UKIP's Head of Policy was on the Big Questions yesterday morning. He was asked about the prioritisation of Christian refugees from Syria. Who should come to this country? It is a complex question. How do you decide? Well if Christians are 20% more likely to be persecuted than non-Christians then should there be 20% more Christians who come here? There were arguments put forward that only Christians should be granted asylum (and this was the UKIP position) but others felt that faith should not play any part in the decision-making process. The UKIP representative felt that it was important to ...
This project, hosted by the Cornish Audio Visual Archive, Cornish Story and the Institute of Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter, aims to record the memories of friends and acquaintances of David Penhaligon - MP for Truro from 1974 to 1986. We aim to build a website which will host the recorded memories, audio or video, of interviews with those that wish to contribute to the project. Many of these interviews will come from his native Cornwall, whether from school friends at Truro School, at Cornwall Technical College, when he was an engineer at Holman Brothers or as the ...
[IMG: image] ...And thinking that this makes a nice change from the more traditional images associated with that phrase. Photo: License Some rights reserved by Laura Ngo [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
As ever, the real story is on Lib Dem Voice. I am sorry about the East European subtitles, but I suspect Mike Hancock would appreciate them.
The Independent reports concern among Liberal Democrats that Danny Alexander has "gone native" at the Treasury by endorsing George Osborne's plans for more spending cuts well beyond next year's election. It quotes Prateek Buch, co-chair of the SLF, as saying: "Cuts on the scale planned by Osborne just cannot be delivered. So why should Lib Dems endorse the Chancellor's straitjacket? "It is beyond me why Danny would sign up to what appears to be joint Lib Dem/Tory spending plans going beyond the end of the next parliament, when no such figures have been agreed by his own party. "It is ...
Three new developments today in Portsmouth as the local Lib Dem party and city council group work out how to deal with the allegations of sexual assault against Mike Hancock, which he denies. Twelve days ago, Hancock, who had already stood down from the party whip at Westminster, was suspended by the national Lib Dems, making him ineligible to be re-selected as Portsmouth South's MP. However, he controversially retained his post in the Lib Dem-run cabinet as an independent councillor, apparently on a tied 10-10 vote among the city council group. This prompted the resignation of Eleanor Scott from the ...
The American Psychological Association website has a fascinating interview with the Princeton University psychology and public affairs professor Eldar Shafir. Professor Shafir talks about his research into the degree to which people's minds are less efficient when they feel they lack something - whether it is money, time, calories or even companionship: One of the classic errors that poor Americans are criticized for is taking "payday loans," those very high-interest loans that at the moment seem like a good solution but two weeks later cause them to owe high interest. So, we decided to run a study with Princeton undergraduates, ...
A couple of people have commented to me about the apparent proposal to call the new service station just outside Victoria on the A30 "Cornish Gateway Services". The problem is that the word gateway implies the entrance to Cornwall. So it would be fine as the name for facilities at Saltash, Launceston or Bude, but seems inappropriate when used in a location as close to the geographic centre of Cornwall as it is possible to be. The fear of some in East Cornwall is that it gives the impression that the parts of Cornwall that the visitor has already travelled ...
I want to make a big, open offer to all those liberal Conservatives who watch with dismay as their party moves ever-more to the right in an attempt to beat UKIP at their own game with quasi-racist anti-immigrant rhetoric. An offer to all those Conservatives who despair at proposals from David Cameron which put at risk Britain's membership of the European Union and the 3 million-plus jobs which come with it. And those Tory MPs who have supported gay marriage and Lib Dem policies which properly tackle climate change who fear being de-selected by their out-of-touch local party associations... Come ...
You can access the conference agenda here and if you want further updates on Conference and the work of the committee you can follow my Facebook page here Short and sweet...
I enjoy Fake or Fortune? - it's a painless way of learning about art history. But I imagine that the people who provided last week's painting were rather taken aback when they learnt that, thanks to the BBC, they face having it destroyed. On reflection, though, I think this sort of jeopardy could improve a lot of BBC formats. You can still take your Troika or Clarice Cliff to Flog It!, but if it fails to reach its reserve at auction Paul Martin will smash it while making a weak pun. Anyway, the Liberal Democrat MEP Edward McMillan-Scott is doing ...
Last Thursday I blogged with a challenge for local government minister Eric Pickles. He is always banging on about ideas that councils could adopt to save money. Some of these are good, some are less so. I came up with 35 things that the government could do in order to help councils save money. These are simple rules changes that the government could make but which would save local taxpayers thousands or enable councils to bring in more income. I've had a very good and positive response so far - many thanks to everyone for their feedback. Now I've got ...
This morning, Adam Paynter and I had the chance to meet with Ned Helme, the barrister who will be presenting Cornwall Council's case at the planning inquiry into the application to build 100 new homes off Upper Chapel in Launceston. The application was opposed by the vast majority of local residents, by the town council and unanimously by Cornwall Council's strategic planning committee. However, as is their right, the applicants have appealed and the decision will now be made by an inspector appointed by the Secretary of State after a full inquiry to be held from 18-21 March in Launceston ...
[IMG: 5337737288_0588537ffc_b] Photo: "Marcellus Shale" License Some rights reserved by alienscapes [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Ireland's Minister for Communications deserves to be moved to Minister for Transport in any Cabinet reshuffle, for he rarely misses an opportunity to jump aboard a passing bandwagon. UPDATE: among those also clambering on, in the wake of Pat Rabbitte's statement, appear to be most of the British press: see here and here and here for examples. Minister Rabbitte and his wife. Today's Irish
Two things over the past few days have caused to think once again about my views on the current discussion in education and whether education serves at all well the needs of the pupils that go through it and the ... Continue reading →
It is hardly a secret that I like trains. Indeed, as I write, I am on a Eurostar as it cuts through Northern France between Lille Europe and Calais-Fréthun. But it is not just the actual travelling that entertains me, it is the planning, the anticipation, if you like. I have, as a result, been a big fan of the DB Navigator app, which allows you to plan a route from, say, Stowmarket to Vladivostok, choosing your preferred connections or breaking up the journey as you see fit, so that you can break your journey between Chisinau and Bucharest in ...
[IMG: issan-bbc-politics] East Midlands Euro candidate Issan Ghazni appeared on the BBC yesterday (2nd February) where he argued that Eastern European migrants should be involved in the forthcoming elections. The BBC Politics Show in the East Midlands showed Ghazni visiting Eastern European businesses in the region where he spoke about the Liberal Democrats' support for the free movement of labour and trade across Europe. You can watch the programme here. Segment starts on 38 minutes. Ghazni debated with two local Conservative and Labour politicians. He said that many Eastern Europeans were fearful about a "xenophobic" climate towards immigrants and did ...
The Conference Agenda has been finalised and is now available online. The agenda features a variety of debates including one on a Digital Bill of Rights on Making Migration Work for Britain. There will also be speeches by Jenny Willott MP and Danny Alexander MP. Nick Clegg will do a Leader's Q&A on Saturday 8 March at 15:05 and you can submit concise questions (up to 25 words) on any topic up until 12:40 on 8 March at the Speakers' Table in the auditorium or by email (questions@libdems.org.uk) before 17:00 on Thursday 6 March. Every motion in the agenda is ...
More and more, David Cameron reminds me of Harold Wilson. Both became leaders of their party when a sequence of election defeats forced change upon it. Both briefly were the young leader with a new purpose for their political tradition; the white heat of technology in the 20th century, huskies in the 21st. Both struggled to win over the public, with neither getting an overall majority at their first attempt. Both turned out to be heavily beholden to their party's traditional, backward-looking wing. Wilson's opportunities to be a dominating figure who reshaped society and rejuvenated the economy were wrecked on ...
From the Council: Contractors working on behalf of National Grid Gas will be undertaking works to renew the gas service on Church Road, Gatley; from the junction with Gatley Green to the junction with Styal Road. These works will require the use of multi-way signals and will take place from 12th February 2014 to 11th March 2014; during 9:30am and 3pm.
News that the Small Business Rates Relief Scheme in Wales will be extended for a further financial year is very welcome. The Welsh Liberal Democrats have been calling for the Welsh Government to extend this important scheme, so we are pleased with this announcement. Thanks to the Coalition Government's announcement in the Autumn Statement that it was to extend its business rates scheme, the Welsh government has been able to follow suit. Leaving Welsh businesses at a competitive disadvantage simply wasn't an option. Business rates are a deeply regressive tax that hit small businesses disproportionally hard. While this announcement is ...
Avon and Somerset Police are running an online survey about anti-social behaviour. If you're using a desktop or laptop you can fill it in here and there is also a mobile and tablet version. The survey closes on Sunday 9th February, 2014.
Mon 3rd
14:11
Baroness Claire Tyler writes: Why banning smoking in cars with children in can and should be enforce...
I read with great interest Caron's very balanced blog entry on Thursday about banning smoking in cars with children and the varied comments that followed. These showed a quite legitimate difference of opinion about how to apply liberal principles in an such an area , as illustrated when Nick Clegg shared his own personal views on Thursday's Call Clegg. Much of the ensuing media and blog debate -including on Lib Dem Voice -has focussed on whether it's right to legislate about what people do in private cars and whether this isn't too great an intrusion by the "nanny state" into ...
First Bus have started a consultation on fares, which runs until 16th March. More information about the consultation can be found at www.fairerfaresforall.co.uk and hard copy questionnaires will be available on buses, in libraries, in council one-stop-shops and in First's own travel shops. There will also be a series of roadshows.
From this week, First is changing the timetable of some early morning and early evening 342/X42 journeys. The following Monday to Friday early morning departures from Chipping Sodbury via Yate to Bristol Bus Station have been brought forward by either five or ten minutes: 0540 hours, 0635 hours, 0655 hours, 0710 hours. Passengers have suggested that later morning rush-hour departures, which are currently heavily delayed in traffic, should also have been moved forward. What do you think? Please leave your comments below, including the service and time you are talking about. In addition, the following Monday to Friday departures from ...
Last year BBC Radio 4′s Woman's Hour programme created a Power List of who they thought were "the 100 most powerful women in the UK". While and interesting exercise I thought the list itself was somewhat flawed — but these videos that they produced to go along with it are excellent. A really useful starting point for thinking about how to exercise power in modern Britain. How To Be A Powerful Woman - The Woman's Hour Power List Films
Residents of Kew Ward, my ward, have recently received the latest Labour leaflet on their doormats. Theses leaflets are rarely seen, they are printed in Liverpool, usually on A4 paper and they are always full of inaccuracies(I'm being polite here). The latest takes some beating. It is styled on a typical election leaflet. All that's missing is the large X next to the candidate's name. May I therefore take the opportunity to explain where they have become "confused". 1. Southport Market - Saved by labour. Yes, my party have, for a long time, question the wisdom in spending millions of ...
This Thursday, 6th February, at 11am, Lynne Featherstone's campaign to end FGM in a generation is hoping to raise awareness of the issue across social media. By means of a clever thing called Thunderclap, you can set up a tweet or Facebook post in advance. When they all go out at the same time they'll reach millions of people. Lynne invited people to take part on her own blog: No woman or girl should ever have to suffer the horrific practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM.) But, in countries like Egypt and Somalia, more than 90% of girls and women ...
[IMG: Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice] On Thursday evening we had a Full Council. Labour spelt out with an unintentional clarity their dystopian vision of society. The Tories, incidentally, said absolutely nothing all night. We had certainly not come for bout of extreme ya boo exchanges but clearly that was Labour's plan from the off. They were even petty about answering written questions I should start by saying that during the meeting we got the devastating news that our friend and colleague Robert Hamilton had been killed in Southport when he and his bike were hit by a car in ...
Looks like my local party are starting to do something about their online presence at last. A new Facebook page has been set up — although it is early days yet. Please, go give it some support with a 'Like'.
On saturday, I attended the memorial service for a life-long Liberal, George Watson. It included a reading from John Stuart Mill 'On Liberty'. George stood for Parliament in 1959 in Cheltenham, unsuccessfully, and then became a Fellow at St John's College Cambridge, where he became a noted scholar in literature, literary criticism and liberal political thought. I got hold of his campaign literature from 1959, and while the layout and style is different – no bar charts – the central messages are unchanged. To quote from his section 'Put Freedom First': Liberals made them get rid of identity-cards – but ...
The party's Federal Conference takes place from 7-9 March at York's Barbican Centre. ALDC will be there, as always, providing our usual mix of training sessions, campaign advice, fringe events and publications. After the success of last year's Federal Conference, we will again be joining forces with our friends in the LGA Lib Dems to [...]
[IMG: stock graph] Warning about an impending housing bubble or denying that any signs of a bubble can be detected are popular media pastimes in the UK. Bubbles are bad. Bubbles shut people out of the housing market because property is unaffordable. Bubbles store up trouble for those who buy at the height of the market. Bubbles are a sign of a market out of control. Bubbles lead to the demand for government action to avert disaster. The alternative not-a-bubble view is that increases in house prices - and no one can sensibly deny increases are happening in parts of ...
Mon 3rd
10:58Tim Farron MP writes...No politician should be able to sleep at night while children don't have acce...
Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson stood before a joint session of Congress and declared war. "It will not be a short or easy struggle," he warned the lawmakers. "No single weapon nor strategy will suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won." He was talking about a war on poverty - he was saying that a politician can change the world. That through their words and deeds, they can make a difference and make the world a better place. President Obama (Number 44 - LBJ was 36) stood up last Wednesday night and gave his annual State ...
[IMG: David Penhaligon] David Penhaligon is now best remembered for making by far the most memorable exhortation to deliver political leaflets: "Stick it on a piece of paper, and stuff it through a letter box". Said at the Liberal Party Assembly in 1979, the saying is still found on the mugs in many Liberal Democrat offices, used for drinks of coffee during late night printing runs by campaign organisers who were not even born at the time the words were first said. There was much more to David Penhaligon than that, including the qualities of leadership and motivation that would ...
I don't often get abused online, but I've been thinking about something hurled at me on Facebook last week about my defence of the Lobbying Bill. It has made me wonder why I find myself on the opposite side to people who I've got a great deal of time for - and whose judgement I trust (yes, I know, don't tell me - because I got it wrong?). It is always disturbing when both sides think the other position is dishonest, but don't let's go there again. Not just that, but I've also been wondering also why some issues get ...
Here's my final blog from last week's visit to Burkina Faso – also available here. What do you get when you combine a vibrant First Lady, a country in which most women have undergone female genital mutilation and many are facing health problems and complications in pregnancy, and funding from donor countries to support a country's desire to achieve change? I discovered that you get an environment in which it's OK to talk about really difficult subjects like women's genitalia and FGM/C-related health problems in school. You get radio shows that allow women who've never felt able to speak up ...
[IMG: london by Harshil Shah] Vince Cable recently accused London of acting like a giant machine that sucks in all of the talent from the rest of the country. Our new report, Cities Outlook 2014, shows that London is indeed a magnet for young people from across the country. But the big question is: why does this happen, and what does it mean for policy? First, let's look at the key stats. Somewhat counterintuitively, overall London loses population to the rest of the country. But this is overwhelmingly to the Greater South East, whereas between 2009 and 2012, almost every ...
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) held a special congress in Brussels at the weekend, to elect the Party's candidate for President of the European Commission. At least, that is what the meeting was originally intended to do, with delegates from all over Europe (paying our own way, incidentally) gathering to choose [...]
....and if you're a Special Advisor, the paper will rub the proverbial magic lamp and turn it into policy for you. Or so it seems to go these days. The FT appears to have emerged as Liberal Democrat SpAds' organ of choice for such leaks; partly, it seems, because so few activists read it, and partly because it seems particularly pliant to even the most far-fetched policy idea. Before Christmas they caused a storm and almost a number of significant resignations after claiming the Lib Dems were going to U-turn on their opposition to airport expansion at Heathrow, generating copy ...
....and if you're a Special Advisor, the paper will rub the proverbial magic lamp and turn it into policy for you. Or so it seems to go these days. The FT appears to have emerged as Liberal Democrat SpAds' organ of choice for such leaks; partly, it seems, because so few activists read it, and partly because it seems particularly pliant to even the most far-fetched policy idea. Before Christmas they caused a storm and almost a number of significant resignations after claiming the Lib Dems were going to U-turn on their opposition to airport expansion at Heathrow, generating copy ...
Norman Baker is interviewed in the new issue of Total Politics: Baker's colleague Vince Cable recently came out in support of the Guardian for publishing documents leaked by the former CIA employee, Edward Snowden. Baker also supports the paper and says he is particularly concerned about the accountability of the security services. "If you go back to history it was always the case that the security services were able to intercept every letter that was posted, or listen to every telephone call. But there was a process in place: they identified a person or a group of interest, they then ...
The ridiculous reasons why we still don't have a male pill (Will someone please crowdfund this?) (tags: ) What is it about the Lib Dems and Sci Fi? I couldn't possibly comment. But might point people towards Google and say 'Google "Alex Wilcock how doctor who made me a liberal"' (tags: ) Review of Dungeon Keeper mobile - I think I'll pass was talking about the original dungeon keeper only the other day. If you've not played it you can get it from GOG.com and I fully recommend it. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
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've been publishing the full results. (There were a couple of results I ran out of time to publish during the Christmas holiday period - I'm publishing them this week.) On Saturday, I reported the results of what party members think about school structures. Yesterday, we looked at whether you thought teachers should have formal professional qualifications and if the National Curriculum ...
Rest in Peace Source: SalonFiled under: Uncategorized Tagged: Law & order, Philip Seymour Hoffman, TV
[IMG: Blackberry phone] Haringey Council's ability to answer the phone collapsed dreadfully last year and the year before, with more than 1 in 3 phone calls from residents to the central call centre simply not getting answered at all. What's more, Haringey's own target was only to answer 9 in 10 calls. It says something shocking about the Labour-run council that it thought aiming to fail to answer 1 in 10 calls was a good idea, and even then fell well short of that. As a result, despite bluster from various Labour activists about how outrageous it was to mention ...
I read this article over breakfast yesterday with much intrigued. After a recent trip to Helsinki I discovered that my PAYG mobile charged more in the UK than in Europe. At the time I tweeted at my service provider Tesco. They responded with @SusanGaszczak I see what you mean Susan. I'll get your feedback passed on to the powers that be :) AD — Tesco Mobile Care (@tescomobilecare) December 9, 2013I thought - wow, they are listening but 2 months later the prices are still the same (UK to UK price vs EU to UK price). So I tweeted again ...
Over the past few years, on behalf of local residents, I have highlighted to the City Engineer the very poor state of the unadopted footways in Scotswood Terrace. These now have high priority on the unadopted footways list and looked likely to be upgraded and adopted next financial year. However, the City Engineer has now advised me of some good news that will see the pavement work carried out a little sooner: "... letters (have been) issued to residents in Scotswood Terrace (to) advise of footway upgrading works proposed to be carried out in 2013/14, ie before 30th March 2014. ...
We're just back from Australia, where we had a fab time visiting our younger son, daughter-in-law and grandson, as well as seeing a fair bit of the east coast. Many thanks to my colleagues who kindly covered my West End Ward surgeries when I was away and to the council's excellent members services staff who were very helpful with constituent enquiries (as always!) Here's a few photos! Brisbane skyline At Cairns' excellent Botanic Gardens Melbourne's lovely south beach In Sydney at the inspiration for the Dundee Discovery Walk proposal Janet with our grandson Henry at Bundoora Park in Melbourne ... ...
There is a fascinating post over on the YouGov website speculating about the correlation between voting Liberal Democrat and an interest in science fiction. They say that It all started in May last year, when they ran a survey on Star Wars and Star Trek: Asked which series they prefer, the country as a whole narrowly prefers Star Wars (29% to 27%). But Liberal Democrat supporters buck the trend, with 36% preferring Star Trek and 20% preferring Star Wars. The following month we ran a survey on Doctor Who and noticed that while 31% of Brits take an interest in ...
This recovery would not be happening without Liberal Democrats in Government. GDP figures released today by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show encouraging signs of economic recovery thanks to Liberal Democrats in Government. The figures show Britain's economic growth of 0.7% in the fourth quarter in 2013. Growth was up 1.9% in 2013. These figures are further evidence that the recovery is becoming established. 2013 was the first year since 2007 to see economic growth in all four quarters. Liberal Democrats are building a stronger economy and a fairer society. To ensure the recovery is long term and sustainable, ...
