Farewell to another legend… John Shipley retires…

It is occasionally odd to think that, as I’ve been married to Ros for more than eighteen years now - a fact which astonishes me as much now as it did when I saw her walk up the aisle towards me on that April afternoon - I’ve been an observer of the Parliamentary Party in the Lords for just as long.

In the early years, especially whilst I was still working in London, I would regularly meet Ros after work and attend social events hosted by her colleagues - birthday parties or Christmas gatherings - and so I met some of them frequently. And whilst they seemed rather daunting at first, I got to rather like them and they were amazingly welcoming.

But, now that I live in Suffolk, and my visits to London are infrequent to say the least, my spouse pass mostly gathers dust. This evening though, I was fortunate to attend a retirement party for John Shipley who, at the age of eighty, has decided that he’d like to spend more time with his family and less time travelling up and down from Newcastle. After all, it’s not as though he hasn’t given marvellous service to liberalism and Newcastle over half a century.

There were speeches from Jeremy Purvis, the fourth Leader in the Lords since I started visiting, Alan Beith, some bloke called Ed Davey (seemed like a nice chap…) and finally, John himself.

He was most gracious, name checking Ros, who introduced him to the Lords in 2010, and noting that his father had taught Ros history, one of those strange coincidences which seems only too common amongst their colleagues.

Hopefully, John will have a long and happy retirement, although there were jokes that he could run for Council again. He’s certainly earned the right to slow down a bit and to spend some quality time with his wife, Margaret.

He will be missed, both by the local government community and by the North East, whose interests he championed throughout his political career. But most of all, he will be missed by his colleagues. He will be a tough act to follow…

A night at the AGM

In truth, I haven’t really engaged with my current Local Party - Ipswich - as much as I perhaps have done in the past. I’ve attended the odd meeting, delivered leaflets when asked and vaguely offered my services as required. So far, so good, especially as my services haven’t been required.

But I do take an interest and, when I received an invitation to the Local Party Annual General Meeting, I checked my diary and concluded that I might turn up, if only to see what was happening.

Ipswich Liberal Democrats do remind me of many of the Local Parties that I’ve been involved with over the past forty years - enthusiastic, short of numbers and activists but dedicated to the cause. And, in a town which was historically a swing seat between Labour and the Conservatives, we’ve been rather squeezed, even at Borough level. Despite that, our presence in the leafy streets north of the town centre - St Margaret’s ward - has become something to rely upon in recent times.

Our outgoing Chair, Martin Pakes, outlined the activity in 2026, which had focused on the likely impact of Local Government Reorganisation which, after all the effort of Council officers and councillors, had then been suspended by the same Government that had pushed so hard for it in the first place. There was, it is fair to say, a degree of scepticism about what will happen next.

The finances were declared to be healthy, if not lavish, and elections to the incoming Executive Committee were held. Nobody tried to twist my arm to stand - which was strangely reassuring - and I didn’t feel any obligation to take any formal role, so I continue as “occasional third spear carrier” for now, at least.

That is kind of consistent with my current tendency to take on one-off tasks which allow me to be helpful but not committed. For, whilst I will probably be a Liberal Democrat until I die,  I’ve spent two-thirds of my life as a minor apparatchik of the Party, and perhaps it’s time for others to shine. Alternatively, perhaps I’m just jaded and need some time off. Either way, if I can’t fully commit to a role, I’d rather not do it badly or half-heartedly.

As I made my way out into the darkness at the end of the meeting though, Martin stopped me briefly and asked if I’d be available to deliver some leaflets. I think that I could manage that…

A day out at the football…

Living in Suffolk, there is only one serious football team locally, the Tractor Boys of Ipswich Town, newly promoted to the Premier League at the end of a season where, whilst they were consistent, they didn’t exactly blow anyone away.

£150 million spent on new players later, a somewhat unfamiliar side debuted with a home win, something that only happened once the last time they were in the top flight, two years ago. Tickets for league games are hard to come by, so when the second round draw for the Carabao Cup saw League One Leicester City scheduled to visit Portman Road, Ros and I thought that we ought to turn up if we could.

Tickets were on sale for just £15, but I took the opportunity to do something a little more “classy” as hospitality packages were surprisingly affordable. That meant a padded seat, au unlimited selection of small plates in a lounge, plus drinks, half-time dessert and a post-match cheese plate - and you know how I feel about cheese. It didn’t cost as much as you might think.

And so, yesterday evening, Ros and I were at the game two hours before kick-off for a beer and some reassuring decent food - sea bream, chicken supreme and some particularly excellent sausage and mash - whilst we chatted with other fans about the prospects for the season.

The first half was, to be honest, a bit of a let down, with a much changed side struggling to impose themselves on game visitors not at all overawed by a two division gap. Indeed, Leicester City shaded possession and it took a decent save from Christian Walton to keep the game scoreless.

Some tactical changes at half-time saw Ipswich come out more positively and whilst what looked like a decent goal was disallowed for offside, the young Norwegian, Sindre Walle Egeli, scored at the end of a move which owed a lot to the strength of Chuba Akpom. We all relaxed a bit, only to see Leicester equalise. Back came Ipswich, and the home fans encouraged Marcelino Núñez to shoot, so he did, beating the away goalkeeper from twenty yards out.

After that, the game petered out a bit, until, as the board went up to show six minutes of time added on, Núñez added a punctuation mark with a outrageous shot from just inside the centre circle which beat the Leicester goalkeeper and went in off the bottom of the crossbar.

20,000 Ipswich fans went home happy, whilst I had some unfinished business with a very good cheesecake indeed.

All in all, an excellent evening out, and with Arsenal due here for the third round tie next month, the ground should be pretty lively even if the prospect of further progress is somewhat limited.

Rural Communities working group - so, let the fun begin…

It would be fair to say that even my best friends wouldn’t describe me as a policy wonk. Yes, I’ve been known to come up with a compromise or two at ALDE Party events where policy making can resemble speed dating for ideas, but actual serious policy making is not an area of the Party’s activities that has been graced by this liberal bureaucrat.

That is, until now.

A few weeks ago, having read a piece in Liberal Democrat Voice seeking applicants for places on a new Rural Communities policy working group, it dawned on me that someone from the town and parish council sector ought to be included. And, given that I’ve held roles at local, county and national levels (and still hold many of them), I concluded that I might toss my hat into the ring, so to speak.

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting very much. Like most people, I assume that policies are formulated by experts - academics and sector professionals - because, in truth, that’s a pretty good way to make policy. I don’t consider myself to be an expert. Frankly, Ros knows more about rural communities and how they work than I do and has the track record to prove it. I suspect that she’s forgotten more than I know.

And so, it was with some surprise that I received an e-mail from Party HQ, advising that my application had been successful and that I was invited to a meeting to discuss the remit and meet my fellow working group members.

There was a moment or two of doubt - my underlying sense of imposter syndrome is still there after all these years - but I was rather committed, and there would be a bunch of experts to lean on, so nothing too bad could happen, right?

The meeting took place on Wednesday evening, with an introduction from our Chair and a Policy Manager, then a brief commentary from a Parliamentary spokesperson. The members present then introduced themselves, and a varied bunch they are too, from a broad spectrum of locations and backgrounds. I focused on my parish council experience, my interests in rural transport and the implications of devolution of services to the town and parish council sector.

And so, the work begins. We’ll start by taking evidence from sectoral organisations and interested parties and, over the course of a year or so, draw up a policy paper for Conference to adopt. Hopefully, I’ll be able to contribute effectively to that process but there’s a learning curve to be navigated along the way and relationships to build.

It promises to be challenging and intellectually stimulating, which is perhaps just what I need at this stage of my life. But we’ll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

A transition plan emerges…

I am in the midst of what I self-mockingly describe as a Frank Sinatra-esque farewell tour from the Town and Parish Council sector. What with my tenure on Creeting St Peter Parish Council fated to be terminated next May, I’ve taken the view that an organised handover of my various posts was a necessity, predominantly for the organisations concerned.

And so, I advised my colleagues on the Board of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils (SALC) that I would stand down as our representative on the National Assembly of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) on 31 July, allowing me to attend one last meeting to say my goodbyes. Given that I couldn’t make the September meeting anyway, it gave time for a successor to bed in whilst I was still available to support them.

It also meant that I could attend one last meeting of NALC’s Smaller Councils Committee - I serve on the basis that I am an eligible member of National Assembly, which I have now done.

I remain Co-Chair of NALC’s Micro Council Network, representing the 4,000 or so smallest Parish Councils, for the time being, and I’m still on the SALC Board until elections take place in the autumn.

There was, and is, the question of what I’m going to do instead. I don’t really have what you’d describe as hobbies, although I do like to travel, keep up with current events and play computer games (mostly badly but nonetheless…).

Fortunately, as has often been the case, something has turned up. In my guise as an experienced Returning Officer, I’ve delivered committee elections for the Federal International Relations Committee and the Liberal Democrat European Group and have the Social Liberal Forum on the blocks. I’ve also delivered the easiest Returning Officer gig ever, as the Scottish Women Liberal Democrats had no contested positions and thus left me with nothing to actually do.

And now, one of the Party’s Regions has approached me to see if I’d be happy to act as their Returning Officer in the autumn. Admittedly, some of their current Executive might not be wildly keen on my appointment but I wouldn’t be terribly upset if it fell through.

I’ve also been asked if I’d take up the position of East of England representative on the Executive Committee of the Liberal Democrat European Group, to which I’ve responded positively. I am, and always have been, pro-European, in the sense that I see the advantages of pooling sovereignty in pursuit of economic and social advancement. And, whilst it isn’t entirely clear what I’d add just now, I do see an organisation which can influence the Party’s policies across the piece, not just in terms of the relationship with the European Union.

There is, however, something else which was rather more unexpected… but I’ll save that for another day…

Long, long ago on a Policy Working Group far, far away…

I am reminded this week of one of the more quirky items on my political CV, something I did at a time when I was rather (incorrectly) more confident in my views than perhaps I am now.

Back in the days when I was a young Liberal Democrat, indeed Secretary of the Young Liberal Democrats, our then International Officer concluded that, in order to protect his budget, it was a good idea to send the organisation’s Chair and Secretary to a LYMEC (Liberal Youth Movement of the European Community) seminar entitled “Youth Culture in a Coca-Cola World” in Aarhus, Denmark. And whilst he probably wouldn’t have listened his budget anyway, it sounded like fun and so, off we went.

Much alcohol was consumed, and friendships made, and whilst my appetite for European politics was greatly enhanced, I didn’t think that it would lead to much.

That was, however, until Peter Ladanyi, our then Chair, was asked if he’d be willing to serve on an ELDR policy commission on culture. In those days, the European Parliament political groups were funded for policy making activity, and ELDR (now ALDE) had been granted funds for a culture policy working group. And, for reasons that never entirely became clear to me, Peter passed the invite onto me. With no real idea as to what I was getting myself into, I accepted without hesitation and became the European Liberal Youth representative on the ELDR Commission on European Culture.

It wasn’t an onerous task, consisting mostly of relatively short meetings in Brussels broken up by long and generally excellent lunches. And, after eighteen months of discussion during which we barely defined the meaning of culture, we broke up without reaching a meaningful conclusion.

My primary “partner in crime” on the policy commission was the Liberal Democrat representative, Dame Penelope Jessel, a former International Officer of the Liberal Party and one of the “grande dames” of the Party. Penelope chain smoked, thought nothing of travelling across the Sahara with the Polisario Front and was ever so slightly daunting. I suspect had I known more about her past, I’d have been rather more daunted. Our Chair, Professor José Augusto Seabra, learned quite quickly that we weren’t exactly seeing things the way he did, and tended not to push ideas that Penelope wasn’t convinced by.

Whilst the policy commission itself wasn’t a success, it did teach me a lot about collaborative policy making and how politics varied across Europe, lessons I occasionally put to good use later on.

And now, thirty-six years later, it looks as if I have another opportunity to use those skills again…

#interrail2026: day 3 - I'm sure that Denmark's lovely, but...

Flensburg lies at the head of an long inlet of the Baltic Sea, just south of the Danish border with Germany, and is probably most famous for two things - rum, and for being where the Third Reich took its formal dying breath. It's probably less famous for being twinned with Carlisle, but that's how the cookie crumbles, I guess.

I had about three hours to look around - I had a train to catch, oddly enough - and so I set off into the bright sunshine of a lovely day to walk around the harbour and take in some fresh air and a little scenery. And, as my first meaningful stop, the opportunity to stretch my legs and make a dent in my daily 10,000 steps was entirely welcome.

The waterfront has a nice promenade, with bars to drink the local Flensburger Pils should you be so inclined, but Flensburg is never going to attract tourists in huge numbers. It's a well to do sort of place, like so many small German towns and, having taken in the marina and a small museum on fishing, I headed for the town centre.

Flensburg has a quite good science museum, Phänomenta, where you can carry out various experiments, although time didn't permit a visit, and next to it is one of the old city gates, the Nordertor, which has been preserved and restored.

But I did have a train to catch, a Danish one. The Danes have trains that appear to have a rubber front for reasons you'd have to ask DSB, the Danish State Railways about. They are comfortable though, and their first class has a nice feature, unlimited tea and coffee, plus a light snack. And, because they trust their passengers, you can pour your own hot drinks - they have thermos flasks of hot water plus all the makings of your drink at the end of the carriage and if, like me, you like a corner seat away from your fellow passengers, you don't even have to get up to do it.

I had a connection at Kolding and, with a scheduled half an hour to kill, I chose to take a stroll into town - it wasn't far. Kolding was a pleasant surprise and, thanks to a delayed train, I ended up with time to stop for coffee and explore. Back on another train and this time, a little bagged lunch for the journey across the Great Belt to Copenhagen, which came in handy after I missed the next train, an Oresundstag service across southern Sweden.

My final destination was Karlskrona, a naval town in the south-east of Sweden, and I arrived as the sun was beginning to set, which meant that the walk to my hotel on the other side of the central square was done in that sort of gentle half-light which gives everything that vague dreamlike quality and gives the decided impression that you might really want to take a longer look.

I needed a beer though, and where better to find one than the Brewery Hotel which, in addition, serves some surprisingly good pizza. What better way to end a day…

Creeting St Peter: putting the administrative stuff to rights, one task at a time...

In my eight years as Chair of the Parish Council, I've held a number of roles. At one point, I was Chair, Acting Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer, a period which caused me huge levels of stress and was, in organisational terms, highly unsatisfactory. But sometimes, especially with a micro-parish, needs must. The show must, if you like, go on.

In my earlier incarnation, I was the Wildlife portfolio holder, which was a source of great amusement given that I still couldn't confidently identify even the obvious stuff and was still convinced that wolves stalked the land.

Now, I hold the portfolios for Website and Communication and Finance, which sounds harder than it is. Balancing a budget of £6,000 or so really shouldn't be that difficult, and the website isn't overly burdensome if I remain focussed.

Tonight, I've been setting payments up for authorisation - our Clerk's salary needs to be paid and invoices for our streetlighting, website, membership of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils and the drainage rates need to be settled, as well as our annual subscription with the Information Commissioner.

I've also written to our District and County Councillors to let them know what our meeting dates are for the next year - I could leave it to our Clerk but I sense that it's a better use of my time than of his (I have copied him in).

The next thing on my list is to help with preparations for our annual internal audit. We're pretty much ready, and it's as much a case of making sure that all of the invoices are readily available, that various reports have been uploaded to the Parish website and so on. We dealt with a lot of the essentials at our meeting on Monday, and our finances are healthy and properly reported, so I'm reasonably comfortable this year.

I'm also intent on preparing everything for a handover to whoever takes on my various responsibilities - I want them to not have to spend weeks wondering what on Earth I was doing.

Only a year to go...