What's on at Conference today?Conference kicks off with two brief policy debates on making recruitment fairer and regulating abusive use of the legal system. Then GP services in England before a keynote speech by Max Wilkinson. After a three hour lunch break for fringes, there's a debate on supporting people to age well in England, a keynote speech by Jane Dodds and a motion on stopping violence against women and girls in the digital age from Lib Dem Women and Marie Goldman, our Women and Equalities spokesperson. The day ends with the parliamentary parties' report and two emergency motions. One is from YL on ... (more) |
Paul's conference diary (3) - frog box interview and my new AI girlfriendSomehow I managed to drag myself into the main hall for the early doors "Making music matter" motion. Jennie Rigg neatly summarised the whole thing saying that copyright law is not being enforced so that LLMs (Large Language Models) copy existing music and it is churned out as "AI slop". She added that AI2 should be used to support musicians but instead it is being used to rip off composers and musicians. I then went to my go-to quiet spot to write a speech. I have an idea for the strategy debate later. Mind you, it's been ten years since ... (more) |
GUEST POST Reform and Labour are losing councillors fastWe've all enjoyed the regular resignations, defections and disgrace of Reform UK councillors, but the party actually gained councillors from by-election victories and defections, between May 2025 and May 2026. But now, as the latest post from the indefatigable Augustus Carp shows, the tide has turned for them. The kaleidoscope of local government has continued to twist since the local elections in May, and with it a number of political allegiances have changed. Sometimes a councillor's defection has little impact, but clustering in some authorities has led to significant weakening in control. For the first time since I started paying ... (more) |
Farage's plan for a Trump satellite state?The Independent reports on comments by Lib Dem Leader, Ed Davey, that the Conservatives and Reform UK are planning to turn Britain into a "Trump satellite state". He told the conference that the Liberal Democrat's "orange wall" will stop Reform UK's rise to power and "setting communities against each other": Sir Ed warned an "unholy alliance" between Mr Farage and Kemi Badenoch is "the only way either can get into power". "Together, they want to turn Britain into a Trump satellite state which would trash our NHS, turn our communities against each other, cause untold damage to our environment, and ... (more) |
Violet Bonham Carter and Mary Stocks remember the struggle for women's suffrageI thought I had finished blogging for today, but this video is too good not to share with you tonight. It's a BBC2 discussion from 1968 with Lady Asquith (better known as Violet Bonham Carter) and Lady Stocks. A young Joan Bakewell is in the chair. They are talking about a television film about how women got the vote, and both take the view that it exaggerated the importance of the militant tactics of the Suffragettes at the expense of the role played by the wider Suffrage movement. And Lady Asquith remembers defending her father, the Liberal prime minister, from ... (more) |
Brighton ConferenceI am in Brighton for the Lib Dem conference and yesterday I got to meet a political hero of mine: Lynne (now Baroness) Featherstone. As home office minister in the coalition government (2010-15), Lynne was instrumental in passing the legislation that legalised same sex marriage. It is because of her that I now wear a wedding ring. As she was able to pass the same sex legislation, David and (more) |
The Joy of Six 1579Dawn Butler lays bare the abuse that a Black female MP faces: "Followers of my social media know how bad it can be. I have a regular "block of the month" feature to raise awareness of the disgusting racist abuse sent to me every day - the N-word, "monkey" and "ape" are common insults. The deluge of abuse has a detrimental impact on my mental health, and on those around me." "There is no reindustrialisation beyond heavily Government-directed industries such as defence and even pharmaceuticals without reversing Brexit. That will not be sufficient, but it is absolutely necessary. And yet, ... (more) |
WATCH: Munira Wilson's speech to ConferenceEducation spokesperson Munira Wilson gave her keynote speech to Conference yesterday. Enjoy: (more) |
WATCH: Al Pinkerton's speech to ConferenceWatch Al Pinkerton talk about our vision for closer ties to Europe: (more) |
What I would have said about homeless children at ConferenceTaking part in Lib Dem Conference online (I cannot make it to Brighton, so watching and voting online) it was good to see the first policy motion was about homeless children, although tragic that we have to discuss the subject at all You can see below more about it, but it covered the awful issues there are for children, as well of course as their parents and other adults. Shocking to hear that There are over 176,000 children living in temporary accommodation across England, and that Since 2019, 104 children have died with temporary accommodation listed as a contributing factor ... (more) |