We are sure that it's a sheer coincidence that Liberal Democrats are meeting for their spring conference in the old Viking city of York at the same time as Scandimania comes to London.
If you have been confused about what has been happening in Ukraine over the past week and went online or picked up a paper to try and find out, chances are you would come away not much the wiser. Depending on what you read, Russian President Vladimir Putin is either a strategic genius, playing a long game of chess while the West plays marbles, or a short-sighted opportunist, constantly reacting to events but never able to control them. Putin is either taking advantage of American weakness to throw Russian weight around, or is threatened by American and Western power pushing ...
Taken last summer. Cromford Pond was constructed by Richard Arkwright in 1785 to provide power to his mill complex. Across the water you can see the excellent Scarthin Books.
From tomorrow's Guardian: Danny Alexander, the Treasury chief secretary, is to lead a Liberal Democrat team preparing for possible negotiations with other parties in the event of a hung parliament after the 2015 general election, the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, told his MPs late Monday. A politically balanced, five-strong team has been appointed: Alexander; general election manifesto co-ordinator David Laws; Lady Brinton; international development minister Lynne Featherstone; and pensions minister Steve Webb. Featherstone and Webb are regarded as on the left of the party.
[IMG: Why_Poverty] These days it seems we're more likely to hear politicians talk about a "cost-of-living crisis" or, possibly, allude to problems of housing affordability than we are to find them discussing "poverty". Indeed, we're back in an era where the whole concept of poverty, and whether there are any households in genuine poverty, is being questioned. The translation of the banking crisis into a crisis of welfare has seen benefits cut and uprating mechanisms pared back. The prevailing policy narrative of over-generous welfare provision has caused the discussion to loose its moorings. The political elite fail to show any ...
Yesterday I suggested that Tristram Hunt "does not resemble a potential senior government minister so much as someone playing a government minister in an Oxbridge revue". A little research shows I was more right than I realised. It turns out that Hunt was a member of the Cambridge Footlights alongside such figures as David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Tim Walker mentioned those days in the Daily Telegraph last November: Still, if the shadow education secretary looks back with a dreamy sense of nostalgia on his days performing in the Footlights at Cambridge with David Mitchell and Robert Webb, his erstwhile ...
Below are recently submitted Planning Applications in the Chorlton area. You can find out more information about any of the proposals on the City Council's Planning Portal at http://tinyurl.com/yv6lex or by contacting the South Area Planning Group Manager - Roger Hall; Tel: (0161) 234 4536; email: r.hall@manchester.gov.uk . You can also make a Planning representation (in support or opposition) to Mr Hall or the designated planning officer for each application. Please feel free to contact me on (07947383740; cllr.v.chamberlain@manchester.gov.uk) if you wish to discuss any application and please also send me a copy of any representation you make. 104877/PDE/2014/S1 5 ...
[IMG: Vladimir Putin Red Square - That's My Boy!! Хорошо, молодец!!!] Over the last few days, I've seen many reports to the effect that Putin is "calling the tune" in Ukraine and that he has the West on the "back foot", and that he is "ahead of the game". I look at it from a long-term perspective and I see that it is Putin who is on the "back foot". Just look at the list of countries which, 13 years ago, were members of the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact, but are now members of NATO, the most powerful military alliance in ...
Scottish Liberal Democrats' diversity champion Sophie Bridger has helped to develop a really useful new diversity training session. It is really worth doing as it goes through why diversity is important and gives you lots of ideas of things to ... Continue reading →
For a while the Lib Dem team have been pressing the Highways Agency to fix the streetlights on the slip road off the M60. As you come from Stockport and leave the M60 at Junction 3, most of streetlights are out. It turns out that there's a serious problem with the cabling. The work to replace it should be done in the 2014/15 financial year, and will involve replacing 2350m of cable! 64 lighting columns are affected by the problem.
Cheadle Area Committee meets at 6pm on 11th March 2014 in Bolshaw School, Cross Road, Heald Green. As ever, the meeting is open to all – just come along. The agenda includes: Application for funding from Gatley Village Partnership to cover the running costs for the coming year. Planning application 54385 relating to the former Nat West, soon to open as an Indian Takeaway. The application is for the room on the first floor to be changed to a private dining/restaurant room. Planning application 54486 – change of use for one of the shop units on Pendlebury Road, Gatley from ...
Mon 3rd
16:41
LibLink: Kirsty Williams: St David's Day - Wales has every right to be up there with the best
I actually got goosebumps reading this St David's Day piece Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams wrote for Endeavour Public Affairs. It's brimming with passion, expressing pride in and love for Wales. It's a real uplifting read, and folk on both sides of Scotland's independence referendum should note that this is how you inspire people. She grabs you right from the start: Identity isn't a fixed status; it is a feeling. Personally, first and foremost, I feel Welsh; then British; then European. Being Welsh is always the overriding sense of who I am. I believe a reason for this is ...
Mon 3rd
15:56
The Ukraine; it's all so predictable. Look, someone predicted exactly what would happen 30 years ago...
This video must ring a lot of bells...
Friday lunchtime at work I was sent this email: [IMG: email image] Intrigued, I followed the link to the website and did the test myself, which came back Lib Dem with a bit of Labour thrown in. The Tories, UKIP and the BNP were at the bottom. Pretty accurate. I then repeated the test with the knowledge I have of the policies of the other parties, again impressively accurate whoever I pretended to agree with, from the Greens to the BNP. It's a very well researched questionnaire. What made me write this post was the response I got when I ...
I know, I know, you want to know where I've been. Reporting on roller derby, for the record. Also playing roller derby, at job interviews, and also in Dublin. And then I've been reading Hunger Games, and as I'm halfway through Mockingjay, you're lucky I'm sitting at a computer at all. Anyway, where were we? Oh yes. Reasons a palaeontologist might kill someone. Incidentally, while the last instalment was about illegal activities on the black market, fossil smuggling and dastardly private collectors, there is a more above board, but just as fraught disagreement going on right now with a twelfth ...
Mon 3rd
14:35In the next month 33 seats in Scotland and Wales will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs
[IMG: Lib Dems winning here] Here's the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates' list, together with the closing date for applications. The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates: Scotland East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow, 17th March Glasgow Central, 17th March Glasgow East, 17th March Glasgow North, 17th March Glasgow North East, 17th March Glasgow North West, 17th March Glasgow South, 17th March Glasgow South West, 17th March Rutherglen and Hamilton West, 17th March In addition, the application deadline for the Scottish Parliament ...
I am feeling pretty old today for four reasons: Firstly, I am writing this in bed and feeling very old and fed up with myself Secondly, Erica has just gone off to do some things as Deputy Lord Mayor with ... Continue reading →
Here's my weekly Ham and High column – this time on the urgent need for repairs to the Noel Park estate – which the local Council are ignoring. Last week I held a public meeting in a part of my constituency which has been neglected by Haringey Council for decades. Council properties on the Noel Park estate have not had any substantial repairs or 'decent homes' work for over 30 years now. Week in, week out, residents contact me in despair about the state of their homes - and express their frustration at the lack of repairs. I've heard horror ...
Christian Caryl writes to Vladimir Putin (with tongue firmly in cheek) to try and avail himself of the doctrine the president has propounded to justify the invasion of Crimea. If Russia can intervene anywhere to protect Russian speakers from any threat, however, negligible; Caryl wonders if the Putin might consider intervening to protect the Russophone [...]
It took the best part of a year to complete, with motorists sitting in queues for hours due to traffic light controls. Now the £1m+ scheme, paid for by a supermarket development and work done by private contractors has been "completed" several months ago. So, we now have 8 zebra crossings in an area that used to have three light controlled crossings, and traffic goes through the High Street in Houghton Regis much faster than it used to, albeit in a 20mph zone. Some pedestrians are still fearful that traffic won't stop for them; they are concerned about lighting and ...
The new Liberal Democrat conference app is now available on both Google Play and Apple's app store. The instructions for downloading it in the Conference agenda are not ever so clear as they don't tell you what its called – Lib Dem Spring Conf 2014. If you have a Blackberry or a Windows phone, you need to go here. I downloaded mine this morning with more than a little apprehension. You see, it's never worked for me before. I have always had problems getting the "My Schedule" part of it to work. To me, that part is the whole point. ...
This article first appeared on Lib Dem Voice on 1st March. "A fair, free and open society, in which... no one shall be enslaved by poverty." The fundamental basis of our party's constitution - its very soul - is the...Read more ›
The place of religious schools in a secular society is always a subject for debate, but it comes to a head when you discover that some schools are redacting questions in GCSE exam papers because they wouldn't approve of the answers. All schools are required to teach the national science curriculum, and are inspected on that basis by Ofsted. We are told that to present creationism as science is not allowed. Yet one school – a Jewish girls' secondary in this case, but the same question may arise elsewhere – has chosen to cross out questions which offend their sensibilities. ...
It is more than two decades since Al Gore's National Performance Review during the Clinton years. It emerged after the scandal of wasteful Pentagon spending, because the cost of simple items ballooned when they went through armed forces bureaucracy - a serious lesson about centralised procurement. The $7,622 coffee percolator bought by the air force was the most spectacular, but the one that really caught the public imagination was the $436 hammer bought for the navy, or - as the Pentagon called it - a 'uni-directional impact generator'. One of the first schemes the Review launched was an annual Hammer ...
It is easy for me to say "I told you so". For years this blog has warned about the aggressive despotism of Vladimir Putin. For years, the use of violence and money to corrupt and weaken the West has eroded our ability to work against one of the most vile regimes ever seen. For years these warnings, and those of people like Edward Lucas, have been ignored. Now we are paying the bitter price of our greed and hypocrisy in our dealings with the Kremlin. The fact is that democracy is not all about creating the best economic standards for ...
The question of what political impact Spitting Image really had has been in the news again recently. It's always been a particularly interesting for former members of the Liberal Party, with many believing that the portrayal of David Steel as being in David Owen's pocket seriously damaged the party. Not all who believe that think it was unfair, for Steel had plenty of internal critics who believed the portrayal was damaging because it so close to the truth. An interesting snippet of evidence on this came my way recently when reading another old copy of Liberator. Number 157 from 1986 ...
The LGA Liberal Democrat Office will now be accepting nominations from Lib Dem groups in control or in opposition from until Tuesday 4th March. The awards ceremony will take place on Friday 7 March at Spring Conference in York. In the spirit of the times we've: Slashed the budget by 40% – don't expect canapés [...]
Originally posted on The Dish: Archbishop Clement of Ukrainian Orthodox church human shields Ukr army base in #Perekopne pic via @euromaidan pic.twitter.com/2RAn4rqZKm — Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) March 2, 2014
Dear Dave, The last time we spoke was in the Tite Inn at Chadlington, a great village pub with a landlord who I and others helped get rate relief for to keep the last pub in the village going. We know you appreciate pubs - when the phone-hacking scandal was rife, you bolted to Charlbury Beer Festival, though you needed practice at Aunt Sally. Maybe you'll have more time to do that soon. Fast forward a decade or so and you have a big decision in front of you. With over 100 pubs a month closing [according to new figures ...
The recommendations featured in today's Silk Report should be a blueprint for further powers coming to Wales. The UK coalition government established the Silk commission to examine the future of the Welsh Assembly's powers. The inquiry was split into two parts, with part two being published today. The Welsh Liberal Democrats helped ensure that the Silk Commission was established as we believe Wales must have a proper functioning parliament. Like the first report, we believe the recommendations published today set out an ideal blueprint for the future of devolution in Wales. At every stage the Welsh Liberal Democrats have been ...
Yate Town Council is considering making improvements to the play area to provide more for very young children and for teenagers. There are no firm plans at the moment, but local young people have been asking for a mini skateboarding area. Other ideas include a sandpit, play equipment for a wider age range and landscaping to increase the opportunity for nature play.
As many members will be aware, votes on policy, and for members of the committees who run the party are in the hands of the conference representatives elected by local parties. In other words, your ability to vote depends on your contacts back home. There were good reasons for this once but in this day and age it is time to take a fresh look which is why the Internal Democratic Reform Group of the Federal Executive wants to hear your views. At present the only all member votes are for the Party Leader and the Party President, and we ...
Some weeks ago, constituents highlighted to me concerns about the lack of road markings at Wright Avenue (the entrance road to the Riverside Nature Park and the Recycling Centre) where the entrance to the recycling centre meets the main road to the Nature Park (to its left) and back to Riverside Avenue (to its right). Given the significant vehicle movements going in and out of the recycling centre (including large council vehicles), the need for proper road markings was obvious and I asked the council to provide these. As you can see (below) this work has since been carried out: ...
This is part 1 of a series of blog posts looking at the security of the UK Government's web infrastructure. The UK Parliament website is pretty great. It houses a huge amount of historical information, lets people easily see what's happening in the Commons and the Lords, and is run by some really clever people. That's why it's so depressing to see such a basic error as this XSS flaw in their search engine. [IMG: Parliament XSS] What Is XSS? Briefly, some websites will let you display or run arbitrary code on them if you input that code in their ...
I have migrated my maths musings to here I hope you drop in from time to time and enjoy. Maths on Monday: The even number paradox at the 1729 blog
Thursday's Guardian contains an admission that should make all Euro-sceptics pause before casting their vote in May's European elections. They quote the leader of the UK Independence party, Nigel Farage admitting on the eve of the European election campaign: "We're whistling in the wind if we think we can implement a Eurosceptic agenda from within the European parliament." He adds "we cannot change a thing in Europe" and that while Eurosceptics could "have some fun" in the European parliament trying to block legislation, it will "not last very long". As the paper says, Farage's forecast that sceptics will not be ...
