Most Chorlton residents may be unaware of a little-publicized change in Council spending policy that penalises them. Previously, some Council spending was based on a points system. For instance, the more potholes a road had, the more points it received, with the highest score getting priority. Under the new system, Council spending will be based on the income level of the area. The Council believes Chorlton is a high income area, which means there will be much less, or in some cases no Council spending on Chorlton. The roads budget for Chorlton is already the lowest in Manchester, and the ...
My friend Mark Pack has produced a great info-graphic detailing the success of the Liberal Democrats in getting 75% of their manifesto into the coalition agreement. As Party President Tim Farron says - we're proud of the 75% and we're sorry not to gave got the remaining quarter in there. But people who voted Lib Dem at the last election can see that the principles that they voted for are being enacted. I agree with Tim. I'm sorry that some of the policies being put forward by the government are not what we would have wanted. But I am proud ...
Thu 8th
23:15
What Lib Dem members think about the NHS Bill: 57% opposed, but majority might back it if significan...
We've been surveying the views of current Lib Dem members this week on your views on the NHS Bill. Over 500 responded, and here's what you told us... A majority of Lib Dem members - and a majority of Lib Dem members who will be voting delegates at the party's spring conference at NewcastleGateshead this weekend - oppose the Coalition Government's NHS reforms as they currently stand. By 57% to 32%, Lib Dem members reject the Health & Social Care Bill. However, that does not automatically mean the Lib Dem conference will vote to 'Kill the Bill' if there is ...
This excellent infographic was produced by Mark Pack:
Tonights London Evening Standard carries an article attacking the concept of the mansion tax - much favoured by Lib Dem economic guru - Vince Cable. If one was trying to find the least effective spokespeople for the anti mansion tax case Vince couldn't have done better. Here's a flavour of their opposition: Ivor Dickinson, 54. Estate agent managing director who lives in a large house worth about £3.5 million in Sussex and commutes to his London office every day. He says: "I inherited this house from my grandparents and would have to pay the extra tax out of my salary. Bringing ...
This is The Moon Under Water on Watford High Street. It is named after George Orwell's vision of the perfect pub, which he revealed in an Evening Standard column in 1946. Somehow I do not think he was envisaging the rise of J.D. Wetherspoon. But there is a legend about The Moon Under Water: it is that it was intended to be the Metropolitan Railway's Watford terminus. The Wikipedia entry on Watford Met, for instance, says: The original Watford Central station building was in Watford High Street, opposite the junction with Clarendon Road, and has known many guises. In the ...
Twenty four hours (and a bit) to go until I set off from Hyde Park Corner. AAAARRRRGGHHHHHHH *ahem* :) I'm only £145 off my target, so if you haven't sponsored me yet and you can afford to, please do! I'm doing this for St Ann's Hospice, who care for terminally ill people and need £16,000 every day just to stay open. [IMG: JustGiving - Sponsor me now!] ♥ ♥ ♥ Going to bed now, for at least 14 hours :) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Many countries can make stuff cheaper and better but when it comes to marketing the USA still reigns supreme. Exhibit A is this brilliant new promo video for startup DollarShaveClub.com. The razor market (or male grooming to be precise) is a market that is crying out to be disrupted as most of us guys are left ...
The story about the Queen on the Today programme this morning confirmed something I have thought for some time. Robert Hardman of the Daily Mail described her crossing out the word 'very' from the phrase 'I am very pleased to be in Birmingham' in a speech she was due to give. "I don't want to fake it," she said, or so they say. I have wondered for some time whether the Queen's absolutely dreadful manner of delivering her speeches has contributed to her reputation for authenticity. Any attempt to project her voice, or enthuse or anything to engage people would ...
I learnt last night my friend Viv Bingham had died (1932 - 2012). I've known Viv since around 1974 when he fought his first parliamentary election-although before that he had be active in the party in his student days. He went on to be the candidate in Hazel Grove in 1979. His next electoral outing was in the same year at first Euro election when he was the candidate for East Cheshire and I was his agent. He served as Liberal Party President in 1981/2 and offered himself as a candidate to Warrington Liberals at the by election in 1981 ...
Cornwall Council's strategic planning committee today voted to approve the Truro 'Eastern District Centre' application for a Waitrose Supermarket, Cornwall Food Centre, Eastern Park and Ride, Waste Recycling Centre and housing. I don't sit of this committee and didn't attend the meeting and so will not disagree with the overall 11-8 vote in favour of the application. But I am particularly disappointed with one aspect of the outcome. This was a green field application to be built on land outside the Truro development boundary. As such, the policy agreed by the Cabinet is that every single one of the houses ...
From The Press: Archaeologists find human bones inside York Minster
I spent the day waiting today. Not waiting as I usually do waiting for a bus or a train or some such other piece of this country's rubbish transport system, but just waiting. Waiting for my uncle to die. I got a call at 8.15 this morning from my sister. She had had a call from ...
[IMG: 20120308-205014.jpg] I guess this is a guest editor spot, as this is the latest news from Transition Shipston, written by Dave Passingham. As with all my guest editor spots, the views expressed are not necessarily my own. If you'd like to write a spot for this blog, please let me know. That over with, here's the news: "Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting at Townsend Hall on Tuesday for your support. Things seem to be happening fast. The campaign has been on the front page of the Cotswold Journal, the MP is coming tomorrow to support us ...
More about this film on the Sylvia Pankhurst: Everything is Possible pages.
I'm going to come over all proud now. Way back in the mists of time - it must have been 2007 or 2008, I can't remember which, James Harrison was the Liberal Youth representative on the Scottish Party Campaigns and Candidates Committee, in his first year at Glasgow University. Tonight, he's been elected as the next SRC President at Glasgow University. I saw him recently at the Equal Marriage when he'd come over with the Glasgow contingent of students. He's had a sabbatical role this year as VP Learning and Development. He seemed very well suited to the sort of ...
It's worth it. There's a Guardian Reality Check about this film here. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Yesterday the news in the poll that the Ulster Unionist had the least influence of the five parties in the Northern Ireland Executive. Today three weeks ahead of the party's AGM the leader Tom Elliott has said he will not be seeking re-election for that position. So who next to try and lead the UUP. Basil McCrea was the runner up to Elliott less than 2 years ago and is an obvious contended to throw his hat into the ring. He was always seen as more liberal that Elliott especially when it came to issue of inclusion. The Donegal born ...
I've been invited by the Local Government Association to contribute to their new councillor blog platform. My first effort - on the subject of councils investing in tobacco companies - is available here. Do also read Labour Cllr Graham Chapman on welfare reform and Conservative Cllr Mimi Harker on helping families facing redundancy. Tweet
Children from BBC School Report interview the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg (mp3) There is a write up of this interview on the BBC website. The BBC School Report: gives 11-16 year-old students in the UK the chance to make their own news reports for a real audience. Using lesson plans and materials from this website, and with support from BBC staff and partners, teachers help students develop their journalistic skills to become School Reporters. In March, schools take part in an annual News Day, simultaneously creating video, audio and text-based news reports, and publishing them on a school website, ...
A Conservative attempt to take money away from Cheadle and Gatley – along with the rest of Stockport – and spend it in Heaton Moor was defeated by the Lib Dems last week. The Liberal Democrats proposed spending an extra £150,000 to sort out highway trees right across Stockport Borough. Stockport is the greenest borough in Greater Manchester, but highway trees – especially some of the inappropriate species planted a few decades ago and now causing all sorts of problems – really need more money spending on them. The money will allow us to: Remove every tree stump on the ...
Justine Greening, Secretary of State for Transport, has announced that the government plans to accept many of the recommendations of Sir Roy McNulty's report on the railways and that she wants to see efficiency savings of £3.5 billion per annum. Much of the media coverage has been dominated by the proposed introduction of smart card ...
Plan C has been released today on the Amazon store, in electronic form. It sets out the Social Liberal Forum's proposals for the economy, which we hope to see adopted by the Liberal Democrats as a distinct policy from both ... Continue reading →
I... am already bored with 'one to keep, one to drop.' Being negative about comics is boring, y'all. Howsabout I just talk about the week's highlight each week, hmm? Avengers: The Children's Crusade has been rather flatline for me; it was less an interesting story and more a plot device to introduce Wanda Maximoff back into Marvel continuity and set up for this Avengers vs X-Men milarkey which frankly I'm not interested in. I only bought the series because I like Young Avengers and I only read Young Avengers for Teddy, Billy and Tommy anyway. So it was really only ...
Thu 8th
18:38
Man sues Leicester City Council after injuring himself putting up health and safety sign
The headline says it all. Hurry over to the Leicester Mercury for our Story of the Day.
For a year a group of Liberal Democrats who know something about the NHS and the delivery of healthcare have been working to modify Lansley's Health Bill with the aim of preventing irreversible damage to the NHS. Until last week our draft motion still offered the hope of amending the Bill. When we saw Nick's letter we realised that there was no point. On preventing competition by price the letter is doubly misleading. David Nicholson warned about this in January 2011 and the Government conceded the point in February. However, even now competition on price has not been completely prevented. ...
I went yesterday to the launch of a British Gas campaign "Share the Warmth". Currently, Pensioners and those receiving benefits are able to get free loft insulation which on average will save households around £175 a year. Now, British Gas ... Continue reading →
Recently I've been discussing with a few friends about women in the gaming community as a whole. And as it's International Women's Day, what better day to post about it? It's no big secret that the gaming community is stereotypically male, white, middle-class, and geeky. And people wonder why, at the same time images such as these appear on the internet: It's like several other communities that have demographic problems, such as the conservatives who call women "sluts" for using birth control then wonder why they turn out for Obama 70-30, or atheists who attacked Rebecca Watson for feeling creeped ...
Well congrats to Liberal Reform for a pretty awesome start in life – over 100 party members signing up, and lots of buzz and noise about the blogosphere. Still a way to go to prove their spurs – but very nice start. For those of you planning to attend this week's conference in Gateshead it might be worth your while going and meeting these guys and gals. DRINKS RECEPTION : They have a drinks reception that everyone is welcome to attend on Saturday evening in Room MEC 2, The Sage between 6.15-7.30 – drinks provided – how can you refuse ...
Surely there has to be an easier way of getting something done in the Scottish Parliament than this? How much has it cost in terms of staff time and effort for Patrick Harvie's question - "to ask the Corporate Body whether they will consider installing a clock in the Garden Lobby" - to be processed? Could he not just have had a wee word with the Presiding Officer and ask her to bring it up at the next meeting? It's cool to talk, you know! As for the principle - do people not have watches and smartphones these days? Why ...
One of the great experiences in life is reading a text which suddenly throws new light on an issue or expresses a feeling which had been nagging away at you without reaching expression. It has happened to me when I have read some of the classics of liberal thought. And, bizarrely, it happened a few weeks ago when reading a column in the Guardian. The column by Lars Tragardh expressed doubts as to whether the Swedish model (in its current manifestation under a centre-right government) was compatible with Cameron's conservative ideology. He pointed out that the Swedish combination of a ...
Today is just 8 weeks to go until polling day, but there's no need to panic. In this edition of Election Briefing we will focus on guidance for the nomination process. Nominations for the local elections in England and Wales open in under 3 weeks, on 27th March, in Scotland they open next Tuesday the 13th!! The deadline for the submission of nominations in Scotland is 4pm on 29th March The deadline for the submission of nominations in England and Wales is noon 4th April Make sure you get yours in early - don't leave it to the last minute. ...
I have been a bit inactive on my blog recently. Busy elsewhere, but no excuses really. I get the same urge to vent my spleen from time to time - but my spleen tends to end up deposited elsewhere. So what has got me back to my personal therapy space? It's the news over the last day of the loss of six servicemen in Afghanistan. Whenever we hear the news of a British soldier lost on active service I admit to shedding a few tears. These are usually young men and occasionally young women, with their whole lives ahead of ...
Days after the Scottish Liberal Democrats' conference voted to support a single-question yes-no referendum on the basis that independence should be defeated before additional powers for Scotland are considered, a constitutional expert has announced he favours including an option for Devo Max on the ballot form. Vernon Bogdanor, author of Devolution in the United Kingdom, also expressed criticism of the position, taken by the Liberal Democrats as well as Prime Minister David Cameron, of waiting until after the referendum to reveal the extent of any further powers. This he dismissed as "hardly satisfactory", claiming it was unfair to ask Scots ...
As previously discussed, I yesterday recorded a discussion programme on the radio station Voice of Russia, about Israel, Iran, the USA and the Palestinians. You can now click here to hear the programme (throughout which I demonstrably had something of a frog in my throat). I do not necessarily accept the premise on which the discussion was predicated and I repeat my strong dissociation of myself from the abhorrent writings of the person calling himself "Israel Shamir", who I believe is the same Israel Shamir who was on this programme. Being a complete bitch, I note that the guest from ...
Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email? Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there's new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day's posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want ...
I have to say that the new opening for Sky Sports F1 coverage is pretty darn good. Enjoy. [IMG: Share on Tumblr] [IMG: Submit to StumbleUpon] [IMG: Save on Delicious] [IMG: Digg This] [IMG: Submit to reddit] [IMG: Share on Myspace] [IMG: Share via email] Tweet
By the very clever Mark Pack: ... Continue reading →
Hat-tip to Glum Councillors, a website that seeks to collate photographs of elected representatives looking serious and saddened by the state of the roads, litter and all the other stuff we have to deal with. This photo won't look so good when reduced to a 2 inch square and run through the black-and-white Riso at the shed at the end of one of these guys gardens.
It has been suggested by one of our readers that we give a higher profile to a speech made in the House of Lords on Tuesday, especially in light of the ongoing debate on these pages. And so, without further ado... Baroness Williams of Crosby I want to say a word about competition, and it is appropriate to do so given that the noble Lord, Lord Warner, has just been speaking. He has always spoken with some courage on this issue, which I recognise is not exactly popular with his party. However, I say quite directly that I feel very ...
This excellent graphic comes courtesy of Mark Pack.
Writing here in a personal capacity, one reads that a group of Lib Dem party members called Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine is organising a fringe meeting with this title at this weekend's Liberal Democrat Spring Conference. I shall not here attempt to answer what is surely a rhetorical question, beyond saying that I have blogged here previously about the issues facing Arab citizens of Israel, and would refer anyone who is interested to the excellent work of two particular British organisations: the UK branch of New Israel Fund and, most of all, the UK Task Force on Issues Facing ...
it seems to be becoming a bit of a bad habit of mine, being out of sync with my local party, the party I'm registered with Winchester is opposing the health bill in its entirety, I support it. Now Newcastle lib dems, the city in which I live is opposing a directly elected mayor. I couldn't disagree with them more if I tried. I should say before I start that I believe elected mayors should be judged on a city by city judgement and what may be right for Newcastle may not be right for a Doncaster or a Stoke. ...
One of the key principles of the Social Liberal Forum is to maintain internal democracy of the Liberal Democrats. As a result, we would like to oppose the Constitutional Amendment being presented to Spring Conference on Saturday and support the ... Continue reading →
The story so far.... Rupert Murdoch tweets on 20 February that he supports Scottish independence. Alex Salmond plays down Murdoch role in Leveson Enquiry in a letter in the Sun on Sunday on 26 February - whose launch he described as good news.. This week Andrew Neil tweets that Murdoch says that he supports independence as revenge against the UK for Leveson. We all know that there would be no Leveson without the revelations that News of the World journalists hacked the phone of Milly Dowler after she went missing causing huge distress, after false hope, to her family. But ...
Here's one to watch. Scores of EU laws and measures that help fight cross border crime must be confirmed or rejected in their entirety in 2014. They include formal arrangements for police and judicial cooperation, such as criminal-record checks, DNA ... Continue reading →
I've been highly critical of politicians in the past for failing to engage with drug policy as an issue that is vitally important to the safety and well-being of the people of the UK (eg bit.ly/LibDrugs ). So I was absolutely delighted to hear Willie Rennie's speech to the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference at the weekend in which he laid down the gauntlet on the issue and challenged Alex Salmond to pull his finger out and get to grips with it. The message was one seemingly designed to engender sympathy and understanding for addicts, highlighting the difficult lives that have ...
Apparently because this website is hosted by a dot.com not a dot.com.xx everything that happens here is owned by the USA. It has therefore come to my attention that I have failed in my patriotic duty, therefore please all stand for the national anthem of the interwebs.
The Daily Telegraph write This fine Coalition government won't see out 2013 - what a shame for Britain in which there is some considerable praise for this Government and the Lib Dems which is well worth reading: Plenty of mistakes have been made since 2010, but this has nevertheless been the best government for a generation, led ...
Norwich MP Simon Wright has given his support to the government's publication of "Reforming our Railways: Putting the Customer First". The paper published today, has important implications for Norwich as it sets out proposals to make the regions railways more customer focussed and affordable. Welcoming the paper, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Transport Team member Simon Wright MP said: "These proposals are an excellent boost for railways in our region. I have long campaigned for improvements to the Norwich-London line and urged the government to put the passenger at the heart of the system. I am pleased that these proposals have ...
This week Liberal Democrat peers achieved yet more success in limiting the application of competition in the National Health Service. Our party members believe, and our conference policy passed last spring affirms, that while competition can play a role in improving the quality of health, it should never be given higher priority than the interests of patients. And I completely agree. Competition Commission I was concerned that the Competition Commission should not be reviewing how effectively competition is working in the health service. In the private sector, the Competition Commission plays a crucial role in ensuring that companies compete fairly, ...
The graphic above shows the split of LD supporters who have voted on the latest House of Twits poll asking the question 'Do you support the NHS Bill?' As you can see it splits three ways almost equally between Yes, No and Don't know. Small sample but a good illustration of the tension in the party of the bill. The overall vote, across supporters of all parties, is rather more obviously against.
Thu 8th
12:13
Malcolm Bruce has upset some Cybernats - but look at what he has to say on Scotland's place in the w...
One of my highlights of any Scottish Liberal Democrat conference is Party President Malcolm Bruce's speech. This is a man who has spent his whole life in politics working for human rights and international development. There isn't much this man does not know about international relationships. His observations are always worth listening to. I've been aware of a whole load of cybernats bumping their gums about his speech at the weekend, quoting a couple of bits completely out of context. So, the best way to remedy that is to publish the whole thing so that you can see where he's ...
Just a quick update on my complaint, concerning Cllr Chris Wells to KCC Standards, heard this mentioned on Academy FM this morning and was later contacted by Martin Vacher who produces news content for the station. Any how I understand he may well be choosing some of my words for broadcast, on their local news at 3.30pm, 4.30pm and 5.30pm. I'm not very good giving brief comments so he has his work cut out. So far I have not heard what decision the Standards Committee's was, on whether they will progress the matter. To listen to Academy FM CLICK HERE ...
One of the more frustrating moments in the hand-to-hand combat of local political campaigning while in government, is to stagger back drenched after stuffing leaflets or some such, to listen to some policy announcement from the Coalition which the media and the opposition are busily describing as vile, unfair, an attack on the poor/disabled with a Lib ...
Whilst promoting the merits of your candidate is the core of your campaigning, an equally important part of the campaign is to squeeze the 3rd, 4th or subsequent parties. Although many people actively choose to vote for a specific party, the key swing voters are often those whose motivation is to defeat a specific party instead. In many cases, those people will choose to vote Liberal Democrat to defeat whoever is the current incumbent party (or to keep out the main opposition, where we are the incumbents) but since the formation of the coalition that has got harder, so we ...
The world is a better place because of the role Britain plays internationally through aid, diplomacy and, when necessary, using force sanctioned by international law. It is worth remembering the many Libyans and Sierra Leoneans who are alive today because of the actions of Britain's forces. Yet at a time when the government is preparing to spend at least £25 billion on replacing our Trident nuclear weapons, it is making cuts to the conventional forces that make such interventions possible. There have been £74 billion of defence cuts to date, with another £3-5 billion due to be announced before the ...
I've written before about the importance of testing and measuring when it comes to campaign emails, so that you are using the right words, the best subject lines and sending at the optimal time. The 2008 Barack Obama campaign was one of the leaders in this and his 2012 campaign is repeating that, as you can read about in the fascinating piece Reverse-Engineering Obama's Message Machine.
There are one or two Tories in the current government who wouldn't say boo to a goose (who was that gangster a few years ago who, giving a character reference in court for one of his professional contemporaries, said: "Not only would he not say boo to a goose, he wouldn't say boo to two gooses"?). This is doubtless good news for the nation's geese, none of whom has ever expressed to me a desire for anyone to say "Boo" to them. But these utterly blameless individuals (Tory ministers, not geese), in whose mouths fat-free non-butter wouldn't melt, do sometimes ...
Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable has announced today that the Green Investment Bank, a key element of Liberal Democrat policy will be based in Edinburgh and London, combining the advantages of Edinburgh's green sector and a base in the world's leading financial centre. The news will please Mike Crockart, MP for Edinburgh West who has literally never shut up about this since he was elected. If I'd had a pound for every time he's asked about this in the House of Commons, I'd be able to keep the whole of Liberal Youth Scotland in drink for the Conference weekend. ...
On Saturday March 10th at Consett Methodist Church there's a fund-raising coffee morning for Consett Music festival. It runs from 10.00 – 12.00 and includes a Cake Stall, a children's tombola and a bric-a-brac stall.
The circular economy is about ensuring all waste can and is reused or recycled. A new report by McKinsey suggests that redesigning our economies to run in this way would ultimately save $340 to $630 billion per years in material costs alone. Versus the current linear economy we live in where much can't be reused or recycled and is toxic to some degree. It's about minimising materials used and ensuring that those that are used don't get so mixed up you can't easilly reuse or recycle them. Great schematic showing this:
Web campaigning on a shoestring | Jon Worth | At the intersection of the EU, UK politics and tech 1) Start with WordPress, self-installed version 2) Sort out a domain name and website hosting 3) Get WordPress up and running 4) Keep away prying eyes 5) Get a theme 6) Get the right plugins 7) Put in some content! (tags: internet ) Five Abandoned Places | Crasstalk Weird emptiness, people all gone: 1. Prada Marfa, Marfa, Texas, USA 2. Abandoned Theatre, Namibe, Angola 3. Leper Colony, North Brother Island, New York, USA 4. Island of the Lost Dolls, Mexico 5. ...
After three episodes of Homeland the domestic terror thriller still hasn't taken off. Something is missing from the show. It has plenty of great ingredients: a maverick government agent, divided loyalties and sudden twists. If that all sounds familiar it should be. Homeland resembles a slow-motion version of 24. As a new plot line is revealed you are almost willing the TV set to start playing the theme to a show that rejoiced in its absurdity but kept you gripped to the very last hour. Sadly, Homeland is missing Jack Bauer.
ALDC has just published a new collection I've edited: Top Tips for Local Campaigners, packed with 160 tips. Here is how my introduction starts: I don't want you to read this book. That may seem an odd request for an editor to make at the start of a book. But if you just sit down, read it, think a quick thought afterwards about what you made of it and then leave it at that, the book will have been a failure. This is not a book to sit and read like a novel or history. It is a practical manual ...
Treasurers as a whole are a pretty humourless, miserable bunch of bean counters whose favourite word is "no" because they don't want people to spend any unnecessary money. Careful stewardship of finances is very important. I know that's what I'm like. Liberal Youth Scotland are, as ever, bucking that trend. Their treasurer is the gregarious, witty, engaging, creative and original Eilidh Dickson. Now, Eilidh is utterly competent in every area of her life except when she is in the vicinity of Nick Clegg. In Birmingham last year, the poor girl got so starstruck when she met him that she shook ...
This morning's Western Mail highlights Welsh Liberal Democrat research which reveals that ambulances have wasted the equivalent of nine years waiting outside Welsh A&E units to offload sick and injured patients. This amounts to a loss of more than 80,000 hours in just the past two years and means that emergency ambulances are effectively taken off the road and unable to respond to other life-threatening calls. At an estimated cost of £76 for each "lost unit hour", delays at A&E are draining some £3m a year from the under-pressure Welsh Ambulance Service. I raised a case of a constitutent with ...
Liberal Democrats get asked one particular question more often I suspect then members of other parties do. It's why are you a Liberal Democrat and not a .....(replace with any other party). Why don't you just join the Tory party? Since the coalition I get asked the question (more than is used to). Well many people of course can't understand (especially those who are members of other parties) why anyone would be a member of the Lib Dems. Labour members think we have sold out (to the nasty party), although they always believed we were somehow Labour lite anyway. Far ...
My new favourite equation: x = x It is what it is.
Last night's meeting of the full Stockton Borough Council started with the signing of the Community Covenant with the Armed Forces. This is a further step along the way of ensuring that the armed forces personnel with links to our borough feel supported and valued for what they do. Although sometimes the battles they have to fight are ones which some of us might not support politically there is
At the Liberal Democrat Conference last Autumn, Nick Clegg delivered a passionate defence of a liberal justice system. He concluded his speech by arguing that, although these were not easy times for the country, 'our party has fought for liberal values for a century and a half: justice, optimism, freedom. We're not about to give up now'. Yet in its haste to cut 23% from the budget of the Ministry of Justice and tackle the perception of a compensation culture (a perception some members of the Government and parts of the media are only too ready to cultivate) the Government ...
Thu 8th
09:14
"This fine coalition government won't see out 2013 - what a shame for Britain'. Peter Oborne in The ...
I find Peter Oborne something of an enigma. He writes as a Tory yet is fearless in calling issues however he sees them, regardless of the political tribe he attacks, even his own. He writes wonderfully well, yet when I see him on the TV I generally find him unconscionable - last time I saw him on Newsnight he was so rude to a European official they walked out of the interview. Anyway it's the written Peter Oborne I am pondering today and in particular his incisive analysis of the Lib Dem political position we find ourselves in, published this ...
Tony Blair seems to have made a bit of a return to British politics recently to give his opinion on how to steal the Lib Dem vote. He believes that the Lib Dem position is hopeless having run to the left of Labour in three successive elections, only to go into coalition with the Tories ...
Thu 8th
09:07Indian Dance to Speed Mentoring to Barnstorming Speeches - Caron's top ten highlights of Scottish Co...
Scottish Liberal Democrats met in Inverness last weekend for a lively 3 day Conference. Here are my top ten highlights.Leader Willie Rennie's first ever Spring Conference speech, delivered with sincerity and passion. He implored the First Minister to make as much time for the dispossessed, as he does for billionaires such as Murdoch and Donald Trump. He spoke of the Liberal Democrats' long record of fighting for home rule for Scotland which made us the true guarantors of change. He told of his desire to work constructively with others wherever possible, but how we would stand firm on liberal values ...
If you like 'banter', you are an idiot - Telegraph Blogs "If you're a grown-up, you know that your offensiveness may offend, and you either accept that or you apologise and don't do it again. Saying "it's only banter" makes you not only an idiot, but an idiot who can't take responsibility for his own jokes." (tags: ) 6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying (tags: ) An Open Letter to Chris Dodd The letter itself is interewsting, and so are many of the comments (tags: censorship ) Subject for Debate: Are Women People? This would be funny if ...
[IMG: 20120308-002321.jpg] The Stop the Supermarket meeting, organised by Transition Shipston went ahead last Tuesday night. Around 200 people ended up crammed into the room, and at least 100 couldn't get in. Reports of the support for the supermarket varied. I thought it was around 25% – but one person suggested it may have been as high as 40%. The meeting was addressed by the Mayor and other councillors including Liberal Democrat District Councillor Richard Cheney. As so many people were turned away the organisers have promised to hold another meeting. When they do I will advertise it here. Whatever ...
From the WaterAid Facebook page: International Women's Day on March 8 makes us reflect on the extent to which the global water and sanitation crisis is a women's issue. Women bear the brunt of water collection, suffer the most from the indignity of lacking access to sanitation, and as primary caregivers are impacted the most when children fall sick with water-related diseases. Fully involving women in community water and sanitation programs, as WaterAid does, ensures the programs meet their needs. It also helps equip women with the skills and confidence they need to tackle other development challenges in their community. ...
In the West End, we are lucky to have a long-standing and very active Community Council. You can read more about West End Community Council's activities at http://www.dundeewecc.co.uk. There is now an interesting Scotland-wide community council blog - the national network of community councillors. It is well worth a look at http://www.nationalnetworkcc.com/.
The Lid Dem BANES council put a large provision for 20 mph speed limits in their last budget. I intend to try and get an early chunk of this money put in to Westfield for the residential roads. Westfield is primarily a residential parish with a large number of young families, and is one of the few places I have seen in recent years where children can still play in the street. I want to help protect these children and enable them to continue to use the open areas we have - so I am going to propose having the ...
The link below is the document provided to County Councillors with the list of all vacancies for Local Authority Governors in Primary and Secondary Schools across Cambridgeshire. February 2012 Governor Vacancies Governor Vacancies are advertised quite widely and if you're interested in becoming a Governor of a School please visit Cambridgeshire Governors website; And complete the "Register an Interest" form and send it off. There is also lots of other information related to being a School Governor on the website which is well worth a read if you have time!
I shall be celebrating by working my arse off at the beer festival at work. Jeanette Sutherland (one of my favourite Lib Dems, who makes amazing jam) is celebrating by announcing her selection to fight for the Bradford West parliamentary seat in the upcoming by election. I think her method is better than mine. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
