Rubber Soul had been a shock to Brian Wilson's sense of the music industry. When he heard the Beatles' most recent album in late 1965, he realised for the first time that it was possible to do a whole album with a cohesive feel and no filler [FOOTNOTEIn fact the album he heard, the American [...]
If all goes well the Church Road bridge should be reopened around midnight tonight (Sunday) All the civil engineering work has been completed. The road surface is temporary until the various utility companies have re-diverted their mains, and the final surface will be laid. Temporary barriers and 3-way lights are being installed on Sunday night. The vehicle messaging signs will automatically update to say "Church Road now open" at midnight. All ready for the new school term - well done to all involved.
Being a child of the 60's in literal terms, the bridge between 1970's and 80's to me is kind of blurred. I was not old enough to really know what was going on in the world about me, but at the same time I do have an affinity with this post punk electronic age. I remember going into London at the time (my father worked in the area around St Paul's), the bomb sites and the mess, everywhere
Over the weekend the CIH and the Resolution Foundation released a useful briefing called More than a roof. The focus is largely on the way in which financial incentives could be used to improve standards in the private rented sector. The briefing provides a brief overview of the rapid growth of the private rented sector over the last few years. It then provides a decent summary of the key problems facing the sector, particularly the bottom end of the market where unscrupulous landlords lurk. When the briefing moves on to policy it reviews what is currently being doing about standards ...
Under-pressure Harborough District Council wants an urgent meeting with house builders in the area to ask them: "Can you build any faster?" The council has been asked to build 638 homes a year for the next five years. ... Both the ruling Conservatives and opposition Liberal Democrats say that the new Government-approved house-building figure is much too high. And the Conservatives add that even when enough planning applications are granted, they are completely in the hands of builders who move at a speed dictated by markets - not by local councils or the Government.I suspect the situation in Harborough, as ...
[IMG: rsz__20140831_184941] My old chum and former Sefton Councillor for Maghull's Sudell Ward, Roy Connell, has just completed a 50 mile cycle ride to help raise money for Clatterbridge cancer charity. He is pictured above (right hand side) with a fellow cyclist and Ainsdale friend of Roy's. I understand Roy was 'knackered' after today's ride which started in Banks and went out to Houghton Tower and back. Well done to all the exhausted cyclists, the cause is worth it indeed.
I have had several complaints from residents about the state of parts of the roadway of River Crescent. See photos left and right. I asked the Roads Maintenance Partnership for pothole repairs but also, given the deteriorating state of the road, if resurfacing could be considered for a future programme. I have now received the following helpful response: "An order will be raised by the Roads Maintenance Partnership inspector for pothole repairs to be carried out at this location with a timescale for repair of 28 days or sooner. This area will be considered for thin resurfacing in a future ...
On Wednesday 3 September, Liberal Democrats will launch their pre-manifesto, which will form the backbone of the party's general election platform. The party's focus will be a 'manifesto for the next generation' with a host of policies aimed at improving the life chances of children and young people. Read Nick Clegg's foreword to the pre-manifesto below. This is a manifesto about the future: your future, your children's future, and Britain's future. Since 2010, Liberal Democrats have worked in government to rescue and repair Britain's shattered economy. Growth is up. Jobs are up. Government borrowing is down. The repairs to our ...
Spreading opportunity through education will be at the heart of the Liberal Democrat pre-manifesto. The 80-page document will form the backbone of the party's 2015 election campaign. The party's focus will be a 'manifesto for the next generation' with a host of policies aimed at improving the life chances of children and young people. Throughout the summer Liberal Democrats have announced the following plans designed to create opportunities for young people. These include: Protecting education spendingA parental guarantee of a core curriculum taught by qualified teachersTripling the Early Years Pupil Premium to £1,000 a child Liberal Democrats will also pledge ...
Shropshire Council is rapidly reducing public oversight of public services paid for with public money. Its latest move is to create a new non-profit enterprise to manage public health services. That's a good idea. But it wants transfer the new enterprise into its shadowy company ip&e. That's a bad idea. In April 2013, the government [...]
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 388th 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 (24-30 August, 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. Big Lib Dem win in Newcastle by ...
It's an imperfect way to fundraise but it's weird to gripe about it wasting water If you have any kind of exposure to social media then you have probably seen people having freezing water thrown over themselves in the name of raising money for and awareness of motor neurone disease. You might have been pleased that you [...]
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 13,200 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Alison Goldsworthy quits party saying it's no place for women who "want to deliver change" (78 comments) by The Voice Nicola Sturgeon challenges Nick Clegg to do the Ice Bucket Challenge (7 comments) by Caron Lindsay Coup for UKIP as Tory MP Carswell defects, triggers by-election in Clacton (79 comments) by Stephen Tall Yes Scotland is a bit late to realise that Wings over Scotland is bad news (21 comments) by Caron Lindsay Opinion: Restructuring is ...
I've written before about how one of the most common pieces of online advice – "don't feed the trolls" – is misguided and in fact it is far better to feed them – once that is, and then see what happens. (For the logic behind this see my piece The unsocial web.) Academic and recipient of appalling trolling Mary Beard has taken this even further, literally feeding one troll and helping out another. As The Guardian reports: Academic and TV historian Mary Beard has disclosed her innovative approach to dealing with her vitriolic Twitter trolls - writing them a job ...
Watch the new video from Amnesty International UK: You can also watch this on YouTube.
Sun 31st
12:38
LibLink: Paddy Ashdown: Britain's best defence to the terror threat is international action
In today's Observer, Paddy Ashdown cautions against knee-jerk reactions to the prospect of radicalised Jihadists returning to Britain and wreaking havoc on our streets: He says, basically, that we've dealt with this before, in more difficult circumstances and we know how to do it: On Friday, the government announced that the imminent danger of jihadi attack meant Britain's threat level should be raised to "severe". Then, from the prime minister downwards, Tory ministers took to every available airwave to tell us how frightened we should be and why this required a range of new powers for them to exercise. For ...
There is a meeting of the new Friends of Fox Hollies Park Group this Wednesday at 7pm in Acocks Green Police Station. The aim of the meeting will be to get the Group set up as viable ongoing organisation. There have been quite a few activities in the Park organised already and if you'd like to help make sure they carry on and develop, it would be great to see you there!
A great song by Swindon's finest. The single of this was the first CD I ever bought - some time before I owned a CD player. (I knew it would come in.) You can also find XTC's Love on a Farm Boy's Wages on this blog.
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: You can also watch this on YouTube.
Sam Ghibaldan was Special Adviser to Jim Wallace and Nicol Stephen throughout the Liberal Democrats' 8 years in coalition with Labour at Holyrood from 1999 and 2007. He's written an article for the Scotsman outlining the importance of liberalism in securing us the rights we hold for granted and comparing it with nationalism in the context of the Scottish independence referendum. First he outlines what liberalism has done for us: But at their core is the liberal belief that gradually took root during the 19th century, and was brought to fruition in response to the lives squandered during two world ...
I haven't blogged here for a long time. Liberalism being eroded by the Orange Bookers within the Libdems, a contagion of 'shootings in the foot' by the Liberal Democrat party (the handling of the Rennard case, for instance, makes the blood boil) and the failure of the liberal case to be heard on the broad left explains that. But there is a reason for blogging today about a very liberal issue, the issue of the Union and the threat to it from the Yes campaign for Scottish independence. For while liberals should, and do, cherish local democracy they oppose politics ...
Yesterday, Saturday, was the day of the big Stonewall-Trans meeting in London. The briefest bit of background is in order for those who are not engaged in LGBT politics, or who are reading this in ten years time and don't know what the fuss is about: Stonewall UK are an LGB organisation, not an LGBT organisation. Historically, this has caused problems. But Stonewall is under new management in the form of Chief Executive Ruth Hunt, who is keen to work with the trans communities and build bridges. A few of us have worked with Ruth from when she was the ...
A caveat to this post before I start. Yes, this is a fairly simplistic and basic analysis but lets face it, to get tax and spend plans over to the public not to mention journalists ( many of which are numerically challenged) the Lib Dems need a simple way of explaining its plans. so here goes. Mark Pack has helpfully laid out the pre-manifesto summery here and there is much I can swing behind, the economics behind this lead to some serious questions, especially given these pledges. Balance the budgetSet a course to reduce debt as a share of national ...
Miliband's 'Mandatory De-Radicalisation Prog' @nick_clegg @timfarron we better be agin this (tags: ) 27 Hot Guys With long hair & (mostly) beards. Yes Jason Momoa. But OMG #19. Rawr. (tags: ) Apparently Brighouse is on Route 66 (tags: ) I don't want to be "pruned", thank you, and I sure as Hell don't want my daughter to be (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
It's almost September, and, let's face it, now that the X Factor's back, tithe countdown to Christmas has begun, so I should probably forget all these leisurely Sunday morning lie-ins and actually start having a look at what's in the papers again. [IMG: sundaypaps] When terror threats are raised, for me the first question is not "Is something awful going to happen on our streets?" It's "Which of our precious freedoms are the Government planning to take from us?" With Liberal Democrats in Government that anxiety is considerably less than it would be if there were none, but it is ...
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention in the past couple of days... BBC News – George Galloway 'badly bruised' after street attack Attack on George Galloway shows why even joking about wanting to punch political opponents really isn't that funny http://bbc.in/XZt7qN A Tory schism is now all but inevitable | The Times Parris on Carswell. Brutal, brilliant: "Where is the principle, where is the integrity, where is the honour?" http://thetim.es/1tUiWP1
[IMG: Obesity] County and Unitary Authorities now have responsibility for implementing public health measures. In response to its new duty, Hertfordshire County Council's Health & Wellbeing Board has devised a strategy to encourage the maintenanceof a "healthy weight" at all stages of life. This can be checked simply and easily by a rough estimate called the BMI ("Body Mass Index") which can be calculated from a person's weight in kilogrammes multiplied by the square of their height in metres. People are advised to keep their BMI between 18 and 25, though persons of S Asian or Chinese origin (who are ...
A website launched recently by the Cabinet Office urges members of the public to find neglected government-owned buildings that could be sold. The site lists around 31,000 publicly owned assets and is intended to encourage individuals and organisations to challenge central and local government about underused property. Under a "right to contest" introduced in January, anyone can now force the government to explain why a building or plot is not being used fully and, if the department that owns it cannot justify its current use, it will be forced to release it for sale. The site is reached via the ...
Before anybody else asks: I haven't blocked you on twitter. I haven't blocked anybody that wasn't already blocked on twitter. I have deactivated my account. It is only temporary, don't worry. It's just that my whelm kind of went over for various reasons yesterday and I needed to shut down properly. I've had a decent night's sleep now and I'm going to the gym and both of those things usually help my brain to sort itself out. TTYL. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: Vince Cable and Nick Clegg voting at party conference. Photo courtesy of the Liberal Democrats - https://www.flickr.com/photos/libdems/2866415066/ - some rights reserved] Today's output from the summer Lib Dem policy production line is the pre-manifesto foreword from Nick Clegg, which summarises the document's overall approach plus a few of the economic and education policy headlines. Here it is: The full slate of policies will be revealed when the pre-manifesto is published. It will include plans to: Finish the job fairly: Balance the budget Rebalance and rewire the economy to cut out carbon, rebuild our national infrastructure, embrace new technology and ...
[IMG: scotland photo] In the Scottish Independence campaign, much is being made of Friday's Survation poll which showed Yes on 47%. An article in the Guardian flags this up and says: The momentum appears to be with the Yes campaign. (By the way, that phrase is one we have heard repeatedly from Salmond and Sturgeon over the last year, only for it to be proved that the Yes-No gap is not narrowing). There is one slight snag with this. That Survation poll shows the No campaign ahead by six points. That same poll by Survation showed the No lead at ...
Politics Home has an interesting article about the issues faced by police officers who are keen users of socila media. The problem appears to be that it is easy to get carried away. They say that an FOI request by the Press Association has revealed that there have been 828 disciplinary cases in England and Wales in the past five years, with some officers accused of making racist comments on social media: In 9% of cases, the police officers resigned, retired or were dismissed - and it 14% there was no further action taken. The Met police in London reported ...
Residents have mentioned to me the overgrown trees that sit at the far west end of Scott Street are now so high that they protrude across the south pavement of Pentland Avenue. I took at this concern with the City Council and the Assistant Forestry Officer has updated me as follows : "I have inspected the trees along the south side of Pentland Ave as per your constituents' enquiry. There are a number of trees and other vegetation that is beginning to obstruct headroom and encroach the footway for pedestrians, (Scott street junction to City Road junction). My intention will ...
[IMG: Cameron and Davis] What-ifs are, as Peter Snow would say, just a bit of fun: a counter-factual parlour game for historians. It is impossible to know exactly how one event ricocheting off in a different direction would have altered the subsequent reality. This one does genuinely intrigue me, though: What if David Davis had won the Tory leadership contest in 2005, rather than David Cameron? Davis did, after all, begin as favourite. His disastrous 2005 party conference – a dud photo-op and a lacklustre speech – coupled with David "let sunshine win the day" Cameron's triumph meant his second ...
Last week I was invited to a "working lunch" with a few other Liberals. The initial idea was to discuss proposals for the 2015 manifesto but we realised that we couldn't realistic do this as, presumably, the Liberal Democrat manifesto will be based on policy resolutions from our Conferences, and we didn't have a sufficiently comprehensive knowledge of these. So the terms of reference for our lunch were reduced to a general chat about our party's predicament and how to improve matters. However, by that time I had put together my "wish list", so here it is: A manifesto 2014? ...
... the Liberal Democrats will not win the forthcoming Clacton by-election. If tonight's opinion polls turn out to be at all accurate Clacton will be the scene of the largest ever by election swing - at a massive 47.5% to UKIP. I think a UKIP victory of that size is unlikely, but they are rightly clear favourites: At the last local elections (the counties in 2013) UKIP were just 1,000 votes behind the Tories (8,200:7,200) with Tendring First picking up almost 4,000 votes - Labour were a bit behind in fourth and the Lib Dems and Greens fighting over avoiding ...
