Welsh Lib Dems/ Dem Rhydd Cymru

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Comment by Phillip Easton on June 8, 2010 at 3:18pm

Politics and Pizza evening for RCT Lib Dems (though anyone welcome!) tomorrow (Wednesday, 9th June 2010)
Sorry for the late notice, it's not me organising it and I only found out last night they were okay with a post within the ACT community!

And it'd be really nice to see some guys up from Cardiff to support their Valley neighbours!

Details as per the email are:

There will be an informal politics and pizza evening organised by Rhondda Cynon Taff Liberal Demcrats at The Meeting Place cafe, Margaret Road, Abercynon at 7:30pm on Wednesday 09 June 2010.

Cllr. Mike Powell and Karen Roberts will be attending. Mike is the leader of the Liberal Democrat Alliance on RCT council and was the candidate for Pontypridd in the recent Westminster election. He came within 3000 votes of taking a previously safe Labour seat. Karen was his agent and is also the chair of Rhondda Cynon Taff Liberal Democrats. They will be telling us what the Welsh Liberal Democrats have been up to lately and will be available to answer any questions you might have.

There is no charge to attend, but if you want to make a donation of £3 to help cover costs that would be much appreciated. It would be helpful if you could confirm your attendance before 8pm on Tuesday 08 June.

Comment by Peter Williams on May 15, 2010 at 6:21pm

It is now Flintshire Liberal Democrats - would still love some more members!

Comment by Peter Williams on May 15, 2010 at 7:06am

Hello peoples! If anyone is so inclined join our FB group Alyn and Deeside vote Lib Dem

Its possibly going to change to Flintshire Lib Dems but i will keep you informed

Comment by Michael Johnson on May 2, 2010 at 2:50am

Voting Kay David for Caerphilly.

Comment by Thomas Jefford on April 22, 2010 at 8:54am

finally decided on who to vote for, over the last year my views changed from tories to lib dems.

Comment by Jess Fromant on March 4, 2010 at 12:14am

As it's a bit quiet on here...what are your thoughts on this?
R.e. Scrapping tuition fees.

I graduated from university in 2008 with a 2.1 in a degree that I was not particularly happy with. It was a joint degree, so I saw the workings of two very different departments within the university. They did not speak to each other, and lecture slots often clashed. One department insisted on suggesting we did coursework that did not count towards our final grades - the whole course was 100% exam based. No-one liked it, but we all put up with it. The other department was smaller, and one of the years below me saw a very very high failure rate amongst it's first years, who then had to resit that year. They gave us module feedback forms, but years after we had complained about a particular module, it was still running. Coursework grades sometimes took a very long time to come back to us, making monitoring of our own progress very hard. In both departments there were lecturers that we could not understand, and lecturers that were more interested in their research than actually lecturing. The courses also did not teach us some of the core skills many of us would have found useful in industry. One course requires further training to do anything in the area, and the other missed so many key areas that should have been essential - I was told it was because that is what the degree is. Then it should adapt and change.

If the Lib Dems want to do something about tuition fees, they should make the universities and individual courses accountable, so that any fees are well spent. Students, many of whom have no idea about what to expect from a university, should get what they have paid for, and be able to provide feedback about the course/s to an external panel (like the BBC & Westminster have both had external bodies to examine their affairs). That way, a course that is not up to scratch will be forced to improve and the student, parents and tax payers will all be getting value for money, and a course that will set up the student for his/her future career.

Money could also be spent on setting up schemes that help young people move away from home to do apprenticeships and other courses. Some people only go to university to get away from home, when they should be going to further their education. University does not suit everyone.

Skills should also be broadened & confidence improved by teaching children a wide range of skills at primary school level, so they can find what they might be good at apart from maths and english. This too would be money well spent.

I am not saying that the Lib Dems should scrap their no fees policy, as I do not like the mountain of debt I have any more than any other student, but I would feel a lot better about it if I knew it had been money well spent. For the money, I expect to graduate with a degree that has taught me the skills I need for industry and by lecturers that are good at their job, and at the very least have some power to do something about it if it is not the case.