miss_s_b: #ldconf: the mood

miss_s_b (

miss_s_b) wrote,
@ 2011-03-14 12:34 pm UTC

Current mood:	determined
Entry tags:	#ldconf, libdemmery

#ldconf: the mood

There's always an overall mood to conference. Liverpool was cheerful and full of hope, for example, which resonated well with the host city. This one, though... was harder to categorise for me. It felt like there was something missing. Well, there were several things missing, from our beloved blogger of the year, to Viv who always leads us in We Shall Overcome at Glee Club, but there was something missing in the atmosphere. Old friends and new were there in abundance (shout out to the DELGA massive, among many many others), and yet somehow the smiles and hugs felt slightly brittle.

I think there's still a degree of discomfort in the party that we are now being protested against, rather than being the protesters. The protesters were mostly ok, and I had interesting conversations with several of them, but some of their behaviour left a sour note. When is it acceptable to tip a disabled person out of their wheelchair? When is it acceptable to hurl abuse at children? And while Alex4Galloway's response to her treatment was admirable - getting up to do a speech and tacking a bit onto the beginning about refusing to remove her lanyard, which I actually punched the air at - it should not be necessary.

Even Glee Club felt a bit subdued - Huppmeister J's very witty riff on Tom Lehrer notwithstanding - and the lack of Viv, plus kicking off with a modified-for-Barnsley version of Losing Deposits was sobering to say the least. The most heartfelt "singing" was definitely reserved for 12 Days of Coalition, and "BUGGER ALL" was belted out with almost venomous gusto.

So yes, we're finding bedding in to coalition difficult, and we don't understand why we are getting all the flak when we are the ones who are the brakes on the Tory juggernaut - or rather, we do understand, but we don't like it. But the doom mongers who say the party is going to fracture? I don't think they know us very well. This party has seen much much worse adversity than this, and come through with head held high. So yes, we're a little hurt, a little fragile, and a bit annoyed at our continued batterings for things which either we can't do anything about, or we are actively trying to do what the people who are bashing us want us to do and they're bashing us anyway. But we're not splitting, we're not giving up, and we're not losing our determination.

We're not a party of superficiality, we're a party of substance, and if you keep bashing away at the surface, all you are going to do is reveal that substance more clearly.

(8 comments) - (Post a new comment)
(Flat) (Top-level comments only)

	no subject andrewhickey.info 2011-03-14 01:47 pm UTC (link)
	That last bit almost had me bursting into tears at work... (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 3 comments) (Show 3 comments)

	no subject tajasel 2011-03-14 04:37 pm UTC (link)
	Likewise, in a good way :) (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject miss_s_b 2011-03-14 05:49 pm UTC (link)
	then give me your link love! An not averse to being lib digged either innocent expression (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject andrewhickey.info 2011-03-14 06:59 pm UTC (link)
	Will do, for all the good it'll do you. I don't use LibDig though. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

no subject

lonemagpie
2011-03-14 02:18 pm UTC (link)

we don't understand why we are getting all the flak when we are the ones who are the brakes on the Tory juggernaut

I think the problem is that the LDs *should* be the brakes on the Tory juggernaut, getting us all out of the Tory/Labour two-parties only thing, but *aren't*. Or at least aren't being brakes enough, or aren't being perceived as actually doing any braking on said Tory juggernaut.

If I was going to say anything to the party's MPs, it wouldn't be "turn Labour" or "ditch the Tories" or anything like that - it'd be "actually do your fucking jobs"

(Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 3 comments) (Show 3 comments)

	no subject matgb 2011-03-14 02:33 pm UTC (link)
	aren't being perceived Is the key point. From internal stuff, they are, but the point of collective responsibility as interpreted by the glorious civil service, is that it's not talked about openly. That needs to change as well if coalitions become the norm. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

no subject

miss_s_b
2011-03-14 03:14 pm UTC (link)

I think perception is the key word there. There's a lot of stuff this government has done that tories governing alone would not have dreamed of - cutting taxes for the poorest, not buying trident, investing in green tech. Would a tory equalities minister have been talking on the telly last night about how trans phobia is simply unacceptable? Would we even HAVE a tory equalities minister?

Ok, so we need to get better at countering the perception that we're not doing anything, and part of that is media handling, and part of it is better communication both ways between the grass and the brass, but to say we're outnumbered 6 to 1 by tories in the government, I don't think we're doing THAT badly. It's not enough, and we need to keep pushing, but it never will be till we govern alone.

(Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject trialia 2011-03-18 01:25 am UTC (link)
	Frankly, I'm a party member and my own perception is that we're not doing nearly enough... (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

(8 comments) - (Post a new comment)
(Flat) (Top-level comments only)