Sat 20th
23:06

Saturday song

It's time for that fantastic alliterative replacement for 'Friday favourite' - it's a post referendum 'Saturday song':

Posted by Dan Falchikov on Living on words alone

Each episode of the second series of The All New Alexei Sayle Show, broadcast in 1995, featured a Drunk in Time sketch. This was a parody of a long-forgotten American series called The Time Tunnel. As well as Alexei Sayle, they featured Jenny Agutter and Alfred Marks as the controllers and Jim Carter as an historical figure. Here he is King Herod. And Sayle's fellow traveller in time was played by an actor called Peter Capaldi. Whatever happened to him?

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

[IMG: Dr Jenny Woods, Aldes Vice Chair, Science] We're delighted that our Vice Chair Dr Jenny Woods has been selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Reading East. Jenny is an extremely influential campaigner both within and beyond the Liberal Democrats. She notably proposed a successful amendment to the civil liberties policy motion at the party's Spring Conference in 2012 laying out safeguards against infringements of online freedoms and disproportionate state surveillance. This was months before the full details of the planned Communications Capabilities Development Programme were revealed and over a year before the Snowden revelations brought ...

Posted by Aldes Admin on aldes.org.uk

In Oakham today to visit the Dowager Lady Bonkers in hospital, I noticed that at one time the practice in the town was to paint street names on the side of houses. Some, like Station Street, are well preserved. Others, like Kings Road, have decayed. And some, like Long Row, have been imaginatively vandalised.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

A blog post by Felicity Gerry QC has today left me thinking again about the verdict in the Oscar Pistorius trial. I need to disclaim at the very start that I saw very, very little of the actual trial and thus did not have the evidence in front of me that was placed in front of the judge. However, given the provocative title of Ms. Gerry's post, 'The Oscar Pistorius verdict: was it a miscarriage of justice?', I was slightly surprised at her conclusion that "justice was done and seen to be done. It may or may not be the ...

Posted by Chris Connolly on A Yellow Guard
Sat 20th
19:22

Need For Speed Reduction

I am not against cars. I have owned one for many years and there are many benefits to using them but they do have their problems. They kill people and cause road rage (with a little help from the drivers). They harm the environment. They raise stress levels even without road rage. They are particularly a problem in urban areas. Everyone in Morecambe and Lancaster will tell you about our traffic jams as we must have some of the best in the country. In rural areas cars are often a necessity so if we want to get people out of ...

Posted by Michael Gradwell on Politics for Novices

This troublesome plant has been causing problems in Foxhouse Lane, Maghull for some time; at least 15 to 18 years to my knowledge. The plant is on Network Rail land which forms the embankment of the Liverpool – Ormskirk railway line just north of Maghull Station. [IMG: rsz_more_knot_weed] Click on the photo to enlarge it My old chum and former Maghull Town Councillor Charles Walker (see photo above) was tackling it over 15 years ago and he got what was then Railtrack to take action to try to eradicate it. I recall Charles, now a young 93, reminding Railtrack for ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Ok we have all seen the conspiracy theories but here are some of the facts that would have to have been different if the Yes side really had to overcome the silent majority to win. I started to crunch these numbers when someone actually said the result wasn't a landslide to which someone else used the Politico definition: a landslide election win is one in which the winning candidate beats his opponent by at least 10 percentage points. But I decided to look at it this way. What would have been required out of the available votes remaining to turn ...

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal

The Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners, to give it its Sunday name, is recruiting two paid Campaigns and Communications internships based in Manchester from next month to June next year. From their site: This is a full-time role, paid at the UK National Minimum Wage (£6.50 per hour for over 21 years olds), based at our Manchester city centre offices. ALDC is the national organisation for Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners. This is an exciting opportunity to be involved in the work of the organisation in the run up to the 2015 General Election. The successful applicants will ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: Dorothy Thornhill] My co-editor Stephen Tall is incredibly efficient. He's off on holiday, but he managed to edit his post on where we are with candidates in our held and top target seats to include Dorothy Thornhill's selection in Watford before he headed to the airport at some ridiculous hour of the night. Dorothy is currently in her fourth term as Mayor of Watford, elected for the first time in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, 2010 and in May this year. She's a former teacher. Party President Tim Farron welcomed her selection on Twitter last night: I'm over the ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov

So, Scotland having voted to remain in the Union but with an understanding that there will be greater devolution to their Parliament, we can now move on to what it means for the rest of us. Luckily, as a Liberal Democrat, I understand and accept the logic of devolution, of subsidiarity and federalism, which is that things will be different in different places, with a greater priority placed on X in Y, as opposed to Z. And, frankly, assuming that we can annex the Waveney Valley and North Essex, and make Ros our constitutional monarch, the notion of a free ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

Well this is a sticky wicket. Firstly I should say that for those of you who don't regularly read my blog will know that when it comes to rail travel and the EXTORTIONATE amount of time and money I throw at the railway system, I am apolitical on this subject. No party, no government is innocent in the journey that has led to this day. However I'm.... happy with the final decision that has led to Southeastern having their contract renewed. Perhaps happy is too strong a word. However I can see the logic behind it. I first read about ...

Posted by Chris Sams on The Ginger Liberal from Medway

[IMG: Devolution is about taking power away from here.] Devolution is about taking power away from here. Devolution is about devolving power. There's a clue in the name. Which is why talk of English devolution that slips into talking about English MPs voting on English laws misses what English devolution should really be about. Not about a smaller number of MPs keeping power still to themselves, but about devolving power away from MPs downwards to local government (and possibly regional government, though the appetite for creating a new layer of government across England is fairly limited – better to look ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

We're less than 8 months away from the May 2015 election so here's my latest running check on how candidate selection is going in our held and key target seats... [IMG: Lib Dems winning here] I published a first draft of this list a year ago, and asked readers to help me update it. Many thanks to those of you who have helped me keep it updated, including the party's Candidates Services Office. Here's the latest version of the list of (re-)selections in our held seats and the top 50 targets for the party. It's a snapshot of how the ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

Independent on Sunday front page – "Who to believe" #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #indyref pic.twitter.com/I5DyzXeMPl — Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) September 13, 2014 When I first saw this tweet, late last Saturday night, my immediate and admittedly facile response was "Neither of them". Alex Salmond was propounding a vision for an independent Scotland that was no doubt seductive for many, but was panglossian in its optimism. For me, the Yes campaign was irresponsible in the way he blithely dismissed all requests for detail or serious engagement with potential risks. It was premised on a blatant failure to acknowledge the geopolitical realities that an ...

Posted by admin on Alex's Archives

I wrote yesterday about some of the powers that Northern Ireland wanted to have added to Stormont. It may have been because I was lacking sleep, or maybe because I didn't think anybody really realistically wanted to bring either of these two into our control that I left them off that piece. However, yesterday I was reminded that my piece was lacking a couple of things. Firstly in light of the referendum Sinn Féin have called for a similar choice here in Northern Ireland, only for it to be should Northern Ireland become part of united Irish state rather than ...

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal

[IMG: Financial trading screens. Image courtesy of - some rights reserved] In the run-up to 2000, huge amounts of time and money went into upgrading IT systems in order to avoid the 'millennium bug' (Y2K) – a fear that a use of two year dates (e.g. recording 1983 as 83) would cause problems when 1999 became 2000, with computers seeing 99 change to 00 and thinking we were back in 1900 or being so confused as not to know what year it was at all any more. The absence of actual problems when the time came is either an ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

As the Scottish referendum recedes with almost unseemly haste into the background, the country as a whole is now confronting an arguably far more disconcerting prospect than Scotland leaving. The largest part of the Union, England, has finally been allowed to move to the top of the list of problems to be dealt with. With such a vast preponderance in population and wealth, and relatively low share of public expenditure per capita (97% of the UK average as a whole, with some regions as low as 83% of that) and no devolved government to speak of aside from the London ...

[IMG: andy-graham-at-clacton-lib-dem-office] Events in Scotland have rather dominated these past few weeks, but we shouldn't forget there's another election soon to take place: the by-election in Clacton triggered by Douglas Carswell's defection from the Tories to Ukip. Early polls shows Carswell is the front-runner to retain the seat in his new colours. The local Lib Dems have selected a candidate to fly the party's colours: Andy Graham, "a former teacher in Clacton [who] has performed in shows at the Clacton's West Cliff Theatre". Details of how you can help Andy in Clacton are as follows: 399 Old Road Clacton CO15 ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

Whilst Scotland was busy voting no to independence on Thursday a Welsh border town was conducting its own ballot. To be fair, Hay-on-Wye has form on this when, in 1 April 1977, Richard Booth conceived a publicity stunt in which he declared Hay-on-Wye to be an 'independent kingdom' with himself as its monarch. According to the Western Mail another bookshop owner, Derek Addyman organised his own vote to coincide with the day Scotland decided whether to go it alone. Locals cast their votes outdoors in the Cheese Market in a swing bin liner between 11am and 3pm. The question they ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black
eUKhost

[IMG: Alex Salmond photo] Photo by Ewan McIntosh A "++Breaking news" post on Liberal Democrat Voice asked commenters to "lean more towards tributes than we might otherwise". Well, that's very nice. Indeed, as I try to emphasise when I criticise politicians, I am sure Alex Salmond is a very nice man indeed. I am sure that if I shared a few drams with him in the comfort of a couple of deep armchairs in a hotel bar somewhere in Scotland, we would get on like a house on fire. But as a politician, despite deep and long thought, I have ...

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings

via Facebook

Posted by Raging Reg on Raging Reg

Lib Dem-led Stockport Council has won a coveted national apprenticeship award for the Council's work employing apprentices. The Council won the National Apprenticeship Service's North West - Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Staffordshire – Regional Award for Macro Employer (over 4,999 employees) of apprentices. The award recognises the Council's achievements of employing apprentices at Levels 2-5, in Business Administration, Management, Creative Design and Digital Media, Customer Service, and Supporting Teaching and Learning. Councillor Shan Alexander, Stockport Council's Executive Member for Lifelong Leaning and Achievement, said: "The Council is proud of its track record on apprenticeships and I'm delighted that we have ...

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith Holloway, Iain Roberts & Pam King
Sat 20th
10:03

England Wakes!

England wakes. — Janan Ganesh (@JananGanesh) September 19, 2014 Janan Ganesh sums up the current political situation quite nicely but if we want a more rhetorical flourish we could always say that "the Battle for Scotland is over. The battle of England is about to begin!" Now that Devo max is on the table, and the other nations of England are agitating for more powers, the question of how England governs itself must now be answered. As a Liberal, I just find it axiomatic that more powers for local communities is a given but that will not be enough in ...

Posted by Carl Minns on Carl Minns - Thoughts from Hull

We could be heroes: the wild world of cosplay - I LOVE the Sikh Captain America (tags: ) This is why occasionally, just occasionally, reading below the line is worthwhile. depressing, but worthwhile (tags: ) Westminster vows never to allow vote on anything that matters ever again (tags: ) The trap of the demand for constitutional change (tags: ) Coping With Activism - on how to look after yourself and be a more effective activist (tags: ) Every taunt the Labour Party has directed at the Lib Dems since 2011 is now fair comment for the SNP everytime the Labour ...

 

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The link to the Echo story is above:- The test of this will be delivery of it as my previous postings, looking at Merseytravel's aspirations over many years, led to the inevitable conclusion that it was good at the talk but mediocre on the delivery. [IMG: A Merseyrail electric unit at Bootle New Strand Station] A Merseyrail electric unit at Bootle New Strand Station I really do want this latest plan to work but forgive me if I remain just a little sceptical for two reasons. Firstly the one above – a poorish track (no pun intended) record of ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

[IMG: Union Flag] Having the scars on my back from attempts to reform the Lords, I know how inclined people are to declare constitutional reform 'not thought through'. In the case of Lords Reform, this was patently ridiculous since introducing elections to the House has been the subject of more self-interested cogitation and political procrastination than just about any other subject. Proposals for "devo-max" to Scotland are not ill-considered either. Our own redoubtable Menzies Campbell has produced two formidable reports on "Home Rule All Round", setting out a federal future for the UK. Lord Strathclyde has produced a not dissimilar ...

Posted by Paul Tyler on Liberal Democrat Voice

By: Geraint Rowland It is a fair rule of thumb that if the defenestrated Michael Gove appears on TV (as he did on Thursday night), it represents a bit of a red flag. If we then have, as we had yesterday, John Redwood blinking into the daylight on Sky News, then that is another red flag. The klaxons sound off. Add in orange flag-wielder Frank Field and we have a full-blown emergency on our hands. Or a "tear-arse panic", if you prefer. We've just had the most tumultuous democratic event that most British people have experienced in their lifetimes. We've ...

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings

Organised by the Culture & Arts Forum in collaboration with the Centre for Scottish Culture, as part of Scottish Heroes & Villains Month Wednesday 1st October 2014Baxter Room 1.36, Tower Building 1.30 Welcome 1.35 Graeme Stevenson (Music) - The Sounds of Victory Graeme will be performing music composed to commemorate Admiral Duncan's victory at the Battle of Camperdown, including Dussek's The Naval Battle and Total Defeat of the Grand Dutch Fleet by Admiral Duncan 1.55 Eddie Small (Creative Writing) - The Villainous Hero: McGonagall the Spoilsport Debate rages over McGonagall's 'poetry' : was it intentionally, and therefore Villainously, bad, or ...

Congratulations to George Murray, whose Marauding Fullbacks lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 4 with an impressive 264 points. That puts him in 4,909th place in the global league of more than 3.2 million players. Just three points then separate the next four players and fewer than 20 points the entire top 10. For the record, I'm languishing at 29th, not helped by my insane decision not to make Diego Costa my team captain in the week he scored a hat-trick. Ah well. At the other end of the table, by the way, Ceredigion Premier is ranked last, ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

(Sal Brinton was the third to respond to the questions I posed in my earlier Presidential post, and here are her answers in full after the cut, which were originally left as a comment on the earlier post. You can, of course, ask any questions about her answers in the comments.) I am seeking election as party president because I believe in our liberal values, however I also recognise that there are things that need changing in the party. I have four decades experience of liberalism, and a track record of delivering change, working at all levels within the party. ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

I will be asking a question on the state of the town wall at full Council next Thursday 25 September. The procedure is that a written question is submitted and answered in advance of the meeting. I then get to ask a supplementary question. In doing so, I will have the opportunity to comment on [...]

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

(note, I'm posting this and tomorrow's post backwards — this comes after Along Comes Mary in the book, but I've not finished that essay yet and have done this one). "Madness!! Auditions. Folk & Roll musicians-singers for acting roles in new TV series. Running parts for 4 insane boys, age 17 – 21. Want spirited [...]

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