Banging on about data retention is not what made this blog what it is today. So here is a picture of St Lawrence, Castle Rising, in Norfolk. You may also want to look at Castle Rising Castle and Trinity Hospital, Castle Rising.

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England

A briefing from the Liberal Democrats on the new Coalition proposals on the storage of communications data was widely circulated. You can find also find in on the net. My first impression was that it had been produced by a child who had been allowed too much Sunny D. Random phrases are underlined or rendered in bold and some get both treatments. And Privacy International is no more complimentary about its content: It also includes a Q&A, which asks "Didn't you oppose this very policy in opposition?" The suggested answer is: "No - what we opposed was Labour's draconian plan ...

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England

People who know me will know I'm reasonably relaxed about my personal info... I'm happy for all sorts of companies and organisations to have my details, and to keep information about me. I tend to be pretty trusting about the way such organisations will treat my data - relying, it must be said, on the proper implantation of the Data Protection Act. Like many people, I'll opt out of spam and "third party" offers but that's pretty much it. Like many people, too, I live much of my life online. Facebook, Twitter, Google all have large amounts of information about ...

Posted by Andrew Brown on the widow's world

Spineless Liberal is very angry - his rights are being attacked, and his party is condescending. Read more...

Posted by Morgan Griffith-David on Spineless Liberal

As well as council elections, voters in Birmingham will also be asked on Thursday 3 May to decide whether the City Council should be run by a directly-elected Mayor.An elected Mayor would be elected in addition to the current 120 councillors and the Lord Mayor of Birmingham.Official leaflets on the Mayoral Referendum are being delivered to every household within the city with information on how

Posted by Robert Wright on Robert Wright's Blog
Mon 2nd
22:16

Snooping Proposals

It's not often that I feel actively obliged to blog about something nowadays. I turn up to conference and vote in the ways I think best, but for the most part, I don't claim to know how best to navigate the challenges of coalition and apart from a few headline issues like the NHS I've ...

Posted by Andy on Wouldn't It Be Scarier?

Like so many other Liberal-Democrats, I was dismayed by yesterday's announcement to extend email snooping. I checked out the story on the BBC, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and the Independent before I was convinced it was not an April Fool's joke. I'm not comforted by Lynne Featherstone's patronising email, I'll put it this way: If I ...

Posted by Mira on Mira's Picture

This is our family, a picture taken on Christmas Day last year. It's a rare shot of the five of us together - the two girls sharing a laugh, and the rest of us a little nervous about what that might lead to. This is B, our oldest. She is 14. She developed normally until she was 2, and then over a six month period lost her speech and many other things in an autistic regression. She lives in permanent residential care about 30 km away from us. We go and see her often; I took this a week ago. ...

Well, on the plus-side today has seen Lib Dems members united in a way I can't recall since the heady days of the formation of the Coalition in May 2010. On the minus-side, it's mostly been in disbelief and anger at the party leadership for appearing to sign-up to an extension of interception of communications ('web-snooping' as it's become catchily known). Plenty of Lib Dems are furious: Mark Pack explains why here. And Alex Wilcock expresses it with aplomb here (as have many others today). I don't feel angry. Not because I don't care about civil liberties — I do ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on stephentall.org

Like all of Edinburgh's election candidates I am busily pounding the streets campaigning at the moment. I'm not going to give you any nonsense about how many pairs of shoes I've worn out as I bought a new pair of walking shoes pre-election as is my custom born out of years campaigning experience. One good pair will survive at least an election campaign. I am wearing out a pair of socks a day though! Out in my ward this morning in the rain it was great to see banners up promoting Corstorphine as a shopping destination. The banners are tapping ...

Posted by Paul Edie on Paul Edie's Blog
YouGov

This map hardly needs explanation. Bronglais is not a "bog standard" District General Hospital. If you drew a map of travelling times it would be even more obvious. All the other hospitals except Haverfordwest are near to motorways or dual carriageways. I googled travelling time between Llanelli and Swansea, 20 minutes. Close a service in Llanelli and that's the journey time to get the treatment nearby. Remove or downgrade even the tiniest thing at Bronglais and whoever uses it has a huge distance to go. I do not think this should be up to unelected quangos like a Health Board. ...

Posted by Alec Dauncey on Aberystwyth.

I supported Nick Clegg over tuition fees: the expansion of university education made a less generous settlement inevitable. I supported Nick Clegg over the Health & Social Care Bill - the NHS cannot be preserved in aspic and some of the reforms were thoroughly welcome. But like every other Lib Dem I have heard from today, I cannot support him over email snooping. Here are Nick's words on the subject, as quoted by BBC News: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he was "totally opposed to the idea of governments reading people's emails at will, or creating a new central ...

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England

One detail about the Trayvon Martin killing that escaped the headlines was the fact that he was labeled as "John Doe" in the morgue for three days while his parents fretted about their son's mysterious disappearance. 'John Doe' is an ... Continue reading →

Posted by Lester Holloway on cllrlesterholloway
Mon 2nd
20:03

A Distraction

Although I normally detest April Fools, I couldn't help but enjoy this one, which appeared to be from the BBC website yesterday: [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments

The link is to a New York times analysis of Mitt Romney which any physicist will find quite amusing.egComplementarity. In much the same way that light is both a particle and a wave, Mitt Romney is both a moderate and a conservative, depending on the situation (Fig. 1). It is not that he is one or the other; it is not that he is one and then the other. He is both at the same time.

Posted by john on John Hemming's Web Log

If you believed some reports, you'd think that Argentina is about to invade the Falklands and we have not got the ability to defend them. John Simpson, however, brought some sanity to the issue with his report on Today this morning. Basically the Argentine President, we could be forgiven for believing, has brought this all up as a "smokescreen" (a word used by one of the interviewees in Buenos Aires) to detract attention from domestic woes. But the best bit was the joke going round Buenos Aires. The Argentine air force has not had any new planes since the time ...

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings

Lib Dem members received this email from Lynne Featherstone at around 5 o'clock this afternoon: I wanted to write to reassure you that the current reports in the media about Government plans to snoop on your emails are complete nonsense. Liberal Democrats have always been, and will continue to be, opposed to a centralised database that allows government to monitor your internet activity at will. That is not going to happen under these proposals and never will happen in a government that includes me and the Liberal Democrats. The proposals being considered would simply update the current rules - which ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice

Currently I'm working some odd shift' pattern which means I'm not in touch with what's going on in the world, still having caught the news headlines tonight, I take it that Francis Maude (the face of the governments incompetent and harmful fuel panic?) has yet to do the decent thing, take responsibility, resign or get sacked for creating panic at Britain's filling stations. Still maybe I'm overreacting glancing at Maude's website I'm reassured to see that hot issues listed on his website, don't include fuel crisis or indeed dangerous and inflammatory advice by half baked government ministers, fortunately such matters ...

Posted by tony flaig bignews on BIGNEWS MARGATE

Over the past 20 years or so, Bahrain has been one of my favourite ports of call. When I was working in Kuwait for extended periods in 2004-2006, in particular, I often used to pop down for the weekend, as Manama was so friendly and relaxed. But alas things have changed somewhat since the events of early ...

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

Firstly, I do not usually use this blog for these kind of rambles but since I intend for this to be a one off kind of statement I felt it would be pointless creating a whole new blog for what ... Continue reading →

Posted by Joshua Dixon on Liberal Insight
eUKhost

Do write back to: internalcomms@libdems.org.uk if you would also like to reply. Dear Lynne Thank you for taking the trouble to write to the party, but I am afraid I take little solace from your note. It seems - as with so many notes from the Parliamentary Party to the members - to adopt the strategy of telling me it's because I don't understand. Unfortunately- aided not least by reading the leaked rebuttal document sent round the party earlier today - I understand very well. I could write an endlessly long mail pointing out that it is technically impossible to ...

Posted by Richard Morris on A VIEW FROM HAM COMMON

[IMG: Network cables] "Good news! We're taking one of New Labour's laws that we opposed and extending it." Doesn't quite work as a message, does it? But in that stripped down cruel simplicity, it explains why so many Liberal Democrats are angry today about the news to do with the government's plans for extending online monitoring. Whether it is because people explicitly remember the party's long opposition to much of RIPA and other measures during New Labour's time in office, or because of a more subconscious and subliminal sense of dislike of what the civil liberties rules have been in ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

I just got an email purporting to be from Lynne Featherstone, which said (and I paraphrase slightly) Calm down dear, it's only a tiny extension of the RIPA powers and it;s not going to be on a centralised database, so honestly, there's nothing to worry aboutThe centralised database is NOT the problem, "Lynne", the problem is that powers that should never have been enacted in the first place are being extended, and it doesn;' matter how small an extension it is, because they are being extended in my name, and I'm NOT GOING TO FUCKING STAND FOR IT. I know ...

At the end of my interview on Three Counties Radio at ten past five a statement from Hertfordshire County Council was read out. The County Council announced that following the recent adjudication by the Traffic Penalties Tribunal in respect of two appeals against penalties issued in Moor End Road they were suspending the camera enforcement. The adjudication was critical of the County Council's scheme describing it as "unenforceable" and "unlawful". The County Council is considering how to proceed. Our view is that the very first thing they should do is to refund all penalties issued, before addressing the major defects ...

Posted by nickhollinghurst on Nick Hollinghurst

I initially thought the proposal to track everyone's emails for a couple of years was an April Fool. Sadly it appears not to be.Just because something is technically possible is no reason why government should implement it. I suppose we could insert a microchip in everyone's skull to record where they are and put this in a big database that can be accessed by a warrant.That may be technically

Posted by john on John Hemming's Web Log

I blogged not long ago about member-led moves at the True Food Community Co-operative to boycott Israeli peppers and this story has moved on a-pace. I personally attended a meeting on 25th March at the True Food Co-op (TFC) shop in Emmer Green. The meeting was called for by the management Committee (and that's an important point, more on it later) to finally vote on the issue of whether or not to boycott Israeli peppers. Whilst the meeting itself was handled professionally and respectfully, events have unfolded since the meeting which leave me deeply concerned about the management of TFC ...

Posted on It's Just Jason

1. Here's a link to my piece on The New Statesman about why we should be leading the opposition to this from the very top - and how disappointing it is that we are not. Please Please Please do go and add a comment. The leadership needs to know how we all feel. 2. Here's a link to the e-petition to get this thing stopped. Again, please do go and sign it. This is after all Party Policy... 3. Here's a fantastic piece explaining what the government can already do - and why we should be repealing these powers, not ...

Posted by Richard Morris on A VIEW FROM HAM COMMON

I'm very wary of rushing to judgements. I think it's a good character trait to be considered; to think things through before expressing an opinion. So yesterday, when we heard that the government was considering new proposals to retain yet ... Continue reading →

Posted by Nick Thornsby on Nick Thornsby's Blog
Mon 2nd
17:13

King Edward Mine

It's not very often that Camborne gets to host a global event – but that was the case last weekend, when King Edward Mine in Troon welcomed the 34th International Mining Games. Teams from round the world panned for gold, drilled through concrete, sawed through wood and many other gruelling pursuits, in a bid to become the champions. I went up on Saturday and there was a large crowd enjoying the competition (despite the fact the pleasant spring weather had become somewhat chilly!) The full site was open so there was a chance to look round the museum as well. ...

Posted by Anna Pascoe on Anna Pascoe

Date Referral Received: 19/07/2011 13:00:00 Date Referral Sent: 19/07/2011 00:00:00 Additional Clinical Information: MPN FINAL REPORT Diagnosis (1): Consistent with Myeloproliferative disorder Morphology [M] Lab Accession Number: 11B0906711 Bone Marrow Word Processed: Eric AVEBURY - DOB: 29/09/28 - D442931 Indication: Previous MALT lymphoma of lung, treated with surgery only. Noted thrombocytosis. MPL on PB positive. BM to assess MPN. FBC (19/07/11): Hb 10.4, WBC 6.2, neut 3.8, plat 599 Site of Sample : Right posterior iliac crest Particles : Multiparticulate Cellularity : Hypercellular particles and trails Myelogram : ~ BL: 2% Pro: 15% My: 17% Me: 19% Neut: 31% ...

Posted by Eric Avebury on Eric Avebury

 

Posted by Eric Avebury on Eric Avebury

With a former Conservative councillor defecting to UKIP over the issue of equalising marriage for same-sex couples up steps David Coburn of UKIP's National Executive Committee to promptly put his foot in it by clearly not understanding the first of the big words he used. As usual I shall fisk in red. "We are a libertarian party Libertian n. 1.One who advocates maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state. 2. One who believes in free will. adj. of, relating to, or characteristic of a libertarian which doesn't believe in the government interfering in how people live their ...

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal

My heart sank when I heard Ed Davey telling the nation to fill its petrol tanks. It seemed very likely, tipping over into obvious, that Ed Davey's statements would feed into the kind of behaviour that we have seen in recent days, and it's disturbingly clear that the coalition government had taken a position to promote the topping-up of tanks. That was a serious miscalculation of the likely results. What proportion of motorists fill up less often than once a week? I suspect that it's a minority. So what is the point of advice to top up a minimum of ...

Posted by Ed Wilson on Liberal Democrat Voice

This does what it says on the tin:

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Mon 2nd
16:20

Aaron Sorkin is back!

Aaron Sorkin, the guy who wrote The West Wing and the Social Network is back on the small screen with The Newsroom. With a cast that includes Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer and Dev Patel, it looks awesome. I can't wait to see it. Here is the trailer:

Posted by Nicola Prigg on Nic Prigg's Blog

Stories came out yesterday, leaked as ever from some unknown source, which have led to justifiable outrage about proposals to capture all our online communications. We all know that one shouldn't entirely trust what is in newspapers, especially when the security services are involved and there is a palpable lack of detailed announcements, but liberals everywhere are rightly anxious. I'm extremely concerned about the extension of state surveillance, and have fought hard to stop it. Since I first got wind of the proposals in 2010, I've had a series of meetings with industry experts and others about it. I asked ...

Posted by Julian Huppert MP on Liberal Democrat Voice

Fairly conclusive I'd say. The absence of a 'Yes' column will be because there are none. Do add your voice by clicking here

Posted by Richard Morris on A VIEW FROM HAM COMMON

It looks today like Lib Dem Ministers have learnt the wrong lesson from history. Recent history is of the vast majority of Lib Dems supporting the Coalition even when some things it's done have been sickening, not just because of the give-and-take of agreeing to some revolting Toryism to get good Lib-Demmery through, but because most of the nasty stuff has had a simple justification: there's no money left, so we're forced into it. But plans to attack civil liberties aren't like that. They're not forced. They're actively choosing to do something illiberal, wrong and against all our Liberal history. ...

Posted by Alex Wilcock on Love and Liberty

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: How do we recruit more members? Although the national political scene sets the backdrop against which members join, renew or leave, there is consistently a huge variation between the membership story in different local parties depending on their own levels of activity. Here then are three tips to help make your own local party be one of the over-performers rather than an under-performer: 1. Keep good records and ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Liberal Democrat Voice

Cornwall Council's new waste collection contract is a major undertaking and will involve significant changes to most homes across the area. But, as if the changes weren't hard enough, they are being further let down by some pretty poor communications. - I have had numerous complaints that people are left hanging on the phone for 15 minutes or more if they try to call either the dedicated waste line or the council's main number. - I am told that many homes have yet to receive their new recycling bags and boxes even though their neighbours have. The Council has made ...

Posted by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy
Mon 2nd
15:14

Photos: Lakes 2012

Lakes 2012, a set on Flickr. Shots from a weekend in the Lake District this March. Ran (most of) the Buttermere Round on the Saturday and then Scafell Pike on the Sunday.

Posted by Nick Radford on nickradford/blog

The Government is bringing forward proposals to allow ISPs to collect information on who and when you send messages to on the internet. This according to what LibDemHQ is telling bloggers means that under the safeguards of the Investigations of Regulatory Powers Act i.e. the Police cannot access the time, sender and receiver information without ...

Posted by Nicola Prigg on Nic Prigg's Blog

[YouTube Link] So I totally teared up. Bite me. Tell me what's going to be great about your week?

Posted by Debi on Thagomizer.net

The news that there are to be tightening of 'snooping' powers to include technologies like Skype and mobile phone calls etc should strike fear into the heart of every single Liberal Democrat within the party. I find it utterly incredible that anyone within the party would support something which is so inherently against liberal values and beats at ...

Posted by Spidey on Spiderplantland

"Boris and Ken are tired old men but Liberals look like London". Or so goes the new campaign video for Lib Dem candidate for mayor Brian Paddick. I'm all for promoting the diversity of my party's London team but this ... Continue reading →

Posted by Lester Holloway on cllrlesterholloway
Mon 2nd
14:46

A Year of QRpedia!

An email from FourSquare this morning reminded me what I was doing a year ago today. [IMG: QRpedia Birthday] I spent the morning at The British Museum doing the first public experiments with QRpedia. This is a video of the historic occaision. So, here's a quick run down of what this volunteer-lead project has acheived in a single year, in no particular order: Derby Museum installationUK National Archives installationThe Children's Museum of Indianapolis installationSofia Zoo installationJuan Miro installationMonmouthpedia – covering Monmouth with hundreds of QRpedia codesOver 42,000 scans of the codesNamed one of the top four most innovative mobile companies ...

Posted by Terence Eden on Terence Eden has a Blog
Mon 2nd
14:30

April Fool's Day

Here is a collection of April's Fools this year. A summary of tech April Fool's with Google declared the winner ConservativeHome's brilliant April Fuel Day Labour's Uncut response to the fuel problem Lib Dem's Voice not that funny local election change

Posted by Simon Goldie on Simon Goldie
Mon 2nd
14:26

Two Faced Tories?

Janus the Two faced God Residents in Medway towns who have not heard of the on going sagaof Boris Island or the Grain hub have either just moved to the area - in which case; Welcome to the area- or just woken up from hibernation - in which case; Morning and welcome to 2012! Various Political groups are trying to keep this in the public eye for numerous reasons (good and selfserving) and especially as the London Mayoral election reaches its climax. The latest cries from the opposition is that Two faced local Tories are backing Boris in the election ...

Posted by Chris Sams on The Ginger Liberal from Medway

Monday: Leaks to the press say that the government - NB: authoritarian idiot branch (note to Cap'n Clegg: please ensure this is confined to Conservatory rabble) - are proposing to "maintain" our security forces' ability to fight baddies (or indeed anyone they think is looking at them funny) by MASSIVELY INCREASING the scale and scope of their powers. Simple solution, Cap'n Clegg NEEDS to make a statement: "This is the Conservatories FLYING A KITE. You know as well as I do that I and my Party aren't going to put up with this sort of STUFF AND NONSENSE. Case closed." ...

The ONLY Moor End Rd nameplate - on the wrong side of the road! Text of Press Release 02/04/2012. "In view of the damning criticism from the Chief Adjudicator of the Traffic Penalty Tribunal in her decision on two appeals, Hertfordshire County Council should repay all of the penalties paid in relation to this sorry scheme. The Council should immediately cease issuing any further penalty notices and suspend the scheme until they have amended their defective Traffic Regulation Order and put up approved traffic signs in places where they can easily be seen by motorists. I first raised problems with ...

Posted by nickhollinghurst on Nick Hollinghurst

Oh dear. The leak that the Queen's Speech will contain legislation on the interception of communication appears to be correct. I know many Liberal Democrats are fighting and fighting hard to stop it, but the silence on this issue is ... Continue reading →

Writing in yesterday's Sunday Times (£), Nick Clegg says: Politics in this country was left in the gutter by the expenses scandal of the last parliament. Even with this government's ambitious programme of political reform, it will take a long time for us to climb out. Unless we reform our discredited and distrusted system of party funding, we may never restore that public confidence and trust that is the lifeblood of our democracy.

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

Not really sure how to return to normal blogging but when the Lib Dems are seemingly backing proposals to strip civil liberties on the internet and allow everything we do online to be monitored real time then I suppose that is as good a time and issue as any. A briefing was sent out today and it consisted of 1480 words but here is an synopsis: Paedophiles are bad. Terrorists are bad. Labour are worse than us. There was once a crime that was solved because of internet snooping. That pretty much sums it up. Apparently no-one will be able ...

Posted by neilmonnery on The Rambles of Neil Monnery

30 years ago today, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. I think sometimes we forget the actual event, focussing more upon the war that followed and it's aftermath. But there was plenty of heroics that day among the islanders, their Government and their defenders most of who tried to act with honour despite the overwealming odds against them. Many people see the Falklands War as some sort of British imperial expedition, a throwback to a bygone era. But what it really was a reaction against a dishonourable, cruel and nasty act carried out against (nearly) defenceless civilians. With the current sabre-rattling ...

Posted on Neue Politik

Liberal Democrat Richard Kemp launches Liverpool Mayoral race manifesto by David Bartlett, Liverpool Echo A TRAM link to Liverpool John Lennon airport and a "curry mile" in Toxteth are among the policies being pledged by Liberal Democrat Liverpool mayor hopeful ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

The Queen's Speech will contain legislation on the interception of communications. Should Liberal Democrats (and indeed liberals) be alarmed? I treat this question with some initial caution because in one respect many liberals have been - rightly - calling for more use of interception by the government for many years. That is in making intercept evidence admissible in court, so that more cases of alleged terrorism and the like can be brought to court , curbing the (claimed) need for legal powers to allow people to be restricted or restrained without a court case happening. The other reason for treating ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Liberal Democrat Voice

The government's Free Schools policy is widely regarded as a significant innovation; a radical shake-up of state education. The next logical step - permitting for-profit providers to deliver state-funded education - is still hotly contested and is unlikely to emerge in this parliament. Yet even if profit-making providers were able to deliver state-funded schooling, this would hardly represent a free market in education. For one thing, almost all discussion of voucher schemes and for-profit provision assumes that prices will be capped. This misses one of the most crucial benefits of allowing markets to operate. Read the rest of the article, ...

Posted by Tom Papworth on Liberal Vision

You have £35,000 to spend. Do you: a) Fix 500 potholes, or b) Spend it on resurfacing a short one-way road that is blocked off from the public by a barrier and is only accessible for council use (to reach the parking spaces for councillors and senior officers and to make deliveries)? If (b), congratulations. You have what it takes to be a Hull councillor. (Though even then you may well not have what it takes to be the writer of the best headline on a political leaflet in Hull.) If you failed that test, try this one instead. You ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 2nd
12:19

Haematology

Blood test at 08.30 this morning, followed by a consultation with Dr L, nominally at 10.30 but actually 40 minutes later as usual. The King's appointment system is in need of a review. Platelets were 564 compared with the previous reading of 532, and I am to take Hydroxycarbamide Monday-Saturday instead of Monday-Friday. Neutrophils were 1.53 compared with 1.73 last time, but over a year they have fluctuated a bit. Dr L isn't too bothered about them. WBC, PLT, Hb and Neutrophils over time see graphs above. You can see them more clearly if you double click on the item. ...

Posted by Eric Avebury on Eric Avebury

I'll blog more fully on the substantive issue later today, but for the moment here's a sidebar to the government plans to snoop on more/the same/less online communication than currently. The BBC report ends with this: Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, said there "were a lot of dangerous people out there" and the police needed to lawfully "keep up with the massive flow of information out there on Facebook and the internet". "If it can prevent criminal activity and terrorism in an Olympic year then we should certainly ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Nick Clegg, Ed Davey and Paul Burstow are the headline names at the Social Liberal Forum Summer 2012 Conference. They will be joined by many other well-known faces, both from within and outside the party, under an overall theme of intergenerational justice. It's being held in central London on July 14th and last year all the registration places sold out. So registering in advance is a very good idea, especially as you can get an extra £5 discount on top of the usual early registration discount. On the door registration will cost £45 and early registration is normally £35 (£25 ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Police are appealing for witnesses to a collision in Launceston on Friday 30th March 2012. The collision took place at Race Hill near the Tesco superstore at 3.45pm and involved a young boy on a skateboard and a blue five series BMW car. The boy, aged 14, was taken by air ambulance to Derriford for treatment for head injuries, which were later described as minor. Police are keen to hear from anyone who saw the collision or either the teenager or car shortly before the incident. Police are particularly keen to hear from a woman who was driving a burgundy ...

Posted by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy

h/t to @simoncooper who tweeted it. Genius.

Posted by Richard Morris on A VIEW FROM HAM COMMON
Mon 2nd
11:00

Gut of the problem

Recent research has again emphasised how important the guy flora we all have is. This time it highlights that too much antibiotics leads to greater obesity. Southwark has some of the highest youth obesity in the country so this is a potentially really big issue and important research finding. The obsession with universal free school meal provision at a huge cost is probably going to have zero impact. Indeed in Islington they've seen an increase in obesity from taking this measure. What we need is some quick research to investigate whether Southwark – with its large ethnic communities – is ...

Posted by James Barber on James Barber

Girls Around Me The dark side of the Facebook and Foursquare APIs. (tags: internet facebook )

A fascinating and thought out analysis by Daniel Furr on what the polls are telling us. You can read it here. His central point is that it isn't such a huge surprise that George Galloway has done well given the disparity between the standing of the Labour party and Ed Miliband.

Posted by Simon Goldie on Simon Goldie

Sadly, I don't have time to write at length (again) about the leaked plans to keep a database of everyone's communications. Ironically this is becase I'm busy today running the very thing the spooks want to snoop on, the internet. My own views are on record anyway, as my first speech at LibDem conference was in favour of this amendment on the topic and I've blogged about it before. Here's a quick summary of the plans: They're ill-conceived and illiberal. I have yet to see one good argument for the proposals as they all seem to boil down to TERRORISTS ...

Posted by Zoe O'Connell on Complicity

On Monday 2 April 2012, the £1bn Youth Contract will start. The Youth Contract was announced last year by Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg to tackle youth unemployment. The Youth Contract aims to ensure that all jobless young people are earning or learning again before long-term damage is done. Across Stockport Borough, 1,925 18 to 24-year olds are currently in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance and would stand to benefit from the Youth Contract. The Youth Contract will provide at least 410,000 new work places for 18 to 24-year olds into work over the next three years. ...

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith Holloway, Iain Roberts & Pam King

In the aftermath of the Bradford West by-elction result, it is increasingly clear that Labour didn't have the slightest grip on what was actually happening. Comments and discussions on Labour blogs show us that Labour assumed that simply because certain areas (for example, areas with a dense Muslim population) were voting; they had to be voting Labour. This kind of complacent assumption really is an insult to voters. The reason I joined the Liberal Democrats and became an active campaigner was because I saw that whole swathes of my area were taken for granted by the Conservatives. We need to ...

Posted by Sam Phripp on Liberal Democrat Voice

On Friday, I went to the launch of the exciting new Greater Manchester Energy Plan with Ed Davey MP (Energy and Climate Change Minister). It was exciting because the plan is set to bring jobs, money and industry to Manchester! ... Continue reading →

Posted by John Leech MP on John Leech MP

Under the last Labour government, there were plans to force ISPs to store information which could be accessed by the government on a whim. These plans were quietly shelved after howls of outrage from all right-thinking people. Apparently, this government, prey to the same pressures from power-hungry securocrats, are considering putting a very similar bill into the Queen's speech this year. And since the news came out there have been very similar (and totally justified) howls of outrage from some of my favourite people. The thing is... The Lib Dems are in government now. Even as a junior coalition partner, ...

I'm breaking into my highland idyll of frolics in the park with my family, late night card games, last minute wedding preparations and admiring the beauty of the scenery, undiminished by the pouring rain and freezing cold, to have a bit of a rant about reports that the Government is planning on allowing real time e-mail/website snooping and forcing ISPs to keep records of websites visited. I am perfectly sure that it would be a complete and utter waste of time for them at GCHQ to know that I bought a bra online, or that I texted a colleague to ...

Posted by Caron on Caron's Musings

Bradford West result was symptom of UK's brutal north-south divide This is depressing, but probably accurate. (tags: economics ) HULK EXPLAINS WHY WE SHOULD STOP IT WITH THE HERO JOURNEY SHIT « FILM CRIT HULK! HULK BLOG! Film critic hulk: nearly as cool as feminist hulk. (tags: ) 14 Common Dog Behavior Myths Decoded - Vetstreet I'm pleased to say I already knew all of this. (tags: dogs ) 5 Ways Modern Men Are Trained to Hate Women | Cracked.com This is terrifying, and mostly because it rings so true. (tags: feminism ) Payback Is a Bitch for Abortion Clinic ...

For all the talk of politicians being out of touch Mark Field, a Tory MP, has summed up the public mood better than anyone I have read since the formation of the Coalition by saying: "my instinct is that the nation feels a sense of resignation that the coalition is the best option we have" ...

Posted by Matthew Gibson on Solution Focused Politics

In 1952 a flood ripped through the Devon village of Lynmouth wrecking scores of homes, taking the lives of dozens of people and costing millions in rebuilding work. In 2010 Cornwall was hit by flash-flooding with hundreds of homes and businesses devastated across the south of my constituency. In the 50-odd years between the two events most parts of our country were hit by floods at some point. Over five million people in the UK are now at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea in the UK, and severe weather events such as freak storms can cause flash ...

Posted by Steve Gilbert MP on Liberal Democrat Voice

As reports emerge that there are those within the government pressing for new powers to snoop on all electronic communication, my heart sinks. Coalition does not come easy, I accept. Yes, there is compromise, yes, there are things that, as part of that Coalition, we accept in exchange for those things that we promised that we would prioritise in coalition. However, there comes a point where you say, "Hang on a moment, we surely can't accept that, can we?". And this might well be that point. On issues such as welfare reform and healthcare, there are legitimate arguments - cost, ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

My Lib Dem Voice colleague Mark Pack has produced this rather lovely infographic of Liberal Democrat achievements in Government and it's reproduced here with his permission. Some of this doesn't work in Scotland, where you need to add in things like the Scotland Bill, Mike Moore's intervention to secure a decisive, legal and fair referendum and his work on the Crown Estate. You could also look back to the Holyrood coalitions for a Scottish one where we got rid of Labour's tuition fees, insisted on free personal care for the elderly and introducing STV for local Government. Mark produces a ...

Posted by Caron on Caron's Musings

Old Magistrates' Court Since the Crown Estate decided to close the Magistrates' Court this building in the centre of Wallington has been purchased by property developers McCarthy and Stone. We are advised that they intend to redevelop the site to provide retirement homes. They state their intention to consult with the community on their plans ...

Posted by jaynemccoy on Diary of a Sutton Councillor

It is difficult to know why plans for the government to be able to monitor the calls, emails, texts and website visits of everyone in the UK has been put out in the public domain now, in advance of the Queen's speech, other than perhaps to test the water. Apparently the idea is to legislate so that internet firms will be required to give intelligence agency GCHQ access to communications in real time. The law would not allow GCHQ to access the content of emails, calls or messages without a warrant, but it would enable intelligence officers to identify who ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Lisa Harding is planning a series of blog posts on places with Liberal connections. She has kindly sent me the first one to publish here as a guest post. John Locke and Wrington Many people over the years have done a wonderful job of documenting the lives of some of the key figures in the history of Liberalism, yet there is so much more to learn for those who seek to explore further the lives of these inspirational people. As an amateur genealogist and researcher of history I have a keen interest not only in those people but also in ...

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England

Bradford West is such a maverick constituency, and George Galloway such a maverick candidate, that I doubt if many nationally relevant lessons can be drawn from his extraordinary victory. However, I think there are two important lesons for Liberal Democrats. First, Galloway apparently made great use of the odious but effective simile that if a backside could have three cheeks then Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats are the three cheeks of the same backside. There is too much truth in this for Liberal Democrats to be comfortable, particularly in reference to the economy. Labour under Gordon Brown adopted the neo-con ...

Posted by Peter Wrigley on Keynesian Liberal

This is a guest post from Cambridgeshire County Councillor Susan van de Ven Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Transport; "The county council has now published a timetable for withdrawing all remaining support for bus services in Cambridgeshire. It's a six-monthly timetable in which several lots of subsidy will disappear every September and April for the next three years. In our area, this will affect the 31 bus connecting Chishill and Heydon with Cambridge in September 2013. The 128 connecting Shepreth, Meldreth, Melbourn and Royston will lose its subsidy in September 2014. The 139 disappeared last April. The Liberal Democrats are arguing ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on Bar Hill
Mon 2nd
07:00

Pearls of Wisdom

A long time ago there was, you may recall, a craze for little books of inspiration sayings and a host of parodies too. One such was Rohan Candappa's Little Book of Wrong Shui which promises to tell you "How to drastically improve your life by basically moving stuff around. Honest." Here are some pearls from that book: Beams are Bad: Beams are exceedingly bad Wrong Shui. Steer clear of anyone who beams at you. They are invariably untrustworthy. Or come from California. Nipping the Problem in the Bud: If you are having trouble with your neighbours, try to heal the ...

Posted by Andrew Brown on the widow's world

I have expressed concern at the state of the condition of the tennis courts at Victoria Park - there's now no nets to allow tennis to be played - see right. I have had a number of complaints about the condition of the Victoria Park tennis courts. I'm particularly disappointed at the lack of nets to allow tennis matches as I raised the matter last August and the matter was resolved then. Clearly there's a need for nets to allow play this year. I have raised the issue with the City Council's Head of Environmental Management and have sought assurances ...

Mon 2nd
05:24

West End Surgeries

With the Dundee school holidays now taking place, my usual surgeries across the West End do not take place over the next 2 weeks. I can, however, be contacted at any time on Dundee 459378 or by e-mail at esurgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk.

Ah, April Fool's Day. The day when you can't believe anything you read on the internet. So I shouldn't be worried about the news on the BBC , the Independent and Metro that the government is planning to allow the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) new powers to snoop into people's online communications. Right? RIGHT? According to the ...

Posted by Morgan Griffith-David on Spineless Liberal