Wherever you are in Ealing the large number of betting shops can be seen in our seven town centres. Many areas in the borough have not just a high density of betting shops but many of the anti-social problems that appear to come with these establishments. Residents are concerned about the effects that a cluster of betting shops can have on our high streets and local shopping parades. Some of the reported problems include street muggings, drug dealing, vandalism, littering, harassment and intimidation from customers outside on the street, underage gambling and street drinking. Then there is the issue that ...
Three steam locomotives and empty coaching stock filmed at two points on the East Coast Main Line as they make their way back from the Mid-Norfolk Railway at Dereham to Carnforth. You are welcome.
Partly written at Stokesay Castle, this opinion piece was due to be published in Wednesday's Leicester Mercury. I cannot find it online, so here is the whole thing. Time for the Liberal Democrats to reconnect with their voters Nick Clegg will stay as Liberal Democrat leader. The only credible alternative was a Vince Cable caretaker leadership, but the events of last week have made that unlikely. And even without them, I suspect the opportunity came a couple of years too late for him. But that does not mean Nick Clegg can carry on as if nothing has happened. The Liberal ...
Fri 6th
22:25
Ghost-hunter sworn at by spirit at 'haunted' Oadby and Wigston Borough Council's offices
The Leicester Mercury receives my Headline of the Day Award.
[IMG: image] I got a call from the BBC's Daily Politics this morning asking if I'd be willing to pitch up this lunchtime to discuss the Lib Dem performance, as the party wasn't willing to put up anyone official. (Labour didn't either.) I duly did so and you can see what I said below. If you want to skip Grant Shapps and Roger Helmer, I pop up briefly at the 12 minute mark. As ever, you only really get to string together a couple of sentences: I blogged my fuller views on Newark this morning here. For those who asked ...
Here we get to another of the controversies surrounding this year's Hugos — the "Sad Puppy Slate". Novelist Larry Correia put together and promoted a slate of works for this year's award, which he promoted through his blog, and almost all of which have made it to the shortlists. Correia's aim was, apparently, to get [...]
In his column in the South Shropshire Journal today, Ludlow MP Philip Dunne makes the case for local planning. Mr Dunne refers to two cases we determined at last week's South Planning Committee. One proposal was thrown out on grounds of sustainability, the other because of its impact on the AONB. It is more than [...]
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Tomorrow is the Whickham Chase Park Fayre so today I gave a hand to set up the tents, marquees, five-a-side football field and so on. I finished late this afternoon feeling as if I caught the sun. The weather forecast for tomorrow is not so good. Hopefully the rain will hold off until 4pm when we finish. Meanwhile, I am back home now preparing literature to go on the stall I will be running
Please note that Croft Lane/Pilsworth Road in Bury is closed from Monday 16th June 2014 until Friday 18th July to all through traffic in both directions. There will be no access to Asda from Hollins. The road will reopen on/around 18th July until September (Date to be confirmed) and a further 14 week closure will then take place. Please note that the diversion route (below) is four miles long – so finding an alternative route (if you can) is advised..... The route of the number 92 bus is affected – this was the instructions from First Bus: - 92 Inbound ...
The Council has circulated some information about activities for adult learners week which includes activities from 5-21 June 2014. (Apologies for the late notice for some of them, but we've only just been sent this.) There is an information leaflet here. [IMG: Screenshot 2014-06-06 17.37.38]
In my last post I suggest that liberalism, and its British variant Liberalism, had lost its way. To many people it does not address the key issues of today, and looks to be a political irrelevance. I want to address this by thinking about how liberals, and British Liberal Democrats, should deal with these critical issues. In my first essay I will take on the burning issue for the political left: what to do about capitalism? To get a flavour of how some on the left are thinking, read thus piece by David Graeber in last weekend's Guardian: Savage capitalism ...
St Just bus shelter is a continuing saga but I hope that soon we will have it all ship shape! I'm having some creative (or perhaps mad) thoughts about the future of our local bus shelter. With money being tight, the money to look after it is going to be difficult to find so we need to reduce the risk of damage and make it worthwhile to others to pay for its upkeep. My thoughts are: What if some dedicated local people took it on and decorated it lovely? Perhaps plants? My other thought is whether a business or a ...
Imagine you are a Liberal Democrat voter in Newark. You've seen the Lib Dem candidate David Watts about and you like him. Anyone with that sort of humour and energy when his party seems to be falling apart has got ... Continue reading →
Yesterday I got back from Rwanda. I visited in my capacity as Minister for International Development, and on the final day, I opened a new school: There's an amazing sense of positive energy and happiness as you come in to the school I'm here to open. It's a brilliant space filled with bright colours and content children and it's set against the most dramatic backdrop of peaks and valleys of the Rwandan hills. It all combines in a way that makes me want to set aside my packed programme of meetings ahead and play on the swings with the children ...
As far as I am aware, there is only one meeting at BTC next week Thursday 12th June, 6:30 pm; Planning & Development Committee
My article for the FT is up here I am not adding any more because the FT is always worth paying for. Especially tomorrow ...
Fri 6th
14:50
Assisted dying in the news both north and south of the border - last day for action in Scotland
[IMG: Sunset @ Adyar:] The issue of assisted dying is in the news on both sides of the border this week. Yesterday, Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords. This is a formality and the date for a full debate on the issue has not yet been set. To mark the occasion, the Dignity in Dying campaign has released a very powerful video which highlights the choices we are free to make in life, but we can't choose the manner of our death. Dignity in Dying is asking people to email the three ...
Sadly, nothing could be of greater concern than the murder of James Hunter this week in Wells Park Road. We offer our condolences to his family and friends.Margot knows something of their pain as this week was the birthday of her own murdered daughter. Residents told us of their worries about crime in precisely this [...]
We should like to thank all those voters who supported the Libdem candidates in Forest Hill. You .gave us one of our best results in the Lewisham Council elections. Unfortunately the Labour party now has only one opponent on the Council so is free to appoint new Cabinet members (however vague their titles) and raise [...]
What's driving the latest push on women in science and engineering? A desire to open up science, or fuel the extractive industries? There are so few women trying for jobs in the mining and engineering industries that the UK is being put at a competitive disadvantage compared with other countries. So warned BBC Radio Fours Today in Parliament last night. They quoted Lib Dem business minister, Jenny Willott: We have far too few women going into STEM subjects, and we need to be accessing the whole of the population." Ive heard this line before, from Vince Cable, when I was ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our very belated 377th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere. Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (25-31May, 2014), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. UK Liberal Democrat Euro mess by Cicero ...
I have been asked how it feels to be the lone Lib Dem Councillor in Fortune Green - or in Camden for that matter! Which is a bit like asking someone how they felt when their whole family went down in the Titanic! I actually think it's like a relationship break-up - with all the pain and re-adjustment it takes to get back to an ordinary normal life. It's a sort of bereavement! Accompanied by survivor guilt! But it helps to talk about it actually. And I have been enormously cheered by some of the nice things people have said ...
[IMG: Lisbon Tram 730] Lisbon Tram 730 I took this photo a while ago on a visit to this excellent local tramway preservation organisation. It is well worth a visit. /www.mtps.co.uk/730l.htm When I was about 14 I went on a cruise with my Mum and Dad and it called in at Lisbon where we had a ride on a tram like this one. The track must have been in a poor state back then (1972) as it lurched around all over the place. So much so that as a standing passenger I fell over and in an attempt to save ...
The Liberal Democrat Party in its current form is the product of schism. Not a few of the current membership are where they are because of the recombination of the SDP with the Liberal Party. Having come down in a more recent shower, it all looks to me like they have got on rather well together over the decades. As a student of politics beyond Libdemmery and beyond the UK, the subject of schisms is one that has interested me for a long time, indeed back to Luther and his 95 Theses. However if we look at the UK we ...
From time to time you can read that this or that sector accounts for a vast amount of the job creation in the economy. What you are reading is nearly always misleading. The sectors concerned might be: new firms; start up firms; small firms; and firms in a particular sector, such as Low Carbon, or [...]
Fri 6th
11:49Liberal Democrats criticise Home Office over deportation flight report which said people were treate...
[IMG: UK Border Agency enforcement team] A report in Sunday's Observer highlighted concerns raised by the Inspector of Prisons over the treatment of people on a deportation flight to Afghanistan. The Inspector's full report can be read here and it makes sobering reading for anyone who cares about treating vulnerable people with respect: Despite impressive care and concern shown by individual escort staff, detainees were not treated with enough decency in the removal process. Generally efficient procedures did not amount to respect for detainees who, it seemed to us, were seen as commodities to be delivered rather than as vulnerable ...
Neither hard nor soft power by NATO and the EU can be as effective as when carried out in tandem, the Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell declared in his Tim Garden Memorial Lecture at Chatham House last night. He stressed that there are no plans to create a European army, despite claims to the [...]
[IMG: Lynne Featherstone on the doorstep] Want to know how to win election campaigns? You can learn from the very best of international experience with a free 10-week email course from myself and Ed Maxfield. Sign up at www.CampaignMasterclass.com and each week you'll receive one lesson by email, helping you become a top election winning campaigner or candidate yourself. It's a great way to make sure you don't fall foul of mistakes such as Five of the most common mistakes that Lib Dem campaigners make. We've helped, advised and run election campaigns across Europe and even further afield - and ...
I've recently participated in a large bit of work into developing the Green Economy here within Calderdale. I co-chaired this cross-party scrutiny review. It was very pleasing to be able to get involved with this piece of work given a long standing interest in green issues, and previous involvement in groups such as Friends of the Earth. One of the main things to strike me from this piece of work is how slow large organisations like the Council are at making changes to things we would so easily do at home. This perhaps isn't surprising to anyone who has worked ...
I watched the film The Golden Compass again over the weekend, the movie version of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights, which has to be one of the most important children's books written in the second half of the twentieth century. I was fascinated to look at their version of London ruled by the so-called Magisterium, which is in the film rather less of a version of the Roman Catholic Church without a Reformation, and more like a mildly religious version of Big Brother. Their headquarters is a huge skyscraper, towering over the city, an architectural version of tyranny. Regular readers of ...
Cambridge University considers making sexual consent classes mandatory (tags: ) Man pays for penis enlarger, gets magnifying glass instead I know you shouldn't laugh, but... *sporfle* (tags: ) Bad Titles for Children's Books - no. 21 is definitely my favourite (tags: ) Two girls stab another girl. It's TOTALLY cos they were SlenderMan fans. Jesus. People stab people. It's not the fault of entertainment media, it's the fault of stabby people. Entertainment media might give them a theme to hang their pre-existing stabbiness on; it DOES NOT make them stabby. (tags: ) Want to rekindle faith in politics? Remember most ...
This fast: Click the animation to open the full version (via PennyStocks.la).Filed under: Uncategorized
May 22nd 2014 saw the end of Tory rule at Brentwood Council as they were pushed into the minority by the opposition parties, led by Cllr Barry Aspinell and the Liberal Democrat team. Cllr Barry Aspinell held Pilgrims Hatch with a majority of 332 over UKIP, forcing the Tories in to third place. [IMG: Victorious Liz Cohen] Victorious Liz Cohen Cllr Liz Cohen can be proud of retaining the Shenfield seat she took in a by-election in December 2012, holding back a fierce and targetted Tory campaign with a majority over them of 109 Cllr Philip Mynott won Brentwood North ...
Communique no 1,843 from the Ministry of Truth was issued today at 09.42 hours: "In the small hours of 6th June 2014 the forces of Cleggonia won a massive victory over the lacky forces of Protasia! With our glorious Conservasian allies the so called 'peoples army' of counter revolutionary bourgeois Protasia was destroyed in combat. All hail Big Clegger!" Inner Party member O'Ashdown added, "This victory confirms the superiority of IngCentrism. Under the rule of Big Clegger we have seized coalition power and we will not be relinquishing it. Coalition is not a means, it is an end. One does ...
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention in the past couple of days... Lib Dems 4 Change I'm just leaving this here: I signed the #LibDems4Change letter http://bit.ly/1hj3tph Tho doubt I agree that much w/ other signatories... Newark by-election: Tories win well, Ukip falls short, Labour dips, Lib Dems collapse My initial take on Newark @libdemvoice: the Tories win well, Ukip falls short, Labour dips, & Lib Dems collapse http://bit.ly/1hiZh8T BBC News – Labour and Lib Dem allies meet to discuss 'common ground' ... "one minister suggested doing a deal with Labour would be "as close to ...
[IMG: Phot @bbcalexforsyth newark by-election] A lot of politics is about momentum. At the moment it's the Tories who have it. Not quite the Big Mo, but a Moderate Mo that's growing. Here are the results of last night's Newark by-election: Robert Jenrick (Con) 17,431 (45.03%, -8.82%) Roger Helmer (UKIP) 10,028 (25.91%, +22.09%) Michael Payne (Lab) 6,842 (17.68%, -4.65%) Paul Baggaley (Ind) 1,891 (4.89%) David Kirwan (Green) 1,057 (2.73%) David Watts (LD) 1,004 (2.59%, -17.41%) 15.46% swing Con to UKIP Electorate 73,486; Turnout 38,707 (52.67%, -18.69%) The Tory vote declined a bit and the Ukip vote grew a lot. The ...
[IMG: Flooding in Cedar Rapids, IA] The past months have seen an upsurge of environmental concern. Following the wettest winter ever, and the starkest warnings yet from scientists about the perils of climate change, 23% of the public named 'the environment' as the most important issue facing Britain - higher than at any time since the late 1980s. But, rather astonishingly, despite mounting evidence of the urgency for acting on global warming, there are moves within Government to weaken UK climate targets. Liberal Democrats - whose last general election manifesto was the greenest of the three main parties - must ...
These are the numbers for residents to get in touch with the organisers this weekend: Friday 6 June (9am – 10pm) – 0161 773 1085 Saturday 7 June (10am – 1am) – 0161 954 9005 Sunday 8 June (10am – 1am) – 0161 954 9005 email contact: parklife@manchester.gov.uk
WestFest's Big Sunday 2014 takes place from 1pm to 7pm this Sunday, 8th June, on Magdalen Green!Big Sunday is now a firm fixture on the start of summer calendar and can be enjoyed by everyone. You can spend a day lounging on the grass listening to a free concert - or better still up on your feet and dancing! You can wander through the great range of stalls having a brilliant shopping experience with excellent food and drink and a range of handmade craft items on sale. This year will see WestFest's first vintage village with opportunities to pick up ...
There is a lot in the Queen's Speech that I support and applaud. It is obvious that the Liberal Democrats have exercised a lot of influence, not least in the far-reaching pension reforms. However, the one item that I am finding it hard to come to terms with is the proposal to allow fracking companies to drill under people's homes without their permission. The Guardian reports that the current laws of trespass require land and home owners to give permission for shale gas and oil drilling under their land, but the government intends to end this requirement in order to ...
Don't worry, this is not another rant about the ridiculous size of this enormous Area Committee, it's a report on a few of the interesting things that happened at the meeting held in Formby. In reality the agenda was rather dry but the questions from the public were of more interest:- LIBRARIES - Independent Aintree Village Parish Councillors Peter Gill and Bill Honeyman asked questions about the future of the now closed (by Labour) Aintree & College Road Libraries. The answer Peter Gill got, drafted by an officer of the Sefton Council, was something along the lines of we do ...
This week the Government announced in the Queen's Speech that it will bring forward proposals in a Serious Crime Bill to tackle child neglect and ensure it includes emotional and psychological neglect, following intense pressure from Action for Children, myself, and others. This is the culmination of a long campaign, which has sought to see the law changed through amendments proposed in the House of Lords, and most recently through my Child Maltreatment Bill. There is currently an anachronism in our laws where the physical or sexual abuse of children is criminal, but emotional and psychological abuse is only criminal ...
Blog Categories: Political Theory Statelessness Vote: 1 vote + Vote up! - Vote down! [NB - for my US based readers, "liberal/-ism" should be understood in the European historical sense, rather than the rather general pejorative US term for "left"!] Liberalism is failing. But all is not lost: it can be resurrected by looking to its 300 year old roots, in the Enlightenment, in England at least, around the time of the "Glorious Revolution". From the outset, powerful interests frustrated the core idea of equality for all before the law, cementing instead what Fred Harrison calls the "culture of cheating" ...
I got off the train from London yesterday afternoon, got home and had enough time to feed my livestock before having to change back into the suit to go to the attestation ceremony for the Gateshead police cadets. I was determined not to miss this simply because the cadets had given me a helping hand to plant some fruit trees I was given earlier this year for a community orchard we have started in
