Being accused of racism is mostly taken as one of the worst accusations known to man, only to be used in the face of the most extreme and explicit examples. Indeed if some had their [...]
I was down in London for the Battle of Ideas today - more about that soon. But this is much more interesting. These are the old Thameslink platforms at Barbican station, which have been out of use since 2009. The current rebuilding of Farringdon station for Crossrail and the improved Thameslink service meant that the branch to Moorgate, which these platforms at Barbican served, had to be closed.
I'm hoping to make this a regular blog post as practically no-one in the mainstream media seems to be reporting these things ... It was disappointing to see that a delegation of MEP's visited Azerbaijan during it's Presidential election on the 9th October and reported that the election was "transparent and fair" and then had to undergo the embarrassment of official election observers from the OSCE reporting that it was anything but. It's astonishing that anyone, let alone MEP's would allow themselves to be duped in this way. On Monday member states' finance ministers travelled to Luxembourg to sign off ...
As part of the NHS free pan London Winter flu jabs the following Southwark pharmacies are now offering free flu immunisation service commissioned by NHS England – free to those who are pregnant, over 65, weakened immune system, asthmatic, carers, health condition or heart disease. Local pharmacies offering this: Davis Chemist – 10 Crossthwaite Avenue, Sunray Avenue, SE5 8ET Day Lewis Pharmacy – 34 Forest Hill Road, SE22 0RR Sainsburys, 80 Dog Kennel Hill, SE22 8DB Please do get immunised.
Today during the wind and the heavy rain Liberal Democrat councillors and supporters spent time at the rally opposite Ealing Hospital. I made a short speech, as those in attendance covered themselves with umbrellas. I talked about the fact that despite Ealing Council losing the court case recently the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, will make a key decision on the Independant Panel's report which he received a couple of weeks ago. I see our position using a footballing analogy. We are one nil down at half time but we have time (next week) to score not just ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our very belated 348th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6-12 October, 2013), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Three ...
[IMG: Alistair Carmichael - License Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] The Guardian reported last night that there were rumours that Alex Salmond is staying at the luxurious Gleneagles Hotel during the SNP's conference in Perth. True, it's only rumours, but I'm unable to find any SNP denial and you think that they would have done. I mean, rather than stay in any of Perth's fine hostelries, it's being said he's travelling half an hour down the road to the playground of the rich and famous. Surely they'd want to make him sound more like a man of the people ...
The latest statistics for the 12 months to June 2013 from the Office for National Statistics show that crime continues to fall. This is positive news that shows forces are rising to the challenge of making savings while cutting crime and delivering a better service to the public. Police reform is working and crime is falling. Recorded crime has dropped yet again, by more than ten per cent under the Coalition Government and the Crime Survey says that crime has more than halved since its peak in 1995. England and Wales are safer than they have been for decades but ...
The increasingly farcical passage of the Lobbying Bill (or to give it its full title, the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill 2013-14) sees it hit the House of Lords this coming week. Given the number of lobbyists, trade unionists and charity trustees in that institution, debates on the Bill are set to be more than usually entertaining. The principal arguments have so far centred on Part 2 of the Bill: the clumsy, disproportionate and misdirected attempt to prevent third party campaigning in the year before elections that has succeeded in uniting organisations as diverse as ...
So in his speech today Alex Salmond said that after independence he would return the Royal Mail to public ownership. Now I make no apology here for being a philately geek as this is where the issues arise from what Alex has said in such a blasé manner. First up there is the name, he would have no powers over the Royal Mail. The only postal service in the World that does not need to use the nation's name in its title is that of the United Kingdom as in 1840 they were the first to offer a universal set ...
I remain as bemused as ever by the use of the expression ' a party of government, not a party of protest' by our Westminster representatives. It is generally used to criticize the grassroots, when they kick up a fuss about MPs (or indeed Peers) actively supporting legislation which appears to deliver the opposite of party policy (although not, as we shall see, exclusively so). The latest MP to use the term is of course Jeremy Browne in his interview in The Times, and ironically enough, the target of his ire on this occasion is not the membership but Nick ...
[IMG: Lib Dems winning here] Here's the full list of selection contests in the coming month availabele for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates' list, together with the closing date for applications. Some top targets for the party are among them... The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates: Amber Valley, Westminster, 21st October Derbyshire Dales, Westminster, 21st October Chichester, Westminster, 21st October Knowsley, Westminster, 25th October Oxford East, Westminster, 25th October Salisbury, Westminster, 25th October Sevenoaks, Westminster, 25th October Southend West, Westminster, 26th October Dulwich & West Norwood, Westminster, 28th October East Surrey, ...
A couple of weeks ago, Google rolled out the new GMail to me. Unlike a lot of people, I rather like it. Sure, it'll take a bit of educating whilst I train it to put the e-mails I receive on a regular basis in the appropriate categories. True, it's frustrating that such instructions can only be made on the desktop version rather on the mobile or tablet apps. And I still have no idea what to put in the "Forums" section... But I like it, and the fact that the "Primary" e-mail box gives me an update when new e-mails ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... The Independent View: I know what next month's living wage will be and it doesn't relate to the cost of living 1-in-3 earn less than real living wage, says @adamcorlett. Moving towards it too fast would risk serious unemployment http://bit.ly/15QJYMP Sex! Girls! Meltdown! Confessions of a baffled lads' mag editor – Telegraph Funny (and wise) from Michael Deacon > Sex! Girls! Meltdown! Confessions of a baffled lads' mag editor http://bit.ly/1eyFEnJ BBC News – HS2 'losers' revealed after report omitted figures BBC News – HS2 'losers' revealed after report omitted figures http://bbc.in/1i3FqoG Fear ...
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 7 days: £12,500 threshold; Can anyone tell me ...; How do you rate Jeremy Browne as a Lib Dem MP?; Al-Madinah Free School; ...
From last Monday, the cost of parking in Cheadle's car parks for an hour fell from 30p to 20p, in response to requests from residents and traders to make short-stay parking cheaper. The one-hour limited parking bays – for example on Charlotte Street and Oak Road – remain free. In the centre of Stockport the cost of parking for one hour has come down from £1.50 to just 80p, and even cheaper if you're willing to walk for an extra minute or two. Sunday parking remains free in Cheadle. In the main Stockport car parks, it's 50p to park on ...
This is a cross-posting from the Creeting St Peter Journal... The announcement of the initial public consultation on the Mill Lane Development Brief ends a lengthy 'phoney war' over what would happen to the area on the Creeting side of the A1120 link road, opposite the Tesco supermarket at Cedars Park. And, whilst it was inevitable that the emergence of the UK economy from recession would lead to increased activity, there were hopes that the entire project had gone away, perhaps for good. However, the proposed development brief is broadly in line with the steer given by the Area Action ...
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show crime against households is down by 7 per cent compared with the same time last year and has hit the lowest level since the record began in 1981. Norman Baker said: "The drop in number of crimes is very welcome. It shows we are tackling crime better than any time during the last 30 years and are providing safer communities for people than Labour ever did.""Police reform is working and crime is falling. Recorded crime has dropped yet again and now by more than ten per cent under the Coalition Government. "People ...
Some years ago now, I sat down to write a book about public services, partly because I was so angry with the way the Labour government had subverted them - making them more expensive and less effective - and partly because I hoped to provide an agenda for Nick Clegg, in case he ever became leader of the party. The trouble was, I was too angry. I had to re-write the book twice before it was finally coherent enough to be read, which it is being now, I'm glad to say (The Human Element). By then, Nick Clegg had become ...
A report in today's Herald suggests that former Scottish Secretary Michael Moore was offered the chance to resign from the Cabinet rather than be sacked. A "spend more time with his family" scenario was apparently Nick Clegg's first choice method of removal. Moore, though, was reportedly not having any of it: In what might have been meant as a conciliatory gesture, Mr Clegg offered his Cabinet colleague the chance to resign. But friends of Mr Moore made clear the Borders MP rebuffed the offer immediately, telling his party leader: "If you are going to sack me, sack me. I won't ...
In the past few days I've twice come across presenting a novel argument about stress: it might not be as bad as you think. Instead they suggest that what matters is the way people respond to it. First there was a BBC news article reporting that: The findings of a ground-breaking study, published in the [...]
[IMG: HS2 Distortion 200] The case for High Speed 2 is looking more and more like a Tonka project - a big showy toy that politicians can brag about, but will do little for the UK's economy. And it is not an equitable project. It is set to damage the economy of areas like east of England and boost London at their expense. It's not long since KPMG published a report claiming that the line could boost the economy by £15 billion a year. Now BBC's Newsnight reports that the KPMG report left out data on those areas that stand ...
Brighouse plans Victorian themed Christmas (tags: ) posted The Blood is The Life 18-10-2013 http://t.co/EhuBwOSExo on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/1.6162974 Hunt is on for £10 million lottery winner. http://t.co/PyIrgoS6i5 (tags: (from twitter) ) Jeremy browned off by Pimlicat Please, not another left/right war in the lib dems *headdesk headdesk headdesk* (tags: ) serious trigger warnings: girl at centre of rape case tells her side of the story (tags: ) Caron Lindsay blogs about her first appearance on the Today programme First of many I would hope. She's more engaging and pleasanter-voiced than a couple of the ...
Sat 19th
09:25
Designing a truly digital government - watch Julian Huppert, Mary Reid, David Frank and Chris Yiu
That was the cast of expert characters on the panel for a meeting I chaired in Glasgow about digital government and digital public services. You can watch it in full here:
Sat 19th
08:55
The Independent View: I know what next month's living wage will be and it doesn't relate to the cost...
On 4 November we will learn the level of the new Living Wage, which many employers have volunteered to pay as a minimum. At present it is £7.45 an hour outside London. I'm betting that next month it will rise to £7.65.* How do I know? Well, the current calculation is remarkably simple, and it has nothing to do with the cost of living. What's more, future increases risk making proposed living wage policies unaffordable or even damaging. Academics at Loughborough University do calculate the wage needed to fund, after tax and benefits, what members of the public consider a ...
Sat 19th
07:38
Left or right makes no difference. Your political beliefs wreck your ability to do maths!
An interesting study was recently published showing that peoples political beliefs affects their judgement, curiosity and, by proxy, their mathematical skill levels. The study does not score party political points it is equally damning of everyone, including the general public. This explains a lot! Enjoy....
Having lost his ministerial job in last week's reshuffle, Jeremy Browne was interviewed in Friday's Times (£) - and it's not a pretty sight. What's that? You won't pay to enter the Times's firewall? Quite right, so a copy of the story is provided at the end of this blog post. There are also summaries of the Times's story in the Guardian, on Liberal Democrat Voice and at Politics.co.uk. The interview has fuelled speculation that Browne will eventually defect to the Tories, which his half-hearted denials do not entirely dispel. Meanwhile in the Liberal Democrat blogosphere, Browne's comments have earned ...
Yesterday's Daily Mail reveals the true cost of the UK Government's failed attempt to tackle bovine TB through a cull of badgers. They say that 708 badgers have been killed in Gloucestershire, 30% of the population. But that is far short of the target of 70%. As a result the action is actually likely to spread bTB. Not only is the cull morally wrong but it has proved to be a blunt instrument. Because there is no testing of badgers, the shooters cannot be certain that they have killed infected animals. For all they know, even if they get to ...
I was on Wave 102 News yesterday about the issue of the so-called "Invergowrie" roundabout. You can hear the interview by clicking 'play' below:
[IMG: visual non-sequitur] Out of a dilemma comes simplicity. The dilemma is that I was brought up to behave in a "chivalrous" way and to treasure politeness above all else. But now this "old fashioned" behaviour has hit, head-on, the modern age and some enlightened thinking. So I have met this dilemma with a couple of simple rules: 1. I always hold the door open for everyone. I always look behind me and if there is someone coming within 80 yards of the door (my "80 yard rule") I hold the door and wait. 2. The only time, in modern ...
I cannot understand a comment made by Labour's Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty when he claimed that 'that the rest of the UK could learn from what the Welsh Government is doing. What planet is he on? He must get real because, whatever way you look at it, the record in Wales is not good. Educational attainment for children who are in receipt of free school meals is unacceptably low in comparison with England, where the report states that 50% more pupils on free school meals achieve five good grades at GCSE when compared to Wales. How can Vaughan Gething, ...
Graham Fenwick-Jones, a man who talks "Britspeak", is explaining US politics to Americans on the David Letterman Show. He is "CBS Chief Foreign Correspondent", aka actor James Stephens. He actually gets away with murder, simply because noone knows what the heck he is talking about. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
[IMG: OTC16] A quick dip into US late night Friday TV. Bill de Blasio will be disastrous for New York as Mayor. Barbara Buono will be great as Governor of New Jersey. So say the ads. Indeed, Bill de Blasio will be so bad for New York, the people who were showering money out on ads against him saw fit to show the same ad three times in the space of ten minutes. Wow. That Bill de Blasio must be bad. Real bad. Except he's way ahead in the polls. Like 66% to 21%. Hence the opposition panic. Oh, and ...
Still haven't worked how to get the video off my phone from Monday's Wilko Johnson gig, but fortunately with YouTube I don't have to...
The Conservatives on their own cannot build a fairer society. In Government we have blocked Tory plans to: Allow bosses to fire staff at willRegional pay penalising public sector workers in the northLet schools be run for profit Tory backbenchers have shown their true colours in recent months, not least when a group of them released their Alternative Queen's Speech, which included plans to: Bring back the death penaltyBan the burkaPrivatise the BBCIntroduce an annual 'Margaret Thatcher Day' On Conservative attempts to take credit for raising the Income Tax threshold: Cameron to Nick in the first leaders' debate: "I'd love ...
