[IMG: image] Michael Crick, that is. His book Stranger than Fiction is a brilliant tome, and I took the opportunity of Mr Crick's presence in the Brighton conference tea room to tell him that. As if that wasn't enough, I then got interviewed by my hero. But, although I might have looked like a hero-worshipping walkover, I am not as daft as I am cabbage looking, and didn't give away anything more than my name, rank and serial number under his interrogation! Needless to say my ruminations went straight into the editor's wastebasket. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post ...
Visiting some of the new Council Housing we built when in administration I am a fervent believer in the partisan political system and in the notion muted by the Whig Edmund Burke that you "hang together you hang separately". You cannot get coherent change in a political system without organised political movements and that means learning how to compromise. I have been a Liberal Party member from 1985 and from 1989 a Liberal Democrat and for the last almost 19 years have served that great party as an elected local councillor. The changes to Housing benefit which are shortly to ...
Remember David Cameron's big speech yesterday on the economy? It turns out it he was being economical with the truth. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has contradicted Cameron's claim that spending cuts and tax rises were not responsible for the weak economy. Cameron quoted the OBR in his speech, in which he rejected calls for increased borrowing: [Cameron] said the OBR had made it clear that growth had been depressed by the legacy of the 2008 financial crisis, instability in the eurozone and a sharp rise in oil prices between 2010 and 2011. The watchdog, he added, was "absolutely ...
It's back. So here is a catchy little number from Kenya and a slick political ad from the Jubilee Coaliton. With almost all the votes counted it looks like Uhuru Kenyatta will win - the Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission will declare tomorrow at 11am (8am GMT) - whether he has met the constitutional requirement of 50%+1 of the total votes cast, along with 25% of the vote in at least 24 counties.
So Test Valley Borough Council has decided to charge residents £25 for new wheely bins. Surely supplying the bin is part of the rubbish collection service. Does Tesco charge for the use of supermarket trolleys? What next - extra charges for actually emptyjng the bins into their lorries?
I am honoured to have been passed a baton by Linda Jack as part of a Meme (an idea that passes from person to person) on 'what the Lib Dems stand for'. I have spent two days thinking about this in some depth. Since I became a member of the party 3 years ago at the age of 10 I have seen the party go from 'a vote for the Lib Dems is a wasted vote' to us going into coalition and making decisions as part of Government. Now, that's something for me to tell my grandchildren. Being a Lib ...
Originally (I think) from Tumbling Banana. More about the rotating snake illusion.
[IMG: Supreme Court - Some rights reserved by cphoffman42] Last September in Brighton, the Conference voted to remove part 2 of the Justice and Security Bill. That Bill is now completing its final stages in Parliament. But let me assure you, that because of Liberal Democrat pressure, the Bill is now radically different. Amendments have been made such as unfettered discretion for the judge and increased safeguards in order to meet previously raised objections. The Bill is no longer the one that was before Conference last September and I believe it is now right that it should be supported. But ...
Europe remains a political challenge for the UK and for the Liberal Democrats. Where the national interest clearly demands British membership of the EU to access and influence the single market, and to leverage British influence globally, the political debate often revolves around a caricature of the EU that brings no benefits and big responsibilities. Where the liberal reform agenda to make European institutions more accountable and cost-effective, to make Europe more economically competitive have widespread support in Europe, there is a danger that a repatriation narrative will fail at the diplomatic hurdle, and hand victory to those in Europe ...
I feel a little sorry for the council when they are dealing with potholes. They must know that potholes are dangerous and I am sure that they cause many trips which then turn into many claims for damages. Everyone wants roads and pavements to be in good condition so it must be frustrating for council officers because potholes are many and resources are finite. The only thing they can do is to prioritise as some roads are certainly worse than others. One method of prioritising is to listen to complaints and one of the things that I have been doing ...
From the States of Independence website: States of Independence 2013 - our fourth such event - will take place on Saturday 16 March at Clephan Building, De Montfort University, Leicester. This year there is a strong emphasis on fiction - with three fantastic women writers - Leicester's Kerry Young, Booker-shortlisted Alison Moore and, returning to her old haunts, Sarah Butler. We have sessions on short fiction and poetry - from the Chartists to modern times. There is weird stuff on offer (literally...) and the announcement of the East Midlands Book Award shortlist. Reflecting the support of Creative Leicestershire, we have ...
Here is my latest column from the new Liberal Democrat magazine Ad Lib. It seems I never got round to posting the third Whipped here, but the interesting question is whether I shall manage a fifth one when there is nothing to laugh about in our MPs being whipped to vote for secret courts. Whipped: From the desk of the Junior Whip "Do you want to find out how politics really works?" asked the Chief Whip. "Oh yes," I replied. "That's just what I hoped for when I got this job." "There's a train to Eastleigh leaving Waterloo in 30 ...
Many thanks to my Mark Pack for this picture of me appearing on Sky News this lunchtime, being interviewed by Adam Boulton about all things Lib Dem. His suggested next words for the subtitles? "... That a man is interviewing a man." Fair point. [IMG: stephen tall sky news]
Fri 8th
19:05
Nick's conference speech: "When our opponents tell us we are finished, remember Eastleigh!"
Here's the text of Nick Clegg's speech at the start of the Spring Conference Rally in Brighton tonight: I know it is unusual for me to speak at the start of the rally but there's an issue I want to address head on. Today is International Women's Day. It is right that we come together as a party to celebrate the life changing advances in women's rights both at home and around the world. Advances that Liberal Democrats championed in opposition and are delivering in Government. But it is also right that - following the events of recent weeks - ...
Fri 8th
18:29Danny Alexander MP writes exclusively for Lib Dem Voice: Statement on Lord Rennard allegations
Nick Clegg has today announced that Helena Morrissey will chair the independent inquiry into culture, process and complaints within the Liberal Democrats. Jo Swinson is speaking at the party conference rally tonight and will tell party members about her role in dealing with allegations about Lord Rennard. I want to do the same. I had been Nick's chief of staff since his election in December 2007. In 2008, Jo told me of concerns that had been expressed to her privately and in confidence by a number of women about the conduct of Lord Rennard. While she did not give me ...
My GP called me last night about a recent blood test. I'll need another one in a months time. "Can you please post the blood test form to me?" GP " No" "Why not." GP "We don't post things to patients." "But it's really not convenient to make a special journey to collect a form." GP "Can you not come in." "I could but it will take 40mins of my time, has to occur when you're open which is when I'm at work versus the cost of a second class stamp." GP "We don't post things to patients". "Could you ...
The £12,860 "Chairman's Clothing Allowance" must stop now! Even if you haven't had my recent Focus, it's been all over local and National newspapers that in addition to the other allowances they get, the chair and vice-chair of Durham County Council get a clothing allowance of £8,580 for the Chair, and £4,280 for the Vice-Chair . For the avoidance of doubt, every councillor receives an allowance of £13,300 and the chair gets an additional allowance of £6,650 plus, of course, the "clothing allowance." Barring election slip-ups, the Vice-Chair goes on to be Chair in the following year. The existence of ...
Today was THE day. After 38 years of waiting, the first of the 3 stanchions/buttresses that have apparently been holding Cardigan Castle together were removed this lunchtime in an event supported by the Welsh media and hundreds of local residents that lined Cardigan Bridge and Prince Charles Quay. As this BBC Wales article and clip of the moment itself shows, it was a wonderfully epic moment for an event a long time in the making. Today, I shed the chains of office and my role in local government and was once more that young child that would cross Cardigan Bridge ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week Eastleigh by-election: my first thoughts (80 comments) by Stephen Tall Three things the Liberal Democrats must learn from Eastleigh (50 comments) by Caron Lindsay Nick Clegg's son to go to state secondary school (204 comments) by Caron Lindsay 7 'rebel' Lib Dem MPs back party policy as rest vote for secret courts (59 comments) by Stephen Tall Secret Courts..what does the party do now? (96 comments) by Caron Lindsay 5 sample LDV Members' Forum threads Well Done ...
Fri 8th
16:32
Football blogger sued for column which is critical of prospective owners. At what point is it an ove...
Today the administrators have exchanged contracts with the Portsmouth Supporters Trust over the sale of Portsmouth Football Club to the Supporters Trust as long as the High Court sanctions the sale of Fratton Park to PST for the price of three million. The court case is still pending. A few days ago I penned the following but sat on it. As it seems clear now that the PST will take control of PFC then it is a good time to publish. This blog is about a situation where a potential owner wants to sue a blogger who posted an article ...
The Liberal Democrats have today announced that Helena Morrissey has been appointed as the chair of the independent inquiry into culture, process and complaints within the Liberal Democrats. The review will also look at attitudes towards women in the party, as well as the employment relationship between staff, elected officials and volunteers; training; and how to lead a wider change in Westminster. Helena Morrissey has been a leading light in promoting women and breaking barriers as CEO of Newton Asset Management and Founder of the 30% Club, a cross-business initiative aimed at achieving 30% women on UK corporate boards by ...
Solo Blog: Milena Popova. Political blog with a open rights/lefty/feministy/internationalist slant. VERY well-written and incisive. Syndicated to DW as [IMG: [syndicated profile] ] milenapopova_feed Group Blog: SportSister. A great news resource for women's sport. Syndicated to DW as [IMG: [syndicated profile] ] sportsister_feed Twitterer: Bradford Batman. Like a superhero, but Yorksher. Witty, charming, loves his city, and seems to have a reasonable level of intelligence (he's a Blake's 7 fan ;)) Podcast: Relic Radio: Strange Tales. More old radio dramas - horror/sci-fi/fantasy stuff. Occasionally features actors like Vinny P and Peter Lorre. Almost always interesting. Pinterest Board: Nyctophilia. Catering to ...
I've been thinking a lot about leadership in relation to the party over the past few weeks in the wake of the allegations about the conduct of Lord Rennard, which he denies. Why did no one tackle this effectively at the time? Why did it take several brave women talking to the media for us to finally deal with such a serious problem? Credit where credit is due, Tim Gordon, the party's Chief Executive has been impressive so far but is it enough? Not for me or other Liberal Democrats members. That is why we set up Rock The Boat ...
Fridays are never terribly exciting at a Spring Conference. They're all about consultative sessions and, lest we forget, the Rally, generally aimed at kick-starting the campaign towards whichever elections are less than two months away, this year the Counties. Media coverage is slight, if any, and past headlines have included Sarah Teather's unexpectedly risque sense of humour and... well, you get the point. The media generally prefer to run their message of crisis in the ranks and challenges to the leadership. They may have it right this year. After Tim Farron's interview in The House magazine, it will be interesting ...
Party president Tim Farron has won some media attention today for likening Liberal Democrat MPs to "nutters" and "cockroaches". Nutters goes without saying. But cockroaches? Farron explains: We're a bit like cockroaches after a nuclear war, just a bit less smelly, we are made of sterner stuff.If a key advantage of Liberal Democrats is the ability to survive a nuclear war, shouldn't the party reconsider its opposition to the renewal of Trident?
Monday Blood test and haematology. Platelets now within normal range, haemoglobin constant at 10.5. Hydroxycarbamide dose reduced. Talked to HMRC about me request for estimates of reduction in alcohol consumption, increase in revenue that would result from 10, 20 and 30% increase in taxation across the board. They had been asking me to wait for a scheduled update of the model, and now this has arrived, they want Ministerial approval for the release of the figures. I telephoned the Private Office of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to request them to give this the nod, and await the result. ...
Over the past week our national papers have been full of rubbish about immigration, often phrased in terms which stops just short of blatant racism. The hordes are coming they say. The Romanians (or do they mean Roma) are lusting ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Cover_9781849544092] There I was in Portcullis House a few mornings ago, for the launch of The Green Book, and I have been wondering what the answer is to the co-editor Duncan Brack's rhetorical question. Why do Liberals produce so many coloured books - from the Yellow Book that introduced the ideas of John Maynard Keynes in 1928 right through to the embattled Orange Book? I don't know the answer, I must admit, but can't help feeling that it is a sign of intellectual activity. I have often wondered whether there were any intellectual signs of life in the Lib ...
Loving Mike Smithson's suggestion
The author of this piece wishes to remain anonymous, due to political restrictions on their activity, and is involved in local government regulation. It will be interesting to see if the horse meat scandal brings any of the supermarkets to court. Selling something that is not what you say it is, is an offence unless you have a defence of 'due diligence'. As a local government regulator, I doubt very much that any of the supermarkets will be brought before the courts. Why? Because successive governments have made the enforcement of regulations on big business has been made so difficult ...
From Australia: Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at Government House. One is from Cabramatta, another is from Marrickville, and the third is from Lane Cove. All three go with an official to examine the fence. The Cabramatta contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900, $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."The Marrickville contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700. That's $300 ...
Liberator's Gareth Epps has just published a post on Left Foot Forward, which praises Vince Cable's New Statesman article (discussed on this blog yesterday). Gareth mentions that the Social Liberal Forum is proposing an emergency motion ('Kickstarting economic growth') at this weekend's Liberal Democrat spring conference in Brighton, and we would urge representatives to support it.
Today's Independent reports that Rupert Murdoch courting UKIP leader, Nigel Farage or is it the other way around? In any case it seems that the two had dinner at the News Corp chief's London home on Tuesday, five days after Ukip pushed the Tories into third place. Is this a sign that the Murdoch press is about to swing behind UKIP? Certainly Murdochs' twitter account indicates that he believes Farage is reflecting public opinion. We will have to see.
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister, Peter Black has expressed his concern at the number of social housing units being left vacant whilst people are stuck on waiting lists. The latest statistics show that both the number of vacant housing units and the percentage of vacant social housing stock increased over the last year. "At the end of March 2012, 3,943 families were left without roofs over their heads" said Mr Black, "whilst many housing units were left empty. This is a 10% increase over the previous year. "I am concerned that at a time of unprecedented demand we ...
[IMG: Sea otter] Good morning to you all, especially those of you en route to Brighton for the start of Spring Conference. Sadly, through ill health, I won't be joining you today, so this will be a remote control sort of day. It does mean that I'll have a bit more time for the site today, so if you do have something to say, feel free (comments policy and common courtesy apply, naturally)... Caron has already kicked off the day in fine style, and we'll have the usual review of the week in Europe and preview of next week in ...
In a shock move, the Liberal Democrat Group on Hertfordshire County Council has demanded urgent answers to allegations of fraud made by a whistle blower. Chris White, Liberal Democrat councillor for St Albans Central, recently met with a former highways engineer, who handed him some documentation. This documentation included paperwork from county council officials which admitted: [IMG: HertsConstab] - falsification of records - use of inferior materials instead of contracted materials - falsification of key performance indicators reported to the council - false 'close down' of jobs There was also a letter from a senior county council official which said: ...
At Lib Dem conference in Brighton there are seminars on staying out of jail. These sessions are named in the agenda: Ok they are about election law, but given the circumstances, some renaming probably was in order.
[IMG: Tim Farron speaking - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] An interview with Tim Farron is never a dull one, that's for sure. I found that out when I spoke to him for the party magazine, Ad Lib, last month — prompting the headline, Lib Dem brand 'tainted by Tories' (£), in The Sunday Times. Today's he's in the headlines for an interview in The House magazione with Paul Waugh and Sam MacRory in which he likens Lib Dem MPs to 'cockroaches' (hard to get rid of) and 'nutters' (because of how hard they work and campaign). He's also ...
I'm probably not meant to find this funny, am I? Fail journalists hacked by scum journalists lol (tags: ) 10 ways to puts of your customers before they even reach your eatery (tags: ) we should ban lib dem conference George shows his usual flair for an eyecatching headline, and the post is well worth a read (tags: ) the importance of teaching teenagers porn literacy (tags: ) The Liberal Democrat What Do We Stand For Challenge 2013.3 - Eight Answers (so far) It's interesting to read all these divergent ideas of what the Lib Dems stand for. They all ...
DFID Minister Lynne Featherstone has been in New York this week at the UN working with other countries to tackle violence against women. There's a nifty map which shows exactly where our money is helping women across the world. This was her message to Scotland - remember DFID head office is here, in East Kilbride - for International Women's Day. Scottish society has a strong history of supporting International Women's Day by celebrating the achievements of women and girls against the barriers of discrimination and inequality as well as showing solidarity with those who continue to face various forms of ...
Here's a blog from my last day in New York. Also Available on Huffington Post. It's my last day at the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, and I've started the day speaking at a breakfast reception for Afghan women. Under the Taleban, Afghan women suffered some of the worst oppression in the world. To this day the situation remains challenging. According to the UN's 2011 Gender Equality Index, Afghan women's status ranked amongst the worst in the world – rated 141th out of 146. A shocking 87% of Afghan women have experienced at least one ...
Only the Lib Dems could have won a significant by-election battle, and turn up to their spring gathering traumatised. With two of their own probably going to prison, and the scandal around Lord Rennard ongoing, that is exactly what is happening this weekend in Brighton. The party may find some solace and solidarity in numbers, ...
I have always had an interest in local history, and in family history ( genealogy if you want the formal name) Having traced one branch of my family to this area ( which was a surprise as I always thought that my son was the first person in my family tree to be born here ) I have followed a loose end to an even more surprising conclusion ( it needs to be confirmed, but I'm fairly confident ) Just to the south of South Newsham Road there used to be two rows of miners houses called Single Row and ...
By the time you read this, I'll be in London, no doubt bleary eyed after a night on the sleeper, on my way to Spring Conference in Brighton. I've been thinking about how we are as we gather at the seaside. It's been an eventful six months but has the good outweighed the bad? Things to smile about Since we met in Brighton, our ministers in the Coalition Government have done some excellent things. Here's just a selection: Plans for shared parental leave announced; Equal (ish) marriage Bill unveiled; Stopping the Tories capping Child Benefit at 2 children and taking ...
There are two meetings scheduled at Blyth Town Council next week Planning and Development Committee Tuesday 12th at 6:30 pm Please note that this meeting is on Tuesday, not the usual Thursday for P&D committee Finance Committee , Thursday 14th at 6:30 pm Both meetings will take place at Ebor House,
The results (hat-tip to Alan on Slugger, previous results here) Francie Molloy (Sinn Féin) 17,462 (46.9%, -5.1%) Nigel Lutton (Independent) 12,781 (34.4%, +1.7%) Patsy McGlone (SDLP) 6,478 (17.4%, +3.1%) Eric Bullick (Alliance) 487 (1.3%, +0.3%) Turnout 37208; Spoilt 223 (0.6%) There is not much to be said. Everyone has reason to celebrate. Molloy was always going to win, and his problem was to get voters who already knew that to turn out in bad weather; 46.9% is at the lower end of SF expectations, but it's on rather than off the scale (in fact, only a hair lower than Martin ...
Want to know what Liberal Youth are up to at Conference? First time there and want to me fellow young liberals? Check out the guide below for everything you'll need to have an awesome conference! Liberal Youth's Totally Awesome Brighton Conferece Guide
