Should you vote Liberal?

Is it good or bad that she announced it today?
It will make Rochdale have another think, I hope, close enough to the election to matter.

Former Tory candidate Azi Ahmed who stood in the 2015 GE in Rochdale has announced she has joined the Liberal Democrats.

She says "Brexit is the most important issue facing this country and I decided I simply could not campaign for a cause I did not believe in; I could no longer support a government prepared to put our nation’s future prosperity at risk by taking Britain out of the European Union without securing any deal. The Conservatives can no longer claim to be the party of business when they are prepared to leave the world’s biggest market empty-handed; the Liberal Democrats are the only party trying to remain within it."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/02/conservative-candidate-may-brexit-lib-dems

I thought Farron took it all in good humour considering the behaviour of Neil. He obviously knew what to expect.
Neil came across not just as an arrogant bully, but showing his obvious dislike for Farron.
Completely wrong for an interviewer like Neil.
I don't understand why he did it, either, as Farron is no threat to his Tories.

The S.O. said he was shouting at the tv the whole time, telling Neil to shut up; he was really upset by it. I'll watch it on catchup with him later today.

Tim Farron is doing a live webchat on Mumsnet, at 1pm today.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_live_events/2943208-Webchat-with-Tim-Farron-leader-of-the-Liberal-Democrat-Party-on-Friday-2-June-at-1pm

Farron was great at not letting it be another Andrew Neil giving his biased opinions interview yet again.

Farron talking about his father in law having dementia and the carers looking after him getting better pay stacking shelves.
Neil said they had to move on, presumably because it doesn't affect him.

I really don't want Neil taking over from Paxman. He is just so rude.

I read the reports in the newspapers on the interview, and was wondering if we had seen the same interview.
Farron was good. He did not allow Neil to get the upper hand.
He kept trying to answer when Neil was interrupting all the time.
When Neil interrupted him when when he was saying about his four kids having friends at Manchester, I actually shouted at Neil to shut up!

I've been out all night and have a message on my answerphone from the S.O. who is really upset at the way that Andrew Neil interviewed Tim Farron, so it's a relief to hear that you all think he did well and kept his cool. I'm getting sick of the way these interviewers 'interview'. Yes, I had heard of Neil having an apartment in Trump Towers, but I didn't realise he'd been president of the Conservative Club. So much for people being unbiased.

I'm glad you thought Tim did well. durhamjen. I know you would have told us if you thought he'd done badly.

Even The Economist, which supported the Tories in 2015, has come out of support of the Liberal Democrats for this GE.

www.economist.com/news/leaders/21722855-leaders-both-main-parties-have-turned-away-decades-old-vision-open-liberal?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/?fsrc=scn/fb/te/bl/ed/thebritishelectionthemiddlehasfallenoutofbritishpoliticsrats.

I watched it. I thought Tim did really well, and didn't allow himself to be too browbeaten by Neil.
Did you know that Andrew Neil has an apartment in trump Tower?

Tim Farron was one of the 21 LibDem MPs who voted against.

I don't know if any of you saw his interview with Andrew Neil tonight, but I though he did exceptionally well.

Andrew Neil is not only a Tory (ever since his days at Glasgow University where he was president of the Conservative Club), but also an extremely aggressive interviewer who rarely allows his interviewees to answer a question. (is he competing with Paxman?)

Tim Farron kept his cool and answered each question calmly and honestly. Well done Tim.

Yes, sorry, i got that wrong. It was Clegg who voted for in 2010, along with 28 other liberal MPs.

2010: on raising the university tuition fee cap to £9,000

Theresa May voted for
Jeremy Corbyn voted against
Tim Farron voted for

That was from the i, varian. I'll be pleased if you are right.

Yes nigglie I do believe Tim Farron. I have met him and he struck me as absolutely genuine. No side to him at all.

He was one of 21 LibDem MPs who voted against tuition fees.

Remember that tuition fees were introduced by the Labour party, who then promised not to raise them, then forgot that promise and did raise them. The Tories were responsible for the policy of raising them again and I know that the LibDems who did reluctantly support that policy, did so to gain things like the pupil premium which has benefited so many children. The right wing press has succeded in placing the blame for tuition fees on the LibDems. I wonder why?

Just noticed they've got a Webchat lined up with TF tomorrow on MN if anyone's interested (think it's 1.00 p.m.)

You are mistaken durhamjen

Tim Farron voted AGAINST the raising of tuition fees, as did many other LibDem MPs.

www.libdemvoice.org/tuition-fees-how-liberal-democrat-mps-voted-22346.html

Farron voted to triple university fees, varian. Starts off at a low base.

Are you sure you believe him varian? After all TF is a politician and we all know that with each and everyone, what they say and what they do when push comes to shove, can be, and probably will be two very different things!

Last weeks "The Media Show" on Radio 4 set out to examine political bias in the media. They discovered that in this election campaign there is a strong back bias towards a two-party system. Only Conservatives and Labour are even mentioned most of the time and there is an anti-Labour bias.

The commentators contrasted this with all the publicity given to UKIP and SNP in 2015. During the whole half hour programme, unless I missed it, the Liberal Democrats were never mentioned at all.

I find this very depressing and it reveals an insidious bias in the media, including the makers of this programme.

At a time when the Tories have moved to the extreme right, taken over most of UKIP's policies, and Corbyn has taken the Labour party further to the left, there are so many people who do not want either of these parties, so many people are liberal in their views and want to see a fair, open and tolerant society. They should not forget that a good centre/left party, the LibDems, does exist, even if most of the media would rather ignore that fact. It does make a mockery of our so-called democracy.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08qxfnl

murderous attrocities

The brainwashed terrorists who commit kurderous attrocities like the Manchester bomb attack hate our Western liberal democracies.

The knee jerk reaction of the populist press is often a cry for more right wing policies- stop immigration, close the borders, do not admit any refugees, arm the police, build more prisons, bring back hanging etc.

This is exactly what these evil groups are trying to achieve. They encourage authoritarian repressive regimes where the populations can be cowed by fear into conformity with the regime.

We can only defeat this evil by standing up even more strongly for a free, open and tolerant society. Voting Liberal Democrat shows that we hold these values dear.

I heard it but didn't realise it had replaced the PPB. Just the right thing at this time.

After the appalling event in Manchester, political campaigning was halted for two days. Now that it has resumed the scheduled party political broadcast by the Liberal Democrats has been replaced by this heartfelt message from Tim Farron

www.libdems.org.uk/lib_dems_replace_tv_election_broadcast_with_personal_message_from_tim_farron

Tim Farron has already made it absolutely clear that the LibDems would not be part of any coalition led by Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn.