Mon 24th
23:31

Kew's Carols

On Sunday afternoon I joined my ward colleague Councillor maureen Fearn and attended the carol service at St Francis of Assisi Church in Kew, Southport. This was the second carol service I attended this year, the other being at the salvation Army Citadel. I thoroughly enjoyed both and was made very welcome by clergy and congregation. One thing happened at St Francis that put a wider smile on my face. As a child I worshipped my granddad. he was a larger than life character, a teetotaller and a regular attender at the local chapel. He had a great sense of ...

Posted by Mike Booth on kew focus

I'll be struggling with whatever fiendish puzzle Father Christmas has supplied in my stocking, but if you're looking to be more usefully employed how about letting your Police and Crime Commissioner know how you'd like him to set about his new job. Policy & Crime Commissioner survey You've got till January 4th.

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple

I went across to Edinburgh today, and managed to get a few pictures, of which these are some: Andrew

Posted by Andrew Brown on the widow's world

[IMG: Scotland supporter Murrayfield - Some rights reserved by Random Things Entering My field Of Vision] Over the last year journalists, opponents, perhaps even some supporters were writing us off. How could a group of five MSPs, cut by two thirds in the Scottish Parliamentary Elections, make any impact on the Scottish political scene? Although our opponents will always deride us in public, I know that in private they are fizzing that Liberal Democrats continue to punch above our weight. Scotland is, by and large, a tolerant, liberal, understanding, compassionate country. Its people are altruistic and generous. These are familiar ...

Posted by Willie Rennie on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 24th
17:29

Merry Christmas

Just a quick note to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will be posting more about Winnersh Farm, Taylor Wimpey, and the new primary school in the new year. Meanwhile, if you would like to be added to our email list for updates on these issues, get in touch.

Posted by pruebray on Prue Bray

Wednesday by-election in true blue Surrey. The Lib Dems held the Sunbury Common ward with 46.3%, UKIP were second with 23.2%, Labour third with 16.1% and the Tories trailed in last with just 14.3%.

Posted by A D Winter on Alan D Winter

[IMG: Confession - Some rights reserved by Lori Greig] As the Christmas sherry loosens us all up a bit, here are some confessions from the Liberal Democrat Voice team. To turn it into a bit of a quiz, no names appear against each confession. So you'll have to guess who the confessor is in each instance. By all means use the comments field below to have a stab at the identity of the owner of each revelation. To make it a bit more interesting, there is an unspecified number of "joker" confessions which sound true but aren't. Here are the ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

 

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

As we all settle into the holiday season, I'd just like to wish readers of this blog a peaceful and happy Christmas. Thanks to all those who've supported me in what I have been doing this year. Time to recharge the batteries for 2013! socialise this: [IMG: add 'A peaceful and happy Christmas' a Del.icio.us] [IMG: add 'A peaceful and happy Christmas' a digg] [IMG: add 'A peaceful and happy Christmas' a Stumble Upon] [IMG: add 'A peaceful and happy Christmas' a FaceBook] [IMG: add 'A peaceful and happy Christmas' a Twitter]

Posted by Gareth on Gareth Epps

LibDemVoice co-editor Stephen Tall guested alongside ConservativeHome's Tim Montgomerie and Labour blogger Hopi Sen on BBC Radio 4′s The Westminster Hour last night, reviewing the political year with presenter Carolyn Quinn through the rear-view mirror. Issues dissected in the 20-minute discussion included Andrew 'Gate-gate' Mitchell, Coalition differentiation, Nick Clegg's future, welfare reforms and secret courts. You can listen here:

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov

[IMG: Flag of Bangladesh - Some rights reserved by v i p e z] Those who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971 should be prosecuted and, if found guilty by due process, severely punished. But the trials have been conducted under a law dating from 1973 which is not compliant with international norms. The US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Stephen Rapp; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; the International Center for Transitional Justice; the International Bar Association; the UK Parliamentary Human Rights Group and the UK Bar association have all expressed concern about ...

Posted by Eric Avebury on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 24th
13:59

Christmas Message

I would like to share with you all the immortal words of the Panamanian Christmas Song: I wish you a merry isthmus I wish you a merry isthmus I wish you a merry isthmus And a crappy new year!

Posted by SibatheHat on Siba The Hat

[IMG: Christmas tree in George Square, Glasgow - Some rights reserved by Paul Robertson] Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore MP has issued a message for Christmas. Here it is in full: Christmas is a time for families and friends to come together and spend time reflecting on the year which has passed and their hopes and ambitions for the year to come. 2012 was an important year for Scotland as we saw the next chapter of devolution bring new powers to the Scottish Parliament. We also reached an agreement on a referendum which means people in ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... The lesson of Plebgate? Beware the rush to judgment | Jackie Ashley | Comment is free | The Guardian Jackie Ashley bang on here > "we've suffered from outrage inflation for many years. It's become endemic in public life" http://buff.ly/V0w4jb Charities must stick to good causes and not play at politics – Telegraph Christina Odone 100% wrong on charities and politics. Of course they shd want to change the world. Or what's the point? http://buff.ly/V0YCsO I know from experience that the police can make things up | John Kampfner | Comment is ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

Paddy Ashdown has nobly accepted the poisoned chalice of leading the Liberal Democrat campaign at the next election, and as a start has Emailed leading activists with the information that " the tax cuts we have delivered in government" will be a prominent feature. I am not included in this mailing, but my friend John Cole, described scornfuly as a "member of the Liberal elite" by his right wing Tory MP, and as a "throughly good egg" by an anonymous reader of this blog (John would love to know who) is, and respnded as follows. Dear Paddy I write as ...

Posted by Peter Wrigley on Keynesian Liberal
Mon 24th
13:01

Lost keys

Some people I know are always losing their keys but never with the sort of consequences described here. The Telegraph reports that taxpayers have had to foot a £330,000 bill for changing the locks at four prisons after guards lost their keys. Apparently, the prisons have had to have all their locks replaced over the past two years as misplaced or stolen keys caused security scares but the Ministry of Justice has declined to say which ones were affected. That is a very expensive lesson to learn. Let's hope that systems have been put in place to ensure that it ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Here's another of Ros's interventions that I hadn't covered, from 6 October 2011... Baroness Andrews, a former Labour Minister and current Chair of English Heritage, initiated a debate on social enterprise, a subject which Ros has become increasingly involved in recently... Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat) The noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, has done the House a great service by tabling this debate today, which has demonstrated that huge disagreement is not needed for an interesting debate. We by and large agree, but nevertheless there have been lots of different and interesting points. It is perhaps not surprising that ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

Together with ConservativeHome's Tim Montgomerie and Labour blogger Hopi Sen I guested on BBC Radio 4′s The Westminster Hour last night, discussing The Political Year That Was with presenter Carolyn Quinn. You can listen to our 20-minute conversation here:

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

Due to getting a bit of a buzz from finding nice photos for this site, earlier this year I started adding images to articles (where the editorial team member who originally posted the article did not have the time or the inclination to add one). And so, I have been given the nickname "the photo fairy" as I occasionally scatter photos, like magic dust, around the site. Many of our photos come from Flickr using the Creative Commons License where individuals or organisations have allowed their photos to be used in certain situations with attribution. It seems appropriate at the ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 24th
11:00

Astrology For Businesses

A few years ago, my work sent me on a training course. It involved the usual things, trust exercises, team bonding, and personality profiles. I filled in a few forms, answered some questions, and the very professional looking lady marked up my paper and said, "I see that you're a Scorpio. That means you're focused externally, and you deal with things rationally and logically. You do have a tendency to act via your intuition - sometimes to your detriment." O...k..., I thought, that's a bit of a weird thing to bring up in a business context. Working for a high ...

Posted by Terence Eden on Terence Eden has a Blog
eUKhost

This is one of those blog posts you never, ever want to write. Reporting the news of the death of a colleague is horrible. This is the post I published on Liberal Democrat Voice yesterday. The only thing to add is that BBC News now report that a 25 year old man has been arrested in connection with an assault on John. Scottish Liberal Democrats were shocked to learn of the sudden death of former East Dunbartonshire Council Leader John Morrison at the age of just 50. The Sunday Herald reports that John was found unconscious as the result of ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Caron's Musings

[IMG: Rough sleeper, Embankment, London - Some rights reserved by Dedly Sirius] Fifteen years ago this month New Labour heralded their intent to tackle complex and intractable social problems by launching a dedicated social exclusion unit within government. Fifteen years on, the challenges facing people with complex problems such as mental health issues, homelessness and substance misuse are still very real. In fact, there are indications that these problems are on the rise. Last year saw a 14 per cent increase in the number of homeless households. Rough sleepers are growing in number - up 43% across last year in ...

Posted by Jenny Pennington on Liberal Democrat Voice

That actually brought a tear to my eye. I know I'm as soft as anything, but it was a very human message with absolutely no politics whatsoever. I know there are many people who aren't looking forward to Christmas for whatever reason, especially those who have lost someone they love. I'm thinking of them, too.

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Caron's Musings

Over the past five days, LibDemVoice has been delighted to bring you a contemporary updating of Charles Dickens' classic story, A Christmas Carol, penned for us by Andy Boddington. [IMG: LDV scrooge story] If you missed any, or simply want to sit back in a comfy chair with a glass of mulled wine and enjoy the whole saga again from start to finish, here are all five staves of the story as sketched by Bodz. God bless them, every one... Stave One: Mensch's Ghost; Stave Two: The Ghost of Avarice Past; Stave Three: The Ghost of Arrogance Present; Stave Four: ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

I'm an old-fashioned soul, I suppose, in that I believe that people have a right to maintain a degree of privacy and dignity. Yes, there are exceptions to that rule, particularly where individuals have sold their soul to the media in pursuit of fame and fortune, but in principle, I believe that people should be treated with respect. So, I was horrified to see pictures of a fragile looking Margaret Thatcher in the entrance to a private hospital propped up by two people as if to demonstrate that yes, she was still alive. Why was it necessary for there to ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

Letter of Resignation Sent By Bush to Rifle Association Bush père resigned from #NRA in disgust in 1995. (tags: Guns ) Scott Lynch recommends "The Lies of Locke Lamora" "I can safely assure you that it's a heartbreaking, bittersweet tapestry of life itself and that you'll promptly re-name your children after the main characters. Also, any copy of the book will cure gout with a touch and can transmute lead into gold once every 24 hours. The eBook version, in any language, has a special feature where 1 in 50 lucky readers will be transported to the Death Zone on ...

As the consultation period on the proposed West End parking proposals ended, I spoke on the STV news last Friday evening about the issue. It is vital that Dundee City Council actually listens to the views of the hundred of residents and businesses who have responded to the parking consultation. I'll eat my hat if the council's proposal for a £80 parking permit finds favour in the responses the council has received. I have spoken with dozens of residents who were critical of the council's flawed proposal but absolutely nobody who thought the council got the parking scheme proposal right. ...

I was on Wave 102 News yesterday giving my view that the City Council should put more of their contracts out to competitive tendering to ensure value for money for Dundee's Council Taxpayers. Click 'play' below to listen:

 

Click below to see agenda: Highways 10.01.13

Posted by chriswhite on Chris White

A blood-stained "do not disturb" sign hung on the door of hotel room 1215 of the Dupont Plaza in down-town Miami. Inside, the bodies of Chinese-Jamaican father and son Derrick Moo Young, 53, and his ...

Posted by Lester Holloway on

Over the last year journalists, opponents, perhaps even some supporters were writing us off. How could a group of five MSPs, cut by two thirds in the Scottish Parliamentary Elections, make any impact on the Scottish political scene? Although our opponents will always deride us in public, I know that in private they are fizzing that Liberal Democrats continue to punch above our weight. Scotland is, by and large, a tolerant, liberal, understanding, compassionate country. Its people are altruistic and generous. These familiar values at Christmas, but they form the core of the liberal approach to politics all year round. ...