Well done to the Harborough Mail on getting the news of tonight's floods on its website already - particularly as its own offices seem to be among the buildings worst affected. Thanks to @wendyaspland on Twitter for the picture. There is another one of the floods in an earlier post here.
This is the town centre tonight. Later. More news here. Thanks to @jewelsbyjayne on Twitter.
Bangor Lib Dems have been working with the council to clean up the streets of Upper Bangor. Cllr Rhys Taylor has been in discussions with the Council's Principal Housing Officer, the Council's Senior Manager for Waste and Recycling, and the...Read more ›
I have long felt warm towards Buddhism. That may at first have been the result of coming across the lama in Kim, but there are other reasons. Even if recent events do not wholly bear this out, I suspect that religions with no god or many gods are inherently less aggressive than monotheistic ones. So the sign in Kelmarsh, a few miles south of Market Harborough, pointing to a Buddhist centre only a quarter of a mile away and promising refreshments intrigues me every time I pass it. Today I tried to visit the Nagarjuna Kadampa Meditation Centre, but found ...
A new home insurance scheme has been launched by South Cambridgeshire District Council to help tenants protect their possessions at a price they can afford. The District Council has teamed up with insurance firm Jardine Lloyd Thompson Tenant Risk to offer tenants and leaseholders cheaper contents insurance that is more suitable to their needs. The policy specialised for tenants provides contents cover of up to £9,000 for anyone under 60 and £6,000 for over 60s with no excess if a claim is needed. Other policies often have much higher levels of cover which many tenants have needed to pay for ...
The Voice newspaper front page this week asks "Is Labour Losing the Black Vote?" The answer they suggest is 'yes' but it's not quite that simple. Here are my questions (and answers): Is there a [...]
A version of this article appeared on Lib Dem Voice earlier today Winning a council seat in Merseyside off Labour would be a significant achievement. Winning two on the same day would be virtually unheard of. The winning candidates Jen and Bruce Yesterday, in Maghull, Sefton MBC, Merseyside, Lib Dems won two seats off Labour and came within 9 votes of winning a third. The by-elections concerned took place in three adjacent seats on Maghull Town Council. Now in Southport we seldom identify with 'Sefton'. I will make an exception for Maghull. For reasons too painful to explain we got ...
CALL ON BUSINESS TO KEEP BACKING APPRENTICESHIPS This week I met a young Southport man who had just been offered an apprenticeship with Bentley the car manufacturer. He and his family were delighted and rightly so. Many other young people in the town have secured apprenticeships with local employers. Southport College has done an excellent job supporting local employers. I urge employers to keep investing in local young people by hiring them as apprentices. New research done by the House of Commons Library revealed there were 520,600 apprenticeship starts across the UK in 2011/12. This is 63,400 more than the ...
East Dulwich has many estate agents. With the fees and percentages they charge they don't need to sell many houses to survive and even thrive. Along with stamp duty estate agents percentages – often 1.25-2% become a significant expense from local property sales. a new business model of "Pay-per-view" has been launched. Instead sellers pay £118.80 for taking photos, drawing floor plans and listing the property on major property websites – which is how most people look for properties now. They then charge £42 per viewing up to a maximum of £420. This is really cheap compared to the fees ...
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 ...
Polls over the last 6 months have had UKIP regularly on or around 20%. As a result of this the party and its leader Nigel Farage in particular have had lots and lots of media coverage. Farage is a regular on TV and radio and increasingly other senior members of the party such as Eastleigh by-election candidate Diane James and MEPs including Paul Nuttall get coverage for their views. Quite right too as far as I am concerned. 20% is a significant minority and it is right that UKIP gets the chance to regularly put its opinion across on issues, ...
We have asked for a speed count to be done on the Wellsway near Old Fosse Road, there is a crossing nearby to St. Gregory's. It has always been an area that has caused concern
The council can confirm that is their intention to install a bus shelter at terminus on Ambleside Road, however at the moment they are having difficulties in coming up with an engineering design to allow raised bus kerbs to be installed at this stop as well as shelter due to the narrow road width and small layby.
I have today written this complaint to the BBC in respect to its coverage of the birth of Prince George last week: To whom it may concern, I wish to make a formal complaint in relation to the BBC's coverage of the birth of Prince George. The obligation of BBC News is to broadcast news - not self-indulgent, patronising and trivial speculation. The unnecessary intrusiveness and blatant disregard for the parent's privacy was particularly noticeable, especially when the baby's quite evident distress (crying loudly and clenching his fists in anxiety in response to the assembled crowd's applause) was insensitively interpreted ...
It has been a forlorn few years for Portsmouth fans. From riding high in the Premier League, winning the FA Cup, playing in European competition including just failing to beat Italian AC Milan to years of several different owners, administration, a drop down the divisions as swift as the short-shift I get when approaching a member of the opposite sex. I think it is fair to say that it has been a bad few years for the grand old club and for the fans who have been with them through thick and thin. However here we are. At this time ...
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: Reasons the Lib Dems will find it difficult to continue the Coalition; English Veto; HS2; Lib Dems vs the rest in ...
This is my personal view, of the announcement by Thanet Labour that Will Scobie, is to stand for South Thanet at the next General Election. Firstly you need to ask, why a clearly intelligent, articulate young man with some talent has been sidelined from Thanet politics. Now some of you will think Will 's role as Margate mayor involved him in Thanet politics, well not really, it sidelined him to cups of tea and ceremony usually reserve for old duffers, you know politicians in their twilight years, but helped any way, it him get elected to the Kent county council. ...
On Monday the Highways Committee meets to decide whether to "appropriate" Belle Vue. It's a technical thing. If a council holds land for one statutory purpose but now wants to use the land for a different statutory purpose, it first has to "appropriate" it from its current use to a new statutory use. Supposing it held land for the statutory purpose of waste disposal, but now wanted it to be used for housing, it would have to go through the process of appropriating the land for that purpose. Before it can do that a number of requirements have to be ...
Following pressure from Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, the county council has agreed to bring forward a report reviewing the maintenance of cycle paths, pavements, footways and footpaths. "Having recently taken up cycling I was shocked to find so many cycle paths put in by the county council had overhanging branches and encroaching vegetation narrowing the paths and endangering cyclists. Narrowed pavements are making children walk close to the edge of kerbs and blocked drains are causing splashing. Both are deterring children from walking to school and increasing the school run problems. "Local cycling groups have offered a ...
We do not live in a free country. We all know that. Our libel laws are ridiculous. Our freedom of speech is curtailed should we be "offensive". We live under the gaze of corporate and Government officials. Even some websites are blocked. But we can at least try to hold on to some of the freedom we do have; we aren't Saudi Arabia or China after all. But won't somebody think of the children? Every debate seems to revolve around those special transient state human beings under the age of 16. Marriage equality was bad because "children need a mother ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Public care about the source of MPs' second incomes just as much as the amount earned | Ballots & Bullets Interesting » "Public care about the source of MPs' second incomes just as much as the amount earned" http://bit.ly/11l2hrg Will there be another Con-Lib Coalition? The reasons to think not outweigh the reasons to think so The Tory Diary Sound analysis from @pete_hoskin > Reasons to think there won't be another Con-Lib Coalition http://bit.ly/1bW2ebl Liberal Democrat members would prefer Labour partnership, poll finds | Politics | guardian.co.uk Guardian's @nicholaswatt reports LDV survey: ...
Thursday night I went to the theatre. I wasn't watching a musical or Shakespeare or even or one of those modern ones where everyone speaks Dutch and it turns out that lead character is actually a moose. Unfortunately I was at Medway Full Council meeting. It was awfully entertaining and a member of Democratic services showed me to my seat. I was nervous as I had a question to ask with a supplementary etched out if the answer failed to hit the right point. The pageantry began on time when we were upstanding for the gold mace, officers and the ...
I was speaking to the local police team in Southfield, which covers some of Acton and the Ealing section of Chiswick. I thought you might like to see and circulate advice about being on the lookout for individuals knocking on doors posing as employees of gas, electricity and water companies asking to read meters. On gaining entry there is a concern that items in peoples homes have been going missing. I understand that gas, electricity and water companies by law must check meters every two years to ensure that they are working correctly so they must be allowed access into ...
Yes, I know I've banged on a bit about these awful Home Office poster vans this week, but bear with me. This is funny. I said at the time that we needed some sort of original and creative way of protesting against them. Really, they were crying out to be mocked. The internet has not disappointed. Liberal Conspiracy has a few examples, although it should be noted that it's not found the time within its articles on this subject to mention the Liberal Democrat opposition to the vans, nor that they were never cleared by any Liberal Democrat minister. The ...
posted The Blood is The Life 26-07-2013 http://t.co/ek6nwV0SqH on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) The hypocrisy of ukip MEPs (tags: ) Man faces jail after calling @mike_weatherley MP a coward. TREND IT! http://t.co/GZQcFDiyOc COPY/PASTE/TWEET #MikeWeatherleyIsACoward (tags: (from twitter) mikeweather ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Now this is interesting because only few weeks ago Bill Esterson's opponents within his Sefton Central Constituency Labour Party were predicting a challenge to Bill's candidature for the next General Election yet we learn from the Champion newspaper that he has been reselected. Curious indeed and I wonder whether news of the potential challenge to him brought forward the selection process or whether the anti-Bill faction within the local Labour Party was not strong enough to make a serious challenge? You still do not have to be around Labour folks from this neck of the woods for long to realise ...
Sat 27th
08:55
After Lembit: Lib Dems in Montgomeryshire select Jane "Fresh Start" Dodds to win back former liberal...
[IMG: Jane Dodds] The parliamentary constituency of Montgomeryshire had been a Liberal stronghold since 1880, bar four years in Margaret Thatcher's first term. The seat of former Liberal leader Clem Davies was, however, lost by 1,184 votes to the Tories in 2010 after a massive 13% swing against three-term MP Lembit Opik. Returning Montgomeryshire to the Liberal fold is, therefore, a top Lib Dem target in 2015. And this week the party took an important step by selecting a new candidate, Jane Dodds, and billing her candidacy as A Fresh Start: Liberal Democrats in Montgomeryshire have selected Jane Dodds as ...
Just three applications this week after a recent rush of them. 131451: Single storey side extension, Guildford Road. 131480: Construction of lift and external walkway, Colchester Central Library. 131497: Double doors from bedroom to balcony, Lexden Road. You can make a statement in favour or against any of these applications on the Council website, or if you want to discuss it further with one of your councillors then please contact me or my ward colleagues Bill Frame and Jo Hayes. Related PostsCastle Ward planning applications, up to 10th May Castle Ward planning applications, up to 3rd May Castle Ward planning ...
A constituent contacted me recently about the new Olympia facility as follows: "My family has visited the new Olympia and we are very impressed but is there some sort of conspiracy to keep the identity of Dundee's latest premier swimming pool secret? I would have though that some exterior signage to identify the thing would have been usual ... attract custom etc? Also the large windows of the facility are already covered in bird mess and it would be good to be reassured that the facility will have these large windows kept clean." I took up the matter with the ...
When UKIP claim that a Government initiative is nasty, unpleasant and insensitive then clearly Ministers are on the wrong track. As the Guardian makes clear the initiative, which appears to have been approved without Liberal Democrats' involvement, and whereby vans are being driven around the London boroughs of Hounslow, Barking and Dagenham, Ealing, Barnet, Brent and Redbridge carrying billboards has caused huge controversy within the Coalition and without. The billboards form part of a £10,000 pilot, showing residents how many illegal migrants have recently been arrested in their local area. They carry a text number for overstayers to use to ...
The highly critical report from the Royal College of Surgeons that highlights "dangerous" conditions in the University Hospital of Wales, with patients "dying regularly" while waiting for heart operations is truly shocking. Only in the last few weeks we have heard about the appalling state of affairs in many of our hospitals across the length and breadth of Wales. One hospital would be bad enough, but there is a clear pattern emerging of our NHS being in a constant state of crisis. It is, to put it frankly, sickening to hear some of the stories that have been emerging recently. ...
Good things come to those who wait as I've just discovered that, over a week after I submitted it, The Post published the letter I featured here today. As it's the weekend edition, I'll pick up my souvenir copy tomorrow, but you can see it (again) over on The Post's website... Andrew
