The Western Morning News reports that the actress Susan Penhaligon has left the Liberal Democrats: "I feel slightly betrayed by the Lib Dems by going along with the 'bedroom tax'. And the NHS reforms seem like a step towards privatisation. More competition in the NHS would be a disaster."She also reveals that she is the second cousin of the Liberal MP David Penhaligon, who died in 1986: "The Liberal Democrats are not the old Liberal Party. I think David Penhaligon would be turning in his grave at some of the things that are happening. I don't like the Lib Dems ...
A more LibDem heavy post, this one. Non-anoraks can look away now. I think my favourite part of any election campaign, is once you're past maybe the second or third leaflet, and you can feel the ground begin to soften. My partner and I have both been selected in winnable seats here in Somerset, and we've been working pretty solidly since September. There is, therefore a really satisfying feeling - after delivering leaflets for the Police Commissioner and a leaflet between Christmas and New Year - that things are starting to thaw out politically, and the messages are getting across. ...
[IMG: 414585868_2c8513d269_n] We've now had three years of the blue-tinged contingent of the Coalition perpetrating a sustained attack on social security recipients - those slugabed skivers – in the name of curbing the deficit. Yesterday's post at the Guardian again maps the profoundly negative tone of the language that has accompanied the agenda. This has had serious consequences. It has further poisoned the debate and eroded empathy. In moving the agenda forward the Conservatives have been aided and abetted by their junior Coalition partners, at the cost to the party of many members and supporters. Resistance to this agenda has ...
Here in Sheffield, we have a by-election in the ward of Fulwood coming up. The Labour candidate advertises the ward as 'the heart of Nick Clegg's constituency' which is no lie, it's fairly solid yellow there. Yesterday, I spotted that a 'Fulwood Labour' website featured a poll asking whether Nick Clegg was standing up for Sheffield. The poll didn't have many votes but the majority had voted that he was indeed standing up for Sheffield. Today, I check back on the website to find that the whole thing appears to have been taken down. Did they remove it because they ...
A few months ago, I wrote this blog post suggesting that the UKIP surge was ending. Since then, there's been plenty of evidence, both in opinion polls and actual elections, that UKIP remain a potent electoral force. So, here's me eating humble pie, I called it wrong. In fact, the burgeoning nationalist party has an almost unbelievable pile of resources, I'm not quite sure who's paying for all these leaflets and such but they appear to be outspending the Liberal Democrats in several areas. I can only assume that they'll make gains in the county council elections this May, though ...
In 2000, the company I worked for published a book called ' Creativity Works' and I helped organise the launch (which included a reception at No.11 - oh la la). The book covered interviews with a series of business leaders on why they thought creativity mattered in business, and how it could make a difference. With a foreword by Gordon Brown, interviewees included Martha Lane Fox, Terry Leahy, Charles Dunstone...and Lord (Dennis) Stevenson. Not surprisingly, the Dennis Stevenson interview included reference to HBOS and his appointment of Andy Hornby. With the benefit of hindsight and in the light of the ...
The Government Art Collection (GAC) exhibition has been in the Ulster Museum for a few weeks now, and I still haven't been. So, who is up for a trip to see it? Sunday 7 April 2013 It is a bit short notice, but I am thinking of heading over there tomorrow about 1.30pm. More about ...
The new tax year has just started and that means Liberal Democrat tax reforms are coming into effect. From now on, more of the money people earn will go into their pockets and less will go to the taxman. That's because we've raised the point at which you start paying income tax. Over 20 million people will now pay £600 less than they did under Labour. In households where two people are working, that's an extra £1200 a year. £1200 to cover energy bills, or mortgage repayments, or to go towards a family holiday. And next April it'll go up ...
Across the road from the social services car park (which was firmly locked today) is a private car park. And in it, next to the attendant's hut, you can find the wall above. It is of interest because it is all that remains above ground of Greyfriars monastery, in the choir of whose church the body of Richard III was found. The attendant seemed pleased by my interest. He told me who owned the car park and that the owner had declined to sell it to the city council because it is such a good earner. He also said that ...
With the number of local government district set to be cut from the current twenty-six to just eleven in the next couple of years there will be a drop in the number of councillors of about 120. The environment minister has therefore put forward a plan to allow severance payments to current councillors who do ...
Ed Vaizey MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, has placed a temporary export bar on the seven hangings which lasts until 20 May 2013 but may be extended to 20 August 2013 if a serious intention to raise funds to purchase them at the recommended price of £120,000 ...
Yes, I am once again, a candidate for the Liberal Democrats in next month's County Council elections, this time in the Eastgate and Moreton Hall division which covers parts of Bury St Edmunds. Given that we achieved less than 9% of the vote in 2009, I wouldn't say that I was over-confident as to my prospects, but given that these could be very volatile elections indeed, anything could happen... and probably will. My opponents are the incumbent Independent, Labour, Conservatives and UKIP. And, if you live in the Division, and have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll answer them ...
This is a link to the report. Interestingly in 2.1 it says: "The MCA legislation is not well understood or implemented. Because of this, staff may be too quick to assume that people lack the capacity to make any decisions. Also staff may not try to maximise people's capacity, or carry out decisions within the best interests framework of the MCA, because they don't understand the legislation." I
Campaigners from the three threatened Southport libraries_Ainsdale, Birkdale. and Churchtown launched a drive to get volunteers on their new website please visit the site and fill in the form from the drop down menu at the top of the page. Supporters from the three libraries had a desk outside The Atkinson on Lord Street this morning.
Sat 6th
17:25
New Tory ad campaign tries to claim credit for Lib Dem delivery of tax-cuts for the low-paid
One Coalition policy, above all, polls strongly with the British public: lifting the income tax threshold to take the low-paid out of income tax altogether and to give a meaningful tax-cut to the lowest-paid. [IMG: lib dem manifesto tax cut] As the Lib Dems have never been shy of reminding people, it was the party's top priority at the 2010 general election. And it's being implemented now because the Lib Dems are in government. The Tories, it seems, have, a bit belatedly, noticed that cutting the taxes of the low-paid is quite a savvy thing to do. So, the Spectator ...
About 100 years ago the Birkdale and County Liberal Club held their annual picnic. In 1913 they visited Childwall Abbey. Undoubtedly the most significant figure in the photo is Charles Brumm -Birkdale's own 'CB'. He is fourth from the left. Brumm was German by birth and had become a naturalised UK citizen in the 1870's . He was President of Birkdale Liberals and held in very high regard as the last verse of this Election song shows: A year later with WW1 looming the annual picnic took them the the Rufford-Hesketh Arms. In the picture of that event Charles Brumm ...
If your plans this weekend include the middle-class nightmare of a trek round IKEA, you can at least seek solace in the IKEA cafeteria with a portion of moose lasagne. Except that the moose lasagne is off: Sales of the lasagne, of which about 10,000 tonnes has been produced by a Swedish supplier for IKEA, were stopped at its stores in 18 countries across Europe after tests by Belgian authorities late last month revealed traces of pork.To confuse matters, the BBC says that IKEA has withdrawn elk lasagne. But that's OK, because elk is the same thing as moose. Still, ...
I'm very wary of amendments to LGBT rights related bills. During the civil partnership debates we saw a lot of "wrecking" amendments that were unhelpful at best. But I am of the opinion that the Same-Sex Marriage Bill very much needs amending. Greg Mulholland, North Leeds' Lib Dem MP, is proposing to take legal marriage away from the religious organisations. I haven't seen the full details yet so my support is currently lukewarm, but it would seem the proposals would mean religious couples would have a civil ceremony followed (or preceded by I suppose!) a religious one (which is how ...
I know I've been pretty silent over here, but my running and my consistencies hadn't been particularly great. I think I was a little disappointed with myself, so I ESPECIALLY didn't want to tell my three readers that I was struggling with marathon training. I'm not going to pretend that a good part of my struggle wasn't mental: those hours and hours and hours of running were really taking their toll and it was getting harder to get out and run. But, there were other things going on - my lower left leg was consistently feeling sore and off and ...
Sat 6th
15:30
You want a reason to preserve our Tweets? Because today's ephemera is tomorrow's history
Send to KindleThe news that the six UK's six copyright libraries, including the British Library and Oxford's Bodleian Libraries, are "poised to capture and record the digital universe, including the entire web domain in the UK, under new regulations which come into play from today" has met with some to-be-expected sniffiness. Here, for instance, is Alice Jones in today's Indy: The prospect of tweets and status updates alongside Dickens and Mantel in the archives is alarming anyway. Already you can't delete your Facebook, only deactivate it, so it lives on, a Havisham-like timeline of faded party pictures and cobwebby banter. ...
In an article by the The Telegraph on Ian Duncan Smith's comment that he could live on £53 a week we're given an example of how the welfare system has gone wrong and how the government's reforms are right in principle, but wrong in practice. The welfare system has, as most agree, done nothing to help ...
[IMG: justice thirlwall phlpott case] The debate over the Philpott case has raged all week, but mostly at a tangent to the reality of the case. Thanks to Grace Dent's stellar column in today's Independent, I've finally read through Mrs Justice Thirlwall's summing up. It's concise, shrewd, plain spoken, unsparing: no legalese, just clear sense. It returns this case to where it belongs: an individual story of one man's obsessive compulsion to dominate and possess all those around him, in particular 'his' women. It's well worth reading the whole judgment in full. However, there are three sections I wanted to ...
Send to KindleHere's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Tories go on tax offensive » Spectator Blogs .@isabelhardman reports 'Tories go on tax offensive' http://bit.ly/10DmBlJ (I think they've left it too late to get credit for LD tax cuts) The Philpott case is horrific; so is the attempt to hijack it for any political purpose » Spectator Blogs .@alexmassie is very good on the left/right 'trollemic' surrounding the Philpott case http://bit.ly/10DmrL8 Mrs Justice Thirlwall: The one woman Philpott couldn't defeat – Comment – Voices – The Independent Yes, @GraceDent's article is as good as everyone says: Mrs Justice Thirlwall: ...
We will of course never see a front page like the one above. That is because the Daily Mail has a very specific agenda. It has spent decades trying to demonise people on benefits and now that Mick Philpott has been convicted of killing his own children they see no problem at all in stating that Philpott and by implication his crimes are as a result of the welfare system. This is the very essence of confirmation bias. They don't like people who have lots of children on benefits. One of them is involved in a terrible crime. So they ...
Hertfordshire County Council's notoriously large Press and Public affairs team has come under fire again from the Liberal Democrats. Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst (Central Watford and Oxhey), Leader of the Opposition has challenged senior officers regarding a press release promoting the County Council and their controversial contractor during an election period. Cllr Giles-Medhurst commented, "Ringway have rightly been heavily criticised by County Councillors, including the Conservative lead member on highways, so why are the County Council issuing press releases praising them? "Is this another sign the County Council is over-staffed and the expensive public relations machine has either nothing better to ...
Continuing my mid-life crisis and digging up music from my teenage years I thought of this song. This takes me back to Sixth form days and the summer of 98 sitting about the common room playing Star Wars CCG - I never said I was cool! Or sitting in my mate Tim's car in the carpark chillaxing to tunes. ah... where have those days gone? Still! Enjoy!!!
Compulsory reading for anybody interested in politics should include Drew Westen's The Political Brain - Review here. Westen's analysis of the Democratic defeats of the Bush years is that the Democrats failed to tap the emotions of the electorate, and relied too much on rational argument. Bill Clinton, it is argued, is the exception that proves the rule, being unusually empathic. The book predates Obama, who seems to have learned some of its lessons. Today's discussion point: How does this translate to Britain? My impression is that there is a fair mix of reason and emotion across the whole spectrum. ...
Yes – it is tough out there! But without the Liberal Democrats' delivering our front page manifesto commitment to raise the tax threshold – we wouldn't even have that £600. And next year the threshold will rise to £10,000 of earnings before any tax is payable. So how would you use an extra £600? (You can also watch the film directly on YouTube.)
[IMG: Leeds General Hospital, George Street] When he encouraged Leeds General Hospital to stop heart operations on children a week ago, the NHS medical director said there were three aspects of their work that worried him. One of these was their failure - which the hospital disputes - to refer complex cases elsewhere. At the heart of this is one of the great conundrums of the new NHS. In my choice review, I put it like this: "There are certainly ways in which a narrow interpretation of choice can make choice meaningless in practice." The problem is that, for very ...
Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore has welcomed further tax cuts for Scottish workers coming into force today. If you're playing "stronger economy and fairer society" bingo, he's got that in there too. He said: This Coalition Government has brought fairness back into the tax system. We want people to keep more of their hard earned money and that's why on 6 April, people in Scotland will receive a £600 tax cut.I'm delighted that the Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge reaches so many people: 2.2 million Scots will benefit from the tax cut with 186,000 lifted out of ...
As 1,110,000 million people in Wales enjoy tax bills that are £600 lower than in 2010 on Monday, Danny Alexander writes in the Telegraph to show that it is the rich who are funding this revolution: This week for the first time people flying in business and private jets will be paying the same tax on flying that we all pay when we go on our holidays. Labour were happy for the super-rich to fly for free, we are not. And this week also saw the introduction of a Mansion Tax for tax dodgers. It's not the full on Mansion ...
HBOS failure was an "accident waiting to happen" - Business - Halifax Courier (tags: ) Kind, smart, lovely people sometimes support bigoted public policy | Alas, a Blog "I think that one thing we should admit to is that being a nice person, a non-hateful person, a loving person, a genuinely good person, does not make us immune from holding bigoted positions." - this is a point I should remind myself of more often. (tags: ) What type of scientist are you? Quiz | Dean Burnett | Science | guardian.co.uk Woe! I'm a statistician! (tags: ) How to Spot Gastric ...
The 6 April Income Tax cut is a giant leap towards the Welsh Liberal Democrat goal of a fairer tax system. This weekend the Personal Allowance will be raised to £9,440 - the largest rise in the Personal Allowance ever. This means that 1.1 million ordinary basic rate taxpayers in Wales will see their Income Tax cut for the third year in a row. That will bring the total Income Tax cut since Labour's time in government to £600. Thanks to this rise in the point at which you start to pay Income Tax, the number of the lowest paid ...
One of the pleasures of rural life is the wildlife, something that, as a transplanted Londoner, one doesn't take for granted. And as 'wildlife monitor' on the Parish Council, I've taken more of an interest in conservation. I'm a member of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, and spent a slightly frustrating evening in their badger hide last year, watching the badgers... hide. We were encouraged to keep an eye out for owls last year and, occasionally, I would see one out in the fields, hunting for field mice at dusk. They are rather impressive, and they glide silently over the wheat ...
"Lib Dems attack Osborne for 'playing politics' over Philpott" says the front-page headline in today's Guardian: But the story beneath does not justify the hype. What does this "Lib Dem attack" actually consist of? According to the Guardian: A coalition rift was blown into the open when the Liberal Democrats condemned George Osborne for "playing politics" with the deaths of six children after the chancellor highlighted the Mick Philpott case to raise questions about high welfare payments. Amid deep unease among senior Lib Dems - up to and including Nick Clegg - over the Conservatives' use of the deaths of ...
[IMG: Photo 4 Len and Rod email version] Andover Lib Dems have selected well know local campaigner Len Gates as candidate for Andover North in the forthcoming county council elections. Len lives in Andover with his wife Linda, he works as Technical Manager for a Hampshire fruit farm. For eight years he was borough councillor for Andover's Alamein ward. As a borough councillor he campaigned for a 30mph speed limit and a parish council in Enham; in Smannell and Little London he worked for better broadband and backed the campaign against the diversion of Smannell Road through the new housing ...
Following a slight technical blip, the candidates for Launceston Town Council have also been announced. There are a total of sixteen to be elected in three wards (using the same boundaries as for the Cornwall Council election). In North Ward, there is only one nomination for the two places so Margaret Young is automatically re-elected. In Central Ward, there are six nominations for the seven places, so all are automatically elected. They are Rob Tremain, Paul O'Brien, Dave Gordon, Ashley Crapp, Graeme Facks-Martin and, er, me. In South Ward, there are ten nominations for the seven places. However, two of ...
I told you the other night that Sarah Teather had condemned George Osborne's comments connecting the Philpott case to the welfare system. Some people made comments along the lines that it was only a backbencher, and no Liberal Democrat minister had said such a thing. Well, yesterday, Danny Alexander did. The BBC has the story. Danny said:George Osborne is clearly right that there needs to be a full debate about the future of our welfare system but the Philpott case is an individual tragedy. Children have died in that case and the vile individuals who were guilty of these murders ...
[IMG: Danny Alexander] I told you the other night that Sarah Teather had condemned George Osborne's comments connecting the Philpott case to the welfare system. Some people made comments along the lines that it was only a backbencher, and no Liberal Democrat minister had said such a thing. Well, yesterday, Danny Alexander did. The BBC has the story. Danny said: George Osborne is clearly right that there needs to be a full debate about the future of our welfare system but the Philpott case is an individual tragedy. Children have died in that case and the vile individuals who were ...
On Sunday I wrote about Tory electioneering and was looking forward to the way they would present their 2% cut in council tax. I received their leaflet two days ago and the headline is '2% Cut in Council Tax, No Cut in Services'. They give no explanation as to how they have achieved their goal and the reason is that there is no explanation to be had. The Tories ignored advice from council officers as well as the neutral advisers to the Conservative administration who told them "the Council does not yet have a detailed plan in place to manage ...
This article by Katherine Whitehorn in last Tuesday's Guardian should be required reading in all NHS hospitals. Whatever happened to "Miss Blenkinsop, may I call you Mabel?", spoken in hesitant tones? That may have been stuffy and Edwardian, but the whole point of needing permission to use a first name was that it implied intimacy, which, apart from senior relatives, only the owner of the Christian name could bestow. OK, we all sling first names around more than they did in those days, but we still have surnames for strangers and first names for friends. So it's no wonder we're ...
The local elections are now well underway and many candidates, including the Lib Dem team in Ludlow have been canvassing for weeks. Yesterday Shropshire Council published the full list of candidates for the 2 May elections. There has been a flurry of last minutes candidates, including from UKIP which has pulled 29 out of the ...
With nominations now closed for the county and unitary elections and statements of those nominated starting to be posted by local returning officers it is clear UKIP's boasts about standing large numbers of candidates have proven true. Vote UK forum has comprehensive threads on the elections on a county by county (and unitary) basis including details of those nominated. And so far it looks like the Lib Dems will come fourth in the number of candidates nominated with UKIP standing more candidates than the party in Lancashire, Derbyshire and Norfolk - and more worryingly for the the Lib Dems - ...
I have recently been contacted by Balgay Bowling Club who are keen to attract new members to their excellent facility at Melville Terrace. Balgay Bowling Club is a modern, family club set in lovely surroundings and has one of the best bowling green surfaces in Tayside. The club offers a range of bowling opportunities, including informal games, internal club competitions, friendly inter-club competitions and more competitive inter-club competitions - something for everyone. You can read more about the club's facilities and activities here.
From the Curator of Museum Services, University of Dundee : Now on show in the Lamb Gallery at the University of Dundee, this exhibition of photographs and artefacts relating to the history of Scottish policing is drawn from collections across the country. The exhibition will be officially launched on Wednesday 10 April with refreshments served in the gallery from 5.30pm followed by a series of short talks by members of the project research team in Baxter Room 1.36 at 6.30pm, organised in collaboration with the Abertay Historical Society. Modern policing in Scotland dates from 1800, when a police force was ...
According to the Statements of Persons Nominated for Hampshire County Council one Sandra Gidley is standing for the Lib Dems in the unusually named Romsey Extra division.
The next Bar Hill Community Market takes place today from 10:30am to 2pm in the Octagon next to the Church (a map, courtesy of OpenStreetView.org, is below). Stalls include Fruit and vegetables, Homemade cakes, Jewellery, Cards, Confectionery, Jams, Knitted items, Patchwork, Bags, Wooden crafts, Beauty products as well as stalls raising funds for local projects. There will also be refreshments and, weather permitting, a BBQ. If you wish to be part of this, or future, markets please contact us. Karen Austen 01954 781085 or Sue Gadsby 01954 200875 Please come and support your local community! Bar Hill Community Market: Octagon ...
