Missives from Doktorb does not want to see leaders' debates at the next general election: "There's enough reality television in politics without our leaders turning into contestants on Million Pound Drop. I'm devoted far more than normal people should be towards accountability, democratic renewal and electoral reform, but putting our political leaders into contrived Q&A sessions where Downton Abbey should be is an experiment I don't fancy repeating." "Politics Transformed: The High Tech Battle for Your Vote", says Mashable, is an in-depth look at how digital media is affecting elections - from online ad targeting to Internet voting, from political ...
MP Julian Huppert has called on the Prime Minister to personally examine proposals designed to cut the death toll of cyclists on Britain's roads. Julian has headed up a cross-party letter to David Cameron signed by 40 MPs urging him to study the findings of a Parliamentary cycling inquiry and promote measures needed to get more people cycling. The letter, published in The Times, the newspaper which launched the Cities Fit for Cycling Campaign, wants Mr Cameron to use his Conservative Party Conference speech to tell Britain's cyclists that they can count on his personal leadership in the matter. Led ...
Look round the room at the next Liberal Democrat event you attend and ask yourself how many people in the room will have their names recorded in places that future political historians can find. A few, certainly, especially if they have been elected to public office. For most, however, their contribution to a political party slips away through the cracks of the historical record, disappearing as the direct personal memories people have of them fade and then end with death. Yet many of those whose fate is to dissipate into nothingness are crucial to a party's success, playing roles as ...
In just a week we have heard more about the Rochdale grooming and how the female victims were blamed, people turning a blind eye to what Jimmy Saville did to girls and a father killing his own children in an act of domestic violence. What society and the authorities need to realise is that it 'takes a village' to raise a child. All the present circumstances justify this thinking. It has been scorned by neo-liberal right wing types who would blame a stray rabbit that came into their garden for being attacked by their pet dog. The well being of ...
It was fifty years ago today that Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play...
Look round the room at the next Liberal Democrat event you attend and ask yourself how many people in the room will have their names recorded in places that future political historians can find. A few, certainly, especially if they have been elected to public office. For most, however, their contribution to a political party slips away through the cracks of the historical record, disappearing as the direct personal memories people have of them fade and then end with death. Yet many of those whose fate is to dissipate into nothingness are crucial to a party's success, playing roles as ...
The South Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats South Rural Campaign Group would like to invite you to the following Supper Club: AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SPECIAL 'The US Election in Historical Perspective' Speaker: Dr John Thompson, Fellow, St Catharine's College, CambridgeWith super-sized home-made supper, bar and raffle Friday 16th November at 7PM Foxton Village Hall Pavilion, Hardman Road, Foxton (Foxton Rail Station - seven minute walk) Tickets £15 Contact: Susan van de Ven susanvandeven@yahoo.co.ukTim Stone timothy.stone1@virgin.netJose Hales jose@josehales.me.ukWould you like to receive invitations to these sorts of events direct to your inbox? We have a discussion and communication list for South Cambridgeshire Activists ...
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. However 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 ...
We said that we would give you an update on ash dieback as the situation develops. The disease causes leaf loss and has already killed millions of trees in parts of mainland Europe. The Woodland Trust took the lead on calling for an immediate ban on the import of ash trees. We are pleased that our stance has gained such a positive response in such a short time frame. Yesterday Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson said that a ban on imports of ash trees to combat the threat of the tree disease Chalara fraxinea could be in place as early as ...
Here's another piece that I've written for Liberal Democrat Voice... It is true that things were always better at sometime in the past. Or at least, it feels like that, especially as you get older. But perhaps it is. In the period since World War II, government, at national, state and local level, has provided more and more in the way of support to indivdiuals, organisations and communities, mostly for reasons widely supported to be of public good, sometimes for more cynical reasons, occasionally because it can. In a growing economy, such interventions are sustainable. However, Robert Black, the former ...
Residents are being reminded that they are being put in the budget setting driving seat by Cambridgeshire County Council. 'You Choose' is a county-wide survey, launched from September 5, that is asking residents to put themselves in the seat of councillors in making decisions where to invest and save money. Residents have until October 17 to visit the County Council website and complete the survey. A series of roadshows are also being held next week for people to have their say. Saturday 6 Oct - 10am - 1pm - Huntingdon - Huntingdon LibraryMonday 8 Oct - 10am - 1pm - ...
In tribute to the people of Machynlleth, here's some photos I took in and around the town when we stayed in a tree house nearby last February. It is a fine town, with a particularly nice eco-cafe, the Quarry Cafe. The parents and family of April Jones have been in my thoughts and prayers all this week, and continue to be. The people of Machynlleth have been stunning this week, proving what an extraordinary community they are. Machynlleth is the "ancient capital of Wales". It was also the place where the first Laura Ashley shop was established (see photo below). ...
Over the last two weeks the Lib Dem conference has awoken this blogger from a rather inactive period (so far blogging is concerned). Today I will complete this active period with a longer post, before going quiet for a couple of weeks. I want to follow through the thoughts provoked by my last few posts to set out what I think the Liberal Democrat strategy and policy stance should be. I am not part of the party's Westminster set, and failed in my attempts to join it. Neither am I standing for any of the party committees. But I want ...
Spout, handle, lid of metal, what's insiiiiiiide..the singing kettle? When Anna was little it used to be obligatory to make twice yearly visits to see the Singing Kettle. We would dress her up as a pirate or a fish or a cowboy, whatever the theme required. For two hours we'd sing along to songs like Little Bunny Fou Fou (hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mouse and bopping them on the head), You cannae shove yer Granny off a bus and my personal favourite, The Week Kirkcudbright Centipede. Now the show's stars Artie Tresize and Cilla Fisher, who ...
A new planning application has been received as detailed below:- Application number: 55674 Type of application: Full Date Registered: 03/10/2012 14:03:22 Location: 211 Heywood Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 2QH Proposal: Two storey extension to side and single storey extension to front. Plans will be available to view on the Council's website using the above application number.
Liberal Democrat councillors have joined forces with the MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, Lynne Featherstone and launched a petition to save sorting offices ear-marked for closure or due to be moved. Royal Mail plan to close the Hornsey office on Tottenham Lane that serves the N8 area and move services to Hornsey Road, Holloway, which means residents will have to travel further to collect their undelivered parcels. Royal Mail also plan to move services for the N6 area currently provided at the office on Hornsey Road, and the office at the Harringay Arena off Green Lanes (which serves the ...
It dawns on me that my work for Liberal Democrat Voice really should be published here too - after it is published there, of course (I know the rules). After all, some of the people who read this, including my family, don't go there. Yes, the moment you've all been waiting for, the House of Lords is back! And whilst I get to spend less time with my wife, legislation awaits. Will the death of Lords Reform change anything on the red benches? Just what are they going to discuss without it? There are three Bills carried forward from before ...
As I said in my speech to our conference in Brighton, wherever I go I find Liberal Democrats who are infinitely more upbeat, positive and determined than anyone in the media thinks we should be. We have every right to be upbeat. Never have our Liberal Democrat voices and values been so important. Never have Liberal Democrat victories been so necessary. Britain needs the Liberal Democrats more than ever. I know that together we can do this. We can make Britain fairer, greener and more liberal. As I watch Labour (or 'blank page' as I call them at the moment!) ...
Carry on Consett Academy. I wasn't a fan of the "Carry on Films" but whether you laugh or cry about this story will depend where you're coming from. Last Friday I and seven other councillors from the Consett area were invited to a "briefing" on the Consett Academy and Leisure Centre. I wasn't sure what the county council could usefully tell us since the Village Green application has not yet even reached the stage where the independent inspector has to be supplied with information from the Green Spaces Group and the county council, let alone reached a decision as to ...
Friday: It is the Fiftieth Anniversary of the release of the first JAMES BOND film, "Dr No". It's also the fiftieth anniversary of the first Beatles single too. And it is also also Ms Cathy Gale's BIRTHDAY. So it is OFFICIALLY fifty years since the day the SIXTIES started. To celebrate this, and the forthcoming NEW James Bond film about the phone hacking scandal "Sky Fail", ALL of my top twenty-five favourite Bond films have been released in a new blu-ray box. (Except for the "other" Casino Royale and the "other" Thunderball. And "Skyfall" is currently represented by a GAP!) ...
Fri 5th
14:46
LDVideo: Citizens UK thank Liberal Democrats for ending child detention for immigration purposes
I wrote recently of a very emotional and heartwarming presentation at Conference in Brighton by Citizens UK who came along to thank the Liberal Democrats for what we had done to end child detention for immigration purposes. Nick Clegg and Sarah Teather both spoke in response. To cheer you up on an autumnal Friday afternoon, here is the whole thing in video. Enjoy. * Caron Lindsay is Wednesday editor at Lib Dem Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
It is true that things were always better at sometime in the past. Or at least, it feels like that, especially as you get older. But perhaps it is. In the period since World War II, government, at national, state and local level, has provided more and more in the way of support to indivdiuals, organisations and communities, mostly for reasons widely supported to be of public good, sometimes for more cynical reasons, occasionally because it can. In a growing economy, such interventions are sustainable. However, Robert Black, the former Auditor General for Scotland, in a lecture at the David ...
Over the years I have worked in, inspected and reviewed many poorly performing councils. Some of them were failing catastrophically and delivering terrible services to residents such as Hull and Islington in the early 00's. There are many reasons that ... Continue reading →
Is liking Die Another Day a controversial view? That question came on up on Twitter this morning so I thought I'd find out pseudo-scientifically. I've looked at the Internet Movie Database's rating for each film and here's what the people scoring them say: [IMG: Graph of Bond scores - raw date in table] 2006′s Casino Royale is the clear winner, and there are a few other interesting notes: there's a clear early peak at Goldfinger – very much received wisdom – but that's also the most watched (if we count ratings as viewers) of the early films. OHMSS has less ...
The atmosphere in Brighton was stormy. Not, as journalists would have you believe, inside the hall but on the Brighton seafront. It had started well. On Saturday, with temperatures soaring into the 20s, delegates debated early years, schools and House of Lords reform – all solid Lib Dem territory. Excellent speeches from a succession of mothers and grandmothers highlighted how childcare costs skew the economics of working, and delegates overwhelmingly backed investment in free early years education when finances allow. Debating Lords reform, Conference endorsed Nick Clegg's withdrawal of support for constituency boundary changes, and Lord Tyler put forward a ...
Number of calls for area:- 185 Number of community related calls:-44 Alcohol seizures:-On Friday the 28th of September an amount of alcohol was seized from youths on Front Street Consett after youths were stopped and searched. From patrols the beat team have identified new areas that youths are starting to congregate. Extra attention will be given to these areas. Common areas/Locations:- Genesis land Tesco Fields There have been no reported burglaries for this period. Anti- social Behaviour and motorcycle incidents:-28 ASB Personal There have been a total of 14 ASB personal incidents. 7 of these incidents relate to Residential addresses, ...
Fri 5th
11:54Opinion: "The Lib Dems will be crushed at the next election" - Busting the biggest lie in British po...
We've all seen poll after poll regularly showing a massive drop in support for our party since the general election - most have us on 8-12% (with the exception of ICM suggesting 14-15%). The president of YouGov claims 10% would reduce us from over 50 MPs to just 10 in 2015. Many of us (myself included) have accepted this as fact - it makes sense. It's what the polls say. It's true. Except, it isn't. Last week I heard a new "Wisdom Index" ICM poll had us at 18% and I was stunned. Such levels of support have been unheard ...
In many ways the Liberal Democrat conference felt more at peace with itself last week. It was not just that it was rediscovering its mission-talking seriously about enhancing liberty through redistribution of assets -Land tax and employee ownership- but rather that it was doing these things in the context of asserting its identity with far more confidence that it has in recent times. One thing was missing-the rest of the world! I can't ever remember a time when Liberal have believed that the international dimension was not central to our thinking and policy making. This detachment from the international dimension ...
One of the reasons for my love-hate attitude towards the state of modern British political science is the very limited approach taken to analysing and understanding tactical voting. There are huge numbers of research papers looking at opinion poll data about how many people voted tactically in a particular election, in what sorts of seats and so on. Yet ask the collected authors when the first bar chart was used in a British election and none of them know. It's a classic case of focusing on only one very particular methodological approach to an issue and completely ignoring others. In ...
On Wednesday the Assembly Plenary was scheduled to debate a Conservative motion on neo-natal services. This had been prompted by the health service reconfiguration that is underway across Wales. However, one Labour member at least thought that we should not be discussing the issue at all, whilst the Government side took umbrage and refused to vote on it. There was a clear attempt to stifle debate as is evident from this point of order: Mick Antoniw: I wish to raise a point of order on a matter of principle regarding an item of business on today's agenda, namely item 6, ...
Flying isn't something most people do for fun but connections are good for business and prosperity. Thankfully the Committee on Climate Change says that aviation can expand without risking our ambitious climate change targets. Hub airports are particularly important. They draw in passengers from a range of places, making flights to many destinations viable. The one flight from Wuhan to Europe - to Paris - relies on transfers at Charles de Gaulle. That flight gives Paris a head start in attracting the European HQs of firms from Wuhan. I want flights like that to come to London, not Paris. I ...
My latest in The New Statesman from Wednesday - which attracted comments galore if you fancy popping over there... Nice to see lots of the media following the theme up too... So, when did David Cameron know about the West Coast Main Line contract debacle? I only ask because normally the Secretary of State responsible for a major tender like this would be considering their position. In response to loud and vociferous complaints, the individual in question described the bidding as a "fair and well established process", and only opened an inquiry into the process after a threat of legal ...
Opinion: Immigration service must do more to protect human dignity (tags: ) BBC Nature - Return of the UK's biggest spider Awesome arachnids are awesome (tags: ) 20 Spectacularly Nerdy Science Jokes ... only one of which didn't make me laugh out loud, and three of which were ones I "thought up" myself at school. (tags: ) Art's great nudes have gone skinny (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
I've received a letter, via our Parish Clerk, and in case anyone in Mid Suffolk reads this... Dear Stakeholder, Review of Car Parking I am writing to you for your views on car parking. Mid Suffolk District Council last undertook a major review of car parking in 2009/10 with new charges introduced in April 2011. In the report to the Council's Executive Committee in January 2010 it was recommended and approved that car parking charges should be reviewed at least every other year. It was also agreed with other key stakeholders that a more general review of car parking would ...
Yes, the moment you've all been waiting for, the House of Lords is back! And whilst I get to spend less time with my wife, legislation awaits. Will the death of Lords Reform change anything on the red benches? Just what are they going to discuss without it? There are three Bills carried forward from before the summer recess; As a gentle loosener after a summer of grouse shooting, light naps and memoir writing, Monday sees Day 6 of the Committee Stage of the Financial Services Bill, perhaps now to be known as the Lord Sassoon farewell tour (he's standing ...
Antony Hook has welcomed the news that The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) ha announced the mandate of Anders Fogh Rasmussen as its Secretary General has been extended until 31 July 2014 after gaining approval from the North Atlantic Council. Mr Fogh Rasmussen, a former Danish Prime Minister and leader of ELDR member party Venstre, took up ...
It's a while since I have posted a Lolcat, but I have hurried to put that right. Because science has proved that they help you perform better at work.
Fri 5th
07:55
UK 'should not lose or dilute this vital tool for the sake of political rhetoric' says MEP after Eur...
Ahead of the imminent extradition of Jeremy Forrest back to the UK, missing for almost a week but found within 24 hours of an European Arrest Warrant being issued, South West Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson has penned a letter hailing the benefits of the measure to UK police forces and why David Cameron would be "foolhardy" to exercise the UK's opt-out for the sake of appeasing his MPs.
[IMG: Photo from Pure Radio] Stockport businesses were shining at the first Stockport Business Awards, held at the Hallmark Hotel in Heald Green yesterday evening. Over 200 people swept in to the plush black-tie event, including Paralympic medalists Craig Maclean, Andy Kappes and Matthew Walker along with Stockport's own basketball legend John Amaechi. I was there alongside Stockport Council Leader Sue Derbyshire and Council officers who were pointing out to me how many of the finalists had received help from the Council along the way, such as start-up grants or loans, or space in one of the Council's incubators. It ...
I have had complaints from residents about very worn white junction and other road lining in Logie Street, City Road, the bottom of Benvie Road and at the bottom of Saggar Street - the latter situation is pictured - right. I have asked that the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership repaints these.
The writer and broadcaster Misha Glenny was the guest at the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) lunch at Europe House yesterday; many of us had worked with him at the BBC and elsewhere, mainly during the period when he was a leading authority on the Balkans. But as he explained at the lunch, by 2000 editors ...
It's back folks. Take Me Out sandwiching The X Factor. Saturday nights with Paddy and Dermot. What more could we want? Yet again Mr Paddy McGuinness is trying to team up men from his love-lift with his flirty thirty in an effort to bring love and happiness to the world. Take Me Out has been going for three runs and this is the fourth and it has already been commissioned for another two after this so Take Me Out fans rejoice as the dating show is set for a long run on Saturday nights for a good while yet. This ...
Pictures of design outlines two of the three roundabout artworks for Consett have been released. Number One's will be revealed at the event in St Patrick's Hall on Saturday. Puddler's Corner (aka Morrisons) Villa Real roundabout by the Total Garage.
Should the allegations made against Jimmy Savile be investigated? This is the question as I watch Question Time. Janet Street-Porter answered by giving us the background details which mentioned that inappropriate sexual activity was endemic in the 70s. The problem with this particular investigation, of course, is that Mr Savile is not around to defend himself. It may well be that he would be arrested if he were alive. It may well be that he could have been found guilty on all sorts of charges, but all of this is hypothetical. What does matter is that investigation may set an ...
