On 2 February the health charity The King's Fund held a panel debate under the title Competition versus integration in the NHS. Taking part were the Fund's chief executive Chris Ham, Penny Dash, a partner at McKinsey & Company, and Julian Le Grand, Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics. You can find videos of their contributions below, together with an interview with Richard Lewis, partner at Ernst & Young, that was conducted after the debate. And, first of all, there is an interview with the Fund's director of policy Anna Young, which outlines the new proposals ...
Last June, I wrote this about what Lib Dems could achieve with our disagreement with the Tories over the NHS. Unfortunately we let Labour back into the debate. But after last weekend's events, have we squandered another opportunity to show our liberal muscles? The leadership failed on strategy on the motion. In my opinion, they would ...
Eric Joyce's non-resignation has been much commented on by bloggers such as Liberal England and Stephen Glenn. But what I find most interesting is that the real winner of this sad affair is the Labour leadership. A by election in Falkirk would have almost certainly seen an SNP victory - setting Labour's recovery back and putting more pressure on the lacklustre leadership of Mili Minor. So one can't help wondering if Joyce's statement had been agreed right at the top of the party...
I was alarmed today to discover vans and another vehicle on the central reservation on Brodie Avenue by the phone mast near Booker Avenue. With no notice a whole load of people had turned up, parked on the grass and started work on the mast and cabinets. I went along to talk to the workmen and it turns out they were doing some maintenance and upgrading. They also told me however that the Council had known for three weeks that this was taking place. Why then could the council not be bothered to tell local residents or Councillors? I have ...
The Cressington ward community panel is now set up! We have more than 30,000 pounds to spend on community initiatives in our area. I have put together a group of local residents and representatives, including the South Liverpool CAB and together we will develop a plan and look to fund local activities. We are not ready to take applications just yet but I will let you know when we are ready. This is really good news for our area and I look forward to using this money to boost the good things going on in L19 and L18.
I have just covered my head in henna, wrapped it in cling film and settled down to watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy before going to bed. And then I realised: I have a driving lesson at 9.15 tomorrow morning. My usual plan of action on a Tuesday morning goes something like: wake up at 8.30am, quick shower, get dressed, drink coffee, eat breakfast, go out driving. Instead, tomorrow will see me rising an hour or so earlier in order to wash a load of green gloop out of my hair, 'cos a cling film hat really isn't a stylish ...
Following my weekly ward surgeries at the Mitchell Street Centre and at Harris Academy this afternoon, I attended tonight's City Council committee meetings. * At the Housing Committee, I sought assurances that the introduction of "Amenity Housing" (non-sheltered but supported housing largely for people aged over 50) could be used to ensure that our sheltered tenants are protected from anti-social behaviour from a minority of much younger tenants - I cited a specific example from the West End, where a constituent in her seventies suffered more than a year of noise from an irresponsible neighbour. * At the Policy and ...
The brilliant Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk suggested a few months ago that the banks were the 'Dictators of the West' - the parallels of the tyrants of the Arab world who are being turned out one by one. That sounded like a clever soundbite at the time. But that was before I came across the new Citibank timeline published with their new app, which sets out the key dates in the bank's 200 year history. Under 2008 - the year of their near bankruptcy and $45 billion bailout - they put "launches mobile phone banking service". There is not ...
Paolozzi sculpture at the Top of Leith Walk Today was for fortunate to attend the launch of the Paolozzi Prize for art. The prize has been set up following a motion of mine just after the great Scottish artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi passed away. The father of pop art Paolozzi was in my mothers year at school and was probably the most significant Scottish artist of the 20th century. The idea was to have a prize which would be awarded to high school students who are trying to pursue a career in art and which would look great on their ...
DURHAM'S volunteer police officers can now log on for duty without leaving their homes. Enabled by an innovative piece of software hosted on a secure server, 'Specials' will be able to volunteer for duty without having to visit a police office so long as they have an internet connected device. This means that Durham's volunteer officers can log on and record their details even when when they are out and about by means of a smartphone or tablet. Benefits include the ability for Specials to enter pre-planned duties so their supervisors are kept up to date with their availability, and ...
Simon Goldie has an early review of The Alternative View by Lembit Opik and Ed Joyce. The ideas expressed in the book sound interesting, but I am afraid I lost patience with Lembit some time ago, even though I voted for him as Lib Dem President when he stood against Simon Hughes. "It is not possible to govern the nation well when the minor party of Coalition behaves like a student collective, reserving the right to withdraw support from legislation according to the whims of its unelected activists and a bizarre vote counting algorithm." I think it is fair to ...
The deaths of nine Afghanistan children by a US serviceman is yet another sickening example of how children are the victims of wars fought by countries in the name of international 'peace'. The youngest child to be killed was only three years old. Why is this injustice allowed?
[IMG: Something for you] ... it could well be as I'm not expecting anything else. Sadly, I will have to wait until at least Wednesday lunchtime to find out [IMG: :-(]
"You can't touch me, I'm an MP," Eric Joyce told the police when they were called to Strangers' bar. He wasn't wholly right, but he was certainly on to something. If a member of the public had attacked two MPs and two local councillors they would have gone to prison. Joyce got off with a fine and community service. And Joyce's announcement today that he is resigning from the Labour Party but holding on to his Commons seat seems to me to be the wrong way round. Membership of a political party is not a reward for living a blameless ...
There is something seriously wrong with the political system in this country when an MP can get arrested and fined for assault and not lose his job. So what if Eric Joyce was suspend from the Labour Party? No one really cares about his party affiliation when he is drunk as a skunk and knocking down ...
I really don't know what it is with this government and it's full on desire to ostracise every single disabled person in the country. You all know how incredibly irritated I am with the Welfare Reform bill and the social care bill is worrying me too and don't even get me started on the NHS ...
In the relation to the sad death of Richard Mannington Bowes, during the Ealing Riots last year, I was glad to hear the 17 year old who was charged has admitted guilt. Richard's family and Ealing as a whole want to see all those who have committed crimes punished. A long drawn out trial gives no respect to the family. There is now a chance that people can move on once sentencing has occurred. What motivates someone to punch an elderly man, and knock him to the ground. How sad can some people's mindset be. I hope the guilty plea ...
It may seem improbable, but there may well be some Liberal Democrats who are not Conferenced out after the round of regional, national and Federal Conferences. So for them, the Social Liberal Forum has just the thing. On Saturday 14 July in central London the annual Conference takes place at a central London venue, with speeches from the most senior Liberal Democrats and discussions. The overall theme is around intergenerational justice. You can reserve your place for £35 (including lunch) at: http://socialliberal.net/slfconf/. Last year's first conference saw all tickets sold, so book now to ensure you get your place! socialise ...
Besom Lane is expected to close for cleaning tomorrow, Tuesday 13th March.
Oh dear. I am great fan of Archbishop Sentamu but I think he is being a little unfair on the government over the wearing of visible crucifixes. You can read the story here. The government has every right to make a representation about the cases going to the European Court of Human Rights. I sympathise with the two ladies involved. But there is nothing in the bible, from my reading of it, that talks about wearing a visible crucifix. I really don't see the issue with wearing a crucifix under ones clothes when one is working. I occasionally carry a ...
I have spent today in London. Part of it I spent working but this afternoon I went to Westminster Abbey to join HM the Queen and representatives from the 53 Commonwealth countries in celebrating both the achievements of the Queen's ... Continue reading →
Ed Joyce and Lembit Opik have authored The Alternative View. The book is part analysis of Liberal Democrat history and part recommendation of what the party should do next. Joyce and Opik begin with the establishment of the Liberal party and trace its roots to John Locke. Much of the book is taken up with discussion of the Orange Book and its authors. Joyce and Opik point out that there is a perception that there is an Orange Book grouping. In fact, they believe that the contributors to that book contradict each other. The reality is that there was no ...
The city that was the first industrialised city in the world, was home to the first ever railway station, the place where the atom was first split and was home to one of the first computers is developing a scientific ... Continue reading →
Wandering through London today, I noticed that Southbank London has put QR codes on its posters. I've mentioned before the dangers of using Bit.ly as a QR code generator – as it allows us to peek at the codes' performance statistics. Here are the codes on the posters – click for bigger. As all the codes use Bit.ly so we can see how well they've performed – click on each one for the latest statistics. Not the most impressive of campaigns. Three strong points to note before pointing out how (in)effective QR marketing is: How many clicks would a traditional ...
The question wasrecently posed - Are we for the masses against the classes? I'd say neither has theanswer to be honest. The masses needs - to have better public services but payless tax, are irreconcilable. The "classes" want to pay less tax but privatisethe public services so they don't have to pay for poor people leaving the poorto fall where they are. Which is unacceptable. Of course, opinion divides onwho are the masses and who are the classes, but that's another debate foranother day. Which is why I believechannelling the needs of the masses against the vested interests of the ...
In an interview in yesterday's Sunday Times (£), Lynne Featherstone said plans for same-sex marriages are a 'gentle measure' but she will not bear intolerance. Pink News reports the interview under the heading "UK Equality Minister: Church's opposition to same sex marriage is 'Dark Age' homophobia": Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat minister for equality has said that the language the Church of England and the Catholic Church has used is homophobic and that the views that the leaders are expressing belong in the Dark Ages. Mrs Featherstone told the Sunday Times: "This is about love and commitment and things that ...
Eric Joyce making his statement today ...from the Labour Party. So there was growing speculation leading up to 4:15 of what the personal statement from Eric Joyce the MP for Falkirk would contain. He admitted that his behaviour in the Strangers Bar was not befitting of anyone in the House, or anywhere. He said he will be following the restrictions of his sentence the the precincts of the Palace of Westminster as elsewhere and that there were personal issues that he had to deal with. He apologised to the MPs and Councillors who he has assaulted and who the court ...
If you've been on the receiving end of any mass lobbying campaigns, you've most likely seen some spectacularly self-defeating lobbying tactics used. So this morning I tweeted some satirical advice... Here's a selection of what ensued. Share " Tweets/emails are more persuasive if THEY ARE ALL IN CAPITALS #TopLobbyingTips Mark Pack [IMG: markpack] Mon, Mar 12 2012 06:38:29 ReplyRetweet Share " Dear [insert name of MP], Letters are more effective if you just copy/paste from a template. #TopLobbyingTips IanVisits [IMG: ianvisits] Mon, Mar 12 2012 06:44:28 ReplyRetweet Share " People are more likely to listen to you if you first ...
At this point, I have just about recovered from Federal Conference at the Sage in Newcastle Gateshead. And what a weekend. As some of you may know, I am Liberal Youth's Events Officer. As part of my role, I arranged the fringe event, our training & stall. Is it stressful? A bit, but only if ...
Simon Wright MP is championing the work of Norfolk students whose innovative work has been selected for display at the 'SET For Britain' event in the House of Commons today. SET for Britain supports and promotes Britain's early-stage and early-career research scientists, engineers and technologists. The groundbreaking work from Norfolk that is being presented to MPs includes: - Solving the problem of Eyespot disease of wheat (Dr Chris Burt, John Innes Centre) - Analysing microscopic marine organisms (Katy Owen, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia) - Solar Hydrogen Evolution (Lee Webster, Energy Materials Laboratory, School of Chemistry, University ...
Janice Turner's pensions motion, passed at Lib Dem Conference in Newcastle Gateshead last weekend, is causing a stir in the pensions industry. In an article last Friday, the Profesional Pensions news site posted an article saying: Liberal Democrat and experienced ... Continue reading →
Wiggins in yellow with his Team Sky support earlier this week "I'm on that list of riders who won Paris‑Nice, the Dauphiné. There's just one left now to win." So said Bradley Wiggins yesterday after winning the 2012 Paris-Nice to add to his 2011 win in the Criterium de Dauphiné Liberé. But who else in on that list? Well 3 time Tour de France winner Louison Bobet (1954-6), five time Tour Champions Jacques Anquetil (1957, 1961-4) and Eddy Merckx (1969-72, 1974) and Raymond Poulidor who while he never won le Tour did win the 1964 Vuelta a España. It means ...
In the Independent on Sunday, Simon Hughes writes: Our economy will never recover if we continue to allow a privileged few to squirrel away increasing amounts of money into tax havens. But allowing people to take home more of what they earn both alleviates the squeeze on households and can boost spending where it is needed - on the high street, and in the community - creating demand and jobs. We have already made great progress on making the tax system fairer. We have raised the rate of capital gains tax to 28 per cent, ending the scandal whereby people ...
Test Valley's Tories have broken their election promise to freeze parking charges. The picture below is taken from an election address delivered across Alamein ward only a year ago by Cllrs North, Brook and Whiteley. Barely a year later they have quietly dropped this promise and allowed the leadership of the council to raise parking charges to help balance the books. Meanwhile they hold over £76 million in reserves and spend a staggering £1.3 million on councillors and their meetings. The only murmur of dissent came from Cllr North who was quickly told to shut up. The other two have ...
There were three principal local council by-elections held on Thursday 8th March. Labour gained one seat from the Tories and held one seat. The Tories held one seat. There were no parish or town council by-elections results reported to ALDC. Congratulations should go to our team in Kemsly ward of Swale borough council in Kent who managed to nearly double our vote. Even in situations where a win is unlikely plenty of useful work can be focussed around a by-election other than the duty to give the electorate a Liberal Democrat to vote for. A responsible local party should decide ...
The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest. Today's Campaign Corner question: You've talked before about how to get more leaflet deliverers and how to doorstep canvass, but what about the telephone? How do I get more people in my branch doing phone canvassing? Fun group sessions: as with most campaigning, some people like going off and being active in their own time but many others prefer the fun and support of working in a group. Organise some fun group ...
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...
There was a story in the Cornish Guardian last week about Cornwall Council's failure to take part in a Kellogg's free swims for kids offer. The scheme was a national one which involved collecting tokens from cereal boxes in return for free swimming sessions. Cornwall Council said that it didn't sign up to take part because it was in the middle of a big reorganisation of a leisure services including the transfer of council leisure centres to the new leisure trust. Whilst I support the new trust, it does seem unfortunate that it has taken so long to get this ...
You can download the Kindle version of Prateek Buch's pamplet on Plan C. It can be found here Also registration for our own SLF conference is now open. Please book early - it will help us enormously with the planning. ... Continue reading →
Dear all, Thank you for all the hard work you put in over the weekend to make Gateshead another highly successful conference for SLF. Without your support, stewarding, handing out fliers and shaking buckets, we couldn't possible achieve so much ... Continue reading →
Contrary to the pernicious article in the Guardian on Saturday, Lynne Featherstone MP, Minister for Equalities has worked her socks off to put equality and women's rights at the top of the agenda for this Coalition Government. And not only at the top of the agenda, but driving in every possible direction to ensure the rights of women (and also in particular the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people) are catapulted on to the front page of every tabloid and broadsheet paper and into the mainstream political debate and discussion. So with all this extraordinary work, you would ...
Aspiring citizens to come together, in unity, to create an equilibrium between different classes, religious groups and ethnic communities; this is the principle of the One Nation theory. Historically known as one nation conservatism or 'Tory democracy', as Lord Randolph Churchill noted (the father of Winston Churchill). Strange and somewhat confusing message for Nick Clegg to ...
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution I've watched this weekend anxiously my own political party have a heated debate on a key issue of health reform. Each side was allowed to put its case. Listening as I often do, through the wonders of the internet, to American radio and TV, or reading their press I ...
#ldconf, the NHS Bill, and Where The Leadership Stands Now (Andy Hinton) I don't agree with every word of Andy's analysis, but it's an admirable attempt to wrestle with the dilemmas which conflicted many party members over the weekend. Do go read, and judge for yourselves. John Kampfner: Williams isn't a traitor, she's a grown-up (Independent) John Kampfner is one of the few (only?) political commentators in the UK who has genuinely throught about the meaning of Coalition government. While sympathetic to the Lib Dems he is not soft on the party either: In an emotional address, Williams denounced her ...
Mornings fill me with horror - Cold, grey, wintry ones particularly so - And when the cold grey tide of news Issues forth from my radio Filled with war, murder, hate, death, Corruption, sleaze, and depressing reality In the sardonic tones of Humphries; Or the sorrowful lilt of Naughtie; Or the overeager gloat of Davies; Or the vainglorousness of Webb... Things Seem Worse. Yet there is one voice Whose calm authority seems to soothe And silently impart: Yes, things are bad, But don't despair: There's still radio 4, There's still me, And if you make it till teatime, you can ...
Have you stopped using your rear view mirror? Nick Clegg told us last week that we should do just that, move on from the damaging rows over the NHS and University tuition fees and concentrate on the achievements of the Lib Dems in government. No one would argue with the latter, but the former? Let's take tuition ...
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi on a possible future Eastleigh by-election, should Chris Huhne resign for any reason: "It is a target seat and I think we would fight it hard and we would fight it to win. I don't think the Lib Dems are dug in there. It's winnable. We will do everything we can to win it." Okay, well let's look at the results of the Eastleigh parliamentary election in 2010. Chris Huhne: 46.5% (+8.2%) Tory: 39.3% (+2.1%) Labour: 9.6% (-11.5%) So a swing from the Tories to the Lib Dems, with Labour disappearing. But it's close, right? A swing ...
On Saturday, 10th March, at Spring Conference in Gateshead, we launched a new organisation - Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform. At the moment, LDER has over 70 members and is aiming to gain the status of an Accredited Organisation (AO) at the earliest possible opportunity. Electoral reform is not exactly a new cause, you might think, and the voters have told us exactly what they think about it. As I went around the conference centre asking Liberal Democrats to sign up for LDER, I was asked repeatedly: 'Why electoral reform?' 'Why now?' – 'Haven't we done that and failed?' - ...
I've wanted to post about the story behind this particular Iconic Image for a while now, ever since I heard it on the Today programme some months ago. Yesterday, though, I came across a video which does the job for me. First, though, the image - a war-time poster that has become a common sight in card and gift shops all over Britain: And now, the story of the poster itself: Oh, and how cool does Barter Books look? Andrew
I took so long to write-up Nick's speech to Scottish LibDem Conference that now I have two speeches by Nick to write about. I'll start off with the speech to Scottish LibDem Conference and then go on to his speech to LibDem conference. Nick to Scottish LibDem Conference in Inverness started off with the fact ...
The Bus station is Jarrett's Waterloo During last month's preamble and budget Statement Councillor Alan Jarrett, deputy leader of the Conservative group and the portfolio holder for Finance within the council stated that he was lied to about the costs involved in Medway's "Dynamic Water front Bus facility" by Medway Renaissance and that he was unaware, until it was too late, that the Council would have to pour more money into the project to complete it. This move has been welcomed by some members of the Council who have said that it is about time that officers face the music ...
Mon 12th
11:57
Today is Bankers Bonus Day at the Lloyds Banking Group. Are all bankers evil? Discuss...
As some of you may know bankers bonuses has become the most important buzzword in politics. It is tantamount to political suicide to even think about defending the bankers let alone actually say it out loud. Well folks unsurprisingly I'm not one to follow the rules and actually have a brain of my own so lets look at what this actually means and what will happen next. The Lloyds Banking Group is 41% owned by us – the people. HM Treasury holds that stake in the company which is well known on the British High Street with LLoyds TSB, Halifax ...
A partial repost from September 2011 but rather relevant once again, especially as after my previous post a series of senior party sources gently suggested the Stephen Williams's phrasing didn't really reflect the actual party line: Nick Clegg's interview in [The] Independent is rather more subtle on tax than the headline "I won't let Osborne cut 50p tax" suggests. For in fact the story goes on to say: Mr Clegg made clear that the Liberal Democrats would back abolition of the 50p rate in the long run only if it is not raising much revenue and if it is replaced ...
This is my account of Day 3: Having had a friend staying with me, my day started with dropping her off for her 10:30 train, having thrown her out of the taxi at the train station, in a scene reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster, I ordered the driver as fast as he could to get me too The Sage to be able to see the end of the health debate. Arriving, I found myself in the second tier of the sage, almost a dizzying height up to see Shirley Williams making the last few point of her speech. The vote ...
The coalition appears to be heading for a food fight with plans to ban Environmental Health Officers from having the right to enter food premises to ensure they're safe and not causing food poisoning and risking public health. The Protection of Freedoms Bill could result in EHO's only being able to inspect premises with the invitation of owners or a court order. Obtaining court orders takes time – allowing food poisoning to spread OR the owner to cover-up whatever the root causes of poisoning have been. The same type of problems are likely for pollution control inspectors and trading standards ...
Reflections on the Church of Ireland homosexuality conference, and praise for Archbishop Harper #fb (tags: religion ireland sexandgenderandsexuality ) EU propaganda video | openDemocracy Dismal chronicle of something which seemed like a good idea at a time, but wasn't. (tags: eu race ) vStrange Effects: The Mystifying History of Neutrino Experiments Memories of Gilbert Snook... (tags: physics ) Faith in the bush Eliza Dushku on her NGO helping survivors of Kony's war in Uganda. (tags: buffy kony ) Android Platform manager steps down after failing to fix app sales The travails of Android. Heh. (tags: android )
The links between the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination and cases of autism and bowel cancer have been categorically disproved but the perception still persists today and this is putting thousands of young children at risk. A NHS report ... Continue reading →
Small and medium sized businesses account for 51% of turnover and 55% of employment (DTI figures). They primarily employ UK based staff and pay full UK tax on the value generated here. Equipping young people with the training and skills for self-employment has the advantage of developing a more flexible and resilient workforce, better able to adjust to a fast changing economy, as well as enlarging the pool of entrepreneurs capable of starting and growing small business concerns. An enhanced Liberal Democrat youth contract aimed at developing a base of budding entrepreneurs, would establish a core of upwardly mobile, aspirational ...
I penned an article for ConservativeHome last week entitled Advice from a Liberal Democrat about how the Conservatives could win. Here's what I said: 'What would I do if I were in your shoes?' That was the question I suggested to ConservativeHome's Tim Montgomerie we might each answer on behalf of our respective parties - he on LibDemVoice (which he sportingly did here), and me on ConHome - the idea being to champion the policies we think our Coalition partner is mad not to run with and make their own. Dear reader, you might very well question my credentials to ...
In March 1962 I organised a bus-load of somewhat shambolic students from Oxford to visit the hitherto unknown 'commuter belt' town of Orpington. A few of us returned again on Polling Day for what turned out to be a historic Byelection result. The victor of that politically seismic event was a young engineer, only recently involved in politics, named Eric Lubbock. As MP he was enormously popular, not only throughout his constituency, but across party in the Commons. He is better known today - to friends in all parts of the House of Lords - as Lord Avebury. Amongst other ...
On April 1st, the changes to the income tax system will mean that more than 25 million working people in the UK will see more money in their pay packet. The Lib Dems want to go further. We believe that the tax threshold should be at least £10,000 - meaning that anyone who earns less than that will pay no income tax at all. This would put an extra £60 per month in the pocket of most workers. What would you do with an extra £60 per month? Whilst the coalition is steadily moving towards the £10,000 level, it should ...
I didn't go to Gateshead as I have a small part (actually three small parts) in a play that was running over the weekend and I thought that would be more fun. On Saturday I was dismayed that the conference had voted, albeit by second preferences, to debate the "accept" motion on the NHS rather than the "reject" motion. Another victory for the party managers. I was delighted therefore when the managers were thwarted and the "reject" motion was carried by a significant majority. Clearly I didn't hear the debate, and I haven't got the terms of the bill in ...
I've been reading through some press reports of the Gateshead Conference. It's not an unusual experience to come home and read what the media have been saying and think "What? That wasn't the event I attended." The papers have concentrated on the NHS debate, which admittedly was a key preoccupation of the weekend, and a criticism by Matthew Oakeshott of Nick Clegg's Tycooon Tax plan which was at most a tiny sideshow. This is a new line of thinking, a work in progress and all voices are necessary to develop it into a robust proposal. I have no problem with ...
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by EBuzzing (Wikio as was). Dropping out this month are Peter Black, A View from Ham Common (Richard Morris) and Spiderplant Land (Lisa Harding). 1 (12) Liberal Democrat Voice Down 3 2 (23) Caron's Musings Down 3 3 (27) Mark Pack Up 2 4 (33) Jack of Kent Up 9 5 (49) George Potter Up 33 6 (53) Liberal England No change 7 (63) Liberal Vision Up 18 8 (79) Mark Thompson Down 21 9 (83) Paul Walter Down 18 10 (87) Liberal Bureaucracy Down 3 ...
The Hastings & Rye Liberal Democrats played their part in national politics at the weekend as grassroots members showed Nick Clegg and the Lib Dem leadership that they continue to have real concerns about Andrew Lansley's Health & Social Care Bill. On the evening before Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Gateshead the local party voted ...
Mon 12th
09:24
Steve Gilbert MP writes... Church opposition to gay marriage is "intolerant, out of touch, and wrong...
Another Sunday and another set of intolerant and out of touch comments from senior Church leaders who have set their face against the Coalition plans for equal marriage. It's clear that some parts of the Church are on a collision course with Parliament and the people. But, rather than showing themselves to be modern defenders of values we all share, they are showing how out of touch they are with British society today and the institution they seek to protect. They are also plain wrong: extending marriage to same-sex couples will not undermine the institution; it will renew and reinforce ...
The Sixth Doctor Costume Design Print Officially licensed and signed by the costume designer and Colin. Anyone got a spare hundred and fifty quid? (tags: DoctorWho ) Millennium summarises what happened at the NHS debate. If you want to cut through the bullshit in the press, read this. (tags: libdemmery ) Street Harassment #101 · dawnhfoster · Storify "men start harassing me in the street, then realise i'm with my boyfriend and apologise to /him/" - plus a thousand other stories of what people have to put up with on a daily basis. But, of course, rape culture doesn't exist... ...
"The Social Liberal Forum welcomes the vote by the Liberal Democrat conference not to support Andrew Lansley's Health and Social Care Bill. It is a poorly-conceived, muddled mess that exposes patients to increased risk and lands frontline health professionals with ... Continue reading →
We are now in the build up to the celebrations of The Queen's 60th Jubilee. I was actually out of the country during the 50th celebrations in 2002 so I missed Brian May playing guitar on the roof of Buckingham Palace etc. As a republican this stuff generally leaves me cold. I don't expect everyone to agree with my view that the head of our state should be elected. Indeed it is clear from polling that I am in a minority. What I do find strange however is when I come across people who are clearly in favour of a ...
Mon 12th
08:20
Cornwall Council employs twitter spies to monitor what is being said about the Leader - UPDATED
Cornwall Council has confirmed to me that they are using taxpayers' money to 'spy' on opposition councillors and what they are saying online about Leader Alec Robertson. At least one of the officers who has been given this task works in the Cabinet Office directly for the Leader. At a cabinet meeting a couple of months ago, Cllr Robertson read out a number of twitter posts critical of his decision to be absent from a cabinet discussion on child safeguarding in favour of lobbying a local government magazine which had shortlisted Cornwall Council for an award. He then attempted to ...
Mon 12th
07:45EXCLUSIVE: What Lib Dem members say about the party's direction and Nick Clegg's leadership
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members responded, and we're publishing the full results. Big drop in satisfaction with party's direction LDV asked: Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track? (Comparison with December's figures.) 61% (-9%) – The right course 31% (+10%) – The wrong track 8% (-1%) – Don't know / No opinion This is a big turn-around from a month ago. ...
I had not realised that those who have bought Peter Hain's autobiography were such a select band of people. According to the Telegraph the former Welsh Secretary has only managed to sell 500 copies of his weighty tome and as a result other politicians are having difficulty interesting publishers in their scribblings. The paper says that former Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw has a 20 page synoposis doing the rounds but publishers are reluctant to enter into a bidding war for the full works. They quote one insider who wonders if there is much of a market left for autobiographies which ...
The repaired fencing I recently mentioned the collapsed fencing at Glenagnes Gardens and have therefore today praised the effectiveness of the Community Payback Scheme, that has seen improvements undertaken by people on community service orders - including replacing that fencing. I recently nominated two schemes to be undertaken through the Community Payback Scheme - graffiti removal on Riverside Drive and replacing a damaged fence in Glenagnes Gardens - and both proposals were taken on by the scheme and have been successfully completed. Community Payback Schemes are a way for the offender to make amends to the community for their crime. ...
As I think I've mentioned, I've found that the Marathon Talk podcast has been invaluable in my marathon training. I love the mix of marathoning news and the interviews that they do with famous runners (current and former), as well as the training advice that always seems to anticipate my latest training crisis. One of the things they've done is to host a spring motivation challenge on their website. In January, we had to say how many runs we were going to do each week and log them. In February, we had to log our number of weekly runs and ...
[IMG: I did it!] More at flickr. Best moment (aside from getting to Brighton of course!) was sitting at some traffic lights in Battersea at 00:30, where a partygoer asked us "why are you all out on your bikes at midnight?" to which [IMG: [personal profile] ] damerell replied "we're going to Brighton for breakfast!" Have raised £800 so far and donations are still coming in. I'm dead chuffed today. And a bit tired :) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
