December Newsletter

Posted by John Shardlow | Updated 2019-12-18

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December 2019 Newsletter

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Merry Christmas and welcome to our December 2019 newsletter - a quick round-up of recent happenings and upcoming opportunities especially for our members outside Europe.

Chair's Message

George

Dear Lib Dem Friends,

May I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Of course, the 2019 General Election was a massive disappointment for us. Brexit is now inevitable. We must however put all this behind us and play our positive role in a fast-changing world, not helped by our country isolating itself and becoming a prey for bigger players.

This has not changed our mission as UK Lib Dems' one and only (g)local party. The UK Lib Dems' reputation remains strong in organisations such as Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE). Our talented newly-elected Lib Dems Overseas Executive (https://www.libdemsoverseas.com/our_team_2020) is already engaged in promoting liberal democracy in Asia where our membership is strong, as it is in North America.

We want to encourage more Lib Dems Overseas members to become active, in particular in Latin America, the Gulf and Africa. The world is in trouble and it needs organisations like ours to make their contribution. Contact me directly on gfjcunningham@gmail.com to get fully stuck in.

Best wishes.

George Cunningham, Chair,

2019 & 2020 Lib Dems Overseas Executive.

Recent Events

ALDE Party Congress

Alliance for Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) had their Party Congress in Athens 24-26 October 2019.

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Pictured here from left: Robert Woodthorpe-Brown, George Cunningham, Mr and Mrs Sam Rainsy, Paul Reyolds and Merlene Emerson.

Liberal International ExCom

Liberal International held a meeting in Fes, Morocco 22-24 November 2019.

Lib Dems Overseas AGM

Lib Dems Overseas Annual General Meeting took place via Skype at 12.00hrs UK time Sunday 1st December.

The newly elected executive and coordinators can be found at the "Our Team" page here.

The Chair's Annual Report can be found here.

Visit to Tokyo

Paul visiting Lib Dem members in Tokyo, November 2019

Election campaigning

Two members of the exec committee travelled to the UK for the election campaign:

Ian who traveled from Thailand campaigning in the recent UK general election. Can you spot the hope for the future?
George went to Dorset North to help with David Chadwick's campaign.

Ian

Election Survey of Britons Abroad

The University of Sussex is running an online survey of the participation of Britons living abroad in UK elections from 2015 – 2019, which aims to collect original data on the political practices and preferences of this traditionally ‘hard to reach’ part of the population. The results will be analysed in a series of blogs and academic articles to be published in 2020. The survey will be disseminated using the ‘snowballing’ technique which works like a chain letter, requiring people to circulate the online link to their organisations and/or to any British friends, family members and colleagues, encouraging them to complete the survey and to forward the link to their own contacts. The success of the survey depends on a high response rate, so please take advantage of this festive season to send the survey link to any British citizens that you know living outside the UK, whether or not they are voters.

More details are given on the opening page of the survey at:

https://sussex.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/2019-election-survey-of-britons-abroad-1

Upcoming Events

New Year drinks will be held in various locations around the world. Please get in touch with the contacts below if you would like to attend any of these:

Location	Venue	Date	Time	Contact
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Changkat Bukit Bintang	10th January 2020	8:30 pm	John Shardlow +60 12 377 0507
Bali, Indonesia	Kopi Bali	24th January 2020	10:00 am	Colin Bloodworth +62 816 921258
George Town, Cayman	Blue Stone Lane coffee shop	25th January 2020	10:00 am	Caroline Hey +1 345 325 8889
Toronto, Canada	Queen Anne Boleyn, 287 Richmond St W	15th January 2020	7:30 pm	Victoria Bateman +1 647 723 6134

Published and promoted by John Shardlow on behalf of the Lib Dems Overseas

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