#90775433 / gettyimages.com You can also watch a video of the former Great Western mainline from Birmingham Snow Hill to Shrewsbury in this era.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

[IMG: sunlight-over-picket-fence_w725_h544] The party has recently been trailing hints of the content and priorities of the new manifesto. One released last week was an announcement touting a ringfence of the science budget. They write: The manifesto plans include ringfencing the science research budget and introducing a green innovation arm to the British Business Bank. It's great that the manifesto team have chosen to flag investment in science and innovation as a reason to vote Liberal Democrat in the 2015 general election, but what a meagre and unambitious announcement this was. One worrying sign is the wording mentioning only the 'research ...

Posted by Ed Long on aldes.org.uk
Wed 27th
21:48

Wednesday meetings

At teatime tonight, I attended a drop-in session at Blackness Library I had helped arrange for local businesses at which Royal Bank of Scotland officials were on hand to offer advice on banking products and issues. Thereafter, along with representatives of the Friends of Balgay, one of my ward colleagues and a City Council Environment Department officer, I attended the latest Balgay Stakeholders' Group meeting that took place in the pavilion at Lochee Park. The group discusses projects and issues at Balgay Park, the Hill, Cemetery and Victoria Park and we had a really good meeting covering a number of ...

I have some sympathy for the Department of Education. They have only known for years and years that the population was rising and the birthrate shooting up, and could hardly have had time to plan for it. And when children have to be found places - and the population hotspots have serious problems already - what can you do but add a new classroom on the remaining green space? I understand that, but I have rather more sympathy for the local education authorities who have the responsibility for finding places but none of the resources with which to provide them. ...

Posted by David Boyle on The Real Blog

Northampton has its clown: Market Harborough, it seems, has a homophobic monk. The Leicester Mercury reports: A man dressed in a monk's habit has posted "vile" homophobic leaflets through doors in Leicestershire. Police have launched a hate crime investigation into the incident, which happened on Tuesday afternoon in part of Market Harborough. Several people have complained about the leaflets which claimed homosexuality was a sin, immoral, a pathological condition and the work of "the Devil". It also claimed homosexuality was "directly linked to pagan idolatry and its attendant depravity" and that events such as Leicester Pride were "lewd occasions".The paper ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

LibDem policy to guarantee sex and relationship education for seven and up has been published to a muted fanfare and the usual prurient response. Broadly the idea is to ensure that from as young an age as possible, children in all schools including academies and free schools get good solid teaching about relationships and about sex as appropriate. Part of the aim is to prevent the kind of abuse that we have seen in Rotherham by enabling children to avoid getting into difficult situations. But it is about much more than that, the ability to make sensible decisions about relationships ...

Posted by Rob Parsons on A comfortable place

[IMG: rsz_lambshear_lane_27_08_2014] So pleased this work is finally being done (see photo above) to try to protect the verge that runs along the boundary of St Greg's Primary School. Last winter and indeed the one before the verge here was so badly churned up it looked more like a war zone or a speedway track! I was approached by Lydiate residents asking for my help in trying to stop the vehicle parking on the verge. The problem seemed to be at its worst when the School hired out its football pitches outside School hours when the families of participants would ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

#454246042 / gettyimages.com Offering "robust scrutiny of all things political in and around Rotherham," the website Rotherham Politics is indispensable reading this week. Its archives go back to 2008.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Stephen Tall tells us that today is Liberal Democrat Voice's eighth birthday. Many happy returns. Looking through my own archives, I find that I was saying nice things about it as early as 14 September 2006: Welcome and congratulations to Liberal Democrat Voice, which already seems to be establishing itself as the place for Lib Dem discussion on the net. Natural selection operates pretty ruthlessly there, so it is obviously doing a lot right.And that remains true today.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

[IMG: 20 pound note. Photo courtesy of steved_np3 on Sxx.hu] What's the last thing you would want to happen on postal voters' polling day? How about your own side putting out a broadcast that is beyond terrible? Better Together's latest effort, showing a woman's two minute clumsy, contrived monologue as she makes up her mind to vote No. It was Rosie Barnes and her rabbit without the political intelligence. I'm willing to accept that I may not be its target audience. After all, I am a thoroughly committed No voter and this will have been aimed at undecided women in ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov

Last week a by-election was held to fill a vacancy for the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner caused by the death of the holder of the post Bob Jones. In total just 10.3% of the electorate turned out to ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

[IMG: libdemvoice] 8 years ago today LibDemVoice appeared for the very first time. The first story? 'Hughes certain to be challenged for party Presidency'. He, erm, wasn't. But, still, the site soon established itself as a fixture in the Lib Dem blogsophere thanks to the early efforts of the founding team: Rob Fenwick, Mark Pack, Ryan Cullen, Alex Foster, Will Howells and Richard Huzzey (Ryan and Alex are still with the site to this day). There was a brief wobble in May 2007, when Rob announced his departure. But a new team stepped up — that's when I joined — ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

As a rather late LibDem, I needed to study the excellent John Campbell biography of Roy Jenkins, "A well rounded life" more than most. It has given me a schooling in foundational Party history that I sorely lacked. Thank you to Matt Turner, commenting here, for the recommendation. If I'd read it on Kindle, these [...]

Posted by freethinkingeconomist on Freethinking Economist

Recent reports about the death of Robin Williams and depression and suicide do not make comfortable reading. His death raises questions about whether mental health is given the same priority as many physical disorders. Lib Dem Councillor Gary Malcolm The death reminded me of my best friend at school, who sadly ended his own life by jumping from a viaduct. Why would someone intelligent and personable end their own life without feeling able to discuss troubles with family or friends? There was no note left, and many of the questions were never answered. Looking at the wider picture, suicide rates ...

Posted by Gary Malcolm on Councillor Gary Malcolm

It seems that someone supports Boris's proposal to make people guilty until proven innocent: Britain's most senior police chief has called for wide-ranging new powers to tackle homegrown terrorism, including a "rebuttable presumption" that anyone who visits Syria without prior notice should be treated as a terror suspect. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, chief constable of the Metropolitan police, also called for a return of control orders and said Britons who wage jihad in Syria or Iraq should be stripped of their passports. When did we become a country where it's acceptable for senior police officers, speaking in an official capacity, to ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With
Wed 27th
18:53

Become My Patr(e)on

People have been telling me for a while that I should set up a Patreon account, and so I've decided to do so — . Basically Patreon lets you give me small amounts of money every month if you like my writing. I don't expect many people will take me up on this, but since [...]

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

[IMG: Mansion] In many ways a Mansion Tax is a tax on London. That's the way the distribution of property prices around the country works out – and it's one reason why I think Danny Alexander made a mistake in deciding to talk about Mansion Tax plans in the media just before the London council elections. It's also the reason that many Liberal Democrats in London are nervous about the political impact in their patch of a Mansion Tax. It was, for example, the area of party policy that was most heavily criticised in a recent session I led for ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Acocks Green Focus Group (of which I am a member) is celebrating its 10th Anniversary with a party at Acocks Green Costa Coffee on Friday 5th September. The Party will run from 5.30pm to 7pm and will include entertainment from Folk Acoustic Duo Annie and Bob James. There is no charge for admission and Costa's range of coffee and cakes will be on sale as normal. The Focus Group started with a successful campaign to save the famous grassed traffic island at the heart of Acocks Green Village, when there were proposals to reduce its size to accommodate changes to ...

Posted by rogerharmer on Roger Harmer

In March, the Frome Vale Area Forum awarded funding for a new length of footpath on Dodington Road, in response to safety concerns raised by local residents. Local people now have an opportunity to comment on the proposals. You can view the plans online and email comments to transportservices@southglos.gov.uk - the deadline for comments is Tuesday 9th September.

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

South Glos wants your views on proposed changes to the local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS). In April 2013, CTRS replaced the national council tax benefit. Depending on their income and other factors, people may be entitled to money off their council tax bill. With reduced funding, last year the council had to make some difficult decisions about how best to protect the most vulnerable. The scheme for 2014/15 placed people into 8 income bands with an 80% discount for the lowest income band and smaller discounts as you went up the bands. The Lib Dems successfully proposed giving the ...

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington
eUKhost

The Liberal Democrat group on St Albans District Council have welcomed news that the cardboard collection service is to be improved. Cllr Chris White said: 'We have long criticised the entirely avoidable near collapse of the cardboard collection regime that we brought in when we were running the District Council. Far too many people have been left with huge piles of cardboard in their garages or been forced to ship materials to the household waste recycling centre, when previously they were able to rely on the District Council to collect. 'It does seem that the Conservatives have now bowed to ...

Posted by chriswhite on Chris White

Liberal Democrat PPC for Hampstead and Kilburn Maajid Nawaz has been setting out for War on the Rocks why Islamism has become so prevalent in the Middle East and what those who want to see a secular, liberal society need to do about it. First of all, he outlines some key factors that have driven the growth of Islamism: Put simply, it comes down to five structural distinctions that make Islamist movements so potent in ways that their secular, liberal competitors are not. When combined, these tools create Islamism, this blatant manipulation of religion, an attractive ideology that will almost ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: American Apparel shop front. Photo courtesy of - some right reserved] [IMG: Trust Me I'm Lying - book cover] Like Damian McBride, Ryan Holiday is a repentant spinner. Whilst McBride's beat was British politics, Holiday's is American culture, including time as Director of Marketing for the controversial clothing firm American Apparel. As with Damian McBride's book Power Trip, you certainly shouldn't take as an instruction manual Holiday's accounts of how he regularly manipulated, bamboozled and fooled bloggers and the media into running false, exaggerated and self-serving stories. But as with McBride too, along the way there is also ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

[IMG: police_elections] We often use the phrase 'elective dictatorship' to describe the British system of government, reflecting that the nature of our system means that a Government with a majority in Parliament can do pretty much as it wants until the next election. Unlike most actual dictatorships, there are constraints to that power and a Prime Minister or Government can be removed from power if enough of their party decide they want to get rid of them. Despite 'elective dictatorship' not normally being regarded as a positive description, recent years have seen it being rolled out across other forms of ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

It is now widely-known that the Metropolitan Police Force has engaged numerous undercover police officers in covertly infiltrating various organisations which 'might be' dangerously subversive over many years. Several such officers have'deepened' their cover by forming sexual and emotional relationships with memebers of the organisations concerned and have even brought up young children in these circumstances: two such officers have now been named in court proceedings and the existence of almost a dozen others has been acknowledged. Although private civil prosecutions are proceeding against both individuals and the Metropolitan Police, the Crown Prosecution Service has recently published statement that there ...

Posted by Tony Dawson on Liberal Democrat Voice

Two very different but very funny takes on the Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon from the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West. Mindful of some concerns of wasting water, Alistair Carmichael did his with iced sea water from the beautiful Tingwall Pier near his Orkney home. He started with a thinly veiled threat of terrible revenge on those who nominated him and then: Afterwards, after a cup of tea and change of clothes, he challenged the supermarkets to back the campaign, given that they were benefitting from increased ice sales; People who are aware ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

Group canvassing sessions are a good way to motivate your team to get canvassing, to introduce newer activists to door knocking or telephoning and to make a major impact on an area or group of people. Sessions can be either doorstep session or group telephone canvasses. Good preparation Whatever you are doing, the key to [...]

As a democratic party it is important that we have a fair, open and transparent process for choosing the people who stand for us in elections. The procedure is not designed to be complicated or onerous, but is intended to ensure we get the best candidates and that everyone who put themselves forward is given [...]

Posted by Anders Hanson on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

Last weekend I met up with a number of other 50-somethings. Only one of us was still working. The universal advice to her was that she should stop as soon as she could. It wasn't worth it. Anecdote is no substitute for serious analysis, but it can offer some interesting insights. Economists usually ignore the idea of satiation – that enough is enough – because this wrecks their mathematical models. But it is a growing fact of life in the developed world, and one reason why it is unrealistic to expect everlasting economic growth. Of course, many 50-somethings are not ...

Posted by Matthew on thinking liberal

[IMG: Harriet Harman. Photo courtesy of - some rights reserved] Despite some reforms introduced by Labour in the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 (on which see the guide I wrote), unincorporated associations continue to offer rather a loophole when it comes to donations to political parties. Hence I find myself both agreeing with the Labour Party whilst also blaming them when Labour has started complaining about the Conservative Party's use of the the remaining loopholes. As The Times reported yesterday: The Conservatives have received donations of more than £5 million from secretive organisations that allow donors to keep ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

[IMG: led street] With the wider availability of new technology (light emitting diodes or LEDs) it is now becoming feasible to replace the county's street lights. By moving from the types of fluorescent lighting elements (or "lanterns" as they say in the trade) currently used, we will benefit from lower energy costs, greater reliability, simpler administration and more flexible control. Obviously there is a significant cost associated with this changeover, so it will be brought in over a number of years. However, most of the present lights are of a type which will in any case, need to be replaced ...

Posted by nickhollinghurst on Nick Hollinghurst

In last week's Weekly Briefing, ALDC's Senior Political Officer Anders Hanson discussed council candidate approval. This members-only briefing contains an introduction to the approval process, as well as a package of useful documents made available for download.

Posted by Anders Hanson on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

The party has recently been trailing hints of the content and priorities of the new manifesto. One released last week was an announcement touting a ringfence of the science budget. They write: The manifesto plans include ringfencing the science research budget and introducing a green innovation arm to the British Business Bank. It's great that the manifesto team have chosen to flag investment in science and innovation as a reason to vote Liberal Democrat in the 2015 general election, but what a meagre and unambitious announcement this was. One worrying sign is the wording mentioning only the 'research budget', which ...

Posted by Ed Long on Liberal Democrat Voice

It dawned on me yesterday, my wedding anniversary, that a baby born on the day I was married would, as of now, be ineligible for automatic membership of Liberal Youth, having reached the age of 26 years. That is a very scary thought. It's been a very long time since I was eligible to stand in Liberal Youth elections, but I am now their Returning Officer for their annual elections. This is a reminder that nominations for their Executive at Federal level and for Liberal Youth England close at 8pm tonight. You can see details of all the posts available ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

In 2013 the Government granted monies to Greater Manchester which will allow for a £20 million investment (over two years) in cycling infrastructure. The aim is to increase the percentage of journeys that are made in the county by bike. One of the first aspects of this investment is a proposed Manchester – Prestwich cycle route, which links the city centre to Prestwich and Middleton ending in Heaton Park. The proposed route goes from Heaton Park and uses quieter roads and some new 'cycle only' paths through Collyhurst and the Irk Valley towards the city centre. [IMG: Screenshot 2014-08-27 10.17.32] ...

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

Hot on the heels of my Flickr stats, I am pleased to report that another viewings milestone has been reached. My videos on YouTube have now been watched 3.5 million times. There are 884 videos on my channel with a long queue of more waiting to be edited and uploaded. The most viewed video continues to be the one I filmed in a former Soviet submarine base deep inside a mountain in the Crimean town

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

[IMG: Bercow pic 3] The Speaker of the House of Commons seems to fill lots of people in Westminster with outright bile these days; they call him arrogant and in extremis say that the Rt Hon Bercow is trying to start some sort of revolution from the inside. His list of enemies is growing all the time, particularly with his latest ploy of bringing in Carol Mills as Commons Clerk, an outsider who was interviewed for the position and is Australian to boot. Jobs for the boys being junked by giving Westminster's plum job to a foreigner - what has ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

The Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act 2005 makes it an offence to leave two or more motor vehicles parked within 500 metres of each other on a road or roads where they are exposed or advertised for sale or causes two or more motor vehicles to be so left but this would not of course apply to individual vehicles. This legislation is endeavouring to prevent people from running commercial car sales from the public highway. A council should not put notices on cars as this is in effect a trespass and criminal offence.

Posted by Alan Winter on Alan D Winter ~ life blog

Boris Johnson's presumption of guilt is a dreadful idea that will create more terrorists (tags: ) Ministry of Justice fined for breaking the law. (tags: ) Tories should back statutory sex education, says Health Committee Chair Sarah Wollaston: lord love her. (tags: ) Dadabhai Naoroji Awards to honour people who have furthered UK/Indian relations Named after the UK's first MP of Indian extraction, a Liberal OfC (and over 100 years ago too). (tags: ) Flowchart: Should You Catcall Her? - in which I share a Playboy article #qtwtain (tags: ) Letters of Note: <3 Frank Lloyd Wright (tags: ) I ...

The Atlantic reports new research suggesting that a big determinant of the success of a relationship is how the couple deal with relationship milestones. If they make a proactive decision to say get married or move in together then that appears to work out better than just sliding into them: For couples, deciding means taking [...]

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

Just to let people know that Simister Green had a special street clean last week following a request from me in response to local residents. The team have I understand cleaned a number of areas, but remained constrained by the overhanging bushes at the western side of the green, which – which I will see if it is possible to have cleared. [IMG: photo] Please let me know if there are further issues to take up.

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

Firstly I'd like to apologise for the lateness for my August blog. Rosie and I took the kids away to Spain for a fortnight. It was nice to get away for a couple of weeks. I hope you had the chance to do the same over the summer. As we head into September we are [...]

Posted by Craig Whittall on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors
Wed 27th
09:45

Metrolink Pigeon Update

Just an update on the continuing issue of pigeons and their droppings at the two Metrolink bridges near to Prestwich station. After requests from me Metrolink have repaired the netting at the pedestrian bridge (Poppythorn Lane), and I have requested that Metrolink now take action on the road bridge (Fairfax Road) where the netting has almost vanished. [IMG: Screenshot 2014-08-27 09.40.04] In the meantime the Council have agreed to undertake a power wash of the pavement underneath the bridge which has become very slippery as a result of the pigeons. Tim

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

If all that I knew of the Liberal Democrats was the pronouncements from the centre and the debate on Liberal Democrat Voice, I would probably be pretty depressed. That isn't to say that it hasn't been a bit grim of late, as the fire of the Party seems to be turned on itself, aided and abetted by outsiders with little fondness for liberalism or, in some cases, interest in its survival in our country. In some cases, where people have been hurt, or failed by the Party, I understand their unhappiness, even whilst wishing that it wasn't so. And if ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

[IMG: Feminist fist by Eva the Weaver] The Liberal Democrats are a feminist party. When I first wrote that down I knew it would be a controversial statement among a minority, but right now I think it's going to cause a wider stir. It shouldn't. When I first read the Lib Dem constitution, it seemed obvious that liberalism as it is expressed there, is feminist. Feminism as I understand it describes a movement that aims to achieve true equality of opportunity, as reflected in more equal outcomes between genders. My support for that movement is why I joined a party ...

Posted by Alice Thomas on Liberal Democrat Voice

Last night, I attended the first Friends of Blackness meeting of the new term. Friends of Blackness undertakes both the Parent Council and Parent Teacher Association roles at Blackness Primary School. It was an extremely positive meeting, not least because of the excellent news about the recent Education Scotland inspection report on the school. This report can be downloaded here. The report is extremely positive and a real credit to Gordon Ferrier, Head Teacher, his excellent team of staff and the pupils and parents of the school. Other topics discussed tonight included the welcome extension to the school dining hall ...

[IMG: Danny Alexander. Photo courtesy of the Liberal Democrats. Some rights reserved - https://www.flickr.com/photos/libdems/8043941203/] I've written just a few times about the financial pressure building up in the proposals being made for the Liberal Democrat general election manifesto. With lots of goodies being floated in the media, combined with an aim of removing the structural deficit by the middle of the next Parliament, it's hard to see how the sums will add up without requiring significant further cuts in those areas of public spending that have not been blessed so far with commitments such as the ring-fencing for the NHS ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The search for simple answers to what happened in Rotherham is on. So let me cut through the crap and give you one. It wasn't video games or music videos as some claim. Or religion and PC brigades (Why always brigades and never divisions, battalions or platoons?) as others claim. The simple reason is that wicked men with a warped sence of morality had the means, motive and opportunity to take advantage of young girls and were allowed to do so for so long because the people charged with protecting those girls failed ( and in some cases it seems ...

Posted by Carl Minns on Carl Minns - Thoughts from Hull

Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of visiting the MS Therapy Centre in Peddie Street, where I had a very positive meeting with the centre's committee and had a tour of the excellent facilities. The photo below is of myself and some of the committee at the centre yesterday:For those who kindly nominated me for the ice bucket challenge, I can't take this up (for the very obvious reason that I had a serious bout of pneumonia earlier this year) but I made a donation to the centre in lieu of taking up the challenge. The centre is looking for ...

The Echo has the story – see link above. I really do hope that this latest big plan works but readers of this very site will know only too well from my reviews of previous Merseytravel 'big plans', as they were were covered in the railway press, how they pretty much failed on the majority of counts. My postings can be read from the link below:- But I would also raise another matter which I had to bring to the table via a motion to the last Sefton Council meeting. The matter? No mention what so ever in ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Sinderins Court Yesterday morning, I met with the residents' association that represents the tenants at Sinderins and Pennycook Courts. We had a good discussion about various local issues including trees, an unsightly gap site, service charges and other issues. The residents' group works hard for all the people at Pennycook Court and Sinderins Court and it was a useful and positive meeting.

American police are more trigger happy than British criminals – "Americans are three times more likely to be killed by a police officer with a gun than someone in Britain is by a criminal with one." 'We Have Always Fought': Challenging the 'Women, Cattle and Slaves' Narrative – An essay from the Hugo-winning writer Kameron Hurley. "Half the world is full of women, but it's rare to hear a narrative that doesn't speak of women as the people who have things done to them instead of the people who do things. More often, women are talked about as a man's ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With
Wed 27th
08:11

Ambassadors for evidence

The need for scientists and policymakers to work together around the world has never been greater. Sir Mark Walport, the UK governments chief scientific adviser, sets out his agenda for science diplomacy Ebola infections, wars in the Middle East, an erupting volcano in Iceland a glance at newspaper headlines in London last week shows how important issues requiring policy decisions are not constrained by national boundaries. However, the science advisory systems that help policymakers are predominantly national, matching the basic structure of democratic mandates. As our economies, our societies, our health and wellbeing become increasingly globalised, science advice needs to ...

Posted by Sir Mark Walport on Political science | The Guardian

As scientists and policymakers gather in Auckland for a global summit on scientific advice, what lessons can we identify that apply across diverse national systems? Scientific advice has never been in greater demand; nor has it been more contested. From climate change to cyber-security, poverty to pandemics, food technologies to fracking, the questions being asked of scientists, engineers and other experts by policymakers, the media and the wider public continue to multiply. At the same time, the authority and legitimacy of experts is under increasing scrutiny, particularly in areas that spark intense debate, such as climate change, energy choices and ...

Posted by James Wilsdon, Kristiann Allen and Katsia Paulavets on Political science | The Guardian

If like me you are still smarting at not having tickets to the Kate Bush comeback concerts then you may well find some solace in this video as highlighted in the Independent. This is the iconic moment she appeared before a confused-looking Delia Smith to talk vegetarianism, adding Marmite to vegetables and difficult task of cooking rice ("You just add it to salt water, really," she wisely recounts). The year was 1980. The show was part of the Smith's BBC Cookery Course series. "One day I had a stew and there was a bit of meat in the stew and ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Nick Clegg is looking for a new member of staff - and it's the easiest job in the world. Here's how a typical day might go... Nick Clegg's new member of staff: "Hi can we arrange a leader's visit to your marginal seat?" Marginal seat member of staff: "No, thanks, we'd like to win thank you" Nick Clegg is on -43%.

Posted by Dan Falchikov on Living on words alone