I wasn't originally going to write a post about the Chris Huhne resignation for a few reasons, one being that it triggers in me an excess of anger towards an ex-wife who is clearly only interesting on inflicting pain on a man who left her (however justified that pain may be), another being yet more anger at certain newspapers' reporting of the incident which always seems to make reference to Huhne's new partners' sexuality as if it were a contributing factor to their infidelity. As it happens Carina Trimingham has decided to sue the publisher responsible and I fully congratulate her in doing so (the spelling mistake in that article's headline isn't The Independent's greatest moment!). The third reason is that the press and social media chatter, both before and after Kier Starmer's announcement that charges were to be brought, seemed to focus on what would happen if he was guilty whilst ignoring the fact that Huhne is innocent until proven guilty. I didn't think that the gender of his replacement would be the thing that made me change my mind about writing a post.
Well it isn't so much the fact that Ed Davey is male but the fact that this seems to anger some people. I must admit I have very little knowledge of Ed's work but as far as I can tell he has done a great job in his previous role and I can only hope he does the same in his new one but the criticisms of Nick Clegg for his "failure" to promote a woman to the Cabinet, such as those from Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill, are ridiculous. Worryingly some of the most vocal criticisms come from party supporters, liberalism is equal opportunity for all regardless of arbitrary distinction therefore jobs should be awarded on merit. If a deficit develops it is due to a lack of education and opportunity for that group or discrimination against it and these things need to be tackled at the root, not glossed over when it's too late. That is not to say that Jo Swinson and Lynne Featherstone, the women most mooted for the job, are not fantastic MPs and fantastic ministers because of course they are, Lynne is pretty much single-handedly pushing for gay marriage as I can't imagine Theresa May is a fan (but the less said about her opinions on Page 3 the better), but I don't believe they should be promoted just because they're women.
I have never believed in positive discrimination: it's an oxymoron for a start, putting the word 'positive' in front of a negative concept does not automatically make it a good thing, and also because in the 60 years of affirmative action in America there has been no fundamental change in ethnic minority representation at the highest levels (the reasons Barack Obama doesn't count are too numerous to list here). Anyway, surely all discrimination is positive? If one group is being discriminated against, surely that means there is discrimination in favour of another? I'm a white woman who grew up in a middle class family but whose parents are now divorced: I don't want to live in a country which values my gender above my ability but counts my skin colour against me. Are my childhood holidays in Africa counted against me because they clearly indicate a financially-stable family even though I get bursaries from my university because my dad left and took with him a large chunk of the family income? I'm a politics student who doesn't want to become an MP but if I did, I would want to fight to be selected by the party and elected by the people on the basis of my ability and my beliefs not existence of two X chromosomes and a comprehensive school education. The use of all-women shortlists by Labour implies that women are unable to be selected on merit and have to be given a helping hand and this implication spreads to all women, even those who weren't selected in this way.
There is no denying that there is a problem of representation for women, BME people, non-heterosexual people etc in places such as the House of Commons but artificially boosting their representation does not help tackle the fundamental social circumstances which create this deficit. Incidentally I'm not entirely sure that the House of Commons needs to be a direct microcosm of society, without sounding flippant I don't feel that my MP being male makes him unable to represent me (his position as a Labour Whip on the other hand does). Interestingly, men are under-represented in teaching at lower levels, by lower I mean nursery and junior schools, but no-one is advocating giving male applicants these jobs over women simply because they're men, the effort focuses on making young men more aware that teaching is an option available to them and encouraging them to train and apply. Why doesn't this same thinking apply to under-represented groups in politics or business? Why is positive discrimination called for?
The Liberal Democrat leadership programme is well intended, of our 57 MPs only four are openly gay, only 7 are women and probably most shamingly none are BME, but it is fundamentally pointless. We should be tackling the problem at the root, pushing for change to an education system which nudges boys into 'hard sciences' but girls towards English and away from engineering, in order to ensure change which not only creates a more equal society for the next generation but for all the generations that follow, not aiming to provide change which is purely cosmetic.
Change is needed but condemning and repressing straight, white men is not the way to do it.
Showing posts with label Nick Clegg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nick Clegg. Show all posts
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Sunday, 18 December 2011
I'm back (again)
Okay okay I fail at the whole 'update more than once in a blue moon' thing but I'm having another go. Mainly because I'm fed up and like having a moan.
I'm a lib dem. I'm a member of a economic liberal group on facebook but I'm also a kind-of member of the Social Liberal Forum. It's been implied that I can't be both but I don't see why not! Why are the ideas social and economic liberalism so contradictory? I believe in the free market and less regulation for business but also that the poorest in society should be given a helping hand by being taken out of tax and schools given extra money to help for its most disadvantaged students? I always thought the Liberal Democrats were the only party without ridiculously tribal elements but it turns out this is complete crap. I'd really fed up of an economic liberal friend bitching about the Social Liberal Forum as if being vaguely left wing was some kind of hippy movement to be discarded as having no worth. And the SLF seem to think the economic liberals are Tories in disguise, sent to infiltrate the party and turn us all over to the other side.
The people I follow on Twitter seem to be torn between identifying as Tory Liberals or Labour Liberals and keep trying to debate where we should align ourselves in the run up to 2015. I don't see why we have to do either, we're our own party with our own sets of values and ideas and I know we're not going to win a majority at the next election - god knows we'll be lucky to keep the seats we have - but we shouldn't align ourselves with anyone. I think we're a party well placed to work with elements of either of the other two parties and Nick was right in what he said in the run up to the last election: in the event of a hung parliament we should talk to both parties but ultimately the electoral math decides.
We're not the Conservatives. We stand up for all members of the public regardless of wealth, class, gender etc which is more than can be said for them. We aren't torn apart by internal divisions (much as it seems as above) over Europe or religion and we should not be ashamed to stand up and say when we disagree with our Coalition partners.
We're not the Labour Party. Their internal divisions are the worse of any party and will never be a cohesive group. Some of the things they accomplished in their 13 years in office were admirable, it was pointed out on Twitter than their record on gay rights was fantastic, but they are a new party with a new leader and harping on about past victories whilst languishing on the Opposition Benches without a single idea and a 'blank page' approach to their policies.
We're the fucking Liberal Democrats and I'm fed up of people trying to tell me otherwise!
.........
One policy that's got my attention and that's the Tories favourite policy of tax breaks for married people. I'm fantastically proud of Nick's response to it because it shows how out of date some Conservatives are. I can't think of any justification for giving money to married couples that makes any sense! If 77% of people think a single parent can form a family and 59% think a same-sex couple can be a family then why do the Conservatives cling to this rose-tinted vision of an ideal past that never existed where father went out to work and mother stayed at home to raise the children? It's utter crap and I'm glad the Coalition Agreement does not bind our MPs into supporting this ridiculous policy.
.........
One last thing, Aidan Burley's firing. This stag party is made to sound like a Max Mosely-style Nazi orgy (by the Daily Mail, obviously) but from the video footage I've seen it appears to be some men sat around a table with one of them wearing a military hat. If Mr Burley has been to a Nazi-themed stag do I can only conclude he was drunk (not exactly a fireable offence, especially given it was a stag do) or that his friends are idiots and I very much doubt this is something unique to him!
Before this I didn't know who this man was and my opinion now is that the man is harmless, if a little prone to mistakes under the influence of alcohol and the company of his friends. In my opinion this isn't a firing offence and if Cameron would have had any balls he'd have said that.
.........
With any luck I'll remember to post again some time before Easter!!
I'm a lib dem. I'm a member of a economic liberal group on facebook but I'm also a kind-of member of the Social Liberal Forum. It's been implied that I can't be both but I don't see why not! Why are the ideas social and economic liberalism so contradictory? I believe in the free market and less regulation for business but also that the poorest in society should be given a helping hand by being taken out of tax and schools given extra money to help for its most disadvantaged students? I always thought the Liberal Democrats were the only party without ridiculously tribal elements but it turns out this is complete crap. I'd really fed up of an economic liberal friend bitching about the Social Liberal Forum as if being vaguely left wing was some kind of hippy movement to be discarded as having no worth. And the SLF seem to think the economic liberals are Tories in disguise, sent to infiltrate the party and turn us all over to the other side.
The people I follow on Twitter seem to be torn between identifying as Tory Liberals or Labour Liberals and keep trying to debate where we should align ourselves in the run up to 2015. I don't see why we have to do either, we're our own party with our own sets of values and ideas and I know we're not going to win a majority at the next election - god knows we'll be lucky to keep the seats we have - but we shouldn't align ourselves with anyone. I think we're a party well placed to work with elements of either of the other two parties and Nick was right in what he said in the run up to the last election: in the event of a hung parliament we should talk to both parties but ultimately the electoral math decides.
We're not the Conservatives. We stand up for all members of the public regardless of wealth, class, gender etc which is more than can be said for them. We aren't torn apart by internal divisions (much as it seems as above) over Europe or religion and we should not be ashamed to stand up and say when we disagree with our Coalition partners.
We're not the Labour Party. Their internal divisions are the worse of any party and will never be a cohesive group. Some of the things they accomplished in their 13 years in office were admirable, it was pointed out on Twitter than their record on gay rights was fantastic, but they are a new party with a new leader and harping on about past victories whilst languishing on the Opposition Benches without a single idea and a 'blank page' approach to their policies.
We're the fucking Liberal Democrats and I'm fed up of people trying to tell me otherwise!
.........
One policy that's got my attention and that's the Tories favourite policy of tax breaks for married people. I'm fantastically proud of Nick's response to it because it shows how out of date some Conservatives are. I can't think of any justification for giving money to married couples that makes any sense! If 77% of people think a single parent can form a family and 59% think a same-sex couple can be a family then why do the Conservatives cling to this rose-tinted vision of an ideal past that never existed where father went out to work and mother stayed at home to raise the children? It's utter crap and I'm glad the Coalition Agreement does not bind our MPs into supporting this ridiculous policy.
.........
One last thing, Aidan Burley's firing. This stag party is made to sound like a Max Mosely-style Nazi orgy (by the Daily Mail, obviously) but from the video footage I've seen it appears to be some men sat around a table with one of them wearing a military hat. If Mr Burley has been to a Nazi-themed stag do I can only conclude he was drunk (not exactly a fireable offence, especially given it was a stag do) or that his friends are idiots and I very much doubt this is something unique to him!
Before this I didn't know who this man was and my opinion now is that the man is harmless, if a little prone to mistakes under the influence of alcohol and the company of his friends. In my opinion this isn't a firing offence and if Cameron would have had any balls he'd have said that.
.........
With any luck I'll remember to post again some time before Easter!!
Monday, 19 September 2011
What have you done today, to make you feel proud (AKA the day my face was on BBC One)
An exciting, if terrifying, day 3 at conference.
I submitted a question to Nick Clegg's Q&A on a whim this morning and didn't expect them to call me in a million years. It's my first conference and I've never spoken before so I wasn't prepared but I think somewhere in my mind I knew I had a good question, I sat deliberately at the end of the row in case I needed to get to the intervention mike for example. But nothing quite prepared me for Andrew Wiseman reading my name out in front of a conference hall full of people then promptly introducing Nick Clegg and leaving me quick terrified in front of a mike-less intervention mike (quickly remedied luckily but it didn't help my nerves!). I'm sure I was blushing and speaking in a ridiculously shakey voice but hopefully, with the first public speech out the way, I'll get better!
When I did A-level politics we looked at US party conferences and it was said they performed very little practical function but served to bolster the commitment of the masses. With the level of democracy Liberal Democrats exercise our conferences are never going to be merely decorative but I never expected to feel so inspired by the debates, speeches and fringes! For someone who lives in a Labour town and moved to a Labour city, someone whose only work on a political campaign ended with a loss followed by a candidate defection, someone who as a student had to face off against so much anger over tuition fees being surrounded by people who share your ideas and beliefs is incredibly uplifting :D
I have yet to develop a cool and calm attitude when faced for politicians and news personalities I see around the ICC. Today I've seen Chris Huhne, Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, Jeremy Paxman, Nick Robinson, James Landale, Andrew Neil, Lynne Featherstone, Paddy Ashdown, Tim Farron, Ming Campbell, Brian Paddick (more about him below) and many more and I still can't keep casual about it. Actually I hope I'm never casual about it! The utter geeky pleasure I get from seeing these people reassures me I'm involved in a party I love and studying a subject I adore and I don't ever want that to go away!
One event I particularly enjoyed was the Stonewall and LGBTLD fringe this evening which focused on increasing LGBT representation in politics, media and sport. The panel included Ben Summerskill, Simon Hughes (even if he was terribly late!), Stephen Williams, Belinda Brooks-Gordon and 2012 Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick. And I must admit it does appear that the latter was almost certainly the most popular with the audience there and on a personal note I do love the man. There's just something about him that is so distinctly un-politician like about him that I just think suits London and suits an elected mayor, I'm committed to giving up as much time as I can and travelling to London and campaigning for him because he's brilliant. The event was very inspiring and my determination to further gay rights I spoke of over the weekend is strengthened yet again :)
Tomorrow, MSM blood ban unfairness!
Quick P.S. I've just watched Newsnight from the conference and I am fantastically proud of every Lib Dem in the audience because they took no shit from Paxman, even when goaded, they defended the coalition and our role within it and they showed Britain we are not Tory lapdogs and we CAN make a difference to this country!
P.P.S My face was just on BBC One, listening while Nick answered my question. I wish it hadn't been! Luckily they didn't show me asking the question, probably owing to the amount of shaking I was doing at the time :|
I submitted a question to Nick Clegg's Q&A on a whim this morning and didn't expect them to call me in a million years. It's my first conference and I've never spoken before so I wasn't prepared but I think somewhere in my mind I knew I had a good question, I sat deliberately at the end of the row in case I needed to get to the intervention mike for example. But nothing quite prepared me for Andrew Wiseman reading my name out in front of a conference hall full of people then promptly introducing Nick Clegg and leaving me quick terrified in front of a mike-less intervention mike (quickly remedied luckily but it didn't help my nerves!). I'm sure I was blushing and speaking in a ridiculously shakey voice but hopefully, with the first public speech out the way, I'll get better!
.........
When I did A-level politics we looked at US party conferences and it was said they performed very little practical function but served to bolster the commitment of the masses. With the level of democracy Liberal Democrats exercise our conferences are never going to be merely decorative but I never expected to feel so inspired by the debates, speeches and fringes! For someone who lives in a Labour town and moved to a Labour city, someone whose only work on a political campaign ended with a loss followed by a candidate defection, someone who as a student had to face off against so much anger over tuition fees being surrounded by people who share your ideas and beliefs is incredibly uplifting :D
.........
I have yet to develop a cool and calm attitude when faced for politicians and news personalities I see around the ICC. Today I've seen Chris Huhne, Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, Jeremy Paxman, Nick Robinson, James Landale, Andrew Neil, Lynne Featherstone, Paddy Ashdown, Tim Farron, Ming Campbell, Brian Paddick (more about him below) and many more and I still can't keep casual about it. Actually I hope I'm never casual about it! The utter geeky pleasure I get from seeing these people reassures me I'm involved in a party I love and studying a subject I adore and I don't ever want that to go away!
.........
One event I particularly enjoyed was the Stonewall and LGBTLD fringe this evening which focused on increasing LGBT representation in politics, media and sport. The panel included Ben Summerskill, Simon Hughes (even if he was terribly late!), Stephen Williams, Belinda Brooks-Gordon and 2012 Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick. And I must admit it does appear that the latter was almost certainly the most popular with the audience there and on a personal note I do love the man. There's just something about him that is so distinctly un-politician like about him that I just think suits London and suits an elected mayor, I'm committed to giving up as much time as I can and travelling to London and campaigning for him because he's brilliant. The event was very inspiring and my determination to further gay rights I spoke of over the weekend is strengthened yet again :)
Tomorrow, MSM blood ban unfairness!
.........
Quick P.S. I've just watched Newsnight from the conference and I am fantastically proud of every Lib Dem in the audience because they took no shit from Paxman, even when goaded, they defended the coalition and our role within it and they showed Britain we are not Tory lapdogs and we CAN make a difference to this country!
P.P.S My face was just on BBC One, listening while Nick answered my question. I wish it hadn't been! Luckily they didn't show me asking the question, probably owing to the amount of shaking I was doing at the time :|
Saturday, 17 September 2011
I'm definitely coming again next year...
Day One of my first ever Liberal Democrat Conference! Since I'm crashing in Michael's spare room he offered to come into Birmingham City Centre with me and show me where everything is (and by everything I mean the ICC) so I would be able to find my way round alone in the dark. We tried to go for lunch in Wetherspoons but they'd had a power cut so couldn't cook any food but did kindly recommend a pub down the round where I was amused to discover every single person was either wearing a Lib Dem lanyard or an Aston Villa shirt because the football was on!
I left Michael in the pub and headed off to the ICC. Got into a lovely chat with an old man in the queue for the security checks; we chatted away about which areas we were from, what I was studying at university and what he used to teach and then he said I must go to the First Timer's Drinks in the evening because he was giving a small speech about his first conference. I got into the conference hall much quicker than expected however so I had a lot of time to kill. Mooched about the exhibitors and yet somehow failed to find the DELGA stand which was a minor irritation but I'm here all week so I'm sure I'll find in eventually!
The opening speech was dealt with, as were the Reports from the FCC and FPC, which was the first point in the day I felt like it would have been better if i had attended my first conference with someone who had been before because I had very little idea what was going on. The Lords Reform debate however I did understand (even if I did forget to pick up the Conference Daily so I had to guess what the amendments were) and found rather interesting. I've always been quite conflicted because, as a Liberal, the idea of entrenched privilege and unaccountable decision making unsettle me but a tiny part of my brain finds the idea of the lofty and posh House of Lords quite pleasing (I blame Jane Austen novels) but now I am committed to an at least majority elected second chamber :D
Lynne Featherstone's speech though was a highlight. She is clearly very passionate about what she does and it's quite inspiring. A week ago (ish) I blogged about what I wanted to do in the future and Lynne's speech - which is here if you wanted to read it - has nudged me (at least for today) towards working for the promotion of human rights abroad, especially gay rights. Her announcement that the Government is set to consult on gay marriages in March was warmly welcomed but I was annoyed by the obvious delay! Why does setting up a consultation take six months, why can't a bill just be introduced, debated and voted on? After venting this mild annoyance on Twitter it was pointed out to me by a follower, and Lib Dem councillor who listening to the speech, that we are having to take the Tories with us on this policy and it is obviously something a lot of their MPs, Lords and membership aren't exactly jumping for joy about.
After that speech I grabbed a quick sandwich, jumped on a train back to Michael's house, had a speedy shower and hopped on the next train back for the First Timer's Drinks Reception. This did cause another moment of desire for a friend who knew what they were doing because I managed to miss the rally and Nick Clegg's speech because I didn't know it was happening!! The drinks reception was fun though, found everyone friendly and chatty and had some good conversations with other newbies. The old gentleman from the morning queue did make his speech but it wasn't until he was introduced that I realised I'd met him before; William Wallace, Baron of Saltaire and I met one day campaigning for my local candidate at the 2010 General Election and I was hoping to meet him again. He recognised me from the morning and came over for a chat afterwards which was nice.
I've now reached the point where I've realised I want to be at the ICC for 9am tomorrow morning and there are no trains so I'm going to have to get a taxi so I should probably go to bed!
Night folks :)
I left Michael in the pub and headed off to the ICC. Got into a lovely chat with an old man in the queue for the security checks; we chatted away about which areas we were from, what I was studying at university and what he used to teach and then he said I must go to the First Timer's Drinks in the evening because he was giving a small speech about his first conference. I got into the conference hall much quicker than expected however so I had a lot of time to kill. Mooched about the exhibitors and yet somehow failed to find the DELGA stand which was a minor irritation but I'm here all week so I'm sure I'll find in eventually!
The opening speech was dealt with, as were the Reports from the FCC and FPC, which was the first point in the day I felt like it would have been better if i had attended my first conference with someone who had been before because I had very little idea what was going on. The Lords Reform debate however I did understand (even if I did forget to pick up the Conference Daily so I had to guess what the amendments were) and found rather interesting. I've always been quite conflicted because, as a Liberal, the idea of entrenched privilege and unaccountable decision making unsettle me but a tiny part of my brain finds the idea of the lofty and posh House of Lords quite pleasing (I blame Jane Austen novels) but now I am committed to an at least majority elected second chamber :D
Lynne Featherstone's speech though was a highlight. She is clearly very passionate about what she does and it's quite inspiring. A week ago (ish) I blogged about what I wanted to do in the future and Lynne's speech - which is here if you wanted to read it - has nudged me (at least for today) towards working for the promotion of human rights abroad, especially gay rights. Her announcement that the Government is set to consult on gay marriages in March was warmly welcomed but I was annoyed by the obvious delay! Why does setting up a consultation take six months, why can't a bill just be introduced, debated and voted on? After venting this mild annoyance on Twitter it was pointed out to me by a follower, and Lib Dem councillor who listening to the speech, that we are having to take the Tories with us on this policy and it is obviously something a lot of their MPs, Lords and membership aren't exactly jumping for joy about.
After that speech I grabbed a quick sandwich, jumped on a train back to Michael's house, had a speedy shower and hopped on the next train back for the First Timer's Drinks Reception. This did cause another moment of desire for a friend who knew what they were doing because I managed to miss the rally and Nick Clegg's speech because I didn't know it was happening!! The drinks reception was fun though, found everyone friendly and chatty and had some good conversations with other newbies. The old gentleman from the morning queue did make his speech but it wasn't until he was introduced that I realised I'd met him before; William Wallace, Baron of Saltaire and I met one day campaigning for my local candidate at the 2010 General Election and I was hoping to meet him again. He recognised me from the morning and came over for a chat afterwards which was nice.
I've now reached the point where I've realised I want to be at the ICC for 9am tomorrow morning and there are no trains so I'm going to have to get a taxi so I should probably go to bed!
Night folks :)
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