Former Lib Dem councillor Daisy Benson - who Paddy Ashdown tipped at conference as one of the party's future MPs- has been one of the leading lights in the 'Lib Dem Newbies' informal grouping, welcoming new members into the party. Here she writes about what the Lib Dems can learn from her experience:
Norman Baker has been quick off the mark in the ex-Lib-Dem-MPs-write-books stakes, and his Against the Grain has the virtue not only of speed but also of interest and humour even if he leaves the reader hanging with a cryptic reference to 'other reasons' for his resignation as a minister.
The perspective of ordinary voters are curiously absent from most accounts of elections and politics more generally. Instead, the usual accounts are based on what figures at the centre get up to, even though almost all of the events recounted are barely noticed by most voters. That is why I am such a fan of Deborah Mattinson's Talking to a Brick Wallas it tells the story of New Labour's rise and fall not through the gossipy details of Westminster but through the voices of actual voters, captured in numerous focus groups.
The sweeping victory from third place for Canada's Liberal Party has raised spirits in the Liberal Democrats. As with the tale of Dutch sister party D66's recovery from coalition disaster, the Canadian Liberals offer hope for the future of liberalism in the UK.
14,300 families in Haringey will lose out under plans recently announced by the Conservative Government to cut tax credits. The...
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