Last updated Monday 26th January 2015 14:00 GMT
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[IMG: PAddy Ashdown by Liberal Democrats] Liberal Democrats have always treasured the charismatic Paddy Ashdown. He has an engaging style in public and comes over as warm, realistic and credible; he is also very good at rallying the troops. It seems that others beside the Liberal Democrats have noticed the pulling power of his voice, including an agency for voice-over artists which has now recruited him. The Guardian reports the story and refers to his 'authoritative, reassuring tones', but also highlights concerns by some party members. It quotes a 'senior Liberal Democrat' who said... ... he was 'astonished' that Ashdown ...
So, who, or what, am I supposed to be scared of this week? Well, obviously, Greeks bearing gifts for one thing. Syriza's triumph in yesterday's election means that the Eurozone will experience a massive loss of confidence, plagues of locusts will sweep up through the Balkans and the European Union will then collapse. Or, more likely, someone will point out to the new administration that, if you don't pay your debts, nobody will lend you any money. Talk to the Argentine government about what that means, why don't you? And without more money, you can't fulfil your promises. Oh, and ...
Julian Huppert, the Lib Dem MP for Cambridge has a slot at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday and he's looking for suggestions about what he should ask. Well Julian, here's mine: "Does the Prime Minister think that a Government security organisation which gives out its Chief Executive's mobile phone number to a stranger who calls up their switchboard shouldn't, on the whole, be given free access to every citizen's e mail and internet records for the past year and trusted not to use that data inappropriately?" I ask this, because while you and I might think the answer to ...
I had the opportunity to tour a small business this week which makes cutting-edge prosthetic devices. It was fascinating - technology nowadays has moved on so much that electronic sensors in an artificial foot can detect when you stub your toe on a curb and compensate for your loss of balance so that the foot/prosthetic device stays stable and you don't fall. We are all familiar with international athletes, 'bladerunners', who are able to achieve so much in their sport because of the specialist blade limbs that enable them to compete at the highest level. What I wasn't aware of ...
Grant Shapps, chairman of the Conservative Party, has hinted that Cameron may have to participate in the TV debates after all. Asked whether the prime minister would turn up if they happened, yes or no, Shapps gave an unequivocal answer: "It's a yes." I use the words "have to" as it's the worst kept secret in Westminster how Cameron feels about doing the debates. It is fair to say, in a nod to understatement, he's not particularly keen on the idea. Nor should he be. I understand why the Tories don't want to do the debates: it became accepted wisdom ...
Yate Town Council's tennis courts at Sunnyside Lane have been resurfaced and repainted. The fencing has been improved, plus a path to the courts from the car park to improve access to the courts for all members of the community. Yate was awarded a £31,150 funding boost from SITA Trust, and worked with tennis experts to get the courts completely refurbished. Councillor Sue Walker said "The newly surfaced courts are available for hire - why not come along and give tennis a try its a fun way of keeping fit and losing those few pounds you may have gained over ...
The election draws near and the battle lines are being set -but they are being laid down on the principles of old, whilst the country cries out for change. More than anything, voters yearn for responsive local Government and not authoritarian diktats from afar in London or Brussels. They want their voices heard. The two party system is broken but our democracy remains in the past. We need leadership and a vision of a modern democracy that will give people a real say and the freedom to act. Do Clegg and Milliband have the statesmanship to seize a unique opportunity ...
It was Dick Tuck who declared, on losing a Californian State Senate race, "The people have spoken, the bastards". It may well be that some European leaders are feeling something similar as the Greek General Election results come in. Alexis Tspiras, who leads the victorious Syriza party, is pledged to end austerity. That can only mean one choice: he either has to come out of the Euro and go his own way, or he has to renegotiate the bail-out package that was put in place by his predecessors. Either way, it heralds a period of unsettled weather for the Eurozone ...
The old Scunthorpe problem raises it's ugly head. Again. (tags: ) UKIP General Secretary appears to be a transphobic asshole. Witness my face of not-surprise (tags: ) Saudi Arabia has been holding reformist daughters of the late king under guard for over a decade (tags: ) the differences between male & female attitudes to page 3 (tags: ) Car seat nudges driver if they're too close to a bicycle/motorbike (tags: ) Brighouse Cinema showing Pride :) (tags: ) Fascinating story behind the rail chaos at King'sX/Finsbury Park over Christmas (tags: ) Next time cat people say I dote on my ...
Southport Lib Dems Burns Night, excellently organised by Pat Keith et all, was a great success. I must confess to a moment or two of doubt when Ronnie entered wearing an excessively mini kilt. I feared he was going to ham it and reduce the address to farce. I need not have been afraid. With great seriousness Ronnie delivered Burn's address to the haggis. David Pullen was unwell and so we were spared one of his difficult quizzes. He was ably replaced by Julie whose twelve questions you can see above. Can you do better than Table 1? Julie ...
The NHS in Hertfordshire has issued this leaflet: Alternatives to AE in Hertfordshire FINAL (3)
No one was certain how many people would turn up to last Thursday morning's meeting to discuss the cuts to the Ludlow Museum Resource Centre. The organisers had booked Oscars in the Ludlow Assembly Rooms for the meeting but this was quickly overwhelmed. The assembled company, numbering more than 180 on my count, decanted into [...]
During the West End campus building project for St Joseph's Primary School, Victoria Park Primary School and Balgay Hill Nursery School, the contractor has kept adjacent residents updated throughout the building of the new schools via community newsletters. I am pleased to say that this practice has continued with the Harris Academy building project, with the most recent newsletter from last month downloadable here.
As well as Southport's excellent rail service to Liverpool and the (let's be charitable) it's less than excellent service to Wigan and Manchester, the Town has two other railways that carry the public around. [IMG: rsz_southport_pier_tram_-_fastest_in_the_town] The obvious one is the Pier Tram but a lack of ambition and forward planning by Sefton Council, in particular, means that what could be a useful east – west passenger carrying line still simply shuttles up and down the Pier. [IMG: End of the line or the end of Sefton Council's ambition?] End of the line or the end of Sefton Council's ambition? ...
Google have invested in SpaceX, a company founded on the idea of private space flights to Mars. But there are alternative narratives for the tech giant's race into space A week ago, Elon Musk launched his new SpaceX satellite lab in Seattle. He plans to provide satellite internet access via a constellation of 4,000 satellites flying at 750km above the earth, each weighing hundreds of kgs. The announcement came two days after Richard Branson and Qualcomm invested in the OneWeb satellite internet initiative, which is building almost 700 fridge-sized satellites. Along with Branson, Musk is a billionaire that usually talks ...
In 2013 Labour promised to freeze energy prices for 20 months if they win the 2015 general election. As feared when this pledge was made – energy companies would de risk Labour winning by ensuring higher prices before the election to buffer them from this proposal. With the dramatic fall in wholesale energy prices only some has been passed onto consumers. Npower and others have stated that they would have decreased prices by more than the 5.1% they have reduced prices by IF it wasn't for Labours pledge. Power are behaving perfectly rationally to de risk their business from the ...
Southwark Council have just added 20% to the costs of fruit and veg market stalls across Southwark. They say the costs of disposing of fruit and veg stalls have risen by 20%. The stall holders say business is down which would means less waste being generated. Eitherway, raising the costs of health fruit and veg will mean prices go up which will mean less is bought from market stalls providing health fruit and veg. And this at a time when we have an obesity crisis. Taxing healthy eating just does not make sense. As the stall holders ay – 'it's ...
There are some very interesting articles about the forthcoming Scotland Bill, the details of which were unveiled on Thursday, in today's press. The Tories were trying to back out and Clegg, Alexander and Carmichael wouldn't let them According to Michael Moore in Scotland on Sunday today. It is not a surprise to me that the Conservatives fought tooth and nail to remove some of the key elements of the Smith agreement. We saw in the commission itself they adopted two or three different positions in the space of 48 hours on welfare and were clearly in touch with London colleagues ...
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg today argued that the implementation of the Smith proposals represents "Home Rule" for Scotland. Writing for Scotland on Sunday, Clegg insisted that "Thursday was a good day for Scotland and our United Kingdom...The Scottish Parliament has grown in authority and stature in its short life and these new and significant powers will enable it to grow even more. "You will have the flexibility to do things differently in Scotland as Holyrood will now raise the majority of the money it spends. It means if you want to spend more on mental health care, like Liberal ...
This week saw the Labour Council guillotine public questions at council meetings – rewriting it's constitution yet again to suppress audible dissent – by limiting the session to 10 minutes. The joke (if it were not serious) is that the replies have always been the much longer part of the session as questioners are limited to asking their question with no right to follow up, whereas the responders can go on for as long as they like – and often do. And why do I say they are doing it again? Because in the last six years they have rewritten ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 408th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (18 – 24 January 2015), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Voter Registration Nonsense by James ...
A year ago, John Knox wrote an article on this site advocating a new kind of politics by minority government after the General Election. He now comes to our attention again having delivered a beautifully crafted General Election themed Address to the Haggis at the Edinburgh South Burns Supper on Friday night. He's given us his permission to publish it in full. Some of you may struggle with the exact language, but I'm sure you will pick up the gist. Enjoy. Fair fa' your honest sonsie face Great chieften o' the puddin' race Aboon them a' ye take your place ...
Me at the back door of the White House None of us will be surprised just how well known Liverpool is in Washington. No-one will be surprised to know that it was far better known than any city in the ... Continue reading →
For all of my 50 year career as a teacher of economics I have taught that a central bank can control the quantity of money in its economy by a process called Open Market Operations. If the central bank wants to increase he quantity of money in the economy it buys (government) bonds on the Open Market: if it wants to contract the quantity of money it sells bonds. In order t help students remember which way round the process works I used to point out that LESS is more or less SELL backwards, so to make the money supply ...
Blog Categories: Political Theory Vote: 1 vote + Vote up! - Vote down! Law, properly speaking, is something that can be discoverable by reason, that enacts "justice", which in turn is the rendering to each and everyone of their just rights. To be "equal before the law" is to have these just rights applied to everyone without discrimination. Something that sets one over another such as force is implied and needed to maintain that rule has nothing to do with justice. It is the very epitome of privilege, private (privus) law (lex). Law, emergent law, is about the restitution of ...
[IMG: Ronnie Fearn - Liberal MP for Southport] In a comment on my post about Martin Kyrle's excellent local history of the Liberal / Liberal Democrats in Hampshire, Nigel Ashton kindly drew my attention to another local history: Southport Liberal Association – the first 100 years by Michael Braham (1985). Former Southport MP Ronnie Fearn is central to the modern revival but Braham's book also goes much further back into the past. It's a very interesting read although it is a little brief and matter of fact over Ronnie Fearn's selection defeat at the hands of Iain Brodie-Browne ahead of ...
Don't know about you, but I think Mr Cameron SHOULD be taking part in the leadership debates and not using a fake caring stance for the Greens, as an excuse not to? There's now an on-line petition, calling on David Cameron to take part in the Leaders' Debates and not leave his chair empty. I've [...]
Warmest congratulations to FABOUK and its President Santosh Dass. The Ambedkar centre will remind us that we still need to work for the elimination of disadvantage and discrimination, in the UK and in India Hindustan TimesMaharashtra govt set to buy Ambedkar's house in LondonPrasun Sonwalkar and Sayli Udas Mankikar, Hindustantimes.com , London/Mumbai | Updated: Jan 24, 2015 10:54 IST After months of uncertainty, India has moved to intervene in the sale of a house in London where B R Ambedkar lived in 1921 as a student, with the Maharashtra government set to buy the property. The government plans to acquire ...
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 15,800 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... The Greens: The Lib Dem fightback begins (178 comments) by Caron Lindsay Britain's greenest party, the Green Party and environmentalism (99 comments) by Simon Oliver The Green Party: should we be panicking? (22 comments) by Paul Walter The Independent View: Progressive and pro-European voters must unite against Tory-UKIP chaos (58 comments) by Lord Matthew Oakeshott Opinion: why I chose to stand in a seat I cannot win – this time (20 comments) by Anuja Prashar Debates ...
Here are the latest national voting intention figures from each of the main pollsters. To put the numbers into longer context, take a look at my database of polling figures going back to 1945, which is updated quarterly. Polling company Con Lab LibDem UKIP Green Con lead Fieldwork Method ComRes 33% 34% 7% 18% 3% -1% 14-15/1 Online ComRes 29% 32% 12% 16% 5% -3% 12-14/12 Phone ICM 30% 33% 11% 11% 9% -3% 16-19/1 Phone Ashcroft 29% 28% 9% 15% 11% 1% 16-18/1 Phone MORI 33% 34% 8% 11% 8% -1% 11-13/1 Phone Opinium 28% 33% 7% 20% 6% ...
A while back I mentioned that I was in the process of porting an old Computing Today Star Trek game from Tiny BASIC to Python on my Raspberry Pi. This was before I'd taken the edX Python course and learned to code properly in the language. Frankly, although my code works, it is truly horrible stuff. And I didn't even have the excuse of being limited to a couple of kilobytes of memory that the original was designed to fit into. I've just never had the time since to go back and do it better. However, a couple of people ...
This posting is very much based on information supplied to me by a Lydiate resident but it is a subject close to my heart on which I have posted a number of times previously via this site. My last posting is accessible via the link below:- Page 11 of today's Sunday Times refers to the 2001 decision to reduce tax on diesel vehicles under the heading 'Labour admits tax blunder on deadly diesel'. [IMG: images] There is also Channel 4 Dispatches programme tomorrow at 8pm "The great car con" Bootle Councillor Ian Maher talked about the deplorable death rates ...
[IMG: alex carlile - house of lords] After much provocation over the years, I have finally reached the end of my patience with Alex Carlile. The sooner he and the Liberal Democrats part company the better. It was embarrassing enough to watch him give the green light to so many of Labour's illiberal anti-terror laws, but when he supports something which threatens to scupper a key concession won by the Liberal Democrats, it is time for us to actively campaign for him to go. Theresa May's Counter-Terrorism to-do list is a very scary thing indeed. She can't wait to get ...
I don't think this is quite what he intended to do, but when Sir David Omand, the man formerly in charge of GCHQ, spoke out in defence of the impact of the proposed Snoopers' Charter and of undermining end-to-end encryption a few days back, what he really did was highlight the sensible alternatives to it. The key part is when he said: Sir David, who was director of GCHQ from 1996-97, said: "One of the results of Snowden is that companies are now heavily encrypting [communications] end to end. "Intelligence agencies are not going to give up trying to get ...
There's six weeks to go, give or take, til the Hugo nominations have to be in, and so I'm thinking quite hard about who I should nominate. Here's what I'm going for so far: Best Novel: The Pendragon Protocol, Philip Purser-Hallard If I can't find four better novels in the next six weeks — Lock-In [...]
For me it is the great turning point in modern thought. In the 1930s [IMG: Ludwig_Wittgenstein_by_Ben_Richards] the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (pictured in a 1947 photo by Ben Richards I picked up off Wikipedia) rejected his early, grand philosophical work on the fundamental questions of logic and mathematics. Instead he developed an entirely new approach using the slogan "Don't ask for the meaning, ask for the use". While I am only dimly aware of Wittgenstein's philosophy it is one my life's chief inspirations. Perhaps it is natural for people to search for big ideas. Systems that allow us to make sense ...
Sunday morning in Kifissia, one of the leafy northern suburbs of Athens, and the view from my bedroom balcony is blue sky with dark clouds looming – a fitting scene for this very important Greek Election Day. A product of the oil industry in Aberdeen, I am one of many Scottish expats supporting the oil and gas industry around the world (and lets not mention oil prices!). I have been working in Greece for a little over a year and after commuting between the Athens of the North and the real Athens for a year, I have been resident (and ...
That it will hurt the Labour Party is not one of them! Britain has seen a swing towards the Green Party comprised mostly of young people concerned with social justice and climate change disenchanted with mainstream politics. Here are the main reasons I think people these are precisely the kind of people who should be [...]
A wonderful homage to the Sixties as they were or should have been. Rita Tushingham. Harold Wilson. David Hemmings. David Bailey. The Avengers. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Cleaners from Venus are chiefly a vehicle for Martin Newell, "the wild man of Wivenhoe". It's discography is obscure, but as far as I can make out this track was released as a single in 1987 and can be found on the 2003 album Going to England. Newell has moved in exalted circles. He has been produced by Andy Partridge from XTC and the guitarist here is Captain Sensible.
[IMG: The Vow delivered] This was the week that the Government unveiled the 44 clauses of the Scotland Bill which will be debated after the General Election. Former Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore was a member of the Smith Commission upon whose report the clauses were drafted. He says in an article for the Scotsman that the Commission has delivered and "the Vow" has therefore been kept: Of course, we know that any devolution settlement short of independence will be unacceptable to the SNP. And already we have seen them start to pick fights over the draft clauses, ...
[IMG: UKIP health] (Oh, and then there's also the NHS and Nazis comments.)
[IMG: 4432808605_43e7400304_n] Nick Clegg has a rather extraordinary post at the Telegraph today. The second half of the post is pretty standard: the Libdems are less spendthrift than Labour and less ideologically anti-state than the Conservatives. Split the difference and aim for the sensible centre. But in order to grab the opportunity to reiterate this message he has to find a hook to hang it on. And the hook that he – or, presumably, someone in his team – chose was the Greek election. He makes some comparisons between Greece and the UK in 2010 when the current UK coalition ...
Continue the theme of bollards being bashed this is Banwell Road. Pleased to see that the council has already repaired it.
We missed this when it was published last week but it's no less relevant now. Shared parental leave becomes a reality in the next few months. Parents will be able to decide which of them takes the time off from their work to stay at home following the birth of a baby. Jo wrote about this for the New Statesman's Staggers blog: Under the new rules, mothers will still take at least two weeks of maternity leave immediately after birth, but after that working couples can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay. ...
Considering that they are an anti-politics party, the cynicism of UKIP is quite breath-taking. According to today's Sunday Times, one of Nigel Farage's senior aides has said that Britain has "hundreds of thousands of bigots" and Ukip is proud to stand up for them. The paper's political editor says that the outburst by Matthew Richardson, the party's secretary will lay Ukip open to the charge that senior figures see themselves and their own supporters as bigots, a stance that is liable to alienate more moderate voters: Richardson was appointed last year to put an end to the party's series of ...
Morrissey, the former lead singer of the Smiths, is perhaps the ultimate love him or hate him character in the history of popular music. He inspires terrifying devotion and pathological dislike in equal measure. I recall Morrissey appearing on a talk show, Jonathan Ross I think, and my wife having to leave the room within seconds. "He's so pretentious," she said as she left. So where do I fit in on the Morrissey spectrum then? Like most characters who elicit such binary responses, I sort of like him and sort of don't. I'll start with the stuff about Morrissey that ...
Don't you just love the sunrise, I know I do. This one is Lydiate again this morning. Nothing done to the photo it's how it came out. [IMG: rsz_lydiate_sunrise_25_01_15] This photo is amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
Isn't It Time We Forgave Nick Clegg? - suspect many will think this is a #QTWTAIN , sadly :( (tags: ) 'Incompetent' Grayling condemned by ex-Tory MP as 'off his trolley' (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Given that Page 3 wasn't in The Sun this week, it sure took up a lot of media space, especially among Lib Dems. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that loads of us want to wade into a fight that was framed as free speech and sexual expression vs gender equality and quality news reporting. But that's not actually what's going on at all: so here is a rundown of what Page 3 is, and why it's harmful. Page 3 is normalising objectification of women. The Sun makes printing nude women for the sole purpose of titillation in a national newspaper, ...
[IMG: cf hero - ruth davidson] Ruth Davidson Leader of the Scottish Conservatives Reason: for sticking up for human rights Raif Badawi, last week's Liberal Hero, is too ill from the first 50 lashes he was subjected to by the Saudi authorities to have faced the second 50 or the third 50 that should by now have been inflicted on him. Had he recovered from his injuries he would still have 850 lashes to endure, in addition to his 10-year jail sentence for setting up the Free Saudi Liberals website. This week saw the death of the ruler of Saudi ...
One thing that had slipped my mind as Labour Council Leaders across Merseyside have been kicking lumps out of each other about whether our area will be bossed around by a Liverpool centric Metro Mayor is that there has actually been a vote on Sefton Council on this very matter. It happened at a meeting I missed on 20th November but the result is quite illuminating. This is the what was being debated:- It was moved by Councillor Brodie - Browne, seconded by Councillor Dawson: "This Council believes that there should be no elected Mayors imposed upon communities such as ...
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Scottish Water repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Westfield Place, (from Roseangle to approx. 30 metres north), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Monday 2 February 2015 for 5 working days. The one way order which relates to Westfield Place will be rescinded for the duration of these works. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles ...
[IMG: Computer keyboard] A group of four peers (including, sigh, Alex Carlile) are trying to pull a fast one with Parliamentary procedure by tabling at the last minute a long and complicated set of amendments (18 pages long!) that would introduce the Snoopers' Charter. These amendments will be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, 25 January. Stopping the plans in the Lords is vital because if they were to get to the Commons... well, not only does the Conservative Home Secretary Theresa May want the Snoopers' Charter, but the Labour Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has attacked Theresa ...
The poll is closed and just over 400 people voted (403 votes). I am not claiming that this poll is statistically representative of the town but it does give some interesting results. And there is a very clear local preference of which retailer should move in to the supermarket, should it be built. I also [...]
We had a Whickham action day today. It started with delivery of our latest Focus in Swalwell, my old home turf though I didn't do the patch where I lived from 1987 to 2002 (when we moved to Sunniside). Back to Cllr Chris Ord's house for lunch (pictured above). In the afternoon we headed out as a team to canvass in Whickham North. We found no Labour voters, 2 Conservatives (both at the same
