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Here's Lib Dem energy secretary Ed Davey highlighting one of the many flaws in Ed Miliband's promise to freeze energy prices in today's Guardian interview: [IMG: ed davey energy prices] (Hat-tip: John Rentoul in The Independent: Quotation of the Day.) * Stephen Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, and editor of the 2013 publication, The Coalition and Beyond: Liberal Reforms for the Decade Ahead. He is also a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum and writes at his own site, The Collected Stephen Tall.
Liberal Democrats were pleased to emerge as the only major party making gains in last Sunday's general election in Luxembourg. Though not the largest party, we may yet secure the prime ministerial role in a Liberal-SocDem-Green coalition. As in Germany, however, it may take a number of weeks for the parties to agree the new coalition. The tiny republic of San Marino voted in a referendum the same day to apply to join the EU (though only by the narrowest of margins). I imagine we might see other micro states do the same as the crackdown on tax evasion renders ...
By now everyone in Bar Hill and the surrounding villages will have received their application form to register to vote in the 2014 elections. Unfortunately this year South Cambridgeshire District Council has decided that it's not going to carry across the option to "opt out" of the publicly available edited register - requiring everyone to re-state their intention to not make their details publicly available to marketing companies. It's quite disappointing that South Cambs have decided to adopt this approach. While national guidance has been issued that, broadly, states;In order to comply with Section 11 (Right to prevent processing for ...
Earlier this year, Nick Clegg said that when we are having to tighten our belts at home it would be wrong for the EU to press ahead with big spending increases. He was right then and he is right now. This is why Liberal Democrats in Brussels backed moves to cut the EU budget by 8bn Euros. Despite this fact, this week our friends at the Daily Mail reported that Lib Dem MEPs voted for an increase in the EU budget. The truth is that not a single Liberal Democrat voted for more spending from Brussels. Liberal Democrats are committed ...
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: Can anyone tell me ...; Why are we obsessed with building affordable housing?; Cable breaks rank to defend Guardian over Edward ...
Photo of Aberdeen Triple Kirks by Chris Downer It's been John Major week. Kevin Maguire, writing for The House Magazine, was at the Press Gallery lunch for his speech. And Max Atkinson asks if is speechmaking has improved since his days as prime minister. "This new fervour for 'hard work' and the 'hard working' comes at a point when many voices, and many of them far from the usual suspects, are suggesting that the political economy so closely connected to the ethic of hard work, that of capitalism, has reached a point where its interests and impact over the lives ...
Over the next few days I'm going to be getting the last few Doctor Who posts up, as well as one or two California Dreaming ones, but I'll otherwise not be around very much for a little while, as I'm then going to be furiously working on the Who essays to get them turned into [...]
Well, the internet is abuzz regarding Russell Brand's recent interview with heavyweight journo Jeremy Paxman (link here). Let me begin by saying that I love Russell Brand. I think his comedy is hilarious, his spin-off movie Get Him to the Greek is one of my favourite films, I love how he combines a comically expansive vocabulary with a crude attitude, I love how he's from a very similar part of the country to myself. I also love some of his political views - the man speaks a lot of sense on drug policy reform (as a former addict and friend ...
In September, Cape Cornwall Secondary school opened Kites a place that children from the old Penwith area can go if they have special learning needs. I visited on Thursday and it is a lovely place for our special children. It has bright colours and well equipped rooms to help staff meet the physical and learning needs of the children placed with them. They want to set up a special garden for the children with lots of different smell and feels to it. They also hope to have a few chickens and pets to give the children an added interest. I ...
Pixar's animation about a fish in search of his son and Christopher Nolan's thriller about a man searching for his wife's killer don't have much in common. However, they are both a) really good and b) have characters with amnesia. And in fact, their portrayals of the condition are surprisingly similar: "the amnesiac character retains [...]
I am going to start using my blog in a slightly different way. I am going to try my best to put a short piece on, every week. I am going to make them very short pieces and try to get some photos's or other pictures. I will also try different things out so people can let me know what they like and don't like. I will try to help you know what sort of things I am doing, as your local councillor. Sometimes I will write about my hopes for the area or things I am trying to get ...
This is South Wales wins our Headline of the Day Award. Thanks to a reader for the nomination.
In his speech a few days ago Nick Clegg said: "Parents don't want ideology to get in the way of their children's education. They don't care about the latest political label attached to their child's school. What they want, and expect, is that their children are taught by good teachers, get taught a core body of knowledge, and get a healthy meal every day. "What is the point of having a slimmed-down national curriculum if only a few schools have to teach it? Let's teach it in all our schools. And what is the point of having brilliant new food ...
I have just heard the news (via Facebook) that Derek Wheeler, Group Scout Leader of 1st Carryduff, former County Commissioner of Belfast, former District Commissioner of South Belfast passed away earlier this morning. Whilst I didn't always agree with everything that he said, he was a great person to know and he led one of...
The George and the Derby Arms, both in Garston village, have applied for some changes to their hours and other bits of their licensing conditions. The changes aren't huge - they are basically longer hours on a Sunday, a bit more music at one of the pubs and doing breakfasts at the other. You can see the details at this link. The info about what they're asking for is towards the bottom of the page at the moment. If you want to comment, the form to use is towards the top of the page (word attachment)
[IMG: Danny Alexander by Paul Walter] In today's Telegraph, Danny Alexander is ebullient about the signs of economic recovery. He says this revival would not be happening without the Lib Dems. The decision of Lib Dems to form the coalition is the bedrock on which the recovery is being built. Without a government prepared to do the right thing to tackle the deficit and support job creation the progress we are starting to see would simply not have happened. Some people thought the Lib Dems wouldn't stick at it. Now they know different. We've worked with the Conservatives, not just ...
Some money. Not pictured: My hand In a somewhat below-the-belt post on The Speccie yesterday Douglas Murray highlighted how Sunny Hundal (who is quitting full time writing for Liberal Conspiracy) was not making a living from blogging. This has led me to ponder whether any independent blogging sites* are actually making enough money to support full-time people and be self-sustaining. Liberal Conspiracy wasn't. Left Foot Forward, LabourList and ConservativeHome all have full time staff but also have external backers. Lib Dem Voice is run by volunteers, none of whom draw a salary from it. The more I think about it, ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... My Week: Russell Brand* | The Times Hugo Rifkind nails Russell Brand. Metaphorically only. And not *that* kind of metaphorically. http://thetim.es/16zkC8O Educating Yorkshire episode 8: The Moment – Tom Bennett – Blog – Tom Bennett – TES Community Great review » Educating Yorkshire episode 8: The Moment – Tom Bennett http://bit.ly/1a6Pc4x Elections etc: A long-range forecast for a 2015 British General Election based on current polls and historical polls and votes V interesting from @StephenDFisher – 57% probability of Con maj, 88% chance they'll be largest party http://bit.ly/1aiBlKF BBC News – Northern ...
It was a few weeks ago now, but the scheme on how communities can access some of the new homes bonus was finally approved by full council. 'New homes bonus' is money paid by central government to local authorities in exchange for increasing housing stock. The more homes a local authority builds, the more money it will receive. The idea is so clever that Eric Pickles could not possibly have
I have a feeling that the centenary events for the First World War are going to be a shock for some of us. I am old enough to remember the Old Contemptibles, those survivors of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, marching along Whitehall on Remembrance Day, and they have all gone now. What next year will mark is the shift from remembrance to history - and to military historians in particular. That means engaging with the former enemies properly, and on an equal basis. I still hear bizarre stories from military conferences about how the German or Turkish points ...
[IMG: Owl] As promised, this is the first 'occasional musing' on our website and how it works. Feel free to join in... The recent decision by 'Popular Science', a long-established American magazine, to, for the most part, simply ban comments from the majority of its online content was a dramatic response to the difficulties brought about when you try to maintain a civil discourse on an interactive website such as Liberal Democrat Voice. And if they thought that scientists could be feisty, they have nothing on the politically active. [IMG: Angry computer person] But comment management is a long-running source ...
I have travelled back to Kampala for the final leg of my trip with Ade Adepitan to investigate what life is like for disabled people in Uganda. I was very excited about our main event – we were due to meet Uganda's own wheelchair paralympic hopefuls. I was really interested to hear how their training compares to Ade's and to see them in action on the court. We caught up with the team mid-match in a small outdoor court in the city centre. Uganda's own wheelchair basketball team may lack the latest equipment, high-tech chairs or training centres, but they ...
[IMG: boris and cameron] The Telegraph reports Boris Johnson's claim that he is the only politician to stand up for immigration. I'm probably about the only politician I know of who is actually willing to stand up and say that he's pro-immigration. Nonsense. I can only guess that Boris doesn't know many politicians. He even jokes that the only party backing immigration is the Greens. That's not right and I am sure he knows it. The Lib Dems are the party that takes a positive attitude to immigration, and unlike the Greens, we are part of the government. Here on ...
posted The Blood is The Life 25-10-2013 http://t.co/56LqbBYq7W on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) How female representation in games affects women | Polygon (tags: ) 9 Women Who Shaped Science Fiction (tags: ) My horny playlist Because people were asking. Probably reveals more about my perversions than many of you wanted to know. Please to note this is a playlist for me, not me+anyone else. Although there ARE some songs on there that bring back... ahem... pleasant memories. (tags: ) Assessing My Personal Gender Bias on Twitter ← Terence Eden's Blog I know I follow more men than ...
After all that fuss last week about whether Wales was going to get a Barnett consequential from the investment in HS2, it is now possible the project will not go ahead at all. That will teach us to count our chickens before they are hatched.
During the course of the week I come across a lot of articles that I think are worth reading about but don't blog about. This can be because I don't have anything to add, don't know enough to write about the topic or just run out of time. So as an experiment here's a post [...]
The Association of Chief Police Officers have just released new guidance about speeding. It now includes enforcement of 20mph with new speed awareness courses being ready from November. The recommendaitons include sending errant drivers to speed awareness courses. Previously the Police counldn't for 20mph speeding! This change follows pressure from Lib dem Transport Minister Norman Baker. Due to technology limitations this actually means people travelling 24->31mph, allowing for +10% +2mph for car speed display errors. This is great news and should see fewer crashes and less severe injuries on our roads.
We're 18 months from the May 2015 election so I thought it'd be useful to keep a running check on how candidate selection is going in our held and key target seats... Below is the list as I currently understand it. If I've missed re-selections of current MPs or selections in seats where our MPs are retiring or in our top 50 targets, do please say so in the comments and I'll update the list. Here's the full list of the 57 MPs elected as Liberal Democrats in May 2010: Danny Alexander, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Norman Baker, Lewes ...
This is a story that resulted from a hearing in Court 45 at the RCJ (Royal Courts of Justice) yesterday. These are the sorts of imprisonments that have tended not to be revealed by the system, but are now more likely to be revealed. There was, in fact, one similar to this which was revealed earlier this year. However, it does appear that the judges are now starting to follow the rules which
Blackness Court's coffee morning takes place at 10.30am next Saturday - 2nd November - all welcome! Usual stalls and entrance is £1 (adults) and 50p (children).
The BBC report that Welsh government minister, Alun Davies has been criticised for giving "evasive" answers to an assembly committee. They say that the assembly's environment committee believe that Natural Resources Minister Alun Davies gave them contradictory information about his portfolio: Members condemned his department for financial management and planning failures, including "basic errors" in its draft budget. In a letter to the Finance Committee about the Natural Resources department's budget, the AMs said: "We are disappointed with the timeliness of information provided by the minister, and the oral evidence session, where a number of questions were evaded or contradictory ...
We want to build a fairer society and that means providing better care in every hospital. Following the Francis Inquiry, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has introduced radical changes to hospital inspections, with a new Chief Inspector, Sir Mike Richards, leading significantly larger inspection teams which are headed up by clinical and other experts. This next step will help to give the CQC a good picture of risk within trusts. Patient safety should be the first in everything the NHS does and we expect the CQC to act where it finds failings of care.
Saul Alinsky, born in 1909 in Chicago to Russian Jewish parents, is now famous as the father of community organising. After graduating in archaeology from the University of Chicago, Alinsky started his work in the late 1930s in the Back ... Continue reading →
It was very disappointing that government ministers this week refused to scrap the hated Air Passenger Duty, a regressive tax which penalises hard-pressed Caribbean families visiting relatives. The extra tax might swell the Treasury's coffers [...]
