it.

Forget Paxman - which Liberal Democrat Voice editor featured at Leveson yesterday?

Everybody's talking about Jeremy Paxman's evidence at Leveson yesterday, where he described how Piers Morgan explained to him at a lunch how to hack somebody's phone and how people would be very stupid not to set a code. He wasn't telling us anything that wasn't already in the public domain, though. Piers Morgan talked about that himself in the first instalment of his own memoirs, The Insider, as far back as 2004.

The really interesting stuff from a Liberal Democrat Voice point of view happened when Andrew Marr gave his evidence. He was talking about the authority and credibility of the political blogosphere. Top left on page 83 if you don't want to read the whole thing.

"You look around and a lot of the most influential highly respected political commentators aren't newspaper journalists, actually, they are bloggers. I'm thinking of people like Tim Montgomery on Conservativehome or Mr Pack on the Liberal website."

Well, actually, Mr Marr, it's Dr Pack, but we'll let that one pass seeing as you were so nice.

It got me wondering what our Mark has said about Andrew Marr over the years.

In January this year, when Marr interviewed Nick Clegg, Mark commented t hat he must have been bidding for the highest number of topics in one interview.

Marr's comments yesterday were a big change from Autumn 2010 when he described bloggers as "inadequate, male, pimpled and single." Mark reminded him at the time that most bloggers are in fact female.  Now that Marr's  admiring the genre, he might want to diversify his reading list. He can start with Jennie. 

It appears to me that seeing as Mark has been cited as one of the most respected political commentators in the country, it wouldn't be a bad idea for him to head along to Leveson himself, especially as he has his own, liberal, perspective on how the media should be reformed post Leveson.

In the meantime, I guess it's chocolate milk shakes all round....

Ian Liddell-Grainger shames the fluffy blogosphere

Animal bloggers are not that unusual. We have the eclectic Pink Dog and the ever wise Elephant for example, who bring joy, randomness and good sense to the internet.

However, Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative MP for Bridgewater in Somerset, allows an extremely ill-mannered cat to write a blog on his website, as Mark Pack showed us over at Lib Dem Voice yesterday. General rudeness aside, publishing a correspondent's home address without permission and in fact against their express wishes is way out of order. 

Liberal England points out what a lucky escape we have had - Liddell-Granger could be our King and Mogg would have the same status as the current royal corgis. Perish the thought.

But Mogg  really is letting the side down. 

Just out of interest, though, I wonder if this cat is in any way related to another reasonably local Mogg.

Lib Dem Voice's Liberal Voice of 2011 - Vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis will not be surprised that I found Liberal Democrat Voice's shortlist  for the Liberal Voice of 2011 profoundly depressing. Why? Purely because there is only one woman on it, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Much as I love my dear colleagues at Lib Dem Voice, I really can't let that one pass.

One woman out of nine nominees is pretty poor, especially when this has been a year of very rich pickings. They could have chosen Michele Bachelet, the head of the new UN Women agency who has hit the ground running in the organisation's first year highlighting the need for women to be involved in the emerging democracies and working to stamp out violence against women.

What about any one of our three Nobel Peace Prize Winners, who won for their "non violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace building work".

What about Eman Al Obeidi, whose shocking disclosure to journalists in Tripoli highlighted the sexual violence and repression used by Gadaffi's troops?

What about Mona Eltahawy, the journalist recently arrested and sexually assaulted in Egypt?

I can't really argue with the presence of Bouazizi, Ai Weiwei, Nick Davies and Hacked Off on the list. Bouazizi's act, however, was one of desperation. Its consequence was the overthrow of some horrendous regimes in the Middle East, but if you are looking for a Liberal Voice, you have to go for someone with a sustained record of putting liberal values into practice. We want to find someone who works to prevent the situation where people have to take their own lives in such desperate acts because they see no other option. A View from Ham Common is supporting Bouazizi and certainly when he called for us to vote for him in the Time Magazine Person of the Year poll, I did so. He's not the Liberal Voice of the Year, though.

I find it extraordinary that, on this list with world leaders and globally recognised names, we find Mark Littlewood. Why, just why?

And I have real reservations about the Occupy Movement - I've heard reports of sexual violence and very unequal values in the running of specifically the Edinburgh camp. 

I've never voted Tory in my life and, much as I love Ken Clarke, I'm not going to start now. I forgave him for his comments on rape and he has been very sensible on sentencing, but he's not a liberal.

Which leaves us with Obama and Clinton. I am not going to pretend for a minute that I am entirely satisfied with the human rights record of the US administration. However, if they tried to do the things that I think they should do, like get rid of the death penalty, they simply wouldn't be able to. The voices of opposition from the states would be overwhelming. That battle has still to be won. The administration's record is not perfect by any manner of means, but it's darned sight better than any Republican could or would have done. A phrase that keeps popping into my mind these days is that the best mustn't be the enemy of the good. Voltaire was right. Sometimes you just have to live with baby steps towards your ultimate goal. 

It's Clinton, though, who has constantly striven to put women's issues front and centre of what she does. Sadly, we don't get the boys talking about women's rights, but Clinton is speaking and doing loads to make women's lives better. She's been working with UN Women, highlighting the need for a greater economic role for women, for more women in politics, putting together a joined up strategy for women's peace and security. It's all good stuff. And this is something she believes with a passion. 17 years ago she went to China and told the authorities there in no uncertain terms that that they needed to sort out women's rights there as this video shows:

Working for equality for women is a very liberal thing to do. Her actions could benefit literally millions if not billions of women now and in the future. That's why my vote instinctively went to her. I hope you'll support her too.

Caron's Moonlightings: Jo Swinson MP questions BBC on all male Sports Personality Shortlist

You might recall I wasn't best pleased yesterday when I'd seen the shortlist for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award because it had not one single woman on it. At the same time as writing it, I fired off an e-mail to Jo Swinson MP. She told me that she and other MPs were planning to take it up with the BBC.

They sent a letter to BBC Director General Mark Thompson earlier today. I wrote up all the details over at Lib Dem Voice. 

By the way, they are going to be slipping me the keys to Liberal Democrat Voice Towers every Wednesday in December. The perfect time of year to steal Mark Pack's chocolate..... Don't tell him that's my plan, though.

I've had a couple of days as Guest Editor before - in April I did a Grand Tour of Elections, Referendums and Liberal Democrat Achievements and the previous October we had a day of optimism and hope. So, I want to bring a bit of seasonal warmth and snuggles and fun to the Voice. Do you have any thoughts on what you'd like me to cover in between the devouring of the chocolate?

Remember that diversity debate at Scottish Conference?

Well, Lib Dem voice have let me write about it for them here.

I've tried to be balanced - but hope I haven't in doing so upset all sides equally...

My article for Lib Dem Voice on CentreForum's parenting report

Earlier this week, Liberal thinktank CentreForum produced a report on parenting - you may have heard something on the news about their 5-a-day suggestions.

I've read the whole thing and have done a report on it over at Lib Dem Voice. Basically I think it says some good stuff, but takes its eye off the ball on one important issue.

So please head on over there and let me know what you think.

My night of passionate frenzy at Liberal Democrat Voice Towers

So, I went to see Anna in her school play again tonight, the final performance. It's about the Second World War, so there are some things that are tough to watch and must have been tough for them to act. The parting scene at the station as children were evacuated. The soldiers at the Front writing home because they think they are going to be killed.  The reunion that didn't happen when a soldier failed to return home. In amongst the pathos, there were moments of comic delight - a Home Guard that was delightfully muddled, with a Commanding Officer well under the thumb of his frying pan wielding wife.

And now I find myself not going home, but letting myself into Liberal Democrat Voice Towers. You see, they are letting me guest edit again tomorrow.

I hope I'm not letting away too many secrets when I tell you that LDV Towers is a quirky and unique place. The hallway is decorated with election posters from the 20th century. Those I recognise include "Have you got the guts to vote SDP?" from 1986 and the big round My Vote from 1992, remembered with varying degrees of affection, those two.

I smell fresh baking and silently thank Sara Bedford for her culinary welcome.  I follow my nose into the kitchen. There's a display cabinet full of bells, and I look in the fridge in the hope that there's some pinot grigio chilling. But no. It's even better. There's a Poached Pear Trifle. Must remember to take a photograph of it so I know how it's supposed to look.

There's a pitcher in the fridge of some pink stuff, with a bottle of ginger beer and a note saying "Rhubarb gin and ginger beer - enjoy Hx."

I pour myself a glass - it tastes deceptively innocuous. Better be careful. Can't be hungover tomorrow.

I follow the winding stone staircase into the turret room. It's literally wallpapered with the Great Reform Act of 1832. There's a pink soft toy sitting on top of the bureau.  On the desk was what looked like the original Ballot Regulations from 1872 alongside a modern day guide to the House of Lords. It doesn't take the brilliant mind of Hercule Poirot to work out that there must be chocolate in here somewhere. Let's get looking.

I head to a bright, comfortable parlour. There's an overstuffed sofa with some comfortable cushions. There's lots of books on transport in here, and lots of maps of the London Underground through the ages. It's here where I settle down and start to work, pulling together articles from busy Liberal Democrats all around the country, fretting about how I'm going to bring a half hour conversation with a Government minister alive so that you enjoy it as much as I did.

Later, sated with gin and trifle, leaving the chocolate and cake for the long day tomorrow, I shall curl up in the grand four poster bed with the crisp cotton sheets. There's an alarm clock, with a Union Jack on the top, set for 7 am to give me time to make some last minute adjustments before the show begins just before 9.

Come along for the ride tomorrow - it's a grand tour of hard work, achievement and optimism of a Liberal Democrat nature, starting tomorrow at Liberal Democrat Voice. If you can't wait until then, have a trip down Memory Lane and remind yourself of the last time they let me loose.

The Divine Ms Duffett appointed as Lib Dems Communications Manager

One of the highlights of the last few weeks for me has been finding out that Liberal Democrat Voice's and London Region's Helen Duffett has been appointed as the Party's Internal Communications Manager.

This is probably the most sensible decision that the Party has made since the Coalition was formed. I don't know any party members who haven't groaned at the useless patronising guff that's been landing in our inboxes as news from key party figures. They would be almost fine if they were accompanied by things that we could actually use.

One example I can think of is on tuition fees. It wasn't until late on in the debate that Nick Clegg came out with the comparison that someone on £21000 would pay £74 less per month under our scheme than under the current system introduced by Labour. That figure should have been framing the debate from the start to all of us. We could have used it to show how Liberal Democrats might not have got what we wanted, but we showed where our hearts lie by securing a better deal for the poorest.

Helen really understands the Party. She's been an ordinary member, a candidate, a member of her Regional Executive, involved in SAOs and a blogger. She totally understands what we need to be hearing.

She also understands that proper communication is a two way process and that the party should have two ears and one gob/keyboard. She also knows how to keep what she says relevant and real.

The poor woman has already had one long e-mail from me whinging  setting out some constructive ideas for improving the information the Party sends out. I hope that it hasn't put her off.

I wish her all the best in her new role, for which she is ideally suited. I'm glad that she's also staying at Liberal Democrat Voice as it would have been very sad to lose her. The boys are great, but there are some things that they just don't get. This post, on why the obsession with leaders' wives was missing the point, is just such an example.

So, good luck, Helen. You're not going to be able to sort the whole party out on your own, but there's nobody better for this job, and I feel a lot more confident knowing that you're there.

Liberal Democrat Voice meets me............

I was worried that those nice people at Liberal Democrat Voice would never speak to me again after I ate all Mark Pack's chocolate and Sara Bedford's cake the day I guest edited it last October.

They have forgiven me sufficiently to run a profile of me in their regular Meet the Lib Dem Bloggers spot.

They have printed everything I sent them, but the first draft was twice the length and I had to become very good friends with the delete key. It took me a good chunk of last week to do as, typically, I spent ages trying to work out what my favourite blog post written by someone else was. There were a lot to choose from.

You can read the post here. If there's anything else you want to ask about me (within reason), feel free to do so in the comments.

Helen Duffett chairs Presidential Hustings with Susan Kramer and Tim Farron

I have just had an e-mail from them at Lib Dem HQ alerting me to the fact that the online presidential hustings I mentioned the other day is now up on You Tube here.

Helen Duffett did a fabulous job, clear, assured and confident, of keeping the two candidates under control - although, to be fair, there was just high quality debate.

You already know that I'm supporting Tim Farron, and I'd recommend you read Sara Bedford's endorsement of him which she's posted today. 

Anyway, sit back with a cup of tea and a biscuit and enjoy the almost hour long hustings in full, where the candidates talk about how to maintain our distinctive message, grassroots campaigning, the AV referendum, tuition fees, diversity and keeping members onside.

My Day as Guest Editor on Liberal Democrat Voice

You might have noticed that I wasn't around here much on Thursday because I'd been invited to spend the day at the opulent  Liberal Democrat Voice Towers as guest editor.  Thankfully the kitchen is the preserve of Sara Bedford, so there's always fresh baking around, Alex Foster provides welcome feelgood bellringing, Mummy Helen has a real techie treasure trove and (whispers), I found the key to Dr Pack's chocolate stash. Pink Dog has her own very plush parlour where you can sink into plump, welcoming cushions when you're tired.

I still can't quite believe that they let me loose on their site for the day. My aim was to provide a bit of a showcase about what was going on in Scotland but not in such a way that people south of the Border would think it was nothing to do with them. I hope that the example of how Jenny Dawe and her administration transformed Edinburgh, and how Katy Gordon's campaign team more than doubled local membership will inspire. I hope that the articles on higher education will inform and help the discussions south of the border in the wake of the Browne Report. And when I first read Peter Barrett's report on how he has health and housing convener had taken a housing service with a poor record and turned it round, I actually cried.

It was a busy day, and I was shattered by the end of it. Most of the pieces I'd asked for had come in by Wednesday and were all ready to go up. All I had to do on Thursday was to write up the debate on tuition fees and interview Jo Swinson for five minutes. Easy!

Well it's easy if you wake up feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed! My brain felt like it was full of sludge last Thursday. I got it done, though, just in time to interview Jo.

Thanks to Anna, who set it all up for me, I recorded the interview. I'd thought it would be a brief five minute affair, but, free of the necessity to write down copious notes, the conversation flowed quite naturally for a whole 21 minutes. We talked about everything from sport, to Strictly Come Dancing, to gender stereotyping to door knocking to the Coalition, to calling Tories "Honourable Friends", to Nigeria to living with allergies.  Typing that up, in 3 parts, took most of the evening.

It was after 10 when I finally finished writing my farewell piece.

Just for posterity, here is a list of all the articles which went up that day. My thanks to all the contributors, Paul Freeman, Callum Leslie, Tim Farron, Susan Kramer, Jenny Dawe, Stephen Glenn, Katy Gordon, George Lyon MEP and Peter Barrett for their articles and to Alexandra White and Jo Swinson MP for being such brilliant and easy to talk to interviewees.

From the top:

Presidential Prospects, Passionate Debate and Poll Confidence - a day of inspiration, optimism and hope - an introduction to a day I hoped would soothe and invigorate after a tough couple of weeks.

Opinion: A First Timer's Guide to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference 2010 by Paul Freeman who blogs at Set in Darkness

Opinion: We are a Party founded on the principles of free education by Callum Leslie

Susan Kramer: Why you should back me for Party President (Scotland specific)

Tim Farron: Why you should back me for Party Presdident (Scotland specific)

Delivering a bright new future for Edinburgh by Cllr Jenny Dawe

The Speaker who stole the show at Scottish Conference - an interview with 14 year old sensation Alexandra White

A snapshot of a first class debate - a Scottish perspective on Higher Education

Opinion: the day the Northern Irish came to Scottish Conference by Stephen Glenn

We should be ambitious in our campaigning - by Katy Gordon

George Lyon MEP - our high hopes for the Scottish Parliament elections

Door Knocking, Deputy Leader and Honourable Friends - Interview with Jo Swinson Part 1

Sport, Gender Stereotyping and Gender Specific Marketing - Interview with Jo Swinson Part 2

Helping children with allergies and Nigeria with climate change - all in a year's work. Interview with Jo Swinson MP part 3

Opinion: How we transformed Housing in Perth and Kinross by Cllr Peter Barrett

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodnight

The Divine Helen Duffett writes for the Total Politics Guide to Political Blogging

Not only is the multi-talented Helen Duffett  busy doing all she does for Liberal Democrat Voice, although I doubt dressing up as Count Packula in a fright wig is one of her roles, she has also written a chapter of  the forthcoming Total Politics Guide to Political Blogging. 

Her subject was Twitter. "Do Tweets win Seats?" she asked in an opening sentence that was exactly 140 characters long. Very clever.

I even get a mention in it as well, although I didn't in Stephen Tall's State of the Lib Dem Blogosphere,  I'm not bitter though as I was in some very good company - there are plenty other Lib Dem blogs written by women who weren't mentioned either, like Spiderplant, Rachel Olgeirsson, Virtually Naked, Singing my Song, Sara's Always win when you're singing, Ms Duffett herself and Lib Dem Child.  His article was very good, but could have been better with a bit more acknowledgement of the growing number of Lib Dem female bloggers. 

And while I'm on the subject, my copy of Iain Dale's Total Politics Guide to Political Blogging arrived today. I was muchly dischuffed to see that in 20 pages of the chapter Who's Who in political blogging, only 3 women were mentioned, none of them Liberal Democrats. I wouldn't get ideas above my station and think I should be in there, but what about Helen, Sara and Lynne Featherstone? Honestly! 

But going back to Helen's article, it is excellent and very well researched. She's talked to all sorts of people,journalists, bloggers and MPs and her conclusions are well worth a read.

The Liberal Democrat Voice transcription hell Roll of Honour

I am sure everyone would agree that the Liberal Democrat Voice team did a marvellous job of covering Conference. In just 5 days, their small but perfectly formed team popped out 44 posts on their Conference tag alone. It's a phenomenal amount of work when you consider that they were involved in organising 4 Fringe events as well. I keep telling people that it's Liberal Democrat Voice that should be their first port of call when they read a headline in the media that they don't like because that's where the truth tends to be.

In fact, it's the LDV team, as well as the wider blogosphere, that's playing an increasingly important role in getting the Liberal Democrat message out there.

Anyway, on Sunday afternoon, I got an e-mail from co-editor Alex Foster, who had just recorded Nick Clegg's Q & A session and was looking for volunteers to help transcribe it.  I was on a family break in Dundee with only an iPhone, having been banned from taking any other technology with me.  However, I was able to co-ordinate a wonderful band of volunteers who went at least to the fourth level of Hell in their efforts to make sense of a recording that was not of the best quality. It was real blood, sweat toil and tears stuff fand I am very grateful for their efforts.  As is Liberal Democrat Voice who have praised and published their work here.

The Roll of Honour in full, in no particular order, as they say on Strictly is:

Douglas McLellan

The Spiderplant

Stephen Glenn

Nikki Thomson

Katie Sutton

Chris Mills

James Shaddock

I am incredibly grateful to them for their hard work - and it's great that Nick's words will not now fade into obscurity as there is a full record to refer to and  hold him to account for the future.

Lady Mark exposes Liberal Democrat Blogosphere as drunken layabouts

The Honourable Lady Mark has taken over the reins of Liberal Democrat Voice today as guest editor.


In his opening post, snuck in just after midnight, he explains how this came about.


He talks about an e-mail from Mark Pack asking if anyone would be interested and how the initial chorus of replies were:


'sounds interesting, get back to me when I’m sober’


I was certainly one of those who replied in such a fashion, but I wouldn't want you to think that Liberal Democrat bloggers lie around in a state of permanent inebriation. I feel I have to point out in our defence that this e-mail was sent out very late on a Friday night.


Whatever, though, Lady Mark is going to be writing about the high mysteries of the House of Lords which I know I'm going to find fascinating. Keep an eye on the site all day because his second post outlines what's coming up with contributions by, among others, Floella Benjamin, the lovely Mr Doctor Chocaholic and Unlock Democracy. 


It looks like His Ladyship has set the bar very high for the rest of us who are going to be following in this series where the Lib Dem Voice High Command let us loose on their site. I'd better get to work........

A Steamie Roundup with Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism on the side

Sorry for neglecting you over the past few days - and blogging will be a bit light today as it's Bob's birthday and he has half the day off.

Anyway, I haven't been completely lazy - I've been writing in other places.

Here's my Steamie post on how the Liberal Democrats added fairness to the Budget. Two parts of that were quoted slightly out of context in yesterday's Scotland on Sunday so if you read the whole thing, hopefully it'll make sense.

I did the Scottish Roundup this week.

And a Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism slot for Liberal Democrat Voice yesterday. That's all about how the current deficit crisis is no the first time we Scots have suffered at the hands of Labour's finanaical irresponsibility, given the mess that Council's were left with in 2007. If the Lib Dem/SNP coalition administrations hadn't sorted things out in Edinburgh and Fife, the problems these areas would face would be even worse now.

Other than that, I've been watching F1, Glastonbury, Doctor Who and spending time up ladders splatting rats - but more of that later.