A guest posting by Baroness Tyler Moving amendments to legislation in the Lords can often feel like an interesting and worthy - but ultimately pointless - activity as often nothing changes. Not so this week!. I was one of the cross party group of peers who moved an amendment to the Children and Families Bill last week to introduce powers to bring in regulations on standard packaging for cigarettes. My fellow peers were Ilora Finlay (crossbench), Richard Faulkner (Labour), and Ian McColl (Conservative). In the Commons it has also been genuinely cross party endeavour, the campaign being led by MPs ...
New from the Deputy Prime Minister's office: You can also watch this on YouTube.
Fri 29th
21:37
Bar Hill Skate Park: Letter Of Support From Margaret Sellars (Former Parish Council Chair)
The following letter has been sent to the Bar Hill News but, unfortunately, will not be published until after the decision has been made. It is reproduced here with Margaret's permission; "Dear Residents Skate Park When you get a leaflet about the Skate Park do take the time to fill it in. The Skate Park has been very important to our village. Before we had it, residents and visitors had to walk amongst young people using their skate boards around the shopping area and in other parts of the village. The Skate Park has been a place where young people ...
Christopher Hitchens once described Ian Smith's Rhodesia as "Surrey with the lunatic fringe on top". You could say much the same about Jersey - a tax haven where people can be imprisoned for whistleblowing. And if you don't believe me, listen to Lenny Harper. He is not a tinfoil-hatted conspiracy theorist but a hard-bitten cop who served in Belfast, South London and Glasgow before he tangled with the Jersey authorities. The Coalition, in the shape of Tom McNally, has had the chance to do something about Jersey but has declined to take it. This video came to me via The ...
Only you can't watch him because, unlike almost all of the dialogues in Magee's 1978 series Men of Ideas, the one on moral philosophy with R.M. Hare does not seem to have found its way to Youtube. So you will have to read Magee's refutation instead. Magee and Hare were discussing the independence of facts and values. They agreed that no set of facts could logically imply a particular value. The example Magee gave was what would follow if scientists were one day to prove that some races have higher intelligence than others - something that he and Hare, as ...
At teatime tonight, we had our second lights switch on in the West End of the week, with the Christmas Lights being switched on in the West Port. Well done to Cohen aged 7 who did the honours! Here's a couple of photographs from the switch on: Cohen switches on the West Port Christmas Lights! The West Port Christmas Tree
Thanks to Mark Pack for nominating this one. The judges did grumble about the News Shopper "trying too hard", but in the end there could be only one Headline of the Day.
Boris Johnson has given us an example of how to distort the truth with statistics which should enter the text books. In his speech this week to the right wing Centre for Policy Studies Johnson doesn't actually lie: he presents absolute truth, but in such a way as to give a hugely twisted impression. Johnson points out that 16% of "our species", as he calls us, have an IQ of less than 85 whereas only 2% have an IQ of more that 130. Absolutely correct. For those unfamiliar with the background, many natural phenomena display a Gaussian, or Normal, distribution, ...
So, a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest, but possibly with better tunes, liberals from as far afield as Armenia and Catalonia, Finland and Cyprus are gathered to debate the draft manifesto. The draft is founded on four key themes; creating jobs and opportunities – free trade agreements, stimulating SMEs and e-commerce setting new priorities – redirecting spending towards increasing jobs and improving lives, cutting administrative budgets and the Common Agricultural Policy, and ensuring healthy public finances stronger in the world and safer at home – a common asylum and refugee policy, strengthening EU agencies and cooperation to fight organised ...
Yesterday, Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords held a debate on broadcast media. Falling in the week after the triumphant 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, it's hardly surprising that the BBC's flagship drama was heavily referenced during the contributions. Olly Grender was one of a trio of Liberal Democrats to make their maiden speeches during the debate. We'll put them all up in full separately as is our custom, but here are some highlights of Olly's. First of all, she talked about the advice she'd received about her debut: I am sure, like me, most will have received a ...
Following concerns raised by residents that road improvements would see access onto the South Park Road Estate from the North blocked off for three weeks, the Lib Dems have been in discussion with Council officers and contractors, and have secured a deal to keep the road open at all times. Major improvements to the road from the A34 and M60 slip road into the estate are planned following consultations with the whole estate around 18 months ago and more recently consultation with the northern part of the estate on local changes a few months ago. The improvements, paid for from ...
As far as I am aware there is only one meeting at Blyth Town Council next week Allotments Committee , Thursday 5th December at 6:30 pm , Arms Evertyne House
This morning I visited Sefton Park Meadowlands with my colleague Paul Childs and joined the Save the Meadowlands campaigners who are fighting to keep this valuable public open space out of the clutches of developers. We particularly met today because ... Continue reading →
The fight against British Euro-scepticism is on! At the opening session of the London Congress of the ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) Howard Dawber of the Canary Wharf Group (our hosts, as the plenaries are taking place in Canary Wharf's East Wintergarden) stressed that business and the financial sector strongly support Britain's [...]
Yesterday the Government announced that it is launching an independent review of the public health evidence on standardised packaging for cigarettes. As a Liberal I will always defend an individual's right to smoke when they can do so without this having an impact on those around them, but I have made clear in the past my personal view that we should introduce standardised packaging. This is a product, after all, which kills something in the region of 100,000 people a year. Is it really that unreasonable to argue that, given this death-rate, we should be able to restrict, in all ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... Liberal Villain of the Month: Boris Johnson | CentreForum Blog My @CentreForum Liberal Villain of the Month is Boris Johnson. Find out why here: http://bit.ly/1fOm2Q6 Women MPs must man up. We need more battleaxes, fewer shrinking violets | Melissa Kite | Comment is free | The Guardian Yeah, often thought our politics is just too thoughtful Melissa Kite > Women MPs must man up. We need more battleaxes http://bit.ly/18MxiYV feedly.com There's London. And there's the rest » "Britain's two nations are continuing to grow ever further apart | City A.M." http://bit.ly/1ijn8Fd Britain ...
I have a confession to make. Until recently, I had found myself in conflict regarding my feelings on the prospect of an independent Scotland. On the one hand, I strongly believe in the power of the individual to make decisions about their own lives with a socially democratic government there to lend support in times ... Continue reading »
So we're just getting to the end of National HIV testing week, and as I said in my post the other day part of being responsibly poly is not just to play safe, but to get yourself regularly tested. I last got tested for everything as part of the huge numbers of tests they did for my mystery abdominal pain* in May, so it's been about 6 months. So today I went to get tested. I suspect that this is another one of those posts people will accuse me of being "brave" for writing. As usual, I'm not being brave, ...
It is a tradition for LDV to bring its readers copies of our new MPs' and Peers' first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. Last Wednesday, Baroness Suttie made her maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate on human rights. Her words are reproduced below. Baroness Suttie (LD): My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Alton, on securing this timely and important debate. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Finkelstein on his excellent and ...
A few days ago, I posted this animated gif that I'd created from the 3D Doctor Who Special. [IMG: Doctor Who 3D Fex] I created that gif manually, but I wondered if it was possible to create such an animation in an automated fashion. Turns out, it's pretty easy! This relies on ImageMagick - which is a powerful image manipulation tool. All of these scripts work on Ubuntu - and they should work on any GNU/Linux disto as well as Windows and Mac. Get Your Image I just pressed "Print Screen" while watching a Half-Side-by-Side (HSBS) movie in full screen. ...
Fri 29th
12:00
Day 4716: Millennium's Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Top Trunks #49: SIR IAN CHESTERTON KNIGHT OF JAFF...
Friday: Age: Hasn't aged since the Sixties Stories: 37 Awesomeness: Knighted by King Richard; can defeat Aztecs with only his thumb; married Barbara and lived happily ever after Cuddles: Barbara Wright, the one and only AKA: Sir Lancelot, the magnificent William Russell Enoch
Over on Mainly Macro, economist Simon Wren-Lewis makes a good point about the need to understand the wider context and the motivation of others: [IMG: A chicken. Photo by martinno. Some rights reserved http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=1429484] [Imagine a] chicken that is fed by the farmer each morning may well have a theory that it will always be fed each morning – it becomes a 'law'. And it works every day, until the day the chicken is instead slaughtered. When I used to lecture about economic methodology, I liked to say that this chicken was not an economist. Now you might say that ...
Welcome to Liberal Democrat Voice's coverage of the Annual Congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, or ALDE for short. The Congress, which was officially opened yesterday evening, continues until Saturday. As at many similar events, scheduling anything for 9 a.m. tends to signify a less exciting part of the business or, for the more cynical, things that the leadership hope to sneak through relatively unnoticed. ALDE Council meetings tend to into the former category... And yet, because most, if not all, of the key figures are present, it offers an opportunity to see how Bureau candidates ...
I was delighted to be re-elected Chair of Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) at the AGM last Saturday, 25th November. 2013 has been a year of considerable achievement, not least a very well-attended race equality conference in partnership ... Continue reading →
The Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors are looking to recruit a Campaigns and Information Intern to work as part of their Political Team based in their offices in Manchester City Centre. Applicants will be expected to: have an interest in politics and local government. take an active role and be prepared to help in any [...]
News from the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, founded in 2010 soon after the last Haringey Council elections: Very good #TUSC meeting in Haringey on Tuesday, first batch of candidates agreed — TUSC (@TUSCoalition) November 28, 2013 I think it's safe to say they aren't very keen on the Liberal Democrats, but neither is the party much of a fan of Labour. Add to this factors such as Labour's dreadful record at running Haringey Council (the worst in London according to the final Audit Commission report) and the dissent within Labour's ranks over allegations of stitch-ups and rule breaking in ...
With the immigration debate once again in full swing, it's worth noting that far from being over run by asylum seekers, the UK does not feature in the top 10 countries taking in refugees. Indeed there is only one EU country that does feature in the top 10- Germany, which takes on nearly 4 times as many as us (589700 vs. 149765) Source: UNHCR UK Food for thought. Hat Tip to both @ianbirrell and @davidmills73
[IMG: cropped EMLD logo] I was delighted to be re-elected Chair of Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) at the AGM last Saturday, 25th November. 2013 has been a year of considerable achievement, not least a very well-attended race equality conference in partnership with the Social Liberal Forum which was launched by the business secretary Vince Cable. EMLD were also successful in changing party policy on education and employment when our motion endorsing the Race Equality Taskforce report was unanimously approved at federal conference in Glasgow. We were instrumental in preserving the "general duty" part of the Equality Act, which Conservatives ...
[IMG: hs2] THIS IS THE TEXT OF MY RESPONSE TO THE HS2 PROPERTY COMPENSATION CONSULTATION, WHICH I SENT YESTERDAY (28TH NOVEMBER). IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY RESPONDED IN PERSON, I URGE YOU TO DO SO BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE OF 4TH DECEMBER. LET'S FIGHT FOR FAIRNESS FOR EVERYONE BLIGHTED BY HS2! I am responding to this consultation in my role as the county councillor for the Kenilworth Abbey electoral division of Warwickshire County Council. The area that I represent includes the village of Burton Green, where many residents have been badly affected by blight since the plan for HS2 was first ...
"Sometimes thing don't always go/ From bad to worse..." So wrote the poet Sheelagh Pugh, and I kind of agreed with her yesterday when I read about the Bank of England's decision to rein in Funding for Lending, and to provide a kind of ratchet effect that will reduce the dangerous acceleration of the housing market. It isn't much and it isn't enough, but it is a start. But first a bit of background. One of the stories I told earlier this year in my book Broke: Who Killed the Middle Classes? was about the demise of the so-called Corset ...
posted The Blood is The Life 28-11-2013 http://t.co/GBHkey0kre on #dreamwidth (tags: dreamwidth (from twitter) ) Hey @BBCNews fucking well read this and leave Nigella alone: Understanding the domestic abuser http://t.co/aMhFfSfgfu #patriarchy (tags: patr (from twitter) ) Oh Hannibal. I've missed you. (tags: ) 1 in 4 @Calderdale people with HIV don't know they have it. Regular testing for HIV is essential. http://t.co/yh99WDZcUi (tags: (from twitter) ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Huxley's masterpiece is better at seeming prophetic than actually seeing the future "In 1931, when Brave New World was being written, I was convinced that there was still plenty of time. The completely organised society, the scientific caste system, the abolition of free will by methodical conditioning, the servitude made acceptable by regular doses of [...]
I'm slightly puzzled by the Western Morning News report on the Castle Street chapel collapse which you can find here. The chosen angle appears to be that the council has threatened to pull the remaining structure down. Of course the first priority of the council (and indeed of everyone else) is to make the site safe. Nobody can tell at this stage whether that means complete demolition or more limited action. We should find out more today. Having spoken to the council's conservation officer, I know she is looking to preserve as much as possible. What the newspaper was told ...
Welcome to Liberal Democrat Voice's coverage of the Annual Congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, or ALDE for short. The Congress, which was officially opened yesterday evening, continues until Saturday. In the run-up to next year's European elections, the role of ALDE in leading the Europe-wide campaign is a key one, and so it was no surprise to see a high quality list of candidates for Vice-Presidential positions on the 2014/15 Bureau, which will be elected tomorrow. And because the Liberal Democrats represent about 15% of the entire electorate, six of the seven candidates put in ...
Lots of Christmas fun in Abney Hall park over the weekend of 7th-8th December 2013.
London's Conservative mayor has made this well-publicised speech about elitism, equality and greed (http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25135225), which I have not read in full and on which I therefore cannot really comment, in which he referred to: "human beings who are already very far from equal in raw ability, if not spiritual worth". Now, if I said to you: "I want your essay handed in by Sunday, if not sooner," it would be clear to you what I meant. If I said: "It is a good restaurant, if not as good as it might be," then you'd know clearly what I meant. But ...
As Nick Clegg announces a new deal for the expectant fathers, UKIP has demonstrated once more how out-of-step it is with modern society. The Times reports that men will be given the chance to take up to 50 weeks of paternity leave, under radical changes to mark the end of "Edwardian restrictions" on the rights of new parents. They say that from April 2015, working couples will be able to split the entitlement to time off work after the birth of their child, in a move designed to allow the sharing of childcare duties. Businesses will have to offer statutory ...
Figures released this week show that Wales has the second lowest business start-up rate in the UK. Wales has a business birth rate of 9.4%, 2% below the UK average of 11.4%. These figures are less than encouraging and show Wales being near the bottom of the UK league table for business start-ups. It's disappointing that, despite the economy continuing to grow and unemployment falling on both sides of the border, here in Wales fewer people are willing to start their own business compared to England and the rest of the UK. We should be promoting entrepreneurship as a way ...
At last the Conservative-run county council has woken up to the fact that the current highways contractors that have been in place just over a year are not working as they should and not delivering all the works and repairs that residents want. The Liberal Democrat Group forced a Full Council debate on this on November 26th. It was needed as getting some road repairs done has been a struggle let alone finding faults reported on the web site being closed down with nothing being done and then in some cases taking months to get basic problems like broken street ...
