Wed 9th
22:31

London River (1940)

Thanks to Landscapism for tweeting the link to this short film the other day.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
Wed 9th
22:19

Six of the Best 431

Liberal Democrat MPs have tabled an early day motion in parliament lodging their protest against the ban on sending books to prisoners, reports Ian Dunt on politics.co.uk. On the LSE's British Politics and Policy blog, Peter Sloman asks whether the Lib Dems' recent history should be seen as a revival of classical liberalism, a reflection of neoliberal influences or simply a recalibration of the party's existing thought. "The British government is making it easier for those in power to break the law - and it's using a fantasy about left-wing pressure groups to justify it." Alex Stevenson dissects the coalition's ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

In software: Public urged to reset all passwords – due to the critical two-year old flaw in OpenSSL. One of the many unsubstantiated claims surrounding open source approaches to software development is that they are inherently less prone to errors than closed source development because there are more eyes able to inspect the underlying code. It's an irrational claim, as it's not the number of eyes that matter, but the quality of the brain(s) behind them and whether they're looking in the first place. It's not the case that any particular software business model has a monopoly on talent, so ...

[IMG: Eton college sign. Photo by Paul Walter] Over the last couple of days, discussion of Jeremy Browne's new book has caused, it's fair to say, a bit of controversy on this site. Race Plan, contains ideas which make some liberals dance with joy and others wince. We previewed it yesterday and Nick Thornsby has produced an extremely well written review. You might well disagree with it, but he presents his arguments knowledgeably and respectfully. I have not read this book. I probably will, but it'll take a wee while before it gets anywhere near the top of my "must ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

The Friends of Garston Park are holding their AGM later this month. It's on 25th April at 6 30pm at Garston Leisure Centre. We usually use the café area to meet as it's closed then. Members should get an e mail or note to alert them but this is also a good chance for people who've not been before to come along and find out more. Recent Friends projects include tree planting, the art project, litter picks and meetings with Council officers about future plans. The Friends have also adopted some of the planters in L19 and are maintaining them ...

Posted by Paula Keaveney on Paula Keaveney - Lib Dem Campaigner

[IMG: immigration] The Immigration Bill was back in the Lords this Monday where the Government suffered two defeats. The first was to overturn the power of the Home Secretary to deprive terror suspects who had acquired British citizenship (note, suspects, not anybody who has been convicted of anything) of that citizenship even if so doing would render them stateless. Of the 242 peers supporting Lord Pannick's amendment, 23 of them were Liberal Democrats. And their ranks included more than the usual Awkward Squad. Bob Maclennan and Paul Tyler do not often cause whips to lose sleep, yet they voted against ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

This is an interesting table about comparative food poverty between countries. It does not allow us to be complacent about what is an important issue, but it does argue a different case to the conventional narrative:

Posted by John Hemming on John Hemming's Web Log

[IMG: Lynne Featherstone] This week, International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone is attending the UN Commission on Population and Development. She has written for the Huffington Post about how crucial it is to make sure that women have the choice about when to have children by having access to contraception, potentially saving 800 lives every day: Globally there are 222million women who wish to space or delay the timing of births, but do not have access to modern forms of contraception. This has real and devastating consequences on their lives. In 2010, 800 women a day died from causes related to ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice

I was on my way to attempt to register as a civilian living in Gibraltar when I bumped into one of the local MEPs – Sir Graham Watson. Pleased as punch I was to be able I say proudly I am a Liberal Democrat. Now how do I register to vote for you?Filed under: Uncategorized

Posted by Michael Carchrie Campbell on HIV Blogger: living positively

Climate Action Network Europe rates MEPs on their 2009-2014 voting records on climate and energy policies: Very Good100%  Brian SIMPSON (LP) 100%  Caroline LUCAS* (GP) 100%  David MARTIN (LP) 100%  Derek VAUGHAN (LP) 100%  Martina ANDERSON* (SF) 100%  Peter SKINNER (LP) 90%  Andrew DUFF (LDP) 90%  Catherine STIHLER (LP) 90%  Jill EVANS (PC-PoW) 90%  Linda McAVAN (LP) 90%  Mary HONEYBALL (LP) 90%  Richard HOWITT (LP) 89%  Keith TAYLOR* (GP) 80%  Arlene McCARTHY (LP) 80%  Baroness Sarah LUDFORD (LDP) 80%  Catherine BEARDER (LDP) 80%  ...

Posted by Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats
YouGov

What is the postal vote and why is it a priority? The 'postal vote' is the votes of people who have opted to vote by post in an election. Any elector can choose to register for a postal vote - either permanently or for a specific election. (There was a change in the law in 2001 [...]

[IMG: Danny Alexander by Paul Walter] Danny Alexander gave a big speech at Bloomberg this morning. Interestingly, he mentioned several times that he was from the Highlands and credited his upbringing in a small community with forming his commitment to fairness and managing resources wisely. It was a wide-ranging speech, which looked back at the almost four years since he entered the Treasury. He said that some of the detail of getting to grips with the economic crisis would have to wait for his memoirs which he hoped would be "some way off". His main theme was that the Liberal ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: Katherine and Ben give the thumbs down to Haringey's Magic Roundabout] A week too late for April Fools Day, Haringey Council have decided to rewrite the Highway Code and create a wrong-way roundabout. The bungling Labour-run Council have created this 'Magic Roundabout' on the junction of Stapleton Hall Road and Oakfield Road. The road markings encourage confused road users to navigate in an anti-clockwise direction rather than the usual clockwise. Thankfully, the council has realised its error and removed the dangerously-wrong road markings. However, this is just one example of recent mistakes, which makes you wonder if Haringey Council ...

Posted by Richard on Richard Wilson

I have, as you may have noticed, been thinking about food waste quite a lot lately. And one of the side effects of Ros's inquiry into the subject is that we have become rather more conscious of what we consume. Now I'm not going to get carried away and suggest that we have reduced our food waste by some dramatic percentage, or that everyone could and should do more, but it is interesting to see how our thought processes have changed. Our fridge doesn't have as much stuff in it - during the week I can shop as I need ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

So, Maria's gone. Good news. I'm not somebody who's signed a petition to get her sacked, or who defends her position - for me it's quite simple, if it's been proven that you've done something wrong, you probably need to go and not cause an almost week long scandal. For me though, Maria isn't the issue. For me, the issue is the new Maria Miller. Splitting her roles into two jobs, Sajid Javid will now pick up business from Culture, Media and Sport while Nicky Morgan MP will take his old job at the Treasury whilst also becoming Minister for ...

Posted by Sam Phripp on So Sam said...

Over on The Guardian there is a piece about how election law still hasn't been properly updated to handle the internet age. Read down into the piece and you'll find this: [IMG: Lib Dem website] The Electoral Commission is not an official regulator for political campaigning and does not appear overly concerned about the spread of unattributed online political adverts, although it has been recommending for the last 10 years that the law is updated to cover internet campaigning. Mark Pack, a former head of digital for the Lib Dems and communications expert at Blue Rubicon, said: "It's been over ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Here's a recent blog about my work as a minister in the Department for International Development, also available on the Huffington Post. Twenty years ago the world took an important step in agreeing that population is not just about measuring the numbers of people in the world, it is about the quality of lives of individuals and that every person counts. At the heart of this agreement was the recognition that gender equality should be a global priority, and that making decisions over your own body is a human right. Significantly this included the rights of women and girls to ...

Posted by Lynne Featherstone on Lynne Featherstone » Blog

[IMG: Jeremy Browne - Some rights reserved by Foreign and Commonwealth Office] Jeremy Browne spent just over three years as a government minister following the formation of the coalition in 2010, first in the Foreign Office, where his responsibilities included Britain's relations with countries in Pacific Asia and Latin America, and latterly in the Home Office. However, reading his new book, Race Plan: An authentic liberal plan to get Britain fit for 'The Global Race', it does not take long to discover which of these offices had the biggest influence on his political outlook. Because while the detail of the ...

Posted by Nick Thornsby on Liberal Democrat Voice

Financial regulators have to be adept at shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted - and especially so in England, where decades are usually required to persuade politicians that the horse has left the stable at all. Minute examination of its straw continues for some time while everyone else can see the animal rampaging round outside, seeking whom it will devour. The problem is that the English, as I may have mentioned before - and it is the English not the Scots - are a deeply conservative breed when it comes to money. They also have a blind ...

Posted by David Boyle on The Real Blog

Further to my article last month giving an update about the need for a replacement bus shelter on the north side of Blackness Road, just east of the Glenagnes Road junction and near to the West End Schools' Campus, I am now pleased to be able to report the commencement of work on the replacement shelter. This has been something of a saga as some sixteen months ago, a vehicle badly damaged the previous shelter and I have been raising the need for a replacement shelter with the City Council ever since. Whilst accepting that this replacement shelter proved to ...

eUKhost

Last week I was one of the objectors who spoke against plans to extract quarter of a million tonnes of coal from Birklands, in the neighbouring ward of Lamesley. A late change in the application saw the route for the lorries change to the A6076 (Stanley Road) and A692 (the main road through the villages in the south of my ward). The route also went through Lobley Hill and on to the A1. The

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

I spent last Sunday visiting our teams in Hastings and Worthing to give them a hand with Connect. The Hastings team, along with a few near neighbours, had asked for an introductory session, and in Worthing our team wanted help preparing for polling day. We covered quite a lot of ground in both places, but [...]

[IMG: Värtaverket] THERE is justified concern over the growing reliance on food banks in the UK and across the European Union. We should consider it as a symptom of a broken food system which requires a complete overhaul. We need a sustainable food policy across the EU, where often prosperous farmers will get €350bn over the next seven years, while the most deprived get a meagre €3.5bn. On March 30, a further report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that the impacts of global warming are likely to be "severe, pervasive and irreversible". Scientists and officials meeting ...

Posted by Edward McMillan-Scott MEP on Liberal Democrat Voice

Originally posted on The Dish: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán won re-election on Sunday in a vote widely criticized as unfair. Bershidsky argues Hungary may be the EU's only dictatorship: Orban has a lot in common with Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has pushed through constitutional changes outlawing gay marriage and proclaiming Christianity's...

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

With 7 weeks to go to polling day things are really hotting up. Lighter evenings, milder weather and the Clegg/Farage debates have kickstarted campaigning from all parties. Things to do this week Prioritise getting existing supporters onto postal votes Prioritise communicating with existing postal voters Euro election address work – many areas will need to do [...]

[IMG: Joseph Rowntree Foundation] Three reports published today on the impacts of the Coalition Government's welfare reforms should concern anyone who is interested in creating a fairer society. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation publishes two reports on wider welfare reform in general and the Bedroom Tax in particular which should inform those who are responsible for the Liberal Democrat manifesto as well as our ministers. On the Bedroom Tax, we know that Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander secured extra funds for Councils to issue in discretionary housing payments to mitigate its effects, but more needs to be done. Last week, Tim ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Friends of Chase Park in Whickham invited me to bring some of my animals to their first Easter fair which was held on Saturday 5th April. Bill Quay Community Farm was invited as well and we shared the "animal" gazebo together. BQF brought rabbits and Welsh Harlequin ducklings (I have some eggs of this breed which I bought from BQF last month in my incubator which are due to hatch next week). I

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

Post Office Counters Ltd has opened a consultation on moving Gatley Post Officer at 185 Gatley Road into the newsagents at 187 Gatley Road. It looks like the vast majority of services will remain, with a small number that you'll have to go to Cheadle for. As the Newsagent's opening hours are much longer than the current Post Office, those would extend. We understand that David, our Gatley Postmaster, will be retiring and Sharon Matthews, who currently works at the Post Office, would move with it if the plan goes ahead. Full details are in the letter below, which Mark ...

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith Holloway, Iain Roberts & Pam King

Jessie J: 'Being bisexual was a phase' - *headesk headdesk headdesk* Way to give ammunition to the bi-erasure types, Jessie. Thanks for that. (tags: ) Can Hemp Really Save the World? (tags: ) Computers take orders at McDonald's - any menial jobs LEFT soon? Time for citizen's income, IMHO (tags: ) Menstruation: What is the evolutionary or biological purpose of having periods? Genuinely fascinating. (tags: ) I Seriously Doubt Kate Mulgrew Believes the Sun Revolves Around the Earth | Tor.com (tags: ) Why I'm not raising my pitch-fork in jubilant celebration at Maria Miller's resignation (tags: ) Five women denied ...

Wed 9th
09:55

The power of video

"Show Me Something" An Infographic Exploration of Video Engagement, April 2014 from Shutterstock on Vimeo. All comScore data featured in this video is from Video Metrix, January 2014 and is for the USA.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

All the papers today cover the criticism by the House of Commons Public Administration Committee that we cannot rely on police statistics. The Western Mail says that the report, Caught Red-handed: Why We Can't Count on Police Recorded Crime Statistics, argues there is "strong evidence" that crime is under-recorded and warns the "attitudes and behaviour" behind the problem are now "ingrained": The committee is concerned there is a particular problem about under-recording "sexual crimes such as rape in many police areas." This was attributed to "lax compliance with the agreed national standard of victim-focussed crime recording". The MPs are alarmed ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Maria Miller has resigned as the Coalition's culture secretary. The reaction of most people will probably be the same as Labour MP John Mann, whose complaint triggered her downfall: "about time". Not me. The Independent's John Rentoul summarised it very well in his blog-post yesterday, In Partial Defence of Maria Miller: I think Miller probably made an honest mistake in failing to adjust her claims when her mortgage payments went down, which she compounded by her truculence when she was investigated by Kathryn Hudson, the Parliamentary Commissioner. In a sane world, a contrite apology, a repayment and an additional fine ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

[IMG: Rt Hon Maria Miller MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport] The writing was on the wall for Maria Miller in the 33rd second after she began her grudging apology last Thursday. Even if she had shown the required amount of contrition, the very fact that a system which allowed a committee of MPs to water down the Standards Commissioner's judgement looks, even if it isn't, motivated by self interest, by the privileged protecting their own. At no point did she, or David Cameron, show any signs of "getting it", of showing any understanding why the original ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

With thanks to the Tay Road Bridge Manager, here is the monthly update on the Dundee City Waterfront Development works and how this has impacted on traffic on the bridge: Contract 3 - Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM) Progress March 2014 There have been no major issues affecting traffic accessing and exiting the bridge despite Customs House on ramp being reduced to one lane for the month of March Road surfacing and white lines to rampsInstallation of parapetsInstallation of expansion jointsPreparation for relocation of traffic control barriers, lights and warning wig-wags on plaza area Planned Works - April 2014 Completion of ...

Local Liberal Democrat campaigner and candidate for the Clarence ward, Gerard McHale, has welcomed the District Council's commitment to completing the refurbishment of the Fleetville Recreational play area by the end of December 2014. "Listening to the concerns of local residents over the failure to complete the work in 2013, I asked Cllr White, to raise the issue with the council and I was delighted that having secured funding in March, we were able to get a commitment to commencing and finishing the work by December 2014." "I would like to thank local residents for engaging with us on this ...

Posted by chriswhite on Chris White

A brief review. I was delighted to discover that I could download this book from Amazon.ca the day it was published in the UK. This was quite an achievement for a UK publisher. Normally I have to wait several months for British books to appear on the Canadian site. Jeremy Browne has interesting things to [...]

Posted by Mira on Mira's Picture

Scottish Secretary, Alistair Carmichael, made the positive case for the UK family when he addressed the Welsh Liberal Democrats at their spring conference in Newport last Saturday He also challenged the SNP to stop seeking other rifts in the UK following the Deputy First Minister's recent speech in Wales where she "lectured people there on why they should usher Scotland towards the UK's exit door." Mr Carmichael said: "Scottish Nationalists like to attack UK government ministers when they speak in Scotland, accusing them of "flying in and out". Despite the fact that those ministers are from one of Scotland's two ...

Posted by Freedom Central on Freedom Central

South Cambridgeshire has finally approved the draft Local Plan at a Special Council meeting which demonstrated that there are elements of the North Korean system of government alive and well in our own. The Extraordinary Council meeting on 13 March was, for its kind, quite exciting. Two petitioners argued strongly against the proposals for Bourn Airfield and Waterbeach. The Chairman made a controversial decision to suspend standing orders which only allow one contribution per member (good!) but only to allow three contributions per member one on each of the three parts of the discussion (bad). We had tried to propose ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on Bar Hill

There is little doubt that IDS's pet project - welfare reform - is having a significant impact on the lives of some of the most disadvantaged members of our society. And for every case where we might conclude that impact is positive, it would appear there is a substantial pile of cases where the impact is negative. The Work and Pensions Select Committee made some pointed remarks about the emerging picture last week, including offering recommendations on mechanisms for mitigating some of the worst effects. It will be a while before we see the official DWP response. Today the Joseph ...

Posted by admin on Alex's Archives