Here is a young Ming Campbell winning the 220 yards final at the AAA Championships at the White City in 1964. I have heard it suggested that Ming was not the most talented British sprinter of his generation: he just trained harder and tried harder than anyone else. You get a sense of that effort in this photograph. It is the same effort that turned the product a humble home in Glasgow to into a member of the Edinburgh legal establishment who later became an MP and the leader of his party. There is another picture of Ming on the ...
I'm sure nobody ever discusses my Liberal Democrat Voice co-editor Stephen Tall and I down the pub, but if you did, you would reckon that if we were choosing who we thought should be Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor for the ... Continue reading →
This is a reminder that I welcome guest posts on Liberal England. So far 33 have appeared. And as you can see from the list of the 10 most recent guest posts below, I am happy to consider a wide range of subjects. If you would like to write a guest post for Liberal England yourself, please send me an email so we can discuss your idea. How Liberal Democrats can help fight for privacy rights in Europe - Peter BradwellPolitical defections: Storms of protest or signs of political climate change? - Alan Wyburn-PowellTransition Town Market Harborough - Darren WoodiwissBullying ...
On St. Patrick's Day the following letter appears in both the Belfast Telegraph and Newsletter under the headers: "Gay 'marriage' plans: the bill will be millions" and "Gay 'marriage' causing fiasco over legislation." The British Government now realises that same-sex 'marriage' will require a massive rewrite of legislation dating back to 1285. Over 2,000 laws referring to marriage have to be changed at a cost of many millions of pounds and all to support a whim of David Cameron, who is determined to push 'gay marriage' through despite the majority of the population objecting to it, including many gay people. ...
The bees are buzzing around my bonnet today. Earlier I had a bit of a go at Danny Alexander for falling in with the Better Together dourness in the Scottish Referendum campaign. Now, I have Chris Grayling in my sights. ... Continue reading →
The bees are buzzing around my bonnet today. Earlier I had a bit of a go at Danny Alexander for falling in with the Better Together dourness in the Scottish Referendum campaign. Now, I have Chris Grayling in my sights. The Justice Secretary, under the guise of making the prisoners' incentive scheme more "effective" has banned a number of things. The issue being given most prominence is that prisoners can no longer be sent books. The Howard League for Penal Reform's Chief Executive Frances Crook condemned the change at Politics.co.uk: Book banning is in some ways the most despicable and ...
Mon 24th
20:33
Who should represent the Liberal Democrats in the chancellors' TV debate at the next election?
Vince Cable, obviously.
I published the complete and utter list of Lib Dem MPs' first tweets last week, so it seems only fitting to include the latest first tweet – from Taunton MP Jeremy Browne (updating David Penhaligon's famous injunction): If you've got something to say, stick it in a tweet and post it on the twittosphere. — Jeremy Browne (@JeremyBrowneMP) March 24, 2014 [IMG: jeremy browne_Reform_Race_plan_cover] We can expect to hear a lot more from Jeremy in the coming weeks. He'll shortly be publishing a book, Race Plan An authentic liberal plan to get Britain fit for 'The Global Race': The world ...
Congratulations to the volunteers who came along to create an edible plant bed outside Cheadle Medical Centre last week – looks fantastic! The plants are all for the people of Cheadle to harvest, when their established, so give it a bit of time and then drop by to take something to enhance your dinner! [IMG: IF] [IMG: IF] [IMG: IF] [IMG: IF] [IMG: IF] [IMG: IF]
Taking my lead from Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice, here are snapshots of 24 March over the years here on Liberal England: 2013 - Marianne Faithfull sang for us while I wrote about her grandfather's libido-liberating Frigidity Machine. 2012 - I visited the Portland Enclave, which lies off the London Road in Leicester. The picture above is taken from this post. 2011 - A guest post by Ruth Kinna offered a beginner's guide to anarchism. 2010 - Rory Stewart had compared Liberal Democrats to the Taliban. I remarked that I would be more outraged at this if I had ...
Nigel Farage is often heard moaning about the 'EU gravy train'. However, today the Sun reported that he rents a £500 000 luxury apartment in Brussels only to sleep there twice a month. He may have unwittingly provided a very good reason why Britain should leave the EU.
26 June 2013 Boris closed the East Dulwich Police Station. This brought to an end our 10+ years campaign to save it. We stopped Labour Ken and Val Shawcross closing it. But Boris within weeks of promising not to close it and many other police station did the most massive U-turn. The Met Police have used these closures to undertake a massive centralisation programme. We no longer have a dedicated team of 8 Police officers based in East Dulwich sharing cover with a similar team for Village ward. It worked well. Instead they've amalgamated 5 such teams and based them ...
[IMG: Jeremy Browne] I rather like Jeremy Browne's first tweet on joining the social network: If you've got something to say, stick it in a tweet and post it on the twittosphere. — Jeremy Browne (@JeremyBrowneMP) March 24, 2014 He is @JeremyBrowneMP and you can follow all the Lib Dem MPs on Twitter via this list.
George Osborne's announcement that people with defined contribution (money purchase) pensions could take the lot as a lump sum on retirement kills several birds with one stone. First, it most definitely attracts the grey vote because the idea of getting your hands on your whole pension pot on retirement is very appealing. But this also looks like a reaction to mounting evidence, including from the Financial Conduct Authority no less, that annuities are not good value for money. Defined Contribution schemes allow retirees to buy an annuity (your pension) on the open market, but the schemes provide a default annuity ...
Mon 24th
15:50
LibLink: Lynne Featherstone: A long road ahead to stop gender based violence, but we are on the righ...
Lynne Featherstone has been writing for local paper in her constituency about her trip to New York for the UN Commission on the Status of Women and the works she's doing in Government aimed at dealing with the global problem of violence against women and girls: Over the last year, I have spearheaded a new multi-million pound programme to tackle one of the most extreme manifestations of gender-based violence - female genital mutilation (FGM). And because of this solid foundation of work and momentum, this July the prime minister will host a major summit to tackle FGM as well as ...
In February, I wrote to the Minister of Health, Social Services, and Public Safety, Edwin Poots MLA, about the issues raised in the Terrence Higgins Trust Report on HIV and Poverty. This morning I go the below as the response from the Health Improvement Policy Branch on the Minister's behalf.Filed under: HIV, Poverty Tagged: Edwin...
The LGA's five key messages in response to the 2014 budget are as follows: The national housing shortage and lack of jobs for young people are two of the most pressing issues facing the country today. The Chancellor is right to treat these issues in this year's Budget and extra support announced for home buyers [...]
[IMG: Lewes James Page Catherine Bearder Norman Baker] James Page, Tory leader of Lewes District Council until last month, has left the Conservatives and joined the Liberal Democrats. The council now has 19 Conservatives, 19 Lib Dems, 2 Ukip, and an Independent. Cllr Page says: I have become very disillusioned with the Conservative party, and impressed with the approach of the local Lib Dems. The Tory ideology of small state seems to have translated locally to small minds, small ideas and a blind obedience to doctrine and party message. By contrast, the Lib Dems have shown that they are genuinely ...
http://ffrf.org/out/vbillboard/?billboard/6294
[IMG: NHS logo] There's lots of coverage in the news today about how much fraud there is the NHS, complete with Labour calling it a "scandal". Yet poke beneath the numbers and where do they come from? A very simple calculation of what the total level of fraud would be if the NHS suffered from the same amount of fraud as on average other health systems around the world do. That's a decent benchmark to think about – but it also means rather oddly that lots of the news stories are telling us how shocked we should be if fraud ...
Last week it was revealed that Labour-run Haringey Council spent over £3 million of taxpayers' money repairing the High Road West area of Tottenham in 2011 – only to decide to demolish the properties two years later. That's right – In 2013, the Labour council decided they would demolish every one of these properties so Tottenham Hotspur can build 'Wembley Way.' This is, sadly, what people have come to expect of the Labour-run council. Noel Park Estate has been in desperate need of repairs for many years now, and yet the council has refused to invest in the area. Instead, ...
Last week Hertfordshire was allocated £3.6M from the government flood recovery fund. Leader of the Opposition, County Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst, commented: "£3.6 million pounds is a step in the right direction. Now the county must prioritise and spend this wisely as there is a huge amount of work to be done. "Of course, if the local Conservatives had listened to the Liberal Democrats and implemented our budget proposal we would be spending another £9M, which would make a real difference to our highways. There is still a shortfall of funding for the work that needs to be done, and County ...
The best way to show respect for Tony Benn is to continue debating his beliefs and legacy An example In 2009, Richard Curtis released a film called the Bock That Rocked. It centred on the anarchic world of Pirate Radio, the small scale independent and unregulated radio stations that sprung up in the 1960s [...]
The Liberal Democrats and UKIP have reached agreement with two national broadcasters, LBC and the BBC, to host hour-long debates between Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and UKIP Leader Nigel Farage. A radio debate will take place on LBC on Wednesday 26 March from 7-8pm, hosted by Nick Ferrari. A televised debate will then take place on BBC Two on Wednesday 2 April from 7-8pm, hosted by David Dimbleby. Nick Clegg said: "I challenged Nigel Farage to a debate because I wanted the British people to see that there is a very real choice at the ...
Mon 24th
13:20
Danny, please listen to Charles Kennedy before you write about the independence referendum again.
Danny Alexander's article on the Independence Referendum in yesterday's Sunday Times (£) was, for me, a frustrating read. If I'm honest, it was actually like nails being dragged down a blackboard. Full of language like damaging, devastating and divorce, t is absolutely not ... Continue reading →
Mon 24th
13:16Danny, please listen to Charles Kennedy before you write about the Independence Referendum again
[IMG: st Andrews flag saltire scotland Some rights reserved by Fulla T] Danny Alexander's article on the Independence Referendum in yesterday's Sunday Times (£) was, for me, a frustrating read. If I'm honest, it was actually like nails being dragged down a blackboard. Full of language like damaging, devastating and divorce, t is absolutely not what we need at this stage of the campaign. He even brought in the spectre of not being able to sustain the NHS in an independent Scotland. A poll published in yesterday's Scotland on Sunday showed a small but perceptible shift towards Yes. There are ...
Roger Scully reports that the news Wales Bill includes some sensible election law changes: It will "extend Assembly terms permanently from four to five years, making it less likely that Assembly elections will coincide with Westminster parliamentary elections in future." The Bill also intends to "Prohibit 'double jobbing', by preventing Assembly Members from also being MPs" Third, the Bill includes a provision to "Remove the prohibition on candidates in Assembly elections standing in a constituency and on the regional list." Good news, about which you can read more in his post.
Mon 24th
13:04
All Parties can be as radical as they like in their 2015 manifestos. The mad stuff won't get done an...
A bevy of think tanks has written to the Guardian today encouraging Ed Miliband to be more radical in the writing of the coming election manifesto. A right wing thinker (Simon Jenkins) in that same newspaper has suggested that would be madness, if Ed wants to win. I'm not sure it makes all that much difference either way. Because both of these arguments suggest that people will vote according to the policies and the manifestos of the parties standing. And in 2015 I suspect this will be less true than ever. The current polling - especially with the coming together ...
Julian joins forces with comedian Jon Culshaw to support charity appeal Impressionist and comedian, Jon Culshaw teamed up with Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert to support the Great Daffodil Appeal to raise money for cancer care. Jon, award winning member of the Dead Ringers cast, and Julian met up at a Parliamentary event organised by the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity to encourage people to donate and wear one of the charity's daffodil pins. Julian said: "It was good to meet Jon who is a committed supporter of this charity. "Marie Curie Cancer Care carries out excellent and much-needed work across ...
For the past year local campaigners have fought the blind prejudice of the Mayor of Liverpool to try and ensure that the Sefton Park Meadowlands are not built on. That war is not yet lost although several battles along the ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Mansion Only - Some rights reserved by Gerg1967] This story appears under the byline of a "Daily Mail Reporter" which is a bit odd, because I don't think they've let any of them into the Cabinet yet, and certainly not any who oppose the Tories. The reference to "my Cabinet colleagues' kind of gives the game away that it's our Vince who has taken on Boris over the Mansion Tax. Now, there's another debate I'd like to see alongside Nick vs Nigel. Vince vs Boris. One day, maybe.. Anyway, Vince started by pointing out that action was taken in ...
Pension pots can be cashed in and splurged on a few cruises or a Lamborghini rather than used to buy and annuity, says the government, because people can and should be trusted to spend their own money as they wish. Sounds very liberal. But is it their own money? There is massive tax relief on pension contributions. Even for a standard rate taxpayer every £80 contribution is automatically turned into £100 be the government. Higher rate taxpayers have to claim but receive even greater contributions from the public purse (for details see hhtp/www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-pension.htm) As I understand it, if a pension ...
Here's the new film from the Electoral Commission: You can also watch this on YouTube.
[Here is my letter in response to local Labour - a version edited by the local press will be published on Friday] Dear Editor, I wonder if Labour's home-grown candidate for MP would say that her Leader, Ed Miliband, represents Doncaster less well because he wasn't born there? Her letter in last week's Observer exhorts [...]
[IMG: Michael Moore MP with apprentices Cameron Collins and Mark Tully at Mainetti 30 08 13] 49 years ago today, the Liberal Party created a political earthquake in the Borders when David Steel won the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election as the Liberal Democrat History Group remembers: In the winter of 1963-64 a vacancy arose for a Liberal candidate in the much more winnable Scottish Border seat of Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, whose Conservative incumbent, C. E. M. Donaldson, was elderly and ailing. Steel jumped at the chance to move and in January 1964 was adopted as the Liberal candidate. ...
The University of Cambridge will be holding three public exhibitions on the proposals for the University of Cambridge Primary School to be located on the North West Cambridge Development. The public consultation period runs until Friday 9 May 2014. Drop-in sessions that will be open to the public will be held at Gravel Hill Farm, Madingley Rise, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0FU on Saturday 12 April from 10.30-2.30pm; Thursday 24 April from 6.30pm-8.30pm; and Monday 28 April 6.30pm-8.30pm. The University of Cambridge Primary School will be a three-form entry primary school that will provide high quality education to all its ...
See on Scoop.it – What's going down, in London town? Chris Richards's insight: "What if reducing the reliance of Britain on London requires us to significantly increase the size of just one or two other cities? Which cities will they be and how will we help them grow?" See on spatial-economics.blogspot.co.ukFiled under: Uncategorized
Time, I think, to revive that part of the old Friday Five where we looked at what we were writing about on this day in previous years. Here are five posts from March 24th. First up, a little Boris related schadenfreude from 2013: Boris has a right Mair in live BBC interview. For most of the 10 minutes — and perhaps for the first time ever — Boris looked as if he would rather be anywhere else than beneath the glare of the TV lights. This was his reckoning, and he looked winded, lumbering like a past-his-prime former heavyweight champion. ...
Mon 24th
09:15
Spatial Economics Research Centre: How Unbalanced is Infrastructure Spending between London and 'the...
See on Scoop.it – What's going down, in London town? Chris Richards's insight: IPPR North report ignores the significant contribution of the private sector to funding infrastructure projects in London. See on spatial-economics.blogspot.co.ukFiled under: Uncategorized
"Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences," said the great economist John Maynard Keynes, "are usually the slaves of some defunct economist." He meant, of course, the English who are about as bone-headed when it comes to economics as it is possible to be. And sometimes, I must admit, the blindest of the blind when it comes to economics can often be Keynes' fellow party members, the Liberals. I've been wondering about this in parallel to another problem. Because I believe it may also be an explanation for the peculiar parallel between the business ...
Mon 24th
09:03People living in the wealthiest constituencies in and around London contribute more to UK tax revenu...
See on Scoop.it – What's going down, in London town? People living in the wealthiest constituencies in and around London contribute the most to UK tax revenue Chris Richards's insight: "HMRC revealed that individuals paid £156bn in tax in 2011-12, with the UK's 10 richest constituencies contributing £13.8bn - about 9%. The most tax was ... Continue reading →
Comment: Why has Grayling banned prisoners being sent books? (tags: ) Eyes down . . . how Osborne dodged blame for bingo gaffe (tags: ) The Lib Dems are asserting themselves, as welcome measures in this week's Budget demonstrate (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The Budget has confirmed victory for the Liberal Democrats in our campaign to deliver an £800 tax cut for people on low and middle incomes. Cutting income tax by £700 - by raising the tax-free allowance to £10,000 - was the top priority on the front page of the Liberal Democrat manifesto. That comes into effect next month and the Budget today has confirmed that the Liberal Democrats have now been able to go even further. The tax-free threshold will rise to £10,500 next year, giving a tax cut of £800 for 25m working people since 2010. Liberal Democrat policy ...
[IMG: Improvements at junction of Lancaster and Stapleton Hall Roads] Over the last few years we received many complaints about speeding on Lancaster Road with too many cars and vans using the road as a cut through. In particular, many families walking to St Aidan's primary don't like the junction with Stapleton Hall Road where the pavements are very narrow. Therefore, I (and the other Lib Dem councillors Katherine and Ed) have been pressing Haringey Council to make the road safer for local families. Over the last few years we have been successful in persuading the Council to find funding ...
DUSA is having a further Wednesday Cleanup this Wednesday to pick up litter from campus. Volunteers are gathering at the Campus Green area in front of the Union. There is free soup provided for the people participating in the litter picking up. Prizes for the most collected litter and the most unusual object which is found during the day. Litter bags are provided. Just turn up if you can help. The prizes of these cleanup are provided by DUSA and Estates and Buildings. They include tickets to The Union on the Saturday of the week. If you wish, you can ...
Welcome to the latest in my occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today – a study by Craig Johnson into the health of Liberal Democrat local organisation in the party's key Westminster seats. His overall findings contains some important positive signs for the party: [IMG: Liberal Democrat badge. Photo courtesy of Paul Walter, Newbury - some rights reserved] Local constituency party accounting and membership data [is used to] demonstrate how the Liberal Democrats' strongest local associations have been affected since their national party's entry into coalition government in 2010. While a fall in membership is common in most ...
I wrote a piece for The New Statesman last week arguing the case that after the importance of the pensions changes in the budget (and the fact he proposed the motion on the economy at the last Autumn Conference), Steve Webb must be in the frame for the Shadow Chancellor's job for the General Election Campaign. Stephen Tall was kind enough to reference it on both his own blog and Lib Dem Voice on Saturday when making how own case that Vince Cable should get the job. And I would agree that there is a strong case for Vince; indeed ...
Barring inconsistent work by one examiner, the WJEC's Internal Review into this January's GCSE English Language Unit 1 and 2 results found that papers were marked both accurately and consistently. Where that has not been the case, it is absolutely right for WJEC to re-mark that particular examiner's work. The ball is now firmly in the Welsh Labour Government's court. It is clear that WJEC believe that examiners worked within the marking scheme that was agreed with the Welsh Labour Government. Yet, despite promises from the Government that pupils would not be disadvantaged by the new system, both pupils and ...
With Labour apparently shocked into silence on the budget, the Telegraph nails precisely why the Liberal Democrats should be proud of their influence on government. In an interview with Danny Alexander they underline how the central policy behind the budget came from the Liberal Democrats: Conservatives often praise Nick Clegg's closest ally as a natural Tory. His Lib Dem colleagues sometimes complain that he has gone native and become Mr Osborne's useful idiot, helping to implement Tory policies. "If I let insults and jibes bother me I'd have long since abandoned this office," he laughs. He replies that the number ...
