Drinks for Andrew Reeves – Belfast Edition

Andrew Reeves

Cross posted on Stephen’s Liberal Journal

I’m just in from Liberal Drinks in Belfast. Ian Walton from the Welsh Liberal Democrats so it was a reason to meet up, but part of the evening was a memory of Andrew Reeves of which four of the five present had something in common.

Myself you know about from the recent time we both spent in Scotland, Pam Tilson from her time in London, Ian also from his time there and of course in his current role in Cardiff, and Michael as he and Andrew both were part of the stewarding team at Federal Conference. The other person present was of course Michael’s Andrew.

We toasted our mutual friend, told stories of times we shared with Andrew and thought of what Andrew would have done, plus got on with catching up with each others news.

Even though we couldn’t be at the Joseph Pearce in Edinburgh we were part of the outpouring of lovce for Andrew. At this point we could all almost hear Andrew saying, “That’s enough sitting around, get up, get out and get on with telling people why we’re Lib Dems.” as he would often be heard to say on any campaign he was involved with. And that is what the five of us intend to do.

Delivered to Sender! #MailFail

Postcards intended for MLAs Brian Wilson and Alex Easton but returned to me

As well as helping Michael to draft a response from the Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats to the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister’s (OFMDFM) draft Strategy for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration I sent off my six postcards to my MLAs here in North Down. They read:

Dear (fill in name)

I write to you to indicate my opposition to the draft Strategy for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration currently out for consultation.

This strategy lacks in focus, dedication and vision and fails to recognise the needs and rights of a number of marginalised and isolated groups including those living with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and women.

With this in mind I would ask that you, as an Assembly Member and a representative of the people of Northern Ireland, oppose this flawed draft and support amendments to the strategy which would ensure the recognition of issues affecting all marginalised and isolated groups.

Yours truly, Stephen Glenn

All well and good. So I toddled off and got a book of stamps to sent these pre-addressed postcards off to my MLA. There is a place to fill in my address so the MLA knows they are my elected representative.

Guess what?

Today two of mine came back. The one address to Brian Wilson the Green MLA and the other addressed to Alex Easton of the DUP. They don’t appear to have even been to Stormont but appear to have been delivered to my return address directly. That is 33%, two out the six that have been returned.

Northern Irish quarter of Golden Dozen

Every week Liberal Democrat Voice produces a Golden Dozen of the top Lib Dem blogs of the week.

The Golden Dozen features the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator, together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

This week a little bit of history was made as 3 of the twelve, indeed three of those most popular seven, were written here in Northern Ireland. Here is how they appeared on the list:

1. David Laws Doesn’t Want to Return to Government on Stephen’s Liberal Journal.
“It is a sad case when someone is forcibly outed and loses their va-va voom as appears to be the case with one of the sharpest minds in the Lib Dem parliamentary team.”

3. Outrage at action of liberal youth executive on Michael Carchrie Campbell’s Gyronny Herald.
Unimpressed by their endorsement of Tim Farron for President: “I am outraged by this usurpation of the members’ rights.”

5. Stephen Gilbert MP on Why He is Backing Tim Farron for President on Stephen’s Liberal Journal.
Tim Farron sets his record straight (so to speak).

Stephen has featured on the list many times in the past but this is Michael’s first appearance. It shows how on the pulse and how well crafted the blogs from the two bloggers who contribute to this blog are. We do hope to add more contributors soon.

For those of you who are aware of events over this last week this achievement is even more outstanding.

our flabber is gasted

Yesterday evening, Total Politics published its list of the top 75 Liberal Democrat blogs.

• I was pleased to see that Lib Dem Voice came at the top.
• I was delighted to see that contributor to this blog, Stephen Glenn was positioned at №7, but as I scrolled down
• I was completely flabbergasted to discover that Liberal Democrats in Northern Ireland has come in at №75.

Quite how this has happened is anybody’s guess, but we are very pleased at this recognition given our rather short existence. May this be a sign of things to come.

Seriously, congratulations to Stephen on his placing at №7 in the Liberal Democrats category, and also his placing at №7 (again) in the Scottish blogs category. I wonder where he will come in the overall.