I've just arrived in York (my first time here: in the dark it looks very nice; I'm told in the light it will be even nicer) for the Lib Dems' spring conference. Which is like the autumn conference, except smaller, briefer and even more ignored by the media. It does have one big advantage, though: it's not Glasgow. (Nothing against that fine city, but the conference centre there is a never-ending Escher sketch of grey corridor doom.) I've never been to a spring conference before. Well, you can have too much of a good thing. The reason I'm here this ...
I have been having some interesting correspondence with some residents of Blaydon constituency about the council budget and where the blame for the current economic and financial state of affairs rests. So, to explain where I believe the problems lies, I have posted below my budget speech to Gateshead Council from 27th Feb when I seconded our amendment. To summarise, my view is that as a nation
Wednesday Who should I see coming down the Committee Corridor at Westminster but our own Nick Clegg? He sees me too and tries to dive into a hearing on white fish, but I take a manly grip upon his shoulder when he is not halfway into the room. "What this about your supporting the removal of citizenship for people have been convicted of no crime?" I hiss. "I hardly think the Home Secretary would go around persecuting innocent people" he replies, before wrenching himself from my grasp and diving under a table. Driving home this evening, I am pleased to ...
Liberal Democrats have criticised red tape at Labour-run Redcar & Cleveland Council today after the Friends of Zetland Park were forced to cancel their popular family fun day.The Fun Day has been running for over 10 years and provides excellent free family entertainment. Over 4000 people attended last year and the event has raised over £100,000 for the park over the last ten years.But this year the hard-working volunteers on the organising committee say that Council red tape and obstruction has forced them to abandon this year's plans.The group started planning the event in October 2013. But after four months ...
Lib Dem MP Tom Brake backs the idea of job-sharing MPs over at Lib Dem Voice: ... if we want parliamentarians to know about life outside Westminster, we should be prepared to make it easier for them to have one. In business, the civil service and the trade unions, people have realised that job-sharing opens up their organisations to a much wider range of talent, of both genders and of all ages and family circumstances. I'm afraid I just don't buy it. For a start, I think job-sharing MPs would end up having to work at least as hard as ...
Labour's press team has been having fun with the result of yesterday's local by-election in Nottingham, where the Liberal Democrats finished behind the Buss-pass Elvis Party. The result is a reminder that, though we Lib Dems are doing well in our areas of strength, our vote can by close to non-existent in areas where we have no history of campaigning. But as a pointer to the next general election it has little value. There was, however, a local by-election yesterday that does look significant from that angle. Last night the Conservatives gained the Rambsbottom ward on Bury Council from Labour. ...
Next Wednesday, 12th March, is No Smoking Day. Smokefree South Gloucestershire offer free support to stop smoking through local GP surgeries, pharmacies and specialist appointments and groups in the community. From 11am to 4pm there will be an event at Yate Leisure Centre to promote a healthy, smokefree lifestyle. There will be carbon monoxide breath testing, blood pressure checks and fitness challenges throughout the event. For more information visit www.southglos.gov.uk/smokefree
On Sunday 9th March, it will be exactly 40 years since Yate Leisure Centre opened. From 12 noon onwards there will be a free programme of fun events for all the family and you will be able to swim for just 20p, the price in 1974. Funds raised will go to the British Heart Foundation. To find out more call 0300 333 0300.
This is all you will ever know about the ridiculous Republic hypocrisy that criticizes Obama for being simultaneously weak and an unconstitutional tyrant, and then praises Putin, for being a strong unconstitutional tyrant. Hmm... fascinating. Let me see if I have this straight. Barack Obama is a weak, mom jeans-wearing DICTATOR-KING!!! Weak mom jean tyrants are the worst tyrants of all! The Daily Show Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook
[IMG: school meals] Yesterday in Parliament I joined with the Children's Society to chair a roundtable to discuss the Government's new free school meals policy. Announced at last year's Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference, from the start of the next school year (2014/15) all children at infant school in England will receive a free school lunch. The policy, which is projected to cost around £1bn over the next two years, will apply to all children aged 4-7 regardless of their family's income. Yesterday's event brought together MPs with experts in the fields of education and nutrition in order to try and ...
The work to improve Cheadle Green is underway. The plans have been developed by the Cheadle Civic Society who have also raised the money for the work, and it has the support of the Liberal Democrats. Seeing the work starting, and trees being cut down, a number of people have got in touch expressing concern about the plans. It's always difficult to see how something's going to look like when the building works are in progress, so the short brochure below – kindly supplied by the Cheadle Civic Society explains a bit more about what's going to happen.
EPP elects Juncker as candidate for EC presidency - Political News | Irish & International Politics | The Irish Times - Fri, Mar 07, 2014 A funny sort of election took place in Dublin yesterday, when the luminaries and MEPs of the European People's Party gathered to select the man (for the candidates were all men) they want to put forward for President of the European Commission and who will be the face of the EPP's Europe-wide campaign in the European Parliament elections in a few months' time. The EPP is the Christian Democrat (and largest) grouping in the European ...
In Government, as in opposition, Liberal Democrats have been staunch defenders of people's right to privacy, campaigning against state intrusion into people's private lives. Our 2010 manifesto included commitments to scrap Identity Cards, block Home Office plans to snoop into people's email and internet records, and remove innocent people from police DNA databases. In Government, we have delivered: ID cards were stopped, the "snoopers' charter" revived by Tories at the Home Office was killed off by Nick Clegg, and millions of people's DNA records have been deleted from Police databases. People have a fundamental right to expect personal information to ...
I'm a couple of days late, but the good news is that bloggers can now embed pictures for non-commercial use from Getty Images without charge. The image below is reproduced just because I can ...
There's a good article over on The Staggers suggesting that both Nick and Nigel and Farage will win from the European TV debate, almost no matter how it goes on the night. To quote the piece.. "Clegg believes the debate gives him the opportunity to take on the UKIP leader, undermine his arguments and expose him as a man short on ideas and substance. Farage, meanwhile, hopes to continue the momentum his party is building, increasing awareness of his party and trying to cement them in the mind of voters as a credible alternative to the status quo. If he ...
The calculations that normally make Chinese foreign policy so cynical, have this time lead to it opposing a war of aggression One of the constants of international diplomacy in the past decade has been China and Russia working in concert to check Western ambitions. So with Russia (metaphorically) under fire from Europe and America over [...]
[IMG: slflogo] The Social Liberal Forum are proud to announce the publication today of our newest publication: 21st Century Education. The contributors to this publication are all experts in the world of education—the majority of whom are teachers—who are also members of the Liberal Democrats. Grass roots members at that, many with long years of party membership. As the editor of the booklet I am grateful that all the contributors were happy to write under the Social Liberal Forum banner. What we are predominantly grappling with in this publication are not the usual battlegrounds of education policy such as structures, ...
[IMG: ld4sos-banner] The National Friends Peace Board celebrated its 100 years anniversary last year at the Friends Meeting House in York. They had a walk, linking two issues, between Richmond Castle where the Friends had stood up for the treatment of Conscientious Objectors during the First World War, to more modern matters, the role of the US base at Menwith Hill in spreading militarism around the world. As they say on their website, "One thing we know from having delved into our history, and of course from our own lives and experiences, is that peace work isn't always easy. We ...
[IMG: Joseph Napolitan] The great and innovative American political consultant, and author of the brilliant The election game and how to win it, Joseph Napolitan recently died, and in tribute to him Campaigns & Elections recently republished some of his greatest campaign hints. This one in particular caught my eye: Never underestimate the intelligence of the voters, nor overestimate the amount of of knowledge at their disposal. That puts rather more elegantly a point I've often made. When voters are happy to debate passionately the intricacies of the off-side law in football or the way the Eurovision Song Contest's voting ...
As a governor of St John's Primary School, Kenilworth for over ten years, I'm absolutely delighted with the school's latest Ofsted report which has been published today: As most people know, the latest Ofsted inspection framework for schools has "set the bar" even higher than before, and there have been a number of high-profile examples of schools falling badly short of previous assessments. St John's has been assessed as GOOD overall, and in particular OUTSTANDING in terms of the behaviour and safety of its pupils. My warmest congratulations to the head, Darren Barrow, and all the school staff and ...
This is part 5 of a series of blog posts looking at the security of the UK Government's web infrastructure. The primary cause of the vulnerabilities I've exposed over this series is abandonment. In a flurry of excitement a website is commissioned and created. Then, as time wears on, people begin to drift away from the project. Job titles change, people are reshuffled, and senior management's gaze focuses elsewhere. Who is now responsible for updating and maintaining the software? No one. Like an unwanted puppy, it has been abandoned on the street and proceeds to pick up all manner of ...
There's something about our system of electing one person to represent one, relatively small part of the country which makes MPs very territorial. Their constituency is "their patch" on which no one else must trespass, and by extension we all find ourselves utterly consumed by the job. The consequence is that politics becomes available only to people who are able to give themselves to it to the exclusion of all else. Working age women in particular have been seen to self-select out of the job, and many more simply never enter it. Westminster hand-wrings often about how we achieve a ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: You can also watch this on YouTube.
Mid Susses District Council have approved this development on the green space between the Old Convent and St Johns Road. It's my view this was a flawed decision. My wife is Lib Dem Councillor Catrin Ingham and she argued repeatedly against this development. Here is the text of her speech planning meeting yesterday. I think it makes the case very well. 'Ref Application: 14/00294/FUL Good Afternoon once again Chairman and Committee Members The former application submitted by Fairview and heard before this committee on December 4th was refused on the basis that " the level of proposed infrastructure in respect ...
Exactly forty years ago, the strange final chapter was being played out for the February 1974 general election, which saw Edward Heath holding on in 10 Downing Street while he negotiated with Jeremy Thorpe. I was preparing for O Levels at the time (a strange prehistoric version of GCSEs, for those who don't remember) and I remember finding myself in instinctive sympathy with the underdog - the Liberals had won six million votes but only 14 seats. It was a travesty. Looking back, it was the first time I identified with the Liberal Party, though I didn't actually join for ...
As photographed by my husband and plastered by him over social media: I'm looking forward to the weekend in York, seeing some friends who haven't been at a Conference for too long. That'd be you, Jennie Rigg. By the ... Continue reading →
Why I will never use 3 Mobile again. Sometime in January, the people I was sharing internet with in my shop decided to move out, so I needed to get mobile internet. Having had a data sim with 3 before ... Continue reading →
A year ago to the day, here on LDV, I called the turn in the UK economy. We had experienced a double dip recession (later confirmed) and everyone was battening down the hatches for an unprecedented triple dip. I wrote then in praise of Chancellor Osborne who the day before had authorized a briefing of two Financial Times journalists. Under the title Osborne to Hand Carney New Powers, they had written, 'George Osborne's Budget, will pave the way for Mark Carney, incoming Bank of England governor, to come to the rescue of the economy as the chancellor sets the scene ...
Following on from Sue Doughty's excellent invitation to the consultation session on OMOV for our party's important committees, I'd like to give my perspective as a young(er) member on why I will be supporting this move at conference this weekend. Sometimes people on the inside of the party can forget what it's like to be on the outside, and also what it's like to be a new member. Imagine for a minute you've just joined the party, your eyes and ears full of ideas. You've joined the party because of a shining commitment to involving the whole party in policy, ...
Tomorrow is International Women's Day. Mancunians should be proud of the role their city played in the movement for women's equality and with so many events happening this weekend, from [...]
I've said many times that Kenny MacAskill is the wrong person to be justice secretary. He can't dine out on doing the right thing once, five years ago. Under his watch, women prisoners have suffered, local policing smashed and one ... Continue reading →
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention in the past couple of days... Hacked DfE website hosts article declaring 'Gove to teach all children himself' – Education – TES News Story of the day: "Hacked DfE website hosts article declaring 'Gove to teach all children himself'" News http://bit.ly/1nlUSRB Campaign organisers: The political genie | The Economist Campaign organisers: The political genie | The Economist http://econ.st/1fbJQYv < featuring none other than @RobinMcGhee Four Epochs of Education – Sutton Trust M'colleague @Lem_SuttonTrust on the prospects of teaching becoming evidence-based profession http://bit.ly/1kB6pOh Report plays down bursaries effect – Press Association ...
To mark the ten year anniversary of the Orange Book, CentreForum is commissioning a new publication 'The challenges facing contemporary liberalism: 2015-2025' which will be launched at a special conference in June. As part of this initiative, we are running an essay competition inviting participants to focus on a particular challenge confronting liberals over the next decade. Contributors are asked to set out an effective response to the challenge they identify and assess the impact this response might have on government and public policy. Our door is open to any liberal from any camp - economic, social or otherwise. Selected ...
'Attractive pedestrians' blamed for car crashes - Yorks second only to Wales for low crash rate (tags: ) Challenging UKIP: @emcmillanscott throws down the gauntlet for an in/out debate (tags: ) A Handy Guide To Work Out Whether You're A Feminist (tags: ) Today's xkcd is awesome (tags: ) gominokouhai | Linkdump 05-03-2014 (yes I'm linking to someone else's linkspam) i know that's a bit meta, but go read it. You don't have to click all the links, just read the post. It made me giggle. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Not in a Neighbourhood Watch area? Maybe YOU could start one. Want to find out more? Call the police on 01454 864404, talk to your local PCSO or check out the police website for more details.
From Dundee City Council regarding a temporary traffic order affecting James Black Place in the Ninewells Hospital grounds: THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 : SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Scottish Water repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in James Black Place, Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Sunday 23 March 2014 for 1 day. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. No alternative route is available. For further information contact 433082. Director of City DevelopmentDundee City Council ...
It is not often that I quote the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales favourably on this blog but his response to comments by a Plaid Cymru MP about the Welsh rugby captain are spot on. As the BBC report, Jonathan Edwards, who is Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr tweeted a question asking how Sam Warburton could captain the Wales rugby team if he considered himself British? Warburton had said that when he was on tour with the British Lions and he was asked about his nationality he replied that he was British. The Western Mail picks ...
Over at Liberal Democrat Voice, I've done a series of guides to this year's Spring Conference in York which starts tomorrow. Here they are in full in one not very bite sized chunk. Part 1: The Debates: In just 9 ... Continue reading →
The Welsh Government has already ploughed millions into the Flying Start programme and is expecting to expand provision over the next two years. However, the latest evaluation of the programme has highlighted a number of difficulties in assessing how effective the scheme has been to date, particularly because no proper baseline was established before the project was rolled out to the whole of Wales. It is now very difficult to see whether the programme is achieving the expected outcomes and I will expect the Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty to tell me that he is now working closely with the ...
Thursday last week saw Gateshead Council's annual budget meeting which set the budget and council tax for the year ahead. There was a very visible public protest against the cuts in front of one of the main doors into the Civic Centre. It was very difficult to avoid. After all, this was a public protest and people walking in and out of the building had to walk around the protest and the people
