(Sorry if this review's a little disjointed — I'm not particularly well today). This review will, to an extent, be a matter of comparing the book to my own work, and there's very little I can do about that — simply put, had I known this book, which came out last month, was being written [...]
I wrote a few years ago about the BBC's plans to adapt Philip K Dick's classic novel The Man in the High Castle for TV. As with so many TV projects, it seems that fell through but news has now come out that while we're not in the universe where it got made by the BBC, we may be in the one where it gets made for Amazon TV. Sadly, it appears that while Ridley Scott's production company is still involved, the script is no longer being written by Howard Brenton. As I wrote four years ago, one worry I ...
These towers, which have stood for more than 40 years, were felled at 5am on Sunday.
The winner is Liberal Democrat campaigner Michael Mullaney. Over to Twitter: It would be nice if Bosworth's MP David Tredinnick could campaign for things that were on this planet, let alone Hinckley and Bosworth! — Michael Mullaney (@miketmullaney) July 28, 2014This BBC News story explains all.
#3140217 / gettyimages.com Margaret Thatcher's personal bodyguard Barry Strevens has told of how he warned the Prime Minister of allegations that one of her top aides was involved in sex parties with under-age boys.Perhaps you don't believe this report in the Independent? I don't believe all the stories that have emerged about the abuse of children by politicians in recent weeks. But in the case of Sir Peter Morrison you just have to take the word of his parliamentary colleagues. Gyles Brandreth wrote in his published diary Breaking the Code - a surprisingly good book, incidentally - that he and ...
From Lafrowda to WOMAD in a week! Yes, after the wonderful experience of Lafrowda I traveled to Malmsebury, in Wiltshire, for WOMAD. I have never been to a festival in my life but this was a dream of my husband and daughter so I joined them, for a family break, in their dream! [IMG: WOMAD] Sue joining the 'kids' at WOMAD It was an amazing experience, in terms of the music and food from around the world but not so keen on not being able to have a shower and being baked in the sun! There were many campaigns/ political ...
I don't know the full details of what RiverOak investment company have to offer in relation to possibly saving Manston Airport but from a cursory glance at the letter sent to Iris Johnson, it seems that they are genuine and more importantly appear to be offering to underwrite Thanet council should they wish to apply for a Compulsory Purchase Order. Something you'd think any politician including Cllr Richard Nicholson might consider in a positive manner, and before I go further lets remind ourselves that he and other members of the council, get a fairly generous allowance, somewhere around in the ...
ALDC and LDHQ have jointly produced a Field Campaign Manual to help Lib Dem campaigners win at every level. It is a vital tool for people that are just starting out and also provides a checklist for more experienced campaigners. The manual outlines tried and tested methods for winning elections and explains how to combine [...]
My old friend, the publisher and editor Peter Day, left very precise instructions for his funeral, which took place at lunchtime today at the Charterhouse in the City (where he spent the last 14 years of his life). There was to be absolutely NO EULOGY, and he guaranteed laughter throughout the chapel by wry comments [...]
[IMG: 026] The street light located outside of number 50 Church Street, Werrington Village, Peterborough, has now been reported to Peterborough City Council, by local LIB DEM ward councillor Darren Fower. Commenting, Darren said: "This particular light has been faulty on several occasions in recent months and therefore, I've also asked for an update once this particular light gets inspected and repaired." If you know of any lights that seem to be constantly faulty, please let us know or leave a comment below!
Mon 28th
16:50
LibLink: Alex Proud - "If you believe politicians are useless, you'll end up with useless politician...
In the Telegraph today, Alex Proud — who self-describes as "A lapsed Liberal and a rugged, Gladstonian Liberal who likes free markets and the odd gunboat, but a Liberal nonetheless" — reflects on his recent meeting with Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes: ... sitting between Simon Hughes and Nick Clegg I was reminded for the first time in ages just how inspiring good politicians can be. They force us to think outside the box of our own petty concerns and project ourselves onto a national and even global stage. They remind us that we can change the world for the ...
Cllr Hazel Smith This week Cllr Hazel Smith, Lib Dem representative on South Cambridgeshire District Council for Milton, was able to report to local residents that they were one step nearer to getting the new sewer they have been waiting for, for over 30 years. New guidance has been issued in Wales which requires water companies to take into account permanent caravan sites in their calculations to determine whether or not a sewer should be provided. Following the Welsh lead it is expected that Defra will recommend that the same guidance be adopted in England - this would eventually improve ...
Apprentice Joshua Bird scored a winner when he landed a place with a Cambridge company with a World Cup connection And tomorrow (Tuesday, July 29) Joshua, 21, will meet Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert to tell him about his engineering apprenticeship with Sepura which designed radios for the World Cup in Brazil. Julian is visiting Joshua at Sepura - a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of digital radios - in St Andrew's Road as part of his monthly initiative, Celebrating Apprenticeships. Joshua dropped out of university to take his apprenticeship, a mix of college-based learning at Cambridge Regional ...
This Government (DCMS) Fund is designed to provide grants to help disabled people get elected. The LGA has commissioned ALDC to deliver the programme for the Liberal Democrats. The programme comprises identifying potential candidates with disabilities in target seats for next May's council elections. We're probably looking for about five or six. Each of these [...]
As part of the Police and Crime Commissioner's consultation ahead of the introduction of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 later this year, we're asking you to take a couple of minutes to complete a short survey. The new act comes into force fully in October, bringing with it sweeping changes aimed at ensuring those responsible for dealing with anti-social behaviour are putting the needs of victims first. Among the changes, in future a 'Community Remedy' will give victims a say in the out-of-court punishment of offenders through a list of 'options' that can be chosen from. These ...
We would like to wish all our Muslim residents a very happy Eid al-Fitr – Eid Mubarak!
Whether it's posting a selfie from a football match, posing with a Princess mug, mocking the Daily Mail or looking like the perfect domestic goddess before admitting that it was Miriam who had made the very nice looking pie (for which we still need the recipe), Nick Clegg certainly has a quirky way with Twitter that. Over at the i, they've recognised that today by posting these highlights, commenting that: He seamlessly blends being part of the liberal establishment and looks genuinely happy to be at a football match. They added that a scene with children could look very awkward ...
[IMG: Sandgate Sea Festival 2014 poster] August 2014 Events Friday 1st - Last Night of the Proms, St Mary the Virgin, St. Mary in the Marsh Until Sunday 3rd - Billy Smart's Circus, Radnor Park, Folkestone Sunday 3rd - Sittingbourne Paper Band, The Leas Bandstand, Folkestone Monday 4th - unveiling of Step Short Arch by HRH Prince Henry & Parade, The Leas, Folkestone Monday 4th - Keep the Home Fires Burning concert, Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone Monday 4th - Folkestone Town Council Torch-lit procession, The Leas Bandstand, Folkestone Monday 4th - Light in the Darkest Hour, commemoration, Shorncliffe Military Cemetery, ...
Cheadle Area Committee will be at the Ladybridge Residents Club, Edenbridge Road, Cheadle Hulme from 6pm on Tuesday 5th August 2014. This month's meeting includes a report from the local police and Community Safety Unit, Stockport Homes Neighbourhood Action Plans and a proposal for junction protection at the junction of Cranston Grove and Park Road, Gatley.
Our friends at LDHQ Diversity and Outreach have been in touch to remind us that we should be making the most of the next few days by reaching out to our Muslim communities during the celebration of Eid. ALDC members can browse a selection of Eid cards in the Calendar and Cards section of the [...]
Writer and actor Chris Foote Wood, brother of top comedienne Victoria Wood, will be reading the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity at Redcar Town Clock this Friday, August 1st, Yorkshire Day at 11.39am. Mr Foote Wood plays a different character each year. This is the fourth year in succession that Chris as led the Yorkshire Day celebrations at Redcar. Last year he was Charles Dickens, and this year it is the famous Yorkshire navigator and explorer, Captain James Cook. "Research at the family history centre in Whitby shows that I am very distantly related to Captain Cook," said Mr Foote Wood, ...
We join Nick Clegg in wishing those of you who are celebrating today a very happy Eid-al-Fitr. Here is his video message, with transcript underneath: As Ramadan ends, I want to wish Muslims across the UK and around the world a joyful Eid al Fitr. I know that, on both a spiritual and physical level, Ramadan will have meant an intense period of worship and devotion as you strive to draw nearer to God. As Allah says in the Quran – "Oh you who believe, Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that ...
Please see below links to two recent DWP-commissioned reviews that may be of interest. Evaluation of Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy: interim report Independent review of the operation of Jobseeker's Allowance sanctions validated by the Jobseekers Act 2013 The report on the removal of the spare room subsidy comes after party conference passed a [...]
Mon 28th
12:30Opinion: New law needed to tackle millions wasted on public sector redundancy and rehiring
Those of us who exited the NHS as whistleblowers, given the bum's rush and no cash, would not be expected to have much sympathy for the small army of re-tread NHS managers who have been 'made redundant' and then re-hired, sometimes doing essentially the same job in essentially the same area, having recently received a small fortune for notional 'redundancy'. 3,950 NHS staff were made redundant between May 2010 and November 2013 and later re-hired, 2,570 of them on a permanent basis and 1,380 on fixed contracts. Last week's published Department of Health accounts show that the average cost of ...
There were more fatalities when Britain and Germany fought over the islands in 1914 than when Britain and Argentina did seventy years later. Despite the impression one might get from the violence in Syria, Iraq or Ukraine; war is on the decline. You are less likely to be a fatality of conflict now than in [...]
[IMG: School classroom. Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/213004] He isn't a minister. He's not elected. He's not even an unelected member of the House of Lords. But Tim Leunig will be able to look back on this Parliament as one where he made a much bigger contribution than many Liberal Democrat ministers. The cause? The new method for measuring school success in England which he first worked on when at Centre Forum and now has been instrumental into turning into policy as the Department for Education's Chief Analyst. Ministers such as David Laws have been supportive, and Tim Leunig is now ...
Mon 28th
11:15
Social Liberal Conference: Farron on the Radical challenge now the Regan/Thatcher/ Blair consensus i...
On the day Tim Farron's Beveridge lecture was a triumph. The 40 minutes speech was punctuated by warm and spontaneous applause and at the end the delegates rose to their feet without prompting to give him an extended ovation. The speech made folk feel better about themselves and their politics. It has been a rough time for those who come out of the radical tradition. Here, at last, was someone who was speaking about their dreams and hopes. The speech's great virtue was that it was forward looking. It was not picking over the bones of the coalition corpse. It ...
A fascinating editorial in the Guardian last week suggested a parallel between styles of military command and the sclerosis of public service management under Blair and Brown - improved under the coalition but not nearly enough. I have been wondering about this and have been reading a psychological classic to find out more. Norman Dixon was in the Royal Engineers before he was a psychology professor, and so he was well qualified to write On the Psychology of Military Incompetence. I have been scouring the book for evidence of what I have suspected for some time - that there is ...
At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them At eleven am on this day 100 years ago Austria declared war on Serbia. Due to the interconnectiveness of treaties across Europe within a week we had most of the major powers declaring they would be taking part in the Great War, the First World War. I knew that a number of my great uncles had served in the Second World War, but all of them had survived to tell the tale. Though very few of them talked about it much. But with an interest ...
Welcome to the latest in my occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today – the relevant of sleep to election turnout: [IMG: Pills. Photo courtesy of http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1418156 - some right reserved] Having had more or less sleep changes mood and behavior; for example, more sleep associates with greater productivity and a perception that more time is available. This changes the time cost of voting in ways particularly important for the United States, where the general elections are sometimes but not always held 2 days after a 25-hr day, when people typically have had more time to catch up ...
Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder works harder than nine UKIP MEPs put together. She speaks more sense than their entire delegation, of course, but in terms of turning up to vote, it's official: the number of European Parliament divisions she's taken part in since the election is more than the combined total of nine of their lot. Since the new Parliament started at the beginning of July, MEPs have faced 39 roll-call votes in the plenary. This is where all MEPs come together to speak and vote, usually in Strasbourg. Catherine, our sole representative in the European Parliament, has voted ...
[IMG: The first suicide bombing in Syria to definitely involve an American perpetrator has now taken place - at least if a video released by Al-Qaeda is to be believed. Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, from Florida, pledges to blow himself in said piece. It has been confirmed that Mr Abu Salha has died in Syria, but where and when specifically is harder to pin down. There are so many suicide bombings in Syria on a daily basis, it becomes a needle in a haystack exercise. It is estimated that there are as many as ten thousand western fighters in ...
I bet @Calderdale's Labour Cabinet are REALLY looking forward to this :) (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
One of the joys of a site like this is the lively, good-natured and well-informed discussion that can be found under perhaps not quite all of the posts. A vital part of this is the respect that is shown for our comments policy which can be summarised as: be polite, be on-topic, and be who you say you are. We have this policy because we have to take some responsibility for what appears on the site, and because this is our place to talk, not our place to indulge the most abusive people on the internet. (They have many more ...
The Telegraph reports that new planning guidance to be issued by UK Ministers will provide some protection from fracking for National parks and other areas of important countryside. Although they will stop short of a total ban short the Government's new planning guidance will make it harder to drill fracking wells in national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty. The new rules will state that fracking should only be allowed in the most precious areas of British countryside in "exceptional circumstances". Ministers will only approve applications if the gas and oil reserves are so large that they are deemed ...
THE NEXT BLETHER MEETING WILL BE IN THE BURGH COFFEE HOUSE COMMERCIAL STREET TUESDAY 29th JULY 7.00PM - 9.00PM THE THEME FOR THIS MONTH IS................. DREAMS. HOPE TO SEE AS MANY OF OUR REGULARS AS POSSIBLE....AND SOME NEW FACES MAYBE? Looking forward to August we hope to have a Canadian Storyteller as our guest. More information about the group can be accessed here.
Mon 28th
07:56
Interest rate rise effect on mortgages – This could be the biggest threat to economic recovery
Radical steps needed to avoid thousands of repossessions Radical steps are required to ensure that the homes of hundreds of thousands of Britons are not at risk of repossession when the Bank of the England begins increasing interest rates, according to the Resolution Foundation. The foundation has proposed that the Government sets up a scheme to help people avoid losing their homes by making a "soft exit" from the market. One option suggested would be to allow owners to "trade down" to shared ownership, in which a state-funded registered provider would buy a stake in the property, leaving the borrower ...
[IMG: rsz_halsall_war_memorial] Another in my series of tributes in the 100th year since the start of WW1. This memorial is on the busy main road, outside Halsall Parish Church, from Maghull to Southport and will be seen by many motorists each day. Around it are 3 plaques with the names of Halsall people who fell in the 1st and 2nd World Wars. The sobering fact is that many more fell in WW1 than in WW2 as 2 of the 3 plaques cover the dead of the Great War. This photo is amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
A report by the government's official English Housing Survey shows that it is now more expensive the average weekly cost of renting a home in the private sector, £163, is now greater than the £149 weekly cost of servicing a mortgage to buy one. Unfortunately potential new buyers are not earning enough to accumulate the deposit necessary to switch from renting to buying.new. So the rentier class has a field day squeezing the mainly young people caught in this "rent trap" for all, or even more, than they are worth. These is nothing new in this as this lovely prayer, ...
If you work in Cambridge or travel there frequently you might be interested in completing the survey the liberal democrat MP for Cambridge has just put online. Here's the link; http://juliansurvey.co.uk/ Please feel free to share it with your friends/ colleagues.
The Western Mail reports that the Cabinet Office have confirmed that no applications from Wales have been received for the type of "city deal" which has resulted in the UK Government offering up to £500m to boost the infrastructure and economy of Glasgow. David Cameron and Nick Clegg earlier this month announced the funding for Glasgow, which is expected to create 28,000 new jobs by 2035 and generate around £1.75bn of economic activity annually. Other city deals have been agreed with English cities but Cabinet Office minister Greg Clark said: "The Deputy Prime Minister has received no representations from Welsh ...
Before the 2010 election, and for a couple of years afterward, I used to post here a lot on political topics. Since about 2012, though, I've barely talked about politics except in the most abstract manner (things like my Liberal Future series, which I do intend to continue). The reason for this is simple. My [...]
