Here's a sentence I wasn't expecting to write today: I should have been going to Bristol's Pride, but other plans got in the way. Pride. It's never been my thing, as I've discussed on these pages before. My sexuality is incidental, not fundamental, to my identity. My politics have primarily been about other issues. Pride. It's something that I find a difficult concept in relation to being gay, as I do of *just being* Scottish or British. But just as I'm proud of things many Scots and Brits have done and contributed to the world, I cannot ignore the achievements ...
Former Maghull Councillor, Cliff Mainey started the wild flower planting here (at the junction of the A59 Northway & Liverpol Road South) and I must say I still delight in seeing wild flowers. [IMG: rsz_wild_flowers_at_bobbys_wood_06_13]
LibDemVoice has two parallel sites. The first is our public blog, the thing you're reading now. The second is our private members' forum, which only current Lib Dem members can access. If you're a member and want to chat with fellow party members about any issue that's on your mind, then why not sign up? In addition, you'll be included in our regular surveys' of party members' views. Here's some of the most active discussions this past 10 days: MPs' pay; Cable to announce Royal Mail sell-off; 'Britain is coming out of intensive care' says Gideon; Funding Political Parties; Labour ...
It is good to see Vince Cable in this morning's Guardian continuing to set out the differences between the Liberal Democrats and the Tories within the coalition. In this particular instance he is accusing the Tories of blocking a Liberal Democrats plan to allow more council homes to be built through a relaxation of local authority borrowing rules. The party in England believe that councils could build up to 25,000 homes if they were allowed to pool their borrowing limits, releasing up to £2.8bn: Cable's speech coincides with the Lib Dems releasing the text of a motion on the economy ...
My latest letter to The Herald, this time taking a former chief constable over my knee:I'd like to praise The Herald for shedding further light on the deadly effects of fake ecstasy pills (headline of 13th July 2013), but I'd also like to raise concerns about some of the counter arguments to the 'regulation of a legal market' proposals I outlined in my letter of July 8th, both in Christopher Gilfedder's letter of July 10th, and in Dr Ian Oliver's appearance on BBC's Newsnight Scotland programme on July 11th. Both offenders peddle the ridiculous notion that the illegal drug industry ...
Lynne Featherstone has been writing at the Huffington Post about her visit to Malawi. She talked about sitting with a father just after he found out he had HIV. She explores in the article how that man and others can be helped by intitiatives she is responsible for: There was little hope in the eyes of the father I sat with shortly after he learnt he was living with HIV. Cradling his son in his arms, together they faced the agonising wait for the boy's test results. While 68,000 people die of AIDS-related illnesses here every year, HIV/AIDS no longer ...
The Welsh Government has set up a steering group to look at ways of increasing the supply of, and demand for, Low Carbon Vehicles. It will be industry led and a progress report is expected before the end of the year. The automotive industry already provides a substantial number of jobs in Wales and plays a significant part in our economy. This places us in an ideal position to take advantage of opportunities for green jobs through the development of low carbon transport. The Welsh Liberal Democrats have long been of the opinion that green jobs are the way forward ...
If I have to be inside on a glorious Summer Saturday, I am glad it's here at Social Liberal Forum Conference in Manchester. Vince Cable has just done a highly informative session where he outlined key differences between us and the Tories on the economy. You can get the main points from following #slfconf on Twitter. The whole speech deserves more attention than I can give it while half listening to another session, but I thought you would like to know that he confirmed that for last year's Budget, he had a deal with Osborne to introduce a Mansion Tax ...
[IMG: school meals] If you're an independent person involved in writing a report for Government, I offer some advice. Take a holiday for the week after the report's published. Somewhere remote. Ideally without internet. How else to avoid your blood-pressure shooting through the roof as the media – both social and traditional – ignore 99% of your work and misrepresent the rest? For the latest example, look no further than the School Food Plan, a 149 page practical guide to improving the health and attainment of young people by improving their diet in school. It's full of interesting research and ...
[IMG: British newspapers] An intrepid journalist from the William James School of Multiverse Journalism brings back this report on how this week played out in a very similar, yet not quite identical, parallel universe. Newspaper industry plunged into crisis as new research reveals they widely mislead their readers Shock new research into the views of the British public has plunged the newspaper industry into crisis. The work, carried out by the Royal Statistical Society and King's College London, tested the public's views on a range of topics heavily covered by the country's newspapers week after week. Yet the research found ...
posted The Blood is The Life 12-07-2013 http://t.co/9PQ8Swfyj8 on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) Sugar coated austerity with a side of mussels and coconut cream: More on Great British Budget Menu. http://t.co/jvDudAXE6X (tags: (from twitter) ) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23241292 Women were banned from playing on FA pitches for 50years. These women helped changed that. WATCH: http://t.co/DKNw93khpL #WomenInSport (tags: (from twitter) ) http://www.guardian.co.uk/p/3h9kz/tw Top Stuff: The Ireland abortion debate, summed up in one disrespectful gesture | Emer O'Toole http://t.co/8SPpbQEv9Z (tags: (from twitter) ) Tardis notes to the doctor http://t.co/VLnOGB9xWE (tags: (from twitter) ) @abjtal it was Tabatha. Tabatha ...
David Allen recently wrote that supporting Stephen Gough, known as the Naked Rambler was a cause for "fundementalist liberals". This isn't a case of moderates versus fundementalists, it's a case that all good liberals should support. As liberals most of us will accept some degree of the Harm Principle, that people should roughly be able to do what they want as long as they don't hurt others. Taking this basic principle into consideration there is no possible harm that anyone can do simply by the act of being nude within public. If we want to shed our clothes and our ...
Sat 13th
09:37
Sefton's Local Plan consultation - A war of words between Council and environmental campaigners brea...
Sparks have been flying between Council Officers and local environmental campaigners over Sefton's launch material published as a wrap-around to the Borough's newspapers this week. Having seen both sides of the dispute I fear that the Council is not providing information that is clear and understandable. It is obviously the case that their words are open to different interpretations. Sadly, the first round of consultation, held in 2011, did not go too well and with the second round of 12 week consultation having just started my fear is that it will not go well either. I have said before that ...
A number of applications this week, including a late flurry of Friday afternoon ones, hence this post being later than usual. 131004: Shop front alterations, High Street. 131103: Variation of conditions on application 112221, West Stockwell Street. 131105: Revised listed building consent for 131103. 131271: Two story rear extension, Cowdray Avenue. 131316: Variation of condition regarding driveway surfacing, Cowdray Avenue. 131318: Listed building consent for window replacement, The Mill Apartments, East Street. 131325: Change of use from temporary bus station to playing fields, Queen Street. 131346: Advertisement consent for new signage, Sheepen Road. 131392: Change of use from offices and ...
[IMG: Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas - Explore] From Huffpo: State troopers are confiscating tampons, maxi pads and other potential projectiles from those who are entering the Texas capitol to watch the debate and vote on a controversial anti-abortion bill. Guns, however, which are typically permitted in the state capitol, are still being allowed. Only in America. Later, the tampon ban was relaxed. photo by: TexasExplorer98 [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
On Thursday I visited the Toyota and Rolls Royce factories in Derbyshire to announce the latest round of the Regional Growth Fund: 102 new projects that will create or safeguard 77,000 jobs. I remember first making the case for the £3.2 billion RGF back in May 2010. We knew we had to take decisive action to get control of government borrowing. But I remember also being crystal clear that cuts would not be enough to get our economy going again. We couldn't let our industrial heartlands pay the price for the economic mess we had inherited from Labour. We had ...
[IMG: Building site. Photo courtesy of bono-c. Some rights reserved http://www.sxc.hu/photo/893913] Whether or not to debate the state of the economy, and if so at what length and using whose motion, has been the cause of some strife recently in the world of Liberal Democrat federal party conferences. The party's leadership has cannily submitted its own economy motion for September's autumn conference – recognising that trying to stop the issue being debated would be unwise and also that by putting in its own motion, it will set the terms of the debate. The full text of the motion (which will ...
I have called on the City Council to look again at the bus timetable for the new 9, 10, 11 and 12 service recently introduced by National Express Dundee, with subsidy support from the City Council. This follows complaints by constituents in parts of the route around Tullideph that the timing of the bus is badly aligned with the only other nearby bus service, the 17. Constituents in Tullideph are rightly complaining about the rather bizarre timetable for this new service. The 9, 10, 11, 12 service is in itself a very welcome development giving communities evening and weekend services ...
Almost 75 years ago, when talkies were taking the cinema world by storm but dubbing techniques had not yet been finessed, there was a period in which film companies made several versions of the same movie, shot with dialogue in different languages, sometimes using the same actors (with varying degrees of linguistic ability) but often [...]
I'm not quite sure what Brian Redhead is doing in this clip. But it adds a degree of randomness to one of the UK's finest punk bands:
Sat 13th
00:01
Nick, Vince and Danny lead Lib Dem charge to "balance the books, find new ways to create jobs and gr...
[IMG: Nick Clegg addresses Birmingham Liberal Democrats conference. Photo courtesy of the Liberal Democrats] Be warned: we're under starter's orders for the general election. Today, the Lib Dem leadership sets out its plans on the economy for approval by the party conference this autumn, striking a neat balance between a strong defence of the Lib Dem record in government and a recognition that much still needs to be done to get the economy growing. The motion to be debated in Glasgow in September can be found at the foot of this post. Tabled by Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and Danny ...
