This video describes itself as a quick romp through the history of the line from the 1860s to the beginnings of its partial preservation as the Battlefield Line.
When Nick Clegg announced his policy of free school meals for all children in infant schools I was surprised. Not just surprised because this was not Liberal Democrat policy: surprised at the way my fellow party members took to their blogs and Twitter to enthuse about it. To me it seemed an odd policy for a government whose existence is predicated on the need for austerity. It sounded like the sort of thing that came towards the end of the Blair/Brown years. Desirable, perhaps, but extraordinarily expensive. Nick Harvey put it well - and colourfully - in an interview with ...
Discussing John Barrett's views on Scottish independence earlier this month I wrote: were I Scottish, if anything could convince me to vote for independence it would be being told that I could not afford it. I would be strongly tempted to vote Yes just to spite such a foolish argument.Malcolm Bruce, the new deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, does not think it is a foolish argument. He puts an unusually forceful version of it in his interview with Caron Lindsay for Liberal Democrat Voice: The rest of the UK is not going to indulge a Scotland that's decided to ...
An easy win for the Manchester Evening News in our Headline of the Day contest.
Could the political climate be changing? Because we are starting to see opinion pieces praising the Liberal Democrats in the newspapers again. The other day it was Jane Merrick in the Independent. Today it was Allan Massie in The Scotsman. Massie praises us for entering the Coalition in the first place - and makes an implicit comparison I that had not occurred to me: In politics, the Duke of Wellington did not match his achievements in war, but he held to one sound and important principle: the Queen's government must be carried on. This means that you must have an ...
Wed 29th
20:43
The Malcolm Bruce interview, Part 1 on the Liberal Democrats' achievements in Government and how the...
[IMG: malcolm-bruce-2] This morning I dropped an email to our new Deputy Leader, Sir Malcolm Bruce MP, asking him if I could have a chat with him so that our readers could get to know him. He called me this afternoon and we chatted for nearly half an hour. We talked about how he sees his new role, how to get more women into Parliament, the European elections, his role as chair of the Select Committee on International Development and the Scottish Independence referendum taking place later this year. Malcolm Bruce was elected as an MP at my first election ...
Every year local ward councillors get to decide how to spend some devolved Cleaner, Greener, Safer budget. The scheme started when Lib Dems first led the council in 2002 with only one year when it didn't operate when the Labour administration wanted to use the money on pet Olympic projects. I'm particularly excited by the prospect of improving the junction of North Cross Road with Lordship Lane. It's one of our crash hot spots, doesn't work well when closed for the street market on Saturdays. The Bike hangars will be a great experiment to see if they can work locally ...
A few weeks ago my youngest came home from school hyper charged: there was a new club at school. A fashion club. Age 10 she is jumping up and down desperate to go. As the dutiful parent I sign the form. There is a niggle in the back of my mind. I heard something along the lines of 'it is a girls only club'. Life kind of passed by. The school news letter arrives and it confirms my worst fear. It is only girls that have been invited to take part. I check my calendar. It is 2014? It is ...
Yesterday the long, and at times tortuous, journey of the Transparency Bill through Parliament came to an end. It will shortly receive Royal Assent. The Bill had many critics, so it is worth reiterating the purpose of the parts of the Bill I was closely involved with as a Minister. Part 1, sets up a Statutory Register of Lobbyists, to complement the existing regime of quarterly data published by Ministers about which external organisations they meet. Liberal Democrats have successfully pushed for this data to become much more accessible and useful in future, so that all the data is published ...
Link now fixed.
Costco pays its workers 40% more, on average, than Sam's Club, and offers a very generous health insurance plan. Despite the prevailing weakness in the U.S. retail sector, Costco has recorded impressive sales growth in the last few quarters. The firm's comparable-store sales grew at an average pace of more than 5% for the last three quarters. The biggest drivers fueling this new growth
To those that don't know, Sefton Council has Overview and Scrutiny Committees within it's structure. Sefton states the following on it's website: The function of Overview and Scrutiny is based on the model of the parliamentary select committees at Westminster and is one of the most significant ways in which a nonexecutive councillor can influence the local decision making processes and provide community leadership for local people. Overview and Scrutiny does not hold any actual decision-making powers, rather the role of the function is to provide a balance to the decision-making powers of the Executive. Its job is to ensure ...
Have you ever looked around at a Liberal Democrat conference, and thought that you were surrounded by men? I have. In fact, I have a great photograph that I took whilst standing at the back of a packed fringe event in Birmingham a few years ago. Every single person in the photograph is male. From the speakers, to the researchers, and the audience members. Photo Credit: Telegraph There are only 7 female MPs in the entire Party. They are: Lorely Burt Annette Brooke Lynne Featherstone Tessa Munt Jo Swinson Sarah Teather Jenny Willott However, there are now 7 MPs who ...
First buses, and then trains... Ros and I are what one might describe as vocal commenters on the efficacy of our local rail franchise. National Express East Anglia were, to be extremely generous, bloody awful, and whilst Greater Anglia have tried very hard, they are hamstrung by more rail infrastructure and elderly rolling stock. Ros was keen to find out what plans the Government have to improve matters, and so it was her question to the Minister which was next up... Baroness Scott of Needham Market (LD): My Lords, I thought that I would start with a Michael Caine moment. ...
Wed 29th
16:45LibLink: Maajid Nawaaz: Why I am speaking up for Islam against the loudmouths who have hijacked it
Liberal Democrat candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn Maajid Nawaaz has written for the Guardian about his controversial decision to tweet a cartoon featuring Jesus and Mohammed, explaining why he'd done it: My intention was not to speak for any Muslim but myself - rather, it was to defend my religion from those who have hijacked it just because they shout the loudest. My intention was to carve out a space to be heard without constantly fearing the blasphemy charge, on pain of death. I did it for Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab who was assassinated by his bodyguard for ...
Merseyside Police and Sefton Home Watch have issued the following 'Crime Alert' message to residents of Southport: "On Monday 20/01/14 at approximately 9.20am a flat-bed transit van, described as the cab section being light green in colour, was seen to drive down Norwood Crescent. There were two occupants, the driver was described as a white male, middle aged of stocky build and the passenger as a white male, early to mid 20s, slim build with dark hair. "The van was seen to drive past a property in Norwood Crescent, stop and reverse. The passenger then alighted and knocked on the ...
[IMG: lorely-outside-parliament-1] Yesterday, Lorely Burt was beaten by Sir Malcolm Bruce (some say closely) to the Deputy Leadership of the Parliamentary Party. A few days ago The House Magazine interviewed her. In the article headlined Wouldn't it be Lorely?, Lorely explains how her "imaginative parents" chose her unusual name. There was another child who was named Lorely and as far as I know there has only ever been two of us. They heard about this other child and thought 'ooohhh that's a nice name.' She makes a number of comments relating to women in politics including the "very chauvinistic environment" ...
The annual canvass this year had been extended to allow local authorities to trial some of the procedures they will need to use when individual elector registration kicks in next year. For more details about Individual Elector Registration (IER) see here. This has resulted in the new 2014 register being published on the February 17th [...]
Last night we saw Sir Malcolm Bruce narrowly defeat Lorely Burt for the post of Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons, to give it its full name. I've seen a few posts on social media this morning from people who have never heard of Malcolm. If that's the case, then I'm glad that they have the chance to get to know him. I can still remember speeches he made over 20 years ago and for me his closing speech at Scottish Conference is always a big treat for me. You get some idea of the ...
For a council, having high quality officers can make a huge difference. Here is one example from Cornwall. Back in the summer, we started planning the coming year's budget and the services that we would be able to afford. Our finance team gave us a working estimate for the amount of money we would have and we began planning accordingly. Bear in mind that this amount was around £42 million less than the year before and you begin the realise the scale of the change involved. We could have waited until the government announced the draft settlement amount in December ...
[IMG: Parliament - Big Ben] Initiativeitis – an ugly word for a regrettable phenomena. It is an often-criticised habit of government ministers of all parties always to be touting a new initiative backed up by a new piece of legislation in order to look like they are working hard and making a difference. Yet speak to those who work in the frontline in public services, and complaints about too many new initiatives coming down from on high are widespread – again, regardless of which party is in government. That is why talk about the current Coalition Government 'running out' of ...
First Minister Carwyn Jones has called on his Labour Party to reach a conclusion on the Williams Commission proposals by the end of this March and has urged other parties to fall into line. Liberal Democrat local government spokesman, South Wales West AM Peter Black indicated the party would be unwilling to support it without concessions to his party, particularly around the voting system. "For me the biggest surprise was...how very quickly the First Minister and other members of the Labour frontbench were moving to try and get a cross-party consensus on this," he said. "What we have in front ...
Do you work with young people or know others who do? If so, do you have ideas for activities to help young people manage their money more effectively? If yes, please visit my latest Children and Young People Now blog and get in touch if you can help. Thanks!
If you fancy working for the Liberal Democrats, there's a good variety of jobs on offer at the moment whether you're a campaigner, researcher or administrator. Here's a selection, taken from Work 4 an MP. LDHQ based jobs First up is a Presidential Intern for Tim Farron's office. Don't be fooled by the term intern because it pays quite reasonably, but is only until the end of July 2014. You'll have to get in quick, though, because the closing date is next Monday. Liberal Democrat Women are looking for a part-time administrator: This position will be to support the LDW ...
I was reminded about this by a Twitter conversation this morning, and realised that I hadn't updated my spreadsheet about the gender of guests on Have I Got News For You since the last series ended. That the last series was pretty underwhelming may have had something to do with it, but if you're the sort of person who wants to see a lot of statistics about how many men and women have been on the show in its 46(!) seasons, then you can find it by clicking here. The main points (I hesitate to use 'highlights') are: We still ...
On the Today programme this morning, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife Sir Menzies Campbell debated the decision by the Government to give sanctuary to some of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees with Conservative MP Brooks Newmark who was less enthusiastic, it's fair to say, about the idea. Of course it's a question of humanity and we should not allow the argument about immigration to stand in the way of our responsibility and we should not allow Mr Nigel Farage to set our moral compass in this matter. Newmark said that if Britain was giving more money than other ...
I like Eurostar. I like the sense of speed, combined with a view. I like travelling from city centre to city centre. And now that I have the taste for train travel, if I'm going somewhere without Ros, or travelling separately from her for some reason, the idea of going by train is quite appealing. Eurostar have, evidently, seen me coming, as I discovered today. I had received an e-mail with an up to date statement of my Eurostar Plus points, and I noticed that this weekend's trip wasn't shown. So, being vaguely efficient - mostly Ros's doing, I accept ...
An article I have written for Estonia's largest national daily: Estonia is gaining a name for being an open and innovative country. In the 1920s, the country adopted an open ultra-democratic Parliamentary constitution, and in the 1990's it followed an open ultra-free market economic policy. Perhaps these maximalist positions reflect the individualist character of Estonians. Yet since independence was restored, the economic policies of the 1990s have proven far more enduring than the political policies of the 1920s. The rapid reforms initiated in the early 1990s have helped to create an era of growth and general prosperity. The country measured ...
Frank Little writes: The Lobbying Bill easily passed on its return to the House of Lords yesterday, bar one small amendment which was accepted by the narrowest possible margin. Changes to the Bill that were previously made after pressure by the Lords, Liberal Democrat peers being prominent, mean that there will be no serious effect on campaigning groups and charities before the next General Election. There will then be a review so that if there are problems they can be sorted out for the future. The major drawback of the Bill, that it does not expose more than a small ...
ALDC Development Officer Mike Bell offers up some tips and ideas for campaigning on public transport issues in your area. Transport continues to be an important issue in many of our communities across the country. Whether its cuts to rural bus routes, fare rises on city routes or the continuing escalation in rail prices, transport [...]
The Pupil Premium – money targeted at children from low-income households – is the Lib Dems' flagship education policy. By the end of the Parliament, it will be worth £2.5 billion, cash given directly to schools to spend as they wish on improving attainment outcomes. Is it working? That's the question being asked, given the news that the attainment gap at age 16 – the difference between GCSE results achieved by pupils eligible for free school meals and all other pupils – increased very slightly last year. In fact, results for both low-income pupils and all other pupils improved; but ...
I've learned to distrust the fantasy that many writers have, which is that people are talking about you. Your ears burn, your backbone shivers - it doesn't mean a thing, I can tell you. But then suddenly I discover a fascinating online debate where the name David Boyle gets gargled with occasionally. It doesn't happen very often, and I missed it. So thank you to Mark Pack, who reviewed the system thinker John Seddon's key text Systems Thinking in the Public Sector on the Lib Dem Newswire blog. Seddon has responded there with his own challenge. The argument has continued ...
Wed 29th
09:30
My column for ConHome: The Rennard affair shows Lib Dem strengths as well as weaknesses
[IMG: con home cartoon] Here's my latest The Other Side column for ConservativeHome, published here on Tuesday. I was told I couldn't shirk the responsibility of explaining the Rennard affair – so if you've had your fill of it, stop reading now. My thanks as ever to the site's editors, Paul Goodman and Mark Wallace, for giving a Lib Dem space to provoke – constructively, I hope. Phew. I'm smiling as I write this. Why? Because, by my reckoning, it's fully five days since there was last a Lib Dem sex scandal on a newspaper front page. Of course, it's ...
Nigella, Benefits Street, and drugs charges: evidence of class war, or a system that protects the vulnerable? - Comment - Voices - The Independent The solution to this seems obvious to me - if drugs were legalised, taxed & regulated... (tags: ) More on the relationship between Stonewall and the trans communities « Complicity (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Alright, where were we? Ah yes... In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was "federalism". Guy Verhofstadt is a federalist, and a very passionate one at that. He's also Belgian, but that isn't all that important, after all, good things come from Belgium, like beer and frites... and Magritte, now I think of it. It is, however, a combination that makes some people nervous, and others angry. Mr Verhofstadt wants to be the Liberal candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission, an unlikely, but not impossible, eventuality. However, there are those liberals who don't think that his ...
[IMG: Money] At the last election, Liberal Democrats up and down the country campaigned hard to cut taxes for working people and put money back in your pocket. It was our top priority – taken from the front page of our manifesto – to increase the amount you can earn before paying tax to £10,000. This has made a real difference to taxpayers up and down the country. Since 2003, middle wages have failed to rise with growth. When we came into government, someone working full time on the minimum wage would lose more than £1,100 from their £12,000 salary ...
Wed 29th
08:25
Maajid Nawaz: Why I'm speaking up for Islam against the loudmouths who have hijacked it
Liberal Democrat PPC and recent tweeter of a cartoon featuring Mohammed, Maajid Nawaz, has penned an excellent piece for The Guardian on why he did it: [IMG: Maajid Nawaz] My intention was to carve out a space to be heard without constantly fearing the blasphemy charge, on pain of death. I did it for Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab who was assassinated by his bodyguard for calling for a review of Pakistan's colonial-era blasphemy laws; for Malala Yusafzai, the schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for wanting an education; and for Muhammad Asghar, a mentally ill British ...
Muslims seem to have replaced Jews as the focus of popular prejudice. Could African Christians be the next group to inherit this unfortunate mantle? I blogged earlier this week about the explosive growth of worldwide Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity. This is a trend that's been felt most strongly in the Global South. However it's having [...]
Turns out I got the direction of the political momentum right at least, when I described the Lib Dem Deputy Leadership contest earlier this week and said that Malcolm Bruce was "recently strongly showing". For in the end he did indeed win, beating Lorely Burt by just three votes (28-25). [IMG: Christine Jardine and Malcolm Bruce] By a neat political coincidence, the Lib Dem selection contest to replace Malcolm Bruce at the 2015 election, when he retires, has been taking place at the same time. This time a woman won, the admirable Christine Jardine. That adds to an interesting selection ...
The Dundee Directory for 1895-96 lists two streets in the city called Scott's Close. One is given at No. 97 Overgate, and the No. 6 Hawkhill. It is impossible to say categorically which this is. This photograph shows an alleyway between two tenement blocks, with a gaslight attached to the left-hand side. The image is important, because shortly afterwards the buildings were demolished.
The leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams has raised serious concerns about the secondment of the Director of Nursing at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg health board to the Chief Nursing Officer's office. Three nurses at the health board are facing criminal charges after claims of serious neglect, poor care and falsifying records at a hospital in the health board. Following a phone call by a whistle-blower nurse to the office of Kirsty Williams, a freedom of information request was sent to the Welsh Labour Government asking for clarification. The Welsh Liberal Democrats' FOI revealed that the secondment wasn't advertised ...
Westminster already has a number of famous cats. Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office and Freya, who is George Osborne's cat are the best known, though there is also a cat resident in the Speaker's house, who I believe is called Order. Now the Independent has highlighted that there could be a lot more. The paper says that Battersea Cats and Dogs Home have drawn up a list of their top mousers that could help solve Parliament's pest problem after yet another MP complained about mice and there could be as many as 160 of them: For those who ...
So the former UKIP donor Demetri Marchessini took out a full page ad in The Telegraph which included the argument: Firstly, it has already been repeatedly explained to her [Libby Purvis], that there is no such word as "homophobic". It cannot be found in any dictionary, nor does it have any meaning. One can tell that it is a phoney word, (invented by the homosexual lobby) because the first half of the word "homo" has a Latin root, while the second half "phobia" has a Greek root. It is like having a word that is half Spanish and half Croation. ...
