Liberal Murmurs has tag clouds from the three party leaders' speeches at this autumn's conferences. "Clegg showed us (as I've long suspected) that standing at a lectern works better for him than wandering about the stage like a management guru." Max Atkinson analyses those leaders presentation and performance of those speeches. Pubcos are drinking in the Last Chance Saloon, says Protz on Beer. "The decade started with a series of miracles. Affronts to justice and human dignity, which for decades seemed as unchangeable as the distance to the moon, suddenly were no more." Dave Eggers looks back on the 1990s ...
A Hill Staffer checks his phone as Capitol Hill police take aim on the grounds of the Capitol. #shooting pic.twitter.com/iQviYcuM84 — Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) October 3, 2013
The Garston cat rescue, which takes in and looks after unwanted or stray cats, is holding a fundraising event to raise money for its work. The organisation does mainly care for cats but has been looking after a few dogs also. The event is on 18th October. Here are the details: Woolton Village Club, 23 Allerton Road (next to the Raj Indian Restaurant), Woolton Village, L25 7RA Music by local band Cat Sundies Buffet, Fun Quiz, Great Raffle Prizes, Late Bar 7.30pm - midnight Tickets £5. Can pay on the door, or order from Pam on 421 0305 / 07956 ...
The final bit of the Council's decision on whether to sell off the land at Sefton Park will be made in just over a week's time on 11th October. Its one of the items on the Cabinet meeting agenda for that morning. There's a link to the agenda at this link
Quis hic locus, quae regio, quae mundi plaga? What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands What water lapping the bow And scent of pine and the woodthrush singing through the fog What images return O my daughter. Those who sharpen the tooth of the dog, meaning Death Those who glitter with the glory of the hummingbird, meaning Death Those who sit in the sty of contentment, meaning Death Those who suffer the ecstasy of the animals, meaning Death Are become insubstantial, reduced by a wind, A breath of pine, and the woodsong fog By this grace dissolved ...
On Dalek
We are quite well served for broadband here in Ludlow, but once you step out of town the service rapidly becomes poor to non-existent. Shropshire Council is working with BT to rolling out faster broadband across much of the county. The original deployment map is here, and in the image below I have coloured the [...]
Thu 3rd
20:20
Seven years - the gap between "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" in the Mail and Ralph Miliband's diary en...
On Newsnight this week, Jon Steafel, Deputy Editor of the Daily Mail, rejected a reference to the Lord Rothermere "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" article in the Daily Mail, saying that a piece from 80 years ago was not relevant. Hold on a cotton picking momento. The Mail ran the "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" article in 1934. Ralph Miliband wrote the diary entry, on which the Mail mainly based its "The man who hated Britain" piece, in 1941. Just seven years later. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Just to let people know why posting has been intermittent at best here for... well, for a long time, really. I've made several allusions to health problems here, but this should give you an idea of what's actually been going on — I bumped into an ex-workmate last night. He apparently asked another ex-colleague "What [...]
Those exams are getting easier! As we hurtle through maths topics at breakneck speed a pattern is slowly starting to emerge. Occasionally, tutors will say. "In my day this was an O' level subject but you will not encounter this until A levels now." It happened twice today, once in algebra class and once in geometry. Given our class has an age range from the twenties through to the forties this is starting to become obvious in the range of skill sets on display. Some of the younger members recognise some subjects and not others and vice versa. So here ...
As I posted the other day, I'm doing the Seven Lakes Challenge, in aid of The Survivor's Trust. I passed 160 lengths today, so I got my first certificate :) [IMG: achievement unlocked: lake Attersce :) (@activeCdale)] I would be very grateful if you could sponsor me; the Just Giving page is here. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, and those who have pimped this out, it means a lot. Off to the Brighouse Cinema to see Passport to Pimlico :) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Gosh, it has been a long time since my last marriage equality post! The Scottish Health Secretary, SNP's Alex Neill, has confirmed registrars will be able to refuse to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies, though local authorities will have to ensure same-sex couples can get married. All very "liberal" you might say, with his use of "common sense" to explain how local authorities with deal with such refusals. Except, of course, fundamentally there is no common sense here because it is giving registrars the right to refuse only one sort of marriage. Why just one sort? Erm... well... the gays aren't ...
Everyone should pop over to the New Statesman to read the verbatim of what Nick Clegg said about the daily mail this morning. Quite outstanding stuff
After last week's ten by-elections there are just four this week. And two are Lib Dem defences - in Aylesbury Vale and Taunton Deane. The Oakfield ward in Aylesbury is a marginal Lib Dem/Tory contest but in an area UKIP outpolled all comers in May's county elections. And the Taunton Halcon ward is traditionally safe for the Lib Dems, but with UKIP coming up on the rails in second last May. Once again UKIP are standing in every ward - along with Labour and the Tories - with the Lib Dems in three out of four. UKIP should pick up ...
There are times that I despair and this is one of them. Alex Neil the Scottish Health Secretary has said he will allow those registrars who have a conscientious objection to abstain from carrying out same-sex marriages when they come into force. Now the group that I believe that would most object to carrying out this public service are those of faith*, simply because in the past that is who has raised the objections, like Lillian Ladele. Now first things first, these people have signed up for a job in which they are carrying out civic duties. They are not ...
[IMG: White House - Washington DC] There are many factors behind the US government shutdown and even imminent threat to start defaulting on its debts. One however is crucial explaining the failure so far to reach a deal in a way that has almost always happened in the past. It's the source of electoral pressure on Republicans. The nature of the US electoral system - especially its heavily gerrymandered election boundaries that make constituencies boundaries look like random doodles of super-fidgety child (see the Ilinois 'pair of headphones' district if you don't know what I mean) - means that for ...
Thu 3rd
17:36
Clegg: Yes to intensive support for unemployed young people; no to automatic benefit withdrawal
On his weekly LBC phone-in earlier today, Nick Clegg took a call (from Lib Dem activist Linda Jack; see comments) on the proposals mooted at the Conservative Party Conference to remove the automatic entitlement to Housing Benefit from those aged under 25 and require them to be in either work, education or training. The Guardian's Patrick Wintour has written up Clegg's response (which has been slightly unfairly characterised, or at least oversimplified, in the headline): Clegg said he supported the idea that some claimants who had been on the work programme for two years should work for their dole, the ...
Councillors representing Churchtown and Crossens have opposed building on local Green Belt land. In a submission to Sefton Council's Local Plan consultation, Cllrs Nigel Ashton, John Dodd and David Rimmer describe the Plan as 'flawed'. Nigel Ashton says "We have asked Sefton Council to think again on its plans to build on local Green Belt land. The Labour-run Council's plans would see 538 houses built on land south of Moss Lane, and 120 houses built near Three Pools. "Much of the land in question is top quality agricultural land and is liable to flooding. There would be a huge increase ...
I'm still in shock after that Tory Party conference. It was bad enough we had a Home Secretary proudly announcing she'd love to tear up the Human Rights Act. To follow that up with Osborne's ignorant railing against "the long term unemployed" suggests that the Conservatives are no longer simply "the nasty party" but incredibly comfortable with their reputation, built as it is upon false assumptions and social prejudice. The party of the hard working? No, more like the party of the hard of thinking. But it fell to the Prime Minister himself to deliver the most stunning blow to ...
Below are recently submitted Planning Applications in the Chorlton area. You can find out more information about any of the proposals on the City Council's Planning Portal at http://tinyurl.com/yv6lex or by contacting the South Area Planning Group Manager - Roger Hall; Tel: (0161) 234 4536; email: r.hall@manchester.gov.uk . You can also make a Planning representation (in support or opposition) to Mr Hall or the designated planning officer for each application. Please feel free to contact me on (07947383740; cllr.v.chamberlain@manchester.gov.uk) if you wish to discuss any application and please also send me a copy of any representation you make. 103591/FH/2013/S1 48 ...
Photo from @TeaHiveTweets I have received notification that an application has been received by the City Council for a new Premises Licence for premises at:Tea Hive, 53 Manchester Road, Chorlton, Manchester, M21 9PW The application for a new premises licence has been made as Tea Hive wishes to extend the area for licensable activities to the first floor of the premises. The current licence held by Tea Hive is for the ground floor and outdoor seating area. The activities and hours requested on this application are the same as currently permitted (summarised below). The applicant requests that conditions attached to ...
For the avoidance of doubt, this blog does not do paid promos. I will occasionally recommend a product if I have tried it and liked it. I will not advertise your shop, pub, Artisan brewery, mail order wife business, or anything else, no matter how politely worded your enquiry nor what inducements you offer me. For the brief period of time that I DID have a blog sponsor, several years ago, it was always somebody I knew well and would have linked to anyway. I stopped doing it because I was uncomfortable having even that limited form of advertising. An ...
Thu 3rd
16:11
How Air Con gave America the Golden Age of Holywood, the IT industry and the Sun Belt (America Week)
Most of the United States is unpleasantly hot for at least part of the year. Much of it is unbearably so. The result is that one of the defining technologies of modern America is the air conditioning unit. As this article by Rebecca J. Rosen in the Atlantic explains it has underpined some very fundamental [...]
Here's the letter:
Everyone's favourite chief whip, our very own Alistair Carmichael, has taken the somewhat drastic step (at least to those of us positioned nearest the LDV towers booze cupboard) of making October a Scotch-free zone. As MP for a constituency boasting such fine exports, one suspects that's not a decision that will have been taken lightly, but it has been taken in aide of the best of causes, namely Macmillan Cancer Support. Alistair's only been on the wagon for two-and-a-half days, but has already raised nearly £200. We're sure that LDV readers will want to push that figure up (out of ...
As Spanish researchers staged a mock funeral in Madrid, the government released its 2014 budget. But there was little good news for Spanish science Last Friday it was the European Commission-backed Researchers' Night, and in Spain it was a pitch-black night. This event, intended to bring together science and society, was celebrated by Spanish researchers with a mock funeral in Madrid, near to the Congress. In the 2014 national budget released that day, the Spanish government had completely ignored the demands of Spain's scientific community, condemning the Spanish R&D system to a not-so-slow death. During the last two weeks, representatives ...
Would you like to donate a book/ or two to the Barlow Moor Community Association? For the first time this year, Chorlton Book Festival includes a Chorlton Book Award for children (see poster image above) and as part of this initiative, is running an appeal for donations of new books. Chorlton Bookshop is selling the books (at much reduced cost) for this initiative and has a box for these donations in store which will be given to BCMA for children on the Barlow Moor/ Merseybank Estate. The new Community Centre (BMCA) http://barlowmoorca.co.uk/ on the Estate will be also doing an ...
Small Business Saturday, taking place on 7 December for the first time in the UK, is a day to celebrate and promote small businesses across the UK. Small businesses in Manchester are encouraged to take part by offering some kind of promotion for the day, to encourage Manchester residents to shop local - both on this day and beyond. To show your support and for more information, go to www.facebook.com/smallbusinesssaturdayuk and follow the campaign on Twitter @SmallBizSatUk
Kitten Guide Glados gave birth to Hal, a litter of one, on August 30th. Their family seemed incomplete so they adopted three little boys (Holly, Jarvis and Eddie) who were part of a litter of nine that was born on September 4th. Hal is a great big brother and Glados adores all four of her babies! Hal is the dark brown tabby, Jarvis is solid gray, Eddie is the gray tabby and Holly is gray and white.Go on. Watch them. It's what the internet was invented for.
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Clegg best conference act, say Tory lobbyists | Research | PoliticsHome "Clegg best conference act, say Tory lobbyists" via @PoliticsHome http://bit.ly/16I9sPl Clegg on the Daily Mail: "Overflowing with bile about modern Britain" You know you've written a popular article when it even gets a +1 on Google+ http://bit.ly/1byXu8V Policy-lite: how Cameron pitched his words for TV | The Times Senior LibDem on Cam's speech: "First I've seen where they have designed it purely for clips packages on TV" http://thetim.es/18wbM9f The Tories should fight the real Ed Miliband, not a Bolshevik straw man ...
The serious case review on Keanu Williams was published earlier today. To great extent the recommendations are the same as previous serious case reviews. I quote below on key recommendations from this report and the one from March 2009 (which dealt with a very similar case). From Serious Case Review 8 dated 14th March 2009 (8 pages long) When a child is presented to the Accident and
'Two jobs' Tom McNally has finally shed one of his roles, having resigned as leader of the Lib Dems in the House of Lords. He has combined this since 2010 with being a justice minister, with the result that its easy to find peers who believe the demands made mean he did neither role effectively and had an obvious conflict of interest when peers objected to something the Ministry of Justice is doing. This was illustrated by his having been probably the only person in the hall to vote against the emergency motion at Glasgow on legal aid cuts - ...
Tuesday: This week Theresa May accused Cap'n Clegg of Hating Britain* for putting the Human Rights of terrorists and criminals above ordinary people. That's because Ms May does not understand that Human Rights are not to protect terrorists, they are to protect people who get called "terrorists". So, as an experiment, let us imagine that Theresa May is a terrorist. It's not that hard to imagine... she's the head of an organisation that preaches messages of hate to frighten people, snatches people off planes for intimidation, targets certain people in the streets and, of course, occasionally shoots innocent people dead. ...
When they were established last year, it was promised by the Home Secretary that the new Police and Crime Commissioners would be a much cheaper alternative to the old police authorities. It seems that Devon and Cornwall's Tory Police Commissioner Tony Hogg hasn't got the memo. On top of his £85,000 per year salary (admittedly, set for him, not by him), Mr Hogg ran up a bill of more than a quarter of a million pounds on consultants and agency staff in his first eight months. He also charges the taxpayer £650 per month for accommodation even though a free ...
Jo Swinson, MP for East Dunbartonshire and a minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, is taking part in a live Q&A this afternoon from 2-3pm over at the Guardian. Here's how the site introduces Jo: When she took her seat in parliament in 2005, Jo Swinson was the first MP to have been born in the 1980s. In 2012 she became a government minister after the Lib Dems formed a coalition with the Conservative party. As minister for women and equalities, Swinson has made it her mission to bring about a change in culture around women in ...
St Pancras Station is one of my favourite train stations. The redevelopment was really beautifully done, blending the original features with the modern, and I like it because it's where I go if I want to visit m'friend Andy, who is one of my favourite people. One of the themes in the station is John Betjeman; he loved trains, and so there's a statue of him, and the pub in the station is called the Betjeman Arms, and there are snippets of his poetry embedded in the floor tiles of the station. There are a LOT of Betjeman poems in ...
[IMG: Tim Brett why are you in] The Scottish Parliament by-election for the Dunfermline seat is well under way now. Our candidate Susan Leslie and leader Willie Rennie have had a great reception on the doorsteps. The other night there was a reminder of why we do this. It's all about making people's lives better. A woman ran up to Willie and Susan in the street and thanked him profusely. I can't say what he'd done for her while he was MP for Dunfermline but this had been her first chance to say thanks. His intervention had brought about something ...
[IMG: Claymore-v3b] [IMG: Claymore-v3a] What is it? A long form manga, currently consisting of 22 volumes available in English, and many more being translated from Japanese. There is also an anime that covered the first 10 or so volumes, but adds an ending not present in the manga. What is it about? IN A WORLD plagued by monsters called yoma, that hide among humans and eat their intestines, female warriors called Claymores roam the land, fighting yoma. Half-yoma themselves, they are outcasts from society, and are controlled by a shadowy organization of men who charge villages for the services of ...
Cornwall Council has just published the details of the budget proposals to save £23.9 million in 2014/15. You can find them on the budget pages of the council website here. The proposals were discussed by the cabinet and officers over the summer and have since been discussed by portfolio advisory committees of councillors and with staff affected by the proposals. Now that these discussions have concluded we are now able to make the suggestions public. The public consultation continues for a number of weeks and we welcome views on these proposals - both positive and negative. We are happy to ...
They keep coming-the revelations about Merseytravel under Mark Dowd's leadership. Todays iun the Daily Post: An investigaton is underway into why £2m of Merseyside taxpayers' money was spent on Beatles memorabilia that turned out to be worth only £300,000. The Post can reveal that items, including a pair of John Lennon's glasses and George Harrison's first guitar, bought by Merseytravel in 2008 have been revalued and found to be worth only £300,000 - £1.7m less than the original valuation. And the Post has learned that lawyers for the passenger transport authority - which bought the Beatles Story museum in the ...
Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats have welcomed a new law giving councils greater powers to combat the blight of scrap metal thefts on communities across the country. Every scrap metal dealer is having to obtain a licence to trade from their local authority under the new Scrap Metal Dealers Act with councils?now able to refuse or revoke licences. The Act also makes it illegal for anyone to buy or sell scrap metal with cash and gives councils new powers of entry and inspection and the?ability to shut down rogue dealers. The Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 councils in England ...
It was with enormous sadness that I learned earlier this week that Joan Coleman had died. She had been in a nursing home for some while. Joan, a Scot, was a stalwart of Southport Liberals and later Lib Dems. In her own right she was a formidable politician but her contribution extended far beyond party politics; she was a charity worker, a senior magistrate, real ale advocate and a family women. In 1965 she was in the small market town (was it at Hawick ?) in the Scottish borders when the declaration of the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election- which ...
I'm posting below a press release from my Lib Dem colleague Cllr Pat Moloney about tonight's meeting about the Mayor's plan to sell off a bit of Sefton Park land. The Lib Dems are only allowed one official voting place on the committee that meets tonight so Pat will be our representative. Other Lib Dems will be there though along with many of those who have been fighting the mayor's proposals. Frankly the vote tonight will depend if Labour Councillors decide to go along with the Mayor or support the objectors. We will oppose the sale of the Meadows in ...
We could give kids free lunch up to the age of 11 if we did not have this silly marriage tax allowance ..... In my last blog on the marriage tax allowance I wondered what we would gain for Lib Dem acquiescence over the illiberal and expensive marriage tax allowance. It is not what I expected but I quite like it. In the most obvious bit of horse-trading in this coalition yet we won free school meals for five to seven year olds. (I hope that is as far as the involvement of horses goes - sorry!) I don't want ...
My arrival in the US for my summer holiday, coincided with acquittal of George Zimmerman for the racially inflected murder of Trayvon Martin. The shooting happened in Sandford, Florida but even 2000km away in Boston it was inescapable. It dominated every bulletin on every telly we saw, there were numerous small about it and the [...]
There are two meetings at Blyth Town Council next week Assets Committee, 8th October, 6:30 pm at Arms Evertyne House Grants Committee, 10th October, 6:30 pm at Arms Evertyne House If I hear of any changes, I'll amend change this post .
I came across this in a shop window near where I live (Crystal Palace) - in fact it is the first tutors that I've seen round here with a shop front, and it is filled with symbols of reliable-looking old-fashioned education, with sums on blackboards. A fascinating development. This is the stuff of my time of life. The panic is beginning to grow in the breasts of people like me round here, with children aged nine, about what we are going to do about secondary schooling. Every place is hard fought. A carpet millionaire has taken control of most of ...
[IMG: call clegg] I noted earlier this week that the Daily Mail's attacks on Ed Miliband's father have echoes of the smears the paper has peddled about Nick Clegg and his family over the years. And on his 'Call Clegg' radio phone-in today the Lib Dem leader didn't shy away from mounting a full-frontal assault on the Mail pointing out that what it represents is utterly opposed to the British values of decency, tolerance and fair play. Here's how the Guardian's Andrew Sparrow reports it: Wow. That was striking. Nick Clegg has got form for criticising the Daily Mail – ...
On National Poetry Day here is an extract from a poem by Swansea poet, Vernon Watkins, a contemporary of Dylan Thomas: Midnight. Midnight. Midnight. Midnight. Hark at the hands of the clock. Now dead men rise in the frost of the stars And fists on the coffins knock. They dropped in their graves without one sound; Then they were steady and stiff. But now they tear through the frost of the ground As heretic, drunkard and thief. Why should you fear though they might pass Ripping the stitch of grief, The white sheet under the frosted glass, Crisp and still ...
[IMG: Lottery Apologies] The price of the National Lottery doubles today. The odds of winning the top prize remain the same: 14 million to one. The price hike is being launched by floating giant balls under the world renowned historic Ironbridge. That's as tacky as it comes. But the Lotto was always a tacky business that supported good charitable causes. The BBC is finding itself in an awkward position this morning. On the one hand, it has been dragged into Camelot's campaign to keep ticket sales up. But on local radio at least, there is coverage of why people gamble ...
I am on Wave 102 News this morning, speaking about action to reduce Dundee's carbon footprint. You can hear the interview by clicking 'play' below:
East Lindsey Independent Group seat. Resignation.
LD seat. Death (Steve Patrick). Prospective Candidate: Allison Harrison
Con seat. Death.
LD seat. Resignation. Term ends 2015.
Tonight (3rd) the Council's regeneration select committee meets for "pre decision scrutiny" of the Mayor's plan to sell off land at Sefton Park. It is open to members of the public and starts at 5pm at the Town Hall on Dale Street. Despite more than 1,200 individual objections and a petition, the mayor looks set to ignore the public and press ahead. Tonight is a chance, albeit a small one, to ask him to think again. That however will depend on the mainly Labour Councillors deciding people's views are important and standing up to the Mayor. Lib Dems have opposed ...
The Friends of Balgay AGM will be held at the Mills Observatory on Saturday 19th October at 2pm. Agenda 1. Apologies2. Minutes of last AGM3. Matters arising4. Chairman's Report5. Presentation of Accounts6. Retirement of Treasurer7. Subscriptions 2013-148. AOCB The AGM will be followed by a talk from Stewart Murdoch of Dundee City Council on Dundee's bid for the 'City of Culture'. This will be followed by discussion and refreshments. All welcome!
The uncertainty caused by the Business Minister of costing Wales jobs on the future of business rate relief for charities is costing Wales jobs. The Business Minister has decided to delay her decision on business rates relief for charities; instead she plans to work with the UK Government and other devolved administrations to discuss the proposals. The Business Minister has also announced that she is to introduce two further business rates schemes to help businesses. Today's announcement should have nailed the coffin lid on proposals to hike taxes on charities, however the Minister decided to fudge the decision. I'm pleased ...
White lines are meant to ensure people have access. Elsie Road has been a long standing issue with regards to white line enforcement. REsidents there felt the Police were being a bit random in their responses. So this is what I've found out... If a vehicle is stuck on the driveway and is blocked in then the Police can have it removed. If a driveway is blocked and a person is stopped from driving onto their driveway, then they can't. The Police local patrol team (LPT) or if the local Safer Neighbourhood Team is in the area, the Police always ...
