I spent today at the Social Liberal Forum conference in London. It was held at Amnesty International's new headquarters in Shoreditch. (It must be new as my taxi driver was not certain where it was - he did explain how the city is run by the Masons though.) Thanks to the organisers I interviewed Tim Farron and Ed Davey - I shall write those up for this blog shortly. The day was very well run, the venue was air conditioned and I met a lot of old friends and some new readers. The photograph? It turns out that Amnesty's HQ ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-28372224 The BBC has the story – see link above. The 80th anniversary of the opening of the Queensway tunnel is being marked. [IMG: Merseytravel produced a booklet about both Tunnels about 10 years ago. This is the front page of it.] Merseytravel produced a booklet about both Tunnels about 10 years ago. This is the front page. The 2.13 mile (3.4 km) tunnel linking Liverpool and Birkenhead was opened by King George V on 18 July 1934. [IMG: Another page from the Merseytravel booklet gives some fascinating facts about the Queensway Tunnel ] Another page from the Merseytravel booklet ...
Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable has welcomed a new programme designed to crack down on online piracy. The new scheme called Creative Content UK, will promote legal entertainment online and warn Internet users whose connections are being used to illegally share films and music. The scheme has been agreed by the UK's creative industries and internet service providers (ISPs) and will aim to raise awareness of copyright by informing those whose internet connections have been used to illegally share copyright material and help them find compelling, legal alternatives. Announcing the scheme, Vince Cable revealed that it would be supported ...
[IMG: slfconf] I had a great day at my first Social Liberal Forum conference today. On my way, I was drenched by torrential rain in Queens road, Newbury, and then coming back I was rained on in the same road. In between that, it was dry and sunny. It was the sort of day that takes some thought as to what to wear and ake on a journey, and no amount of planning prepares for all eventualities. The conference was in London EC2 at the Amnesty International HQ. This is a most impressive building which made a superb conference venue. ...
Sir Graham Bright the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire is currently running a survey on his website seeking views on the use of "Community Remedies" by the police for low-level crime. The survey is available here; http://cambridgeshire-pcc.gov.uk/survey/community-remedy/ From the website here are some example of Community Remedies; where two children carried out a minor assault on another child the offender gave a verbal and written apology and had to litter pick for four hours;an adult who caused damage to a wooden gate gave the victim a written apology and paid for repairs to the gate;two children who had ...
Today's Times reports that Conservative ministers have been accused of manipulating an unpublished government report that they believed was too pro-European. The report, which stated that migration from the EU had a "largely positive" effect, although it acknowledged there was less agreement about the impact of low-skilled foreigners coming to the UK, was due out in December but was delayed because of a coalition row: Publication was postponed again until after the European elections in May, according to the BBC Two programme Newsnight, which obtained a leaked copy of the report. The programme said that Theresa May, the home secretary, ...
Good news in Odd Down St Martin's Garden Primary School received £83,700; Figures show that last year over 30% of youngsters from poorer backgrounds in Bath and North East Somerset achieved five or more GCSEs at A* to C grade. This year's figures show that the Pupil Premium success story in B&NES is continuing as the percentage of youngsters from poorer backgrounds is the same as
Many people have commented to me about how neglected Fox Hollies Park has looked recently. Litter is a major problem and Westley Brook is poorly maintained, often flowing over the bridge when there is a lot of rain. Anti social behaviour can be a problem at times and the lighting was recently badly damaged (now repaired). A group of residents, supported by the police and council officers are trying to turn things round. The aim is to set up a Friends of Fox Hollies Park group – to organise activities in the park, which will encourage it to be used ...
[IMG: European Flag] While the UK media has been focusing on Cameron's cabinet reshuffle and what it means for the Tories' 2015 election strategy, an even bigger shake-up has been taking place in the running of the European Union. A bit like during the Lib Dem European election campaign, the most frequently heard words this week in Brussels and Strasbourg have been "jobs, jobs, jobs", and this time it is all about our own. The last time we were in Strasbourg two weeks ago the Parliament sorted out who got what job, President, Vice-Presidents and committee chairs. I was delighted ...
Sat 19th
12:39
Lib Dems need to stick their head above the parapet on immigration and asylum seekers #slfconf
[IMG: Immigration breakout Social Liberal Forum conference Jul 19 2014 Photo by Paul Walter] Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary held a thoughtful and impassioned break-out session at the Social Liberal Forum conference today. Suzanne Fletcher gave some interesting updates from her key involvement in the recent policy working party on Immigration, Asylum and Social Cohesion. Suzanne stressed how important it is for policy-makers to get their terminology right. Illegal immigrants get mixed up with asylum seekers. Asylum seekers get confused with refugees. Deportation gets conflated with removal. It's not just the Daily Mail who need to be more careful ...
[IMG: Charlemagne is back in Europe] While the UK media has been focusing on Cameron's cabinet reshuffle and what it means for the Tories' 2015 election strategy, an even bigger shake-up has been taking place in the running of the European Union. A bit like during the Lib Dem European election campaign, the most frequently heard words this week in Brussels and Strasbourg have been "jobs, jobs, jobs", and this time it is all about our own. The last time we were in Strasbourg two weeks ago the Parliament sorted out who got what job, President, Vice-Presidents and committee chairs. ...
[IMG: image] I am backing Linda Jack for Liberal Democrat party President. I have known Linda for years, mainly through the Liberal Democrat blogosphere. Linda has an exceptionally conscience-based sense of Liberalism. She has a wealth of experience working for the disadvantaged, of campaigning and of work in employment and the armed forces. From this, she articulates a passionate and fearless set of liberal views. After the jiggery-pokery of coalition, we need Linda as President to reset our political compass on a true Liberal Democrat course. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
According to Channel 4′s Sunday Brunch, Nick Clegg will be appearing on their programme on Sunday at 10 am. The programme tweeted about it today: Sunday! @CherLloyd, @millsmackintosh, @nick_clegg, @Iwanrunner, @realmatbaynton, @ValentineWarner, Phil off Time Team! @timlovejoy@simonrim — Sunday Brunch (@SundayBrunchC4) July 18, 2014 Our slight worry is that they generally ask the guests to cook on this programme and we know that, shall we say, cooking isn't Nick's strong point. Not only that, but one of the other guests, Millie Mackintosh, was on Celebrity Masterchef recently and, in the opinion of some, left before her time. No pressure on ...
#slfconf @vincecable outlining achievements & vision for future; eg more post offices than when Lib Dems entered govt pic.twitter.com/lG2E45ppd0 — Martin Tod (@mpntod) July 19, 2014
The wealth generated by the UK's creative industries is on the up; according to the government's Department for Cuoluture, Media and Sport they are now worth £71.4 billion a year. Yet writers are seeing their incomes falling, to the extent that far fewer are able to make a living from their output. For some that has [...]
Edited note from the county council The resurfacing scheme will take place between 8pm and 5am, using a full road closure between the junctions with Watling Street and Griffiths Way. It is expected that it will be completed in five nights.Signed alternative routes will be in place. Vehicle access to properties during the working hours will be maintained and controlled by gatemen at each end of the closure but access will only be allowed when it is safe to do so.The contractor aims to complete the noisiest operations such as removing the old road and jack hammering by midnight to ...
Politicians (mostly) Suck on Twitter (tags: ) To change attitudes, don't argue — agree, extremely (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Cambridgeshire schools are to get an extra £23.2 million in government funding - £2.7 million more than originally expected. The 7.9 per cent increase has been welcomed by Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert who has been driving the fight for fairer funding for the county's children for more than a decade. And he says there is a commitment to full fair funding for the county's schools which could bring even more money. He said: "This is excellent news for every child and every teacher in our schools now and in the future. This is not just a one off payment - ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: You can also watch this on YouTube.
Tony Blair former Labour Prime Minister and now "Statesman" apparently available for hire to anyone, with customers as diverse as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, and Israel (I think he does the last one for free, to keep his American clients happy) has taken a low profile during the current attack by Israel on defenceless citizens in his role as Peace Envoy to the Middle East. Still it's understandable that he'd wants keep out of things since his last Statement Monday, would I think show any reasonable person, just how biased he is toward Israel, "But as I have said throughout this ...
The Coalition Agreement included a commitment to reintroduce exit checks by the end of this Parliament. But any means of noting or recording who enters and who leaves the UK was removed in 1998 by Labour, who considered the checks, 'an inefficient use of resources ... contributing little to the integrity of the immigration control'. Clearly, today's debate on immigration has moved on considerably. Since the early 'Noughties', successive attempts have been made to restore some form of border records, principally through the introduction of technology-based checks for anyone departing the UK as part of a new 'e-Borders' programme. It ...
Maybe it is a hold over from bullying at school, or maybe it is just some sort of collective myth, but some gay men seem to have a rather disturbing fear of straight guys. Straight men, especially white ones, are the current Big Bad for every "progressive" (self-described, I'd call them backward and divisive shadows of true progressive and inclusive movements). But this focus on smearing people based on their colour, gender and sexuality just doesn't sit right with me (an evil white man myself, so I suppose it figures). We are meant to be above this sort of thing ...
So points out a press release from London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon: [IMG: Bullets. Photo courtesy of http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1426059 - some rights reserved] New figures obtained by Caroline Pidgeon AM, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, have revealed the Metropolitan Police Service are subsidising gun owners by millions of pounds each year. Last year over £3 million was spent by the Met in issuing gun licences, and since 2008 the total cost to the Met has been in excess of £20 million. Yet with the annual cost for a gun licence being just £10 (£50 for a five year ...
I have expressed the hope that a new sub-postmaster will come forward to take over the Blackness Road Post Office as, thus far, Post Office Limited has indicated there has been no formal interest in taking over the post office. This follows the announcement in May that the current sub-postmaster, Mr Abdul Bhimani, has indicated a wish to retire. Post Office Limited has indicated to me : "I have been advised that the Blackness Road branch is currently being advertised as a Post Office Local. This is because the existing Sub-postmaster has indicated that he wishes to leave the business ...
On devolution Hilary Benn, the Shadow Local Government Secretary, has said a Labour Government would give councils more freedom but austerity would continue. The fact that Labour now seems very keen on the long-held Liberal policy of devolving power from Whitehall is often spoken off these days but the fascinating words here are that 'austerity would continue'. A common sense remark of course but its not the message that Labour delivers locally, indeed if you believed Labour's local utterances you would think that the election of a Labour government would end austerity and reverse all the cuts in public expenditure. ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-28297201 Well here is a odd story from the BBC web site; I wonder if it will get off the ground?
After the elections in May, the Leader tasked a group with reviewing the elections, assessing what worked and what didn't, and produce recommendations to improve our campaigning for the future. On Monday, the Review Group presented our findings to the Leader and later to the Federal Executive. I am pleased to say that they endorsed both the report and its recommendations, and we will now set about putting them into practice well in advance of next year's elections. In what was the most-read Party email in some time, more than 700 individual members made representations to the Review Group and ...
Some things I've been in to this week: A TV series: There's nothing I like better than a good bit of infrastructure! Actually, a good bit of infrastructure and a 'behind the scenes' type TV programme. This week BBC2 started The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway a short series about the construction of Crossrail. This programme was [...]
(OK, so I lied about there being no post. I have to do something to take my mind off rubbishness.) Amazon have announced a new feature, Kindle Unlimited. This feature allows Kindle owners (so far only in the US) to download as many books as they want, one at a time, for a $9.99 per [...]
