Josh Matthews

The liberalism we need: a platform for people to thrive and live their version of a best life

By Josh Matthews | Sun 13th September 2026 - 10:30 am

We need a single guiding point that policy, communication, and a revitalised brand can flow from. Without losing the breadth of values that makes us strong

Most liberals and Liberal Democrats have instincts – and often detailed, powerful, personal articulations – for why they are liberal and/or Lib Dems. Our constitution is also an impressive illustration, as is the history of liberal ideas and achievements. We have many pillars: internationalism, environmentalism, liberty, equality, community, and more – all working together. But that breadth which is so often a strength also presents a struggle: communicating a single, clear vision or “north star” that means the public instinctively and immediately know who we are and what we stand for. 

What liberals and Liberal Democrats often lack is a single guiding beacon for both storytelling and policymaking. 

The idea of a platform – for every individual to thrive and live their own version of a best life –   is increasingly my own personal way of understanding my progressive/social liberal politics… as well as what policy and decision making can ultimately strive toward. It works well on the doorstep. But that needs a conversation to hold long enough that the platform idea becomes natural enough to weave in.

There’s something about the platform that still isn’t quite boiled down enough to make me confident in it as the finished idea. That’s where I’d love some help from anyone who either resonates with or sees the problem in this idea – alongside everyone who has already helped shape it, of course – thank you and we’ll talk more in Brighton! 

A single framing for liberalism: A platform to live your version of a best life.

From that platform comes three core concepts: freedom, fairness, and opportunity. From these our broader value set and policy can flow in all its forms.

  • Meaningful freedom. 

A platform sees freedom really mean something. That meaningful freedom must come from a solid foundation (NOT a safety net for when something goes wrong) that includes health, housing, environment, purpose, political voice, community, education, and all the elements that allow individuals and communities to thrive under their own definitions.

  • Freedom in a fair society that works especially for the least advantaged.

A platform means a fair society – and goodness knows that could be defined in many ways. For me, and I see for many liberals, fairness in many ways means the version of society that works best for the least advantaged. A society that you would think is fair not knowing who you were in it (the “veil of ignorance”). 

  • Genuine equality of opportunity, not just theoretical opportunity written in law.

Opportunity that feels real. Underpinned by all the foundations of meaningful freedom… again: health, housing, environment, purposeful work, political voice, community, education, and more.

What a platform is not…

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 13th September 2026 - 8:30 am

Saudi Arabia

Since the Strait of Hormuz largely closed, Saudi Arabia has increasing amounts of its oil through a pipeline to its oil terminal in Yanbu on the Red Sea. This way they can transport their Asian-bound products through the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean and beyond.

That route goes past Yemen and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait  which is another one of the sea-going world’s chokepoints. On Thursday it was announced that the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have taken control of the city and seaport of Mocha and much of the shoreline of the Red Sea near the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The oil price jumped to $109 a barrel.

Control of the Red Sea has repercussions beyond the price of oil and fertiliser. Sandwiched between the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean, it links Europe and Asia. Twelve to 15 percent of the world’s maritime trade sails through the Red Sea. All of it is within easy range of any missiles or drones on the Yemeni side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That trade is valued at over $1 trillion a year.

The Houthis are in a struggle against the Saudi–backed Yemeni government who told Reuters this week that hundreds of officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are currently in Yemen directing the attack on Mocha and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

According to CNN, more than 100 US military advisers are in Saudi Arabia as part of a new joint forces command, providing the Saudis with intelligence and helping them find Houthi targets. Thus, the war widens and escalates. What began around the Strait of Hormuz is acquiring another front—and another strategic chokepoint.

North Korea

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un  has commissioned two new 5,000-ton destroyers. They will form, he says, part of the country’s “nuclear counteraction system.” The ships have vertical launch systems and are assessed to be capable of firing cruise missiles such as the Hwasal-2, which North Korea claims can carry nuclear warheads. Pyongyang is also developing an 8,700-ton nuclear-powered submarine, whose hull Kim inspected in late 2025.

The North Koreans have come up with the technology amazingly quickly, which is why many intelligence analysts are detecting the Russian hand behind these developments. Kim has sent an estimated 15,000 North Korean troops to fight in the Ukraine War as well as thousands of tons of munitions according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, up to another 50,000 North Koreans are expected.

The technology to build a nuclear-armed navy is likely to be part of the bodies for technology agreement between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Donald Trump responded to the new North Korean threat by drastically curtailing and postponing the annual “Freedom Shield” US-South Korean-Japan military exercises. Originally scheduled for 17-27 August. They did not start until 7 September

South Korea’s response to these machinations is interesting. Seoul is moving towards its own nuclear-powered submarines. President Lee Jae Myung’s government has formally advanced the Jang Bogo N nuclear-powered submarine programme. These would be conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines. They will not, however, be armed with nuclear missiles.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: West Bank Settler Sanctions

By Tom Arms | Sat 12th September 2026 - 9:37 am

Competing demographic trends inside Israel and its Western traditional supporters in are stacked against the Jewish state.

This week’s round of British-led sanctions against goods produced by West Bank settlers is a recognition of changing Western attitudes towards Israel.

Democracies by their very nature are dominated by short-term electoral cycles of two, four or five years. Demographic attitudinal changes, on the other hand, run over decades. Governments can postpone responding to the demographic realities because the electoral penalty is initially small. Then, quite suddenly, the accumulated change becomes impossible to ignore. Especially if there is a catalyst such as Gaza and the Iran War.

Israel was founded by a political elite with broadly European social-democratic institutions. In the first decades of its existence, Western publics — particularly after the Holocaust and during wars in which Israel appeared to be the vulnerable underdog — identified strongly with it. Living on an Israeli kibbutz became one of the “IN” ways of spending the summer or gap year.

But Israel also changed as its demographic make-up became less European  and more Asian, African and home-grown. These Israelis grew up on the constant shadow of war and they became preoccupied with security and nationalism and increasingly distrustful of Palestinians, Arabs and Iran. Young people in the West became more aware of human-rights-based issues and the Palestinians.

During the 1967 Six-day War a Gallup poll showed that 56 percent of Americans backed Israel. Only four percent supported the Arab cause. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War American support was up to 54 percent. Support for the Arabs remained in single figures.

The arrival of Benjamin Netanyahu and a shift towards more right-wing, nationalistic and security-focused policies started a shift in Western attitudes. In 2010 America’s favourable attitudes towards Israel dropped to 40 percent. The drop was even more marked in Europe. Only 17 percent of Britons expressed support for Israel in 2010. In France the figure was 20 percent and in Canada 23 percent.

After Gaza and the Iran War the drop is more acute. In June 2026, American support for Israel had dropped to 37 percent for Americans and 25 percent among the British. But, more important, was the generational gap because that is the best indicator of future trends. In 2026, among 18 to 34 year olds, 23 percent expressed support for Israel while the figure for the 50-plus generation was 49 percent. In Britain the figureswere16 percent and 30 percent respectively.

Polls in Israel reflect a markedly different picture. Only 13 percent of Israeli Jews 18-34 supported a detailed two-state peace package solution compared to 40 percent for the over 55’s. The disparity is mirrored in issues such as Gaza, the Lebanon and Iran.

In Israel the demographic trends are moving in opposite directions from that of young Western voters. In the West the young especially are becoming increasingly critical of Israel, while young Jewish Israelis are generally more nationalistic, dismissive of the two-state solution, tougher on security issues and more hawkish  than their parents.

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George Cunningham

Recollections of 9/11

By George Cunningham | Fri 11th September 2026 - 5:29 pm

George Cunningham was present in New York on 9/11. Here are his personal recollections of what happened taken from his book, “Journey to Become a Diplomat” ISBN 978-0871242136

At first, I did not know anything had happened. It was one of those typically summery Septembers in New York in 2001, and I was attending as an EU diplomat the traditional international prayer breakfast at the start of a new United Nations (UN) General Assembly. Mr. Hang Seung-soo of South Korea stood up to make his speech. There was a hush to hear his words, but something made my ears prick up, …

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Dominic Sokalski

Why we need a Trade NATO

By Dominic Sokalski | Fri 11th September 2026 - 3:31 pm

Mark Carney was right: if middle powers aren’t at the table, they’re on the menu. A credible ‘Trade NATO’ would make the great powers think twice.

At Davos earlier this year, Mark Carney delivered a stark warning: the rules-based international order no longer works and a new architecture is needed. We are living through a “rupture”, not a transition, in which great powers increasingly use tariffs, supply chains and economic dependence as tools of coercion.

At the Lowy Institute in March, Carney put more flesh on the bones. He called for a “dense web” of middle-power partnerships and “variable geometry”: different coalitions working together on different problems, from AI and critical minerals to trade and supply chains.

But he stopped short of proposing a standing pact committing those countries to defend each other against economic coercion. I think that matters.

In 2023, the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan signed a joint declaration pledging to deter and address economic coercion. Three years later, Canada is finding out the limits of political declarations when governments change.

If Carney’s rupture is real, we need something legally binding with teeth.

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Alan Dai

‘I Fear a Target on My Back’ — A Liberal Democrat’s fight for Hong Kong’s freedom

By Alan Dai | Fri 11th September 2026 - 1:22 pm

Hong Kong, September 2019. I was on the streets every other day, having just joined the Protect the Children Action group (PtCA). It was the height of the pro-democracy protests. The Hong Kong police shot two people in the eye, a nurse and a journalist, and tear-gassed care homes full of elderly residents. Hong Kongers fought back. Young people may have been the backbone of the protest, but the whole of society mobilised. Alongside those marching peacefully, others handed out food and drink, and the Methodist Church in Wan Chai opened its doors to everyone, offering shelter and comfort.

PtCA was made up of older people who could not run as fast as the young, or whose other commitments kept them from the frontlines. Yet we stood at the forefront of the protest, facing the police directly. One of our members was beaten by more than 40 police officers in a back alley. We formed human chains, trying to separate police from civilians. We stood as lookouts, warning people of approaching police so they could decide whether to stay or go. We made sure the young stragglers — one as young as 13 years old — were not picked up.

This culminated in the university sieges. After a day of fighting at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, I remember the quiet that followed; the ashes on the ground still smelled of tear gas, assaulting my senses. The quiet sunrise over the mountains meant we had made it through another day. A week later, at the Polytechnic University, things were more desperate. I saw a girl curled up behind the entrance to the MTR (Hong Kong’s metro), screaming, as a water cannon hit the building at full force. That was my protest.

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Mark Valladares

10 September 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 10th September 2026 - 10:45 pm
  • Murray to push for key figures to attend and Scottish Affairs committee to exert its full powers
  • Scottish Government flounders over ferries again
  • Parliament backs Scot Lib Dems for more generous community benefit from energy projects

Murray to push for key figures to attend and Scottish Affairs committee to exert its full powers

Following on from yesterday’s announcement that the UK Parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee will launch inquiries into the dual role of the Lord Advocate, and into the financial regulation of political parties in Scotland, Liberal Democrat Scottish Affairs spokesperson and committee member Susan Murray MP has called for senior SNP and Scottish Government figures to give evidence as part of the inquiry and said that the committee must use its full powers to ensure key figures attend and key documentation is available for members to review.

Ms Murray said:

The Scottish Government has continually refused to display transparency around the Murrell scandal, it is now up to the Scottish Affairs Committee to gather the appropriate evidence to fully scrutinise what happened.

Senior SNP and Scottish Government figures involved must be summoned to give evidence as part of the inquiry in order to fully assess whether our systems of governance are working.

Just to give one example, was it appropriate for the Lord Advocate to tell the First Minister about the charges against his party’s former chief executive weeks before the public knew?

So far the Scottish Government have been as obstructive as can be so I want to see the Scottish Affairs Committee use its full powers to ensure key figures attend and key documentation is available for members to review.

It’s time for a thorough reassessment of the dual role of the Lord Advocate and into the financial regulation of political parties in Scotland. Given how much money was embezzled from under the noses of SNP members, I suspect many of them will quietly accept that this is long overdue.

Scottish Government flounders over ferries again

At First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today urged John Swinney to finally extend ferries compensation to coastal towns, and challenged him on why Stephen Flynn, as Transport Secretary, didn’t know anything about a significant incident involving a CalMac vessel.

During the exchange, the First Minister did not acknowledge that his own government had this week voted for a Scottish Liberal Democrat amendment calling for the Islands Resilience Fund “to offer more funding, and sooner, to both island businesses and the coastal communities that have been consistently excluded from the scheme.”

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Mary Reid

Sarah Olney bids to become candidate for Mayor of London

By Mary Reid | Thu 10th September 2026 - 5:03 pm

Today Sarah Olney MP officially launched her bid to become the Liberal Democrat candidate in the London Mayoral election, which will take place in May 2028.

In her campaign to be selected as the candidate she stated that these are her priorities for London:

  • Making London the most business-friendly city in the world: By harnessing the power of London’s unparalleled business community and creating a Deputy Mayor for Business, elected by a consortium of business leaders based in London.
  • Improving the quality of London’s housing: Empowering renters, landlords and developers to raise housing standards; to boost energy efficiency, tackle mould & damp and guarantee accessibility.
  • Building more homes across London: Challenging Khan’s self-admitted failure on housing, by building more homes for the communities that need them, including through community-led housing, estate regeneration, and reviewing affordability and fast track requirements to bring in sustainable investment.
  • Connecting London with improved transport links: Halting cuts to bus services and tackling delays, while bringing all river crossings under a single strategic authority so vital arteries like Hammersmith Bridge are never again left to fall into disrepair and that important links like Canary Wharf-Rotherhithe crossing are delivered.
  • A safer city for all: Reversing the closure of police station front counters and putting victims back at the centre of policing culture, with a prompt, transparent and accountable process for every Londoner who reports a crime or antisocial behaviour.

Website: www.sarah4london.com/

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Jonathan Brown

Making the most of the Government’s belated action on illegal Israeli settlements

By Jonathan Brown | Thu 10th September 2026 - 9:28 am

Most of the country clearly believes that the Government’s newly announced actions to be taken to curb the illegal Israeli settlements are overdue… but very welcome nonetheless. It’s not universal, with the Board of Deputies of British Jews condemning the change, but liberal Jewish groups, such as Yachad, made the obvious but important point that “These new policies do not target Israel; they target the occupation. They draw a clear distinction between the legitimacy of the State of Israel and the settlement enterprise which is illegal under international law.”

As a Liberal Democrat, and as Vice Chair of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine, I am really pleased that the Government finally appears to be taking strong action in support of international law, bringing it broadly into line with Lib Dem policy that’s been in place since 2021. I’m proud that Liberal Democrats have led the way on taking a tough, principled stand that respects the rights and aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians, while expecting and demanding that both sides abide by their obligations under international law.

I’m saddened however that the media and the public have so little awareness of our position, despite the best efforts of our Parliamentarians in the Houses of Commons and the Lords. I regret to say that I believe our failure to take this message strongly out of parliament and to the people has contributed to us underperforming in opinion polls and elections over the last year and more.

Both for reasons of seizing the moment politically – doing what we can to advance a just peace – AND to boost our standing with the public, I think it’s crucial that we take the opportunity that our Autumn Conference provides, not only to debate Israel-Palestine but to further advance party policy.

The Lib Dem Friends of Palestine have submitted an emergency motion addressing the role of the settlements and settlers in the collapse of the two state solution and making life – obviously and deliberately – unbearable for Palestinians. The deadline for submissions was prior to the Government’s announcements, but I’m pleased nevertheless that we correctly anticipated most of what Miliband introduced. We welcome the Government’s actions but recognise that it will all come down to implementation and our motion sets out in some detail how Liberal Democrats should engage constructively in the process of designing and enforcing the rules. Our motion also goes further in a few places where it would be useful to do so, namely calling for the suspension of all military cooperation and the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement while Israel remains in defiance of international law with regards the illegal settlements. We also propose exploring a programme of progressively banning travel to the UK by Israeli settlers, beginning with the most extreme.

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Mark Valladares

9 September 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 9th September 2026 - 10:30 pm
  • Scottish Lib Dems secure £7.6 million in neurodevelopmental support as government announces funding
  • Transport Secretary was “oblivious” about escape of flammable gas on embattled Arran ferry
  • Scottish Government must respect will of parliament after it backs ferry compensation for coastal areas
  • Murray backs parliamentary inquiries into party funding and Lord Advocate role in wake of Murrell embezzlement

Scottish Lib Dems secure £7.6 million in neurodevelopmental support as government announces funding

Responding to the Scottish Government announcing £7.6 million in funding to expand neurodevelopmental support, money which was secured by the Scottish Liberal Democrats in their negotiations during the 2026/27 budget, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Adam Harley MSP said:

Scottish Liberal Democrats will always be the party of mental health, which is why we worked hard to persuade the government to make this important investment, and I am very pleased to see it being delivered today.

This money has the potential to make a big difference for children and families across the country, making sure that services get the funding they need to provide support.

From the opposition benches, with our newly expanded group of MSPs, we will continue to be the grown-ups of this parliament, providing strong and effective criticism, hunting for agreement where we can, to get things done for the people of Scotland.

Transport Secretary was “oblivious” about escape of flammable gas on embattled Arran ferry

Scottish Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie has said it is “unacceptable” that SNP Transport Secretary, Stephen Flynn, only became aware of a sudden and uncontrolled release of highly flammable methane gas on the Glen Sannox ferry, which occurred last year, when the MSP challenged him about it this morning.

During a meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Transport Committee, Willie Rennie asked Mr Flynn whether he had been briefed about BBC reporting that highly flammable gas had escaped from the Glen Sannox in June last year while 82 passengers were on board.

In response, Mr Flynn said: “no”.

Mr Flynn also said that he would have to “familiarise himself” with the incident, and that he was not listening or watching the news before attending the meeting of the committee.

Director of Ferries and Ports for Transport Scotland, Chris Wilcock, also failed to provide an explanation for what had happened.

700kg of the gas, enough to fill a four-bedroom house, was vented from the side of the Glen Sannox for 12 minutes as it was sailing from Arran to the mainland. CalMac described it as a “critical failure”.

Commenting after the meeting of the committee, Mr Rennie said:

This was a significant incident involving an uncontrolled escape of highly flammable gas, on board a ferry that has been troubled for quite some time and which was carrying 82 passengers.

The Transport Secretary promised to be transparent, but it has taken a year before the public was told about this incident.

The details of what had happened were all over our national broadcaster from midnight last night, but Mr Flynn seemed to be oblivious.

It is unacceptable that the Transport Secretary did not know about this incident. It cannot be allowed to happen again.

Scottish Government must respect will of parliament after it backs ferry compensation for coastal areas

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for the Highlands and Islands Morven-May MacCallum has today said that the SNP government must now “do the right thing” and compensate coastal communities impacted by ferry disruption, after parliament backed a Scottish Liberal Democrat amendment calling for this funding.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem Women chair Donna Harris writes to Reform over violent ejection of woman protester

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th September 2026 - 9:18 am

There’s not going to be anything to please liberals or progressives at a Reform conference, but what happened to a woman protester should disgust everyone, not matter their politics.

From LBC:

One woman who stood up to disrupt the speech can be seen in video footage being removed from the room. While several security guards remove her, members of the crowd appear to grab at her face and hair, and hit her with a walking stick.

The woman told LBC: “Yesterday I was hit and grabbed by the hair and by my jaw by attendees at the Reform UK conference after calling out Nigel Farage for being a conman during his keynote speech.

“All of this was just 2 hours after Sarah Pochin announced Women for Reform, cynically claiming that migrants are the ones women like me should be afraid of, as opposed to members of their own political party.

“I think it’s dangerous that Reform cannot be trusted to hold their members accountable.

“Nigel Farage himself, as well as members of the audience, are inciting this violence by celebrating assaults like the one I experienced.

“In fact, this morning Lee Anderson joked, joked about it by offering to buy a new cane for the man who assaulted me, which I think is simply pathetic.

Donna Harris chairs the official organisation representing women in the Liberal Democrats, Lib Dem Women. She has written to Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick to express LDW’s “disgust” at the way the woman was treated and how the men in Reform have reacted since to minimise and trivialise the incident, with Lee Anderson offering to buy their delegate a new walking stick.

First page of Donna Harris's letter to Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick

Letter from Donna Harris to Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick Page 2

The full text is below.

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Mark Valladares

8 September 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 8th September 2026 - 11:59 pm
  • Dunlop responds to embargoed PISA report
  • Scottish Lib Dems seek urgent meeting with Justice Secretary over violence against women
  • PISA shows almost two thirds of pupils suffering from lack of assisting staff
  • Harley: A&E waits are totally unacceptable
  • Chou Turvey comments on 14% rise in domestic abuse charges reported to Crown Office

Dunlop responds to embargoed PISA report

Responding to the embargoed news that Scotland has recorded its worst ever results for reading and maths in the PISA international comparison of 91 countries’ education systems, Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Duncan Dunlop MSP said:

Once the best in the world, Scottish education just isn’t what it used to be. Under the SNP, our education system has tumbled down the rankings, lagging behind England on every measure of performance. This report makes for brutal reading.

Pupils with additional support needs aren’t having their needs met, too many pupils are frequently absent, and classrooms are more violent than ever before.

Pupils, parents and teachers feel let down. They deserve better.

Scottish Liberal Democrats want to give real power to schools, head teachers and communities because they know what pupils in their area need best. That’s on top of our plans to end the use of short-term and zero hours contracts for teachers and recruit 2,000 more pupil support assistants so that children who need extra help are able to receive it.

All of this is how we can give every child the best start in life and get Scottish education back to its best.

Scottish Lib Dems seek urgent meeting with Justice Secretary over violence against women

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Yi-pei Chou Turvey MSP has today sought an urgent meeting with Neil Gray, Scottish Justice Secretary, after failing to receive a response to her party’s letter to the First Minister about tackling violence against women, which was sent more than two months ago.

In her letter to Neil Gray, the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP said there is a “growing backlog of promised measures that seem nowhere close to being delivered”.

During First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton called on John Swinney to act with urgency to tackle violence against women and girls. He said that it should not take victims, including those like Vikki Soloman and Stacy Hunter, to lose their lives before proper action is taken.

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Sarah Dyke

Somerset’s farmers are on the front line of climate change

By Sarah Dyke | Tue 8th September 2026 - 8:37 am

This article is one of a set of essays about climate adaptation being published by the Green Alliance today. There is a launch event with the Environment All Party Parliamentary Group today.

Somerset is on the front line of climate change. Agricultural land makes up 66 per cent of the county and 91 per cent of the Glastonbury and Somerton constituency, so it is key to the nation’s food production. Without urgent intervention, the UK’s food security is under immense threat.

The scale of the problem is clear from the extreme weather we’ve experienced in 2026 alone. When Storm Chandra hit at the end of January, Somerset was battered by 50 millimetres of intense rain falling on already saturated ground, causing devastating floods. Six months later, on 25 June, the UK’s record for the hottest June day was broken in the Somerset town of Yeovilton, with temperatures reaching 36.4 degrees Celsius. This closed schools, put pressure on the NHS and led to drought stressed fields and compromised livestock welfare.

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Mark Valladares

7 September 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 7th September 2026 - 11:35 pm
  • FM confirms government will put forward options to include MSPs in child protection scheme
  • Chancellor’s Speech – Wales still an afterthought to Labour
  • David Chadwick Launches Bid to Protect Cross-Border Patients

FM confirms government will put forward options to include MSPs in child protection scheme

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today said that the Scottish Government must press ahead with measures to ensure that MSPs are subject to the same child protection and vulnerable adult checks as teachers and social workers.

In Scotland, Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) checks are a legal requirement for anyone with a regulated role, including teachers, social workers and sports coaches.

Failing these checks could mean being barred from regulated roles with children, regulated roles with adults or from both types of regulated roles.

However, an MSP is not a regulated role, meaning members do not presently have to complete PVG checks.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for many years for MSPs to be subject to the checks.

In a letter to the party, First Minister John Swinney has now announced that:

The government is preparing information to be provided to the Parliament for consideration on the disclosure system, the PVG scheme and options available in relation to elected representatives.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

MSPs regularly work with children and vulnerable adults in the course of their duties but are subject to none of the checks that a teacher or social worker would be.

Self-policing, which is what Scottish political parties have so far relied upon, simply doesn’t cut it.

We need to have measures in place that will directly prevent those working in politics from using their status to manipulate, target and exploit vulnerable people.

I’m glad that at last the Scottish Government are listening to Scottish Liberal Democrat proposals and I would urge the First Minister to ensure that they are swiftly passed into law.

My party is here to get things done, and making our politics a safer and better place with fewer scandals is a part of that effort.

Chancellor’s Speech – Wales still an afterthought to Labour

Responding to Chancellor John Healey’s speech on growth in Coventry this morning, David Chadwick MP, Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster spokesperson, said:

The Chancellor talks about delivering growth in every postcode, but once again Wales appears to be an afterthought.

While the new partnership with the Cardiff Capital Region is welcome, there is no new guaranteed funding or projects for Cardiff or Wales attached to today’s announcement.

Wales has been shortchanged for too long, missing out on billions in rail investment and receiving a disproportionately low share of research and development funding.

These structural issues need to be addressed if we are serious about unlocking Wales’ economic potential.

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Mathew Hulbert

Mathew on Monday: Local Government Reorganisation review welcome

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 7th September 2026 - 8:00 pm

Angela Rayner’s announcement of a pause and rethink on much of the Government’s local government reorganisation is welcome. For months, those of us who believe passionately in genuinely local government have watched with increasing concern as plans have developed which would abolish district and Borough councils in large swathes of England and replace them with March larger, more remote unitary authorities.

Today offers an opportunity to think again.

District and Borough Councils are at the heart of the communities they serve. They empty our bins, decide planning applications, support our town centres, provide leisure facilities, put on community events, and deal with many of the everyday issues which determine how people feel about the places where they live. And, importantly, they are genuinely local. Residents know their council. The best Councillors know their patches. Decisions can be taken by people who understand the towns and villages affected by them. That matters.

The previous direction of travel risked replacing these genuinely local councils with enormous authorities covering vast geographical areas, with the centre of decision-making potentially many miles away from many of the communities served. Calling something ‘local government’ does not automatically make it local. As Liberal Democrats we understand this better than most. Localism is fundamental to liberalism. Power should be exercised as close as practically possible to the people affected by it, rather than constantly being dragged upwards into ever larger institutions.

There is also no hiding from the fact that district and Borough councils are places where Lib Dems have often prospered electorally. That is not an accident. Our politics works best when it is rooted in communities: councillors knocking on doors, listening to residents and fighting for improvements street by street and neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

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Mark Valladares

Labour’s Local Government Reform hits a roadblock…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 7th September 2026 - 2:42 pm

For those of us in local government at whatever tier, the Government’s proposals for local government reform, requiring the abolition of principal authorities across England and their replacement with a smaller number of unitary authorities, have caused much activity.

But the news emerging that the proposals are to be suspended and, in some cases, scrapped, will come as a huge surprise to many. We’re waiting for an official response from the Party but, in the meantime, Justin Griggs, head of communications at the National Association of Local Councils, writes:

Based on information released ahead of the statement, decisions relating to reorganisation in

…

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Michal Simon

Reform is winning because liberal Britain is not listening to its own society

By Michal Simon | Mon 7th September 2026 - 11:48 am

Liberal Democrats will not stop Reform by warning people about it. To understand why people listen, we must understand what Reform offers that too many feel they no longer get from us.

We have spent years failing young men — and by the time many reached adulthood, they had already spent years being failed as boys, especially when they were white and poor. Reform has noticed. It is turning our blindness into political support.

Education shows how early that failure begins. Boys fall behind from the start, are heavily overrepresented in special educational needs, more likely to be suspended or excluded, and less likely to enter higher education. A 2026 study by George Leckie and Konstantina Maragkou found teachers systematically predicted lower grades for boys than comparable girls, even after controlling for later achievement. An Ofqual review found bias favouring girls or against boys more often than the opposite.

If this evidence concerned girls, we would call it a gender-equality problem. When it affects boys, we hesitate. DfE data make that hesitation impossible to justify: 44% of White British boys on free school meals are identified as having SEN; boys account for 70.7% of pupils with Education, Health and Care plans; among White British pupils on free school meals, only 13% of young men enter higher education by 19, compared with 21% of young women.

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The Voice

Demand for action over 100,000 “horror” sewage spills

By The Voice | Sun 6th September 2026 - 10:00 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie has today written to the Cabinet Secretary Gillian Martin demanding that the SNP start taking the sewage crisis seriously as new Scottish Water monitoring revealed that sewage discharges last year were four times as high as previously recorded.

This comes after Scottish Water published data from 1,009 newly installed sewage overflow monitors, which means annual monitoring data is now available for 30% of sites, compared to 6% in previous years.

Figures published by the government-owned water company earlier this week show that in 2025 alone:

  • 100,041 discharges were logged, up from 24,398 incidents in 2024 –

…

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 6th September 2026 - 9:30 am

Texas

Watch Texas. Especially watch the Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Trump-backed Republican Ken Paxton.

Texas is a bright-red Republican state. Its Stetson-wearing inhabitants openly carry guns on their hips and year after year return a far-right Republican governor and legislature. A Democrat has not won a Senate seat since 1988.

For that reason, the prestigious election-watching Cook Report has consistently classed Texas as “lean Republican.” It has recently, however, changed its classification to a “toss-up.”

A big part of the change is cash. In America advertising wins votes. Advertising costs money so elections usually go to the candidate who has raised the most money. So far Talarico has raised $68.6 million—seven times the paltry $7.5 million raised by Paxton.

Texas’s other Senator, Republican Ted Cruz, has publicly said he is worried. So has Senate Majority leader John Thune. The reason for their concern is that holding Texas is now seen as vital if the Republicans want to retain control of the Senate.

Republicans are already under pressure in Maine, Michigan and Ohio, while Alaska and Iowa have also moved into toss-up territory. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take control. If they can make the expected gains elsewhere, Texas could become the seat that tips the balance. If that happens then bright red Texas is all that stands in the way of a Democrat-controlled Senate, and, at the moment, opinion polls range from a dead heat to a slight lead for Talarico.

Paxton desperately needs money, and it may be riding over the horizon next week in the form of Donald Trump. The President’s MAGA Inc. Super PAC is sitting on a staggering $403.45 million. Even a fraction of that could transform Paxton’s campaign. Elon Musk has already started the cavalry charge: his America PAC has spent nearly $250,000 supporting Paxton.

Next week Trump rides into Dallas for the Republican Party’s first mid-term convention. It would be the perfect stage on which to announce a major financial intervention. The problem is that Trump has so far proved remarkably reluctant to open his enormous political wallet for other Republican candidates. But if he lets Paxton go under, he could help lose the Senate as well as the House.

United States

This week a new set of US tariffs took effect. They range from just under 25 percent to 100 percent and have been slapped on the importation of drones.

The official reason for the tariffs is national security. In the normal course of events this explanation would have been accepted without question. Drones have become an essential part of the country’s defence network and currently a big chunk of America’s drones come from China.

But there is much, much more to the story and it involves Eric Trump and Don Trump Jr who stand to financially benefit—big time—by the tariffs.

But there is much more to the story. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have investments linked to four US-based drone manufacturers — Anduril, Unusual Machines, Powerus and XTEND — all operating in a sector that stands to benefit from the new tariffs. Donald Trump Jr. became a strategic adviser to Unusual Machines in 2024 and was awarded 200,000 shares for his services, worth roughly $1 million at the time of a Forbes valuation in 2025. After the tariffs were announced the share price of Unusual Machines jumped 24 percent.

The potential conflict of interest has already attracted political scrutiny. A group of Democratic legislators led by Senator Elizabeth Warren has asked the Pentagon’s Inspector General to investigate 15 defence companies backed by funds associated with the Trump sons. According to the Washington Post, those companies have received at least $3.2 billion in federal contracts, investments and loans.

France

This week French President Emmanuel Macron crossed the English Channel (which the French call La Manche, or “The Sleeve”), to open the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition at the British Museum.

He then travelled across London town to Downing Street to become Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first foreign visitor. The visit had major symbolic as well as practical reasons.

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Rosemary Runswick

Why Holborn and St Pancras deserves our all

By Rosemary Runswick | Sat 5th September 2026 - 2:35 pm

It is no secret that Liberal Democrats have become one of the first and foremost Parties in Local Government, having consistently made gains for the last seven years of Local Elections and this strategy was successful in giving us 72 MPs in 2024. But one place where we have suffered a great absence of success has been in Parliamentary by-elections, where we haven’t made a gain since 2023. This is obviously bad for a few reasons, by-elections often indicate loudly and clearly to the public who has momentum, and seeing a major victory can translate

…

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Bonds and the World

By Tom Arms | Sat 5th September 2026 - 10:23 am

This week’s G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Asheville ended amid unusually bitter divisions. Behind the arguments over China, tariffs, Iran and Russia lurked another problem which affects every country represented around the table: the world’s bond markets are in turmoil.

The practicality of funding the business of governments is an excellent demonstration of the interconnectability of the world. The fact is that no matter how high a tariff wall is built, the bond holders will find a way to scale it and their demands are based on global conditions.

At the moment, the global bond market is in tumult. This is simply because governments have borrowed too much money.  Inflation has proved harder to kill than expected, and investors are now demanding a much higher price for lending.

A bond is basically an IOU. A government borrows, say, $100 for ten years and promises to pay interest. If investors suddenly decide that inflation will remain high, that government debt is getting too large, or that the government may pursue reckless policies, they become less willing to hold that IOU. They sell the bond. When bond prices fall, bond yields rise. The yield is effectively the interest rate governments have to offer to persuade investors to lend to them.

That is what is happening now. US 10-year Treasury yields have climbed towards 4.8 per cent; UK gilt yields have moved above 5 per cent; Japan’s 10-year government bond yield has reached around 3 per cent, its highest level in roughly 30 years.

What is causing it? Global inflation is at the top of the list. Bondholders hate inflation because they are promised fixed sums of money in the future. If prices rise faster than expected than those future payments buy less.

The Iran War is probably the biggest concern as far as inflation is concerned. It has reduced the flow of oil from the Gulf which has in turn pushed energy prices to staggering levels. Energy is the basic building block of modern life.

Next, is that governments have borrowed too much. In the immediate aftermath of the 2008 banking  crisis interest rates dropped precipitously. Borrowed money was cheap so governments borrowed heavily. At one stage, interest rates in Japan dropped below zero percent. That meant that investors were effectively paying the Japanese government for the privilege of lending it money.

What governments failed to consider was that in the bond market, what goes down eventually goes back up. Increased interest rates means it costs more to service a government’s debt. Governments are forced to either raise taxes, and or cut spending to pay the extra interest.  Pile on top of that the cost of covid, maintenance of the welfare state, more defence spending and bondholders begin to question the ability of governments to honour their bond commitments and start asking for more money. This in turn only increases the dangerous debt levels.

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The Voice

Green asks Offord if Reform UK Scotland has benefited from foreign donations

By The Voice | Fri 4th September 2026 - 10:40 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrat public service reform spokesperson David Green MSP has today written to Reform UK’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord, asking if he will categorically rule out ever having accepted or benefited from foreign donations.

It follows a Channel 4 News documentary showing Nigel Farage and Reform UK advisors discussing how to secure a foreign donation for the party.

Two senior Reform UK officials have stepped down in the wake of the documentary.

Foreign donations to UK political parties are banned to make sure that democratic decisions reflect the will of UK citizens, not those from overseas.

David Green MSP said:

These laws apply to

…

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Simon Banks

Burnham, Andy: Could do better

By Simon Banks | Fri 4th September 2026 - 7:49 pm

Andy Burnham became PM by surfing a wave of dissatisfaction with the Starmer government. This is now his honeymoon period. The whole thing is extraordinarily like the arrival of a new Labour government after a long period of Conservative domination: think 1945 and 1997, and maybe 1964 – not 2024. There are lots of hopes and not all can be realised.

Starmer’s managerialist centrism had opened up a gulf on the liberal left which the Lib Dems seemed unable to fill and into which the Greens were advancing; but the many questions about them left many currently Labour-inclined people deeply dissatisfied. Burnham positioned himself, whether by belief or calculation, to appeal to them.

What did they want?

PR for sure, a cause with majority support now in the Labour Party, plus overwhelming support in the Lib Dems and Greens. On this Burnham had spoken strongly and repeatedly.

A braver, more positive approach to Europe. He had backtracked for the Makerfield by-election, understandably, but now?

Genuine devolution significantly pulling power from Whitehall and (in the view of some) continuing all the way down to street level.

A clear commitment to net zero and a reconsideration of Starmer’s business-over-the-environment planning policies. A reconsideration, at the very least, of draconian anti-protest laws by which peaceful protesters were being sent to jail, and of cheap point-scoring at the expense of asylum-seekers in place of rational asylum and immigration policies.

A less rigidly pre-Keynes orthodox financial strategy to get the economy moving and action on the cost of living for low-and-medium-income people.

More openness so similar-minded people outside Labour, leading to a “Progressive Coalition”.

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Joe Nutt

ALDC by-election report, 3rd September

By Joe Nutt | Fri 4th September 2026 - 6:28 pm

Six principal authority by-elections took place across England, Scotland, and Wales on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd September.

The Liberal Democrats were defending two key seats – one on Stroud District Council and another on Oxfordshire County Council. The SNP were defending two seats in Edinburgh, while the Greens defended one seat in Somerset and the Conservatives defended one seat in South Wales.

It was a fantastic week for the Liberal Democrats as we successfully held both of our defended seats with strong performances. We earned a commanding 64% of the vote in Stroud and surged by nearly 9 percentage points in Oxfordshire to protect a crucial single-seat council majority. Elsewhere, the SNP suffered two losses in Edinburgh to the Greens and Labour, while the Greens held off a Lib Dem challenge in Somerset and the Conservatives held in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

England

Oxfordshire CC, Chesterton & Launton

In Oxfordshire, the Liberal Democrats were defending a vital seat in the Chesterton & Launton division of Oxfordshire County Council. Following the 2025 county-wide elections – where the Liberal Democrats made historic gains to win majority control of the council from the Conservatives – keeping this seat was essential to protecting our administration’s majority.

This division was solid Conservative territory prior to our breakthrough, making this first defensive test a key milestone. Cllr Jim Hartley and the local team delivered a resounding result, expanding our vote share by +8.8% to reach 41.7% and comfortably pulling away from the second-placed Conservatives.

Huge congratulations to Cllr Jim Hartley and the Oxfordshire team on a vital and impressive victory!

Lib Dem (Jim Hartley): 985 (41.7%, +8.8%)

Conservative: 683 (29.0%, +0.7%)

Reform UK: 547 (23.2%, -3.5%)

Labour: 75 (3.2%, -2.3%)

Green Party: 71 (3.0%, -3.6%)

Liberal Democrat HOLD

 

Stroud DC, Kingswood

Over in Gloucestershire, the Liberal Democrats were defending the Kingswood ward on Stroud District Council. Stroud has a unique council composition where the Green Party and Labour form the largest groups, with the Liberal Democrats holding two seats prior to this vote. The Green Party run a minority administration on this district council which is due to be abolished and replaced by a larger unitary authority in March 2028.

Despite the broader council dynamics, local electors delivered a massive vote of confidence in our local representation. Candidate Fred Hulls swept to victory, securing a dominant 64.0% of the vote share and leaving the second-placed Conservatives trailing by more than 48 percentage points.

Congratulations to Cllr Fred Hulls and the campaign team in Stroud on an outstanding hold!

Lib Dem (Fred Hulls): 442 (64.0%, -18.1%)

Conservative: 109 (15.8%, +6.4%)

Reform UK: 70 (10.1%, new)

Green Party: 40 (5.8%, +1.0%)

Labour: 30 (4.3%, +0.5%)

Turnout: 37.3%

Liberal Democrat HOLD

 

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Katharine Pindar

Could Andy Burnham rival William Beveridge in impact?

By Katharine Pindar | Fri 4th September 2026 - 11:59 am

In the midst of the Second World War, the Liberal Civil Servant William Beveridge wrote of the terrible state he saw that Britain was in, and in his report, ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ published by the wartime Government in December 1942, he proposed remedies which gained immediate attention and after the war much Government-directed successful action.

Can Andy Burnham, despite the threat from hostile powers requiring now major escalation of British Defence forces, find remedies for the terrible mess which so many Britons believe defines the current state of our nation?

Are the perceived problems comparable?

Beveridge defined Five Great Evils in his report, naming them as Want, Disease, Squalor, Ignorance and Idleness. Modern interpretations describe his views as defining Want as poverty and inadequate personal income, Disease as lack of healthcare and widespread ill-health, Squalor as inadequate housing and unhygienic and overcrowded living conditions, and Idleness as reflecting high unemployment and lack of gainful work. Ignorance was seen as arising from inadequate national education. The parallels for the Labour Government today are clearly many, although the evil of ignorance can be perceived now in the spread of harm to young people through dangerous algorithms and the Social Media influencers, matters which the Burnham Government must tackle urgently.

Beveridge’s eventual great success was in matters relating to ‘Disease’, or healthcare and extended National Insurance. His conviction of the need for disease control and extended healthcare led to the creation of the Welfare State under the post-war Labour Government of Clement Attlee. Social insurance had begun under the Liberal Governments at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, and Beveridge advocated a flat-rate universal contribution from working people, in exchange for a flat rate universal benefit. National Insurance provisions were extended after the Second World War.

The challenge for Andy Burnham’s government in this area now, apart from the continuing great need to improve the effectiveness of the NHS, is how to continue to pay for adequate Universal Benefits for working people and Pensions for the retired. The Prime Minister is known to wish to improve the living standards of all, reduced by the austerity programme of the Tory hegemony and the rapid rise now, partly the result of the continuing war in the Middle East, of the cost of living. What would be the point therefore of cutting the Pension triple-lock payments, which give pensioners a modest minimum income, or reducing the rates of Universal Credit, Child Benefits and PIP, which also barely keep many households afloat?

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Ron Aitken

World Suicide Prevention Day, 10th September

By Ron Aitken | Fri 4th September 2026 - 9:30 am

This article discusses suicide and could cause distress to some readers.

On the 10th September The World Health Organisation will promote World Suicide Prevention Day. This is a three-year programme, supported by The Samaritans, MIND, and ithrive Edinburgh as well as other organisations, with the theme “Changing the Narrative”.

This initiative is aimed at encouraging people to speak about mental health, the complex reasons why people take their own lives, extending empathy and confronting stigma. Good early intervention can help a person in crisis so that they can be supported at crisis level then have timely access to treatment which will address the underlying issues which have caused them to go into crisis.

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The Voice

Cole-Hamilton: Violence against women and girls demands action now

By The Voice | Thu 3rd September 2026 - 9:30 pm

At First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP urged the government to act with urgency to tackle violence against women and girls, as he stated that it should not take victims, including those like Vikki Solomon and Stacey Hunter, to lose their lives before proper action is taken.

The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader has repeatedly pressed the government over their failure to implement important domestic abuse protections, which are still not in force despite being passed by parliament five years ago.

Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling for:

  • Homes with a history of domestic violence should be properly flagged for priority

…

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Alan Juriansz

What can we really do to influence the situation in the West Bank?

By Alan Juriansz | Thu 3rd September 2026 - 9:43 am

Every day we hear of more attacks by settlers on Palestinian villagers, driving them off their farms and out of their homes. We’ve seen in the Israeli election campaign, a continued hardening of support for annexation of all the occupied territories, with the E1 settlement policy leading to further condemnation in parliament by Callum Miller as our foreign policy lead who recognises its impact on the viability of a Palestinian State.

Our parliamentary party of 72 MPs have led the way in parliament on this issue calling for equal rights, freedom and security for Palestinian people. Many of our MPs have been on fact finding visits to the West Bank, returning with harrowing accounts of the treatment of Palestinians by the settlers and security forces.

Recognition of Palestine, and the recent government interest in a ban on trade with the settlements, could be seen as a success of our longstanding policy positions. However, so many of our demands have made little impact on this government, not least the willingness to apply international law to Israeli Government ministers charged with war crimes.

What more can we do?

In local government, we lead 76 councils and have outright majorities in 40 of them. In some of these we are in the process of developing ethical, responsible investment policies for pension and or other council funds. However, this is proving to be slow and difficult. In my own council, the process needed to show it will not have a detrimental financial effect on the fund and that the stakeholders support ethical investment, has significantly slowed progress. It is essential to make sure the process is transparent, robust and has the support of stakeholders to ensure against potential challenges from groups opposed to ethical investing.

What else can we do?

In Oxford, we have seen city council twin with Ramallah with Lib Dem support. What if all our councils did that or something similar? Twinning is costly, but the first step towards it, developing a friendship agreement is relatively simple.

76 Lib Dem controlled councils forming official friendships with 76 different Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank. It would send a clear signal that we believe the West Bank is Palestine and still believe the two-state solution is possible.

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The Voice

Cole-Hamilton responds to Swinney on BBC Radio

By The Voice | Wed 2nd September 2026 - 9:30 pm

Responding to John Swinney’s interview on BBC Radio Scotland, in which he failed to explain how his plans to cut the number of health boards did not amount to a centralisation, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

John Swinney has not explained how these plans are any different to the SNP’s previous centralisation projects. Rural communities have been seriously harmed by those schemes.

It is also not at all clear how exactly these plans would save money or help front line services that are struggling right now, including social care.

Communities should be in charge of decisions that directly affect them,

…

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Caron Lindsay

Welcome to Lib Dem Friends of Gaelic Language and Culture

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 2nd September 2026 - 4:24 pm

Logo for Lib Dem Friends of Gaelic Language and Culture

A bheil Gàidhlig agaibh? Do you speak Gaelic?  Would you like to learn? Are you interested in Gaelic language and culture?

If so, read on.

Four years ago, I started learning Gaelic on Duolingo after my son bullied me into it.  Since then, I have completed the online introductory course at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s Gaelic College and have just started on the next course. I spent a week at the college on Skye in the Summer being taught by a very funny German, Michael Klevenhaus, who has a real passion for finding traditional Gaelic melodies in Beethoven’s work. There’s even a BBC Alba documentary about it which, sadly, is no longer on the iPlayer.

The course was brilliant and very well paced.  Michael would do a heavy grammar session and then get the Tesco website up and get you to say how much things cost, or ask you the date. He had us making up stories in Gaelic a line at a time.

We also had to sing two songs at the ceilidh on the last evening.  One was a pretty rowdy drinking song but the second was quite emotional. Michael has written Gaelic words to Ode to Joy, the European anthem that is very close to our hearts as liberals.

I initially started learning to support my son. I did not expect to fall in love with the language. I mean, how on earth can you not when (one of) the words for bluebell translates to “cuckoo’s shoe”?

It’s connected me to my heritage in a way that I didn’t expect and made me understand so much more about my family. My Granny’s parents were born around about the time as the 1872 Education Act, a major part of which was to suppress the language. Children were belted in school for speaking it and all education was carried out in English.  Gaelic Medium Education was only reintroduced in the 80s.

So my Granny grew up in a culture where there was a deep sense of shame about speaking Gaelic. We discovered from census records that her dad had Gaelic, and conflicting information about her mum but she didn’t. However, I now realise that she spoke English in a very Gaelic way.

Language suppression is never a good thing and the work that is being done now to keep the language alive is vital to preserve an important part of our Scottish identity.  I think that there are some things we could do better in making the language a lot more audible as well as visible and getting it out there into communities.  The new award winning  Kilbeg development near Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on Skye aims to be a community where Gaelic is regenerated and we need to see how that works out and if it can be extended.

I will confess to being relatively indifferent to Gaelic until my first visit  to Wales in about 2012, seeing how Welsh was embedded everywhere, that changed my mind. In 2016, I went to Welsh Conference and was really amazed to see Welsh speakers and headphones with for translation between the two languages.

Gaelic was once spoken virtually everywhere in Scotland except Caithness and East Lothian. There are, according to a BBC Alba documentary about the Fife Coastal Path, more Gaelic place names in Fife than in the Isle of Lewis.

There’s a lot to think about how we ensure that Gaelic not only survives but grows in the future. This matters to so many of the communities to represent. Angus Macdonald recently asked a question about it at a House of Commons committee. The point he made about Gaelic being essential to the economic development of rural communities in the Highlands is a good one. Watch below.

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