Only one council by-election this week, a Liberal Democrat defence in Warwickshire. Rokeby and Overslade, Rugby Triggered by the resignation of Nick Long, the contest saw Glenda Allanach stand for the Liberal Democrats. She had been a local councillor on this council back in 2000-2005, and is now on the council once more: Thumbs up for Glenda Allanach in Rokeby & Overslade after Glenda and the Team speak to residents ahead of the by-election on Thursday [IMG: 👍] pic.twitter.com/9hbE4LByda — RugbyLibDems [IMG: 🔶] (@RugbyLibDems) August 20, 2019
David Warren complains that the Liberal Democrats have become an establishment party. "The North of England is set to receive £2,389 less per person than London on transport, according to a new study which has stoked concern that the North is 'held back by government underinvestment'." Richard Kemp wants to see the North get a fair share of government spending. Chloe Coleman on the work of Henryk Ross, a photographer who documented the Lodz Ghetto in Poland under Nazi rule. "The night before I remember being on my hands and knees on my hotel room floor just crying and crying. ...
Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has a book out next month about his journey from a childhood in Preston through to his resignation as party leader.
[IMG: Walter Mitty went to Greenland - blogging from Las Vegas] Sometimes real life collides with fiction. Walter Mitty needed to get to Greenland in a great hurry from America and he made it. The only difference being that Walter Mitty didn't daydream it all. In the... The post Walter Mitty went to Greenland – blogging from Las Vegas appeared first on @ambitiousmamas.
The UK Prime Minister has been calling on his German and French counterparts this past couple of days, in an attempt to persuade them to alter Britain's Withdrawal Agreement from the EU, specifically by dropping the controversial Irish "backstop". Both Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have been emphatic that they will do nothing that could [...]
With Monday ( 26th August ) being a Bank Holiday, bin collections in this area are put back a day. For example if your bin collection day is usually Tuesday, next week it will be Wednesday. Please ensure that you get your bin ready for collection in good time, I have heard of complaints that the bin men came "too early" recently. Next week is a "green bin week" ( ie non-recyclable waste )
Second paragraph of third chapter: If there was any job that needed doing, it was always the elder son who had to do it. But there was one thing the elder son wouldn't do: if his father asked him to get something as night was falling, or when it was completely dark, and if his way took him through the graveyard or some creepy place like that, he'd say, 'Oh, no, father, I won't go there, it gives me the shivers.' This is a selection of stories taken from the Grimm Brothers' collections of the nineteenth century, reinterpreted with some ...
With regard to Brexit, two options remain for the Liberal Democrats. They are unpalatable. Our very newfound strength represents unconverted electoral energy. We must not overplay our hand. There is no legitimate option to Remain without attempting reform. We cannot just hope that the far-right does not swell and that our fulsome democracy is not irreparably damaged and left as an empty shell of majoritarian rule. The likes of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson know how to pipe the tune to destruction. These are not hollow (Project) fears. We must guard against them as vigilantly as we try ...
Somebody is having their autobiography published. The publisher is a known publisher of homophobes. One of the pull quotes on the book cover is from a former Tory MP who founded the Tory campaign against same sex marriage. I'm sure that person will try to wave this away with "oh I didn't know! I thought they were just nice good Christian people!" That record has worn so fucking thin at this point side B plays when you're trying to play side A. Yes, I am extremely sorry I ever defended him. No, I won't be doing so again. Comments disabled ...
Around three years ago in some bistro in Soho, Ian Mulheirn startled a tableful of economists going at their cassoulet with the bland statement: "Housing? It is not a supply problem". To call this heresy is melodramatic. We just thought he was winding us up. To question the mantra "just build more houses already" felt [...]
When I was at London University in the latter 1980's studying History and Politics, a particular incident made an impact on me and I recall it clearly. I was in a politics tutorial, one in which the very mild mannered, but enthusiastic, tutor, a delightful German of young middle age, had got the class to be a sort of forum for topical discussion. "What shall we discuss today, then?" He said, one day, as often he did. He was greeted by silence, as often he was! "Any suggestions?" He said, again trying to enthuse. He was greeted by silence, again ...
The BBC reports: The leader of Portsmouth City Council says he can not allow government inaction to "crucify Portsmouth" in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Gerald Vernon-Jackson said the authority and Hampshire County Council had already spent £4m on preparations to avoid gridlock near the city's port. The government has just announced port towns in England will receive an extra £9m to pay for preparations. But Mr Vernon-Jackson said the money was "too little, too late". Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, the Lib Dem council leader said the government had so far refunded £350,000 of the £4m and ...
Wed, 12:16: 😂😂😂 https://t.co/4mOJDwJIGk Wed, 12:39: RT @davidallengreen: Those who so adamantly wanted to take control of our borders... ...appear to have no clue what to do with the one lan... Wed, 12:56: RT @Mij_Europe: .@SteveBarclay may not wish to admit or see this, but UK officials in no doubt they're having hands tied behind their back... Wed, 16:02: Political sff recommendations from a Worldcon panel with @eyalkless @samhawkewrites @t_trace https://t.co/BQTyaxOBie Wed, 16:05: RT @gerrylynch: DO NOT STEAL. It is wrong, unlawful and against the WILL OF GOD. Seen in a petrol station in Springbok, Northern Cape 🇿🇦. (... Wed, ...
It's been a good few months to be a Lib Dem. In May success in local elections was followed by triumph in the European Parliament elections, when it beat both Labour and the Conservatives. The party's support in the polls has surged. Other successes followed, including attracting two high-quality defectors from other parties in parliament ... Continue reading The Lib Dems face the fight of their lives
Thu 22nd
10:04
Why the polling on a government of national unity should actually give Remainers hope and urgency
The pro-Brexit portion of the print media has been talking up a YouGov poll this week, done on the topic of what the public thinks about a government of national unity to halt no deal Brexit. It found that 44% oppose the idea of bringing down Boris Johnson's government and temporarily replacing it with a government who will halt a no deal Brexit, with 37% favouring the idea. This is being talked about as a "crushing blow" to those MPs who might be contemplating it; as usual in the Age of Brexit, the precise opposite is true. That only 7% ...
(Above) #DontTeachHate short video from The Traveller Movement I was very struck by this quote from Chris Baughurst of the Gypsy,Roma,Traveller Police Association (Thames Valley branch), speaking at the Green party Summer Gathering in Reading last Saturday: We are the only ethnicity in this country where it is openly acceptable to denigrate us, people to say things, and no one bats an eyelid. I recently dug through the Twitter archive relating to a recent event (which I will not specify, as it is now sub judice) and found over 100 separate incidents in the last week alone where Twitter users ...
Lots of local residents drive along Gypsy Patch Lane, Filton and through the narrow bridge. Work will be starting there in September to prepare for replacing the bridge. From Monday 2nd September temporary three-way traffic lights will be in operation on Gipsy Patch Lane at the railway bridge. These will be in place for up to two weeks. After this period automated Stop/Go boards will be used as needed on Gipsy Patch Lane. These will only be used when workers and machinery from the construction site need to safely cross Gipsy Patch Lane, their use will be kept to a ...
Just north of Town Green Station, on Merseyrail's Northern line to Ormskirk, is 'Doctors Bridge' where local legend has it that two doctors cars crunched on the bridge some years ago. The bridge is narrow though, too narrow to accommodate pavements as well as Prescot Road. The solution some years ago was a separate pedestrian bridge. Doctors Bridge photographed from the former pedestrian bridge looking towards Ormskirk. I've cycled over that separate bridge many times so imagine my surprise to find it gone Tuesday last..... There it was gone with only the abutments visible on either side of the cutting. ...
When opinion polls are showing the Liberal Democrats neck and neck with Labour, but only likely to win a third of the number of seats, then it is clearly time to change the system. Some of us have been saying that for a considerable amount of time, so it is good to have a new study to back up our argument. The Independent reports that an analysis of the 2019 election results has found England to have large areas of "democracy deserts" and that there were the "wrong winners" in 17 local authorities: The Denied Democracy report, auditing votes held ...
As far as it goes, there is nothing to disagree with in Tim Cowen's Radix pamphlet: Freedom to choose: Why competition policy affects us all, except perhaps to note that it is regrettable that it should be necessary to state and document the obvious. I should, however, like to take the argument somewhat further. The root cause of the failures Tim addresses is to be found in the lack of political will. Indeed, he might have been addressing politics rather than markets with his talk about choice and the need for there to be alternatives for citizens to choose from, ...
Further to the concerns in yesterday's "Courier" about safety at the Swallow roundabout that borders the West End Ward, Lochee Ward and the Perth and Kinross council boundary, I have had requests asking about progress with improvements to the road network here. The council's Head of Planning and Economic Development has advised me : "The Swallow junction is on the A90 trunk road and is therefore the responsibility of Transport Scotland/BEAR. The Council has been involved in the consideration of the proposals to upgrade it to accommodate the housing developments being built to the west of Dundee at Dykes of ...
The council's Representational Committee discussed the application by Shropshire Council to fell a tree in Castle Street car park last night. Agreeing with revised advice from its tree warden, the town council said that the tree could not be rescued as the base of the trunk had begun to rot after water penetrated through the split fork, which is close to the ground. Strapping the tree or selectively cutting its limbs would not therefore work. The council accepts the tree must be felled. But the tree warden and the council want the roots grubbed out and a semi-mature native species ...