The Glee Club is a traditional event at the twice-per-year
Liberal Democrat Conference and the
Liberal Assembly, consisting of attendees singing around a piano. It is a popular event in
British politics and was a formative event in the lives of many British political leaders, including the former leader of the Labour Party,
Michael Foot, amongst them. Foot described its opening song, "
The Land", as the best political song he had come across, imbued with the democratic spirit, and designed to put fear in the hearts of the landlords.
Although the Glee Club has informally existed for many years, in 1967 the first songbook (entitled ''After the Count was Over'') was published by the
National League of Young Liberals. Songbooks have been produced since the 1975 by ''
Liberator'', and in 2009 the 20th edition of the Liberator Songbook was published – the 27th songbook in its publishing history.
[''The Liberator Song Book'', 2009, Liberator, p.49.]
It is often combined with the ''Liberal Revue'', a series of
sketches consisting mostly of
in-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...
s and irreverent takes on political matters.
See also
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''The Land''
*
Liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
*
Glee Club
*
''Liberator'' (magazine)
References
Political events
Political events in the United Kingdom
Liberal organizations
Liberal Party (UK)
Liberal Democrats (UK)
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