[IMG: Clegg Speech 34] ...in ten years time Well, that got you, didn't it? Seriously, God only knows why people start ********* about with websites to petition against the party leader before the polls have closed. God only knows why people start signing petitions before even the votes have been counted. And God only knows why, if people have been working hard, they don't just rest and enjoy life for a long weekend. Nick Clegg is a very good leader of our party. He ran a very good campaign. I totally understand arguments against him. I was against him in ...
Read more about today's winner, to be found in Station Road, Market Bosworth, in this Leicester Mercury article.
There are many sadnesses at the current plight of the Liberal Democrats. Wiped out in much of urban Britain, tomorrow's results threaten to be even worse than yesterday's. Many hardworking councillors have lost seats through no fault of their own. Optimists as Liberals are, it is particularly hard now. It is both ridiculous and simplistic to think, though, that the current woes of the Liberal Democrats boil down to a binary choice of whether to replace Nick Clegg as leader or not. It is little better on its own than the crass messages produced by Lib Dem HQ and Malcolm ...
Ah! Those were the days. I used to hear this when I was a teenager working at the Canal Forge in Bude. When we heard this on our little MW/LW transistor, we knew it was time to lock up (or is my mind making this up? I don't know). Locking up took a long time. There were so many doors. It was a real forge with those double swingy doors for horses all over the place. The soot from the old fire was still in place and the old anvil was still there. I remember walking into it after it ...
Latest funding news from Stockport Council – if you're a voluntary, community, charity or sporting organisation looking for money or help in Stockport then this an excellent place to start.
Rafael Behr has written an intelligent analysis of the many challenges facing Ukip. It contains this telling passage: A big problem is finding candidates who have enough character to stand out in a campaign, thus easing the pressure on Farage to be constantly front-of-house, and without looking creepy or betraying views that make wavering supporters flinch. A very senior figure in Ukip once complained to me that it attracted "people who have failed at everything else in life, are feeling angry about it and are looking for someone to blame".
Last night, I received an e-mail from a group calling itself "Lib Dems 4 Change", asking for my support for a letter calling upon Nick Clegg to resign as Party Leader. Apart from the interesting notion of "Lib Dems 4 the Status Quo", I found myself recalling that we have been here before. Indeed, it is hard to remember that, not two years ago, I wrote about similar calls for Clegg to go, asking two questions, against which I now measure the latest attempt to defenestrate an unpopular leader;what are you changing the Leader for?, and;so, if not Nick, then ...
George Potter explains, on Liberal Democrat Voice, why he has signed the LibDems4Change petition - and sets off a long comments thread. Evidence into Practice is wary of schools' new enthusiasm for modifying children's character. "Today we must act to prevent an ugly America. For once the battle is lost, once our natural splendor is destroyed, it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted." John de Graaf passes on the wisdom of Lyndon Johnson for Grist. For Real Whitby, Tim Hicks ...
[IMG: image] It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you want to know anything about the olden days of liberalism, you ask The Lord (Tony) Greaves. A few days ago, somebody emailed a group of friends how shuttleworths got their name. For those of you who don't know, these are the pads that used to have the names and addresses of supporters in a particular area for use on polling day. I knew I'd heard the story before and the various answers that were being told didn't seem right but I couldn't remember what it was and, frankly, I ...
This was in 2014. More details coming when I get them.
I should start by saying that Liberal Youth chair Sarah Harding was my agent and we devised a plan to rally people behind our vision of a tolerant and free society and in opposition to UKIP's backward looking stance. Listen to the punters on the doorstep, that is my advice. I was canvassing Eastbourne Rd one cold and wet evening at the beginning of the campaign. A young man came to the door, we chatted and he volunteered that he just couldn't comprehend UKIP especially relating to gay people -'get over it'. I tried this out on every young person ...
Haydn Preece Liberal Democrats 1187 30% Elected Jamie Halsall Conservative Party 1159 29% Not elected Terry Durrance United Kingdom Independence Party 990 25% Not elected Stephen Jowett The Labour Party 444 11% Not elected Barbara Ann Dutton The Green Party 207 5% Not elected Birkdale Iain Brodie Browne Lib Dem, win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Birkdale - resultsElection CandidatePartyVotes% Iain Brodie - Browne Liberal Democrats 1484 41% Elected Tom McKenzie United Kingdom Independence Party 945 26% Not elected Ged Wright The Labour Party 521 14% Not elected Georgia Twist Pactor Conservative Party 489 14% Not elected Tony Young The Green Party 178 5% Not ...
The big news of the last 24 hours from the world of policy wonks is that parts of the French economist Thomas Piketty's book 'Capital' have been called into question. The FT's economic editor Chris Giles claims to have identified problems with the data sets underlying Piketty's conclusions about escalating wealth inequality. This rather good [...]
I am no longer a councillor after 10 years because we are moving away from Rochdale and I didn't stand. There are some things you are not meant to say when you are an elected representative because it is bad taste to have a go at your electorate. You are meant to listen.. even to [...]
Sat 24th
15:34
I just signed "Central Bedfordshire Council: We call upon Central Bedfordshire Council to make provi...
[IMG: Change.org] [IMG: Sign Alan's petition] Sign Alan's petition
[IMG: Cllr. Daniel Lewis] Cllr. Daniel Lewis – Norwood Ward [IMG: Cllr. Jo Barton] Cllr. Jo Barton – Meols Ward My congratulations to Dan and Jo on being elected to serve on Sefton Council for the first time.
With the petition calling for Nick Clegg's resignation doing the rounds, as very much a part (or even 1/5 - time) LibDem activist, I thought I would contribute my penny's worth to the debate. Firstly, I was at the special conference which voted for the coalition. Of course, had we known then what we know now, I suspect many of us would not have been so excited and starry-eyed about getting into bed with the Tories. With the debacle over tuition-fees, followed by shambolic NHS reforms, the disastrous Libyan intervention, secret-courts, and of course the hated bedroom-tax, it seemed that ...
Here is the result for Acocks Green Ward, in the recent Birmingham City Council elections: Roger Harmer, Lib Dem: 2,679 (45.7%) Rachel Seabright, Labour: 2,041 (34.8%) Amanda Baker, Green: 422 (7.2%) Charlotte Hodivala, Conservative: 372 (6.3%) Eamonn Flynn, TUSC: 254 (4.3%) Peter Johnson, SDP: 98 (1.7%) This represents a majority of 628 and a swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats of 7.3%, from the last Council elections in 2012. The turnout was up from 25% last time, to 30%. I would like to thank everyone who supported me and helped me during the election. In particular, I would like ...
Another month of improving unemployment figures published this month. Acocks Green's unadjusted unemployment benefit count fell by 37 in April to 930. This is 247 down on a year ago. The long term unemployed figure is 336 (down 7 on the month) and the youth unemployment figure is 224 (down 15 on the month). Across Birmingham, the monthly fall in the unadjusted unemployment benefit count was 1,428 to stand at 39,104, which is 9,006 down on a year ago. The seasonally adjusted claimant count fell to 39,194 or 8.1%. This is almost back down to the level when the financial ...
[IMG: Griffiths] Before becoming a father, I had assumptions about gender equality that have since been somewhat dashed. This first came about via an NCT class my wife and I enrolled in to prepare us for parenthood. It was a private class and in Nunhead, so I figured it would be a very upper-middle class gang of people who were on the liberal end of London society that we'd be learning beside. On that count, I was correct. But if this group of people represented that so-called liberal end of things, and I think they did, then relations between men ...
The above is an extract from a comment used on a number of Labour leaflets. It indicates that the money that Birmingham has available to spend has been cut by 2/3rds. I have asked Sir Albert Bore to explain where this figure comes from. The spending power of birmingham in the current year was cut by under 6% not over 60%.
I have arrived at a very sad but easy decision. Baby #3 from 12 week scan As of September I will cease to be an active member of the Liberal Democrat party and the unofficial Go-To Medway LibDem guy. Before people start braying about the collapse of the party or a lack of my commitment I have two words.... Pulmonary Atresia. A few weeks ago Sam (my wife) and I went for the twelve week scan of our third (and final) child expecting they would be as healthy as Sophie and Ollie. Sadly we were wrong. There was a complication ...
...we drop the pilot overboard in a timely fashion.. And by timely I mean in the next few weeks. We could muse upon who a new Leader might be but whoever it is I feel it is important that that person NOT become Deputy Prime Minister and that the party takes its distance from the Tories both on policy and style and also physically by NOT having our Leader sit cheek-by-jowl in the House with the PM and his cohorts. We need some distance and their is absolutely NO way that that distance can be made by having constant photo ...
Yesterday saw the worst results that my Party has seen in Liverpool for more than 40 years. We didn't manage to get a single Lib Dem elected including in my own ward. As the Leader in Liverpool I must take ... Continue reading →
2014 heralds the year of Anglo-Russian Culture and I had the huge privilege of celebrating it with my family at Stowe. First of all, what a fantastic venue that is! Having lived in Oxford, I thought I saw it all but both the house and grounds of Stowe are completely out of this world and [...]
[IMG: Prince Charles] It was ironic to watch the news today. Two politicians who (I suspect) do not much care for Prince Charles's views in general were speaking in his defence, whereas one who might be expected to be more sympathetic was being more critical. It was the latter, Nigel Farage, who was right. He said of Prince Charles's comments, likening Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler, that there are some things the Prince should leave to the professional politicians. Nick Clegg and Ed Milliband, on the other hand, were arguing that the Prince had a right to have his views ...
[IMG: Ed, Katherine and me before the last election in 2010] The results of the local elections were announced yesterday and sadly Ben, Katherine and I were not elected this time. I'd like to thank everyone who has voted for us over the years and put their trust and faith in us. It has been a huge pleasure and privilege to represent Stroud Green over the last 8 years. I've met some wonderful people and I am extremely proud of what we have achieved for residents in the area. We only lost by a few hundred votes so I'm sure ...
Maria is an independent councillor elected on Thursday to represent Formby's Ravenmeols Ward. The BBC has the story via this link:- www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-27538691 [IMG: rsz_maria_bennett] Maria is a formidable environmental campaigner whom I have got to know over the past couple of years. Indeed, we Lib Dems were so impressed with the work of her FRAGOFF environmental group that we decided not to put up a candidate against her in the elections. It is pleasing that she won and by a substantial margin too. You can imagine how delighted Sefton Labour Party were to see her elected to Sefton Council! May ...
First Capital Connect loses Thameslink rail franchise eurgh. franchise system. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Here's the piece I did for The Guardian on polling day... They say that the prospect of execution concentrates the mind wonderfully. If you believed the article in the Guardian this morning, which predicted a Liberal Democrat wipe-out in the European elections, my mind as a Lib Dem activist ought to be undergoing the most intense concentration - and I have been deeply concentrating in a committee room in north London as the weather veers from sunshine to torrential rain. It used to be said that heavy rain was good for the Tories, but these days it is harder than ...
More evidence this morning in the Telegraph of just how unsustainable an independent Scotland would be. The paper quotes a 'comprehensive' Treasury analysis that found that the state pension would be less affordable in an independent Scotland unless it could attract almost half a million more immigrants. Civil servants have calculated that Scotland would need the population increase over the next 20 years - the equivalent of a city the size of Edinburgh - because there are fewer workers north of the Border paying taxes to fund each OAP's pension. A separate Scotland would have to more than treble its ...
What were you doing on polling day? Like many other Lib Dems I got up early and spent the day campaigning to keep Lib Dem Councillors and gain seats. It seems some people thought their time would be more productively spent plotting against the leadership. I doubt there is an Internet connected Lib Dem who is not aware of the letter calling for Nick to go but I wonder how many people know that whilst many Lb Dems were making that last push to knock on that one door more, to make that extra phone call to drive that one ...
[IMG: N30 Public Sector Demonstration, Not Happy] I'm no one special in the party. I'm Secretary of my local party, acting Chair of South East Liberal Youth and I once sat on a regional executive for a year. And since 2010, despite the mistakes I think we've made in how we've handled being in coalition, until now I've always thought that getting rid of Nick Clegg as leader would be a very bad mistake. I thought that by doing so we'd be seen to be rejecting our achievements in coalition whilst failing to win back any of the people we'd ...
Clegg's resignation as leader may not be fair but sometimes a scapegoat is needed A little under two weeks ago, I blogged about why for all for my issues with his leadership, I didn't feel any personal malice towards Nick Clegg and in fact still quite respected him. This afternoon, I signed an open letter [...]
It has now been more than three months since we first heard about proposed changes to the way in which schools are assessed, yet we are still waiting for the details of how the new systems will work or how they will impact on existing schemes. In a few short months, primary schools will be graded in a similar way to secondary schools but there are already concerns with that scheme, not least because it was proposed by the former Education Minister, subsequently postponed by him in 2012, and the current Minister was today completely at a loss to tell ...
