Sky are this evening reporting the departure of Rohan Silva from Downing Street. Mr Silva has helped develop the Government's economic growth strategy City Editor Mark Kleinman reports: Mr Silva is understood to have held talks about taking up a role as an "entrepreneur-in-residence" at Index Ventures, the technology investment firm which has backed ...
[IMG: meme-wars] A few weeks ago I had a brief exchange on Twitter with @unlearningecon about the possibility of introductory economics instruction going beyond teaching the neoclassical model of perfect competition and exploring alternatives. If I remember correctly our exchange didn't get much beyond me saying that to do so is quite a challenge. Students can find it difficult enough to grasp the standard model, let alone alternatives to it. The challenge is compounded because some of the alternatives, at micro-level at least, are not as well worked through as the standard model. @unlearningecon didn't feel it was so difficult. ...
"There should be a statutory level beneath which pay should not fall - with the minimum wage decided not on the basis of a rigid formula but according to the economic circumstances of the time and with the advice of an independent low pay commission, whose membership will include representatives of employers, including small business, and employees" This was the promise as made in the Labour parties manifesto in 1997 to set up a National Minimum Wage Act (1998). It also said that: "There must be minimum standards for the individual at work, including a minimum wage, within a flexible ...
West Mercia's Police and Crime Commissioner Bill Longmore has just finished consulting on "Innovative Local Policing Plans" - how the force intends to maintain effective policing in an area of swingeing budget cuts. As part of the plans, the current Ludlow police station will be closed and replaced by a base somewhere else in the ...
This week's Lib Dem Voice Golden Dozen has my post about the Bluebell Railway in fourth place. As videos of preserved railway lines are clearly what the punters want, here is another. But there is a political point to this video, which is a trailer for a longer DVD. (There are others about the line on sale on the Swanage Railway site.) As BBC News reported a few days ago: A modern passenger train has travelled on a Dorset heritage railway line for the first time in more than 40 years. The SouthWest Trains diesel train travelled on the Swanage ...
[IMG: margaret-thatcher] Like Caron, I spent more than a healthy amount of my Bank Holiday Monday watching BBC Parliament's re-run of the 1983 general election. It's not an election I remember (I was 6). But the symmetry of yesterday's hyperbolic Guardian ('The day Britain changed') front page and the televised reminder of Margaret Thatcher's first landslide seemed calculated to confirm the left's view that 1st April 2013 marked the ultimate victory of those on the right who wanted (and still want) to destruct the welfare state. What Mrs T, Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson started — the left exhorts — ...
You can always rely on the Shropshire Star for your Headline of the Day.
After the local elections next month, the Queen will be announcing the government's legislative plan for the next session of parliament. We want to make sure this plan includes the long promised legislation for a lobbying register in her speech. But this might not happen. Despite repeated reassurances and a commitment in the coalition agreement, the government has been dragging its feet. When asked if legislation for the lobbying register will be in the next Queen's Speech last week, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg would only say the government will publish its proposals "in due course" [1]. Will you ...
Over 150 business people have given the thumbs up to a series of free workshops set up by a local council to give people the knowledge they need to succeed. The 15 events held across South Cambridgeshire covered topics ranging from how to start your own business and market research to networking and planning a website. Exemplas were employed by South Cambridgeshire District Council to deliver the events which were aimed at small and medium sized businesses. Additional follow up advice was also given after the workshops to help make sure actions were implemented. The workshops were run in small ...
Since the turn of the New Year, I've been wondering whether I should renew my Lib Dem membership. Ever since the disappointment that was the failure of attempts to reform the House of Lords I've been sailing towards resigning from the party. The recent spring conference controversy over secret courts and Nick Clegg's (formerly beloved round these parts) appalling reaction (or lack thereof) has done little to make me sing the party's praises. But being a political independent doesn't sit right with me. I'm an idealist and political independence has a powerful and romantic draw. But what would it achieve? ...
I have just watched the Channel 4 News report on the Coalition's welfare reforms. It began with the speech George Osborne made today and then went into a studio discussion. Labour was represented by the shadow minister and the Coalition by... Nadhim Zahawi? Who? He is the backbench Tory MP for Stratford-upon-Avon and one of those tiresome backbenchers who likes to think of himself as a bit of a character - it's known in the psychological literature as Opik Syndrome. In fact so poor was Zahawi that Lembit could probably have done a better job. It makes you wonder whether ...
I am pleased to see that the Liberal Democrat manifesto for this year's Leicestershire County Council elections floats the idea of abolishing the council's cabinet system. The group leader Simon Galton, a fellow councillor of mine on Harborough District Council many years ago, is quoted by the Leicester Mercury: "The problem with cabinet is that it is a group of Conservatives sitting round a table and they don't listen. The decisions have already been made in pre-cabinet briefings in secret and they are just rubber stamped. "We would consider getting rid of the cabinet in the long-run, which would be ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 319th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (24-30 March, 2013), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1.South Shields is not ...
This is a good article about how the inherent jursidiction of the court is overreaching itself in secret. If it was not subject to contempt of court secrecy this would not be tolerated.
An exclusive story from EurActiv: An ex-UK Independence Party (UKIP) MEP says that the party's climate change scepticism was callow and so eccentric that party press officers often had to contradict the views of its climate spokesman, Lord Monckton. "The policy was very rudimentary and their [climate change] position was very amateurish," said Marta Andreasen, who left UKIP to join the Conservatives in February. "Climate change is not a reality for UKIP," she added.The more you hear about UKIP, the more you realise what a shambles it is. So the question is why it has become so popular. The grumpy ...
The tantalising prospect of a new UK-wide constitutional convention has been advocated in recent weeks by the esteemed constitutional expert Professor Vernon Bogdanor. Professor Bogdanor, recognising the lack of consideration given to the largest UK nation under the current devolution settlement and responding to the findings of the McKayCommission, argues that a "one-state solution toEngland's role in a devolved UK" is required: "the need, therefore, is for a UK-wide constitutional convention, with popular participation, to consider both how devolution can evolve in the non-English parts of the United Kingdom, but also how the English can be better governed even in ...
So there are rumblings that the government is planning to freeze or perhaps even reduce the minimum wage for those over 21 years of age. This would be completely wrong-headed for at least three reasons. Most importantly it is simply not fair to penalise those who earn the least (which by definition are those earning the national minimum wage). They are the so called "strivers" that George Osborne keeps banging on about. Surely this government should want to protect them rather than see their real-terms salary fall? But if that's too wishy-washy namby-pamby sandal-eating muesli-wearing for you then here are ...
Tue 2nd
17:55
What does the PCC think of The Telegraph's failure to update stories following its ruling?
You might have thought that with all the fuss about the moment over whether the newspaper industry can really be trusted to regulate its own affairs in a meaningful manner, not to mention all the embarrassing issues highlighted by the Leveson Report, that the newspaper industry would at least be being rather careful about its behaviour. But in fact the highly controversial practice continues of running a story, being subject to an adverse Press Complaints Commission ruling and then not making this clear in versions of the story still published online. As I pointed out in my submission to the ...
So, apart from being economically illiterate (we all know who spends more money and keeps the economy going by now, right?) the proposal to reduce the minimum wage flies against the "noone shall be enslaved by poverty" bit of the Lib Dem constitution. So how soon are our gone-native ministers going to come out in favour of it? View Poll: Reducing the minimum wage ETA: also, what's the bets that when they DO reduce it it'll go down to the level of the tax threshold and they'll ask us bloggers to present it as a win that nobody on minimum ...
Well, I don't know. I watched the recent documentary Richard III: The Unseen Story about the discovery of the bones of Richard III again over Easter - watched it through twice in fact. And I'm still not quite convinced. I admit, I am partly defending my own impression of Richard III, based on somewhat dubious eye-witness accounts, that he was not actually a hunchback at all. The programme revealed that his spine did not begin to bend until he was in his teens, so perhaps that is still consistent with the stories. Even so, it was all just too perfect. ...
Today is the first working day of the NHS reforms which allow doctors in clinical commissioning groups to make financial decisions. Everyone knows that the NHS isn't perfect so maybe it is better to allow more services to go out to tender. Competition allows for choice and if clinicians are making that choice then surely standards must be raised. On the other hand doctors have been trained to treat patients. Professional managers surely make for better management and it would not be difficult to take the views of the clinicians into account. An additional bonus is that doctors would then ...
I spent more of my bank holiday than is healthy watching the rerun of the 1983 election on BBC Parliament. When I lived through it, I was an innocent and idealistic 15 year old. I really believed people would be so outraged that the Alliance had polled 7 million votes, finishing marginally behind Labour but with about a ninth of their seats. As Shirley Williams said, it was "absolute rubbish." Surely we would have PR within a decade? Thirty years on, it depresses me that we are no further forward. Westminster remains the last bastion of first past the post, ...
Dear Therese, I understand that you are supporting calls by one of your parliamentary colleagues to ban tax hikes by town and parish councils without a referendum. You are, if the Ipswich Star is to be believed, proposing that any 'excessive' increase should require endorsement at a general meeting, or at a special general meeting, with a secret vote.Unfortunately, the position of parish councils is rather more complex than you appear to understand, so perhaps some information might be useful. Firstly, almost as an aside, you should note that Parish Annual Meetings - the ones where we elect a Chair, ...
Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 650 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results. [IMG: reform] It has been proposed the Liberal Democrats should be able to allow job-share candidates to stand on a joint ticket for election to Parliament to open up the role of MP to a wider group of people than at present. If elected, agreed protocols around voting, serving on select committees and other MPs' duties would bind the job-share ...
If anyone can explain why liking the Qualitative Methods in Psychology page on Facebook results in this particular set of suggested pages, then I'm all ears!
Book now for the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) and Social Liberal Forum (SLF) conference on race equality with guest speaker Vince Cable. The conference is taking place on Saturday 1st June, 11.45am to 6pm ...
Send to KindleHere's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... The £10,000 tax-free sop patronises the low-paid | Lynsey Hanley | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Bonkers #QTWTAIN in Gdn "isn't idea of 3m ppl working hard + not being required to pay tax a recipe for disenfranch?" http://bit.ly/YsK6yt David Miliband and the debasement of British politics | Aditya Chakrabortty | Comment is free | The Guardian Buried in @Chakrabortty article is fair pt: politics is preserve of moneyed. Also of public sector. Both unrepresntve http://bit.ly/14JizwH Send to Kindle
The Children's Society reveals that 1.2 million school age children in poverty aren't getting free school meals, 700,000 because they aren't even entitled to them. At the same time the Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill comes into force, under which almost two thirds of the money saved comes from the poorest households. According to the Department for Work and Pensions, the effect of the Bill is to increase child poverty by 200,000 children. The Institute of Fiscal Studies estimates that by 2015/16 there will be 300,000 more children in poverty than today. The bedroom tax, which kicks in this month, affects ...
The new edition of Liberator magazine is at the printers and subscribers will receive it next week. More details of the new edition's contents will appear on this blog shortly. To make sure you receive your copy, subscribe here.
There is no doubt in my view that something needs to be done to relieve congestion on the M4 around Newport. But is a relief road the right solution? The problem with new roads is that they fill up as fast as you can build them and then we have demands for yet more roads to relieve them. In the case of this section of the M4, the main cause of congestion is local traffic travelling distances of less than 5 miles. The obvious solution is to bolster public transport and build new local roads, something I thought the Welsh ...
Today's Western Mail reports that the new Health Minister has indicated he will seek to change a controversial Welsh Government policy to exempt film and television production companies from the smoking ban: Professor Drakeford said: "My personal view is well known, so I'm not going to suggest that my point of view has changed in becoming a Minister. "I was part of that committee and was on the record as saying that, as far as I could tell from the many health witnesses who appeared before it, the change did not have the support of the health community. "So that's ...
Should more scientists follow James Hansen's example and unleash their inner activist? Leading climate scientist James Hansen is to retire from Nasa this week, leaving him more time to spend working on political advocacy at state, federal and international levels. It's clearly a move made with political advocacy in mind. As the New York Times puts it: "At 72, he said, he feels a moral obligation to step up his activism in his remaining years." Hansen has long been a problem for those who believe science and politics should be separate. It'll be very interesting to see this all play ...
Tue 2nd
11:57
Councillor Fower starts writing weekly article for popular Peterborough City Online! @pborocity
[IMG: 575753_10151290670671710_2038083048_n] Your local LIB DEM ward councillor, Darren Fower, has accepted an invitation from the ever popular news website Peterborough City Online, to provide a regular weekly article! To read the first ever submission please CLICK HERE!
Bradford West MP George Galloway has welcomed the new leader of Hamas, an organisation constitutionally bent on the destruction of Israel. Congratulations to Khaled Mishaal on his re-election as leader of Hamas. Onward to Palestinian unity! — George Galloway (@georgegalloway) April 2, 2013 Hamas are designated as terrorist organisation by the EU and ...
Tue 2nd
11:34
"Just listen. You could change a life" See Me Scotland launches new campaign to encourage conversati...
Two guys on a golf course. But they aren't talking about football or beer. It quickly becomes clear that one has been an absolute lifeline to the other, helping him through a period of mental ill health, encouraging him out and being a friend. That's the ad from See Me Scotland which starts a new campaign to encourage us to ask people how they are feeling and listen to what they have to say about their mental health. A couple of weeks ago, during a debate on mental health at Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference, Lin Macmillan described two occasions in ...
Unlike our report on electoral reform yesterday, this is no joke. The government's Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (which I seem to recall has two Liberal Democrat ministers in it) is worried the minimum wage may be too high. Well, let's have a look at the minimum wage. The rate for people aged 21 or over is currently £6.19 per hour. Does that sound too high to you? How would you know? You are probably middle class and think in terms of an annual salary, so let's convert it into terms you will understand. Assuming a 40-hour week and ...
England is back. It never really went away - nations with histories as deep and rich as that never do - but now she's starting to rear her head up and ask difficult questions about where she stands in the world, and the Union. With Scotland fixing a date for a decision on whether to ...
[IMG: Postal ballot being posted] Something rarely talked about with postal voting is the number of people who miss out on having their vote cast because the Royal Mail loses or delays the delivery of the ballot paper back to the Returning Officer. It isn't a number that can be measured directly, but one figure is gathered but then ignored – the number of ballot papers that are returned by Royal Mail too late to be included in the count. The figures don't tell us where the balance of responsibility rests between the Royal Mail (failing to return the envelopes ...
[IMG: Earth] How would non-partisan observers see the condition of UK democracy over the decades as viewed from above the stratosphere ? With Labour they might see a political party that replaced the Liberals as the party of reform in the 1930s and after WW2, based on representing the 'working class' - then working mostly in industry. They might contrast this with today's Labour party - now mostly funded and controlled by public sector unions - both a strength and weakness in terms of the progression of democracy. A public sector union is a very peculiar animal. Without the constraints ...
Did you know that Stockport Libraries have nearly 40,000 historic photos online and fully searchable, with photos going back over 120 years. View and search the library at the Image Archive page and there are hundreds of photographs of Cheadle and Gatley included in the archive. For example: [IMG: A busy Cheadle High Street] A busy Cheadle High Street [IMG: Postcard from Gatley, 1917] Postcard from Gatley, 1917 [IMG: Gatley Festival, 1927] Gatley Festival, 1927
I've just read an article by Haringey Liberal Democrat leader Richard Wilson, which details the many failings of Labour-run Haringey Council over the last month. Unfortunately the failings are all to familiar – they've been at this for the best part of 40 years. The article is a must read for all local residents – who deserve much better! Full link here:
Tue 2nd
09:45
Adittya Chakrabortty is wrong to say House of Commons is "ever more remote". It's more diverse than ...
[IMG: House of Commons. Crown Copyright applies to this photo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/uk_parliament/4642915654/] Last week, Mary Reid published an excellent couple of articles — Changing culture is a long term project - the past; and its companion piece: the future — highlighting social progress achieved in her lifetime. One area she didn't mention is the way parliament is much more diverse today than it has been in the past. I mention it today in part at least to respond to Aditya Chakrabortty's post in today's Guardian (David Miliband and the debasement of British politics) which perpetuates the seductive myth that "our ...
The 'Festwich' event is returning to St Mary's Park on Saturday 27 – Sunday 28 July 2013. The organisers have booked the Longfield suite for Thursday 11th April 6.30pm - 8.30pm & 12th April 10.00 - 12 noon for residents drop in Q&A. More information on the flyer below [IMG: Flyer]
[IMG: Screen Shot 2013-03-13 at 09.55.24] Bury Council are actively looking for more foster carers in and around Bury. We are always keen to hear from new people who are interested in becoming Foster Carers. Bury children need Bury homes, and that is why we offer our carers training and ongoing support with access to many different specialised services. As a valued Foster Carer we will give practical support and a weekly allowance in recognition of your work. There are also a range of family friendly benefits available to Bury foster carers! Foster Carers are valuable members of our team, ...
I hope you all spotted that we had not one, but two, April Fool posts yesterday. Simon McGrath announced a Special Lib Dem Conference to be held on April 1st 2016 when all former Lib Dem Ministers would don sackcloth and ashes and apologise for their actions in Government. I hear a song coming on ... That was followed by a post by our new co-editor, Caron Lindsay on how you can help Liberal Democrat Voice. Oh, sorry ... that was deadly serious. But later in the morning the Lib Dem Voice collective revealed that secret talks had been going ...
Shock horror this morning, Cllr Clive Hart, Leader of the controversial coalition of Thanet councillors whose main policy seems to be keeping Labour in power, declined an invitation to speak on BBC radio Kent, about the new twice daily KLM service from Manston Airport to Schiphol which starts today. Thank god, I say, who wants to hear the tortuous cynical explanation of Labour once again, as they try and justify the slippery policy change, prior to the last local elections, when they went big on nimby's and enviro nuts, forgetting some of us would like jobs and a future. While ...
Liz Wilson Friends of Wighton's Easter Week Lunchtime Recital on Wednesday 3rd April will feature the spell-binding storyteller, Liz Wilson. Liz is a storyteller and traditional singer from Caithness who now lives in Linlithgow. She tells stories from around the world as well as those from Scotland and its islands, especially Orkney and Shetland, appealing to children and adults of all ages. She has won storytelling competitions at Keith and Girvan Folk Festivals and tells stories in schools, shopping centres and yurts - indeed anywhere she is asked to go. The Storytelling starts at 1.15pm in the Wighton Heritage Centre, ...
I was on Wave 102 News yesterday regarding the digital TV channels issue I have raised. You can hear the interview here by clicking 'play' below:
