You may of noticed my absence on both here & Twitter. That is due to me being busy but also wanting to have a bit of a relaxing time. The busy part was attending two conferences/meetings. They could not of been more different, the Scot LibDem Conference in Inverness & the HMDSN Hirschsprung's meeting in Glasgow.
My wife, Chris & I set off on the Friday morning. Chris not interested in the LibDem's but taking the advantage of a rare opportunity for some decent shops. This was my first party conference and so did not know what to expect.
What were my thoughts on the conference? I know I am a little late but i hope you will find it interesting. I enjoyed being there and listening to the debate. I thought it was good of Willie Rennie to take time out to sit and talk to me, we had only spoken on Twitter. To be honest quite exciting to see for the first time some of my political hero's like Charles Kennedy, Ming, Malcolm Bruce, etc. Some of these where not the heroes in my mind that they once were. This was one reason why I joined the party a couple of months ago. If I was to debate and criticise the way the party was going then I felt I needed to show my loyalty to the party that I thought the LibDem's were. Some of our elected representative thought that this was quite amusing, even Charles used it as his quote of the conference in his Dinner speech. Maybe our elected politicians find it odd to have standards & morals.
I found most of the debates very safe nothing the press or the members could get worked up about, except for the last emergence motion on the second referendum question but more of that later. The big guns came on, Moore, Clegg, Alexander, Bruce, Davy & Rennie and spoke about what a wonderful job the LibDem's had done. How we should all be pleased and shout out about the achievements. Yes we have put into practice a lot but at what cost? One of the costs to the party is distrusted, not just by the electorate as a whole but by party members. If we make promises in the next general election what do they mean? We have been voting for the destruction of the NHS in England, we have voted for the Welfare Reforms, the changes in the tax credit system will affect the poorest families. One party member was wondering if he and wife should give up work as next month he will be worse off. Are these the policies we voted for in 2010? Did we ever think that a LibDem party would be instrumental in bring these into force? Senior people told me that a line should be drawn under the past and we should praise the good we have done. I thought that line had been drawn with the VAT increase, EMA & Tuition Fees where we broke our promise. If that was not the line, is the Welfare & NHS reforms the line or shall we have to draw yet a 3rd or 4th line. Most economist & Danny (on newsnight) now say we will be going into the next election having to say there will be yet more cuts needed. We had hoped to be able to say, look the last 5 years were hard but the job is done. We won't be able to say that, all we can say is yes it was hard we have come so far but we still have 2 more years of it or even more.
Another senior Westminster minister told a fringe meeting I attended & dared to ask a question criticising the party, that if we were feed-up reading bad news about the coalition every time we opened a newspaper, there was a simple answer, 'don't open the newspaper', they were all against us. Silly members, we should not be listening to the media but just listen to party bulletins. They are the only way we can get the truth. Very liberal ideas.
Also at the fringe meetings our views were being sought about Home Rule, the referendum which I quite liked. That was until minister after minister came to the platform putting the party line. One question, no 16-18 year old votes, now not 2014, Salmond & the SNP being demonised at every opportunity. Has Moore's consultation been completed and the results published? Ming's Home Rule conversation reported? The party hierachy has set our policy and it is up to us to follow, just the same as on NHS, Welfare, etc. The party members can have their say but are not heard or acted on.
I did not go to the final debate of the final day, most people would of been itching to go or have gone.The motion was going to lose and Sunderland were playing Newcastle at the same time. My first taste for real life won, the party to a certain extent won. Not only did I want to go but I wanted to speak. I was disillusioned as to what good it would do and I thought we had a chance of stuffing the Mags. Well we almost did, we drew but it made me feel better about life more than anything else I had heard that weekend.
The following weekend I was holding a conference in Glasgow for parents & there kids suffering from Hirschsprungs If you want to know what it is just click on the name. No point in us heading home again, so a slow drive south not sure via where, It was quite a detour, Over to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula and from there the ferry to Mull. This was our first time on either and loved it so much we stayed an extra day. Over to Oban and somehow ended up in Kilsyth via my homeland of Balquhidder. Then Glasgow. A whole 5 days of nothing except looking over beautiful landscapes. No politics, joy of joys.
On the Friday evening & Saturday the real world hit. Parents coming, some booking into the same hotel we are in from all over the UK and Ireland. In contrast to the previous weekend, there were frightened parents wanting information for their children, wanting hope. One child who looked last year that he may not survive. Another who is healthy only by sitting on the toilet for over an hour every 2 days and washing his bowel out via a tube from his tummy into the top of his bowel. Another who has to carry two bags around 24/7 to feed him and keep him alive. Another who hides his soiled underwear as he is so shamed.
Nobody talks about these kids, why? Well you start talking about bowel motions, soiling, smells and people turn away in disgust, others start to feel sick. Why? Going to the toilet is the most levelling thing of all. It does not matter how much money we have, what family we are born into, which country we come from, we all need to do it. No one else can do it for them.
This is my real world. Not the political world where if we don't like what we read we are told don't read it. These parents and children wake up every morning and have to deal with these issues. A large number of the parents can only do it with the help of pills. They can't say I won't look at it, I won't acknowledge what is happening to me and my child & the others in the family.
I may be only a simple voter, a member of the party wanting to see it return to its roots. It is folks like me that the leadership needs to convince. Maybe they should open the newspapers and read fewer party bulletins. Maybe see the real world and not what they think is the real world.
My wife, Chris & I set off on the Friday morning. Chris not interested in the LibDem's but taking the advantage of a rare opportunity for some decent shops. This was my first party conference and so did not know what to expect.
What were my thoughts on the conference? I know I am a little late but i hope you will find it interesting. I enjoyed being there and listening to the debate. I thought it was good of Willie Rennie to take time out to sit and talk to me, we had only spoken on Twitter. To be honest quite exciting to see for the first time some of my political hero's like Charles Kennedy, Ming, Malcolm Bruce, etc. Some of these where not the heroes in my mind that they once were. This was one reason why I joined the party a couple of months ago. If I was to debate and criticise the way the party was going then I felt I needed to show my loyalty to the party that I thought the LibDem's were. Some of our elected representative thought that this was quite amusing, even Charles used it as his quote of the conference in his Dinner speech. Maybe our elected politicians find it odd to have standards & morals.
I found most of the debates very safe nothing the press or the members could get worked up about, except for the last emergence motion on the second referendum question but more of that later. The big guns came on, Moore, Clegg, Alexander, Bruce, Davy & Rennie and spoke about what a wonderful job the LibDem's had done. How we should all be pleased and shout out about the achievements. Yes we have put into practice a lot but at what cost? One of the costs to the party is distrusted, not just by the electorate as a whole but by party members. If we make promises in the next general election what do they mean? We have been voting for the destruction of the NHS in England, we have voted for the Welfare Reforms, the changes in the tax credit system will affect the poorest families. One party member was wondering if he and wife should give up work as next month he will be worse off. Are these the policies we voted for in 2010? Did we ever think that a LibDem party would be instrumental in bring these into force? Senior people told me that a line should be drawn under the past and we should praise the good we have done. I thought that line had been drawn with the VAT increase, EMA & Tuition Fees where we broke our promise. If that was not the line, is the Welfare & NHS reforms the line or shall we have to draw yet a 3rd or 4th line. Most economist & Danny (on newsnight) now say we will be going into the next election having to say there will be yet more cuts needed. We had hoped to be able to say, look the last 5 years were hard but the job is done. We won't be able to say that, all we can say is yes it was hard we have come so far but we still have 2 more years of it or even more.
Another senior Westminster minister told a fringe meeting I attended & dared to ask a question criticising the party, that if we were feed-up reading bad news about the coalition every time we opened a newspaper, there was a simple answer, 'don't open the newspaper', they were all against us. Silly members, we should not be listening to the media but just listen to party bulletins. They are the only way we can get the truth. Very liberal ideas.
Also at the fringe meetings our views were being sought about Home Rule, the referendum which I quite liked. That was until minister after minister came to the platform putting the party line. One question, no 16-18 year old votes, now not 2014, Salmond & the SNP being demonised at every opportunity. Has Moore's consultation been completed and the results published? Ming's Home Rule conversation reported? The party hierachy has set our policy and it is up to us to follow, just the same as on NHS, Welfare, etc. The party members can have their say but are not heard or acted on.
I did not go to the final debate of the final day, most people would of been itching to go or have gone.The motion was going to lose and Sunderland were playing Newcastle at the same time. My first taste for real life won, the party to a certain extent won. Not only did I want to go but I wanted to speak. I was disillusioned as to what good it would do and I thought we had a chance of stuffing the Mags. Well we almost did, we drew but it made me feel better about life more than anything else I had heard that weekend.
The following weekend I was holding a conference in Glasgow for parents & there kids suffering from Hirschsprungs If you want to know what it is just click on the name. No point in us heading home again, so a slow drive south not sure via where, It was quite a detour, Over to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula and from there the ferry to Mull. This was our first time on either and loved it so much we stayed an extra day. Over to Oban and somehow ended up in Kilsyth via my homeland of Balquhidder. Then Glasgow. A whole 5 days of nothing except looking over beautiful landscapes. No politics, joy of joys.
On the Friday evening & Saturday the real world hit. Parents coming, some booking into the same hotel we are in from all over the UK and Ireland. In contrast to the previous weekend, there were frightened parents wanting information for their children, wanting hope. One child who looked last year that he may not survive. Another who is healthy only by sitting on the toilet for over an hour every 2 days and washing his bowel out via a tube from his tummy into the top of his bowel. Another who has to carry two bags around 24/7 to feed him and keep him alive. Another who hides his soiled underwear as he is so shamed.
Nobody talks about these kids, why? Well you start talking about bowel motions, soiling, smells and people turn away in disgust, others start to feel sick. Why? Going to the toilet is the most levelling thing of all. It does not matter how much money we have, what family we are born into, which country we come from, we all need to do it. No one else can do it for them.
This is my real world. Not the political world where if we don't like what we read we are told don't read it. These parents and children wake up every morning and have to deal with these issues. A large number of the parents can only do it with the help of pills. They can't say I won't look at it, I won't acknowledge what is happening to me and my child & the others in the family.
I may be only a simple voter, a member of the party wanting to see it return to its roots. It is folks like me that the leadership needs to convince. Maybe they should open the newspapers and read fewer party bulletins. Maybe see the real world and not what they think is the real world.
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