Stream of consciousness wittering by overexcited conference bunny who has her final agenda .pdfs

Well, that's going to be a limited amount of fun... just checked out the floorplan for the exhibition at Bournemouth. DELGA (the LGBT concerned association within the party, for which I have volunteered my stall-manning services) is sandwiched between the Citizen's Advice Bureau and the Federation of Small Businesses, facing the wall, at just about the furthest point possible from the auditorium. Mind, it is also close enough to the Campaign for Gender Balance that I will have opportunities to fangirl at Jo Swinson if she makes an appearance there. One of my DELGA-mates has just pointed out - "I note we're not next to Lib Dem Christian Forum like we normally are". I dunno, I noticed that the Lib Dem Friends of Palestine aren't right next to the Lib Dem Friends of Israel either. Was someone with a less wicked sense of humour allocating stalls this year, then?

In happier news about conference:

-- I have a lift to and from Swansea courtesy of the fabulous Peter Black who made great company when he drove me to and from Llandudno, so I'm looking forward to that.

-- I am sharing a reasonably priced twin room with a friend from Manchester who has known me for about ten years, so the woes of my Brighton experience, in a cramped crash above a noisy club with five (very nice) strangers, is not to be repeated. I'm even sure to get breakfast that is significantly more nourishing than a Mars bar and a can of Red Bull!

-- The very old picture of my mate Ian Walton on p2 of the agenda is making me giggle. And the GLA bit on the inside front cover is giving me geeky favourite-font glee. Gill sans is awesome.

-- I love the 'Giving Citizens a Voice in Parliament' motion so much I could bounce on my chair. James Graham, I bow to thee for your association with this. Real petitions to parliament instead of ones that produce no further discussion than a glib response from Downing Street! A guarantee of a second reading for the favourite bills of the people, decided by petition! A people's veto where we the public can overturn really dreadful legislation if we protest in great enough numbers! The perennial please-give-us-STV slipped in there sneakily! It's a bloody masterpiece, is what it is.

-- Tim Farron (who represents where I holidayed as a teenager and is an utter sweetie besides) is hosting the rally, and there are free drinks to boot!

-- Brian Paddick's motion on crime policy. How could anyone accuse the Lib Dems of being rubbish on crime when we have such an aptly experienced and smart guy on top of it?

-- Q&A with Uncle Vince!

-- I'm really not sure what to do with my Tuesday lunchtime because I could go and see a league table of all 63 of our MPs ranked from least to most liberal at one fringe event, or a could go and bask in the warm glow of Uncle Vince talking sense about the economy. This is not the only time when I'd like to be in two places at once.

-- CGB are running a training event on building a development seat from scratch, for women only. I do hope I won't be the only person there! They're also running one in the same room, directly afterwards, on Making A Speech At Conference, with Jo Swinson in charge. That finishes an hour or two before the debate begins on that brilliant policy motion I was just squealing about a few points back. Hmmmm. I might well actually dare myself to speak. At federal conference. Apologies in advance if I make it up there and throw up on the podium from nerves à la Stan-from-South-Park.

-- I notice Winning In The Last Week training has been renamed Winning in The Last 72 Hours. Blimey. They'll have us moving quite literally at the double!


Basically.....


I'm VERY excited! Eeeeeeee!