I agree with Olly

To Islington this evening to hear Newsnight regular Olly Grender speak. Although our paths have crossed many times in the party over the years, our backgrounds and experiences are fairly different – which made it all the more interesting to hear her make two comments that chime very closely with things I’ve been saying.

She made many good points in a wide-ranging talk about the communication challenges of being in government, and in coalition to boot. But it was those two which particularly got my attention.

One was about the importance of community politics – “I’m always up for returning to community politics” in her words. The other was her view that Liberal Democrat members and supporters around the country shouldn’t sit on the sidelines complaining about the media but should be on the front foot online far more often arguing the party’s case and correcting mistakes, especially via Twitter. “Broadcasters are totally obsessed with it” she said.

So now all we’ve got left to do is the minor matter of making both of those come true…

As a small first step you can always start keeping up with Olly herself online, for she is both a fine blogger and a skillful tweeter.