England have claimed another brilliant Ashes win. Thank goodness UKIP aren't in power to ruin that, and other great British sporting success. While it may seem I spend a lot of time following the goings on of Westminster, the truth is that I am simply commentating on politics as a way of killing time between [...]
While in Shropshire I read Artemis Cooper's Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure. Cooper has clearly succumbed to the Paddy Fermor legend, but the biography is so good that it provides ample material for readers to form a less favourable view. Because of one of my recent days out, I was struck by the opening sentences: The village of Weedon Bec in Northamptonshire was an unlikely setting for paradise, but for Patrick Leigh Fermor the years he spent there as a small child were among the happiest in his life. The people he lived with were not his family. While surrounding ...
With my colleague Cllr Richard Oglethorpe, I produce an e mail bulletin of new about South Liverpool roughly once a fortnight. We mainly cover L19 and L18 but do also include some material from a little further away. If you don' get the bulletin but would like to, you can sign up at this link. We're also keen to hear about local events you'd like included (like school open days and charity events). If you've got something you think we should tell people about, please drop me an e mail at paulakeaveney@yahoo.co.uk
A few days ago there was an article in The Times, about Frome - my hometown. It's one of a few that have popped up over the last couple of years, about the town that I live in and have grown up in, and, largely, the Arts culture and Independent Town Council. The article can be read (behind the paywall) by clicking here. For those who don't have access the general gist is this. Frome is a really cool place. Some celebrities live in Frome, which is good. It all started in 2011 when the Independents took control of the ...
Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I have been involved in lots of meetings to do with the budget for next year. Our task of limiting cuts to frontline services is made all the more difficult by some of the situations that Cornwall Council has inherited from its predecessors. One such is the PFI leisure contract for Penzance leisure centre. This costs the council £1.2 million per year. In comparison, the 16 leisure facilities operated by the Tempus Lesiure Trust together require a subsidy payment of £1.3 million per year and the Carn Brea Leisure Trust operates ...
This document is available as a PDF (here, via Google Drive). The Liberal Democrats have always been able to campaign on a strong record of local delivery. Now - for the first time in our party's history - we can combine that with our record in national government too. That's what we did in the Eastleigh by-election - and it works. But no one is going to tell our story for us. We need to use every opportunity between now and the General Election to spread our message. The Tories won't deliver a fairer society. Labour can't deliver a stronger ...
A planning application's come in to Liverpool City Council for more than 100 new houses on the former site of New Heys school in South Liverpool. Details are at this link. If you want to comment, there's a deadline in early September. (Most of the details, including plans etc, are in the Related Documents bit of the website so you'll need to scroll down)
Today my bin, and those of my neighbours, remain un emptied a full week after the bin men were meant to come. The alleys behind some of these terraced houses are looking squalid and the views from neighbours are that they have little faith in the Council to get things back on track. So what's happened? It is a fact that the problems stem from a work to rule by staff. The staff are employed by private firm Amey which has the contract to provide the bin service for Liverpool Council.. So the Council has, on the whole, been merrily ...
You might not be aware but Cambridgeshire Constabulary are currently running a survey asking for your views on PCSO's. It's really quick, it just asks for your postcode and then asks three fairly simple questions; Tell us about any BENEFITS that you believe result from using PCSOs in local policing workDo you have a specific POSITIVE EXPERIENCE you would like to share about the work of a PCSO in your area?Tell us about any CONCERNS you have regarding using PCSOs in local policing workIt's important that as many people as possible in our community complete this survey and let the ...
listen to 'Audio of UKIP MEP talking on Nolan Show about consent to underage sex - "Legally, she cannot consent, but in real terms, she can." ' on Audioboo Thanks to Scott Collins on Twitter for posting a link to a Hope Not Hate item about Roger Helmer (a UKIP MEP for the East Midlands) and his interview about underage sex and consent on with Stephen Nolan. The page that hosts the interview gives a choice quote: "Suppose a 15-year-old girl is at a club with a pop star, and he says 'how about it, dear'? and she says 'yes ...
Chisholm Trail Map Campaigning for Cambridge's Chisholm Trail by the city's Lib Dems paid off today (Monday, August 12) with the announcement that the project will receive £560,000 from the government.. The trail plan, originally conceived by the Cambridge Cycling Campaign, will receive a share of just over £4 million handed out by government to improve cycling across Cambridge. Cambridge City Council has already backed the project by including the land for the trail in its draft Local Plan so that it is protected from development. Kilian Bourke, Cambridgeshire County Council for Romsey who has been pushing for the trail ...
A new online process has been launched for young people in Cambridgeshire aged over 16 wishing to apply for transport to their school or college. Cambridgeshire County Council has introduced the new system to make it easier and more effective to apply. This means that applications - and payments - can all be made online, enabling passes to be processed and issued more quickly. It follows the introduction of an online process for applying for a school place, which has speeded up that application process and the allocation of places. The new system means the County Council will be able ...
A successful bid of £4.1 million for transport funding could see a step change in cycling facilities in and around Cambridge, including Dutch style lanes. Cambridgeshire County Council has been successful in being one of the authorities to secure a share of the Department for Transport's Cycle City Ambition Fund. The County has secured £4.1m which will be spent on cycling infrastructure schemes that need to be delivered by May 2015. Cambridgeshire is already the cycling capital of the UK and the County Council recognises that this is vital in reducing congestion, boosting the local economy and improving health. The ...
The New Statesman is pretty scathing today about the Chris Bryant car-crash interview on Radio 4 this morning. Apparently, the shadow immigration minister sent out advance briefings of a speech he was delivering today only for it to be discovered that it was wildly inaccurate. So much so that Mr. Bryant ended up rebutting his own accusations during the course of the interview. The preview of the speech in yesterday's Telegraph suggested that Bryant would criticise Tesco for moving its distribution centre to Kent and telling staff that "they could only move to the new centre if they took a ...
It may be the silly season, but the latest Euromyth to ruffle right-wing feathers takes silliness to a whole new level. The Express, Mail, Sun and Telegraph unanimously announced at the weekend that Brussels wants to remove the royal crest from British birth certificates and replace it with the hated EU flag. The Mail declared Brits would be "stamped with the EU flag from the cradle to the grave" while the Sun led with the rather lame "B-EU-rths 'n deaths". They gave generous space to Eric Pickles, who fumed: This imposed Euro-law is part of an aggressive propaganda campaign to ...
Does this sight seem familiar? It stayed like this for several days, stinking in the hot sun, until a quick Councillor phone call resolved the problem - but it shouldn't need to be like that! This is by no means the only complaint we've received in recent weeks, and in each case the resident had reported their problem via the website - had no joy, rung up, tried again and eventually reported to Camden's complaints department. This is sad because the waste collection and recycling service is usually efficient and responsive, but just one or two incidents like this bring ...
Responding to Accident and Emergency figures that have been released today, Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said: "These monthly figures are gradually going in the right direction, but there can be no room for complacency. "It speaks volumes that in England when the four hour A&E target is missed, it is described as being in a state of chaos. Yet here in Wales that target has never been met so we are relived to see any improvement at all. "The fact is that there are still far too many people who are being forced to wait a ...
The BBC has just finished its series about the rise of the global middle class, but every few weeks there is more evidence of the middle class revolt emerging - first the Middle East, then Turkey, then Brazil, and then... It may be premature to interpret this as one phenomenon, though that has hardly stopped some commentators - and it isn't going to stop me today either. What appears to be happening is that the global middle classes are emerging, only to discover how far the current economic system renders them powerless - and how far it threatens their continued ...
Greater Manchester Lib Dem MPs John Leech, Andrew Stunell and Mark Hunter have welcomed today's announcement that Manchester will get £20million grant to improve cycling across the City as part [...]
Michael Moore has been talking to Scotland on Sunday's Eddie Barnes. They covered everything from the Liberal Democrats' record in government to the forthcoming referendum on independence. The pro-union cause is often accused of negative campaigning. Moore rejects this, saying that they have been highlighting the positives of Scotland remaining within the UK: I absolutely reject the way you characterise our side of the argument," he responds. He points to the series of lengthy documents issued by the UK government, which have highlighted the "positive strengths" of the UK. "At no point do we say, this bit [about Scotland] is ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Library futures: University of Oxford | Higher Education Network | Guardian Professional Good article on "Library futures" from my old @bodleianlibs colleague/boss, @RichOve > http://bit.ly/14GLzGV The issue with Chris Bryant's slow-motion immigration car crash isn't the incoherence. It's the hypocrisy - Telegraph Blogs Nail on head from @dpjhodges >Issue with Bryant's slow-motion immigration car crash isn't incoherence. It's hypocrisy http://bit.ly/15tFqHp Compare: Chris Bryant's rewritten immigration speech - Telegraph Blogs Compare: Chris Bryant's rewritten immigration speech - Telegraph Blogs http://bit.ly/142kK9L (via @MattHolehouse) www.vietnamplus.vn How they're reporting the results of @libdemvoice polls in... Vietnam. ...
Hb 10.2 WBC 2.91 Platelets 554 Neutrophils 1.25 Platelets about the same, higher than the top of the normal range 450. Hb about the same, neutrophils down from 1.63 last time. Neutropenia (neutrophil count lower than 1.7) means a lowered resistance to infection, but no suggestion was made that it should be treated.
Congratulations Duwayne: [IMG: Duwayne Brooks, Caroline Pidgeon and the Lib Dem team] Last week was another proud and at the same time humble moment in my life. I was selected by Lewisham's Liberal Democrats members, to become our Mayoral candidate for the coming May elections. Like many in the Borough today, I believe the decade long stagnated reign of the present Mayor has been a disaster for Lewisham and should come to an end. Lewisham has sometimes hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. Too many of our residents are living without hope, jobs and for some in homes categorised ...
[IMG: ldv coalition lessons] LibDemVoice is running a daily feature, 'Lessons of Coalition', to assess the major do's and don'ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to voice@libdemvoice.org. Today Joe Otten shares his thoughts. Government is hard As it should be. There is an idea that there are easy solutions to all the world's problems that could be delivered ...
A few weeks ago, when thinking of interesting things I could write for this blog, I remembered a weird organisation that gathered some attention on the internet a month or two ago. The organisation is called Straight Pride UK. It's a strange group which believes that the tide of Gay rights has gone too far, and that now heterosexuals have become the oppressed minority. Essentially their philosophy is spun from the same reactionary cloth as "Men's Rights activists" - the notion that, having essentially run Western society for most its existence, progressive demands that Christian white straight males share some ...
Bob, Anna and I gathered round the tv in our holiday cottage to watch the Doctor Who special last Sunday. I probably owe Zoe Ball an apology after being so critical of her choice as presenter. She did a very good job. In fact, it was Rufus Hound who let the side down, making two factual errors in his comments. First of all he said that Bernard Cribbens' Wilf Mott had knocked 3 times to cause the death of Tennant's Doctor and then that Peter Eccleston was the 9th Doctor. It's like he was trying to give the lie to ...
Here's my latest Ham and High Column about the apprenticeship event I'm hosting on Wednesday.... A few columns ago, I wrote about the importance of young people getting into work, and how creating one million new jobs was the Liberal Democrat's top priority in Government. This month, I am doing my bit to put these words into action. On Wednesday 14th August, I am hosting an event at the Civic Centre (between 2pm and 6pm) to match up young or unemployed people in Haringey with companies and agencies offering apprenticeships. People who attend will get the chance to meet the ...
Here is my latest Muswell Flyer article – about the start of summer in late June / July.... What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been. It has been so busy, but full of great events and finally some good weather too! Thankfully, the weather picked up just in time for the grand finale of the independent shops competition. What a great day that was - celebrating our best local independent stores outside Hornsey Town Hall with a live band, hot food and free local beer! Congratulations again to the worthy winners: Brand New Start, Big Green Bookshop and ...
What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than at one of the South East's race tracks, the lovely Lydden Hill. A one mile circuit nestling in a natural bowl in the middle of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this family friendly circuit was hosting the fourth round of The British Drift Championship, sponsored by Maxxis. There were three classes racing, Semi-Pro, Pro and Super-Pro and while the weather stayed mild the action was extreme. For the winners and more information on the championship visit their website here. For more information on upcoming events at Lydden Hill click here. ...
Mon 12th
10:44
Exclusive: Leaked youtube video of the first draft of Chris Bryants' immigration speech
The day doesn't seem to be going too well for Labour Shadow Minister Chris Bryant. Lets face it, it takes a special sort of incompetence to u -turn on a speech you have not even delivered yet. But don't fear readers, I can exclusively reveal an early practice run of his speech
Black, Asian and minority ethnic voters could help the Lib Dems could win seats from the Conservatives in 2015 if we improve our appeal to the BME community. The Guardian ran a front page today based on a new study by Operation Black Vote which found 168 marginal seats where BME voters outnumber the majority of the sitting MP, far outnumbering the swing 100 seats that could change the government. The study, which I authored, also reveals there are 13 marginal constituencies where Lib Dems are in second-place and where the BAME electorate is larger than the majority of the ...
Speaking to Cheadle Area Committee last week our new Stockport West Inspector, Dave Barrett told us that some of the days when the weather was hottest were busier for the police than New Year's Eve. Although making clear that crime overall is down, and has been falling for nine years in Stockport, Inspector Barrett said that windows and doors left open on hot days accounted for around a third of all burglaries. He urged people to make sure we close windows and doors at night, don't leave keys in doors, and check the car's locked before going to bed (just ...
How gender stereotyping leads to violence against women (tags: ) Fall in wages puts Britain in the bottom four in Europe (tags: ) "Everyone But an Idiot Knows That The Lower Classes Must Be Kept Poor, or They Will Never Be Industrious" « naked capitalism (tags: ) posted The Blood is The Life 11-08-2013 http://t.co/khokn0SIe9 on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) A bunch of really good points about comics, in comic form http://t.co/2HtbC5ciFG (tags: (from twitter) ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
... the Daily Mail has nothing better to do than write about an offer Liberal Democrat Voice sent to subscribers recently. Andrew Pierce's column in today's paper quotes an email offering a chance to buy former LDV co-editor Mark Pack's and Ed Maxfield's book "101 ways to win an election" at half price. He wrote: An interesting readers' offer on the Lib Dem Voice website. The book, 101 Ways To Win An Election, written by the Lib Dems' Mark Pack and Ed Maxfield, is being sold at half-price. Surely, top of the list should be 'dump Nick Clegg'. Some of ...
I've been thinking a fair bit lately about the role that membership of a political party plays in the democratic process. I found that this article by Andrew Rawnsley from last month helped me to crystallise my thinking, as much for what it doesn't say as for what it does: The numbers that add up to trouble for all political parties Here Rawnsley is astute in recognising that the underlying cause of many recent political events is the slow dying of the political party as an institution. A decline in membership that makes belonging to a political party a very ...
Most politicians are economically illiterate, preferring homespun wisdom to intelligent macroeconomic analysis. Thanks to Liberator Collective member Gareth Epps, who (via Mark Pack) spotted an article by Professor Simon Wren-Lewis on his blog mainly macro. Wren-Lewis explains why Nick Clegg's economics motion at this September's Liberal Democrat conference is wrong-headed. He summarises the motion as asserting that: ...the best thing that has happened to the UK economy recently has been that the deficit has come down. The message seems clear: reduction of the budget deficit is the number one priority and all else has to be subsumed to that. Now ...
Note from the county council Winter Self Help Scheme 2013-2014 Salt for Districts/ Boroughs/Town/Parish Councils, Recognised Resident Groups and Recognised Community Associations Following the success of previous winter joint operations Hertfordshire County Council is pleased to release the details of our planned availability of salt supplies for our partners. During the last season many of Hertfordshire's Districts/Boroughs/Towns/Parish Councils and recognised resident groups assisted with snow clearance and footway treatments. This was of tremendous help to our salting and snow clearing efforts. All of this hard work has meant that our councils' services to the public have not been disrupted. Following ...
The Government have announced that the Greater Manchester Velocity bid – which seeks to get 10% of GM journeys on bike by 2025, has been successful and, as a result, an additional £31 million is going to be invested in improving cycling facilities across GM. We've worked closely with Greater Manchester and this money will add to over a million pounds we've already secured to improve cycling around Cheadle and Gatley. I believe this strategy is absolutely critical if we're to beat traffic problems in our area. We've only a limited amount of roadspace for car and lorries to go ...
Last week we heard the case for "Jumping off the Ladder" with regard to nuclear disarmament from George Potter. David Grace responded on LDV here.
I think it is arguable that it is the education policy space that has seen more turmoil than any other policy area since the coalition began in 2010. The tide of ceaseless initiatives and new structures, conceived—seemingly at least–from Michael...Read more ›
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. (All comparisons are with our most recent survey conducted in March 2013.) 61% of Lib Dems say party on "right course" Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track? 61% (+3%) – The right course 31% (-2%) The wrong track 8% (-1%) – Don't know / No opinion ...
From Andrew Pierce's column: [IMG: David Lammy] As frontrunner to be Labour's candidate in the next London Mayoral elections, David Lammy is anxious to burnish his man-of-the-people credentials. But is he going about it the right way? The MP for Tottenham, one of the most deprived constituencies in the country, has written to his voters: 'Due to the Parliamentary recess, my next advice surgery will be on Friday 13th September.' Which means he's out of circulation for two months. It's nice to know he works so hard for his constituents. For more on that see my post that broke the ...
Simon Wren-Lewis, an economics professor and one of the UK's best bloggers on the economy, has an interesting take on the economy motion put down for the Lib Dem autumn conference in Glasgow: It has Nick Clegg's name on it, so we can assume it reflects the leadership's thinking. It starts thus: "Conference welcomes recent improvements in the UK economy, specifically that: I. Faced with the highest budget deficit in post-war history in 2010 as a consequence of the banking crisis and Labour's mismanagement, the Government has managed to reduce the structural deficit by a third since it came to ...
[IMG: The Roads in Bloom competiton was attended by 50 local residents. Proceeds went to Grove House. Thanks to David Granville for organising it!] The Roads in Bloom competiton was attended by 50 local residents. Proceeds went to Grove House. Thanks to David Granville for organising it! [IMG: P1020907] ...presenting prizes [IMG: IMG_0052] [IMG: The garden of the White Hart Tap] The garden of the White Hart Tap
Labour have been bragging about how UK pay has fallen over recent years compared to our European neighbours. But unsurprisingly they fail to make any reference to the numbers of people out of work all together. But the following chart from Reuters might help them to understand the bigger picture. Nearly all the major economies in Europe have higher unemployment than the UK and nearly all of them - despite recession have seen wages fall less than the UK (or even rise). The exceptions are Germany (which hasn't been in recession and seen a very small rise in pay levels) ...
