On Monday 1 October there is a motion in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Equal Marriage: That this Assembly believes that all couples, including those of the same sex, should have the right to marry in the eyes of the State and that, while the rights of religious institutions to define, observe and practise marriage ...
A Scottish Liberal offers a cool and measured response to Nick Clegg's Conference speech. "The challenge now is to set the policy into a strong narrative of enhancing and embedding liberty through the spreading of wealth/ownership and power. Central to that policy will be a return to the Liberal Party's commitment of using government action to achieve it. Politely asking the average shyster capitalist for a slice of his profits and control is not going to work!" Birkdale Focus wants the Liberal Democrats to rediscover their predecessors' enthusiasm for employee ownership. Brown Moses Blog looks at the murder of Daniel ...
With Europe's last minute come back from the dead to win the Ryder Cup one cannot help thinking perhaps it's not Paddy Ashdown Clegg needs to captain his 2015 election campaign team - it's José María Olazábal...
A couple of years ago Stockton Council held a design competition for the housing to be built on the North Shore site - at that stage still a very uninspiring dirty area. The architects all produced futuristic designs and one was duly declared the winner. Some months later the plans came to planning committee for the first phase of the housing, now looking a bit more traditional and constrained
Accepting Sexuality, an informal group of Methodists, is holding a series of Bible studies in October. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are used to hearing Biblical passages quoted in judgement or exclusion of their identity. This series looks at an interpretation in the context in which the passages were written which brings a positive, ...
The slogan for last week's Liberal Democrat Conference was "Fair taxes in tough times", but you wouldn't have thought that if you heard Nick Clegg's interview with BBC Guernsey: "There are lots of regulatory debates about exactly how the financial sector operates in the Channel Islands, but it's a great plus for us in the UK."His remarks were seized upon by the cliques that rule Jersey and Guernsey, and the tone of the commentary on the accompanying video goes some way to justifying the arguments of those who see BBC Jersey and Guernsey as a sort of Pravda of the ...
Sun 30th
22:45
Is this for real? 'Appreciation' page for SW MEP has just three 'likes' in three weeks
Here's an interesting page I came across during a browse on Facebook: an appreciation page for South West MEP Giles Chichester. Adorned with a photo of Mr Chichester taken from his website when he was aboard submarine HMS Astute in naval uniform, the choice of profile picture is rather strange and taking also into consideration the tone of the description it does somewhat call into question to
All, You may be interested to see the new website from the Shipston Heart Alive! Campaign – if so, you can find it here. I've quoted (below) the introduction to the group and they have a petition that you may want to sign (I have). In a fit of geekery, SHA!C have made their website pretty easily viewable on mobile devices, for those that want to have a look on their smartphones! Philip What Shipston Heart Alive! wants is to protect this proud town from over-development, and to promote its viability and vitality for future generations. We are not opposed ...
I'm sorry but as an England (and Team GB) manager I don't feel that Stuart Pearce should be intentionally causing pain to someone else. Imagine what would happen on the football pitch? As a manager I'm sure there are many times he disagrees with refereeing decisions there are probably plenty of footballs around there, would he kick one at the official? Of course he wouldn't - well if he did there'd be huge repercussions for him. It's not even supposed to be slapstick comedy, it's set up as genuine hatred that he's showing. It sends the message that if somebody ...
Continuing with the reported Odanglesex adventures. The story so far: the Council has promulgated a profile for performance review with set percentages for each category, any departure from this profile to be approved at senior level. It has also created a "Best Person of the Year" award and ceremony: both of these are presented as responses to a staff survey finding that people want more recognition for good performance. FROM: Hamish Carpenter, Transformational Excellence Manager TO: Neil Balderson, Senior Transformational Excellence Manager Neil: I'm applying for the performance profile to be varied for my team. It really would hit me ...
Labour's shadow minister for women and equality, Yvette Cooper, has called for the coalition to hand back powers to allow the Equality and Human Rights Commission to hold Britain's 30,000 public authorities to account. Her ...
Ed Miliband's text messages to Vince Cable may have got him in trouble with his own political party and even resulted in party officials taking away his mobile phone. They also have been text messages sent to the wrong person if Ed Miliband's serious about preparing the ground for future Labour-Liberal Democrat cooperation. That's not only because Vince isn't a simple figure of the centre-left. Yes, many in Labour might like his rhetoric about the banks, but remember his role in tuition fees? And yes, many in Labour might like his enthusiasm for Keynes, but remember his calls in the ...
This summer, as we cheered our athletes to gold after gold after gold, Britain remembered how it feels to win again. But more importantly, we remembered what it takes to win again. Whether from Jess Ennis or Mo Farah, Sarah Storey or David Weir, the message was the same: we may be the ones on ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 293rd weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22-28 September, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. When friends fall ...
You can see the speech at:
Council tax benefit is changing across the UK. Responsibility for the scheme has been passed to local authorities along with a cut in the overall amount to fund it. With the Government making it clear that pensioners must be exempt, working age recipients are set to see a big drop in benefit. Crucially though, it looks like Cornwall wants to go further and their proposed scheme will actually be making a profit for the council. The scale of the cut in the amount Cornwall has received is £6 million. The proposal from the administration is to impose an across the ...
Not only has the charity single version of Nick Clegg's tuition fees pledge apology been the surprise hit of the year, entering the Top 40 download chart, but The Poke's video has now been viewed more than 1.8 million times on YouTube. From The Wall blog: James Herring, of PR firm Taylor Herring which worked with the The Poke on the autotuned story (and has done since The Poke launched two years ago), says that Clegg was such an easy target that the opportunity was simply too good to miss. "We worked through the night to create the mash up ...
Filed under: Blogging
During last week I caught a clip of David Cameron addressing the United Nations and lambasting, without actually naming them, Russia and China for failing to support UN action in Syria. I thought at the time that these two big beast of the current world stage were unlikely to be taking much notice of what this pipsqueak from a fading great power had to say about them. In much the same way I doubt if the UK's two big beast political parties are too worried about about the detail of what is said and not said at the Liberal Democrat ...
You know when you come out of St Albans station on platform 4 and see a pudding van? And you stop there and feel guilty but a little bit more cheerful after a long day? Well The Pudding Stop is in the final 3 in the Best Streetfood category on the BBC Radio 4 Food programme Food and Farming wards – results in November: BEST STREETFOOD / TAKEAWAY -Inders, Cambridge -The Pudding Stop, St Albans City Train Station -Moroccan Soup Stand, Golborne Road, London Many congratulations! Follow them on: https://twitter.com/ThePuddingStop
Cambridge City Council is organizing a Community Day outside the Wulfstan Way shops next Saturday. The event will include: a Take it or Leave it Stall a talk on Grown your own Food Children's cookery Plants & Cakes stall Preview of plans for the Jubilee seat For more details, or to help, contact caroline.biggs@cambridge.gov.uk or one of your councill0rs. All welcome! 6th October 10 a.m. – 12 noon
That was the title of one of the fringe meetings I spoke at during Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, appearing alongside Julian Huppert MP, Simon Milner, Public Policy Director at Facebook, Alberto Nardelli of Tweetminster and Chris Yiu, Head of Digital Government, Policy Exchange. You can watch the event in full here:
Each year at Autumn Conference, the Party President presents awards for outstanding service to the Liberal Democrats. Tim Farron appealed for nominations back in May, and presented the awards on the final afternoon of Conference in Brighton last week. Tim Farron also took a moment to thank all those who work hard in their local areas and for their local parties, everyone who campaigned in the council elections in May, and those who will play a part in this autumn's elections for Police Commissioners, the Bristol Mayor and Parliamentary by-elections. The winners of the 2012 Party Awards are as follows: ...
'Goodwill' is supposed to represent the increased value of a business arising from its brands, reputation etc etc over & above what it is actually worth and is supposed to justify the higher price that you paid. The Financial Times reports that Europe's 600 biggest companies wrote off 76bn Euros of goodwill last year. Over the last four years* these companies spent 1.6tn Euros and wrote off 219bn. This represents massive overpayment for duff acquisitions. It's probably worse than this because it takes time for the error to emerge. But these guys still reckon they are worth their massive remuneration ...
Now that I've had some sleep and recovered from the fun of Federal Conference in Brighton, I thought I'd share with you some of the highs and lows of a thoroughly enjoyable five days.The GoodWhen Shami beat Paddy: You don't often see Paddy Ashdown being completely bested in an argument, but Liberty director Shami Chakrabati managed it with aplomb. Paddy said in his speech to a packed Liberty fringe meeting that secret courts were fine as long as everything was overseen by a Judge. Shami went for him. She said she knew she was abusing the chair, but it was ...
Following on from my previous post it appears that Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has stepped back from threats of an imminent attack on Iran. In a speech to the UN General Assembly he has identified an Iranian 'Red Line' as being likely next summer when, he believes, Iran will have amassed enough enriched Uranium to make one bomb. Western meddling in the Middle East & the wider Muslim world, especially in the last decade, has (with the possible exception of Libya) been an unmitigated disaster. A Syrian rebel spokesman was bewailing lack of western help. Because of Western bungling ...
Now that I've had some sleep and recovered from the fun of Federal Conference in Brighton, I thought I'd share with you some of the highs and lows of a thoroughly enjoyable five days. The Good When Shami beat Paddy: You don't often see Paddy Ashdown being completely bested in an argument, but Liberty director Shami Chakrabati managed it with aplomb. Paddy said in his speech to a packed Liberty fringe meeting that secret courts were fine as long as everything was overseen by a Judge. Shami went for him. She said she knew she was abusing the chair, but ...
It's been a few days now since the sad news of the death of Andy Williams, but I still wanted to say my bit on the loss of a true 20th century musical legend. I've always had a great fondness and love for the crooning, mellow sounds of the 'Rat Pack' era. Be it Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin or more latterly the likes of Matt Monro, I have never strayed far from those cool, relaxing tones that soothe away the tensions of the day. I can very happily and easily add Andy Williams into that list and I grew ...
This was playing in the buffer at Leicester station as I was on my way to Manchester last week. "Drowning in Berlin" from early 1982 was The Mobiles' only hit. You can see it as a an exposure of the dark side of the New Romantics or as an expression with Thatcher's materialism before it had taken place. There is a swish video for this song on Youtube, but I think it more impressive that the band created a Cabaret vibe live on the Top of the Pops stage.
Perhaps uniquely among Liberal Democrat bloggers, I have not been watching the current series of Doctor Who. But Wikipedia tells me: Because River Song is a time traveller herself, her adventures with the Doctor occur out-of-synchronisation; their first meeting (from the audience's perspective) is his first and her last.This reminds me of one of my favourite books, The Sword in the Stone, in which Merlyn lives his life backwards. Which explains this exchange just after he has met 'the Wart' - the boy who will grow up to become King Arthur: Merlyn stopped talking and looked at the Wart in ...
Friday evening, with Lyulph to Balliol,for a dinner to celebrate engineering at Ballion and to mark the retirement of Dr Paul Buckley, the Maurice Lubbock Fellow. The Master spoke about the success of engineering at Balliol, and three former students who had been tutored by Paul provided curtain-raisers to the toast. Its great that the Maurice Lubbock Memorial Fund will continue to benefit from Paul's wisdom and experience, as a Tustee.
Reblogged from Andrew McFarland Campbell: It is just over a hundred years since the Ulster Covenant was signed. There was a small celebration of this in Belfast yesterday. Reading the text of the Covenant, I was struck by how powerful the language was: it talks about civil and religious freedom, and equal citizenship. These are ...
On Wednesday, Jo Swinson made her first platform speech to Conference as a Minister. She spoke about the need for work to be fulfilling and told how she would introduce the right for all to request flexible working and would introduce a parental leave system which would allow parents to split leave in the way that suited them when they became parents. This was one of the speeches of Conference for me - it was practical, relevant and even had a Doctor Who reference. I liked the fact that she talked about making the work environment fulfilling because we spend ...
There are those who support John Terry and say that he is not a racist. There are those who feel that he did racially abuse QPR's Anton Ferdinand. I have heard that he was good friends with Ferdinand and he would not verbally abuse him Well he doesn't appear to be good friends with him now. If you have the money for the best lawyers then an element of doubt can lead to a verdict of not guilty but that is not the same as innocence, I can't read lips and I have never read the actual words that were ...
If so, I've got a question for you. Below is the text of an email sent out by 38 Degrees following their lobbying campaign around Liberal Democrat conference. The lobbying itself – over the climate change debate – was pretty well done, in particular firing up supporters to want to lobby the Liberal Democrats – but doing so without throwing the sort of brickbats at the party that would make the lobbying less likely to be effective. (It's a common problem with lobbying campaigns: you whip up an audience by saying the target is evil, and then found the said ...
Peter Welch of Southend West Whilst some political groups and commentators will still warn you off the almost inevitability of Boris Island as the "least negative option" but last Sunday a big step was taken at the Liberal Democrat Party conference. t Medway's very own Cllr Geoff Juby, leader of our Council group was due to speak and a good contingent of our exec committee were there too including our Chairman Tony Jeacock. In the end Geoff was not called to speak but Peter Welch of Southend West spoke passionately and eloquently against the proposals. Conference voted AGAINST any estuary ...
Well, that's it, then. The Ponds have gone. There will be spoilers later on so don't read any further if you don't want to know what happens. You know how soft I am, so it will come as no surprise to you that I bawled my eyes out at the end of last night's Doctor Who. Amy and Rory have been fantastic companions and the relationship between them and the Doctor, complicated by the revelations around River Song, have made fantastic viewing. I'm not so convinced that it really was time for them to go. I could have had them ...
Friday morning, to High Elms, for a ceremony to mark the completion of a research project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and managed by Nick Hopkins, on the history of the house and the Lubbock family. [IMG: Posted by Picasa]
Tuesday: Meeting at the Equality and Human Rights Commission: Jeremy Corbyn MP, self and Meena Varma representing the APPG on Caste with John Wadham, General Counsel, Razia Karim & Esther Maynard, lawyers, and Ellie Rose, Head of Parliamentary Affairs, to discuss their policy on caste. We were pleased that they support the activation of S 9(5)(a) of the Equality Act, to add caste to the list of protected characteristics, and that they will post a statement accordingly on their website. Wednesday: Meeting with Lulu Todd and Dr Ahmed, to discuss recent developments in the Horn of Africa, and the prospects ...
Charity Platform 51, which works towards a world where "women and girls are in control of their lives", is highlighting an MP from each party during Conference season who has made a stand for equality and inclusion. For the Liberal Democrats, it's Jo Swinson who has been given the accolade of women and the week after her keynote speech in Brighton. They also recognise her decade of work on issues relating to equalities. Platform 51 say: Jo has also chaired the Liberal Democrats Women's Policy Working Groupwhich focuses on tackling some of the key areas that Platform 51 works with ...
Years ago, I wrote a blog-post, Time for some kick-ass liberalism: Liberalism and liberals have, for too long, been on the back foot, apologetically afraid to stick up for our credo - that the individual is best able to find fulfilment through active involvement in society, and that society can best motivate the individual by guaranteeing personal freedom. Lifelong liberal Michael Meadowcroft has some at least as trenchant words in today's Guardian, lambasting those within and without the Lib Dems who seem to delight in perpetually balancing on their backfoot, then wondering why liberalism never makes a convincing leap forward. ...
In Nick Clegg's speech at this years Autumn conference said; BUF uniform held at the IWM London If history has taught us anything, it is that extremists thrive in tough times. So yes, if we fail to deal with our debts and tackle the weaknesses in our economy, our country will pay a heavy political price. But the human cost would be higher still. Not only would we fall behind internationally, we would leave a trail of victims at home too. I found myself thinking back to the 1920s and 30s across Europe and through the political mire of European ...
Nick Clegg's position as leader has probably strengthened over the last 2 weeks, with a relatively quiet conference, the apology and the anti Nick campaign being fronted by Lembit. The received wisdom in the press (and in the bar gossip) seems to be that he has a year to turn the polls round. So it's interesting jus how many names are now being bandied about in the media as potential next leaders of the party. And I thought it might be fun to keep track between now and next Full Conference 2013 of the names I hear mentioned.. In the ...
Health is, of course fully devolved to the Welsh Government but that does not stop the First Minister and other Labour AMs distracting attention from their own failures by throwing all kinds of inaccurate accusations around about the Coalition Government's intentions towards the NHS. It is interesting therefore, as revealed by this post on Liberal Democrat Voice, that Labour appear to have taken the decision to leave in place the reforms they have so vehemently derided and which they have characterised as privatisation and breaking up the health service. As Mark Pack reports, at a Q&;A session, Labour leader Ed ...
Dear Ryan, Congratulations on your new job. Welcome to the 'family' of UK Liberal Democrat activists and campaigners. You arrive at a critical moment. But the Liberal Party and its successors have been here before. In the General Election of 1951 we fielded just 100 candidates and only 6 of these were elected. In the Euro elections of 1989, the Liberal Democrats polled just 6.2%. Our revivals in each case - in the Seventies and the Nineties – were built on an emerging development of Liberalism and its expression in a style of campaigning that sought to help people take ...
My new department, the Department for International Development (DFID), recently put together this excellent video about how Britain helps some of the poorest people in the world:
The reputation of private companies involved in the NHS took a bit of a battering yesterday as it was revealed that Serco, the firm which provides out of hours GP care across Cornwall, sometimes only had one GP on duty for 535,000 people. The Primary Care Trust, which commissioned Serco, has said it has taken action to address the problem and numbers won't fall that low again. But then, it's not just the private sector which has failed Cornwall. Three cottage hospitals have had to close down beds because they can't get the staff to run them, according to the ...
When I was on Brian Taylor's Big Debate on Friday, one of the questions was on the 3000 civilian jobs expected to go after the creation of the single police force. My answer was that it was hardly responsible government on the part of the SNP to say they'd meet their extra 1000 police officers pledge while cutting back office jobs. What's the point of having those extra officers if they're stuck in the office filling in forms and doing the intelligence work themselves. Years of work have gone into creating a civilian support structure so that bobbies can be ...
Keith Floyd's funeral was three years ago today. Floyd was a punk chef - mates with the Stranglers - and his posh demenour betrayed his humble origins. Which is probably why he was able to get on and annoy with equal measure a wide variety of people. But he was a genius - and the man who taught me to cook - or at least throw ingredients in a pot while having a 'slurp'. Here he is at his best - exploring artisan cuisine in humble surroundings (in the black country)... On his death the other punk chef Marco Pierre ...
Over at CentreForum's blog, Stephen Tall has proposed the Lib Dem conference as the think-tank's latest 'Liberal Hero of the Week' for its stance in opposing the Coalition's plans for secret courts. Here's an excerpt: It's not the fact that David Cameron doesn't know the translation of 'Magna Carta' that worries me. It's that he doesn't appear to understand its central tenet: No free man shall be taken or imprisoned, or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go or send against him except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the ...
Today is National Police Memorial Day, an opportunity to honour the courage and heroism of those men and women who have lost their lives defending us and upholding the law. As we go about our business today, we should take a moment to remember their enormous sacrifice. They have paid a heavy price, for the freedom and security we all enjoy, and it is right that they are not forgotten. They and their families, will be in our thoughts today, and always.
One of the saddest things about being a councillor is that you can't lift your eyes from the pavement. So imagine my delight when in Bath I saw these solar litter bins , though I had no idea what they offered: A little research, however, came up with the information. These super brainy bins can cope with much more rubbish, and even alert the council when they need emptying. Here's the gen from the BBC: Solar-powered compactor bins which flash when they need to be emptied are being installed in Bath. Twenty-five of the new bins have been bought to ...
Margaret of Scotland From Sheena Wellington of Friends of Wighton: On Wednesday 3rd October at 1.15pm, the Friends of Wighton will be holding their monthly free lunchtime concert in Dundee. Performed by medieval harp expert Simon Chadwick, the programme for October's event tells the story of Margaret of Scotland, 1281: The story of Scotland and Norway, the Royal Wedding and the lead up to the Wars of Independence. Using a selection of medieval music and traditional tunes from Scotland and from Scandinavia, the late 13th century history and politics will be dramatically brought to life, as the old ballad says: ...
The worsening civil war in Syria delivers ghastly images into our living rooms every day — at least for those of us who watch Al Jazeera. But today I watched one of the most heart-breaking pieces of footage so far: the burning down of much of Aleppo's medieval souq, which is part of the UNESCO ...
After a few days to recover, assess and dry off from a wet and windy Brighton, here are my thoughts on this years' Liberal Democrats Conference. The mood was much more business like than prior conferences. 2010 was one of great excitement from being in Government. 2011 was gritted teeth and determination in the face ...
The Coalition Government has signalled that it intends to make the acquisition of new rolling stock easier, by offering official guarantees. Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Treasury Chief Secretary, announced at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton last week that the first project to benefit from government help is set to be the new fleet for Crossrail. The Treasury is to guarantee funding for 60 new trains as part of the Coalition's industrial reflation strategy, to ensure there will be no problems with timescales on construction or delivery. The Coalition Government will contribute £240 million of the cost – about ...
