Yes, I know I'm writing this... four? weeks late. Deal with it. Truth be told, I've had a problem putting the words together. Something that has really come to a head in the skeptic community recently is its intersection with other social justice causes. Especially feminism, but also, to an extent, anti-racism, LGBT activism, and other related activism. And how we, as skeptics, treat those other activists. As an LGBT activist and feminist as well as a skeptic, along with quite a lot of other people, this causes tension. For an example, at the beginning of last month, Paula Kirby ...
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With the House of Lords looking certain to remain unelected this week's Friday favourite could only feature one artist - the only Lord who has sought a public mandate and according to Wikipedia has gained 15,657 votes in his political career. It is, of course the late lamented Lord Sutch. Sutch has been arguably more successful than the Liberal Democrats in changing the UK - his campaigns (once considered 'loony') have included votes for 18 year olds and all day pub opening. I've met him twice before his tragic suicide and all I can say is if only Nick Clegg ...
Photo: Jusben from MorgueFile The enormous success of the London Olympics has led our politicians into trying to outbid one another in their enthusiasm for physical education in schools. Boris Johnson, with his demand for two hours of sport a day, is currently in the lead. Quite what all this sport is intended to achieve is not clear. Is it mean to make children happier or fitter or better behaved or more community minded? Back in 2006, when school sport was being promoted as the answer to the obesity crisis, I wrote this: Children were not thinner 20 or 40 ...
A Sky News panel survey arrives in my inbox. The restricted reply option leaves me wanting to express more on the questions. Have I been watching the Olympics on TV? Yes, enough to want to throw the TV out of the window if I ever hear Ian Thorpe start an answer with "Look" again. What do I think of it so far? ...as the old Morecambe and Wise set-up goes.... Not rubbish. About the same as all the other Olympics have been. How have the Olympics made me feel? Angry that some silly producer thought John McEnroe should mouth off ...
The Olympics has been inspirational. Watching people win makes you want to compete for the sake of it just to be able to know what it feels like. Watching Usain run makes me feel that if I had tried harder at nursery I would be up there too. There is no doubt about it. It has been tremendous fun just sitting on the sofa and watching hours and hours of TV knowing all the time that it is for a good cause - supporting Britain. It isn't often that one gets to be a slob while supporting one's country. I ...
I first posted this video from the British Council Film Collection back in May. It deals with the fight for Kettering at the 1945 general election, when Labour's Gilbert Mitchison defeated the sitting Conservative John Profumo. It may hold new interest now, as in those days the Kettering constituency included the town of Corby. And there is to be a by-election in the Corby constituency later this year.More about the modern-day Corby constituencyMore about the British Council Film Collection
Such was the chant, which I found myself repeating at Earls Court today. Bulgaria's men's volleyball team put up a spirited fight against Russia in the Olympic semi-finals. When Russia walked on it was hard to see how they wouldn't win. They are a very tall team. Height tends to come in handy in volleyball, it seems, speaking, admittedly, as a novice observer of the sport. It's a shame the crowd booed Russia at times. Very bad sportspersonship, which probably made those wily old Ruskies all the more determined to win.... I thought Bulgaria were badly let down by serving ...
Bar Hill: Last week there has been one crime report of a theft from Carphone Warehouse, The Mall, Bar Hill. Unknown offender has entered the store and removed earphones from packaging then left without making payment. Between Friday 27th July at 22:00 and Saturday 28th July at 07:30, there has been one report of criminal damage to a vehicle. Unknown offender(s) have climbed onto a roof of a vehicle whilst parked in Hillcrest, Bar Hill and caused various dents. Girton: Between Wednesday 25th July at 17:00 and Thursday 26th July at 08:00, there has been one report of a burglary ...
Our latest winner is York's daily newspaper The Press: Burglars foiled by pet ferret
One of my more random Twitter follows is WW2 tweets from 1940 (@realtimewwII). This is what they say about themselves Livetweeting the 2nd World War, as it happens on this date & time in 1940, & for 6 years to come. Questions to@historyreal, contact realtimewwii@gmail.com. On the day the plain packs consultation closes they decide to Tweet this WW2 Tweets from 1940 @RealTimeWWII5m Germany announces nation's aim is spartan fitness, abolition of tobacco & alcohol, to make "a race fit to rule Europe"pic.twitter.com/HIdOog9n Now that's what I call a massive co-incidence and also bloody mischievous :-) If you want my ...
Yesterday afternoon our router decided it would compete with me for conking out in the heat, so aside from a few minutes this morning this is my first internet access for 24 hours (it's like a desert, honestly). So here's a piece of quick news I hope I can get up in time before it rolls over with its tongue in the air again... The Day of the Olympics 1 [IMG: Posted by Picasa] Exclusive photos of the bonus shopping frenzy that the Olympics has brought to Central London! The Day of the Olympics 2 [IMG: Posted by Picasa] You ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week Opinion: With all constituencies declared, Labour has an overall majority (42 comments) by Charles Beaumont Chris Rennard writes... Restoring balance to the Coalition (72 comments) by Chris Rennard ++ Clegg to announce Lords reform sunk; Tory rebels defeat Cameron; first breach of Coalition Agreement. (55 comments) by Stephen Tall The Coalition Agreement does not commit Lib Dems to supporting boundary changes (37 comments) by Stephen Tall Opinion: We are Liberal cherries in a very Conservative cake (29 ...
Just before the Summer recess, the House of Lords began formal consideration of the hugely significant Electoral Registration and Administration Bill. Among other things this introduces Individual Electoral Registration (IER) for Great Britain. The system has been in operation in Northern Ireland since 2002. I was closely in involved in working with other Liberal Democrats to change the proposals first put forward in the Government's white paper which could have had the effect of significantly reducing the levels of voter registration in Great Britain. Mark Williams wrote about them here . Since then, there has been a great deal of ...
Simon Hughes MP emails party members: We're now just a few weeks away from our main annual conference. If you're already heading to Brighton this year, that's great. I look forward to seeing you there. The agenda is now online. As well as the opportunity to debate with, quiz and meet the Deputy Prime Minister and the Parliamentary Parties, we have a packed programme including speeches from Sarah Teather, Tim Farron and Vince Cable, and policy debates on growth, housing and green jobs. If you've not yet signed up to come to conference, please do so here. It is a ...
Equality is "at the core of Liberal Democrats philosophy", the party boasts. So why, then, is a Lib Dem minister presiding over the virtual destruction of the quango responsible for enforcing equalities laws? And is Trevor Phillips, the soon-to-retire chairman ... Continue reading →
Public views are being sought on plans to remove an existing roundabout at the junction of West Dyke, Corporation and Thrush Road in Redcar and replace it with traffic signals. The planned improvements were highlighted as part of the Tees Valley Bus Network improvement scheme which looks at ways of easing traffic congestion in the area. A public engagement event will be held in a trailer adjacent to the roundabout on Monday 20 August and Tuesday 21 August and a display will be situated in Redcar Library from 20 - 24 August. The public can also provide their comments by ...
Are you plagued with too much parking in your street? Well, there's a fine rhetorical question for a Friday afternoon. I would be able to get a 'yes' answer to that question in almost any street in Queen Edith's. We have some very big traffic generators: Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road and Long Road VI Form Colleges. So - lots of commuter parking, blighting the local environment and causing practical difficulties, such as not being able to park your own car, being blocked in by strangers' vehicles, not being able to see the way ahead clearly because of obstructions... I and ...
This week's Politics Weekly podcast from The Guardian features, ahem, myself alongside Martin Kettle, Nick Cohen and Tom Clark. Lords reform, Boris Johnson's political future and the Corby by-election (so far, dreadfully lacking in jokes about trouser presses) all feature. Nick Cohen made a particularly good provocative point about Boris Johnson – saying he's the only Conservative in the UK to have won a major election since John Major won the 1992 general election. It makes the Tory right's view of him rather contradictory: they really dislike some of his policy preferences (such as on immigration) yet also love him ...
Fri 10th
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Second Labour Police Commissioner candidate falls foul of "exceptionally tough condition of eligibil...
Alan Charles has now joined Bob Ashford in standing down as a Labour candidate for November's Police and Crime Commissioner elections due to a youthful brush with the law. His statement points the finger at the Home Office and Electoral Commission: The Labour Party has only now received clarification from the Home Office and the Electoral Commission that juvenile convictions for imprisonable offences will bar people from becoming a police and crime commissioner. That is, however, not quite the full story because this issue was directly debated when the legislation was going through Parliament, with both Conservative and Labour figures ...
Many of us who live in London's East End viewed the hosting of this summer's Olympics and Paralympics with a certain trepidation. And it is true that the Central Line — the quickest way for me to get into the centre of town from my home in Mile End — is hecticly busy at the ...
And so, what some, myself amongst them, feared as inevitable has come to pass, as serious Lords reform goes the same way as electoral reform, probably dead for a generation. Here, aboard the MV Columbia, shrouded in fog at the ferry terminal in Haines, it is hard, almost impossible, to tell what is ahead, a bit like the next few months of coalition. Better to look back, perhaps. I've been something of a pessimist on the likely success of Lords reform from the early stages of the process. That could be because, whilst in retrospect the signs were always there, ...
The problem with books like this is that they so quickly go out of date, a particular shame in this case, where Tribe has assembled in internal chronological order all of the stories of New Who up to Last of the Time Lords (ie starting with The Fires of Pompeii and ending with Utopia) including Attack of the Graske and The Infinite Quest, and brief explanations of Old Who stories which are mentioned in New Who (plus a few other tantalising references, eg to the Animus on p 7), but no coverage of Torchwood, the Sarah Jane Adventures or the ...
Ah, quality pointing via @DarkBeige :
Georgian politics: Bread and circuses Opposition footballer's assets frozen by democracy-loving government t. (tags: georgia ) Pigs! And! Communists! Freddy and the Men from Mars I remember this fondly from when I was 7. Or maybe 6. (tags: sf ) Talking cars could save your life My brother working on future tech! (tags: technology )
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 ...
Physical Education has had a renewed attention due to there being some mild sporting event in London lately. Boris Johnson has gone on record as saying that schools should have 2 hours of PE, EVERY day. Forgetting how Boris is hardly the man to show what sport can do for a person, taking up a third of every teaching day would mean that many other things will have to be left out! Of course, the UK's struggle with obesity, increasing illnesses and just general lack of fitness in people of all shapes and sizes, people look to starting young with ...
How Not to be a Dick in Comedy (tags: ) LONDON 2012: Women athletes celebrated - only if you are not a shot putter « The Daily Dreadnaught © (tags: ) Thanks (but no thanks...) | zoepablosmith (tags: ) Holley Mangold makes Conan look small - Salon.com (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Yate Library offers a wide range of facilities and runs lots of special events, ranging from children's workshops to talks by authors. During the summer there is a series of art exhibitions too - check out Yate Library's MyYate page for details. The children's Story Lab summer reading challenge runs in all South Gloucestershire Libraries until September 16, and it's free to take part. And did you know that you can borrow audio books and ebooks online? It's free. You'll need your library number and PIN. You can borrow up to 3 eBooks at a time for up to 21 ...
Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore MP writes a regular column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here's the latest edition. Olympics I think everyone would agree that the Olympics have been absolutely fantastic so far with medals won by Team GB in rowing, gymnastics, swimming and cycling and many other events. The team has done exceptionally well and it has been brilliant to see Scots such as Andy Murray, Heather Stanning, Chris Hoy, Katherine Grainger and Michael Jamieson winning medals. The support of Britons up and down the country has been brilliant and I know it ...
Last night, I was minute-taker at the latest Friends of Magdalen Green committee meeting. A representative from the City Council's Environment Department attended and we had a productive discussion about issues on and around the Green, including grass cutting, parking, bins and use of the notice boards. We also had a representative from the University of Dundee's School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics speak with the committee about progressing a sustainable lighting project on one of the unlit paths on the Green. We also discussed the new Friends of Magdalen Green membership leaflet, amongst other matters.
Today's Telegraph has an interesting story about Imran Ahmed, who has just been appointed as a special advisor to Labour Shadow Minister, Hilary Benn. Mr. Ahmed is one of the harshest critics of the previous Labour government's inability to regulate the banks properly. Writing in an article for Tribune he said: "Labour's failure to intervene during its 13 years in power was unforgiveable and a prime reason for their 2010 general election defeat. Under Labour, the Financial Services Authority was simply not fit for purpose." Is the first sign that Labour are starting to take responsibility for the economic mess ...
Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 500 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results. 54% of Lib Dems back 'new approach'; 23% say 'stick with Plan A' LDV asked: Thinking about the Coalition Government's economic policies, which of the following best reflects your view? (Compared to June 2012 results in brackets) 23% (-4%) - Borrowing more at a time when we already owe so much will simply make matters worse, as the country will ...
Now that any prospect of democratising the House of Lords has disappeared for the foreseeable future - thanks to a combination of out of touch Tory backswoodsmen and Lib Dem peers like the increasingly confused David Steel and the smugly authoritarian Alex Carlile, the Liberal Democrats should have a complete rethink on their approach to the Lords. It is clear that there will always be - despite manifesto commitments to the contrary - a blocking minority in the Commons to any reform that gives the Lords the legitimacy of a public mandate. And there is always going to be opposition ...
There is to be a consultation meeting on the proposal for an upgraded Dundee Railway Station concourse building. The event will take place on Monday 13th August between 2pm and 8pm, at the Education Suite in Discovery Point. It is a drop-in event and all are welcome to attend, look at the proposals and give their views.
Newsnight tonight carried a report highlighting criticisms from disabled veterans about their treatment (or lack thereof) from the military and the seeming waste of money by charity Help for Heroes on glamourous infrastructure projects. It also made the point that Help for Heroes remit is dealing with serving military personel - not those who have been disabled out of the forces who have been left at the mercy of the NHS. So there is clearly a gap into which military veterans fall into - which ought to be resolved as soon as possible. But one has to wonder if the ...
