[IMG: TOP10] Welcome to my third annual list of my top ten blogs. I have continued to read all the blogs in my previous lists, although a couple of bloggers took a bit of a break this year. So I am discovering that the process of compiling a top ten gets progressively more difficult every year. The challenge is who to leave out. I again considered moving to a top twenty, but resisted the temptation. So when I say this is a list of my "top" blogs, what do I mean? I focus on individual bloggers rather than group blogs. ...
Welsh Education Minister Huw Lewis has issued a strong reminder to Local Authorities that the pupil deprivation grant, a major education grant, must be used for its intended purposes. Since 2011, the Welsh Labour Government has required support from opposition parties to ensure the passing of the Budget in the Assembly. Two years ago Welsh Liberal...
Part 1 was posted yesterday. On with part 2. April I offered some thoughts on the death of Margaret Thatcher and It emerged that "top bloggers" had been in discussion with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on how the legislation following the Leveson Report might affect bloggers. Paddy Ashdown attacked Tory demonisation of the poor, while Lord Bonkers offered some characteristically humane words on the conviction of Chris Huhne: Leave the sermons to the Reverend Hughes: what a chap needs at a time like this is a cake with a file in it.I posted the video above, which ...
These were postponed but are now happening in January. Please see here for more details: CARLISLE AVENUE, ST ALBANS WIB
This video beautifully explains why the "Love the sinner, but hate the sin" mantra is problematic.
Writing a student blog on the University of Leicester site, Tim Holyoake look at the Christmas reappearance of Open All Hours. (Tim is known to Lib Dems as the author of Just One More Ten Pence Piece....) He says that in the context of my Occupational Psychology masters degree, a few things about this special episode struck him as interesting. Among them is: Granville's personality appears to have undergone a radical change. He's taken on the traits (and comically, the appearance) of Arkwright and is no longer the naive dreamer from the original series. While we're talking fiction of course, ...
At panel borders. I've not listened to it myself yet, but hopefully it won't be too embarrassing to me (Miles is great). Tagged: lawrence miles
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our xxxth 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 (-, 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. Here be many spoilers. ...
Hello, internet! How's is you December winding down? I know I've hardly been with you this month – blame my computer woes, mostly. But I have a hard drive and I'm getting back into things, and [IMG: [personal profile] ] skygiants failed to talk me out of doing this thing that the rest of you have been doing in December – only of course I will be doing January, starting Wednesday, if you're quick enough. How this works is – pick a date below and give me a topic, from Allosaurs to Zatanna, and I will say something about it, ...
Thanks to everyone who has sent their suggestions for our Lib Dem Stars of 2013 Roll of Honour. There have been quite a few via comments, email and social media. We asked yesterday for you to nominate people who had done amazing work for the Liberal Democrats in 2013. It could be someone who's delivered zillions of leaflets, or who keeps a Liberal Democrat army marching on its stomach, or a parliamentarian or councillor or campaign manager or conference motion writer, anyone you think has made an outstanding contribution to the party. Keep these suggestions coming in. Our team have ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we're publishing the full results. LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats and government ministers? Full results are published below, but here's two key lists for those who want to cut to the chase... (with comparison to September 2013 ratings in brackets) Top 5 Lib Dem performers in the Government: Vince Cable +59% Norman Baker ...
Interesting article in today's Independent on Sunday quoting sources close to Nick Clegg that there will be no push for changes of personnel in Coalition negotiations after the 2015 election. This seems to me to be perfectly sensible. I always thought it was daft to demand that Gordon Brown go during the negotiations in 2010. You have to make these things about actual issues. Of course, this appears to be a pre-emptive strike to ensure that Nick Clegg's head on a plate is not demanded by Labour. There's some interesting speculation on the policies up for grabs, too. Electoral reform ...
A shock discovery. Plastic Bertrand did not really sing this - one of the key texts of Belgian punk and a top-10 record in the UK singles chart in the summer of 1978. Wikipedia reveals: In 2010, an expert appointed by a court stated that the voice of Lou Deprijck, the composer/producer of "Ça plane pour moi," on a record from 2006 is the same voice as on the original 1977 recording. "Today it appears from the report of the experts that the voice of 'Ça plane pour moi' is Lou Deprijck's voice," stated the newspaper La Dernière Heure on ...
Many thanks to the 9000 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Time to expose UKIP (32 comments) by Issan Ghazni Telegraph: "Liberal Democrats believe that party can oust several Tories" (22 comments) by Caron Lindsay Same story, two very different headlines (30 comments) by Caron Lindsay Vince tells Andrew Marr: Immigration panic does damage, politicians should give facts not resort to harmful populism. (42 comments) by Newshound Two thirds of Lib Dem members say yes to HS2 (12 comments) by Stephen Tall Duncan Hames steps down as PPS to Nick Clegg and ...
As the Scottish Parliament continues to debate the removal of corroboration from our legal system, I thought it would be a good idea to publish Alison McInnes MSP's speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat conference in September which gives a good summary of the arguments why this may not be a good idea. Alison is as committed as I am to ensuring justice for victims of domestic and sexual assault, but she doesn't think that removing corroboration will help. I am pleased to have the opportunity to move this motion today. A number of key principles must always underpin any justice ...
The Daily Mail (and the Sun I think, but they are behind a paywall) are boo-hooing the dastardly EU because Greggs the bakers are being forced to change the name of the product they have sold until now as a 'Cornish Pasty'. The trouble is that it isn't. It isn't made in Cornwall and it contains the wrong ingredients - peas and carrots among them. It may be a very nice product, but it ain't a Cornish Pasty. There is a system called 'Protected Geographical Indication' (or PGI) which is aimed at protecting traditional products from sub-standard competition. Cheddar cheese, ...
Tavish Scott has been writing for the Scotsman, comparing the necessary treaty for a currency union which would be required between an independent Scotland and the UK, and the idea of "Devo Plus" which, he argues, would give the Scottish Government more powers than independence. First he tackles the realities of that treaty for currency union: With the removal of political representation at Westminster following a Yes vote, the flexibility of a parliament will need to be replaced with a treaty. This will be neither flexible nor short. It will have to cover all aspects of monetary union starting with ...
The Western Mail reports that the equivalent of more than the number of people it would take to fill the Millennium Stadium twice over will need to quit smoking if the Welsh Government is to reach its 16% target by 2020, according to a leading organisation: Elen de Lacy, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Wales said that a significant amount of work was ahead as she laid out the scale of the challenge to bring down smoking rates in the next few years. According to the Welsh Health Survey, 23% of people still smoke - a ...
In the summer, I blogged about the closure of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) on Kilburn High Road. Kilburn and West Hampstead Liberal Democrats organised a petition and collected over 500 signatures in support of our call for a rethink. The petition urged Camden Citizens Advice and Camden Council to work together to ensure that [...]
According to this piece in the Independent Nick Clegg would accept Ed Balls as a member of any coalition cabinet after the next election. It is not clear whether Ed Miliband is of the same view. It seems to me to be somewhat premature to be talking about these issues given the current state of the polls and the fact that we still await the verdict of the British electorate on coalition politics per se. It is likely in my view, that both Ed Miliband and David Cameron will spend the election trashing the idea of coalitions in the hope ...
Today's song came up in conversation with my father the other day but it strikes me that the sentiment of this song should be borne in mind whilst setting New Year's Resolutions, if you are so inclined to do... Andrew
This is the time of year when there is much political reflection. The Queen's Christmas message this year was one of Her Majesty's best. Whilst not everyone listens avidly to our Monarch's words, the tone and its conciliatory notes encourage sanguine thoughts. I wish the Queen long life and look forward to a reign that significantly exceeds that of Queen Victoria, or even Louis le Grand. The effects on the psyche of the United Kingdom of the Queen's long reign undoubtedly run deep, especially in providing a canopy of permanence and stability. In today's ephemeral world of celebrity, it is ...
Here are my faves for the first quarter of the year... A reply to Dan Hodges: why it's not surprising some Tories aren't bothered about winning in 2015 (March 29, 2013) So. Farewell then, David Miliband (March 27, 2013) Budget 2013: Osborne crosses fingers and hopes 'steady as she goes' will come good by 2015 (March 20, 2013) So, here's how I'm making my small protest against the Lib Dems' recent illiberalism (March 18, 2013) I'm a liberal and I'm against this sort of thing. Leveson-style press regulation, that is (as well as secret courts) (March 17, 2013) 98 words ...
James reviews Time of the Doctor so I don't have to (tags: ) Is it time to take rowdy MPs into line? http://t.co/4Xyu8kOPtV (tags: (from twitter) ) Free Sherlock! Implications of Summary Judgment in Sherlock Holmes Case MT @OTW_News: Holmes and Watson have been ruled to be in the public domain! OTW Legal explains: http://t.co/XDBxEQ6EUR #copyright (tags: (from twitter) ) David Cameron 'must stop pandering to Ukip prejudices' David Cameron 'must stop pandering to Ukip prejudices' http://t.co/ymC6hgG4Ba via @guardian (tags: (from twitter) ) posted The Blood is The Life 28-12-2013 http://t.co/gUaqRxglxa on #dreamwidth (tags: dreamwidth (from twitter) ) ...
I am pleased to say that, yet again, Dundee has had the best street lighting service in Scotland in terms of fewest number of lights out and speed of repair during 2013. The Street Lighting Partnership does a superb job and has been extremely helpful this year - as always - in terms of lighting repairs in the West End. For information, the following faults/defects are classified as Emergencies and should be reported immediately to the Council by phoning the following telephone number. • 0800 232323 (freephone)• 01382 433063 (if using a mobile phone) Faults/Defects which constitute Emergency Attendance: • ...
