When I did my Philosophy degree at the end of the 1970s the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein was enormously influential. He had taught many of the senior figures in the field and seemed to have had a powerful, even crushing, personal effect on some of them. I am not sure Wittgenstein is such a central figure today, but then I am not sure how many universities still teach Anglo-Saxon, analytic Philosophy of the sort I studied. These two videos for the second half of the final episode of Don Cupitt's 1984 series The Sea of Faith. They convey well the ...
Surely the prize for the daftest excuse for a government policy has to be the idea that equality laws are a 'burden' and the best way of working towards equality is to, err, abolish equality [...]
New from the Deputy Prime Minister's office: Also on YouTube.
[IMG: 24 Hour Party People] Caron's Musings takes on BBC Scotland - and wins! "I sincerely hope that this time, Tony Wilson, the man who helped put Manchester on the map will have the favour returned. It is six years since his death but his legacy to Manchester will live on for generations and generations." John Leech MP supports the campaign to have a Manchester street named after Tony Wilson. China is considering a ban on school homework, reports National Public Radio. Brain Pickings looks at a lovely illustrated adaptation for children of the writings of Henry David Thoreau. Take ...
The new Chipping Sodbury Waitrose store will open at 8am on Thursday, October 10. The footbridge link to the High Street should be finished by the end of September.
Lord Bonkers writes exclusively for Liberal England: This is going to make me sound very old fashioned, but I am not sure I agree with this. Why can't children be taught about porn with blackboard and chalk like we were?
Hannah Bettsworth is a fabulous Liberal Youth Scotland member. She's the president of Edinburgh University Liberal Democrats and today is her 19th birthday. And where was she in the glorious sunshine? Outside Holyrood protesting against Bill Walker, the convicted violent abuser (TM Better Nation) who refuses to resign from the Scottish Parliament. Lots of other lovely people were there too. Including this one. And an honourable mention if you can guess who is holding this. Four of the five Liberal Democrat MSPs were there - and, in fact, I saw some from every party. Even Tories. But mostly it was ...
There are going to be some overnight road closures of the M11 between Girton (Junction 14) and Trumpington (Junction 11) southbound between 16th and 24th September and then northbound between 26th September and 1st October. The full letter is attached below, here is the text; Dear Sir or Madam M11 Cambridgeshire - Road Repairs Works On behalf of the Highways Agency, I am writing to inform you of overnight repairs works on the M11 between junction 14 (Girton) and junction 11 (Trumpington). Works will be carried out on the northbound and southbound carriageway using full carriageway closures. Works will involve ...
Candie And Molly Furber Join Belinda Brooks-Gordon Who Supported Them Through The Appeals Process Youngster, Molly Furber is forced to switch schools after just two years because education officials have refused to give her brother a place. Molly, six, had settled at Girton Glebe Primary School and made friends but there is no room for her brother, Dylan, four. So Molly has said goodbye to her classmates and will start the new term at Bar Hill Primary School where Dylan is registered for the reception class. Her parents Candie and Mike, who moved from Girton to Hillcrest, Bar Hill at ...
The River Kensey is currently fenced off at Prior's Bridge on Riverside following a small sewage spill. The Environment Agency has taken the action to protect people and their pets who might normally venture into the water. I am assured that the spill was small and is limited to a short stretch of the river but the decision to close off the popular area has been taken as a precaution to ensure that there is no hazard to health. It is anticipated that the riverside will be back open as usual at some point tomorrow. In the meantime, please stay ...
[IMG: Houses being built] Planning policy is a crucial issue for Liberal Democrats. We believe in supporting and strengthening local communities - and the development of the built environment locally, and residential, business and other opportunities on offer, is critical to that. We believe that the revised National Planning Policy Framework has defined the broad parameters of the planning process, but we have further aspirations for our planning system to deliver strategic vision both nationally and locally. The Liberal Democrats Communities & Local Government Parliamentary Committee - chaired by myself and Lord (Graham) Tope - is kickstarting a review of ...
Tue 3rd
16:28
Cornwall Council won't be using lie detectors again (at least if I have anything to do with it)
Earlier this year there was a storm when it was revealed that Cornwall Council was employing a company to use lie-detector technology as part of a review of people claiming the single person council tax discount. Whilst it is perfectly right and proper that we should make sure that no one is claiming a discount to which they are not entitled, I objected strongly to the use of such invasive technology which was being used without the knowledge of the resident. I was not alone in my objections but the then Conservative Leader of the Council went ahead anyway. Today ...
Cornwall Council is taking action to stop the promotion of payday loan companies after an announcement at today's full council meeting. Leader John Pollard announced that we would stop allowing advertising of high interest loan companies in bus shelters owned by the council and that we would write to bus companies, other bus shelter owners and the owners of billboards in Cornwall to ask them to do likewise. We also recognise that people use Cornwall Council owned computers to access the sites of such companies. We will take action to block such sites from staff computers and also investigate if ...
As you know I know, most, perhaps all legislative law is a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with customary law and emergent law. But since there's discussion about this damned lobbying bill (I think by "Transparency" it means the parchment the final copy will be on will be transparent so that nobody really knows what it says) I wanted to highlight a favourite passage of Herbert Spencer's "The Man Versus the State" (which you can hear me read as an audiobook too). It's in the essay called "The Sins of Legislators", and boy, do they need to spend a lot ...
The Mother of All Parliaments, one of the oldest democracies in the world, decided against condemning, and possible military action against, a brutal dictator, who used chemical weapons on his own population. I shall not critique the political fallout and alleged skulduggery or whether or not certain individuals played politics with the issue; my opinion is to express why intervention is required and why Britain needs to lead on Syria. Assad has terrorised his own population with conventional and chemical weapons. Innocent people have been indiscriminately targeted; entire neighbourhoods destroyed, towns and villages laid waste and countless communities have been ...
I have written to Manchester City Council urging them to support calls for a street to be named in memory of local ambassador for Manchester culture, Tony Wilson. Tony died in [...]
Tue 3rd
14:10
Opinion: Even if this is the end of our 'Special Relationship', there is no need to mourn its passin...
[IMG: cameron-obama-hot-dog] It's that old classic love story. Boy meets Girl. Boy and Girl become infatuated with one another. Boy leads Girl into a series of illegal wars in the Middle East. You know the rest. (In the interests of gender equality, I should point out that you are more than welcome to switch around the genders in this analogy.) But now, this one sided relationship has a new twist. Girl has said no to the Boy's latest attempts to lead her into another bombing campaign, and Boy is angry. Boy storms out, and jumps back into bed with an ...
As most of you will have seen, I put out a book last night. Here's a screenshot of part of the Amazon (UK) page for that book as of just now: Pretty good, eh? Top thirty in its category, and in the top 24,000 overall books. There are over two million books on Kindle, so [...]
So it's now definitely September, and the razor has come out. There's a picture of my hairy pit ( under the cut ) I am really bothered by how bothered about it I am. I know that hairy armpits are normal and natural, and I know that shaving is a relatively recent cultural norm, but it still freaks me out having hairy pits and I feel LOTS better now I have shaved them. For someone as feministy as me it's a very disturbing mental state. Anyway, if anyone wants to contribute something to the charitable cause, you can do so ...
What the Royal Parks is doing to a charity softball league should matter to us all – David Allen Green on public space. Can you solve Slate's gerrymandering jigsaw puzzle? – The bizarre world of US political boundaries, and what happens when they're set by politicians. On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs – "Why did Keynes' promised utopia - still being eagerly awaited in the '60s - never materialise? The standard line today is that he didn't figure in the massive increase in consumerism. Given the choice between less hours and more toys and pleasures, we've collectively chosen the latter. ...
On Friday 28th September, Liberal Democrats across the country will be taking part in a national Day of Action to celebrate our success in helping add over one million new jobs to the economy since 2010 and calling for a million more. Alongside the positive job creation figures, Liberal Democrats can also be proud of [...]
Just over a century ago, the former Liberal prime minister Lord Rosebery was quoted in an important new book describing London as a 'giant tumour': "Sixty years ago a great Englishman, Cobbett, called it a wen. If it was a wen then, what is it now? A tumour, an elephantiasis sucking into its gorged system half the life and the blood and the bone of the rural districts." Rosebery was reflecting a growing understanding of the problem of inner cities, burgeoning from the agricultural depression and hideously overcrowded. He was also chairman of London County Council. The book was the ...
[IMG: Syria map] According to the Independent, Vince Cable is under pressure over some export licenses that were issued by his department in January 2012. The licenses were for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride. both of which can be used to manufacture sarin gas, which we now know was used in the chemical attacks in Syria. But further down the article we can read that: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills insisted that although the licences were granted to an unnamed UK chemical company in January 2012, the substances were not sent to Syria before the permits were eventually ...
That's the question asked by a consultation paper going to the party's Glasgow autumn conference: You can download this document here (PDF, 302KB) What's your view?
As we saw in a post last week, counterintuitively the most lethal means of committing suicide are those that require the least planning. This fact has big implications for the debate around the most 'effective' method of all: guns. In the US, the UK and most other countries there are far more firearm related suicides [...]
How musicians can avoid feeling overwhelmed. Video Highlights: 0:15 – Musician Overwhelm 0:50 – Pareto Principle 1:21 – The Six Stages of Artist Development 1:49 – Stage 1 Explore Join Gigs Academy to boost your live career. Get the Free Video Training for Musicians Hi, Its's James Taylor from Gigs Academy here. Everyday I'm contacted by musicians around the world and many of them just feel overwhelmed by all the things they are told they should and shouldn't be doing to take their career to the next level. I think a lot of the uncertainty stems from them being told ...
[IMG: Go sign - road sign from Mauritius. Image courtesy of Kingroyos. Some rights reserved Want to get a summary of new posts on this blog by email rather than having to check the RSS feed, stalk me on social media or manually come back to this site? Or fancy getting my monthly Liberal Democrat Newswire? Or even want both? Then my email list sign up form awaits. Usual points apply about how you can leave the email lists at any time and how I won't be selling your email address to a Chicago chemical supplies for plumbers firm ...
Nick Clegg has told the BBC that there will be no second vote in Westminster on military intervention in Syria. He said: I don't think there's any point in us going back to parliament asking the same question... so we have no plans to do that. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has called for a second vote after US revealed new evidence about the use of sarin gas. Nick Clegg responded by saying that he didn't need any additional persuading to take the position he did, given the evidence he had already seen. * Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary ...
I [IMG: positive linking] ndependent and identically distributed. This assumption about data subject to statistical analysis is so routine that most students reduce it to the acronym "IID". It means that the data follows a normal distribution and a routine set of analytical tools becomes available for the calculation of such things as confidence levels. Most of the evidence used by economists and other social scientists to support their theories is based on this type of analysis, and an IID assumption in the data. And yet human societies do not behave in accordance with this assumption; most of the choices ...
Members visiting our aldc.org from today will see some significant changes, as we launch our latest website. We have rebuilt the front end of our website, which has enabled us to resolve some long-running technical issues and improve our service to members. This new site also makes it easier than ever to access, search and browse [...]
At the Liberal Democrat conference in 2011 Jeremy Browne, MP for Taunton, was heard to say, "We have taken down the picture of Keynes in the office and put up one of Gladstone". If it were only the picture ! At the time, I thought Keynes knew a little more about economics than you Jeremy. It seems now that the Financial Times agrees. In case you can't get past the paywall, here's a
posted The Blood is The Life 02-09-2013 http://t.co/AzyX2UJrit on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) BBC News - The village where half the population are sex offenders (tags: ) BBC News - Vietnam internet restrictions come into effect (tags: ) Cutest tumblr post EVER: RT @alexwilcock: our engagement photos - the full horror: http://t.co/C2ak20pVgT (tags: (from twitter) ) http://pinterest.com/pin/214906213442242429/ M'friends Alex & Richard sent me a postcard with this image on. They know me SO well. http://t.co/vjketVyefj (tags: (from twitter) ) http://pinterest.com/pin/164803667587195565/ Best. Film title. Ever. In fact best film ever. http://t.co/HpgqD82qZ7 (tags: (from twitter) ) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brides_of_Dracula http://t.co/iyWieTuhTQ ...
Tue 3rd
09:58
Scotland Tonight team member calls me a troll after I complain about all male programme
Update: Shortly after I posted this, I went out for the day and have just returned. I am pleased to say that Peter has contacted me and made a genuine and sincere apology which is to his credit. He says that he intended his reply to be tongue in cheek and not to cause offence. I'm not very good at holding grudges, so that, as far as I'm concerned, is an end to it. For what it's worth, as I say below, it probably was one of these thoughtless late night tweets, made without any bad intent. I don't believe ...
As an Assembly Member for South Wales West I have already given my view of the proposed reorganisation of certain specialist services across the old counties of Gwent and Glamorgan. Of necessity I have done so in a way that supports my constituents and the services they rely on. That is my job, but it is also something I believe passionately in. However, according to today's Western Mail the BMA have taken a wider view and found that the proposals still come up short. They say that they have "significant" reservations about the plans put forward under the South Wales ...
Those of us concerned about the fate of the Public Sector Equality Duty are starting to notice increased activity by interested parties. The Government has announced that the review will be published immediately after the summer recess. The review was carried out under the auspices of the Red Tape Challenge. Announcing the Review last year Theresa May said: Bureaucracy and prescription are not routes to equality. Over-burdening businesses benefits no one, and real change doesn't come from telling people what to do. Today's announcement strikes the right balance between protecting people from discrimination and letting businesses get on with the ...
I am on Wave 102 News this morning on the demand responsive transport issue - click 'play' below to listen:
How did I do? I wrote this early last Weds morning; before the (watered down) Syria motion was published (when I wrote it everyone expected the motion to permit military action immediately). Before Ed M started putting down conditions for his support; when everyone thought the bombing would start around Friday. and of course, before the vote. How did I do?The media is full of folk pontificating that 'something must be done about' Syria. There's an implication in the fact that Miliband was called into Downing Street yesterday, that it's been decided that the 'something' involves flying cruise missiles into ...
On Monday 9th September at 7pm in the Chaplaincy Centre at the University of Dundee, there will be a Charity Quiz Night in aid of the Grey Lodge Settlement. Tickets are £2.50 per person, with teams of up to four. The ticket price includes refreshments and there will also be a raffle and auction. More details are available from Jill Webster on 384157 (weekdays 10am to 3pm).
Comments by Labour politicians that the coalition government is responsible for Wales having the biggest increase in "underemployment" are astonishing. Jobs and economic growth in Wales is devolved to the Welsh Government. Once again, Labour in Wales are blaming the coalition government for their own inadequacies. August's labour market statistics showed that while the number of jobs increased in eight of the eleven regions of the United Kingdom between December 2012 and March 2013, Wales saw a fall of around 30,000 jobs, increasing underemployment by 1.9%. The Welsh Labour Government needs to take action. It must push forward with the ...
From the Atticus column in the Sunday Times (and behind its paywall): You'll find this difficult to believe, I know, but for many Lib Dems the highlight of the party's autumn conference is not Nick Clegg's speech ("tough times . . . bold decisions . . . making a difference"). It is the Glee Club singalong. Every year Liberator magazine provides a song book, with topical ballads. So in a fortnight, to mark our non-intervention in the Middle East, we might expect to hear Danny Alexander's clear and pleasing treble trilling We're Gonna Wait for a UN Mandate Before Hanging ...
