Barnes Hospital Stockport's Planning and Highways committee has voted to grant the planning permission which will save Cheadle's iconic Barnes Hospital for the future. The building has been falling into disrepair and may soon have been beyond recovery. This plan sees the hospital converted into flats, with more houses and flats built on the site around it as "enabling development" – to make the project stack up financially. Included in the development is improving the paths from Barnes Hospital to Cheadle (underway at the moment) and also adding cycle parking at Gatley Station. Cars will enter and leave the Barnes ...
Wherein I talk about Alien Bodies
I have invited some bloggers to nominate a couple of books they have enjoyed recently and write a few sentences about each. You are welcome to send me your own choices. I suggest you nominate one political and one non-political book, but I don't insist on that. You can read Round-up 1, Round-up 2 and Round-up 3 on this blog. Mary Reid People Power: A user's guide to Democracy by Dan Jellinek (Bantam) A few weeks ago Dan Jellinek sent me a proof copy of his book. I intend to review it for Lib Dem Voice, but real democracy, in ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 335th 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 (14-20 July, 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. New Liam Byrne ...
A bold initiative from the Church of England? Perhaps there is a God after all. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, mentioned his plan for C of E credit unions in an interview with Total Politics: A plan for the church to develop credit unions has been floated, with Welby proud that the church is "putting our money where our mouth is" in developing an alternative to payday money-lenders. The plan, he says, is to create "credit unions that are both engaged in their communities and are much more professional - and people have got to know about them." It ...
MP Julian Huppert will meet some of the city's home-based entrepreneurs on Monday, July 29 at the Cambridge Business Lounge. Mainly sole traders, they run companies in sectors from technology to marketing and 3D printing to entertainment. And occasionally they work from the Cambridge Business Lounge, where they are offered desk space and wi-fi access as a change of scenery from their home-based offices or to meet other small business people and exchange ideas. Cambridge Business Lounge in Burleigh Street, Cambridge is run by Ed Goodman and Nicky Smerdon. Ed said: "Nicky and I launched Cambridge Business Lounge in January ...
On the eve of the first anniversary of the London Olympics, funding of £10,000 has been announced to help South Cambridgeshire sports stars of the future reach their full potential. The funding has been announced by South Cambridgeshire District Council in a continuation of its Elite Athlete Grant Scheme. Since 2009, over 70 young talented sports performers have been awarded more than £50,000 to support their sporting dreams and hopefully follow in the steps of Cambridgeshire Olympic and Paralympic medallists like Robbie Grabarz, Johnnie Peacock and Louis Smith. Grants of up to £1,000 are available to support athletes at all ...
I reported earlier on the application from Vodafone to make the existing phone mast on Brodie Avenue ( near the junction with Lanville Road) taller and to add more cabinets. The Council reports today that the application has been withdrawn. This is because Vodafone wasn't able to properly explain what it would do to protect the trees nearby (the ones planted to help disguise the mast in the first place). This doesn't mean it's all over now but it does mean that this current application can't go any further. Initial good new for those residents who were angered at Vodafone's ...
Two extra consultation events have been agreed by councillors today to make sure residents near a proposed new village at Bourn Airfield have more opportunities to have their say on plans for 22,000 new jobs and 5,000 additional new homes over the next 20 years. A third and final consultation on South Cambridgeshire District Council's Local Plan was launched on Friday, but following a meeting of Council today where concerns were raised about plans for the new village, extra events in nearby villages are now being planned. Following two years of planning, assessments of over 400 potential sites for housing ...
Devon and Cornwall's Police and Crime Commissioner, Tony Hogg, had a stand at today's Launceston Show. Not that Mr Hogg was there himself, but he did send three of his members of staff to ask people to fill in a short survey asking if they were a lesbian (oh, and whether they wanted to join Neighbourhood Watch). In Mr Hogg's absence, there was a poster advertising where the people of the Launceston could next see him. Sadly, that is an hour away in Truro. Everyone who filled in the survey (lesbian or not) had their choice of a wide range ...
This headline from today's Times offers an astounding take on the developing Anthony Weiner story:
I recently met with Nicola Cook and Michelle O'Leary of the Macmillan Cancer Support Charity to talk about their work in Manchester. The Manchester Macmillan Cancer Improvement Programme is [...]
Guest Blog from Ellie Gauge So the next inevitable step in this strange, new, cancer-centered journey we seem to have found ourselves on, is the treatment. Apparently every cancer patient has their own personalized treatment regime and for Mum it starts with a course of 6 chemotherapy treatments (before surgery and then radiotherapy). Now, we all know what comes with chemotherapy - the dreaded hair loss. For me, the hair loss was the one thing I was most worried out. I'm not sure why. It's actually a really good sign and suggests that treatment is successfully working. The thought of ...
Keeping 3 Public Libraries in Bootle but only 1 in Southport is outrageous However the Bootle Labour cabinet try to spin their decision leaving only one Public Library in the Southport constituency whilst keeping three open in Bootle is wrong. It displays Labour's priorities and their contempt for our town. (The two constituencies have the same population) Far more books are borrowed from the branch Libraries in Southport that Labour want to close than the ones in Bootle they are keeping open. Many residents will be more than two miles from a library especially (but not only) those in Crossens ...
Liberal Democrats generally don't need to be persuaded that the Tories' marriage tax break idea, on which they'd like to blow half a billion quid, is an ineffective and entirely wrong-headed idea. However it's always useful to have more ammunition against it. The Telegraph reports that the Institute of Fiscal Studies take the view that education and wealth of parents is far more significant to children than whether their parents are married: Research shows that children whose parents are married make better progress at school and are more emotionally stable than those whose parents co-habit. However, the IFS has found ...
UKIP comes under some uncomfortable scrutiny from: Rebecca Taylor (Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament) and Petros Fassoulas (Chairman of the European Movement UK), who write: UKIP MEPs are infamous for being not just Britain's laziest members of the European Parliament, but among the laziest in Europe, as figures from VoteWatch and EP Committee minutes [...]
Today is polling day in Beverley Ward in New Malden to elect a replacement for Derek Osbourne, who quit after his arrest on child porn charges. It's going to be a close run thing and an active Labour campaign with a well liked candidate combined with a lacklustre UKIP effort may bring bad news later today for local Lib Dems and MP, Energy Secretary, Ed Davey. Labour have proved to be strong in the well heeled detached houses of Malden Hill where their candidate lives (and traditionally good for Lib Dems) as this photo shows: But a big increase in ...
[IMG: Caroline Pidgeon] Congratulations to Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly, who gave birth to a baby boy this morning! He weighed in at 7lb 11oz at 9.51am. Everyone is doing well. * Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary published in print or online.
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Labour should be congratulating Osborne today, not attacking him Astute stuff from @MarkFergusonUK > Labour should be congratulating Osborne today, not attacking him http://bit.ly/13df3EL To emulate Blair, Ed Miliband will have to stop imitating him | Steve Richards | Comment is free | The Guardian .@steverichards14 says Ed Miliband should start following Tony Blair's advice: which was to stop trying to be like TB http://bit.ly/166xyzO A reality check – most LibDem members prefer a post-2015 coalition with Labour to one with the Conservatives Left Watch .@PaulGoodmanCH takes a look @libdemvoice's poll of ...
I spend two wintry months in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 2010, based at what is now the Schumacher Center for New Economics, and playing John the Baptist for the institution that eventually emerged as the New Economics Institute. One of the people I met there, and who came to my lecture on the future of money in the white-painted church in Stockbridge, Mass. one snowy night, was a really radical and fascinating journalist called Judith Schwartz, who has specialised in writing about new ideas in economics in the American press. I have been reading her new book, published in the ...
Follow Sam on Twitter - @SamPhripp There's a difference between a Royalist and a Monarchist. Monarchism is far more about the system than it is about the people, whereas royalism tends to focus far more on support of a particular person or family. I think it's important to mark the difference, because I am one and I'm not the other. Now, just because I've said that, don't go off on one and think that I'm sat here wearing one of those horrible plastic Union Jack hats that people always wear at Jubillee street parties. I'm not. I'm not a flag ...
There's a whole crop of by-elections today across the country. ALDC have the details here over three pages. Have a look for details of one near you and do what you can to help your local campaign. However, there is only one Liberal Democrat defence, in Edward Davey's Kingston constituency, so here at the Voice we are asking Liberal Democrat supporters reading this to concentrate their efforts there. Lesley Heap is our candidate in Beverley ward. She's a former NHS worker who's now a swimming coach. She's lived in the ward for 12 years. And she needs you to ring ...
Thu 25th
12:45
The economy is growing again. But that's no reason to think the voters will be grateful.
[IMG: Economy-in-the-UK] What a difference 3 months makes. As late as 24th April, the fear was the UK economy might be slipping into a 'triple dip' recession. That was a bullet dodged. Then a month ago, on 27 June, we discovered the 'double dip' recession never actually happened after all. That was a bullet extracted. Today, the Office of National Statistics has announced GDP growth increased by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2013. The smile of relief has become something more genuine. No-one should get too carried away. The economy is still significantly smaller than it was before the ...
[IMG: Screen shot 2013-07-25 at 12.12.04] I've been waiting a while to get this image back out. Isn't it beautiful? Anyway, Dave's top anti-porn adviser, Claire Perry, has made one silly mistake after another and is now being sued by Guido. But why does David Cameron think he can restrict access to/censor/ban any type of porn in the first place? Even Saudi Arabia and China can't manage that. What about explicit written material? That's a lot harder to censor. Restrictions on the internet are worthless and we have to accept that we live in a world where it can't be ...
Last summer a Labour County Councillor complained that the street sweeping machine came before the grass cutter, leaving the gutters clean for only an hour before they were filled with cut grass. It was apparently all the fault of the Liberal Democrat led authority. Yet today, the grass cutter is cutting the verge outside my house barely an hour after the gutters were machine-swept, and the gutters ( and path!) are covered in grass. Oh, it's now a Labour authority I know that we should be grateful that we get our grass cut and out roads swept [/irony] but can't ...
A note has arrived from Bonkers Hall: what am I reading this summer? I am not alone, so far Liberal England has published three Summer reading lists from bloggers. Round up 1 was Alan Wyburn Powell (Liberal History to you and me), Linda Jack and Gareth Epps. Round up 2 was Iain Dale, Mark Pack and Iain Sharpe and joining me on Round up 3 Nick Barlow and Tim Holyoake. Broadhurst Bookshop in Southport -you don't have to buy from Amazon With only two choices it is quite a challenge. There are books I have put aside to read over ...
Today initial estimates of Britain's quarterly GDP figures have been published. It has become a very silly circus. The BBC Today programme was giving it a lot air time this morning, in spite of not knowing what the crucial number was. Instead they made do with economists' guesses. This is what they usually do, in spite of the fact that the guesses are often very wrong – though this time they were spot on. A much more informative discussion will be possible once the figures are released, and experts have had a chance to root around the detail. But by ...
Michael Gove's most recent big idea to improve the teaching profession takes the form of performance related pay. Like many of Gove's big ideas it has incensed teachers. But it's also a populist move. One poll estimated that 61% of voters backed the idea. But will it improve teaching standards? The evidence for performance related pay leading to improving standards in education is inconclusive. Literature shows no causal relationship between performance related pay and standards and results vary enormously depending on the context. In India one study showed that "after controlling for student ability, parental background and the resources available ...
Tomorrow – 26 July – is the last day on which it is possible to book to attend conference at reduced rates. A full week at full price is, until tomorrow, £96 – after that the price rises to £134. You can book here.
RT @andrewducker: What Teachers Make http://t.co/EXyVIfye0w (tags: (from twitter) ) posted The Blood is The Life 24-07-2013 http://t.co/JmnOjsgT1B on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) http://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?short=ffV4bF Spike, Roxy and Holly cooling their heels at Janet's Foss near Malham today. 31 more pictures at flickr http://t.co/uiI5rEw11G (tags: (from twitter) ) Did you like Dredd? Would you like to see a sequel? Here's the official petition for one. http://t.co/xt30y65ekF (tags: (from twitter) ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Nick Clegg, you may remember, apologised for the Lib Dems going back on the explicit pre-election pledge not to increase university tuition fees. No. We are not going to watch the video again. In between the hysteria, protest, and fire extinguisher throwing, the National Union of Students (NUS) said that the broken pledge would mean ...
The Manchester Evening News reports: A councillor could be jailed over 'off the cuff' Twitter remarks made during an election count. Howard Balkind was reported to police by the far-right BNP for tweeting that the party would be 'lucky to get 10 votes' at a by-election last month. It is alleged that Coun Balkind broke the law by revealing the results of postal votes before polls had closed the Weaste and Seedley ward... Coun Balkind was interviewed by police under caution on the Friday morning after the complaint was lodged with police then passing the file to the CPS to ...
I've commented before about Nick Clegg's love of attacking unnamed Lib Dems who don't want to be in government, such as when I wrote about his speech to the party's local government conference: [IMG: Staw people. Photo courtesy of RobinEllisActor. Some rights reserved http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinellis/6034919721/] The early part of Nick Clegg's speech was baffling. He took a swing at people in the party who think the party should not be a party of government and are desperate for the party to reach the more relaxed waters of opposition after the 2015 general election. I'd be all for him taking a swing ...
....is the title of my latest article on the Social Liberal Forum website. socialise this: [IMG: add 'On Identity....' a Del.icio.us] [IMG: add 'On Identity....' a digg] [IMG: add 'On Identity....' a Stumble Upon] [IMG: add 'On Identity....' a FaceBook] [IMG: add 'On Identity....' a Twitter]
Thu 25th
08:15POLL EXCLUSIVE: What Lib Dem members think will happen in 2015 - and what we want to happen in the e...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. More than 600 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results. 72% of Lib Dem members predict another hung parliament in 2015 What do you believe is the likeliest outcome of the next general election? 5% – An overall majority for the Conservatives 6% – A Conservative minority government 3% – A Conservative-led coalition with parties other than Labour or the Lib Dems 11% – A Conservative-Lib Dem coalition 29% ...
At the Meeting of Sefton's Planning Committee last night I opposed the building of more housing on this piece of urban green space, off Green Lane and South Meade, because I am really concerned that the parkland aspect of this site is going to be lost forever if plots of it are incrementally built on. The plan was however approved but 3 councillors from Southport supported the view of myself and Cllr. Andrew Blackburn, meaning 5 of us opposed the plan with the rest (including 2 other Maghull councillors) supporting it. [IMG: The Parkhaven Trust site off Green Lane and ...
As far as I am aware there are no meetings at Blyth Town Council next week However, the council may take the opportunity of the the gap in the diary to arrange meetings of two recently formed "working groups".
The Daily Mail has an article by Sue Reid talking about the changes in terms of published judgments. The production of the new practice direction was subject to an entry on this web log about two weeks ago. What is the case is that you can find on Bailii a number of published judgments from some judges already. Some of them seem to be on Recent Decisions, but not under the relevant division.
I was on Wave 102 News yesterday about the TV licensing issue at sheltered housing complexes including the Logie Estate, that I raised recently. You can listen to the interview by clicking 'play' below:
From the City Council : Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating carriageway resurfacing works. The Order is expected to be in force for three weeks from 5th August 2013. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily (1) all vehicular traffic in Nethergate from South Tay Street to Park Place and (2) all westbound vehicular traffic in Nethergate and Perth Road from Park Place to Roseangle. Pedestrians will be unaffected by ...
If anybody doubted the value of the Liberal Democrats in restraining the worst instincts of the Tories then this article by Andrew Grice in the Independent makes clear how much the United Kingdom needs the coalition for precisely that reason: At a recent press conference, Nick Clegg cited some of the 40 "loopy" backbench Bills that "my mate Peter Bone" and his allies are introducing - to highlight the right-wing Tory agenda the Liberal Democrats are blocking inside the Coalition. They include bringing back the death penalty; banning the burka; a Margaret Thatcher Day bank holiday; withdrawing from the European ...
The Western Mail reports that Wales has experienced the best improvement in winning foreign direct investment projects in the UK, according to official figures published yesterday: Figures from the UK Government's inward investment and export assist body UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), shows that the number of inward investment projects attracted to Wales in the year to the end of March 2013 increased from just 23 in the previous financial year to 67 - a year-on-year rise of 191%. The percentage rise was higher than other nations in the UK, with England (excluding London) experiencing a rise of 10% (759 ...
Crossposted from Here's the update I just posted for my Kickstarter backers: Since the book has now reached its goal (thank you again — though if anyone wants to pledge more there's still a couple of weeks in which to unlock the stretch goals of more music books), I thought people might want to [...]
