Luton at the Liberal Democrat Conference
I was somewhat surprised when planning my diary for this years Liberal Democrat conference, being held in Birmingham, to find that one of the fringe meetings is to be dedicated to Luton.
The Love Luton Campaign, the campaign behind Luton’s bid to get city status for the town, has arranged a meeting on the Monday evening (19 September) which they have called “Celebrating DiverCity”. The event will be hosted by my good friend Lord Hussain and will feature performers from the carnival and the mela. Lib Dem equalities minister Lynne Featherstone MP is also down to be present.
This is the first time I am aware of that a specifically Luton event has been held at a party conference. I am all for promoting the town and celebrating the extraordindary richness of our diverse community. The event does sound like fun. Yet, I have to honest and say that I do have reservations about the bid for city status and I am not entirely sure that holding this sort of event is the most effective form of lobbying that can be undertaken on behalf of it. However, I will be going along to the meeting and am prepared to have my doubts confounded. I will report back on this blog!
The Love Luton Campaign: Celebrating DiverCity will be held in the Sonata Room of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Brimingham at 20:00 on Monday 19 September.
This content was originally posted on my old Strange Thoughts blog.
2 Comments
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Luton’s been turned into a complete mess by decades of dedication to spoiling it by the council. Making it a city would be an insult.
[…] There is the temptation to spend much of Monday evening in a good pub with proper beer. However, there are two fringe meetings that I have in the diary. Unfortunately they are both at the same time. I would like to be at the Liberal Democrat History Group meeting where Paddy Ashdown and Shirley Williams will be helping to launch a new history of Liberal politics in Britain. However, I feel rather obliged to be at the Love Luton Campaign meeting which I’ve written about here. […]