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Tom Parkin is a Liberal Democrat activist and prospective candidate for Sheffield City Council. He is the editor of Liberal Base and blogs at tomparkin.org. He Tweets @tompjparkin. 

As the Liberal Democrat leadership contest rolls on, it is clear both Ed Davey and Layla Moran are eager to shift our policy platform to a greener and more radical position.

Let’s be clear. The election of a new figurehead will not in itself boost our standing in the opinion polls. Nor is it a matter of identifying the perfect policy combination to regain the seats lost since 2015. The internal reforms needed are urgent, wide-ranging and long-standing. There is no quick fix and we mustn’t expect our fortunes to change overnight. 

Here, I set out a three stage…

Gianni Sarra is a PhD candidate at King’s College London.  He is a recipient of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership studentship award and his doctoral research is on ‘The Dirty Rules Dilemma: Achieving Justice in Conditions of Corruption’. 

One of the most important states in determining control of the Senate will be in Maine. Long-term Senator, Susan Collins, is the sole Republican left in New England’s congressional delegation. Though Maine leans towards the Democrats, Collins was able to win her previous elections in landslides thanks to a reputation as an independent-minded moderate.

The Trump era, however, has dealt a heavy blow to that reputation, and now polling shows Collins narrowly behind in her fight to get reelected in November. How good are her chances, and what was it exactly that caused her situation to become so perilous?

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Susan Collins has long…

Tom Parkin is a Liberal Democrat activist from Sheffield and editor of Liberal Base. He runs a personal blog at tomparkin.org and can be found on Twitter @tompjparkin.

‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.’ This is certainly true of former First Lady Michelle Obama. For those seeking a reminder of life before the Trump administration, look no further. ‘Becoming’ on Netflix follows Obama’s autobiography of the same name, which in March 2019 sold over ten million copies.

But for those expecting this authorised work to be a job application for the 2020 Vice-Presidential nomination, you’re in for a dissapointment. The final cut comes across as a purposeful end to a former life. Obama herself declares the pre-presidential years…