A note to our illustrious would be leaders

Well, it's been an interesting few weeks in the leadership hustings since we saw Clegg and Huhne kick things off at LDYS conference. VC Comms having missed 'That Interview' on The Politics Show all we can say is that it was funny seeing both candidates move away from their 'That which unites us is greater than that which divides us' stance. The rivalry generally seems to be hotting up, with one half of VC Comms receiving no less than three separate pieces of campaigns post from Huhne's office (I got 4, so nyah nyah - the other half) - and we thought he was for the environment…

You should all have had your ballot papers now, so make good use of them by sending them back, so whoever wins it has a proper mandate from the youth wing of the party to lead with our issues at the forefront at of the agenda.

In the meantime though, Vince Cable has been rocking the front bench in a highly unexpected fashion. A hearty pat on the back to the man who came up with an analogy that has had the entire House cracking up at PMQs this week: if Mr Brown ever needs a stand in for events he need look no further than Rowan Atkinson heretofore…

Check out this article on the Beeb crediting our recent poll rises with his performances; Vince, we salute you!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7118733.stm

Birmingham drinks to end homophobia

Last night saw Birmingham University students staggering around the town in the small hours of this morning (what’s new? - Ed) to raise awareness around the LDYS 'Homophobia is Gay' campaign. Jointly organised between Birmingham LDYS and Birmingham university LGBTQ the pub crawl began at the Union bar and saw over 250 people move around several bars in the city, adorned in T-Shirts bearing the sometimes controversial LDYS slogan.

Beginning at 7.30 and ending at 3am the crawl managed to retain a few stragglers at the end of the night; Kudos to the troopers that made it that long in a bar selling drinks at a pound apiece. Sadly our International Chair Martin 'Shappers' Shapland sloped off early, and is recorded as saying he was 'rather drunk' at 2.30am, but 'still made it to work the next day’. Good work that man.

Thanks must go to the organisational efforts that meant the event was held successfully and safely. New LDYS General Executive Member Elaine Bagshaw had a key leading role, and Thirty stewards were on standby to guide drunken stragglers, all of which had been prepared to undergo training. We are not sure whether the training will have prepared them for people wanting to drink Pina Coladas at 2am in November, but there you go.

It can be hoped getting out so many people on behalf of the campaign to promote sexual equality on Birmingham campus will send a strong message to the wider student body about this issue. If you would like further information about how this event was run, or how to organise a similar event yourself then email us at comms@ldys.org.uk, but also, read on...

Our Organisation gets organised!?

Well, you'd never believe it but the rumours are true, like a slowly evolving organism LDYS is about to crawl out of the water (sludge, surely? - Matt). Although perhaps it still has gills...

What we're trying to say is that whilst working with members to produce content for Yell! Monthly it's become increasingly obvious that people are having good ideas about activities for us to engage in as an organisation, but are either only practicing them at a branch level, or they are not being realised as members feel lost trying to organise things from scratch.

Well, VC Comms is trying to come up with some ways to draw together the resources we can offer you from the national executive and it's work with the federal party, and the sparks of genius that, occasionally, fly our way from the branches. So, we've designed as a trial idea a set of 'request' documents that we'll append to the About Us section of our website…!

If you have the germ of an idea about a Campaign you think we should run, an event you think we could do, or a dynamite way of fundraising then just go to the appropriate web-form, fill it in as much as you can and it will automatically be given to the appropriate Vice Chair to consider and work on with you. We're hoping that these forms won't only be request documents but that people who have already run successful events will fill them in so they can be shared with other members as a sort of 'How to' template. First port of call then, Birmingham University.

http://www.ldys.org.uk/about-us/suggestionbox

Internship available

LDYS is seeking an energetic intern for an initial two month period to provide LDYS assistance with general office admin at Liberal Democrat HQ in the heart of Westminster. Organisational ability, political awareness and basic IT skills are essential. Tasks will include:

• labelling, stuffing and stamping envelopes for all-member mailings
• telephone canvassing
• photocopying
• putting together membership and campaign packs
• data-entry
• processing new members
• helping organise LDYS conference and LDYS presence at Federal conference
• assisting with LDYS campaigns

LDYS can be flexible with the hours and days worked to accommodate for interviews or other commitments.
You should be sympathetic with Liberal Democrat values. Experience with DTP would be useful though not essential.
Salary: Travel Expenses within London Zones 1-6 and £10 lunch/expenses reimbursement per day.

Closes: Closing date December 6th.

Interviews to be held between December 10th to the 12th.

Start date Monday December 17th.

Contact: Application by CV and covering letter to ldysadmin@libdems.org.uk or by post to:

Paul Pettinger, LDYS, 4 Cowley Street, London, SW1P 3NB

Write for international Liberal magazine

We've received this invitation for people to write an article for LIBEL, an international magazine for liberally minded youth. If you're interested, get in touch!

LDYS Does Dallas

What images does the word "Texas" conjure up in your mind? Oil, ranches, electric chairs and Dubya?... Stuart Morris

Read more on our website

Blog

A quick reminder that anyone who wants to provide a blog entry for our website should submit 100 to 200 words to comms@ldys.org.uk!

Ideas

Now we have our campaigns form available online you can submit campaigns ideas really easily, but that doesn't mean you can't let us know about any other ideas you have to comms@ldys.org.uk