[IMG: Message opposed to unemployment.] Since they entered office the blue-tinged contingent of the Coalition has been engaged in a systemic process of stigmatising those in receipt of social security benefits. Great emphasis has been placed upon the undeserving and the fraudulent. There is support for the hard working strivers, but condemnation for the skivers. The spotlight has been on the most extreme cases of households receiving substantial financial support from social security in order to create a smoke screen for cuts in benefits to the poorest. The Tories are convinced that welfare "reform" - particularly the overall weekly benefit ...
Child victims of the Newton shootings Sometimes something so big happens that it does not matter whether you know the people involved or not, nor whether you have any connection with the area it happened in. I have never been to America. I had never heard of Newtown. My closest involvement with Connecticut was over the recent Presidential election but it was with absolute sadness that I watched BBC News 24 as the news came in about the deaths of children. The picture that affected me the most was a picture doing the rounds on Twitter of a mother receiving ...
So I went to Shropshire. This is the grave of Silvester Horne, Liberal MP and father of the comedian Kenneth Horne. I wrote about Silvester Horne back in 2006: A contemporary observer wrote: In Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Leicester he conquered vast audiences by the magic of his oratory. He understands better than any speaker of his years, with the possible exception of Mr Lloyd George, how to quicken slow blood, kindle light in dull eyes, and bring the flood-tide of enthusiasm sweeping into all creeks and inlets of the spirit. His youthful appearance, grace and winsomeness of gesture, attractive ...
I watched Hercule Poirot's Christmas earlier this afternoon. On the train journey to the inevitable country house (soon to the scene of an equally inevitable murder), Poirot was offered Brown Windsor soup as the first course of his lunch. Brown Windsor soup? We know all about that. As The Foods of England says: Pick up pretty much any recent book on English food and you'll be told that Brown Windsor was The Victorian favourite, possibly the dominant English soup until WW2. You'll be told that it was always served at Windsor Castle, that it was the Queen-Empress's preferred starter, that ...
A Christmas lunch is being prepared here by Basuto troops, among the thousands of men from southern Africa, particularly the nations which are today Lesotho and Botswana, who signed up as African Pioneers during the Second World War. In great numbers they served the Allied cause in the Middle East and then Italy, providing far ...
You, Dear Constant Reader, know just how eager I am to get marriage equality into the United Kingdom (yes, even in Northern Ireland). Am I, however, so eager to get it into law that I'm failing to see the wood for the trees? I think it hit me this week just how different my views on marriage equality are to most of those who support it. When the Church in Wales, and then the Church of England, announced their "shock" at the Government's plans for a "quadruple lock" my first thought was not "What was the Government thinking?" but "What ...
In today's Independent on Sunday there is a very odd piece on sexual liberation. It shows how since 1963 society has become more free loving, and less hung up on sex and sexuality. It also notes how we in Britain, and the rest of the Western world, are becoming more comfortable with homosexuality and gay culture. ...
As far as I am aware there is only one meeting at Blyth Town Council next week Planning & Development Committee , Ebor House, Thursday 20th December, 6:30 pm
[IMG: Christmas tree] A final reminder that tomorrow, Monday 17th December, all LibDemVoice readers are invited to join us for festive drinks at 5pm in London, followed by (for those who're able) Steve Richards' Rock 'n Roll Politics Christmas Special. You can sign up for drinks on our Facebook page here, or via FlockTogether here — you'll find the venue of the pub there. There are a handful of tickets still left for Steve's show — you can buy them here. Premiered at this year's Edinburgh Festival, where it earned rave reviews, here's how Steve's show is billed: Award winning ...
Wikipedia tells me that this single got no higher than no. 49 in the British charts in 1974, but I remember it fondly and recall that Michael Aspel on Capital Radio loved it too. Spinnin' and Spinnin' comes from the album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta. Syreeta - full name Syreeta Wright - was briefly married to Stevie Wonder and they wrote and recorded together for rather longer. She had originally joined Motown as a receptionist. Syreeta Wright died in 2004 at the age of 57.
Here's my most recent column for the Muswell Flyer and Highgate Handbook. Note that since writing – the Lib Dems in government increased the personal tax allowance even more – meaning ordinary workers will now get a £600 tax cut! You can read all previous Muswell Flyer articles here: http://beckybeach.net/?s=lynne+featherstone The cold weather has set in and Christmas is just round the corner. It's the end of the year - and what a year 2012 has been. We had the jubilee celebrations followed by the spectacle of the London Olympics and Paralympics - and I've been busy too, in Hornsey ...
Professor of politics, John Keane of the University of Sydney, writes: " Young citizens see few intelligent political leaders who speak their language, actively represent their interests and work for equitable political change. For many 'liberal democracy' is phantom democracy, a game played by rich and powerful men trading in broken promises. They see that 'Big Money' and 'Big Lobbying' disproportionately win, and that the rhythms of parliamentary government are out of whack with environmental catastrophes. Parliamentary democracy seems reactive, dragged down by its inability to address large domestic & cross border issues. Especially worrying, many young people say, is ...
As you may have noticed I haven't posted anything in a week. Well this is due to both my PC dying last Sunday and the fact that I've been laid low with the dreaded and deadly man-flu – which is also known as a bit of a weak common cold. I'm pretty bad when ill as I think the world is going to end. I won't pretend I grin and bear it. I just moan and sulk and become the most cliché person ever however this time I persevered and acted a little bit better than usual. So lets look ...
There's one short speech I regret delivering however well-meaning it was at the time. Back in June 2009 at the Liberal Democrats' London headquarters, the fresh-faced new leader of the party Nick Clegg and Vince ...
Christmas is coming, and in recognition of the fact that Brij, my son-in-law, Jamie, my stepson, and the rest of the Scott family will be visiting us over the festive season, we have stocked up on beer. Well, I say beer. In fact, it's lager (waits for Jennie to throw her hands up in despair). In other words, it isn't real beer, it's mass-produced stuff that people are willing to substitute for real beer. Now I do have to admit that I do drink lager - proper lager, from places like the Czech Republic - if the mood strikes. But, ...
It's true to say that I had not realised that being a Lib Dem and standing for Libbyshire Council was set to consume my life. It is already mid-December and there is still so much work for my clients not yet done. But, heck, we are busy delivering a Focus across Demsbury. It does not help that one of my deliverers is too ill to continue. Another couple have inconveniently flown off to Goa for the winter. Others simply don't have time. Inevitably, I'm delivering most of the leaflets myself. I am also turning out at council meetings. I've been ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Nick Clegg signals new distance from 'fantasy world' Tories | Politics | The Observer Equidistance 2.0 > Nick Clegg signals new distance from 'fantasy world' Tories | The Observer http://bit.ly/U4sDKO Could David Cameron be a bit frit about facing Ed Miliband in TV debates? | Andrew Rawnsley | Comment is free | The Observer Good Andrew Rawnsley piece on the parties' thinking abt the 2015 televised debates http://bit.ly/U4scQt tho disagree on 1 thing> Re Michael Gove: What is Alistair Campbell right – and wrong – about? Fascinating piece by one of Gove's ...
Andrew Rawnsley has an article in today's Observer asking whether the 2015 general election campaign will see the televised leader debates we had in 2010: Will there be TV debates next time around? When I put the question to one of Mr Cameron's circle, he responded: "Ask me in two years." The honest answer is that each of the leaders will make a calculation whether it is in their best interests much closer to the time. As the incumbent, Mr Cameron will have to weigh up the perils of taking part against the risk of being seen to run away. ...
I've decided on a Depeche Mode double bill this week: First up, the ideal track for a Sunday: Personal Jesus. And next, Policy of Truth - one of my favourite tracks of all time even if it does tend to lurk outside of my memory when people ask what my favourite songs are! Enjoy! Andrew
Listening to Wendy Beckett's Desert Island Discs, I wondered to myself if this was a good life. It wasn't, indeed isn't, a bad life. As she said herself, she has led a very sheltered life with little opportunity for sin. Most of us, even without religious faith, would admire the lives of nuns who nurse and work in the community. We might have mixed views about those who teach, given what
The terrible shootings in Connecticut on Friday where 26 people were killed, 20 of whom were young children have inevitably reopened the debate about gun control in the US. Jay Carney, the President's spokesperson was quick to claim that it was not the right time to be debating gun control and that there would be "another day" for that. I can understand the wish to tread carefully when the news is still coming in and not to appear to be making political points over such a tragedy. But the "other day" that Mr Carney is so keen on never seems ...
A few months ago I reviewed the UK grown wasabi of The Wasabi Company. The good folk at Kazari saw my review and offered to send some of their wasabi to review. The Kazari rhizome is imported from Japan and is about half the price of The Wasabi Company. After months of procurement, we successfully diverted a portion of Asia's natural wasabi harvest from Tokyo's sushi bars to the UK. Our customers, including some of Europe's leading sushi chefs, love it. It really is a superior product, less harsh, subtly sweet and infinitely more refreshing than wasabi paste. So next ...
Sun 16th
11:50
Jo Shaw's reply to Nick Clegg: Thanks for your stand on civil liberties - now it's time to oppose se...
[IMG: Supreme Court - Some rights reserved by cphoffman42] We published yesterday Nick Clegg's latest 'Letter from the Leader', focusing on the liberal stand he's taken this past week on the internet snoopers' charter and publicly stating his pro-reform/anti-drugs views. But one vexed issue was missing entirely — the Coalition's proposal to introduce secret courts in the current Justice and Security Bill which has its second reading this Tuesday. Secret courts were overwhelmingly rejected by the party's conference in September, and our recent members' survey showed a clear majority opposed outright, regardless of what compromises might be reached. Jo Shaw, ...
[IMG: Twitter logo] For my own convenience, I've put together a Twitter list of the Lib Dem team for the 2014 European Parliament elections in London. I suspect others will find it useful to, so I've made it a public list over at Tweets away and all that.
Yesterday I was delivering in Rowley Way, Kilburn, an award winning and Grade II listed architectural estate. Hearing more about it, and speaking to a former resident of the place, it made me think is this the kind of innovative architecture we need more of in the UK? Yes, the estate has its problems and ...
The Independent reports that the Government has rejected calls for internet providers to be forced to automatically filter websites for online pornography. They say that a joint report by the Home Office and the Department for Education concluded that a public consultation found "little appetite" for default filtering by internet service providers. However, ministers will ask ISPs to configure their systems to "actively encourage" people to switch on parental controls if there are children in the household using the internet. This is actually a victory for commonsense, not because I believe in a free-for-all but because it will hopefully put ...
[IMG: clegg cameron miliband] The Coalition may be limbering up to announce its mid-term review, billed as Coalition 2.0, early in the New Year. But it looks like Nick Clegg is going from something of a pre-emptive strike, perhaps closer to Equidistance 2.0, in a speech tomorrow. The Observer reports today that he will up the ante of anti-Tory rhetoric, saying: "The Tory right dreams of a fantasy world where we can walk away from the EU but magically keep our economy strong; where we can pretend that the world hasn't moved on and stand opposed to gay marriage; where ...
Our economic system is built around the indicator of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It measures how much we have produced as a country over a period of time. It does this by adding together the market value of what we have produced. As a result, an increase in the market value of what we have produced signifies that our economy is growing. But should it? In the grand scheme of human history, GDP is relatively new. It was created to allow the US to better understand how to develop schemes to tackle the Great Depression and to measure the overall ...
The decision of the new PCC, Olly Martins, to appoint 2 people to advise him who both happen to be Labour Party cohorts, stinks. The position should never have been political in the first place. Martins has not advertised the posts, he has given them to people who are in the Labour Party.
A brand new service provider funded by Bath & North East Somerset Council offering practical supporting elderly, disabled people of any age, and vulnerable people to support them to live in warm, safe, and secure homes is offering free home check-ups in the run-up to Christmas and into the New Year. West of England Care is now providing Home Improvement Agency services to residents in
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. Over 500 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results. LDV asked: Generally speaking, which of the following best reflects your view? 20% – It is vital for our democracy that a free press is protected. Whatever the failings of a few journalists, statutory regulation set up by politicians would risk damaging our press freedom 65% – The behaviour of our press and journalists has gone too far and they ...
Y'know those stories about the death of the Lib Dems? Turns out, they might've been exaggerated... (tags: ) Nick has updated his HIGNFY gender balance spreadsheet again (tags: ) Gettting out of bed 'against all natural instincts' (tags: ) BBC News - Gardeners and florist 'UK's happiest workers' (tags: ) The Open University declares its love for MOOCs « Just One More Ten Pence Piece ... (tags: ) You are not a scrounger: a letter to a disabled reader This made me cry. The comments (unusually) are thought-provoking too, especially the long one from Anne Selby (tags: ) 20121213 consultation ...
Last week the results of the 2011 Census were released. Whilst the sharp rise in the number of non-British born residents was much highlighted by the media, the change in religious demographic was lesser mentioned. At a time when the divide between religious organisations and wider society is becoming more apparent by the day - exposed most obviously by the Church of England's paranoia about gay marriage in addition to its recent failure to approve the ordination of female bishops; it is more important than ever the note the true extent of religiosity in the general population and take this ...
Jennie's post on the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire reminded me of a Twitter conversation I had a while ago with Richard Gadsden where we discussed the possibility of creating a major women's cycling race in Britain. One of the reasons for the Tour de France coming here in 2014 is because cycling is one of the fastest-growing sports in Britain. Bike sales are up, viewing figures for cycling on TV are high and cycling events bring out huge crowds to watch, whether they're in a velodrome or on the road. Obviously, the sponsors want to tap into that ...
Ever wondered how much power it takes to cook a frozen pizza, power a games console, or take a hot shower? Ever considered using alternative energy to power these appliances, reducing your carbon footprint and your energy bills? BBC Scotland's The Day the Power Went Off is an entertaining television documentary that looks at the way we use power in our own homes. In this fun experiment, a Scottish street will go 'off grid' and explore the possibilities of alternative power. However, this is not a step back in time experiment, as the street will continue to use modern gadgets ...
