Yesterday would have been Bobby Fischer's 71st birthday. On that day Garry Kasparov, the only player who stands higher in the history of chess, visited his grave.
The Dorset Echo wins our Headline of the Day Award.
Brief conference notes (I'm not actually well enough to do a proper blog post yet): Good things: The Digital Bill Of Rights proposals from Tim Farron and Julian Huppert are the most sensible thing any party has ever said on the subject. Given that it was only about eighteen months ago that the parliamentary party [...]
A cracking Look at Life from 1964. The film may be 50 years old, but the similarities to today are more striking than the differences. These were the days before BEA and BOAC merged to form British Airways. As I recall, if you were in the know you pronounced the latter as two syllables - "Bo-Ac".
Taking a brief break from politics to talk about something much more important... There are a lot of rumours about the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII, when it will be set? Who will be the principle characters? Who will be staring in it? For anyone who is not familiar with the Expanded Universe there is a whole wealth of characters and stories that follow AFTER Return of the Jedi. I'm fairly protective of the Expanded Universe as it was what I grew up on in the 90s and it is where I completely fell in love with the Star Wars ...
Saturday Do you know the North Koreans? Charming fellows, though it is best to keep on the right side of their chief man and not to let your spaniels run loose when they are in the neighbourhood. I was talking to one of them the other evening and he told me something interesting: if someone in downtown Pyongyang feels he is getting the rough end of the stick from a fellow North Korean, then he is likely to accuse him of behaving in a way that "makes the internal disciplinary procedures of the Liberal Democrats seem benign, and anything done ...
John Pugh introduces "Grim Up North?" - a call for a rebalancing of the British economy by a group of Liberal Democrat MPs from the North of England - for Liberal Democrat Voice. "Putin's great fear is that the people of a future better Ukraine might inspire an entirely different unification with their East Slav brethren on his side of the border - a common cause of popular revolt against him and other leaders like him." James Meek reports from Ukraine for the London Review of Books. Iain Dale pays his tribute to Marion Thorpe. "Reaching the conclusion that you ...
Foreign policy and defence are two of the most central functions of any state. Therefore, the state of thought in the Labour Party on these two issues is of great importance to the future of Britain, given that they are one of the two larger parties in British politics and currently hold a lead in the opinion polls. Sadly, from what emerged from Mr Miliband's trip to Afghanistan recently, the state of thought within Labour on these topics varies between basic and ridiculous. There are two issues we can address from that BBC article; the proposed law on discrimination against ...
Recap – we have a looming primary school places crisis of 215-235 reception places September 2016. The East Dulwich Harris Primary School will provider 60 places to fill this gap with huge local parent support to make it happen. Harris have appointed the Principal for the school. I'm hoping to meet them in April. The former East Dulwich Police station has been bought to provide the site for this school. The full funding agreement has been signed off with governments Educational Finance Agency (EFA). The EFA will have appointed their full technical team by the end of this week to ...
Do you remember the children's story of the magic porridge pot? One day it produced an unending supply of porridge. I am reminded of this by a Labour announcement today that yet another spending commitment is to be financed by the tax on bankers' bonuses (which will presumably impact on the finances of the Coop as well as the banks Labour used to admire.) With so many commitments to be paid for
Cllr Kilian Bourke Speaking On 'In Europe, In Work' at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference In York Cambridge's multi-national businesses on Mill Road epitomise the benefits the European Union brings to 21st century Britain, Councillor Kilian Bourke told the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference yesterday (Sunday, March 9). Abdul Arain's business Al Amin, in particular illustrates how the local and international go together seamlessly in the UK, Councillor Bourke told delegates while supporting the conference motion "In Europe, In Work". The motion underscored the Liberal Democrats' campaign for the UK to remain a member of the European Union. "Mill Road is ...
The LDV team had a busy and fun Conference in York. Here are a few of the things we got up to: Co-editors, hard at work [IMG: Caron Stephen York broom cupboard] Thanks to Paul Walter for taking this. Nick questions Nick [IMG: Nick questions Nick on NI] Caron meets Liberal Youth [IMG: Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 09.00.57] With Claire Boad, Maelo Manning and Alex White. Joe proposes an amendment [IMG: Joe Otten] Team Selfie [IMG: Team selfie] Stephen rehearses his speech for his fringe meeting. If using the LDV broom cupboard for speech prep is good enough for Danny ...
1. Tax bankers bonuses to pay for: Growth in the economy (Source: The Guardian)Building more houses. (Source: (Huff Post)Cutting VAT (Source: The Guardian)Creating youth jobs for a year (Source: The BBC)No, lets make it five years. (Source: The Guardian)Giving more money to the regional growth fund (Source: Huff Post)Creating free childcare places (Source: Reuters.)Cutting the deficit. (Source: Huff Post)Turning empty shops into community centres (Source: Huff Post)2. Cap, and thereby lower, bankers bonuses because they are too high*....ohhh *Source European Parliamentary Labour Party With thanks and H/T to the Huff Post and Martin Shapland via Buzz feed
I am a proud geek. However, I have to admit that we (and I) have a dark side. Probably the best thing about Buzzfeed is the compilations of internet comics it occasionally produces. A recent one by Kevin Tang concerned the danger of becoming a 'geek bully.' For all my love of geek culture, I [...]
Knowing that you will receive the best care available is of critical importance to everyone who finds themselves needing support from social care services. This is why when I was Care Minister, I was passionate about making that a reality - and I still am. As Minister I published the Care Bill, overhauling decades of complex, arcane and out of date legislation to set out a social care system fit for the twenty first century. The Care Bill, which I subsequently scrutinised as Chair of the Joint Committee on the Bill, is a piece of legislation I - and Liberal ...
Earlier today, I posted on my blog describing how I felt the left of the Lib Dems had had a poor conference and was suffering from a lack of direction and unity. I'm a member of the SLF and have felt for some time that the left has been losing most of the arguments in the party. I wanted to write about that. Through my fault, or theirs, some readers misinterpreted my post as an attack piece on the SLF. I'll add that several SLF members have messaged me to tell me they think the left had a great conference, ...
We saw last month that some nationalists are prepared to tell downright lies in the way they portray comments made by pro UK supporters. Remember how they twisted Johann Lamont's words? Well, this picture is doing the rounds on Twitter: ... Continue reading →
I am currently in New York representing the UK at the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women. Here's a short blog from day 1 – also available here. I've always said that, as great as 'international days' are at galvanising action on an issue, when it comes to women and girls we need to take action on the other 364 days too. That's why I'm so pleased that the Prime Minister will host a summit in July to tackle Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Early and Forced Marriage (EFM). I've been spearheading the Coalition Government's work on tackling ...
A Balgay Hill Volunteer Day involving a litter pick will take place this Friday (14th March) from 10.30am to 3.30pm. If you can help, please meet at the Mills Observatory and take a packed lunch. Volunteers from Tesco will be volunteering in the afternoon, which is very welcome.
Mon 10th
14:51
"Bet you'd rather watch two hot chicks who are smart and who disagree yell at each other"
In the UK, media watchers often sneer at Fox News, held up as the antithesis that is everything that is good about British media. However, it's giving liberals and lefties
Dear Lib Dem Members, I would like to write to you all and express my regret that Spring Conference this weekend in York has been my last Spring Conference as a member of the Federal Conference Committee. It was a great honour to be elected to represent the party back in September 2012. And in that time I have had the privilege to see through several conferences in an historic time, when the Liberal Democrats are part of the Government. In that time, I've learned how to plan a debate, as well as the finer detail of and responses to ...
I had lots to do back home so I was only able to get to Lib Dem spring conference on Saturday. As it was in York, I could catch a train first thing in the morning and then return in the evening. The train journey itself is an hour. One day attendance meant I missed Nick Clegg's speech that closed conference but I was able to catch his Q&A on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, outside the
Two photographs I particularly like of their visit to the Software AG stand at CeBIT earlier on today. Software AG's intelligent business operations platform has British developed software at its heart, coupled with some great German engineering. [IMG: Karl-Heinz Streibich, Angela Merkel and David Cameron talk about Software AG's big data offerings at CeBIT] [IMG: Software AG meets the German and UK government representatives at CeBIT] Images provided by Software AG Germany.
You have to hand it to us: given the state of the polls (down to 10% in one of them this weekend) and our already greatly reduced representation in local government, the enthusiasm of our Spring Conference in York this weekend surpassed all rationality. If politicians in general live in a "Westminster Bubble" we Liberal Democrats live in a special helium-filled hubble-bubble of our own. True Liberalism. In both the main conference and fringe meeting I sat through hours of constructive and humane discussion on crime and criminal justice, evidence based educational reform (the best education spokesman of all the ...
PM announces £45m research funding and a review of how to make the most of internet of things technologies. Make the most for whom? At the digital technology trade fair CeBIT 2014 in Hannover, David Cameron announced that UK chief science adviser Sir Mark Walport will lead a review into internet of things technologies. He also said £45m will be available for internet of things research in the UK, as well as £1m grants for European companies developing related products. Speaking alongside German chancellor Angela Merkel, he urged: This is a world on fast forward. A world of permanent technological ...
In 2012 I got the hump with Nick Clegg after a series of, what I thought were, misjudgements by him. I am pleased to say that I have been humpless with Nick for quite a while now. I feel that he is a confident, passionate and (now) sure-footed party leader and DPM.This feeling was cemented by his Sunday speech and Saturday Q&A.With half a dozen other bloggers I interviewed Nick at Portcullis House during the 2007 leadership contest. Despite being a Huhne supporter, I found myself carried away on a helter-skelter ride as Nick went on flights of passion about ...
Back from conference, my highlight was Liberal Reform's fringe with Jeremy Browne (and other people too) about what party liberals should be in? (Inspired, presumably, by Nick Boles' speech about a 'National Liberal Party'). Jeremy's answer, unsurprisingly, was that small l liberals should be in the Liberal Democrats. And of course, I agree! But rather [...]
[IMG: education fringe mar 2014] That was the topic up for debate on Saturday at the Lib Dem conference fringe meeting organised by CentreForum and the Social Liberal Forum. I was one of the four panellists – speaking with my day-job hat on – alongside James Kempton from CentreForum, former Lib Dem education spokesman Lord (Phil) Willis, and current Lib Dem schools minister David Laws MP. Usually when I speak at meetings, I work from scribbled notes. As I was representing the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), I actually wrote a text, pasted below, and worked from that – which inevitably ...
Cambridge City Council Leader, Tim Bick receives the award from Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg at the Lib Dem conference Cambridge Liberal Democrats' work with the homeless on the city's streets has won them an award. The group, which leads Cambridge City Council, was presented with the Leader's Award at the Lib Dem Spring Conference in York at the weekend for the emphasis it puts into rehabilitating the homeless, many of whom are suffering addictions and/or mental health problems. City Council Leader, Tim Bick received the Leader's Award for putting Liberal values into practice from Deputy Prime Minister and Lib ...
Yes, I know, I missed a week... already. What can I say?... As the Lords heads towards its proroguement for the session, voting tends to intensify, Committees finalise reports and thoughts turn to the Queen's Speech on 3 June - what will be in it, if anything, what messages for the General Election might be gleaned, that sort of thing. However, there's still plenty of work to do... Monday is relatively quiet, as the House deals with Day 3 of the Committee Stage of the Immigration Bill, whilst Ros will be speaking in a debate on the current situation in ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg and Vince Cable at a factory 2 - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] My name's Adam and I'm a careers teacher. This presents something of a challenge because it turns out that as a teacher I know nothing about careers. I must say before continuing that I am a fan of Vince. On the credit crunch, on banking regulation and on bonuses I not only agree with what he says, but also with how he says it. This is part of why I was so surprised, and not a little bit irked, that he said of ...
You may have read the Observer article entitled "Northern Lib Dem MPs rebel over cuts." It's a source of wry amusement to behold how the national media treat our internal democratic procedures. Not since primary school have I been referred to as "ringleader", let alone of a bunch of "rebels" – Northern council leaders, peers and MPs who endorse the pre-budget submission "Grim up North?". The title is meant to be a little ironic because there are many promising signs up North and a lot of support for the Coalition's objectives of re-balancing the economy. However, your typical Northerner is ...
I am old enough to have worked in the Liberal assembly press office back in 1986, the year of the 'ten-fingers-on-the nuclear button' furore which tore apart the Liberal-SDP Alliance. I remember the raging arguments in the corridor after David Steel's furious speech, tearing into his own party: "I'm not interested in power without principles, but I am only marginally interested in principles without power." It will certainly be in Duncan Brack's excellent new Dictionary of Liberal Quotations. Looking back, now the party has power of a kind, this opposition of power and principles seems to reek of the peculiar ...
The message at the Liberal Democrats' spring conference in York at the weekend could not have been clearer: the LibDems are the Party of IN — the EU, that is. For those of us who have suffered bruising past European election campaigns, in which the Party's pro-European light was hidden under a bushel, this is [...]
Tim Wigmore has a good piece on the fall in turnout amongst young people in Britain – but in the end, I draw the opposite conclusion from his data from him. First, his case: It's always fashionable to belittle the youth of today and imagine that they are worse than previous generations. The facts mostly tell a different story: today's young are less inclined to use drugs and get drunk than previous generations, and under-18 pregnancy is now at its lowest level since 1969. But it's no myth that young people have never been less inclined to partake in party ...
As usual conference was BUSY and I am now knackered. In no particular order here are some of the things I did:Voted in lots of debates. LOTS of debates. Spread the news about my workplace among various party people, which will hopefully get us lots more work coming in. Was very proud of various members of my local party who submitted questions and amendments, and spoke from the stage. Special props to my lovely candidate for Calder Valley, who was not only speaking lots, but spoken about (described by Joe Otten as "the next MP for Calder Valley, Alisdair Calder ...
When Alexander Stubb, Finland minister of European Affairs and Foreign Trade, was going to give a talk about the debate on the UK membership of the EU entitled 'The UK and the EU: sovereign illusions in an age of interdependence' at the London School of Economics, you knew it was going to be interesting, for two reasons. First, through his wealth of experience in the European Parliament as MEP in 2004 and in the European civil service, Mr Stubb knows the EU modus operandi like few do. Second, it is sometimes good to have the perspective of a foreigner - ...
Nick Clegg's speech at the end of conference was covered by some, but by no means all, media outlets – you can read the full text of the speech here, and view a brief extract here. The Independent highlights Lib Dem Conference: 'Rivals are airbrushing our role in recovery' warns Nick Clegg,: In a policy-lite closing speech to the Lib Dem spring conference in York on Sunday, the Deputy Prime Minister signalled the start of the long campaign to next year's general election by emphasising the party's achievements in government. Mr Clegg said the history books will show that "the ...
There was good news at last night's Frome Vale Area Forum for residents campaigning for safety improvements around the railway bridge on Dodington Road, Chipping Sodbury. Local resident Stephen Gregson, pictured left with ward councillor Claire Young, spoke about the most recent accident and urged members to take action. Members agreed funding to create a 70m hard surfaced pavement from the access to the school playing field to a safer crossing point, where dropped kerbs will be installed. Currently pedestrians have to cross on the bridge where visibility is poor.
[IMG: Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 08.53.06] Back in January, when a character from Sherlock was analysed as a disillusioned Lib Dem, those clever people at Party HQ came up with a Buzzfeed thingy giving 1o reasons why she should come back to us. They've now done the same with five of the things from Nick Clegg's speech that he loves about Britain. I liked that part of his speech – here's a reminder: I love that a country capable of extraordinary pomp and ceremony can still retain a spiky irreverence towards its establishment. A country where we line the streets ...
Ancrum Drive Residents have pointed out to me that the private stretch of roadway up to the lock-ups off Ancrum Drive is very badly deteriorated. I asked the factors on behalf of owners Northern Housing Association if the worst of the potholes can be filled. The factor's representative has responded positively as follows: "I am trying to have works authorised and carried out. Once I know what action we are to take I will let you know. My thoughts are to fill pot holes, level out the area to stop the rain water running down into the garages."
With WWF's Earth Hour 2014 on Saturday 29th March rapidly approaching, you can read more about Earth Hour in Scotland here. Across the world, 150 countries are participating and some some 7 000 towns and cities are taking part. In Dundee, the floodlighting at the McManus Galleries is switching off for Earth Hour along with lighting at Broughty Ferry Castle. Here's a video about Earth Hour 2014:
Today's Guardian contains a fascinating retrospective on the 1980s classic film Fatal Attraction by the film's author James Dearden, and why the stage version portrays the Glenn Close character more favourably. His piece contains the important revelation that things could have been so much different: The movie actually spawned an expression, "bunny-boiler", to describe a certain kind of vengeful, unhinged female. This has since gone into the lexicon - a dubious honour, but an honour nonetheless, I suppose. In fact, I originally wanted Alex Forrest, played by Glenn Close, to grill the unfortunate rabbit on a rotisserie. Somehow, I don't ...
Cambridge Activist Emily Nethsingha Speaking During the Debate At their Spring Conference in York Liberal Democrats endorsed a package of political and constitutional reforms designed to engage people with the political system, in their policy paper Power to the People (via Google Drive). The key proposals are to: Make Parliament and government more accountable by legislating for an elected House of Lords, introducing 'citizens' juries' and subjecting new Secretaries of State to Select Committee interviewsEnd the auction of influence and access in Westminster by capping political donations and making Special Advisers' activities transparentIntroduce fair votes for local government elections in ...
Did you know you have to pass a maths test to win the lottery in Canada? More over at the 1729 blog
Yesterday I told our conference that if you have faith in this country, if you believe in Britain's values, then we have to fight for them. Last month I challenged Nigel Farage to a debate on Britain's future in Europe. I did so because an ungenerous, backwards looking politics has emerged in Britain. The politics of blame has found an acceptable face: it wears a big smile and looks like someone you could have a pint with down the pub. So I'm drawing a line in the sand. I am going to defend the tolerant and modern Britain we love, ...
