ER4EM

Just submitted my nomination for East Midlands Regional Chair for the Liberal Youth elections. There are several things I'd want to do in the job and it's these things that motivated me to run.

1. My local party isn't fantastic, Leicester has had a lot of problems with internal factions over the last decade and has gone from successful to having only one councillor (even he is a defector from the Conservatives), so I went looking for my regional chair for some advice when setting up a branch at University only to discover that The East Midlands hasn't had a chair for almost six months, the last one defected to the Green Party. I really hope to be able to stand up as someone people can come to if they have issues or need help and support with something

2. I myself wasn't a member of Liberal Youth before I turned 18, simply because I didn't know you could be. I was out campaigning for my local Lib Dem PPC for months before officially becoming a member because at no point did anyone tell me Liberal Youth existed. I think it's vital that we reach out to our younger members and especially make sure that local parties encourage young people to join and participate.

3. A related point is that we need to make sure we represent all young people, not just students. We're not Labour Students, we're Liberal Youth, and we need to make sure our focus isn't just on those in further and higher education. We need to reach out and include graduates, young workers, interns and the youth unemployed.

The manifesto doesn't allow me to go into the detail I'd like and there are almost certainly other issues that I am passionate about but if you have any questions feel free to tweet me @RebelRevell or comment on here and feel free to like my Facebook page which will be updated periodically :)

Interviewing Tim Farron

Spring Conference seems like such a long time ago now all those weeks ago I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to interview Party President Tim Farron. Here is my report of the interview which was originally posted at the Libertine, there you can also find the other three bloggers' interviews :)

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When I saw that Liberal Youth wanted bloggers to interview Tim Farron I was more than a little bit up for it, I got an ‘opportunity’ to interview David Miliband through my university magazine and he turned up quite late so in the end I didn’t get to ask a question at all. I love following Tim on Twitter and it’s fantastic that he takes the time to respond to people on an individual basis so I was definitely interested. ‘Blogger’ isn’t maybe the word for me though, my blog is a site a shout at once a month when some issue has gotten me angry then I forget about it for another three weeks. Luckily I was asked if I’d do it anyway so I couldn’t really say no!

Four folks all asking questions when you only have half an hour – Tim’s a busy guy at the best of times, never mind at Spring Conference with the country’s media watching – doesn’t give you a lot of time to ask your questions but I got to asked two; one that had political significance and related to an article Tim had written in previous day in the Guardian and one that was more about Tim as a person.

Tim’s article said that the Liberal Democrats need to stop apologising so following on from that I asked on where Lib Dems should be looking forward or back, I can safety say that Tim’s answer was the fully expected ‘bit of both’. "This is an opportunity to do things, and to change things in a very positive sense…I look at our flag ship policy [raising the income tax threshold] that I’m pretty sure going to get delivered and quicker…My great fear in all of this is that even that news gets swamped."

I think Tim taps into the feeling that a lot of people in the party have is that whilst we are in government doing brilliant things for people it gets overshadowed by some of the not so popular things that the government does or things that are beyond government control, Liberal Democrats seem to get the blame but not the credit.

We have to be mindful that Labour have a narrative to try and pitch us as being weak and keeling over in front of the Tories which isn’t true. And this is something I’ve encountered on several occasions, people are quick to criticise us for being the Tories’ whipping boys but when you explain to them our policies in government, both what we’ve done so far and our plans for the future, they are quite often receptive to them.

My second question to Tim asked what his proudest achievement as Party President had been so far. I expected him to name a policy he supported but was quite surprised that his first choices were the new HQ and the appointment of a new Chief Executive. These are, in his own words, “geeky” choices but they are clearly things he is proud of and he went on to say the bit of the job he enjoys most is “just getting out there, and knocking on doors and lifting spirits”. He told a story of going out campaigning with councillors and MSPs who lost their jobs in 2011 but who are still hard at work campaigning for the Liberal Democrats and it was obvious how proud he is of the grassroots campaigners who made the party what it is and who, by and large, are very supportive of him.

One of the great things about Tim as a Party President is that he is so approachable and willing to take time out of his undoubtedly busy schedule to talk to four Liberal Youth bloggers around a cramped table under the stairs at the back of a conference centre. We can only hope he remains as approachable and eager to reach out to all wings of the party in the future.

Thank you for waiting

Apologies for the utter failure I've suffered in updating this blog in the last week! Tonight is the first night in over a week where I haven't had a union parliament meeting, Labour meeting, late lecture, work shift etc and I'm torn between my determination to be nothing and my absolute need to do work! I've compromised to the point where I'm just sitting and watching endless episodes of Friends :/

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I'm really enjoying work, even if it does mean I'm missing Jacqui Smith come to Leicester next week. Most of the people I'm working with are a good laugh and because the shifts are quite short I can fit them in pretty much every day. Plus with De Montfort Hall hosting so many different types of shows it's always a different type of crowd so it's not boring :) I've also got quite used to walking home through the park in the dark, not something by parents are overly pleased about but it's fun.

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Had my first Union Parliament this week which was interesting but had dull moments. Two of the proposals I disagree with quite a lot, one just in principle but the other in the wordings which is just unreasonable and leaves no wiggle room. I'm totally behind gay rights but I don't think it's necessary to have a specific LGBT officer when the Equalities Officer we have does a perfectly reasonable job. I also don't think putting a rainbow flag in the middle of the students union will do any good either, it sets a precedent for every cause, society and group to demand their flag/banner/poster should be displayed as well. Unfortunately I can't attend the forum where these policies will be debated as I'm at work and it's proving difficult to find someone to go in my stead. One housemate hates the guy who is proposing these motions and the others have plans for that night plus one of my mates off my course has had a monumental falling out with the proposer over a walk out during a lecture given by Ann Widdecombe. Some members of the LGBTQA and their friends attended this lecture with the express intent of walking out in protest against Ms Widdecombe's opinions on gay rights. I can't say I disagree with their opinion but I'm a Lib Dem, I'll fight til the end to guarantee someone their right to express their views even, indeed especially, if it in contrast to my own opinion. As it transpired Ms Widdecombe didn't mention gay rights at any point during her speech or the lengthy Q&A which followed it so the group had to choose a random point to walk out. During this they made no indication as to why they were walking out so no-one in the room knew why! It was so pointless!

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I went to a Movement for Change training event on the Living Wage campaign last night. It was a really good training thing - not that I've been to any other training events I could compare it to! - that helps us work out a great strategy for getting the Living Wage implemented across the uni. Afterwards we went to the pub, ending campaigning events in true politico style ;)

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Hopefully I'll be back to regular updates soon, just in case the lack of info about my boring life is troubling anyone!

Baby it's cold outside

Apologies for the lack of blog for the last few days, the Internet went off mid-Downton Abbey on Sunday and I was at the Politics Society bar crawl last night so didn't have time to post! The polsoc bar crawl was brilliant and confirmed my belief that our department does the best t-shirt graffiti - best examples included ''Liam Fox is my best mate too'' - even if a friend did confess in drunkenness that the guy he lives with fancies me. He's lovely and everything but just not in that way! Made the rest of the night quite awkward to be fair, plus I'm campaigning with him for the Union Parliament elections :/

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Speaking of, the voting was today so I spent the entire morning - 10 til 1 anyway - freezing my hands off attempting to hand out leaflets to a disinterested student body. I know I'm guaranteed a win - 24 candidates for 30 seats will give you that kind of confidence - but I'd love to get a decent amount of votes and beat the guys I ran with. Especially the annoyingly attractive chair of Labour Students (unfortunately not the guy who apparently fancies me - damn you Fate!).

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I'm writing this post from my bedroom as my house has been invaded by a house party. Now I like house parties, much better than clubs in my opinion, but not when they're in my house! I worry too much about stuff being broken/stolen/vomited on. I was invited to two friends houses to escape but decided to stay in and protect my room, I'm the only one who lives on the ground floor and my door doesn't lock so there's not a snowflakes chance in Hell that I would return to an untouched room!


I'm going to take advantage of everyone forgetting I'm in the house and get an early night for the first time in a fortnight. Night people xx