tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17934023.post3317481199340424784..comments2024-03-20T12:28:00.031+00:00Comments on Liberal Bureaucracy: Mixed race in the Liberal Democrats – an oppressed minority?Mark Valladareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15773193846795037711noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17934023.post-23460703157664090302007-06-12T09:56:00.000+01:002007-06-12T09:56:00.000+01:00It’s very easy to feel ‘out of the loop’ in this p...It’s very easy to feel ‘out of the loop’ in this party you don’t have to belong to the BME community, whatever its description. How about a new ambition for every part of the party, valuing each other as individuals and no special interest groups, a real level playing field. As to rules about selection why don’t we start looking at what the electorate want and need rather than constantly facing inwards on what other members want. You never know electoral success might follow!<BR/>Don't give up Mark.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17934023.post-77284075926466434472007-06-11T06:21:00.000+01:002007-06-11T06:21:00.000+01:00Sadly the leadership of EMLD has had a habit of se...Sadly the leadership of EMLD has had a habit of seeing the organisation as a vehicle to get them (the leaders) elected, rather than a body genuinely campaigning for wider diversity and supporting BME candidates in general.<BR/><BR/>Isn't it time for someone whose primary interest isn't their own prospects to take over EMLD? <BR/><BR/>You'd be perfect, Mark.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17934023.post-34592619623317920162007-06-08T02:26:00.000+01:002007-06-08T02:26:00.000+01:00Meral,My apologies if my comments are uncomfortabl...Meral,<BR/><BR/>My apologies if my comments are uncomfortable to you or to EMLD members generally. However, that is the way I now feel, having read the debate and responded to it where I felt it might be of help.<BR/><BR/>The comments that were made, particularly earlier in the piece, made it abundantly clear that there are two classes of BME member, and that isn't what I joined this Party to calmly accept.<BR/><BR/>And, after all that has happened in the past two years, to be asked, "Have you ever discussed how you are going to increase diversity in the London Region? Have you taken a lead on this?", is perhaps more than a mild slight.<BR/><BR/>There are so many other things in the Party that make me glad to be a part of it. There are so many things that I still hope to contribute. So I'll stick to them, thank you, and watch from the sidelines, another victim of so-called friendly fire.Mark Valladareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15773193846795037711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17934023.post-91883466611651276492007-06-07T22:36:00.000+01:002007-06-07T22:36:00.000+01:00You know my views Mark, and I wish you well in you...You know my views Mark, and I wish you well in your endeavours. But to make them understood by others. I don't think the London Assembly debate is about BME v non BME. It is about what I see as a lack of fairness in the process. That the advert was too near to the cut off, that there was really no time for people to sort approval (unlike the euro elections where there was an advance ad on that subject). That if people asked for the rules, they were told they would get them when they applied (unless of course one of your team is on the London Executive). That the whole system was a brick wall of bureaucracy.<BR/><BR/>I think big walls of bureaucracy particularly hit those who feel they are outside of "the loop" e.g. BME candidates.<BR/><BR/>The rules were too complex, and unneccesary. As you said in your last blog post:<BR/><BR/>At the moment, the trend has been to bring London's Selection Rules into line with those for Westminster and Europe. Perhaps we should actually look at using the London Rules as a laboratory for new ideas, freeing candidates to campaign in new and creative ways, attempting to create genuine equality of opportunity (sorry, I still don't support the notion of mandatory equality of outcome, I believe in genuine merit in selecting candidates). We've talked about a bonfire of regulations in government, perhaps it is time for a bonfire of restrictive Selection Rules.<BR/><BR/>I would set just one ground rule. In any discussion of any part of the Rules, existing or otherwise, the mandatory question should be, "How will this create opportunity?", instead of, "How do we police this?".<BR/><BR/>Spot on!Duncan Borrowmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05301480655035778743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17934023.post-87660271424560147502007-06-07T21:22:00.000+01:002007-06-07T21:22:00.000+01:00Mark, I'm sorry if EMLD, or indeed I, have given y...Mark, I'm sorry if EMLD, or indeed I, have given you the impression that we are rigidly fixated with 'visible' BME communities in London. This is not true on my part. As a Turkish woman I am not particularly visible BME, unless I leave my hair in its natural tight curly condition!<BR/>I remember when I first met you and you told me of your ancestry. I would certainly consider you a person of BME background. In fact people from a mixed race background are one of the single categories that will rapidly rise in the UK over the next 10 years.<BR/>The term we use of 'black' is in the politcal sense and means Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17934023.post-43045387744767738072007-06-07T13:50:00.000+01:002007-06-07T13:50:00.000+01:00Don't give up or feel too dismayed! It's rather sa...Don't give up or feel too dismayed! It's rather sad how the party is coming round to the new more patronising arguements on 'ethnic minorities'. What are your ideas then as to how the party can be more 'multi-cultural' and 'ethnicly supportive'? do we actually need to?a radical writeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10176613690190386558noreply@blogger.com