The castle ruins stand above this neat little town and command views east towards Bromlow Callow, the Stiperstones and Corndon Hill.
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council. Firstly may I apologise that there was no newsletter last week, unfortunately I was swamped with stuff for my paid employment last weekend and then whisked all over the country at the start of this week so it just wasn't possible to get one produced. 1. Summer FairsThe Early Years playgroup in Stapleford are staging a summer fair at the Old Lace Mill in Frederick Road on Saturday 28th June. It will feature a barbeque, ...
Aditya Chakrabortty has written a sharp piece about the "ridiculous" tax and spend debate, kindly linking to this blog. I can never match his polemic: this is the state of economic debate in Britain in the dying months before a general election: politicians of all stripes lie about the economics they are going to practise; [...]
On the face of it British politics has never been more interesting. The government is currently run by an increasingly awkward coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. There remains a considerable amount of unease within the Labour Party towards Ed Miliband's style of leadership. In Scotland, we are only months away from a decisive referendum on whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom. And to top it off across Europe, we are seeing the rise of the populist right embodied in Britain by Nigel Farage and UKIP. Surely there hasn't been a more interesting time to be observing ...
Sun 22nd
20:41
Lord Storey on Nick Clegg: Not popular, nice guy, principled. What do the headlines report? "Toxic"
[IMG: image] When I first heard that Nick Clegg had been described by former Liverpool City Council leader Mike Storey as "toxic", I expected to see some sort of angry denunciation. Actually, Mike Storey's comments were much more considered and balanced. What he said was what every single Liberal Democrat knows, that if you speak to lots of voters, you know that Nick Clegg is not a popular person. He said "some might use the word toxic." He then went on to add that he found that very difficult because he knows that Nick is passionate, principled and a nice ...
"I didn't argue against centralisation at Westminster to replace it with centralisation in Edinburgh. That is the legacy of the SNP in power. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with the idea that everything is London's fault." Caron's Musings reports on a lecture Charles Kennedy gave in Liverpool last week. Zelo Street reveals the Conservatives' plans to redevelop the World's End estate in Chelsea. Richard Hallam and Michael Bender on Discursive of Tunbridge Wells look at the way schizophrenia was viewed and treated in te 1960s. Padraig Reidy, on the Index on Censorship site, looks at a long ago ...
Days before a decision is due to be made on the controversial development of 215 houses off the Bromfield Road, the developers have offered to scrap a contentious footbridge. This huge footbridge will be more than 250 metres long (275 yards) and soar 7 metres (23 feet) above the bed of the River Corve. It [...]
I shall be attending this year's Social Liberal Forum conference, which takes place at the Human Rights Action Centre, 25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA on 19 July. Tim Farron will deliver the William Beveridge Memorial Lecture and Vince Cable will give a keynote speech on the Economy. The confirmed speakers so far include Tim Farron, Vince Cable, Ed Davey, Claire Tyler, Sarah Ludford, Kate Parminter, Julian Huppert, Lousewies van der Laan, Merel Hussein-Ece, David Howarth, Ibrahim Taguri, Kelly-Marie Blundell, Prateek Buch, David Boyle, Naomi Smith, Mike Tuffrey, Simon Radford and Duncan Brack. The programme will include sessions on: ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 380th 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 (-, 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. Simon Titley by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England. ...
[IMG: image] A few weeks ago I noticed tree surgeons testing the trees on Stroud Green using advanced equipment. This week certain of the trees have been felled. Above is my photo of one of the trees being carted off. The rationale behind this operation is found in the minutes of Greenham Parish Council's meeting on14th May: During recent high winds a poplar tree fell across Racecourse Road. On inspection, the core of the tree was found to be rotten although there was no external sign of this. WBC has commissioned a survey of the rest of the trees which ...
The bollards placed outside the CO-OP have been damaged, shows the need, and have been reported to the council to get repaired
During a walkabout in Bloomfield Drive we saw lots of things to get sorted. This one is the old bus stop carefully dumped rather than removed by the contractors.
The potholes in Bloomfield Drive have been reported to the council, now to get the rest of the road re-surfaced !
Had a good meeting with 14 residents from Bloomfield Road with Lib Dem Campaigner Steve Bradley, about the development at Odd Down Playing Fields. They nominated a local resident Rob Lucas to represent them and make sure their interests are not missed.
[IMG: image] For those who don't know what a Park Run is, they are held all over the country at 9am on Saturdays. They are a 5k fun run for all the family. Great fun! I don't know how I did it, but on 5th May 2012 I did the Newbury Park Run in 28'14". My Personal Best (PB). Since then I have tried to beat that time without success. I did 28:17 last year and 28:16 this year. But 28'14" eludes me. I know I have to start at the front to have a chance of a PB. Yes, ...
Not sure I agree with (or even understand) all of these but it amused me nonetheless HT: Karl Barth for DummiesFiled under: Uncategorized
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 13,300 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Why a Lib Dem leadership election doesn't look likely (131 comments) by Stephen Tall Ashcroft battlegrounds poll: both Tories and Lib Dems down on 2010 but it's the Tories who'd make gains (62 comments) by Stephen Tall Sad news in the Liberal Democrat family (11 comments) by Caron Lindsay Yes Scotland are a bit late to realise that Wings over Scotland is bad news (10 comments) by Caron Lindsay Cambridge Liberal Democrats back Nick Clegg and ...
Last week Liverpool hosted the Executive Bureau of United Cities and Local Government. More than 250 leading local government figures from all the 8 regions of the World came to Liverpool and they were overwhelmed by the experience. Bearing that ... Continue reading →
Report identifies 1m unoccupied homes A new study by the Office for National Statistics has found that the number of unoccupied homes has risen to nearly 1m, at the same time as "people living in poverty are cramming into overcrowded homes", according to the Independent. The paper says the vast majority of the properties in question are being used as second homes. Sadly, building on high grade agricultural land and Green Belt, as Sefton Council under its Labour rulers intends to do, remains the Council's policy!
[IMG: Maajid Nawaz,Some rights reserved by RossFrenett] Hampstead and Kilburn PPC Maajid Nawaz has been writing for the Daily Mail in his day job role as Chair of the Quilliam Foundation. He looks at the rise of ISIS, the potential dangers for the UK and how we should respond. The greatest challenge is how to tackle the growing crisis. First of all, direct Western military intervention would be extremely unwise in the current climate. That would be the greatest possible clarion call to unite jihadists under the ISIS banner. Britain has up to 500 citizens fighting in Syria. Such high ...
Shock horror! Councillor John Worrow has jumped ship once again or perhaps morphed, from Tory to Labour in around three years. Is anyone surprised, I doubt it, I've not had the time to comment, on much of late, and frankly why would I. I work long hours, and the occasional time I get to glance at local news, I just despair. Why anyone would wish to be associated with Thanet Labour is beyond me, given their record, millions sunk in Ramsgate Harbour, EKO alleged scandal, and of coarse Manston Airport, damned by Labours weak and embarrassing support and I understand ...
Kevlar inventor Stephanie Kwolek dies (tags: ) Letters of Note: I am only 6 but I think I can do this job (tags: ) Before Pirates Had Torrents, They Had Records Pressed onto Old X-Rays This is actually awesome (tags: ) Get ready to pay more for whiskey soon thanks to this merger - bloody Diagio (tags: ) The newly restored Bletchley Park and the fast-eroding freedoms it was set up to defend (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention in the past couple of days... British Future The World Cup: a month when the popular press will be packed with stories about migrants... on the back-pages http://bit.ly/1lITRW4 Padraig Reidy: Public outrage — from radio plays to Twitter mobs – Index on Censorship | Index on Censorship Fascinating Padraig Reidy post on Nowtrage down the decades, from radio plays to Twitter mobs http://bit.ly/1lZb7QT Ed Miliband must go if we lose election – Labour frontbencher | Politics | The Guardian Half-fair observation: "if you are not comfortable about Labour, you pin ...
According to the Times the war on sugar continues with a pledge by the Labour's Shadow Health Secretary to deal with the obesity crisis by imposing limits on breakfast cereals. It is a start but nowhere near enough. The paper says that Andy Burnham was horrified at the levels of sugar in popular cereals and suggested that Labour would impose limits to help to tackle Britain's growing obesity problem: "I'm not comfortable with the idea that any child in my constituency sits down at breakfast time to a bowl of food that is 38 per cent sugar," he said in ...
[IMG: sundaypaps] Here is my selection of articles to inform, inspire and infuriate from this week's Sunday newspapers. First of all, the Observer reports on a Mumsnet survey which finds that most women who responded think that Parliament is sexist, out of date and masculine. 97% think the political culture is sexist. The site's founder, Justine Roberts, said: People are so fed up. We know that the reason there is a lack of female representation in parliament isn't just down to sexism at the point of selection; there just aren't enough women prepared to put themselves forward. This is confirmation ...
When Gerry Goffin died last week most of the tributes concentrated on the teenage-pop hits that he and his then wife, Carole King, wrote in the early 1960s. That was understandable, as those songs defined their era, but Goffin enjoyed success as a lyricist for years after that. The film Mahogany was released in 1975. As well as starring in it, Diana Ross sang the theme song. It was one of a string of great singles she recorded in the early 1970s: Touch me in the Morning, I'm Still Waiting, Sorry Doesn't Always Make it Right, All of My Life. ...
On Wednesday I attended my first Acocks Green Ward Committee meeting as a member, rather than a member of the public, for a couple of years. The main items discussed were: 1) Trees: Nick Barton, a tree specialist from Amey, the Council's contractor, explained their policy regarding the removal of old or diseased street trees. Every street tree is surveyed every 5 years. Acocks Green has just been surveyed and this revealed a total of 51 trees which needed removal (see my post on 5th June). This is from a total of 2,658 street trees in Acocks Green (and 80,000 ...
Sun 22nd
08:55
Book Review: The Cruel Victory: The French Resistance, D-Day and the Battle for Vercors 1944 by Padd...
It is not like me to read books about wars and battles, but after being so moved and angered by Paddy Ashdown's excellent portrayal of the inaugural mission of the Special Boat Service, A Brilliant Little Operation, I knew that I had ... Continue reading →
Watching the chairman of Action on Sugar doing the rounds calling for a sugar tax this morning and I must admit they have a quite.....interesting....logic. Their Chairman has just been interviewed and said. The problem is poor people can't afford to eat healthily so they buy the cheaper food." Let us just assume for the sake of argument it is more expensive to eat healthily, raising taxes on cheap food will make the situation better how? Oh, we also have a real world experience of a country attempting fat taxes, sugar taxes and drink taxes. They were quickly abolished . ...
At the end of this year's Bike Week, it is perhaps appropriate to highlight a cycling-related issue. Residents have asked if, as a result of the proposals relative to the road, north footpath and environment of Riverside Drive, a designated cycle path will be created. I raised this with the City Engineer, who has advised: "I can confirm that there is not to be a designated cycle path created as the existing path adjacent to the sea wall is a designated part of the National Cycle Route and is of appropriate width for shared use. As such, cyclists will not ...
"We're going all 'round the Wrekin," she said to her husband. A few minutes later, she almost shouted: "We're 'round the Wrekin again." That's not an unusual sentiment on Ludlow's park and ride service. Take a bus from the park and ride at the Eco Park and it first takes you to Toll Gate Road. [...]
The Welsh Government need to take action on the crisis facing General Practice in Wales. The recent National Survey for Wales showed that 38% of patients are having to wait to see their GP. In May this year at the annual Local Medical Committee Conference, Dr Charlotte Jones, chair of the British Medical Association's Welsh General Practitioners Committee, said: "The workforce situation, unless urgently addressed, will further exacerbate the problems we face." "If it sounds like a crisis, smells like a crisis, feels like a crisis then it is a crisis." In Wales, we have fewer GPs per 1,000 head ...
