25 May 2015

Kim Jong Un is guest editor of Lib Dem Voice

Well you would have thought so from this pathetic article defending those responsible for the party's election disaster by using the excuse of legitimate concerns about staff welfare. 

What Caron Lindsay and the Lib Dem Voice Team are failing to realise is that by letting Ryan Coetzee, Tim Gordon, Hillary Stephenson and other senior (and highly paid) exectutives avoid legitimate criticism of their decision making, they are doing the party a big disservice.  Those at the top are not 'party staff' - they are executive management and it was their actions and decisions that determined the Lib Dem campaign.  They were the people carrying out the 'comfort' polls, writing the messaging, and advising the leadership on what to say and when.  In short they were responsible for the failure of the 2015 campaign.  And they should take responsibility and resign (like the Leader of the Party).

One final thought - if Coetzee is such a shrinking violet and unable to take criticism why then would he write a superficial and frankly deluded article for the Guardian (and reproduced by LDV) basically saying he ran the best possible campaign and wouldn't even change it now knowing its result. 

If you're foolish enough to try and  polish a turd in public - then don't complain when several buckets of the stuff get thrown back in your direction.

22 May 2015

First test train on Borders railway

The reopening of the Waverley route proceeds apace with the first test run along the entire length of the line. Borders Rail has some footage.

An interesting question for any railway anoraks out there.  The locomotive is number 37 604 and a quick check on Wikipedia  says they were built between 1960 and 65 and were frequently used in Scotland.  Therefore the question is - had 37 604 ever run over the Waverley route before this journey?
 

12 May 2015

After the rout...

Last week's results weren't a complete surprise to everyone - as far back as May 2012 I postulated that without a change of srategy the party faced an existential crisis.

The result on Thursday and the hole the party now finds itself in is a direct result of the strategy pursued by those at the very top of the party - both at Westminster and at HQ.

Nick Clegg to his credit (and in some style) has done the decent thing; taken responsibility and resigned. Now is the time for his coterie of incompetents to do the same. Tim Gordon, Hilary Stephenson, Ryan Coetzee, Tom Smithard et al should now resign too – taking responsibility for the disaster they caused and preventing any more of our membership fees going to waste on over inflated salaries. Doing this will also make sure the junior staff and volunteers – who were not responsible for the strategic decisions – aren’t blamed for their bosses failings.

And with more than 10,000 new members since Thursday - they if no-one else - deserve to have their subscriptions spent on a clean slate.