So, when I put Holly to bed tonight she told me she'd like to show me a game she had "written in Notepad". I was thinking she had maybe written a story that had some choose your own adventure elements, cos she's been reading a few choose your own adventure books of late. "I did two," she said "but the first one's not very good." So I sat down and she started up her laptop and opened a Dos window. "I found a video about how to do this on YouTube" she said, as she typed in the filename and ...

For a few week's I've been carrying a pdf of a working paper by one of the elder statesmen of economics - Richard Lipsey - around on my hard drive. Entitled Twenty five methodological issues in memory of Mark Blaug its focus is pretty self-evident. Today I had the opportunity to read it. I'm glad I did. [IMG: blaug] If economics students encounter a methodology book then it is likely to be Mark Blaug's The methodology of economics. That may be the only discussion of economic methodology they ever come across. Even though it rather overplays the possibility of falsifying ...

Posted by admin on Alex's Archives

[IMG: Boundary Commission revised proposals report for the Eastern region] As mentioned in my previous post I have finally got around to looking at the Boundary Commission's revised proposals for their review of parliamentary constituencies for England. I appreciate that this is something of an academic exercise given that the row within the Coalition Government over House of Lords reform has resulted in a situation where Parliament is unlikely to approve these proposals. However, here are the details for the record. The initial proposals for the Eastern Region, including the sub-region of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, where published in September 2011. ...

Posted by Andy Strange on Strange Thoughts

Over on his blog, Stephen Williams MP has revealed he will once again attempt to lower the voting age to 16 for UK elections and referenda. Williams makes some valid points about its successful operation elsewhere, on the maturity of young adults and their political awareness through organisations like the UK Youth Parliament. But whilst votes at 16 has been a longstanding aspiration of the Liberal Democrats, it could be perceived as a desperate attempt to reconnect with the younger demographic following their u-turn on tuition fees. Many remarked alterations to the franchise for the Scottish Independence Referendum was an ...

Posted by Leslie Clark on Liberal Vision

A group of enthusiasts is trying to resurrect the air show which used to delight thousands of visitors when I first lived in Eaglescliffe, and annoy those who didn't enjoy it. The noise of low-flying aircraft, the train being full of people heading to the airport rather than to Darlington or Middlesbrough (yes, the train did stop at the airport several times a day!), the cars parked on the A67

Posted by Maureen Rigg on Maureen Rigg's Blog

[IMG: Bedfordshire] I had meant to post some more stuff here over the last couple of weeks but the reason why I have failed, other than being generally busy, was that I decided to write a quick post about the Boundary Commission's revised recommendations for changing the parliamentary boundaries for Luton and the rest of Bedfordshire. This was not a quick post. In researching and writing it up I rather got lost in the subject. Which is a bit silly given the vote in parliament last week means that they are even less likely to be put in place than ...

Posted by Andy Strange on Strange Thoughts

Ferdinand Mount has a fascinating article, fascinating at least for a man known for his support for the Conservative Party, in the Evening Standard today. He urges companies to top up low wages. He is right, of course, that the state can't carry on subsidising low wages through the welfare system as they are currently doing. As he so rightly points out, this is how the Speenhamland system of outdoor relief worked in the eighteenth century - except that it didn't work. Subsidising business is rarely an effective way forward, and it is completely unsustainable for taxpayers to be asked ...

Posted by David Boyle on The Real Blog

Having now spent a day in the metropolis that is London, it is time to head for home. It has, I must confess, been rather fun, although not necessarily for any reason I might have envisaged when I agreed to come. It is still somewhat unclear as to why I was invited to attend the International Relations Committee away day, although I flatter myself to suggest that I was of some use in their discussions. I'm not a policy wonk, nor do I have a long record of activity and participation in ALDE or the Liberal International. However, I do ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

I've been reading rather a lot by this man - Graham Wallas, recently. In a way it's why I haven't posted quite as often as before, as I've been reading his ideas, thinking how they relate to the modern world of politics and trying to understand how they might be updated to do so. The uppermost thought in my mind, however has been, what happened to his ideas? He's really concerned, in Human Nature and Politics, written in 1908, with what lessons we can learn from the field of psychological study for the field of politics. In my view the ...

Posted by Louise Shaw on From one of the Jilted Generation...

A couple of inches of snow and schools across the country close. My memory, which I admit may be faulty, is that my schools never closed because of snow. We just pulled on our wellies and trudged to school. Why this change? opobs (from whom I have borrowed my illustration, which comes originally from Friends Reunited), discussing his own youth in the 1950s, offers one explanation: Back in my school days we knew where all the teachers lived, they were all local and part of our community, they all walked to school, indeed, only the headmaster had a car and ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
YouGov
Mon 21st
20:51

Six of the Best 316

The government should stop dismantling historical gains made in equalities legislation, argues Issan Ghazni. On Liberator's blog Simon Titley discusses reports that the Liberal Democrats' most generous donor, Rumi Verjee, is to be nominated for a peerage by. Community Land Trusts have helped local people take control of land and develop housing solutions in rural areas across the UK. Now for the first time this model is being used to help tackle London's dysfunctional housing market, as Kate MacTiernan explains on New Start. "In the past three years there has been a rapid growth of interest in community shares - ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
Mon 21st
20:36

last term

Four years ago we had a dinner in our Pimlico flat to celebrate President Obama's inauguration. As I recall, we drank Buds. Unlike some, I am largely happy with the way has governed, as satisfied as a non-American is entitled to be. Regardless of the politics some fancied they could project on him, he has ...

Posted by pauldavidevans on The Evans Account

This week's poem is by that Scots literary icon, Robert Louis Stevenson. The author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped and a A Child's Garden of Verse also wrote this poem which is much more than the ditty it may appear at a casual reading: I am a hunchback by Robert Louis Stevenson I am a hunchback, yellow faced, A hateful sight to see, 'Tis all that other men can do To pass and let me be. I am a woman, my hair is white, I was a darkhaired lass; The gin dances in my head, I stumble as I pass. I ...

Posted by Andrew Brown on the widow's world

Winston Churchill once said: "Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat." But Churchill does not hold the record as Britain's most prolific defector, according to a new post by Dr Alun Wyburn-Powell: This title goes to Edgar Granville, who had five changes of party label to his name. He was first elected to the House of Commons for Eye in Suffolk as a Liberal in 1929. In 1931 he became a Liberal National, but left to sit as an independent during the war, before returning to the Liberals just before the 1945 election. After losing his ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

I don't usually rant on this blog, but I'm afraid this may turn into one. Housing in the UK is severely unaffordable. Housing in Oxford (where I live) is the most unaffordable city in this severely unaffordable country. Oxford's house prices now cost 14.7 times Oxford residents' incomes. Let me repeat that: FOURTEEN POINT SEVEN TIMES. That's ridiculous! Worse than Brighton, worse than Cambridge, worse even than London. This astonishingly expensive cost of housing is the major cause of hardship and poverty in our city and a serious drag of what should be a thriving local economy. Ask just about ...

Posted by Duncan Stott on Split Horizons

In June 2010 I reported that Edward Heath's home ("one of Britain's more unlikely tourist attractions") was to be sold at the end of the year. It turns out that things were not that straightforward. A report on the Third Sector website today reports that the former Conservative Robert Key has resigned as a trustee of the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation. He says that a new proposal to raise money for its restoration has "thwarted" the board's intentions: "The house should be sold and the money spent on young people, not on old buildings," he told Third Sector. "We ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Conservatives at Suffolk County Council seem to have admitted they were wrong to axe the eXplore student discount card two years ago. Young people have been badly affected by the loss of this discount card, as transport costs to training and education have hit them hard. My Lib Dem colleague Councillor Caroline Page has campaigned tirelessly to get it reinstated and has really listened to young people. She says "We all told the Conservatives that scrapping the eXplore card would - and did - cause huge problems to those who wanted to get an education and a job. But the ...

Posted by kathypollard on Kathy Pollard

George Orwell has always been a big hero of mine-a fantastic writer who never fails to inform and challenge political and sociological perspectives. Today, the anniversary of his death has been designated a festival in his memory. His essay on politics and the english language may have been written in 1946 but its' advice still rings true today. Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language ...

Posted by Simon Wilson on simon wilson

If I had to pick anyone it would probably be Bonnie Langford. It's not her fault, but Mel was a bit too Violet Elizabeth Bott for my liking. I was also a bit annoyed that they gave us Jenny, who was clearly alive and around, and then didn't do anything else with her, but that's not Georgia Moffett's fault.

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Caron's Musings

During 2013 the council will be extending its 'part-night' lighting scheme throughout South Gloucestershire. A fifth of South Glos street lights successfully converted to part-night operation so that they are switched off between midnight and 5:00 am GMT in order to reduce carbon emissions and conserve energy. There is a rolling programme to convert the lights - Chipping Sodbury and Westerleigh will be converted during March, and other areas will follow. All street lights will be switched to part-night operation except: Places where South Glos consider they help mitigate crime and anti-social behaviour, or improve road safety and reduce accidentsLights ...

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington
eUKhost

Cornwall Council has put the Cattle Market car parks in Launceston up for sale. The authority is trying to sell the site to a supermarket and claims that this site is 'sequentially preferable' to any others around the town. They don't say so directly, but it is clear that they mean the Link Road site which is the subject of a Morrisons application. I have a number of problems with this proposal: The council has not bothered to consult with local residents, the town council, the chamber of commerce or formally with local councillors. I had an informal chat with ...

Posted by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy

The local police have announced that they are merging Neighbourhood policing teams together. Our understanding that this will mean that financial savings can be made whilst retaining strong local police presence 'on the beat'. Bury currently has three neighbourhood policing Inspectors (currently we're covered by one who covers Prestwich and Whitefield. In the future there will just be two, so ours will cover Prestwich, Whitefield and Radcliffe. The teams will be renamed "integrated neighbourhood policing teams" because neighbourhood officers will work with CID and other partners. Inspector Mark Kenny (our current inspector) will lead the south team, comprising of Prestwich, ...

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

(Tardisodes: first, communications between Gemini and Preachers; second, Cybus taking over the world.) I had forgotten just how good Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel actually is. The visuals are superb - the Zeppelins over London (and the spectacular Zeppelin scenes at the end), the marching Cybermen, Battersea Power Station as slaughterhouse. The story doesn't shrink from killing off sympathetic characters - Jackie, Ricky, Mrs Moore. Sure, some plot elements are lifted from Genesis of the Daleks; but there are worse places to start from. (And there are a number of overt homages to Old Who Cyberman stories, including ...

On the whole, the council has operated 'business as usual' today. Some staff have been moved to other duties to make sure that essential services have been covered. As would be expected, some schools have been closed. All of the main roads are clear of snow, but many pavements and side roads remain slippery. Please take extra care tonight as it gets colder because ice will undoubtedly be forming on pavements and black ice on some roads. The gritting team will be working through the night once again. They are focusing on main routes, covering some side roads and responding ...

Posted by Colin Hall on Colin Hall's Blogspot

There will be FREE electric blanket testing this Friday (25th January) at Yate Library. Do you know some elderly people who might benefit? Or maybe you work with elderly people and could pass the word around? Free testing and free blanket if their blanket fails - ring Fiona O'Driscoll on 01454 863632 to book. There are plenty of spaces available at the moment.

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

Spotted today at the foot of a story about how suicides peak in May: [IMG: More from The Guardian]

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Well, the snow is here, and looks set to stay for a few days. You can help keep your neighbours safe by gritting your paths and driveways. Here's a list of the gritting bins in Haringey – your Liberal Democrat councillors wanted to make sure you had this information, as many people do not know where their nearest bin is. If you can, please check on elderly or vulnerable neighbours and help keep their paths clear. Just in case, the emergency numbers for Homes for Haringey are 0800 195 3404 and 020 8489 5611. The emergency number for British Gas ...

Posted by Haringey Lib Dems on Working for Hornsey

So a bunch of people have been doing this "describe your job using only the 1000 most common English words" thing. I've had a go. I don't think it's worked very well. I phone people up and ask them about who they would like to run things, and if they would like anything done. I store their answers and then someone else decides whether anything needs to be done about the answers. Words I was not allowed to use: vote, government, council, local, representative, politician, record, responses. I think that list of words I wasn't allowed to use is the ...

Today's announcement that the Conservative administration is planning a new discount travel card for young people in Suffolk shows just how damaging the decision to abolish the scheme was in the first place.When the explore card was cut in 2011 as part of the New Strategic Direction ideology budget on grounds of 'cost', the Liberal Democrats warned that this short-sighted decision would cause significant damage to the educational, work and training prospects of a whole cohort of young people. And of course this damage did occur - in the middle of last year the Conservatives heard full details directly from ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

Got a bad feeling about this....

Posted by Charlotte Henry on Digital Politico

On Saturday, Hannah Bettsworth and Jenny Marr of Liberal Youth Scotland encouraged us all to lobby our MPs to vote for a motion tabled by Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West Stephen Williams calling for the voting age to be reduced at 16. Stephen himself has now written a post on his own blog outlining why this issue is so important to him. I have long believed that 16 year olds are mature enough to vote, if they want to. Years of experience of talking and listening to sixth form and college students has convinced me that enough of them ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

It seems that Cornwall Council is once again trying to asset strip a community and get rid of valued sports and leisure facilities. Two weeks ago, the communities scrutiny committee was meant to be discussing plans relating to the Carn Brea leisure centre. We postponed the discussion because the papers were only tabled at the last minute. The debate will now take place later this week. It appears that the Council wants to sell off the land around Carn Brea leisure centre, including the land currently occupied by the running track. Although I think it is regrettable to separate the ...

Posted by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy

There's an interesting map on the City Council website that shows the gritting routes and where the grit bins are. You can look up your own address, or you can move the map around from north to south, east to west to get a sense of the bigger picture. The link to the map is here. Interestingly, there are several roads I spotted that don't get gritted and yet are on bus routes or right by day centres with mini buses coming in and out. Makes you wonder what is a priority area and what isn't!

Posted by Paula Keaveney on Paula Keaveney - Lib Dem Campaigner

Recently I have been thinking about legacy. What defines us as people? Is it the best thing we do in our lives or is it our worst? It is a mixture of the two? People do very good things and can also do very bad things. If I were to die tomorrow what would people say about me? I don't have anything particularly bad on my resume but nor do I have anything particularly good. I am at a loss to work out what people would say. American sports writer Bill Simmons was asked in a recent mailbag he did ...

Posted by neilmonnery on The Rambles of Neil Monnery

We've received notification of plans to upgrade four mobile phone masts in Cheadle & Gatley: one off Pendlebury Road, one at Gatley Hill, a rooftop mast in Cheadle High Street and a mast at Kingston Hill, off Wilmslow Road. There's another mast just outside the ward on Wool Lane, near the Demmings Industrial Estate. Vodafone Limited has entered into an agreement with Telefónica UK Limited, commonly known as O2, pursuant to which the two companies plan to jointly operate and manage a single network grid across the UK. These arrangements will be overseen by Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd (CTIL) which ...

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith Holloway, Iain Roberts & Pam King

[IMG: Wheelchair signs - Some rights reserved by Leo Reynolds] Over the course of this Parliament, social care reform could become the most distinctive area of Liberal Democrat influence in the Coalition. The Party has the strongest foothold in an issue that is permeated by talk of 'cross party consensus' (although, to date, the rhetoric has led to precious little real agreement), with both Ministers for Social Care under the Coalition - and probably the biggest voices – being Lib Dems, in Paul Burstow and Norman Lamb. As such, the Party has had a huge role to play in pushing ...

Posted by Claire Tyler on Liberal Democrat Voice

Colin & Clr Jill Whitehead, Chair of our Campaign Group at Sutton Station The Department for Transport has just announced that the Thameslink Loop Line service has been saved! This is a great victory for Sutton's commuters who had faced huge disruption to their journeys if services through to the new Crossrail station at Farringdon, St Pancras International, Luton Airport and beyond had been cut. I set up the Thameslink Loop Line Campaign Group some years ago and it is fantastic news to hear that the DfT have listened to local people's concerns. The Thameslink Loop Line Campaign Group has ...

Posted by Colin Hall on Colin Hall's Blogspot

Liberal Youth condemns the attack on the University of Aleppo in Syria which has killed 82 students to date. "All students have the right to study without fear" said Liberal Youth International Officer, Conor McKenzie. On the 15th of January, two explosions rocked the campus between the halls of residence and the architecture facility. The ...

Posted by editorlibertine on The Libertine
Mon 21st
14:27

Michael Winner RIP

The death has been announced of Michael Winner, film director and restaurant critic. Michael Winner used to write a column for the News of the World and would ring me up at the Electoral Reform Society for advice whenever he was writing a piece on anything to do with voting. I'm not entirely sure he ever really had much interest in elections and voting. On many occasions he would hint that he was only writing on the subject because that is what his editor suggest was current. But the column, when it appeared on the Sunday, was always clear as ...

Posted by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy
Mon 21st
14:00

Bright Red Carpet

Advance warning of a not-to-be-missed charity event and a chance to dress up. [IMG: Bright Red Carpet Event]

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple

 

First of all, can I congratulate everybody who was elected to the exec last week. The campaigns were fantastic, and the commitment demonstrated was encouraging for us all. With just over a year to go until the 2014 European Parliament elections, Lib Dem branches up and down the country have been going through the process ...

Posted by editorlibertine on The Libertine

Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... EU vote: stay in 40%, leave 34% Peter Kellner's paradox: hostility to EU highest when public doesn't think about it much; when they do, support rises http://buff.ly/YihadI U.K.'s Elite Universities Try to Bridge Privilege Gap | TIME.com Not sure I've ever seen a piece where the corrections are longer than the original article http://buff.ly/VT6EHx (ht @amolrajan) Will practice make perfect for the PM? – Comment – Voices – The Independent Good and fair analysis from @johnrentoul > 'Will practice make perfect for the PM?' http://buff.ly/VSQ6zl Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg's relationship is ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

A news release from Chesterfield Liberal Democrats brings the news: [IMG: Julia Cambridge] Chesterfield Liberal Democrats have announced that their PPC [Prospective Parliamentary Candidate] to fight the 2015 General election is to be Julia Cambridge. At a packed hustings on Saturday afternoon Julia Cambridge won by taking 85 per cent of the members' vote. She said: 'I'm thrilled at the opportunity to fight for the people of Chesterfield. They have been telling me they want a full time presence in the community who understands what's important to them. I will fight for what they need including better housing, lasting jobs ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

[IMG: Twitter logo] Some of the world's best-known politicians have messed up on Twitter. ...From the Labour whip who called the Tory opposition "pigs", to the American Republican politician Jeff Frederick who prematurely tweeted about a Democrat defection, and the Hull councillor who called members of the electorate voting for the opposition 'retards'. Therefore, it was hardly surprising when Lib Dem favourite Sir Graham Watson made his first Twitter blunder, tweeting something potentially ill-judged on Wednesday night. A popular MEP winning 80% of first-preference votes in the last Euro selections, opponents jumped on the error, and it seems likely that ...

Posted by Rebecca Tidy on Liberal Democrat Voice

Going back over my old blog posts, I'm reminded that I created the 'alternative Ashes', tracking where the trophy would be if every Test cricketing nation was allowed to compete for them, not just England and Australia. In our last update, the Ashes had made their way to Sri Lanka but now they've moved on again. Australia won this year's series between the two countries 3-0, so as well as winning the Warne-Muralitharan trophy, they've now claimed the Ashes back as well. Their first defence of them will be against India next month. Related Posts2010 General Election Diary Day 20: ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

This is a first for Cheriton. We are really looking forward to the next installment of the Cheriton Artland programme, which continues in 2013 with a weekend festival of light and fire. Over two consecutive nights on 23rd and 24th February the Kent Garrison town of Cheriton will become the must see destination, where a programme of new artworks will be displayed in the centre of the town for everyone to experience and enjoy. International artists will be working with Strange Cargo to deliver this event, including Ross Ashton, Karen Monid, Tine Bech, Andrew Baldwin and Greg Stobbs to name ...

Posted on Tim Prater

I was happy to read this morning there's new research showing a 12% drop in cases of childhood asthma in the year following the smoking ban in enclosed public spaces. I have long supported measures to reduce the presence ... Continue reading →

Posted by John Leech MP on John Leech MP

With the announcement that Kevin Lavery is off to New Zealand, there is a vacancy at the top of Cornwall Council's officer class. The search will be on to find a successor on both an interim and permanent basis - although what form that new role takes is open to debate. (This will probably be my first and last post on the process as I will be one of nine councillors sitting on the decision making and interview panel for the interim post. We haven't had our first meeting yet, but once we do it would probably be inappropriate for ...

Posted by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy

Last week Cornwall Council debated the issue of council tax benefit. As posted here, the debate was inconclusive. The council narrowly voted that it did not want the Cabinet's proposal to impose the full cost of the government cut on working age council tax benefit recipients; The council also said (even more narrowly) that it did not want an open-ended commitment to continue with the current scale of benefits if that would mean cuts to front-line services; Finally, the council voted heavily against the idea of a hardship fund with the money taken from the new higher education bursary. So ...

Posted by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy

Lib Dem Voice have produced a remake of the old 'where is the British West Wing?' posts of a few years ago by asking 'where is the British Borgen?' (The answer to that question is 'waiting for someone to forget the poor ratings previous dramas about politicians got or for someone to come up with a good story', by the way) However, the part that struck me (from Alistair Campbell's tweet that kicked it off and used repeatedly in the following discussions) is the idea that there aren't 'pro-politics' dramas on British TV. The problem with that belief is that ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

[IMG: Lichtkunst "Brillant par Tradition" in Basel] Most of my working day is spent scuttling between sombre conferences on Central Banking best practice and meeting city economists to get their instant reaction to economic developments. So when an opportunity came recently to travel to Basel in Switzerland to cover the latest announcement from the committee which aims to create a new framework for banking regulation, I leapt at the chance. But my delight at getting a free trip shouldn't mask the fact that developments in the scenic Swiss city should be a cause of great concern for the government. The ...

Posted by David Thorpe on Liberal Democrat Voice

JEFF PRESTRIDGE: First steps for a retirement without fear | Mail Online - Particularly complimentary about the Sterling work done by our very own Steve Webb from off of pensions Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg's relationship is starting to thaw | Andrew Rawnsley | Comment is free | The Observer British fair play lies dead and buried | Nick Cohen | Comment is free | The Observer Revealed: the most expensive government services » Spectator Blogs - Great work from Charlotte Henry Tony Newman: Why People Who Hate Drugs Should Want to End the Drug War 6 Common Tech Myths ...

Posted by Mark Thompson on Mark Thompson

[IMG: European Union flags - Some rights reserved by tristam sparks] As a Lib Dem member who supports membership of the EU but sometimes finds this hard to verbalise to my friends, I have often noticed that Europe brings out strong opinions in people. It can be a source of heated argument around the dinner table and on TV studio sofas. The stronger the views on one side, the more entrenched the other can become. Facts can be in short supply. The hard truth is that Europe represents half of all our trade in Britain, that over one-third of all ...

Posted by Adam Nathan on Liberal Democrat Voice

I'm on my way to a meeting in London, an International Relations Committee away day, to be precise, and although I'm not entirely certain why I was invited, I'm sure that all will become clear when I arrive. However, my attention is drawn to the anonymity of politicians this morning. There was, on my train this morning, a politician (who shall remain nameless). Naturally, he was a Coalition MP - there are no other MPs with constituencies on, or near, the East Anglian main line or its branches - and he was, as is obligatory these days, in standard class. ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

Yesterday's Sunday Times reported that one of the Liberal Democrat nominations on the forthcoming list of new life peers is millionaire businessman Rumi Verjee. (The Sunday Times story is hidden behind a paywall but you can read a summary on the Indian news website ZeeNews.com). Of course, no one outside the leader's office - not even Sunday Times journalists - knows who is on the list. The list may not yet have been finalised. But that has not stopped the criticism. Critics of Verjee's nomination have raised three issues. The first is one faced by any wealthy donor receiving an ...

Posted by Simon Titley on Liberator's blog

2006, for me, will always be all about the walking. After my brother died, I decided it was time to do something different to mark his memory and raise money for charity – the Brain Research Trust – so I decided it was time to follow a long-held ambition and walk from John O'Groats to Land's End. Obviously, that consumed a lot of the blog for the year, but other things happened too... We're still in the realm of the Wayback Machine, as my proper archives don't start for a few months, but the big event of the start of ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

Stop blaming state school pupils for their lack of "confidence" as a private school girl who ended up (relatively) poor (and therefore neither one thing nor the other) this article makes some good points although I'm not sure I agree with all of it (tags: ) Mark Thompson: My experiences with smartphone content blocking spot on post from Mark (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments

There is nothing worse than reaching the heights of one's profession only to find that tittle tattle about what one got up to in one's youth starts to undermine a hard-won reputation. As such a number of prominent politicians may well be just a tad apprehensive as a result of the emergence of the dusty archived gossip columns of Oxford University's student newspaper, The Cherwell. . The Independent reveals that Michael Gove, William Hague, Labour's Eagle sisters Angela and Maria and a number of other Conservative MPs all feature prominently in these long-hidden tomes. It is worth quoting in full ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

We've become used to 13 year old Maelo Manning, who blogs as libdemchild, not only writing about her views, but actually taking action. Just last month, she spent a cold Saturday afternoon at the Indian High Commission conducting a vigil for the woman who died as the result of being gang raped. Like me, Maelo is unhappy about the Welfare Uprating Bill which imposes a cut in income on people who are least able to cope with it. It's been cloaked in the guise of fairness, a similar rise to earnings, but benefits don't buy much, certainly not even the ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Caron's Musings

This morning's Western Mail reveals that a major report will be launched this week proposing a new funding deal for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that would give the Welsh Government control of all income tax. The report from the influential IPPR think tank also recommends that the Welsh Government would receive a share of VAT and gain control of a range of smaller taxes and alcohol and tobacco duties. Report author Alan Trench has calculated that in 2010-11 this system would have transferred £9.7bn in tax to the Welsh Government. These funds would still need to be supplemented by ...

Posted by Freedom Central on Freedom Central

We're delighted to invite you to Helsinki to attend the awesome LYMEC (European Liberal Youth) training event 'Redrafting Europe: How to Construct and Promote Liberalism for the Young Electorate', running from 15th - 17th March. The weekend will look at how best liberal youth organisations can work internally and with other bodies to hold political ...

Posted by editorlibertine on The Libertine

I wrote a piece last week for Independent Voices in which I argued that in my view Labour will not be able to win a majority in 2015 because of the corner they have painted themselves into on the cuts. You can read it here.

Posted by Mark Thompson on Mark Thompson
Mon 21st
07:40

Votes For Children

Eric Joyce MP has written about why he doesn't think the vote should be extended to 16 year olds. While I've admired his stance on digital rights, I disagree with him and his reasoning on this issue. This isn't about whether young people are able to understand the issues, or whether they are taxed without representation, or even if they are somehow "mature". We vote because the direction of the government affects us. No matter our age. It is my contention that every citizen of this country should be able to vote. No matter what their age. Imagine the following ...

Posted by Terence Eden on Terence Eden has a Blog

On behalf of constituents, I recently raised the need to have white lining renewed at several locations across the West End: * Junction of Saggar Street with City Road : The council has responded - "The Road Maintenance Partnership inspector has advised that these junction lines were re-done 17-1-13." * Give way lines at the junction of Perth Road at Riverside Drive (north of the Botanic Garden) : The council has now advised - "For information, the Road Maintenance Partnership inspector has advised that these give way lines on Perth Road at the junction of Riverside Drive have now been ...