The Ealing Liberal Democrats launched their local election manifesto today. They are the effective opposition in Ealing, given that they are the only party who has costed policies to deal with the key local issues that residents are concerned about. In Ealing we have a growing membership Ealing Council has been selling off our day centres, left our streets and parks dirty and charged for collecting our garden waste. The Liberal Democrats are the only party who have costed policies. We will be tough as nails with contractors who are providing a poor service and we will freeze Council Tax ...
Just a quick reminder that tomorrow night at 7pm BBC2 will be hosting a debate featuring Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage on Europe. The debate is available online via the BBC website; http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/tv/bbc_two_england/watchlive Whilst the LBC broadcast was the first such clash between the two party leaders I think a television camera will lead to a very different event.
GENERAL ELECTION aka PATHE ELECTION FORUM You can view the clip hereThough they cut it badly hiding the fact the Sinclair was speaking on behalf of the Liberal Party the BBC News tonight had a clip from the 1945 election. Sinclair, unlike Osborne, was using Liberal MP William Beveridge's definition of full employment in a free society. You don't get PPB like this one today when the Party Leader declaims as if he is addressing and open air meeting
Here are the five posts on this blog that recorded the most hits between January and March 2014: Uncertain terrain: Issues and challenges facing housing associations (11th May 2013) Why is Owen Jones so annoying? (4th July 2013) My top ten blogs 2013 (29th Dec 2013) A voyage of rediscovery (4th Jan) Vince on "social housing" (30th Jan) The top two posts during the quarter were published last year. They both featured in my top ten posts of 2013, and they continue to attract plenty of hits. Indeed, they are now my two most popular posts of all time. Other ...
Scottish Liberal Andrew Page has doubly inspired me to return to my occasional series of Liberal Mondays quotations. Last week he wrote a post championing a very different political ideology* to my own Liberalism, but with a great line from Roy Jenkins, one of his political heroes, whose inspiring call for individual freedom is worth sharing: "Let us be on the side of those who want people to be free to live their own lives, to make their own mistakes, and on the side of experiment and brightness... of fuller lives and greater freedom." Roy Jenkins Freedom via Andrew Page ...
The 2014 Budget came amidst some promising economic news. Economic growth is the strongest in the European Union and one of the most impressive in the world. Inflation is down to 1.7% – the lowest level in five years. UK income inequality is at its lowest level since 1986. In Bristol West, unemployment was down 11.4% [...]
A report for the Guardian has shown that in many parts of the country, some of the poorest residents are facing having to pay council tax for the first time. Here in Cornwall - thanks to the Liberal Democrats being part of the administration - the reverse is happening and people who genuinely cannot afford to pay are being taken out of the council tax system. A year ago, the government devolved responsibility for council tax benefit to local authorities. The new system - known as council tax support - needed to be run with 10% less money. This meant ...
The first and second wives of Prince Charles photographed together at Ludlow races in 1980.
Various Conservative councillors and hangers-on appear to be getting very hot under the collar about changes to the discretionary rate relief policy in Cornwall which mean that worthy organisations like charities, foodbanks and tourist information centres are being charged rates. What they seem to forget is that the new policy was put in place during the short time that Cllr Fiona Ferguson (now Tory Group Leader) was in charge of this subject as a member of the cabinet in 2012/13. As ever, the Conservatives are bleating, but they aren't making any proposals for what they would do instead. Tweet
It was results time last Tuesday morning when I visited the Royal Victoria Hospital's GUM clinic for possibly the last time. Since diagnosis my CD4 count has been rather on the low side, on diagnosis, it was 100, and has dropped to 80, before climbing up to above 200. Last Tuesday morning I got told that...
Like everybody else, I have no idea what will happen at the next general election. As a Lib Dem, and therefore congenitally optimistic, I believe the party will do a great deal better than most commentators expect. I realise this is wishful thinking, but it is at least what usually happens. Looking back on these peculiar years when the Lib Dems were so unexpectedly in government, three things occur to me. One is that it has been a traumatic experience for the party as a whole, managing to hold together in the face of intense pressure, and doing so rather ...
[IMG: chris_huhne] Chris Huhne's weekly column for The Guardian is a must-read for me. Mainly because his writing is just as you'd expect: not afraid to put some stick about (yeah, yeah: he takes no prisoners) but there's plenty of sharp intelligence too. And there's a pretty hefty dollop of optimism this week, too, as he looks at the polls for evidence of a Lib Dem revival: There was also a straw in the wind pointing to happier times: YouGov just found more people saying they would vote Lib Dem in the European elections in May than in the general ...
BBC News reports that river dredging has begun on the Somerset Levels as part of a package of measures aimed at preventing a repeat of the winter floods. The rivers being dredged are the Parrett and the Tone. With apologies to Disgruntled Radical for borrowing his pun. He can use my mallard imaginaire one day.
Wandering the backstreets of Melton Mowbray I was taken with this old shop, which is in the process of being converted into someone's house. What I didn't realise when I took the photo was that I was standing right beside what had been the course of the Oakham Canal.
The United States did not save black people; black people saved the United States of America. With that task complete, our "ally" proceeded to repay its debt to its black citizens by pretending they did not exist. Ta-Nehisi Coates has written one of the most powerful essays on American history, and the black experience within it, that I have ever read. I hesitated about including the words "and the black experience within it" because, at its core, it runs against the spirit of the truths that Coates writes. American history is the black experience; without slavery there is no America; ...
Just when I 'agreed with Nick Clegg' last week in the EU debate; he goes and ruins it by again proving his obsequious toadying to his Tory Masters by defending the indefensible policy of book banning in prisons. To quote: " This is about a very operational decision but we make sure packages are not used to circumvent the rules of the prison estate and that is evenly applied." He reduces what Geoffrey Robertson QC, renowned Human Rights Lawyer, says is a basic right and could be in breach of the 1688 Bill of Rights, to 'operational' decisions. So it ...
It has just been announced that the Friends of Magdalen Green's Roseangle Playpark Campaign has been awarded £62 252 from the Scottish Government's Active Places Fund. This substantial award, added to funding already secured, including £10 000 from Dundee City Council, will ensure that the much-needed improvements at the playpark can become a reality. The commitment and hard work by the campaign - and Sharon Dickie and Alice La Rooy in particular - has been superb and this latest funding success is great news for the whole community.
I know everyone's done one of these already, but I thought I'd give it a go... On the whole, I thought Nick Clegg did a great job against Nigel Farage – but then, that's because I'm someone who tries to ... Continue reading →
Mon 31st
14:57
Michael Moore MP's Road to the Referendum... A Vote for the United Kingdom: A positive Choice
[IMG: IMG_2186] Making a positive choice for the United Kingdom in the vote on Scotland's future is as much a matter of the heart as well as the head. Recently, those involved in the argument for Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom have begun to argue more assertively that a vote for the UK is the positive choice. We have just over five months to decide whether we stay in the United Kingdom family or go it alone. Five months to choose between remaining part of this four-nation partnership that we have built together or to break away and ...
Many of us profess to object to campaigns characterised by negativity, but usually expressions of such objection are to be found when our own "side"is under attack. In recent months, partly but not exclusively due to reflecting on the Scottish independence debate, I have come to question whether negative campaigns are actually as much of an affront to democracy as I've historically believed - and whether negativity can actually achieve positive results in the longer term. Indeed, the tendency towards "positive" messages seems to fly in the face of human nature. Or, at the very least, the "British" nature - ...
[IMG: Nigel Farage MEP] Most Liberals would have been choking into their Corn Flakes this morning upon reading that Vladimir Putin, who apparently has designs on Finland, is the object of Nigel Farage's admiration. I just think it is utterly grotesque that Nigel Farage apparently admires – and that was the question to him, 'Who do you admire?' – admires someone, Vladimir Putin, who has been the chief sponsor and protector of one of the most brutal dictators on the face of the planet, President Assad, who has blocked at every single turn in the United Nations any attempt by ...
That's something interesting I didn't know before. Download More information along similar lines is available from the Government's Scottish Referendum web pages.
[IMG: Autumn 2012 conference - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] Sue Doughty and Gareth Epps discuss the issues. Sue: During the consultation at conference and before conference there were many positive reasons to support this. For example, younger members who may not have a permanent address find it difficult to maintain links with a local party and so don't get elected as voting reps and sadly some parties didn't notify HQ of their voting reps. Although conference can be expensive the work by Federal Conference Committee with York Local Party meant that there was a range of cheap accommodation ...
Labour has re-announced a policy to cut tuition fees to £6,000. Last time they did this, Tim Leunig an economist at Centre Forum showed just who the beneficiaries would be: Since no student has to pay upfront under either system, the proposal makes no student better off or worse off while they are studying. Over half [...]
Forty years ago this week the Heath government inflicted a reform of local government upon us. To commemorate this anniversary BBC Sunday Politics NW did a piece including contributions from our MP John Pugh and me. Jim Hancock, the NW's premiere political commentator, has written arguing that there is still unfinished business for the NW. Southport got a rotten deal out of local government reorganisation in the 1970's. In truth none of the options on offer back then were 'Southport friendly'.( Well, I say that but had Heath not rejected the 1969 Redcliff Maud proposals I would not have been ...
h/t @caronlindsay
[IMG: Willie Rennie speaking at Lib Dem Spring conference, Liverpool 2008] Willie Rennie's crucial final leader's speech before the independence referendum highlighted the party's achievements in UK Government – 8 words, Taxes down, pensions up, new jobs, more childcare. He also highlighted his team's contribution in the Scottish Parliament, pressing the SNP government over 18 months until they expanded childcare for 2-4 year olds and fighting against the "wrecking ball" being taken to the justice system. He announced that the party would be putting down amendments aimed at properly regulating stop and search to the Criminal Justice Bill being debated ...
Local Produce for sale at the Allerton Road farmer's market Over the past few days I have pondering the biggest question which never seems to be asked or answered in Liverpool, "What sort of city do we want to live ... Continue reading →
I popped into The Atkinson today after being alerted that they had new stock. The information/ticket office doubles as Tourist Information and they have always had old railway posters and other Southport memorabilia. It was good to see they had lots of postcards, mugs etc of some of the art works in the gallery -pride of place was clearly given to Lilith by John Collier. What caught my eye was a black and white notelet of a Prime Ministerial visit to Southport allegedly in 1910. I am just re-reading Roy Jenkin's biography of Asquith( the Prime Minister he 'truly loved' ...
Owen Jones has written a reasonable article about domestic violence. I'm not completely in line with his politics, however the facts he quotes are correct, and it's definitely important comment about an issue affecting women. But it's distinctly annoying that EVERY time a commentator talks about this it's always attacked by people (usually men) saying "but what about the menz". I'd like to argue this is pathological. As in mal-adaptive behaviour. I'm not sure what people's aim is here when they attack any domestic violence campaign with questions about why people don't talk about men. Just imagine for a minute ...
How do you still sell physical products in a digital age? For some firms it's no problem. Digital toilet paper after all is no substitute for the physical stuff. For many, however, it's a big question, often forcing them into finding different ways of making money – with newspapers and music being the classic examples. It's a challenge for book publishers too, as although the idea of paying for a book has neatly moved from the physical to the digital world – giving the industry a big advantage compared to sectors where the online world means widespread expectation of free ...
[IMG: Protest against a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage] It was a struggle to stay awake till midnight on Friday night because I'd been up at stupid o'clock to travel to Scottish Liberal Democrat conference. But I did, just to mark that very special moment when same sex marriages started to happen. In the morning, the scenes of happiness on the television news had me blubbing. Both Nick Clegg and Lynne Featherstone talked over the weekend about how this isn't just an important thing for the couples themselves. In his speech to Scottish Conference on Friday, Nick told this ...
Losing an hour of sleep over the weekend is made much more bearable by the thought of lighter evenings and more time for gardening. This is such a lovely time of year, Spring flowers, birdsong and trees bursting into bud, not to mention the return of warmer weather, even if there was the odd sleet, snow and hailstorm last week. Wallflowers are starting to bud as the daffodils, violas, violets and primula flower. The aquilegia and nigella need thinning. The not-quite-lawn is a mix of flowers and grass including violet, primula, daisy and clover. I am trying to nurse the ...
With equal marriage about to be a reality there have been quiet few reminiscences in the media about the journey from pre Wolfenden days to the success of Lynne Featherstone's Bill. Rev Richard Coles can still be heard on iplayer fronting a Radio 4 program Gay Rights: Tying the Knot and Mathew Parris writing in The Times about his plotting 25 years ago along with Ian Mc Kellan and Peter Mandelson to advance the cause. I want to go back before that -not as far as the Wolfenden Report or Roy Jenkins 1967 legislation- but to the Winter Garden's in ...
Dynasty and Triangle star Kate O'Mara dies aged 74 - ITV News R.I.P. The Rani :( (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: rally carmichael] Carmichael went all Pythonesque as part of the party's "sunshine strategy" on Saturday at Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference in Aberdeen. "What has the UK ever done for us?", he asked, apart from providing peace, prosperity and a whole great big list of other good things that we can't do without. He also spoke about the importance of supporting business to create jobs and prosperity in our communities. Here is his speech in full: It is good to be back here in Aberdeen. Aberdeen – the Granite City, the oil and gas capital of Europe, home of Scotland's ...
You can download the booking form here.
Another, um, interesting US political advert: Hat-tip: Carl Minns
A very welcome article in the Observer reveals that Ministers are due to announce a crackdown on nuisance phone calls by firms and charities this week, with some rogue companies set to face fines worth many hundreds of thousands of pounds. The paper says that Maria Miller, the culture secretary, wants to lower the threshold for taking action against companies, which are currently liable only if it can be proved that their calling has caused "substantial damage or distress": The government, on the advice of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the regulator responsible for unsolicited marketing calls, wants action to ...
The BBC report that a Wales Office Minister has said that more powers and assembly members are needed to ensure the Welsh government is held properly to account. Baroness Jenny Randerson also said the model of Welsh devolution needs to be rewritten as it is "overly complex": Speaking to BBC Wales before her speech at the Maldron Hotel on Thursday evening, Baroness Randerson said she and the Liberal Democrat party "is very broadly supportive of the Silk recommendations" and "keen to see them implemented". The former Liberal Democrat AM believes more politicians in Cardiff Bay will improve government scrutiny. "I ...
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 ...
