There was a phrase, slipped quietly into Nick Clegg's speech at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Brighton, which caught my ear. Hidden in the activist-pleasing, knockabout section, where the Deputy Prime Minister was having fun at the expense of the Labour Party, were five interesting words. Clegg asked his audience to imagine how dreadful the Labour Party would be if they were, "left to their own devices," to run the economy. Clegg was trying to present the Liberal Democrats as the party that anchors the Coalition Government in the centre ground of British politics, stopping the Tory supermarket trolley ...
Friday may have be International Women's Day but tomorrow in the Northern Ireland Assembly it is likely to be anything but. At the last minute the DUP and SDLP have added an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill. Amendment 1 New Clause After clause 11 insert - 'Ending the life of an unborn childEnding the life of an unborn child11A.-(1) Without prejudice to section 58 and section 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and section 25 of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 and subject to subsection (2) any person who ends the life of an ...
Liam Fox has delivered a speech on his economic vision for Britain, adding his voice to those putting pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron. Fox called for a freeze in capital gains tax, and stamp duty discounts for those under 30. He demanded a policy narrative with economics encouraging certain types of behaviour. The former ...
Well, I'm back from the Lib Dem Spring Conference in Brighton and I'm sorry to say that it was probably the most lifeless conference I've ever been to. There was this malaise hanging over everyone there - the buzz and the energy we've had at previous conferences seemed to have been sucked out. The reason for this might well be the continued determination of the party leadership to ignore any policy passed by conference and the utter refusal of the leadership to properly engage on the vital issue of secret courts. The first sign of this came during the Q&A ...
On paper, this should have been a great Spring Conference for the Liberal Democrats. Having won in Eastleigh, and getting to grips with the allegations against Lord Rennard, the party should have been in good spirits throughout and come away enthused for more campaigning, and more success. With County Councils elections in England just a few weeks away, this would have been a very desirable outcome. Instead, I came away feeling somewhat bruised and (slightly) downbeat.* Now, I don't want to overplay this. It is always good to spend lots of quality time with fellow Liberals. Whether it be in ...
A Scottish Liberal reminds us that the leadership of the Scottish Liberal Democrats will be defending secret courts at the party's conference next week: "Will they, like Nick Clegg, avoid the real issues and reinforce the members' anger? Will it become increasingly obvious that a chasm is opening between grassroots activists and parliamentarians that is both destructive and unnecessary? Or will they succeed in convincing the members that they are listening, respectful and receptive - even if they take a different view on the policy detail?" Eastleigh signals the beginning of the end for Nick Clegg not the end of ...
Last night at Compline in St George's Parish Church, Belfast the text of the reading was from Hebrews 9.11-15. This evening, having found during my search last night for my Roman Breviary a copy of The Hymns from the New Testament, by John Metcalfe, I turned to the reference I read last night from the Revised English Bible. ...
Last week, I mentioned my dilemma - how to get to Pula by as interesting a route as possible, given a series of limitations. Jane Leaper kindly suggested;Train or fly to Venice then seacat ferry to Pula.If train: Eurostar to Paris and overnight sleeper to Venice.although this did mean doing the Alps in the dark, which missed the point a little. I did give more serious thought to the the Zurich/Innsbruck/Ljubljana route, but the fourteen minute connection in Salzburg was just too tight for my taste, so I've settled on the following;Lufthansa flight 4U2379, departing Stansted at 20:10, arrives Stuttgart ...
From his House magazine diary: After dropping the kids at school, I go into Barnstaple for another surgery before heading off to catch the London train. It runs late so I have to pull my name out of topical education questions. Pity! I had wanted to continue my crusade to get Pupil Premium allocated on a fairer basis. One of the poorest constituencies in the country, mine, gets well below average Pupil Premium so our "funding gap" has actually got worse. The scheme is flawed. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
This evening, the Liberal Democrats have confirmed they won't vote for Labour's mischievous Opposition Day debate on mansion tax, instead tabling a Coalition amendment stating our support for the mansion tax and the Conservatives' opposition to it. Vince Cable, architect of the mansion tax, has issued a statement explaining why: This amendment allows Liberal Democrats in Parliament to back our long-held policy of the mansion tax. We created it and will continue to champion it. The amendment also makes it clear that although we are in coalition with the Conservatives, we have different views on the desirability of a mansion ...
It's in the House magazine: Wednesday 27 February Arriving in Eastleigh I find the media pack swarming around campaign HQ, and deduce that Nick is inside and expected out shortly. The carnivores have yet more ludicrous questions about our former chief executive Chris Rennard. Belatedly the communications strategy has switched to "shut the **** up" which it should of course have been since announcing the inquiry. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Nick Clegg's strategy of cultivating and then abandoning civil libertarians continues to have unwelcome consequences for the party. Philippe Sands has an article on the Guardian website this evening: Secrecy begets secrecy. I have listened to all the arguments, and concluded this is a compromise too far, neither necessary nor fair at this time. The point has been made eloquently in recent days by Dinah Rose QC and Jo Shaw. Their principled arguments have long had my full support and so I have joined them in resigning from the Liberal Democrats.
It may not surprise you to know that the team at Liberal Democrat Voice quite often talk to each other about how we're feeling about events in the news. We tend to write our own posts, though. I thought it might be a good idea to occasionally do a single post where several of us contribute our opinions on an issue of the day. I think all of us share a sense of sadness at the way the destruction of a family has unfolded in front of us, disappointment that a highly effective minister is now in a prison cell ...
Economic jihad. That's how Vince Cable described Dr Liam Fox's speech to the IEA this morning. Dr Fox's speech is worth reading, though, precisely for the parts of it that have not been covered in the wider media. For it sets out a clear – albeit deeply conservative – approach to how to reform our economy for the long-term. But while the proposed destination is well-articulated, the route is far from certain. Let's start with the positive. I agree, broadly, with Fox's analysis of the causes of our current economic state. While I wouldn't exactly phrase it thus, there is ...
MP Julian Huppert has welcomed the news that 1,060 people have joined an apprenticeship programme in the city in the last two years as the country celebrates Apprenticeship Week. The figure includes Julian's apprentice, Mark Woodstock, 19 who has completed nine months of a Level 2 Business Administration apprenticeship. Mark, who has been working in Julian's Cambridge constituency office, said: "My apprenticeship has been so valuable; I have learnt so much. "After taking my A levels I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I wasn't ready to think about going to university but I knew I needed to ...
Ken Loach's new film The Spirit of '45, said the Guardian on Saturday, "revisits the year that Britons turned to socialism". Today I came across two blog posts that questioned this interpretation of the 1945 general election. Steve Fielding on Ballots & Bullets argues: The vast majority certainly supported the implementation of the 1942 Beveridge report and its promise of cradle-to-the-grave social security. Yet those that liked his suggestion of a National Health Service did so largely because they hoped to personally benefit, far fewer looked on it as an act of redistribution. In any case, the Liberal William Beveridge's ...
I am a computer logistician by profession. I can tell you all about managing defective material retention contracts and the comparative stocking strategies of power supplies. I don't pretend to be an expert in communications. So the following comes under the heading of "as any fule kno", and therefore these statements are easy to make when, like me, you don't know what you are talking about. Communications Rule One The first rule of media crisis management was succinctly summarised for me on a con call a few months ago: "When a crisis breaks get all your dirty washing out into ...
There is a headline today on the BBC website that reads 'Lancashire farmers in wind turbine row with MoD'. What would you expect to read? My initial thought was that the MoD wanted to build some turbines and local farmers were objecting. In fact the farmers wanted the wind farm because of 'crippling costs' but the MoD felt this would affect their radar system 20 miles away at Warton. The trouble is that the prospective turbines would have been built in the shadow of much taller turbines on Oswaldtwistle Moor and there are many other turbines within a 20 mile ...
...Is a phrase we've heard a couple of times in the last few days from very committed and talented people, as a result of the secret courts shambles. Those who are angry should channel that anger into helping the seven LD MPs (who voted for the Labour amendments) to get re-elected. Cambridge is lovely, so is Edinburgh West. So is Westmorland and Lonsdale – exquisite countryside. Let's all go there and help those who stood up for Liberal Democrat principles. I'm with the "hunker down" camp. The trouble is that you can only flounce out of the party once. Then ...
The Pryce/Huhne sentence seems to be fair and just to me. Perverting the course of justice. It does what it says on the tin. Like perjury, the justice system takes a very dim view of people who take the Michael out of the justice system by lying. If they don't impose sentences which provide a warning and deterrent to others, then the whole system falls apart and anarchy reigns. This wasn't just a case of someone taking the other's points, it was lying about it afterwards and swearing blind they didn't do it. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post ...
Headline of the Day was a walkover for the Daily Mail.
This week is National Apprenticeship Week. Across the country businesses, schools, colleges, and universities are working together - with support from the government - to celebrate apprenticeships and encourage young people to take them up. On Friday I'm jointly hosting ... Continue reading →
To return to a perennial problem in British democracy: what can we do about a press that is both so biased it is twisted, and so aggressive it has rightly been called "feral". The Reporter- once a by-word for integrity- think Alistair Cooke or Ed Murrow- has instead become a by-word for tetchy arrogance or profound corruption- think Piers Morgan, the Murdoch Press, the Daily Cancer-Scare or, lets face, it large parts of the BBC. From overseas, I find it extraordinary that there is not more condemnation of the blatant manipulation, and outright lies that comprise a large part of ...
Shared Space presents difficulties for blind people because the schemes rely on eye to eye contact between road users. Where there is no kerb, a blind person does not know for sure where the footpath ends and the road starts. Dogs for the blind and long cane users are trained to wait at a kerb. Tactile surfaces are not recognised by dogs for the blind. A study carried out in 2009 by University College London recommended that a kerb of 60mm or greater would be needed in order to be detected when stepping up and stepping down and induced the ...
Channel 4 news are carrying a story highlighting Conservative Minister Nick Boles' unease with the Eastleigh campaign's "war on planning" strategy which he feels went against what he had been asked to do in government, and that he was asked to stay away from Eastleigh to keep the messaging on track. This in itself is not that surprising, as the LibDem campaign (and even the media) knew that the Tory campaign was a double-back on their County Council and Government commitments and declared policies. It was pretty typical of their campaign, and of the overall shambles which is Tory election ...
In case some of our Northern Irish readers haven't seen it, Eric Avebury has written an article published on LibDemVoice raising the issue of the nuclear legacy of the United Kingdom. The most important task facing Ed Davey for the ... Continue reading →
Liberal Democrats against Secret Courts Having just mentioned that I don't fully agree with what the Parliamentary Party of the Liberal Democrats is supporting in Westminster, readers may be interested in this website.
The latest in Nick's Letter from the Leader pinged into our emails yesterday just as his speech finished in Brighton. [Well done LibDem HQ!] I've just had a wonderful three days with Liberal Democrat members at Conference in Brighton. Until today, ... Continue reading →
The judge has delivered the sentences at the end of the trials at Southwark Crown Court in which Chris Huhne pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, and Vicky Pryce was found guilty of the same offence. Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce have each been sentenced to 8 months in jail. You can read a full account of what happened today during the hearing on the Guardian blog, thanks to some detailed tweeting from inside the court by Peter Walker, a Guardian journalist. * Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary published in print or online.
I've been informed of the following opportunity by Colchester Arts Centre. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please pass it on to them! Paid Work Experience Placements Available to those currently not in employment, education or training. Front of House, Stewarding, Bar work, Backstage. Ages 18 – 19. 6 month contracts. 25 hours per week. £4.98 per hour. Please apply with a cv and covering letter. Deadline Tuesday 19th March. We would like to hear about why you would like to work in a performing arts venue. No previous experience required. Applications by email to Stafford Glover: ...
In the last days and weeks Northern Ireland has been hit by many bomb alerts and security alerts, many of which have turned out to be hoaxes. I doubt that many people living in the rest of the United Kingdom ... Continue reading →
In the last days and weeks Northern Ireland has been hit by many bomb alerts and security alerts, many of which have turned out to be hoaxes. I doubt that many people living in the rest of the United Kingdom have any idea what this is like. Imagine a family with young children, who are ...
This week I have been contacted by a number of local people about the licence review of the Downham Tavern that will be going ahead on the 21st March. Downham Tavern via www.geograph.org.uk Unfortunately the meeting has to be held in private because of the personal nature of the evidence that will be put forward by the police, including the details of those arrested following the raid on the 22nd February. However, if you want to have your views on the pub heard then you can write an email or letter which will be presented to the committee on the ...
I found myself on Start the Week this morning with Ken Loach and others talking about class, and talking about his film Spirit of '45. I also talked about my forthcoming book about the squeezed middle, Broke, but let's leave that on one side for a moment. Since watching the film last week, I have been struggling to articulate what I felt was wrong with the Attlee government and the post-war settlement that is given such heroic and emotional support in Ken Loach's film. The best I can come up with is this: those huge institutions created by Labour to ...
[IMG: Postal ballot being posted] Tuesday, 26 March Last day for publication of notice of election Friday, 5 April Last day for submission of nomination papers (noon) Tuesday, 9 April Publication of statement of people nominated (noon) Wednesday, 10 April Last day for withdrawal of candidates (noon) Last day for appointment of election agents (noon) Wednesday, 17 April Last day to register to vote Last day to apply for a new postal vote (5pm) Last day to amend / cancel an existing postal or proxy vote arrangement (5pm) Wednesday, 24 April Last day to apply for a new proxy vote ...
As this weekend's events have proved, the real and fundamental split in the Liberal Democrats of 2013 is not between Liberals and Social Democrats, economic liberalism or social liberalism, centrists and radicals. It is a real and growing divide between the Party's leadership and its activists; and that has been thrown into sharp relief by both the result of the Eastleigh by-election and events at Conference. As Dan Falchikov, with whom I'm in frequent agreement on strategic if not economic issues, highlights, it is an issue that could be very serious if unaddressed. The reasons for this are broadly twofold. ...
It seems that it is not just Gyronny Herald that is seeing a resurgence in blogging activity. John O'Neill has started blogging over at Liberal Democrats in Northern Ireland which has had a bit of a facelift as well. Filed under: Blogging Tagged: blogging, Liberal Democrats
Today's Telegraph story that Councillors across England are offering themselves for hire to property developers is actually quite shocking. It is simply not good enough to say that Councillors cannot involve themselves in planning applications in which they have an interest. Lines can become blurred and as one councillor in the article admits, although he has to follow rules on planning, there are ways around the formalities. The paper says that these local government politicians are trading on their inside knowledge of the planning system to receive fees of up to £20,000 for advice on how to get developments approved. ...
[IMG: SteamRoller] Over 500 local people in Hertfordshire are waiting to hear about their dropped kerb crossover applications, because Herts County Council decided to stop processing applications in the run-up to the new Highways contract from the 1st October. Since then Ringway, the new contractor, has not done the work either. The new Ringway contract already has a backlog of work and admit that they may take till June to get all the outstanding highways repairs done. Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst (Central Watford and Oxhey, Leader of the Opposition) was appalled to hear of yet more delays and commented, "Yet again, ...
Against a less than optimal backrop, Eastleigh was a remarkable victory for the Lib Dems. And yet, the by-election was by no means unqualified success -support fell by 14 points relative to the 2010 general election result, with Mike Thornton winning in large part because the Conservative's share dropped by a similar amount. Of course, it was UKIP's performance that caused such a divergence from the 2010 result. The UKIP question, then, is an important one - how will a surging centre-right party affect the electoral dynamics of the 30 or so constituencies in which the main threat to Lib ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Lib Dems' ordinary nurse revealed as Wonderbra model Louise Cole – Mirror Online Wonder what attracted the Mirror to this story? > Lib Dems' ordinary nurse revealed as Wonderbra model http://bit.ly/Y43lhe Look who's doing it Clegg-nam style: Deputy PM appears to mimic Korean pop star's moves during keynote speech at Lib Dem conference | Mail Online Tbh I think the Mail had more credibility when it was supporting the Blackshirts > Look who's doing it Cleggnam style http://bit.ly/YbGEXk Jo Shaw: A Principled Resignation – Iain Dale Good to see @_JoShaw getting recogntion ...
About ten years ago documentary maker Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize me fame) made a documentary about living on the Minimum wage in the US. At one point he was injured and went to the local ER, where as he was unable to afford health insurance he had to pay $90 for filling out paperwork and sitting in the waiting room without treatment. This is illustrative of what could occur here should the NHS start to be broken up. As a case study let's take an average family and look at their NHS usage. I was brought up to believe you ...
Paul Walter makes some good points today over on Lib Dem Voice about the frequent (non-) communication between the centre and Liberal Democrat members and supporters when an issue breaks in the news. His views mirror my own, and apply even when the breaking issue is one where the party has a good, solid story to tell. Why, for example, was it left to me to spot that there was a rapidly building set of anger about the number of Liberal Democrat MPs who had apparently abstained on same-sex marriage, to find out what the truth was (that nearly all ...
Darwin Green (aka NIAB) North West Cambridge Development An outline planning application for the Darwin Green Two site is being put together by Barratt Homes and the NW Cambridge Consortium of land owners. They will be holding public exhibitions on these proposals over the coming months. The next one is on 15th March. At the exhibition residents will be able to view and discuss the proposals with members of the project team. Barratt Homes state that they are keen to have your involvement and hopes to be able to incorporate your feedback into its formal plans. You are welcome to ...
Cllr Mike Pitt (LD, West Chesterton) Residents are being encouraged to take responsibility for Cambridge's community centres as the city council looks at ways to protect their future against a backdrop of budget pressures. A major review of the centres by the Liberal Democrat-led city council has identified ways to increase income and get residents and centre users involved in their running. Residents groups have taken responsibility for Trumpington Pavilion and for the centre in Lawrence Way, and soon Nuns Way pavilion in King's Hedges. It is hoped other users will get more involved in the running of the city ...
Petrol pumps on forecourts across Cambridgeshire will soon be carrying an advert for a car sharing scheme designed to help cut the jams on the county's roads and reduce the cost of motoring. During March and April the pump flyers will be advertising CamShare, the Cambridgeshire Car Sharing scheme to increase awareness of the scheme and to urge people to sign up to www.camshare.co.uk. Camshare matches journeys to other people who live nearby who make the same trip to the same destination or in the same direction. Once matched members can choose to car share as little or as often ...
The Lib Dem conference at Brighton last weekend was a low key affair. There was enough space in the Metropole hotel to hold the whole thing, including the very limited fringe. All this is in contrast to the last spring conference I attended in 2011 in Sheffield, amid a huge police presence and shouting demonstrators. In 2011 the party was already over the edge of an abyss, though it took that year's disastrous local elections for many to realise it. This year conference goers thought the outlook was better. The immediate cause is not hard to see: the party's victory ...
Missed the Lib Dems' spring conference this weekend? Here are three clips to help you catch-up, or re-live, some of what happened... (You can see part 1 of our round-up here.) Nick Clegg criticises Theresa May's Human Rights Convention comments Paddy Ashdown's "That's B*****ks" comment Lib Dem conference report from Channel 4 News
So, I posted my first regular issue of GT yesterday. The feeling of GT readers seems to be that they would be happy to see content from places other than just Dreamwidth Communities, so if you post Who content and would like to be promoted in GT, drop me a comment below or on the GT watchlist "request to be added" post, or send an email to gallifrey.times@gmail.com Personally I'd like to see more discussion etc. as well as fic, and I'd like to see some graphical fanwork stuff as well. I'm going to go prod at a few of ...
 Nick has the answer  Eastleigh. Conference, I have never seen anything like it. Thousands and thousands of activists flooding in from every part of the UK. Young people arriving in their droves. Hitting the pavements, the phones, Facebook, Twitter, email - finding any and every way to drive our message home. I want to thank you all - you were just brilliant. They said we'd never win it. The same critics who try to write us off time and time again. But, you know what? The naysayers can tear up those political obituaries. Liberal Democrats: you proved them ...
Mon 11th
11:58
Eric Avebury writes...Managing our nuclear legacy: the £67.5 billion question for Ed Davey
The most important task facing Ed Davey for the long term is not how to manage the Energy Bill, but deciding how to deal with the 112 tonnes of plutonium accumulated at Sellafield and Dounreay from past civil nuclear operations, still growing at 4-6 tonnes a year. The cost of maintaining this hazardous material in maximum security conditions to the year 2050 is estimated at £67.5 billion. But storage in a geological disposal facility is not on the cards, with Cumbria County Council's decision to reject the idea in January, and no other candidates on the horizon. The best hope ...
Two events over the weekend have confirmed to me that I am after all marching to the beat of the right drums. The Liberal Democrat party has voted overwhelmingly against secret courts, thank goodness. I'm no lawyer but I think the right to know exactly of what you are accused, who is accusing you, and to be heard in public goes back to the Magna Carta (signed at Runnymede,15th June, 1215, as every schoolboy used to know). How on earth can a party that claims to be liberal and champion of the rule of law do other wise? If the ...
Why are we British so allergic to having key energy utilities owned by [and making profits for] the British Taxpayer when we are quite content to let the French Sate Owned EDF operate here? Is domestic energy security not as important as building dinosaur weapon systems like Trident replacement? The defence industry gets about £40bn annually from the Treasury. Rail gets about £4bn [silly me I thought the point of privatisation was to get rid of taxpayer subsidy] and DECC gets £4bn of which more than half goes to dealing with old nuclear plants. Are our priorities right? Answers on ...
Can nanotechnology help the economy of Edmonton become less dependent on oil? On the flight to Edmonton, I sat next to Ted, a friendly giant with a pronounced Dutch/Irish accent. He told me how, unable to find work in Ireland, he was flying to Canada with the promise of a job. With the ice beginning to melt, he and thousands of others will work for the summer, cleaning up oil refineries before moving on to the next opportunity. This story happens to be true. But fans of Thomas "world is flat" Friedman will recognise its type from his New York ...
William Powell, Welsh Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environment and Sustainable Development, has expressed his disappointment at the revealed cost of the new NRW logo. Following a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Welsh Government have revealed that they have spent a total of £7,625 on "agreeing the brief for the logo creation; developing and refining creative routes and developing basic visual style". "Given the current financial climate I find it deeply disappointing and scandalous that the Welsh Government is willing to spend £7,625 of public money on designing a new logo for Natural Resources Wales. "In recent ...
Mon 11th
10:15The Independent View: The case for ending unfair, out of date prescription charges for people with l...
We are now just over two years away from the next general election and political parties are starting to develop their manifestos. In this age of austerity, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's team has already identified "alarm clock Britain" as a key demographic in need of help - these are the basic rate taxpayers who get up early, take their children to school and then go to work only to find their living standards squeezed by current economic circumstances. If Liberal Democrats are indeed committed to helping this section of the population, they need look no further than delivering reform ...
On International Women's Day (last Friday) I spoke at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference Rally. Here is the full text of my speech: Good evening, Conference... It is a great pleasure to be speaking to you on International Women's Day... The day the world celebrates the women and girls who have made great strides on behalf of all of us in overcoming inequality... Women like Shirley Williams, who is my political heroine and a powerful inspiration for all liberal British women... Please join me in another round of applause for her... International Women's Day is also when we show solidarity ...
Thanks to a three-year cooperation programme with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the British Embassy in Tunis the Liberal Democrats hosted a group of visiting politicians from Tunisia and Lebanon at the Brighton Spring Conference. On the Saturday afternoon there was a closed session with the visitors and most of the Party's International Relations ...
I am a computer logistician by profession. I can tell you all about managing defective material retention contracts and the comparative stocking strategies of power supplies. I don't pretend to be an expert in communications. So the following comes under the heading of "as any fule kno", and therefore these statements are easy to make when, like me, you don't know what you are talking about. Communications Rule One The first rule of media crisis management was succinctly summarised for me on a con call a few months ago: "When a crisis breaks get all your dirty washing out into ...
Another post about secret courts and what the leadership's behaviour means for the party (tags: ) QC who had experience of secret courts resigns from lib dems over leadership support for them (tags: ) a good explanation of why the secret courts issue matters (tags: ) brilliant post by Charlotte Henry (tags: ) media ignoring the secret courts issue (tags: ) my first regular issue of gallifrey times (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
An event that saddened most Liberal Democrats over the weekend was Jo Shaw's resignation from the party over the issue of secret courts. I say "most" because there is one Liberal Democrat who is celebrating openly on his blog: Matthew Harris, who was the party's parliamentary candidate for Hendon in the 2010 general election and is vice-chair of Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel. His blog post begins: My heart leapt with joy at the news that, according to the BBC, two prominent members of my party had resigned over the issue of secret courts. There is a long list of ...
Former Parliamentary candidate Jo Shaw yesterday used a platform against secret courts to resign from the Lib Dems. I'm pretty furious Jo was made to feel like she had to make this choice. I used my diary at politics.co.uk to discuss what went on in the build up to her decision today. Iain Dale is ...
At the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference, Jo Shaw, a human rights campaigner and former parliamentary candidate, resigned from the party in the most public fashion when speaking from the rostrum against the Justice and Security Bill. Conference overwhelmingly supported her view but she was wrong to resign. A party is the sum of all its members not the errors of its leaders. I hope she
Well that was a very difficult weekend. I enjoyed Lib Dem conference itself as usual. It was good to meet up with some old friends and some new ones. But it was terribly dispiriting to see Nick Clegg's high-handed and frankly arrogant response during his Q&A to the questions about Secret Courts. It is clear that he thinks the membership is ill-informed on the issue and that he is absolutely fine with the fact that he, his ministers and the majority of his parliamentary party have voted for such an illiberal measure. I was gutted to see Jo Shaw resign ...
Yesterday morning, at a ridiculously early hour, as some Conference goers were only just going to bed, Lib Dem Voice Co-Editor Caron Lindsay spoke to Radio 5 Live about Conference in general and Nick Clegg's speech in particular. You can judge for yourself how accurate her predictions were by listening here from about 8 minutes in.
Missed the Lib Dems' spring conference this weekend? Here are three clips to help you catch-up, or re-live, some of what happened... "Where we work we win" says Nick Clegg Jo Shaw resigns over secret courts Paddy Ashdown on the Lib Dems and UK economy
The Smartest Guy in the Room "No one, it turns out, can ever really be the smartest guy in the room. For two reasons. First, to make sure that everyone keeps fighting to get in, and stay in. Second, to make sure that everyone who doesn't get in is kept out." (tags: politics economics ) JN-T: The Life And Scandalous Times Of John Nathan-Turner (review) "Scrupulously researched... strives for fairness and balance... Yet it's also a book one hesitates to recommend - you may feel this is one scab you'd prefer not to pick, one car crash you choose not ...
New from the Deputy Prime Minister's office: Also on YouTube.
Returning from Brighton yesterday, we were held up in long queues south of the Dartford crossing, where we found the bridge was closed. I have now learned the cause of our delay. A man wanted to commit suicide by jumping from the bridge and the police and negotiators closed the bridge and spent four hours trying to dissuade him. This sad story is only relieved by the thought tat the
Monday's Daily Telegraph leads with an exposé headlined: Councillors for hire who give firms planning adviceThe story begins: Councillors across the country are offering themselves for hire to property developers who are hoping to take advantage of relaxed planning laws which come into effect within weeks, a Daily Telegraph investigation reveals on Monday.Local government politicians are trading on their inside knowledge of the planning system to receive fees of up to £20,000 for advice on how to get developments approved, it can be disclosed.One Liberal Democrat councillor is amongst those named by the Telegraph (although it points out that "All ...
I have slammed the mindless vandals responsible for extensive graffiti vandalism in Victoria Park and in nearby streets (Scott Street and viewing area of Logie Avenue). It is thought the vandalism occurred overnight Friday/Saturday. Over the weekend, I reported the extensive vandalism to the police and also to the City Council's Rapid Response Team to get the graffiti cleaned up. See examples of the graffiti below: After months of very little of a graffiti issue, it is thoroughly disappointing to see this sort of mindless activity take place at the weekend. Some of the graffiti is offensive so I hope ...
Update from the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee: The spring programme of free talks in the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum kicks off next week with Jim Cook of the Dundee Naturalists' Society discussing The History of Natural History in Angus. Jim's talk, which takes place on Tuesday 12 March, will explore the long history of investigation of our local wildlife and wild places, with many interesting stories over the last 300 years such as the very first scientific dissection of an elephant, the discovery of the arctic-alpine plants of Clova and the recording of now-extinct plants, ...
View full image 10 things you should know about APMP Filed under: Blogging, Project Management
I'm not very happy about being a Liberal Democrat at the moment, but despite that I've renewed my membership for another year. My unhappiness is for the same reasons as every one else, but especially the support for secret courts followed by the resignations of Jo Shaw and Dinah Rose, and the benefit caps, but ...
As the Scottish Parliament heads towards Equal Marraige the menace that is some of the most vocal of those opposed is seeking to set the clock back. Scotland for Marriage in their response to the consultation have raised concerns about how the subject of same sex marriage and have urged that parents should have the right to remove their children from the classroom whenever such issues are to be discussed. It is a step back to Section 28, which even now many of the Tories who voted to bring it in say was a mistake. But is also means that ...
