[IMG: image] I'm just back from a hugely enjoyable evening at New Greenham Arts, near Newbury. It was the "Going for Gold" interview with Baroness Shirley Williams by Judith Bunting, Liberal Democrat PPC for Newbury. As usual, Shirley was supremely knowledgeable, eloquent and passionate. A real inspiration, who drew many entralled non-LibDems to the evening. Thinking it might be an urban myth, or something I dreamt, with some trepidation I asked Shirley if it was true that she was second in line to star in the film National Velvet. She confirmed this enthusiastically and gave us the full story of ...
Labour seat. Death.
Seen in a north Kingston street earlier this evening...
Last week's byelections were pretty predictable - with Labour picking up, as expected, Shepshed West in Charnwood from the Tories and holding their other wards. The Lib Dems held their Norfolk seat with a swing from UKIP and improved their position - but only back to 2010 levels - in Waterlooville in Hampshire. But they failed to make any inroads in Bovey Ward in Teignbridge (a target seat) where the Tories gained a 6% swing in their favour. The weakness of the party in large parts of the country was exposed by derisory votes in Loughborough (=26) where the party ...
I wasn't going to post any more until I saw this howler of a piece of bad journalism from Nicholas Watt, The Guardian's Chief Political Correspondent. In his piece, entitled 'Labour support up 14 points after Miliband's energy pledge' Watt states that: "Voters in the "squeezed middle" are flocking to the Labour party after Ed Miliband pledged to freeze fuel bills for 20 months if he wins the
So, it's Hallowe'en. I thought we should join in with the fun, especially as I'm at home with a full-on dose of Empty Nest Syndrome as the Teenager, for the first time, bails for a party with her friends. Nick Clegg has been at a party too, today. He tweeted from the event at Great Ormond St Hospital. Amazing to join the fun and games with staff, patients, families and volunteers at the GOSH Halloween party. pic.twitter.com/olVbLGTSfX — Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) October 31, 2013 Liberal Democrats have been busy carving pumpkins, too and I thought you ought to see some ...
Eileen Ward-Birch, secretary of the Wolverhampton Pensioners' Convention, on the complications of later life in modern Britain. As I approached pension age, I began to anticipate having a small income that did not depend on me working. I also looked forward to all the senior discounts and the free travel, although the latter only applied to the West Midlands. However, I soon found out that there are many inequalities in the system. Because I had not worked or signed on for a set number of years, I do not get full pension. Like many women who paid the 'married women's ...
At least it is in America. This is from a post on Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ: In recent years, ... beginning with the passage of the USA Patriot Act during the George W. Bush years, but expanded seemingly without limit under Barack Obama, conservatives have awakened to the threat of the massive surveillance state. Some of the leading Republican presidential prospects are taking a hatchet to the Obama administration over the scandal. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has introduced a bill to rein in the National Security Agency's sweeping powers, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently knocked President Obama for allowing an ...
Liberal Democrat Voice (UK version, sorry American friends!) quotes a story from The Herald that at a recent dinner in St. Andrew's, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that she was "minded" to run for President in 2016. This is probably the closest she has come to making a public statement of her intentions, and appears to have been missed by most of the US Press. To my mind it is
This was me writing on the New Statesman website five years ago: I've got no time for Trick or Treat. It's just demanding money with menaces and, in the South of England at least, a recent import from America. Worse, paranoid modern parents insist on accompanying their children, trailing behind them with big soppy grins. A Penny for the Guy was more my style: good, honest begging with a token creative effort thrown in. Children spent hours shivering on street corners before blowing themselves up with fireworks. That sort of thing builds character.
Earlier today Rev. David McIlveen came on The Stephen Nolan Show on Radio Ulster. The reason for his appearance was that the Equality Commission had said that they had come to the opinion that, with movement on the issue in the rest of the UK, Same-Sex Marriage should be extended to Northern Ireland. But it was some of this comments that caused concern, especially as these were echoed by a number of callers. Firstly he said that homosexuality should never have been legalised in Northern Ireland in 1983. When challenged by Pink News editor Benjamin Cohen about what would be ...
Larry Diamond has written a really good article over at The Atlantic on the Chinese Communist Party's future as they approach the 70th anniversary of being in power in 2019. However, much like Mark Twain, reports of the CCP's death are exaggerated. For starters, while he is still omnipresent in China, the CCP no longer depends on Mao's 'revolutionary charisma'. In fact, they repudiated a large
We had visitors today who travelled up the M6 from Stoke. No problems with the traffic except (you've guessed it) through Lancaster. It doesn't matter whether it is the people of the Morecambe peninsula who drive to the M6 or whether it is friends and relations travelling to Morecambe, the usual bottleneck is Lancaster. In the same conversation we also spoke about the industry in Morecambe. They need to send their goods out of the area and some will be sent around the nation and possibly to other nations. For them the importance of a good link road will be ...
A rather wonderful illustration of how the earthiness of Bosnian culture confounds assumptions about a puritanical Islam is provided by Ed Vulliamy in his book The War is Dead, Long Live the War. He writes about the surprisingly large community of Bosnians in Salt Lake City. It is replete with examples of how the earthiness [...]
Are you a local group who plan to organise Christmas lunches for members of our community? Waitrose in Muswell Hill have said they will support local Christmas lunch events, which are run for the benefit of people who would otherwise be on their own. A recent survey has shown that 750,000 people in the UK over 65 either always or often feel lonely, and Christmas can be a particularly difficult time. With their business partners, Waitrose is aiming to reduce this number of people feeling isolated during the festive season. The deadline for applications is 15th November, and Waitrose are ...
Thu 31st
16:45
Crockart's Nuisance Calls Bill to be debated tomorrow as All Party Group recommends action
[IMG: Nuisance calls banner] Mike Crockart's Private Member's Bill (or the Communications (Unsolicited telephone calls and texts Bill to give it its proper name) is up for its second reading tomorrow. It's the only Liberal Democrat measure being discussed. The Bill aims to ensure that people are not bothered by unwanted calls if they don't want to be. The explanatory notes to the Bill are here. By amazing coincidence, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Nuisance Calls, of which Mike is co-chair, published its report on the unsolicited marketing industry this morning. It makes sixteen recommendations in 4 areas – ...
In light of the latest news about the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath the Monty Python crew would probably say the following: SCENE: The constituency offices of the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. Constituent: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint. (The case worker does not respond.) Constituent: 'Ello, Miss? Case Worker: What do you mean "miss"? Constituent: (pause)I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint! Case worker: We're closin' for lunch. Constituent: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this member of parliament what I voted for not three years ago from ...
Lord Berkeley's "Rights of the Sovereign and Duchy of Cornwall Bill" is due to have its second reading in the Lords on 8 November. He has been quoted as saying he wants to "provoke a debate", and it may be supposed that Bill is likely to be defeated at its second reading. As it would affect the Prince's private interests, it would require his consent in order to progress. He has given his consent to several bills in the past, according to the Parliament website. It is surprising how many bills require his consent. This is also explained in Erskine ...
Well, well well. Would you believe it? Yorkshire has been designated by the editors of the Lonely Planet Guide as the third* best region in the world to visit. Yes, in the world! My late father would have been delighted. Although he was no wimp: had it existed he would have won the Norman Tebbit award for job-seeking enterprise by not merely getting on his bike but by boarding a ship all the way to to Canada in order to find work in the depression of the 1930s. But in his retirement he regularly claimed that there were enough nice ...
Thu 31st
14:46Did this Lib Dem duo from Scotland reveal Mrs Clinton's (not-so-well-cloaked) presidential ambitions...
The Herald brings intriguing news of a recent dinner held in honour of a select group receiving honorary degrees from the University of St Andrews, including recently-departed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: The former First Lady was in good spirits. As appropriate for the star of the show, she arrived a little late, but made a point of going round all the other 17 graduates to shake them by the hand and say what a privilege it was to be graduating in their company. The cast-list was impressive and included Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the worldwide web, Nobel ...
Thu 31st
13:48Jo Swinson MP writes... Liberal Democrat aim of transparent company ownership becomes a reality
Today the Prime Minister announced the very welcome news that the UK will have an open public register of beneficial ownership - something Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for. By making business more transparent, so that anyone can find out who really owns and controls a company, we strengthen the image of the UK as a clean and trusted place to do business. As it stands UK companies currently have a register which lists who directly holds their shares but you can't always tell who the ultimate beneficial owner is. With no duty for companies to hold this information individuals ...
[IMG: Countryside Alliance web shotgun] Champions of the Countryside Alliance boast that it is the voice of rural Britain. I disagree. It is just one voice within rural Britain. It's like saying that the Tories are the voice of the Home Counties and Labour is the voice of the Industrial North. That's just lousy stereotypical language. There are many different voices within rural England. I am forever angry that the London press, especially the right leaning press, routinely trots out stereotypes about life in our rural areas. They seem to believe that "Escape to the Country" is something authentic. It's ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... NEWSNIGHT: Labour Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt on qualified teachers – YouTube Tristram Hunt: he's broadly right on qualified teachers. But I don't think his Paxo intvw will have convinced many http://bit.ly/1aGAdRc Take my advice: adopt a degree of scepticism towards media reports | Joshua Rozenberg | Law | theguardian.com Sound advice indeed: "My advice to readers is to adopt a degree of scepticism towards media reports" http://bit.ly/16LZigg The realpolitik behind Labour's energy price freeze « Labour Uncut Revealing by @atulh > "the realpolitik behind Labour's energy price freeze" http://bit.ly/16LWujc 'The CPS ...
The Council's planning committee earlier this week gave permission for a housing development on the site of the former Bankfield House in Garston (corner of Banks Road and Brunswick Streeet) The information's in these committee minutes (you'll need to scoll down quite a bit) The digger's already on site!
Britain is in the grip of a housing crisis. There are 1.8m households on waiting lists for affordable homes, totalling over 4.5m people. Millions of young people are priced out of the housing market, unlikely to ever be able to afford to buy their own home. Poor quality, overcrowded accommodation impacts significantly on the health and well-being of its residents. It is undoubtedly one of the great social crises of my generation. Yet for all the statistics, case studies and figures there are two that really stand out - 98,280 and 240,000. The first is the number of new homes ...
Lewis Baston, a research associate at Democratic Audit who is perhaps the nearest the UK comes to a Nate Silver, has published a pamphlet called Swing Seats: The key battlegrounds of the 2015 election (not available online yet). It's a forensic analysis of the constituencies that will decide the next election, and digs much deeper than the national polls on which so much political commentary relies. I was on a panel - together with ConservativeHome's Paul Goodman and the Fabian Society's Marcus Roberts - to discuss its findings yesterday. Below are 10 points I jotted down from the report which ...
The truth about pensions is that, partly thanks to the personal pensions ushered in by the Thatcher government in 1986, the world has changed - one of the reasons that the middle classes are shuffling off their mortal coil (see my book Broke for more about this). The main difference is that the mixture of contributions from you, your employer and the government into defined benefit occupational pensions used to be about 22 per cent of your salary. For personal pensions, which define your contributions but not what you get out (defined contribution), the average is only 9 per cent ...
Thu 31st
11:35Opinion: Conservative run Shropshire takes independence away from disabled and elderly
[IMG: Shropshire Link] A month ago, we heard from Matt who wrote bravely about how he feels denigrated by Conservatives attacking welfare claimants. Today, Ian - a disabled bus user in Shropshire living in sheltered accommodation - writes about problems with transport as his Conservative council slashes bus services. I am writing this article because I am campaigning on behalf of registered users from Three Crosses, Clee Hill near Ludlow and other scheme managers, users and their carers in South Shropshire. We were users of Shropshire Link, a regular, bookable bus service that served all the rural areas. We have ...
A long time ago. It's Christmas morning, but nobody's celebrating. The household is pretty frantic because one of its number, as her life nears its end, is really distressed. A phone call. A short time passes and two Macmillan Cancer Support nurses arrive. They know what to do. Every moment of watching someone you love suffer seems to last for about a year, but in reality, in quite a short time, she was calm and comfortable again. There were some grim moments towards the end of my mother-in-law's life that the passing of more than 20 years has not dimmed ...
Thu 31st
10:25Lynne Featherstone writes... Bonuses for Homes for Haringey staff are sickening when tenants need re...
International Development minister Lynne Featherstone writes a monthly column for one of her local newspapers. Here is the latest one..... Social housing in Haringey is in high demand. There are currently over 10,000 individuals and families stuck on the waiting list - and many will not have the chance to bid for a property in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, people are often in cramped conditions in the private sector, or waiting in low quality 'temporary' accommodation. This has a detrimental effect on both the children and adults in these situations. And once families are given social housing in ...
Thu 31st
10:02
A Useful Glossary of Lib Dem Euphemism (compiled with assistance from @helenduffett & @davepage_...
People seem to find the technical language around politics in general and LibDemmery in particular to be slightly confusing. With that in mind I thought a glossary might be useful; this post is meant to be taken entirely seriously and is in no way humourous or mere gratuitous filth.( possibly there are some of you who don't want to see this ) Happy to amend the list with any suggestions from readers which are appropriate and sensible. Remember folks, Lib Dems do it with a Focus you won't believe ;) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
This post will not be about policy, my usual focus, but on something that has come to my attention as I have roamed around the local area and interacted with the local branches in the zone. At the South Central conference last weekend, we were introduced to the three candidates for the target seats in the region. The seats were Winchester, Oxford West & Abingdon and Newbury. This got me thinking. Winchester and Oxwab were relative no-brainers but Newbury? Where is Romsey (one of our 2010 losses) on this list? It seems like a lot of the target seats are ...
posted The Blood is The Life 30-10-2013 http://t.co/zaUTObghhn on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) http://www.pinterest.com/pin/545920786051731756/ Today's object from the Materia Media stores is something a vampire might like http://t.co/UXXGLMiR1R #NatScare http://t.co/8y5DnxROGG (tags: (from twitter) natscare ) Government loses work scheme appeal http://t.co/b42UeKjxzP (tags: (from twitter) ) http://open.spotify.com/track/1CsinaFRmDfFTTP8xsf59W Oh and another one :) Turisas's version of Ra Ra Rasputin *grin* http://t.co/praMxNwEba (tags: (from twitter) ) http://open.spotify.com/track/09ZEB3X2oswrIBBuzuVLEt Heh. Sometimes random play throws up a song that really makes you smile http://t.co/X0zgfzBCJy (tags: (from twitter) ) http://i.imgur.com/lzaMeXm.gif Someone did an MRI scan of a banana. That person is cool. http://t.co/qqBuEe2I49 ...
The recent bouts of torrential rain have brought with them no shortage of puddles and some localised flooding. Sometimes this is down to blocked gullies, other times the problems can be complex and relate to a stream or brook that might be blocked hundreds of meters away on private land. Plus, even with a free-flowing drainage system, we've sometimes had so much rain that it just can't cope so you get large puddles which gradually go down when the rain stops and it has time to drain away. We've worked with local residents to get issues on Wilmslow Road, near ...
Note from district and county councils Following previous public consultations on the concept of a "Green Ring" around St Albans city centre and a successful joint St Albans City & District and Hertfordshire County Council bid for funding from the Department for Transport; the consultation is seeking the views and comments of residents and stakeholders in the District to optimise specific Green Ring scheme proposals. The consultation will be on proposals relating to specific elements of the Green Ring, namely: a section near Morrisons supermarket, a section through Bernards Heath, and a section linking Everlasting Lane and St Albans City ...
My favourite blog post ever is Hyperbole and a half's wonderful explanation of what it's like to have depression. Salon carries an interview with its author Allie Brosh. Having known several people who suffer from depression, I know it's a hard thing to talk about — let alone share with the world. Why did you [...]
Residents in Fyffe Street and Polepark Road have been in touch with me regarding the poor condition of the playpark area at the north end of Polepark Road. See photos below: I have been in touch with the City Council's Environment Department about this and have been advised: "This area is one we have identified as a possible site for environmental improvements under the capital programme ... we are keen to carry out some improvement works here over the winter months."
Figures released yesterday show that the all-Wales Welsh Ambulance response time target been missed for September. The 8 minute target has not been met since May 2012. The Welsh Government's target is for 65% of ambulances to respond to Category A (immediately life-threatening) calls within 8 minutes, yet figures for September show that only 62.9% of ambulances arrived within that time. In England and Scotland the target for the same priority call is 75%. Despite the best efforts of the hard working front line paramedics, another month goes by and yet another health target missed by Welsh Labour. It is ...
Just a quick reminder that today is the deadline for Secondary School applications in Cambridgeshire. Parents in Cambridgeshire who have a child born between 1 September 2002 and 31 August 2003 must submit an application for a secondary school place to Cambridgeshire County Council by 31 October 2013. Parents of children who are transferring from middle school to upper school must also apply for a school place by today. The process, which opened on 12 September 2013, can be completed online at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/admissions or by returning a paper form, which can be obtained from any Cambridgeshire primary school. The form ...
