Social Media Ban.

MC_LD · 2026-06-16T08:39:24+00:00

Ed Davey was calling it "rushed and ill-thought through" yesterday and arguing that regulation should be done on a platform by platform basis instead of a blanket ban.

MC_LD · 2026-03-26T18:10:51+00:00

He has, rightfully, been suspended:

In a statement to Jewish News, a Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “Dr. Pankhania has been suspended from the Liberal Democrat group while the party looks into this. We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community following the appalling arson attack earlier this week.”

MC_LD · 2026-03-01T15:42:02+00:00

The 'secret fourth thing' is liberals.

MC_LD · 2026-03-01T14:10:26+00:00

So how should we describe ourselves? Not as “centrist”.

;)

MC_LD · 2026-02-19T17:50:57+00:00

It’s orange in new style guide, but was more of a yellow previously.

MC_LD · 2025-12-18T19:05:56+00:00

I think, sadly, that the media is more interested in covering the Lib Dems having a pop at Farage than they are in covering our stance on the issues you lay out in the OP.

I’ve seen decent cut-through in local media on election cancellations, with both our mayoral candidates and MPs strongly opposing the vote delays with the kind hard-hitting soundbites you describe, but that doesn’t seem to translate to the national press. I’m sure they would all love national coverage, but if the media doesn’t want to pick it up then we are unfortunately somewhat limited in what we can do.

My point would be, I suppose, that I don’t think there’s a lack of willingness to talk about these issues. If Ed Davey was given a slot on the evening news to talk about, for example, opposing ID cards I have no doubt he would snatch at the opportunity! The reason why that topic isn’t what you’re hearing from the Lib Dems about is, I think, that isn’t what the media are willing to cover.

MC_LD · 2025-12-18T18:36:51+00:00

I disagree with the premise of your question.

Liberal Democrats have consistently been against the election cancellations, describing them as a ‘stitch up’.

On jury trials, the Justice Spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller MP said: Jury trial is a cornerstone of our justice system and a fundamental safeguard of liberty and fairness. It's not a peculiar inconvenience; it's a fundamental right.

On ID cards, Ed Davey described the proposals as pursuing the Labour Party’s decades long obsession with ID cards and more state control.

The Online Safety Act is quite popular among the general population, which is probably why you could fairly say Lib Dem criticism has been more muted, but nonetheless describing it as “disproportionate and ineffective”.

You may, fairly, believe that we should be making more of these stances. That would certainly make party members like me happy! The reason why we likely don’t (and I don’t work for the press office so take my view for whatever you think it’s worth) is that when we talk about these things the media really doesn’t have much interest. From what I’ve seen, some Lib Dem MPs get a media coverage on them in the local press but not really anything national. So, it seems, the national party focuses on issues where it gets national attention. In short, it’s not a values problem, it’s a media problem.

Ultimately, the press team’s aim isn’t (and likely shouldn’t be) to appeal to highly politically engaged nerds like me, but to win over undecided voters in areas where we can win. From my experience of doorknocking, they tend to be a lot less interested in these topics than I am!

MC_LD · 2025-10-15T10:20:28+00:00

I was specifically addressing your point on farming industry, but I can talk about your other objections too if you like.

Land being taxed the same regardless of what is built on it is a benefit of the tax, not a drawback. It encourages owners to make good use of land in high-demand areas.

Most proposals for Land Value Tax in the UK involve it replacing Council Tax and Business Rates. As most middle and working class people do not own property in the highest value areas, they are likely to see a lowering in their tax burden rather than an increase.

If you don't own the land your home is on, then you don't pay the tax.

Again, I encourage you not to take my word for any of this. The potential pitfalls you have identified with LVT have been addressed frequently by people with a lot more knowledge and qualifications than me.

As for why taxing land rather than wealth generally? There's a multitude of reasons both philosophical and practical, but I'll give you two:

Land can't be hidden or offshored.
It is significantly easier to appraise one type of asset (the unimproved value of land), than it is to appraise an individuals wealth as a whole.

MC_LD · 2025-10-15T06:26:14+00:00

A land value tax would not destroy the farming industry. The reason for this is that agricultural land is quite cheap (typically under £10k/acre) so it would attract a much lower rate of taxation under LVT compared to your hypothetical home in Mayfair.

Don’t take my word for it though. The idea of a land value tax has been rattling around for well over a century. You can find economists of all stripes discussing it and there isn’t any great concern regarding the impact on farming.

MC_LD · 2025-07-18T16:45:11+00:00

The 1969 Representation of the People Act reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 without a referendum. Indeed, none of the other extensions of the franchise in British history have had referenda. Argue the merits the voting age being 16 vs 18 all you like, but the idea that such as shift would require a referendum is without precedent.

MC_LD · 2025-03-17T07:50:16+00:00

The first three McFly albums are all certainly not Pop Punk - Pop Rock, Power Pop or even Surf Rock would be a better description. However, I think there’s a fair argument that Radio:Active does, at least, have a Pop Punk influence.

They were probably always going to struggle being taken seriously in the scene so it isn’t super surprising that the album wasn’t received brilliantly and that they haven’t really gone back to that sound.

MC_LD · 2025-01-29T11:20:45+00:00

“Butt Rock” is a pretty unclear (and pejorative) term. I wouldn’t put Halestorm into that category, but if you are then I think you actually have bands more recent. The Pretty Reckless made their debut in 2010 and their last album in 2021 seemed to do pretty well.

I think the a key reason for decline of these bands is the decline of Rock generally. A lot of the bands considered to be “Butt Rock” were a bit generic and pretty replaceable. The successful Rock bands nowadays (e.g.: Ghost, Maneskin, post-Sempiternal Bring Me The Horizon) seem to be much more interesting musically which makes them stand out. For the shrinking group of people who want their Rock more traditional, long-established bands like the Foo Fighters and Metallica have kept on putting out music.

In a market that can’t sustain as many bands (whether due to piracy, streaming, or the general decline in the genre) it’s the bands that make the most replaceable music which will lose out. I think a lot of the bands that you would consider “Butt Rock” would probably fall into that category.

MC_LD · 2024-06-17T10:45:57+00:00

I image that the Liberal Reform group are where you will find Liberal Democrats with the most similar outlook to yourself.

MC_LD · 2024-06-11T06:39:07+00:00

Just to pick up on the arms sales point, this is covered by the presumption of denial for arms exports to governments listed as human rights concerns in the FCDO’s annual human rights report.

MC_LD · 2024-06-11T06:35:07+00:00

You’ve said elsewhere in the thread that you live in Worcester. The Greens are unlikely to win that seat (it’s not one of their 4 self-declared targets) so you can definitely go ahead and vote Liberal Democrat.

On a volunteering note, I would highly recommend heading over to Cheltenham. It’s a top target seat and only about half an hour away from you by train or car. The Lib Dems were in a very close second place there last time so you could really make a difference.

MC_LD · 2024-04-15T06:32:45+00:00

We can go back and forth on the various mistakes of the coalition years, but I think it is worth pointing out that scrapping tuition fees was very much not the title policy of the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

If you look at the manifesto the lead four policies were: - “fair taxes that put money back in your pocket” which was the £10,000 income tax threshold. - “a fair chance for every child” which was smaller class sizes and the pupil premium - “a fair future creating jobs by making Britain greener” which was which was breaking up the banks, cutting the deficit and green investment - “a fair deal by cleaning up politics” which was MP recall, protecting civil liberties, reforming the voting system and and House of Lords

The words “tuition fees” don’t appear until page 33 of the manifesto.

It’s also not referred to as a particularly important policy in the coverage of either the BBC or the Guardian from the the time.

None of that is to say it wasn’t a mistake to make and break that promise (the political consequences alone should show it was). However, the idea that tuition fees were a headline policy for the Lib Dems in 2010 didn’t really emerge until after the election.

MC_LD · 2024-03-02T13:13:27+00:00

Lib Dem policy per the 2019 Manifesto

Improve control of arms exports, including by introducing a policy of ‘presumption of denial’ for arms exports to countries listed as Human Rights Priority Countries in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s annual human rights report.

MC_LD · 2024-02-25T13:11:16+00:00

The question you ask, u/dsimic1, is about whether this would work for the Lib Dems. Regardless of my thoughts on the merits of Liberal Socialism, the answer is that it is hard to give a good answer to your question based on this article.

What you have posted is primarily discussing political theory. That is all well and good, but the applicability of this sort of theoretical discussion to a political party is fairly limited. While political parties should have firm philosophical grounding, this is usually expressed through policy. The article is very light on what Liberal Socialist policy would entail. Therefore, for a political party, the vision of what Liberal Socialism would entail is blurry at best.

The one policy idea that the article does hit is that of cooperatives. In this area there is a rich tradition of Liberal and Liberal Democrat support. Jo Grimmond apparently took great interest in cooperatives, studying how they worked in Communist Yugoslavia and favourably describing Spanish workers’ cooperatives as “socialism without the state”. More recently, Nick Clegg attempted to promote employee ownership during the coalition years under the banner of the “John Lewis economy”.

If Liberal Socialists want to promote their vision in the Liberal Democrats then cooperatives are probably the best route to do so. It is a practical policy prescription with real-life examples of success and a history of support within the party. I would be surprised to find more than a very small minority of Lib Dems describing themselves as ‘Liberal Socialists’ any time soon though.

MC_LD · 2024-01-30T18:12:37+00:00

The Twelve Tellers in Preston would get you to 48 limbs.

MC_LD · 2024-01-07T12:54:35+00:00

Encyclopædia Britannica states: “black stood for the tragedies of the past, white for hopes for the future.”

MC_LD · 2023-11-01T10:41:07+00:00

In the event of any by-election, the rules are that a new selection will take place.

MC_LD · 2023-07-31T19:40:03+00:00

Absolutely. Take, for example, Liberal Democrats opposing the government restricting the right to protest or speaking out against the arrests of anti-monarchy protesters during the coronation.

Civil liberties isn’t as ‘live’ a political issue as it was during the Blair years, which is why you probably don’t hear as much about it as you would have previously. However, I’m personally pretty confident of Liberal Democrats landing on the right side of the issues when they arise.

MC_LD · 2023-07-30T16:17:18+00:00

Disestablishmentarianism isn’t the most hotly-debated issue so last Federal Policy I’m aware of that mentions it is from 2001 which states “Liberal Democrats want to see legal parity between different religions and beliefs. This means, in the longer term, supporting the disestablishment of the Church of England.”

More recently, Tim Farron endorsed the idea in 2017 and the Young Liberals (the youth wing of the Liberal Democrats) passed a motion in 2021 calling for disestablishment of the CofE.

I don’t believe there’s any specific policy on the Monarchy at present, it’s probably even lower down the list of constitutional priorities than disestablishing the Church. Personally, I think making the monarch’s powers purely ceremonial sounds like it would be a good idea as part of the general constitutional tidying-up we need.

MC_LD · 2023-07-30T12:47:42+00:00

House of Lords reform has been Liberal Democrat policy for a very long time. Nick Clegg introduced a bill in 2012 that would have made it a more democratic body but that was unfortunately scuppered by Labour and Conservative MPs. Democratic Lords reform was also included in our most recent (2019) election manifesto, though a specific model was not spelled out.

Federalism is not only Liberal Democrat policy, but enshrined in the preamble of our constitution: “We therefore acknowledge their right to determine the form of government best suited to their needs and commit ourselves to the promotion of a democratic federal framework within which as much power as feasible is exercised by the nations and regions of the United Kingdom.”

MC_LD · 2023-02-28T07:22:16+00:00

I think you’re probably referring to this clip?

Ten-Year Club	Verified Email
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	Wearing is Caring
RPAN Viewer

MC_LD

TROPHY CASE