LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – While Russia launches airstrikes Britain’s position...
Paddy Ashdown has been writing in the Independent about this week’s developments and diplomatic stand-offs regarding Syria. He said that the west has allowed its influence to be diminished by...
View ArticleWhat they don’t tell you about TTIP
View image | gettyimages.com Countless articles, emails and campaigns have expressed anger about TTIP. This is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which would cover over 800 million...
View ArticleBaroness Ros Scott writes…Up for the new challenge
Liberals from across Europe have been meeting in Budapest for the annual Congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, including a sizeable delegation of Lib Dems led by Party...
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For International Women’s Day: These are not token women
One of the main factors in the defeat of a proposal for all-women shortlists in 2001 was a spirited campaign by the then youth organisation. Jo Swinson led the way wearing a pink t-shirt saying “I am...
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Bosnia’s Nasa Stranka visits York
One of the highlights of this year’s Spring Conference for us as a Local Party, led by our deputy group leader Cllr Ann Reid, was hosting some representatives of our Bosnian sister party, Nasa Stranka....
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Zambia: one too many close calls for democracy?
Democracies in the developing world must often overcome a number of hurdles on the road to maturity and development as a stable state. Peaceful elections, a vibrant civil society, regular transfer of...
View ArticleLibLInk: Jeremy Purvis: West’s response no match for Lebanon’s crisis
Lib Dem Peer Jeremy Purvis recently visited Lebanon, an already struggling country which has taken so many refugees from the conflict in Syria. Here he writes for the Scotsman about his experience. The...
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Only liberals can stem the tide of ethnic nationalism in Bosnia
On the surface of it, you couldn’t be blamed for feeling pretty grim about the results of the recent local elections which took place on 2 October in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In both semi-autonomous...
View ArticleThe Ebola crisis – we need to hear about the heroes
Two years ago, I was quarantined. Following a trip to Nigeria (and the privilege of working with the DFID funded ESSPIN programme), I returned feeling a little unwell and, before I knew it, people in...
View ArticleObservations of an ex pat: And so it begins…
And so it begins. Or at least it will on Friday January 20th when Donald Trump stands, on the steps of the US Capitol building, places his hand on The Bible and swears to protect and uphold the...
View ArticleObservations of an expat: The hip-thigh bone theory of the world
It is time to explain my hip thigh bone theory of the world. The theory is based on the 1920s African-American spiritual “Dem bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones.” The ditty in turn was based on a...
View ArticleObservations of an ex pat: Alliance 101
The Western Alliance is in disarray. Americans are sick of picking up the tab for protecting a rich Europe from a communist threat which no longer exists. Europe is terrified at being abruptly left in...
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Botswana elections: Liberal Democrats help sister party and its “calm...
Yesterday was polling day in the General Election in Botswana. 57 parliamentary seats are up for grabs along with council seats across the country. The Botswana Democratic Party has been in power since...
View ArticleTim Farron writes… Never has the political market been so crowded in the UK....
I cannot start this article without expressing my deep shock and concern for the families affected by the attack on Charlie Hebdo. It is stark warning that we can no longer take for granted the liberal...
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Opinion: A liberal postcard from Athens
View image | gettyimages.com Sunday morning in Kifissia, one of the leafy northern suburbs of Athens, and the view from my bedroom balcony is blue sky with dark clouds looming – a fitting scene for...
View ArticleNick Harvey MP writes… We mustn’t let eurosceptics spoil useful defence...
Today in London the UK’s foreign and defence secretaries, Philip Hammond and Michael Fallon, will meet their French counterparts, Laurent Fabius and Jean-Yves Le Drian. Of course, there is nothing...
View ArticleOpinion: Liberals must stand up to Russia over Ukraine
The weekend after the party gathered in Liverpool, Liberal Youth gathered in Leeds for our spring conference. There was plenty of campaigning, socialising and of course stimulating debates on policy....
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Baroness Liz Barker writes… International Office supports the next generation...
Liberal Democrats do love a challenge. Not for us the easy life of safe seats and majority governments. Oh no, marginal and year round campaigning is the life for us. So imagine that this is your...
View ArticleLiberal Democrats should commit to abolition of all global borders
The upcoming referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union is both an opportunity and a threat for the Liberal Democrats. The party has an opportunity to define itself clearly as the most...
View ArticleEd Fordham’s Letter from Belgrade
I am sitting in a hotel here in Belgrade eating my breakfast. It’s Serbia so meat is the dominant feature. But I have just walked around the corner of the block to the hotel where they are issueing the...
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