Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor and a leading commentator on the economic crisis will be speaking at the London School of Economics on Thursday 28th January as part of the Voting Power in Practice Lectures sponsored by The Leverhulme Trust.

The talk starts at 6:30pm at the Sheikh Zayed Theatre in the New Academic Building. No booking is required, but entry is on a first-come-first-serve basis so do come early. London Liberal Youth and the LSESU Liberal Democrats will be meeting for drinks at the Three Tuns (the LSESU Bar) after the talk- look out for us!

For more information on the event, check the LSE’s website or contact us at info@londonliberalyouth.co.uk

There is an election approaching and, as ever, the British electorate will make a binary decision when it arrives at the ballot box.

But what decision will it be? This is something of a lateral thinking test, and the wrong answers include several schools: the Marxist ‘people vs. elite’ and the Old School Tie ‘posh anarchy vs. taxation’. Both views are simplistic and dated, but will inevitably dominate the debate.

Those taking a more modern approach will face a different choice – one between progression and decay. This is more difficult to qualify, but the nature of the main parties makes for a clear choice - Labour and the Conservatives on one side, the Liberals on the other.

This is not a rash deliniation. It is the vastly different and advocative nature of the Liberal Democrats which places them, with consummate ease, onto an entirely different plane from their larger cousins. And it is this advocative heart which must be the focus of the thinking voters. It is a heart which is, frighteningly, missing from the largest political parties in Britain.

The vindicative policies of Labour and the Conservatives depend on the strange phenomenon of ’swing’ votes. This is because both, at their most basic level, rely upon the most cynical form of syndicalism – a warped breed of in-club. These are parties who not only hold a demographic, but aspire to it. ‘Conservatives wear suits and protect the rich’, ‘Labour wear gingham shirts and house the poor’. Neither stereotype is entirely true, but the march of both parties is towards the benefit of a certain few.

This first point is massive because, more than anything else, it bogs down politics and breeds unsustainable policies. Luckily, few of these policies will be achieved – the inevitable swelling of dissent by those out of the current government demographic gives policy a nice deadline – ‘after all, it won’t matter after we’ve been voted out’.

And so with one hand, the Big Two shower their friends and familiars with cash or tax cuts, while with the other they quietly cut their own safety line, shoeing in the next government and giving us five, ten or fifteen year swing terms which stir up a sham political fury and, unsurprisingly, signify nothing.

This two party pendulum has turned some of the very exemplars of pragmatism – political U-turns and policy revisions – into bad things. Rather than congratulating our politicians for spotting errors and correcting them, we kick them in the ribs and scold them for not being brave enough to hold onto their shoddy policies, at least until we’ve had a chance to elect somebody else. As the only impetus for a change of government, we greedily expect bad policy. And do we get it? By the bucketload.

It is an elaborate dance, and is the very reason why the country is utterly fed up with politics. Not bored, but sick. 

More and more, however, the game is becoming more obvious. The expenses scandal was a brilliant catalyst. For perhaps the first time, a scandal produced more than mudslinging and a snap back to normality; it came with a huge sigh of exasperation.

But what is the world-weary electorate to do? How can it get hold of a decent government – a practical one that doesn’t cost too much, runs well, needs little maintenance and is wonderfully sensible? How can we elect a VW Golf?

Thankfully, there is such an option. If they wish, the voters can go to the ballots and choose something patently different, something genuinely Liberal – an advocative and reliable party, who promise open representation, swear to steer us towards the current of reality and to adapt government to the modern world.

The time for tactical voting is over, and if the electorate has the balls, it can vote for the Liberal Democrats.

London Liberal Youth, the Youth & Student Wing of the London Liberal Democrats, has begun a series of letter campaigns and protests following the Mayor’s announcement of 12.5% Pay As You Go (PAYG) Oyster fare increases.
 
The price hike comes hot on the heels of the recent freeze on the higher London student maintenance loan, already deemed insufficient for at least half of students by a DfES report.
 
Scott MacDonald, Chair of London Liberal Youth said “Students in London already suffer from paltry support from the government, with most subsisting on as little as £6200 per year. With the rise in living costs unabated and few jobs to be found, rising transport costs especially on PAYG fares could well exclude all but the wealthiest students from London’s universities.”
 
The General Secretary of the University College London Student’s Union (UCLU), Pierre Deludet added his remarks: “This is the Mayor who claims £5billion savings one week and then hikes fares the next. His inconsistent, unworkable policies have run their course. If he is going to make life difficult for students, it is our prerogative to offer him the same in return.”
 
UCLU has begun campaigning for a better deal on Oyster fares for 18+ students in full time education this week, and will be encouraging students to take action against the fare increase.
 
Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for London and MP for Carshalton & Wallington has offered his support to students, saying “Now we know what Boris’s agenda is – inflation-busting fare increases for some of London’s poorest commuters. He should be helping bus passengers by restoring services he has cancelled like the N213, not clobbering them with eyewatering fare increases.”
 
Liberal Democrat Member of the London Assembly and Chair of the Transport Committee, Caroline Pidgeon, welcomed the student outrage at fare increases:
“ continual hiking up of fares means he is taking significantly more from the wallets and purses of hard up Londoners.”
 
The wave of protests is expected to begin next week.
 
NOTE: 18+ Students in Full-Time education currently receive a 30% discount on TfL season tickets and travelcards but no discount on Pay-As-You-Go single fares. Research by London Liberal Youth indicates that a significant proportion of students in full-time education currently do not use season tickets and are forced to pay full-rate adult fares.

London Conservative Future is busy living up to their long-cherished reputation as a clusterpot for posh totty with little between the ears, rich-boys in polo shirts and lots and lots of boozing with their latest piece of inept inaction.

Despite the latest 12.5% rise in Tube and Bus Fares (thanks to a Conservative Mayor) and the disproportionate impact this will have on students now facing both a frozen maintainence settlement (if the SLC gets it though to them in the first place) and rising living costs, London’s Young Tories have not uttered half a legible word on the issue. As per usual, the future of Conservatism fiddles away while students suffer. So, London Conservative Future, will you really live up to your name as the ‘campaigning force for London’ or will your deafening silence on student welfare speak louder than your absent words?

Once again another lovely update from the team at London Liberal Youth. To those who came to the Vince Cable talk yesterday afternoon, I do hope you enjoyed his remarkable insights into the problems facing our economy as well as the general discussions on issues ranging from student fees to foreign policy. And for those who didn’t come- you really did miss out on something quite wonderful!

We’ll be hosting a fantastic event this Saturday (10th October)- a Campaigning Day Out in Brixton with the Streatham Liberal Democrats followed by a Pub Social with (paid for) drinks. This is also your oppurtunity to hit the streets with Ed Davey MP, Lib Dem Shadow Foreign Secretary, Caroline Pidgeon AM, our Transport Spokeswoman on the London Assembly, Lord Clement-Jones, our Shadow Culture & Sports Minister in the Lords as well as Chris Nicholson PPC, our brilliant local candidate, all of whom will be out campaigning and canvassing with us on the day!

Streatham is one of our key Inner London target seats- spanning the lovely fields of Clapham Common to the vibrant, multicultural bits of Brixton and Streatham- and we’re only 6,000 votes behind an unpopular Labour MP with the Conservatives nowhere in sight! Don’t worry if you’ve never been out campaigning before- we’re here to help you, and there’s no better way to get into the groove than with fellow young Liberal Democrats- followed on obviously by a trip to a lovely local pub!

(P.S- many MP’s, Lords and Assembly Members tend to head-hunt their interns from events such as these- so if you’re looking for Parliamentary or Legislative Work Experiece this might be useful!)

Our first campaigning session starts at 11am. Arrangements to get to the venue are simple- a group of us will be leaving from the LSE in front of the Old Building at 10:30am to get to Brixton. Otherwise, you can go straight to Brixton Tube (Victoria Line) and make your way to the meeting point at the offices of the Streatham Liberal Democrats. Detailed directions from Brixton Tube Station to the meeting point are avaliable by clicking here. The address is Unit 6, Hermes House, 59 Josephine Avenue, LONDON SW2 2JZ.

Do let us know if you intend to come by dropping us an email at info@londonliberalyouth.co.uk. Hope to see as many of you as possible out and about on the day itself- and do remember the ‘incentive’ of a great pub trip afterwards!

Welcome to University and a new academic year! We have a wide range of fascinating events planned for the next few weeks- from campaigning days out in Brixton to pub nights in Bloomsbury! Some of the highlights include:

• 7th October at 3pm Vince Cable on the Economy at Kingston University: See the legend himself! Vince Cable, star Lib Dem MP and our Shadow Chancellor speaks to students and young people at Kingston University on the credit crunch, economic recovery and being an MP! Meet outside the LSE’s Old Building at 3pm for the group trip down to Kingston from Central London.
• 10th October at 10am Campaigning Day Out with the Streatham Lib Dems: Join our local candidate, Chris Nicholson together with prominent Lib Dems including Ed Davey MP, Lord Clement-Jones and Caroline Pidgeon AM for a day of campaigning and canvassing in Brixton and Streatham, followed by a pub night on Brixton High Street!
• 15th October at 7:30pm ‘Cash for Beerages’ Pub Night with Simon Hughes MP & Other Special Guests: Come down to the Student Union Bar at Birkbeck College for the social event of the season! Meet other young Lib Dem activists as well as Tom Brake, MP for Carshalton & Wallington (Spokesperson for London), Simon Hughes, MP for North Southwark & Bermondsey (Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment) and Caroline Pidgeon AM, London Assembly Member & Chair of the Assembly Transport Committee.

We’ll publish further details up on the website as and when we get them! As usual, our events will also be visible on Facebook and our Google Calendar, and we’ll be sending round an email with details. If you’ve yet to sign up to our mailing list, you can do it by filling up our online form!

In the whacky, scary world of the right-wing, hard-Tory-worshipping journalist where the word ‘ethics’ means nothing, facts and good old journalism seem to slip away into oblivion. Cue Andrew Gilligan, the slimy Wadley-worshipping hero of the disgruntled and bigoted Kent commuter, the sort of venom-squirting pile of toss hero of the Conservative right that our dainty buggery friends at London Conservative Future like to hide in the filing closet behind the racist memoribilia, blacking-up kit and Section 28 flyers. There’s nothing wrong with being unintelligent- if that was the case half the Consevative base would be locked away in the sort of awful Dover transit camp they would absolutely love to set up to keep away the ‘darkies and weirdos’- but there is something wrong with being thuggishly stupid in the face of cold, hard facts.

Cue Gilligan again, with his latest spouting against step-free access for the disabled on London Underground:

Buried in the small print of the plans is the final, definitive lunacy which trumps all the other lunacies. It turns out that the £97 million to be spent at Green Park, and the roughly £300 million to be spent elsewhere on TfL’s tube access programme, will only deliver step-free access from the street to the station platform. Boarding almost any train will still involve… a step — insurmountable to wheelchairs.

Clearly Gilly Boy dosen’t use the Tube very often. Perhaps a visit to London Bridge Tube is in order- where, as one will notice, there are HUMPS on the platform to allow wheelchair users to get onto trains without the so called ‘insurmountable’ gap. Kudos to Boris Johnson for ignoring this idiot, but the fact of the matter remains- welcome to the Conservative Party Base- out of touch, completely ill-informed and utterly blinkered.

In case anyone was wondering about the cats which have appeared in our header bar, don’t worry, we haven’t been hacked! A moment of either boredom or inspiration (you decide) has inspired a London Liberal Youth mascot, an essential of all organisations. We will soon hopefully have an online poll to try and name our Liberal Democat, but I think that can wait until the stress of Freshers’ is over!

All name suggestions will be welcomed and should go in as options on our poll .

2nd May 1997. An historic victory. The Tories, 18 years in power, are defeated as New Labour sweeps into government. From the euphoria and despair, three deeply personal stories emerge.

Tory MP Robert prepares to attend the count. With defeat looming large, he fears becoming a forgotten man while his wife Marie counts the cost of her own sacrifice to politics. Lib Dem footsoldier Ian is no hero but party-crasher Sarah is determined to make him one. Best mates Jake and Will wake up to a new world order and try to memorise the cabinet before their politics A Level class. Jake dreams of Number 10. Will dreams of Jake.

A smouldering new play from one of Britain’s most exciting young writers, Jack Thorne, about escaping the past, seizing the present and owning the future.

Did New Labour live up to the promise of 1997? What are the important issues that lie ahead for the general election in 2010? London Liberal Youth chair Scott MacDonald will be on the panel for a discussion after the show on Monday the 28th September, along with the playwright Jack Thorne, ex MP Gyles Brandreth and Professor Brian Cathcart. It should be a great evening and a good chance to reminisce about the last Tory administration as we prepare for the possiblity of another.

9 September – 10 October 2009 The Bush Theatre, London. Book Tickets here.

One of our big events of the year is freshers fair – where many new people sign up to hear from us, get involved and do lots of liberal things. It’s really important that we’ve got an active presence at freshers fair – and we need you to volunteer!

Freshers fair is over 2 days at LSE (Tues 29 and Wed 30th Sep). We’re asking people to commit to 2 and 1 hour slots. You can sign up to help as much as you like! If you are keen to help please send us a quick message to v.m.chamberlain@lse.ac.uk.

Please let me know if you can help out – here are the times on each of the dates above we’d like people:

10am-12noon
12noon – 1pm
1pm – 3pm
3pm – 5pm

Check out the facebook event here.

We’ll put up details of the fayres at other London Universities here soon too!