Hundreds of activists from across the UK have been part of a fantastic campaign in Eastleigh. Tonight, as we wait nervously for word from Hampshire, it's gratifying to know that our candidate has impeccable manners, sending us this within minutes of the polls closing. * Caron Lindsay is Wednesday editor at Lib Dem Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
By SLF Co-Chair Naomi Smith If the allegations against Lord Rennard are found to be true, it could mean that a serious abuse of power pervaded our Party for many years. Other parties may yet have similar accusations made against ... Continue reading →
I had a great time visiting the Back to Netball session at the Cheadle & Marple College (Cheadle Campus) this evening. Back to Netball is an open session for women of all ages. When I went along this evening there were about 20 ladies in the sports hall at Cheadle and Marple College in Cheadle. Some were there for the first time, some had been coming for a few weeks or months. Everyone was having fun, keeping active and playing a fun game of netball. Amy O'Brien, the Netball Development Community Coach for Stockport and Trafford explains: In Stockport since ...
The EU proposal to cap bankers' bonuses has received predictable opposition from David Cameron and Boris Johnson. The willingness of the Tories to continue to defend the selfish interests of the bankers who caused the global financial crisis seems to know no bounds. So it is good to hear Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat MEP and chair of the European Parliament's most powerful committee, the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, strike the right note: "Overall, this is a major achievement for [the European] Parliament, in curbing the culture of quick profit and irresponsible lending that has played such a pernicious role ...
Money's tight so we can't do everything we want on pavement and road repairs, but that doesn't mean nothing is happening. Just a few examples: Pavements on both sides of Kingsway between Broadway and Gatley Road are being resurfaced The road surface on Borrowdale Avenue, at the junction with Gainford Avenue, is breaking up (again!). Temporary repairs are being made, with a proper resurfacing of that section planned for April or May. Gatley Green is nearing completion, with the old tarmac paths across the green dug up and replaced with brick sets. Council officers will be visiting the Pendlebury Road ...
Counting down towards the fiftieth birthday of Doctor Who with Fifty great scenes... Today's is Doctor Who's first major use of the "timey-wimey" - back in 1972, as a one-off key dramatic turning point with consequences. It's also the first scene in my Fifty to be a really massive spoiler, so I'm warning you before this gripping revelation. In a dystopian future Earth controlled by the Daleks, human freedom-fighters are desperate to change time with an assassination... And, in addition to all the avenues that sends me down, I have a small tribute to Ray Cusick, creator of the Daleks. ...
#IMADEADIFFERENCE – Why campaigning is so amazing! Vblog from William Dyer – Liberal Youth's Policy Officer He was down in Eastliegh over the weekend and as the result is approaching, it's a good chance to stop and link about what a great time all of us have had campaigning.
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert met Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft MBE and pledged his support for a manifesto launched by charity Whizz-Kidz, at the House of Commons yesterday. The 'Generation Inspired?' manifesto is based on a late 2012 survey the charity conducted of its young Ambassadors and their parents - asking them about their hopes for a Paralympic legacy, and their ideas to improve opportunities for young disabled people. A copy of the report and a petition to affect its recommendations were also taken to No.10 Downing Street. Julian met with double gold medallist Hannah Cockroft MBE, who received her first ...
MP Julian Huppert will visit Cambridge's Romsey Mill tomorrow (March 1) to meet some of the young people there and discover how low levels of school funding are affecting the charity. He will visit an arts session being held as part of an Alternative Education Programme called Step-Up which supports youngsters aged 14 to 16 who are at risk of exclusion from mainstream school. Step-Up offers a range of courses and learning experience to help the young people re-engage with education and increase their confidence, skills and aspirations. Recognised qualifications from an Arts Award to Sports Leadership and uniformed services ...
Thu 28th
19:47
FEB-2013: The Better Bus Area Fund (BBAF) And Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) Update
BBAF What has been happening this quarter? The Babraham Road Park & Ride site extension has now been completed, creating an extra 500 car parking spaces. The construction included widening the exit road, constructing an alternative drop off point and installing lighting & CCTV. The conversion and introduction of new Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) displays using General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology (which has better coverage than radio-based PMR) is gathering pace, with four displays on Drummer Street & Parkside already installed and further displays on Regent Street and Bridge Street to be completed soon. Trials have also started ...
The Conservatives on Shropshire Council have rejected out of hand Lib Dem proposals that would have repaired the county's roads, supported small businesses and young people, and improved transport for disabled people. Nigel Hartin, leader of Shropshire Liberal Democrats, says he is angered by the council decision. "When will this council begin to use its ...
MP Julian Huppert has welcomed an investment of more than £500,000 in manufacturing for projects partnered by Cambridge University and a city-based business. The money was announced today (Thursday, February 28) by Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, Vince Cable and supports more than 4,000 jobs. Cambridge-based Granta Design is partnering a project involving an innovation cluster group led by a Derby-based company to enable the design of a light weight vehicles and other devices which would otherwise take place abroad. The project receives a grant of 212,500 and supports 1,396 jobs. Cambridge University is working with an aerospace supply chain led ...
He is absolutely right.
Residents are being asked to have their say on a £30,000 scheme to improve the St Andrew's Street taxi rank in Cambridge to ease congestion and increase safety for cyclists. The new proposed changes follows ideas generated at workshops held by Cambridgeshire County Council and brought together all users, including taxi drivers, bus operators, cyclists and businesses. Currently St Andrew's Street is one of the busiest roads in Cambridge and used by a large number of buses, deliver vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and taxis. However, due to its popularity taxis sometimes queue on the road which has caused concerns over safety ...
The policy of fiscal austerity has failed throughout Europe. Which radical, left-wing publication has reached this conclusion? The Financial Times (£) (to get round the FT's paywall, go to Google News and enter the phrase "The sad record of fiscal austerity" in the search box). The FT's Martin Wolf is scathing about the European Central Bank's policies before turning on the UK government: ...the panic that justified the UK coalition government's turn to a long-term programme of austerity was a mistake. Had its members never heard of the paradox of thrift? If the domestic private and external sectors are retrenching, ...
The council has to produce a land plan for the development in Bath and North East Somerset. As part of that plan the council is proposing to build 300 houses in the fields around Sulis Meadows. The decision to where exactly they will go will be decided later, this plan is only identifying the rough area. This is to be decided at a meeting on the 4th March. As local councillors we do not feel
Thu 28th
18:23
It's not women who need to toughen-up it's the party's commitment to gender balance that needs tough...
Paddy Ashdown's former press advisor Jo Phillips has popped up in today's Daily Telegraph to advise women they should "toughen up". It's the most ridiculous comments I've read throughout the whole scandal over allegations the Lib ...
Do I really need this warning? No, really. Do I?
Thu 28th
17:44
There's an election going on today; how the Lib Dems do will show us how we might fare in 2015. It i...
While all the media attention today is on the Eastleigh by election, any notion that the result will reflect how we might fare in 2015 seems quite misguided to me. It's a one off by election. It's being fought largely on local, not national issues We've been able to deliver fantastic on the ground support from all round the country, which we can't repeat in every seat in a general election. The Tories picked the wrong candidate (he says, tempting fate). There is a huge 'anti politics' vote going to UKIP - which wouldn't happen in a general election, certainly ...
Back in 2009 I wrote an article in The Guardian on the 'Media's all-white club'. This was prompted by my research into the racial diversity of BBC Radio 4 presenters. Out of 100-plus regular presenters ...
Julian Huppert has written an update on where things stand on the Justice and Securities Bill. As you might expect from Julian, it is clear, detailed and intelligent. And as you might hope, progress has clearly been made. But when I read it, I was left with a very uncomfortable feeling that I'd been here before. It all feels a little like the post conference responses to the NHS Bill. We've seen what the Tories wanted to do, said no, revised it, and ended up in a much better place. But still not a place we've have ever got to, ...
Writing in today's Scotsman, Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland lists a number of mistakes made by the SNP Government in Scotland. The one most in the news at the moment is Audit Scotland's report and concerns about the number of people marked socially unavailable for treatment which enabled them to be removed from the waiting times target. On that scandal, Tavish said: It is now clear that health boards across Scotland were under enormous government pressure to meet waiting list targets. In 2007, the new health secretary declared that she would end the previous government's waiting-time fiddle. Nicola Sturgeon did. ...
Thursday: We're told repeatedly - usually by the MEEJA - that ordinary people LOATHE "professional" politicians. And yet, the Liberal Democrats are condemned - by the SAME meeja - for our poor handling of the Lord Rennard allegations as "amateur hour". Well HOORAY for amateur hour, I say, if it means that these allegations are uncovered and investigated. I've been SHOCKED and NAUSEATED by people (Hard Labour AND Conservatory and EVEN Lib Dem) trying to make POLITICAL CAPITAL out of this. 'Cos I suspect that the Conservatories and Hard Labour are NOT better at taking harassment seriously, but ARE better ...
The profiles of the Eastleigh Candidates are here. The profiles of the papal candidates are here. View Poll: Elections (for the avoidance of doubt, my answer to question 4 is Bishop Brennan, if only because he's so good at being kicked up the arse...) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Rafael Benitez will be in charge for Saturday's game against West Brom but Chelsea are considering replacing him with Avram Grant until the end of the season before bringing Jose Mourinho back as manager in the summer.The Evening Standard sounds remarkably confident of its "exclusive". Will it happen? I hope so, though it is hard to see the Special One being as successful as he was the first time round.
UK Government plans to introduce secret courts for certain cases has come under fire again with the Parliamentary Human Rights committee saying that it remains unconvinced that closed material procedures are necessary in civil cases, whilst at the same time more than 700 legal professionals insisted the plans were "dangerous and unnecessary" in an open letter. The Independent reports that the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) criticised the government for failing to include some of its proposed safeguards and urged it to think again: Its report condemned the fact that it had not introduced a condition that CMPs should ...
Who says so? I'm talking about the Eye's former editor Richard Ingrams, stoopid!!!??!! From the Press Gazette: Private Eye co-founder Richard Ingrams believes Ian Hislop has been editor of the magazine for "too long". This was Ingrams' response when asked how long his successor had been in the editor's chair at the title. Ingrams, who appointed a 26-year-old Hislop as editor when he stepped down in 1986, told Press Gazette he admires what Hislop has done at the Eye but that he is a "great believer in retiring". "I think the danger of him staying on is that the options ...
News out of Kenya in the last couple of days suggests that the International Criminal Court's case against Kenyan Presidential contender Uhuru Kenyatta is beginning to unwind. Firstly, the prosecutor has asked the court to put back the trial until August to give them more time to prepare. And secondly, they have referred the case against the former Head of Kenya's Civil Service Francis Muthaura back to the pre-trial chamber due to a key witness being found to be too unreliable for use as a prosecution witness in the upcoming trial. But strangely the prosecutors haven't done the same for ...
One thing that would never have happened if the Liberal Democrats had not been in Government is the change towards shared parental leave. Yesterday on LBC's Call Clegg, Nick Clegg talked about how the state should not dictate which parent took leave when a child was born. It should be up for parents to decide for themselves. Earlier this week, Businesss Minister Jo Swinson launched a consultation on the Bill which is open for 12 weeks, until 20th May. She said: Current workplace arrangements for maternity leave are old-fashioned and rigid. Our measures for shared parental leave and flexible working ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Sex is in the spotlight, so let's talk about it properly | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian Most sensible thing I've read on this yet > Sex is in the spotlight, so let's talk abt it properly | @zoesqwilliams | http://bit.ly/YHJG6x
On Tuesday, the Liberal Democrat Group on HCC offered the only alternative to the Conservative budget in Hertfordshire, with an alternative budget that invested heavily in Road infrastructure and supported public transport, young people and the homeless. Liberal Democrats in Hertfordshire proposed a fully costed budget that delivered a huge shot in the arm for our neglected roads, and supported bus routes, school crossing patrols and allow local decision making for areas where the part-night lighting scheme is not working. Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst (Central Watford and Oxhey, Leader of the Opposition) commented, "This is a fully costed budget that focuses ...
At the Derwent Valley Partnership (AAP) last night Mother made this pretty clear! It was the final meeting of the four year cycle, the councillor members were off to face the May elections, and the public reps "served out" after four years and facing the question of whether they wanted to be re-selected or not. These same public representatives had made the rather adventurous suggestion that rather than a committee selecting the public reps in future, the 400 plus members of the AAP forum could choose the reps themselves by vote. One member of the forum commented that as a ...
I've tried not to comment much on the whole Rennard business because I'm pretty sure I don't really have anything to add to the reams of online commentary on it. I'm very aware that my position as a white, straight, cis, male, middle class British person in a position of minor authority makes me extraordinarily privileged by any reasonable assessment, and any commentary I make on it would be from that position of privilege. (And in one of those great blogging coincidences, this post by Guy Sigley explores some of that in more depth) What's prompted this post is a ...
This man has a suggestion... Every call makes a difference. Hit those phones to send Mike Thornton to Westminster. Instructions on how to do it are here. * Caron Lindsay is Wednesday editor at Lib Dem Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Work to install a new temporary building is now complete and Sawston Library will re-open to the public on Wednesday 6 March. From 6 March some changes to the library opening hours will also come into effect. This follows feedback from customers and analysis of library use last year which showed where hours could be tweaked to better suit demand. Sawston customers will see the library open for an extra hour on a Monday and a Tuesday, both of which have proved busy days. On a Wednesday and Friday the library will close between 1-2pm but otherwise opening hours will ...
Never one to miss an opportunity, Labour peer John Prescott has decided to use his twitter feed to crack jokes about the Lord Rennard scandal. #CallClegg on @lbc973. He'll answer all your non-specific calls, forget the conversations & then blame Danny Alexander — John Prescott (@johnprescott) February 25, 2013 "@willie_rennie: @johnprescott There was a ...
That Collin Brewer should have felt the need to resign following his horrible comments about disabled children is no surprise. That it has taken this long to happen is. Collin made the comments 18 months ago. I have no reason to doubt the explanation he has given - that he was 'het up' after a council meeting. But that cannot be any excuse for hate speech such as this. To be honest, I think his place on the council was finished at that point. I know that some have been criticising the delay in the Standards Committee report and what ...
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.
The Government has today published their amendments to the Justice and Security Bill for Report Stage, following the strenuous efforts Mike Crockart and I put in during the Committee. And they have clearly made significant concessions to us as a result of the things we demanded. First, there is a provision to make sure that Public Interest Immunity is looked at before a judge is allowed to consider a Closed Material Procedure. This was taken out by the Government during Bill Committee. Mike and I tried to put it back in, and it looks like the Government has accepted our ...
There has been a lot written about the decision by full council on Tuesday to endorse the Liberal Democrat budget amendment. One of the uglier consequences is that some councillors who supported the cabinet's proposed tax rise are scare-mongering about where the axe will fall. Yet this budget will actually boost jobs numbers, not cut them. Shamefully, some are suggesting that whole swathes of adult care, children's services and other front-line services will go. In our budget amendment, the Liberal Democrats made it quite clear that we wanted to see the amount being spent on agency staff and consultants cut. ...
Southwark is often said to be the most historic London borough. Part of this evidence in the Tower Subway. It was the world's first ever tube railway in 1869. Today English Heritage decided not to award it Grade II listing. See the report why: report_165456 [IMG: Tower subway] The tower subway has historical significance as one of the earliest tunnels to be dug using the tunnel shield method. Marc and Isambard Brunel pioneered the use of a tunnelling shield in the digging of the Thames Tunnel between Wapping and Rotherhithe (now part of the London Overground Network) and Peter Barlow ...
A week ago I witnessed a fascinating debate on Twitter. Shrewsbury trader Julia Wenlock put Shropshire council leader Keith Barrow on the spot about Sunday car parking charges. After a lengthy exchange, Keith agreed to a free parking day on 30 June. During the discussion Keith revealed that for Shrewsbury: "We offered free parking on ...
I have just listened to Stephen Hester of RBS explaining that salaries must "reflect worth". He is quite right, he is turning RBS round, he has reduced the absolutely obscene pay and bonuses there to simply obscene. He is an honourable man who remains unfortunately profoundly wrong - banking salaries are still corroding the economy, creating house price inflation, heaping ridicule on the efforts of the middle classes and cheer-leading the destruction of UK manufacturing. He is profoundly wrong because he does not yet see - any more than the political establishment sees - that the financial sector is not ...
As part of the Coalition Government's economic recovery plans local councils who keep council tax rises to zero can benefit from a grant – £100,000 in the case of Dacorum. But bizarrely the Conservative majority group on Dacorum Borough Council last night voted down a Liberal Democrat budget amendment to keep the council tax rise to zero and instead forced through their own plans for a 1.9% increase. The Tory action meant that the council tax payers of Dacorum lost the £100,000 grant that could have gone to any number of socially beneficial measures. Liberal Democrat Councillor Nick Hollinghurst said, ...
This article is by SLF Co-Chair Gareth Epps *Update, 13.30 25/02/2013* Andrew George MP has a letter in the Guardian regarding this matter Good news for Liberal Democrats wanting to see some opposition to the secondary legislation introduced on the ... Continue reading →
A man tried to rob a bank after paying $500 to a wizard to make him invisible LMAO (tags: ) How the Oscars proved Hollywood is killing the VFX industry My reading of this is that the broken movie industry contract system is killing VFX, and protectionism won't help it, but YMMV (tags: ) The Norwegian prison where inmates are treated like people If you treat inmates like people recidivism drops markedly. Elizabeth Fry knew this hundreds of years ago. Why it's being treated as a revelation NOW... (tags: ) BBC News - Denmark: Why do Danes seem so delighted? ...
Adrenaline is potent stuff. Your body produces it to help you through high-stress situations. When it's coursing through your veins, you can keep going for days, weeks even, as anyone who's ever fought an election campaign will know. I think I had 15 hours sleep in the 5 days before the 1997 election. Of course, the presence of such a powerful substance in your system doesn't make sleep come easily. That's why so many of our team on the ground in Eastleigh were still awake last night when they were going to have to get up well before the crack ...
LIBRARY CAMPAIGNERS PUT FORWARD PLAN TO SAVE THREATENED LIBRARIES As many will know Sefton Council holds its crucial budget meeting this evening. One of the Labour-proposed cuts of most concern locally is the proposal to close Birkdale Library, together with Ainsdale and Churchtown Libraries. In fact more than half the current 13 libraries in Sefton would shut under the so-called "Option B" plan. Concerned local residents and councillors have been highly active over the past 4 months in campaigning against the closure plan. Petitions containing 12,500 signatures were submitted to Sefton Council's ruling Cabinet 2 weeks ago calling for all ...
Snake Bite, by Scott Handcock The Doctor threw him a look. "How do you know that?" "I read a lot of comics when I was a kid," explained Rory sheepishly. "A lot of comics." The Doctor smiled. This is the very last Rory/Amy audiobook (unless we return to them in future flashbacks), featuring the old (ie 2010-12) version of the theme tune, with the three turning up on a giant space station called Jörmungandr after the Midgard Serpent; lots of snakey creatures and references, with wormholes and cobra-like aliens. It is surprisingly slow paced for a New Who story (which ...
Last night, I was minute-taker at the latest Friends of Magdalen Green committee meeting. We had a very productive meeting and with three new members now on the committee, there were lots of good ideas about future activity. We are meeting with council officers in the near future about possible new play equipment for the Roseangle playpark and we also discussed arrangements for our forthcoming AGM in May. One of our new committee members Alice has kindly set up a Facebook page for Friends of Magdalen Green that you can access here. Please "like" it if you are on Facebook! ...
My LibDem colleague, Cllr Peter Barrett of Perth and Kinross Council and I spoke with a group of University of Dundee students at the Dalhousie Building on the university campus yesterday.
Thu 28th
07:25
Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the latest campaign news (28 Feb Polling Day Editi...
Welcome to the final round-up of the Eastleigh by-election campaign... [IMG: goodmorning_ld] It was the week when Mike Thornton's campaign received a boost from former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown on Tuesday: Out on the doorstep in #Eastleigh with @mike4eastleigh – there's nothing like a great by-election campaign! twitter.com/paddyashdown/s... — Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) February 26, 2013 This is the tenth and final round-up of news from Eastleigh: Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of all the weekend's news (11 Feb); Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the latest campaign news (12 Feb); Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the latest campaign ...
Last week I blogged about a pretty severe flaw in some of Samsung's phones. If you use copy & paste too many times - the phone reboots or resets. So, I ranted and raved on my blog and in the press. Samsung wouldn't respond to me - either through customer support or through their PR team. Nice way to treat a paying customer, guys! There is an OTA update for the Galaxy Note II - taking it to 4.1.2. Sadly this isn't yet being pushed out via all UK carriers (including O2, who I work for). As far as I ...
I was very pleased to learn recently from Trudy Cunningham, the University of Dundee's Environment & Sustainability Officer that the university is one of nine companies and organisations across Scotland trialling 'Reverse vending machines' that reward people for recycling glass, aluminium and plastic (PET) drinks containers through a range of incentives such as money back, discount vouchers or vouchers for donations to charities. 'Reverse vending machines' have been installed at four locations across the university campus. Instead of inserting money for a product, recyclers will put suitable items in the machine and receive 5p for each aluminium can and 3p ...
The above event, featuring a free workshop and thereafter a double bill of films and discussion takes place at Dundee Contemporary Arts next Saturday 2nd March as part of Fairtrade Fortnight. You can read more details about this event here.
There is a unacceptable variance in infant mortality rates across Wales with infants in the Isle of Anglesey three times more likely to die than infants in Monmouthshire. Statistics released this week by the Office for National Statistics have shown the average infant mortality rate for Wales between 2009-2011 was 4.2 per every 1,000 births. Since 1971, the infant mortality rate has decreased considerably throughout the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, the figures have shown there is a big variance in figures across Wales. The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths under 1 year per 1,000 live births. These shocking ...
Councillors have backed plans to deliver efficiency savings equivalent to £12 per household as South Cambridgeshire District Council's budget was agreed. At the meeting of Full Council councillors voted in favour of proposals that would see the bulk of a 24% cut in central government grant funding absorbed by the Council through efficiency savings while services are still maintained. The proposed budget - which was recommended by senior councillors at a Cabinet meeting earlier this month - detailed how less national funding will mean savings of around £17 per average band D household must be found over the period of ...
A new community orchard will take shape in Heydon on Saturday (2 March) when members of the parish council together with local volunteers will plant the first trees, giving a new lease of life to an unused chalk pit. Following a recent grant from South Cambridgeshire District Council, which helped get them started, residents have been clearing the area on the edge of the village in preparation for planting their new orchard. A variety of cherry trees local to the area will be planted, providing fruit for the community in years to come. The aim of the orchard is to ...
Councillors have approved a set of priorities today (Thursday 28 February) to help continue to improve life for residents and businesses within South Cambridgeshire. At a meeting of Council, when the budget was also agreed 2013/14, councillors debated the proposed plans which had been put forward following a consultation with residents and businesses to find out their current priorities and future aspirations. Following a public consultation, councillors have approved three main pledges for the following year: We will listen and engage with residents, parishes and businesses to ensure we deliver first class services and value for moneyWe will work with ...
