I rarely see 12 year olds drunk on the streets of Ludlow - but every now and again a group has a drinking session outside the Co-op. I see a lot more 14 year olds the worse for drink. And drunk 16 year olds are commonplace, hanging out in play areas, or sometimes just staggering [...]
My MP, David Morris reckons that a Conservative conference is 'a chance to discuss new ideas'. At least that was the headline in my local newspaper, the Morecambe Visitor. Sorry David I watched most of the conference and saw no discussion - unless you count the two retired soldiers who heckled Philip Hammond. However even this is stretching the definition of a discussion as I don't think Philip, and for that matter most of the delegates could hear what the retired soldiers were saying. I know that they were putting the case for the Royal Fusiliers but that is only ...
Whenever there is an audience George Osborne sounds off about clamping down on unreasonable tax avoidance having brought in the General Anti Abuse Rule (GAAR) earlier this year. But it is not true. 'Private Eye No 1349 ' [20th September to 3rd October] devotes four pages to reporting on an investigation jointly with Panorama shows that the UK has now become one of the largest 'tax havens' in the world. What is even worse is that the HMRC has a mountain of evidence on tax evasion - which is illegal - only one very wealthy offshore tax dodger has been ...
The Planning Inspector has made their decision about the M&S/Freeholders planning appeal about replacing the current Iceland shop on Lordship with a much large shop unit, removing the current car parking and building eight flats above. The inspector agreed with residents and East Dulwich councillors that the scheme as proposed would add to local parking stress and the deliveries plan was not acceptable. To read the who decision, which I recommend, please see: 2198122 DECISION What next? Well we know Waitrose has been patiently waiting in the wings hoping for this outcome and hopes M&S will walk away. M&S may ...
In the run up to London 2012 I did a series looking back at all the previous Olympics posting it at 5pm every Friday, I've decided to do the same in the run up to Sochi 2014 with the Winter Olympic Games. You can catch up on any you missed in the Olympiads Revisited tab. As with the 1924 and 1932 Winter Olympic Games the IOC approached the nation that was hosting the Summer Games of 1936 about hosting of the Winter Games. The twin-town Bavarian resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, right down by the Austrian border was chosen. Competitors 646 (+282) ...
[IMG: Lib Dems winning here] Here's the full list of selection contests in the coming month availabel for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates' list. Some top targets for the party are among them... The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates: Harrogate & Knaresborough (4th October) Truro & Falmouth (4th October) Birmingham Edgbaston (7th October) Birmingham Hall Green (7th October) Dover and Deal (11th October) Folkestone and Hythe (11th October) Lewisham Deptford (11th October) Lewisham East (11th October) Lewisham West & Penge (11th October) Ludlow (11th October) Oldham East and Saddleworth (11th October) ...
Dear people of America, While travelling in your country this summer, I became aware of a few ways in which your country could be improved. I respectfully share them with you here: Include sales taxes and service charges in the price of things. For pete's sake the students you send to this country get freaked [...]
Sat 5th
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Reforming the interim peers panel: a pragmatic solution that gets used is better than a principled o...
[IMG: House of Lords. House of Lords. Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament] As I wrote last month, the big question for the party's consultation over its 'interim peers panel' system is one missing from the consultation paper: what will the party leader agree to go along with? I deeply dislike the unelected nature of the House of Lords. I appear to be in a tiny minority in thinking it dreadfully arrogant of the political establishment that after each election, when a bunch of MPs have been voted out by the public, the establishment then turns ...
The deadline for submitting nominations for the Local and Regional Liberal Politicians Awards, LeaDeRs, organised by the ALDE Group in the EU's Committee of the Regions has been extended until 10 October, to allow members of those parties in Europe (such as the Lib Dems) who have been tied up with party conferences, or in other cases, election campaigns. Open to Liberal Democrats from across Europe, nominations have so far been received for work carried out by local councillors from Germany, Italy, Ireland, Hungary, Estonia, and Latvia. Others from France and Spain are on their way. Previous winners include Paul ...
It looks like Christmas has come early for Will Scobie, Labour's parliamentary candidate for South Thanet, as it is reported in the FT that Nigel Farage UKIP leader, will stand against Conservative incumbent Laura Sandys. I imagine that Nigel will take more votes off the Conservatives than he will from Labour, since much of Labour support comes, either from the non-working or public sector both of whom are dependent on government giving money away, from hard working people. Scobie so far has yet to show his hand, apart from being much praised by his Labour cohorts, we don't hear much ...
[IMG: sir-bob-russell-mp-in-the-commons-small] Sir Bob Russell, MP for Colchester, has been unanimously re-selected in a ballot of Colchester Liberal Democrats. Sir Bob was elected to the Commons in 1997, and re-elected in 2001, 2005 and 2010, each time with an increased majority. In 2010, he commanded a majority of nearly 7,000 over the Conservatives. He told the East Anglian Daily Times that he wants to "quash rumours" that he will be standing down and has announced that he will be seeking re-election in 2015.
It's ten years since prime minister Tony Blair promised to eradicate the 'ethnic penalty' of the pay-gap between BAME and white workers. As we reach this deadline today's government is silent on the issue. In [...]
For all its faults, and there are many especially when it comes to their attitude to local government and Wales' educational and health outcomes, whenever I see any initiative by Eric Pickles, I thank the Lord that it is the Welsh Government and not the Tories who are responsible for local councils here. That instinctive reaction has been reinforced again today as a result of this article in the Telegraph, which reports that the UK Government is to give the Local Authority Publicity Code, currently guidance, legal force. According to the Local Government Association this would effectively deny English Councils ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Who is the greater hypocrite Mehdi Hasan or the British left? » Spectator Blogs Trenchant but fair from @nickcohen4 > Who is the greater hypocrite Mehdi Hasan or the British left? » Spectator Blogs http://bit.ly/1cfNMLx The 100 top things you honestly don't need to do before you die | Richard Osman | Comment is free | The Guardian Funniest thing I've read in a long time > 100 top things you honestly don't need to do before you die | Richard Osman http://bit.ly/GDLbxU Miliband's big gambles fail to win over floating voters ...
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: HS2; Should we Nationalise?; Housing; Re Alignment of British Politics; Rebuttal of UKIP leaflet; Could we go into Coalition with the ...
Like most people approaching the half-century of life, I worry. About the usual things – how long will my health "hold out", For how much longer will I still have enough cultural commonality with the undergraduates at work to talk ... Continue reading →
[IMG: jo swinson by paul walter] Jo Swinson is not only the government minister responsible for employment relations, consumer and postal affairs – she's also the Lib Dems' equalities minister. And she appears in November's issue of Elle magazine backing its 'Make Them Pay' campaign: Today, we are proud to announce, the government has gotten behind us too. Women and Equalities minister Jo Swinson is urging all women to follow the advice in The Feminist Times and Mother campaign: 'If he does the same job as you, ask him his salary.' Praising our initiative, that highlights that men are paid ...
In America's civil religion, the constitution is the sacred text and the Founding Father's are the prophets. They even have temples like Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Both the document and its authors are held up as paragons and models with huge rhetorical power. Yet when a nation's constitution prevents the rubbish in its capital city [...]
Andrew reviews The Kingmaker, one of my favourite big finish audio plays (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: Poll piechart] The latest quarterly update to my spreadsheet of opinion poll data from 1943 is now up at: http://www.markpack.org.uk/opinion-polls/ You can also sign up on that page to get email notifications about future updates.
Mark Pack @markpackGood news: latest quarterly stats show Lib Dem membership up. 1st time that's happened outside a general election in a decade3:28 PM - 4 Oct 2013
[IMG: image] I was completely unaware of this, although it has been going on since the 1990s. It's a sort of German Midsomer set in Cornwall. This Guardian article alerted me to the series, based on Rosamunde Pilcher's novels. All great news. One little thing grates. And this harks back to various private rants I let fly about "Cornwall with Caroline Quentin". Arrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Yes, Cornwall looks lovely when you have a film crew of ten who mess around for three days getting a great shot, and yes, Caroline looks great when someone is stood in front of her with one ...
The October 2013 newsletter for Gatley from our local police including latest crime statistics and advice.
Nick Perry, the parliamentary spokesperson for the Lib Dems in Hastings & Rye, has written to the Leader of Hastings Borough Council, slamming the Council's failure to improve the access route to the Castle from the Town Centre. In recent years the Council has repeatedly failed in different bids to secure significant funding to improve [...]
I highlighted during Lib Dem conference season an interesting finding from Lord Ashcroft's latest polling of marginal seats: Lord Ashcroft - the former deputy Tory chairman and the man who spends more on polling than all the political parties combined - released his latest findings this week. 13,000 voters in the 40 Conservative seats with the smallest majorities were surveyed, including eight where the Liberal Democrats came second in 2010: Watford, St Albans, Oxford West & Abingdon, Harrogate & Knaresborough, Camborne & Redruth, Truro & Falmouth, Newton Abbot and Montgomeryshire. Remember: these are seats which are potential Lib Dem gains ...
I have spent the past week walking in the North Yorkshire Dales so have not followed the Conservative Party Conference all that carefully. However it does seem to me that, with their further plans to make life difficult for the unemployed, their policies will be seen even by their supporters as both vindictive and pointless. The long-term unemployed are to be forced, in order to receive any benefit, to attend Job Centres every day (my emphasis). Who is going to pay their bus or train fares? What are they going to do when they get there (having discovered there are ...
Figures out this week show that Welsh Exports fell by almost a billion pounds. As a result I have called on the Welsh Government to introduce a manufacturing strategy and to rapidly accelerate the Welsh Government's role out of its Enterprise Zones to help the wider Welsh economy. This fall is startling news. Wales is fairing for worse than the rest of the UK, our exports are falling drastically In terms of exports to counties outside the EU such as Asia, The Far East and America - all places that Welsh Labour Ministers have just visited on trade missions, Wales ...
Note from the county council NOTICE is given that the Hertfordshire County Council intend to make an Order under Section 14[1] of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, to prohibit all traffic from using the following lengths of roads and to prohibit all vehicles from waiting at any time on both sides of these lengths of roads whilst works are in progress:- 1. that length of Alma Cut, St Albans from its junction with Old London Road north eastwards to its junction with A1081 London Road, a distance of approximately 92 metres 2. that length of Black Cut, St Albans ...
