Lib Dems

[Strontium]

Oh, absolutely. The Tories are now the third biggest party, but they run the government. I merely offer it as a counterpoint to the idea that liberalism is moribund in this country.

[Numero Veinticinco]

I generally judge whichever party got the most votes as the biggest. It seems a better gauge of who supports what than those who pay to be members.

 

Personally, I don’t think Socialism is the most widely supported political ideology but if I used that method of gauging political beliefs, it indicates it is by far. Not a sensible conclusion to draw, perhaps.

 

I do agree with you that liberalism is alive and well, especially socially. I just think many liberals believe that the Liberal Democrat’s are not the best bet for getting their beliefs on the top table. Especially us social liberals. I’d bet that many economic liberals don’t donate to the Tories but vote for them, hence the slight difference in membership between LD and Tory.

 

So yeah, not dead, just not voting for the LDs.

[cloggypop]

I'd like to book a taxi for 100,000 people. Destination: freedom.

Repped for making me laugh like fuck, intentional or not.

[VladimirIlyich]

Repped for making me laugh like fuck, intentional or not.

They'll get lost looking for that signpost saying 'Utopia.' Will end up settling in 'Middle Earth.'

[SammyAftershave]

Bumped for Cyril Smith

 

Roger that.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Bumped for Cyril Smith

Let's never forget that he wasn't just a paedo - he was worse than that.

 

[Strontium]

Let's never forget that he wasn't just a paedo - he was worse than that.

That's right, he used to be a member of the Labour Party...

[Bjornebye]

That's right, he used to be a member of the Labour Party...

 

 

Brave words considering... 

[Numero Veinticinco]

That's right, he used to be a member of the Labour Party...

[Bjornebye]

Oh he has gone for a cry. 

[Strontium]

Oh shut up.

[General Dryness]

Oh he has gone for a cry. 

 

 

Oh shut up.

 

[Pureblood]

[Creator Supreme]

He was a Labour Party member for 14 years. However he was a Liberal Party member for 24 years over 2 spells, Independent for 4 years, and spent the last 22 years of his life as a Lib Dem.

 

I think we know where his political loyalties truly laid.

 

No matter his politics, he was a dirty fat paedo, and an apologist for a dealer in death!

[AngryOfTuebrook]

This is from the Echo website.  I think it might be a fuck-up with the setting-out of the page, but you never know with this lot.

 

[Jose Jones]

I always quite liked the Lib Dems and even voted for them a couple of times (not too hard when Kate Hoey was the Labour option).

It's a shame they're so bad at politics.

[Strontium]

Liberals are notoriously bad at politics. Disraeli said it was because politics is a practical business, and liberalism is a philosophical idea. I won't go into the endless tactical fuckups that were made before and during the coalition years because that has been done to death, but it gets my goat when people think it was a case of "flexible principles" or anything cynical like that, when it really was nothing more than gross ineptitude from well-meaning people who didn't pay enough attention to pragmatic realities. Of course, disposable cynicism and failed idealism tend to come out looking pretty similar, and people who are angry at you are hardly going to care much about the distinction. It is a shame, because we really are different to the bigger parties. But perception is everything in this business.

[Jose Jones]

Strontium Dog, on 11 Oct 2017 - 11:37 AM, said:

 

Liberals are notoriously bad at politics. Disraeli said it was because politics is a practical business, and liberalism is a philosophical idea. I won't go into the endless tactical fuckups that were made before and during the coalition years because that has been done to death, but it gets my goat when people think it was a case of "flexible principles" or anything cynical like that, when it really was nothing more than gross ineptitude from well-meaning people who didn't pay enough attention to pragmatic realities. Of course, disposable cynicism and failed idealism tend to come out looking pretty similar, and people who are angry at you are hardly going to care much about the distinction. It is a shame, because we really are different to the bigger parties. But perception is everything in this business.

Good post, and again without going into the tactical fuckups of the coalition, that is what has indeed eroded the Lib Dems sense of difference with the public in my opinion.

It used to be that people could reasonably rely on the Lib Dems for some evidence-based policies, particularly on stuff like decriminalisation of drugs, the justice system and civil liberties.

The perception of chucking principle, and evidence, in for a sniff of power was heightened by the student loan business and the failure of voting reform. No-one really spotted or remembers the other policy areas where the Lib Dems reined in the Tories. And indeed it's a much harder sell - cos you have to then make the case for why you were in partnership with a party that needed reining in.

[Numero Veinticinco]

Liberals are notoriously bad at politics. Disraeli said it was because politics is a practical business, and liberalism is a philosophical idea. I won't go into the endless tactical fuckups that were made before and during the coalition years because that has been done to death, but it gets my goat when people think it was a case of "flexible principles" or anything cynical like that, when it really was nothing more than gross ineptitude from well-meaning people who didn't pay enough attention to pragmatic realities. Of course, disposable cynicism and failed idealism tend to come out looking pretty similar, and people who are angry at you are hardly going to care much about the distinction. It is a shame, because we really are different to the bigger parties. But perception is everything in this business.

I support this version of SD.

[Kidder Bukowski]

How did that cunt ever interfere with anybody? He must have needed a floor mirror to even see his knob.

[SammyAftershave]

[Gnasher]

Liberals are notoriously bad at politics. Disraeli said it was because politics is a practical business, and liberalism is a philosophical idea. I won't go into the endless tactical fuckups that were made before and during the coalition years because that has been done to death, but it gets my goat when people think it was a case of "flexible principles" or anything cynical like that, when it really was nothing more than gross ineptitude from well-meaning people who didn't pay enough attention to pragmatic realities. Of course, disposable cynicism and failed idealism tend to come out looking pretty similar, and people who are angry at you are hardly going to care much about the distinction. It is a shame, because we really are different to the bigger parties. But perception is everything in this business.

Notoriously bad at politics? they're not very good at murder plots either,

 

Any excuse to play this

 

 

https://youtu.be/Kyos-M48B8U

[Strontium]

It's so funny when people use the Lib Dems thread to post about dead people who never stood for election as Lib Dems.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

It's so funny when people use the Lib Dems thread to post about dead people who never stood for election as Lib Dems.

You're not shy about plugging into the history of the Liberal Party when it suits.

 

(I await Rico's usual "consistency, kids".)

[AngryOfTuebrook]

PS

 

For what it's worth, the party this horrible bastard claimed to represent is the least reason to hate him.