Today I joined 3,000 Liberal Democrats at Hyde Park Corner. EU flags were waving, placards were being held aloft and there was an abundance of stickers.
Through the somewhat hit-and-miss medium of handheld loudspeaker, Catherine Bearder MEP addressed the crowd, followed by party leader Vince Cable. They wished us well on the upcoming march and said its timing was key, as Parliament will debate the repeal bill (formally known as the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill) on Monday. The Conservative government has included in the Bill provision to give itself powers over which pieces of EU law remain copied over into UK law, and which are amended or repealed, bypassing any further scrutiny by Parliament. These are known as Henry VIII powers: in short, a power grab.
Let me take you back to a rainy Saturday morning, 28 years ago. I'm doing what many 9-year-olds do on a Saturday morning, watching TV. It's a children's programme called Going Live, presented by Philip Schofield - some of you might even remember it, and depending on your age, nostalically feel it was no match for Swap Shop or Saturday Superstore.
It's Lib Dem Autumn Conference in Bournemouth over the next few days. Here are the highlights of LGBT+ Lib Dems' plans for the next few days.
Exhibition Stall. We will be at stand 17 in the Liberal Democrats Autumn Conference 2017 Exhibition on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Join us to pick up our Members Handbook, to join or renew, to hear about what we've been up to this year, and to pick up paperwork ahead of our AGM on Sunday.
So, here, as promised are four dangerous ideas for the future. Please be clear. I am not necessarily proposing these. Just asking why we are not even discussing them?
Dangerous idea 1
We are guiltily obsessed with student fees. The fact that we don't need to be, because the principle is right, does not make life easier (how I wish we had called them a Graduate tax!). But now with the student loan debt rising, do we not also have to consider how we get better value for what students pay? If we have a tertiary education system which cannot be paid for without loading more and more debt on our young, should we not be looking at the system, not just at how they pay? We persist in the medieval practice of taking students to medieval ivy covered buildings, to receive their education in the medieval manner from minds, too many of which, when it comes to delivering education, are stuck in the middle ages. Yet distance learning was pioneered in Britain at the Open University when communicating with your tutor meant stuffing your academic paper in an envelope, licking it, sticking a stamp on it and putting it in the local post-box. Today the whole planet is into distance learning. Many of our own Universities make tons of money providing distance learning degree courses to students all over the world. But none of them are in Britain! If we were to convert at least part of our tertiary education syllabus to distance learning we might reduce the cost of degrees without diminishing their quality, give students more flexibility, force lecturers into the modern age, widen access and create a superb platform for adult education all at the same time. Why, beloved Lib Dems, do we allow medieval vested interests to preserve our ivy covered tertiary education system exactly as it is, loading more and more debt on students and preventing us from doing what much of the rest of the world is doing already? Just asking.
At their conference in Bournemouth later this month, the Liberal Democrats will point out all the downsides of leaving the European Union and reinforce its vigorous defence of jobs, living standards, individual rights, international co-operation and the British national interest.
They will be asked to support the following motion:
Currently in the UK, people pay 5% VAT on sanitary products. The tax system considers them a "luxury item", meanwhile products like crocodile meat, razors and Jaffa Cakes are all classed as "essential" and so are VAT free.
The Government has pledge to scrap this tax by 2019. Two supermarket giants have taken matters into their own hands by cutting the price of sanitary products by 5%. They've decided to pay the tax so people don't have to.
As Business Secretary I gave binding votes on executive pay policy to shareholders of publicly limited companies, requiring the approval of 50% of shareholders, and allowing a transparent single number for pay.
There was little enthusiasm from the Conservatives for this, but it has had a demonstrable effect on reducing executive pay.
Only 4,600 international students overstayed their visas last year, less than a twentieth of the previous estimates of 100,000, official figures released today have revealed.
For the first time figures have been published based on exit checks from UK ports, showing that 97 per cent of foreign students left the UK after finishing their studies.
The government has released its latest Brexit position paper on the role of the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) after Brexit.
We welcome this sensible and long overdue climbdown by the Prime Minister. It shows Theresa May's red lines are becoming more blurred by the day.
The government seems to have belatedly accepted it won't be possible to end the EU court's influence in the UK without damaging our free trade and security cooperation with Europe.
The full agenda and directory for September's Lib Dem federal conference in Bournemouth are out and you can read them in full below. Included in the agenda for Saturday is the latest round of consultation on the party's strategy.
A new guide to help people understand the motions has also been published along with an addendum to the agenda (also below) which sets out the motion on Europe that will be debated.
Even if the government's plans for new customs arrangements with the EU were agreed to by the EU, these proposals will only delay the economic pain caused by leaving the customs union.
The only way to ensure 'free and frictionless' trade with the EU is to remain a full member of the Customs Union and Single Market.
By Geoff Date, Westbourne Organiser, Brighton & Hove Liberal Democrats
Brighton & Hove Lib Dems wish that Brighton & Hove Albion have a successful season.
We certainly approve of Albion's alternative kit, especially the main colour! The new gold and black alternative kit contains a black Nike Swoosh alongside Albion's Seagulls logo.
A Crisis report is forecasting a rise in rough sleeping.
In 2017 no-one should be homeless, living in a bed and breakfast or worrying whether they will have a roof over their head from one month to the next. This is a national scandal which the government are failing to tackle, so it will only get worse.
New Treasury figures have revealed that the UK made a net payment of roughly £156m a week to the European Union in 2016/17, the lowest level for five years.
Treasury figures suggest the UK's net contribution to the EU budget for the 12 months to March 2017 was £8.1bn, or around £156m a week.
The Leave campaign promised £350m extra a week for the NHS.
By Geoff Date, Westbourne Organiser, Brighton & Hove Liberal Democrats
In the Argus of the 27 July is an Article Headed "Councillor pay cut will take six months to implement".
They have got to be joking; as a former County Councillor, I can tell them, all they to do is pass a resolution, and then forward their decision to the independent remuneration panel for their comments, which they can ignore. Or if they wish the councillors concerned can write a cheque each month refunding the required reduction (I know, they have paid tax & NI on it).
By Carrie Hynds, Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hove
During his time as Lib Dem party leader, Tim Farron declared a "national emergency" in housing. In Brighton & Hove, we have a local housing crisis on top of this, with our cost-to-wage ratio significantly worse than the national average.
Put simply, many people who work here can't afford to live here. The average rent for a one-bed flat is over £950/month, and the average house price is 12 times higher than the average annual wage. Street homelessness has doubled in the past year in our city. Against this backdrop, only 65 affordable homes have been built in the past twelve months, whilst Brighton & Hove City Council has allowed developers to buy their way out of affordable housing requirements.
Scandinavian-style policies could counter Labour's 'cult', the new Liberal Democrat leader believes
Vince Cable has signalled he will examine radical new taxes on wealth to ease inequality in Britain, as he vowed to win over voters from the "cult" of Labour under Jeremy Corbyn.
The new Liberal Democrat leader, who secured the job last week after he emerged as the only candidate, said he wanted to look at ideas such as aligning capital gains tax with income tax to ensure the richest pay more.
Vince Cable MP became the new leader of the Liberal Democrats at an event in Westminster on Thursday afternoon.
In his speech he descibed the gaping hole in the centre of British politics which the Liberal Democrat party has an opportunity - and a national duty - to occupy. Both the Tory and Labour parties have been captured by ideological zealots, driven by a hatred of Europe or a hatred of capitalism. They have, he said, effectively abandoned economics.
The country has become polarised and divided as never before. The moderation, the common sense and mutual respect which characterises British politics at its best is currently totally missing. Our party should occupy that space. We can meet that challenge.
Ambitious for our country; ambitious for our party
Vince Cable believes that we are the only party that can represent the millions of liberal-minded people alarmed by the direction this country is taking: people, whether they voted remain or leave, who hate the intolerance, xenophobia and division unleashed by the Brexit vote. He wants the Liberal Democrats to be at the centre of political life: a credible, effective party of national and local government, and a voice of sanity on Europe.
To achieve this, we will have to fight for every vote and every seat. It can be done: we have a record membership and the enormous energy that thousands of new members have brought to the party. Vince believes that we have the ability to give that energy a lead, to hit the headlines and to make our party relevant again.
To build a better Britain we need to give people powers over the decisions which affect their lives, including Brexit. We need to build an economy which is successful and gives everyone a stake and everyone a chance. We need properly funded and effective public services, we need to hold out the prospect of a better future for young people and we need to fix Britain's broken politics, to give everyone an equal say. That is Vince Cable's agenda for the future.
Vince Cable's record
Vince has been active in the party for over 35 years. He has fought ten general elections and been the MP for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and then from 2017 to the present day. This June he was re-elected with the largest majority of any Liberal Democrat MP.
As Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, he reformed the banks and created the world's first Green Investment Bank and the British Business Bank. As a cabinet minister he relaunched the apprenticeship model of training, created the Catapult network of innovation centres, boosted the science budget, introduced shared parental leave and stronger protection against monopoly, launched a successful campaign to get more women on company boards, protected adult community learning.
On Brexit
Vince thinks Brexit may never happen. He maintains when people see the economic costs they will turn against it and a cross-party coalition of opponents to Brexit may develop. Cable said, "the whole question of continued membership will once again arise" if people's living standards worsened and unemployment rose. A Survation poll recently pointed to 53% of people backing a referendum on accepting or rejecting the final Brexit terms.
Brighton & Hove Liberal Democrats have today called on Lloyd Russell Moyle MP to stand down as city councillor for East Brighton ward.
They issued the following statement: "We call on Lloyd Russell Moyle, MP, to resign as city councillor for East Brighton ward to make way for a councillor who can fully represent the residents of East Brighton at City Hall."
By Carrie Hynds, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hove
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire finally admitted last week - after the fifth missed deadline - that there's a state of deadlock and paralysis in the talks to restore a Northern Irish executive at Stormont.
A summer of stagnation is terrible news for Northern Ireland, particularly against the backdrop of continued uncertainty over the UK/EU border and with the onset of marching season. The additional £1bn of funding for Northern Ireland secured by the Tory-DUP arrangement is utterly meaningless without Stormont setting a budget. Northern Ireland is currently being run on a 75% budget by its civil service, with health and social care services barely functioning.
But the more I ask, the more the media pick up on it - the harder it will become for the Government to ignore. And then the sooner they get down to serious negotiations to resolve this dispute, so people in Eastbourne and beyond who are so badly affected, can get their lives back.
"Theresa May was worried that she would go down in history as the lunch snatcher. Dropping these plans is just another humiliating climb down, in what seems to becoming a long list for the Prime Minister.
"This government has made so many u-turns on so many issues we are all dizzy. It's hard to know what they believe any more.
![Vince Cable (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)](/en/image/5S0K00/600/600/vince-cable-66.png "Vince Cable (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)")
![Jo Swinson (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)](/en/image/5S0JJJ/600/600/jo-swinson-24.png "Jo Swinson (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)")
