Latest News from the Liberal Democrats- Nick Clegg's tax cut speech at the Resolution Foundation Thu 26 January 2012
- Don Foster: BBC should not harm local and regional broadcasting Wed 25 January 2012
- Lorely Burt: Post Office deal will secure its future Tue 24 January 2012
- Liberal Democrats right to shine light on executive pay Mon 23 January 2012
- Nick Clegg: Re-election of Sharon Bowles MEP welcome news Mon 23 January 2012
- Don Foster: Live music licensing regulation will strengthen the British music scene. Fri 20 January 2012
- Euro-MPs tighten e-waste rules Thu 19 January 2012
- Tom Brake: We must get to the bottom of detainee allegations Wed 18 January 2012
- Sarah Ludford: Outrage of EP honouring Francoist jointly with Havel Tue 17 January 2012
- Nick Clegg announces Leadership Programme participants Mon 16 January 2012
- Scottish Liberal Democrats News
- SNP have thrown in the towel on college funding Thu 26 January 2012
- First Minister must reverse college cuts Thu 26 January 2012
- Re-think urged over Craigiehall Thu 26 January 2012
- SNP must reverse their cuts to colleges and housing Wed 25 January 2012
- FM statement 'much ado about nothing' Wed 25 January 2012
- Salmond's 'tinsel show' out of touch Wed 25 January 2012
- Government must re-engage with oil and gas industry Wed 25 January 2012
- Post offices saved by Lib Dems Tue 24 January 2012
- SNP relegate economy as First Minister focuses on UK split Tue 24 January 2012
- NUS show need for SNP to reverse college cut Mon 23 January 2012
- News from Glasgow Liberal Democrats
More fun(d) raising – tonight!
Tonight (in between bouts of food and conversation) I will be adopting the role of quiz master, song leader and general entertainer. And I’m not even going to be paid for it. It’s in a good cause (if you want me to explain why I think Glasgow South Liberal Democrats are a good cause, you know how to get in touch). The event is on Facebook. Details below:
Date : Saturday 16th April 2011
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: 19 Southwood Drive, King’s Park, Glasgow, G44 5SH
Buffet will be provided but bring your own bottle.
Vegetarian food is provided.
£10 entry fee (£5 for students) – pay on the night
Please come along and support your candidates and your party.
You will enjoy yourself.
Please RSVP
Isabel Nelson
Secretary, Glasgow South
isabelnel@aim.com or 0141 883 6830
For personal reasons…
For personal reasons, I have declined to be nominated as a candidate for the forthcoming elections to the Scottish Parliament. This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with me. Over the coming weeks and months, I feel I need to concentrate on my writing and performing career, which I would not be able to do while being a candidate. I am therefore no longer #7 on the Glasgow Regional List.
While some people look down on politicians as a species, most will accept that it is not a 9-5 job. For the dedicated candidate, it can be round-the-clock – all unpaid.
I wish the remaining list candidates well, as I do the whole of the Scottish Liberal Democrat team, while I concentrate on getting the money in – both for me (those interested can hire my comedy/poetry/ventriloquism services at www.chrisyoung.biz) and fundraising for the campaigning effort (watch this space).
Fun(d) Raising
When we’re not delivering leaflets, we Liberal Democrats like to get together, eat, drink and buy raffle tickets. This year’s Greater Glasgow Liberal Democrats Annual Dinner was held on 27 January, two days after Burns Night, and had a bit of a Burns theme. I was invited to address the haggis, and the audience. Instead, I chose to read an original address “To A Vegetarian Haggis”. Video footage and words reproduced below.
To a vegetarian haggis
Fair fa’ your… dishonest, sonsie face,
Great maverick o’ the puddin race!
For veggie folk, ye tak the place
O’ honest meat.
Some think ye truly a disgrace
Nae fit tae eat.
But ithers cannae face yon haggis
That made wi’ fresh sheep’s stomach bag is,
Where hairt and lung and liver clag is,
Mixed up wi’ oats.
For squeamish folk, for them, the snag is
No Rabbie’s quotes.
I dinnae mean tae fash nor clype,
But some folk cannae stomach tripe
And kidney could nae pass their pipe
For fear they choke.
An’ inside pairts o’ every type
Would make them boke.
Frae John O’ Groats tae Howe O’ Fife
Sic sentiment is awfu’ rife
But then they gang an’ tak a knife
Tae sirloin steak.
They dinnae think that flesh had life –
For ony sake.
The animal that’s killed for meat
Has died for us – and gay few greet.
We owe the beast at least tae eat
And no tae waste.
The choice we have tae eat or bleat
Is no just taste.
Hypocrisy puts me on edge.
The squeamish folk, they a’ should pledge
Tae eat from henceforth none but veg
(An’, maybe, eggs and milk).
Frae shrink-wrapped plastic, let them dredge
Your ersatz ilk.
O ye wha untold beasties save,
For whom no sheep its stomach gave
Nor cattle came hame to their grave,
Lang may ye reek.
Or bailt in pot or microwaved,
It’s ye I seek.
O meat-free bairn o’ John MacSween,
Nae life ye tak, nae liver seen,
Nor kidney but the kidney bean
That gies ye hairt.
An’ nuts an’ lentils (red or green),
A’ play their pairt.
Wi’ mushroom, carrot, onion, neep,
Your savour is baith sweet and deep.
It’s sad ye dinnae taste like sheep,
But that is fine.
When frozen, weel for months you’ll keep.
(I bulk-buy mine.)
O sleekit puddin, sonsie-faced,
Though some may think a haggis based
On vegetables, the meat replaced,
Should be unlawful,
I bid the world to tak a taste –
It is nae offal.
© Chris Young
I shot an arrow in the air…
It’s good to be back on this website. Apologies for the prolonged absence. Candidacy selections for the Scottish Parliament have dominated much of the last few months, the rules of which have constrained what I am allowed to say where.
The good news is that I will be candidate again, this time on the regional list for Glasgow – but not particularly high up. I assure my fellow candidates that, although I have seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, I am perfectly safe to be around.
Thank You
Thank you to all the people who voted for me. (And especial thanks to my campaign team.) The full results can be found in various places, including Wikipedia.
Sorry
What am I apologising for? No, not an illegal war, outrageous second home expenses or broken promises on education. I am apologising because what I have to say hasn’t been reaching everybody.
By now, almost everybody should have received at least one leaflet from me. As part of the democratic process, candidates are encouraged to use the Royal Mail to distribute one leaflet to each elector or household, in addition to doorstep campaigning. If you have not received my distributed leaflet (often known as an “election address”), please rest assured that this is neither a personal slight nor systemic neglect. Rather, it would appear to be some technical problem which I am working to identify (but which at this stage there is probably no time to rectify).
So, if you haven’t had a chance to read my print-based sales pitch, please do accept my apologies and take this opportunity to read it online (larger file size available from Flickr). And please do send me an email with your address, or postcode, so I can track down where the problems have been and what they might be.
Human beings and the political machine
“Politician” has become a dirty word. It’s an insult some people use, tarring anyone who stands for elected office with the same brush. It paints the picture of a suit, an expenses account and an inability to speak like a human being.
But the truth is that we are all politicians. That’s what it is to be human: to a greater or lesser extent, we all involve ourselves with what goes on around us. At some point, we’ve all thought: “I could do a better job than that”. Well, I know that’s what motivated me to get involved in politics back in the dark days of 1992.
Becoming an MP, however, can be a different thing. Under the current electoral system, if you’re a Labour or Conservative politician, you can find yourself a (relatively) “safe seat”, provided you say the right things to the right people. It’s easy to become, or simply to remain, out of touch – and effectively untouchable.
I think I can safely say that most Liberal Democrats start life as human beings, human beings who go on to develop a wide range of skills and experiences. What we have in common is the determination to change things so they work better and make life fairer. And when we’re on the doorstep, in the cold and damp, smiling through the rain, don’t doubt that we take what we do seriously. If we happen to crack the odd joke in between policy discussions, it might just be a reminder that somewhere, hiding beneath the politician, there is a human being.
Questions, questions (2)
I forgot to mention: there should still be time to see Nick Clegg being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman. Will the other party leaders be brave enough?
Questions, questions…
I write this brief posting having just watched the first Leaders’ Debate on ITV1. The instant polls put Nick Clegg in front by a mile – gaining 43% support on the ITV poll and 58% in the Channel 4 poll. If that level of support were translated to the ballot box, Nick Clegg would be Prime Minister. Roll on, May 6th.
Meanwhile, Glasgow Central had its own Question Time last night, the whole 90 minutes being devoted to climate change. No polls were taken after the meeting; but my agent was smiling, which is always a good sign. One reason to smile, despite the seriousness of the threats to the global environment, is that the Liberal Democrats have detailed, costed, achievable proposals to help counter those threats, proposals which are highlighted (or rather tabbed) in green on nearly every page and in every policy area of the Liberal Democrat Manifesto, launched earlier that day. Environmental awareness is a green spine running through the manifesto, the backbone on which our plans for economic recovery and human prosperity, not to mention biodiversity for its own sake, hang. I commend this manifesto to the electorate.
