When it comes to matters of self determination I am what I would call an economic realist. You may well ask what do I mean by that? Well let me explain. My degree is in economics so I know to look at the bigger picture for the nation, how that affects individuals and how the ability of a nation to look after its individual is best served. Therefore it does not make be either a nationalist nor a unionist when such matters are discussed. Therefore in the 80s, 90s and early in the 2000s if there had of been a ...
Joe Otten has already given you his inimitable take on Ed Miliband's speech. I do love it when he gets cheeky. I thought I'd stick my oar in as well with a few not quite so witty observations. Six days ago, I was lucky enough to see Gordon Brown make one of the most incredible speeches I have ever heard. It had some welly behind it. It was absolutely superb. Close to the top of the list of things I never thought I'd say is that Gordon gave me goosebumps, but it really was electric. It had the melody that ...
Mark Pack says the party's federal executive has submitted a mess to conference on one member, one vote. He wants your help to sort it out. "Somehow or other, the next government is going to have to find us a more effective, more innovative form of government, handing powers out widely to cities and counties, as part of a wider settlement that is far more important than the development of an English parliament at Westminster (another kind of centralisation, it seems to me)." David Boyle on the United Kingdom after the Scottish referendum. "In 2013, Jersey quietly rose to the ...
Conservative seat. Death For more information contact mail@shepwaylibdems.org.uk
Labour Councillor. Death For more information contact info@northeastlibdems.org.uk
Mansfield Independent Forum seat. Death Result last time contested (2011) Mansfield Independent Forum 444 Labour 401 Lib Dem 34
The city of Detroit has gone spectacularly bust. Devolution of fiscal policy would mean something similar could happen here. These are heady days for the small band of us who get excited about decentralisation. The No vote means home rule for Scotland is now a given and that opens the way for devolution within England. [...]
Back in June I reported an outrage against human rights, that a woman from Heald Green had been imprisoned by the Iranian government simply for criticising the regime on Facebook. Roya Saberinejad Nobakht has been in prison in Iran since October 2013. She has been subjected to physical and psychological torture and was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. She has been subject to insults and humilation. She has been deprived of regular access to her medication and was forced to stand outside during winter, in the cold, wearing wet clothes – as a result ...
It's great that more restaurants are opening up in Cheadle, but we're getting more complaints about illegal parking along the roads in the evenings – parking on double yellow lines and on pavements. It's especially frustrating because parking is free after 6pm in all Council car parks across Stockport. We've asked for more evening patrols by traffic wardens to crack down on the problem, and we'd advise anyone visiting one of Cheadle's restaurants to park legally for free in the car parks and not risk getting a ticket.
This evening's Cheadle Area Committee got through a lot of business. David Wilson, the Area Conditions Officer, confirmed that Pam King's request for nettles to be cut back along Bruntwood Lane had been actioned. Planning application 55946 (extensions to 161 Stanley Road, Heald Green) was recommended for approval. Because the house is in the greenbelt it will go to the full Planning & Highways Committee for a final decision. Planning application 56122 (demolition of The Malt Shovels, Councillor Lane and new build Spar convenience store) was approved, but the permitted delivery times were changed to be no later than 9pm ...
The new announcement of yet another deal at Manston Airport, could be seen as a master stroke maybe, for Anne Gloag to overwhelm local democracy, as a new company and a vague sketchy planning deal, that has yet to be scrutinised by authorities, was revealed with the full PR treatment, swallowed by bods such as the beeb and local media. At this stage to me, the plans by Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave are every bit as credible in my opinion as those for "Chinagate" Mr Musgrave is indeed quoted by Kent Online "Whilst it is too early to be ...
Whilst his colleague in Truro is railing against a Cornish Assembly because she says it will mean another layer of bureaucracy and elected politicians (it needn't), North Cornwall Conservative candidate Scott Mann is campaigning for, er, another layer of bureaucracy and elected politicians. At today's full council meeting, Cllr Mann said he wanted to create a new tier of councils below Cornwall Council - something akin to the former district councils. But he forgets that the switch to unitary is widely credited with helping to save £170m by abolishing administration, bureaucracy and hundreds of councillors. Dozens of highly paid council ...
Tue 23rd
18:57
Liverpool Echo – Old Litherland social club could have collapsed after second fire in just ove...
The Echo has the story – see link above. Whilst it looks nothing like as good as it would have done back in the day, it is sad to see an old building like this being destroyed by fire especially if the two recent fires were started deliberately. But what struck me was the building's link to the Leeds Liverpool canal. The Echo says – The three-storey Victorian house was previously occupied by the chief engineer of Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company. The effect the the canal had on helping to develop the local economy in Bootle, Litherland, Ford, ...
[IMG: Bisexual Pride Flag] 23 September every year is Bi Visibility Day. Why, I hear you ask, do we need such a thing in these tolerant and accepting times? Didn't we just pass same sex marriage? Well, actually, there is still a fair amount of homophobia around. And if you are bisexual, you can actually experience discrimination even from within the LGBT community. A couple of years ago, The Bisexuality Report produced by the Open University and contributed to by LGBT+ Lib Dems' Jen Yockney gave a snapshot of what life can be like for bisexual people in the UK. ...
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Just so people are aware, my house was burgled last night and my laptop stolen. Luckily, I can afford a replacement, and I regularly back up my ~/home so I've only lost a chapter of my second novel and two blog post drafts, all of which I can rewrite without difficulty. However, my laptop was on when [...]
The following arrived in a brown envelope at Lib Dem Voice Towers, this morning. It is probably an early draft. [Check against delivery] [IMG: Ed speech] Thankyou so much. Friends, this country will never turn our back on the world and on the principles of internationalism. Those values are reflected not just in this country but in this party, and in the great team of Manchester United. Manchester has some special memories for me because it was here, 4 years ago, I finally got the better of my brother. Now we meet here in serious times not just for our ...
It is being reported that David Cameron is claiming he made the Queen purr. I'm sure I read once that in the olden days - and I'm talking so old everything wasn't even in black and white - people lost their heads for pulling stunts like that
[IMG: Moleskine notepad and pen sends data to your tablet] Many years ago, before tablets and smartphones, I trialled some technology in a council by-election that looked promising for improving telling. It was a pen with a built-in camera that could do optical character recognition (OCR) as you wrote out numbers, and then use a connected phone to send those numbers back to the committee room, thus cutting out the usual delays in getting information back from polling stations to the people printing out lists of supporters who haven't yet voted. The particular attraction of using OCR was that it ...
Following on from my post about the SNP's surge in membership, I thought it might be interesting to introduce some of the academic work on party membership. It's an area that's had some attention from academics, though hasn't been studied to the same depth as other aspects of political behaviour. There are studies of what party members think, how much they do etc, but not much in the way of why people join political parties, or in terms of different models of party membership. There's clearly different senses of what it means to be a member of a party across ...
I have often posted about Maghull Station and here is yet another angle on it. Firstly, a pre-October 1909 shot of the windows in the former waiting room/station office on the Ormskirk bound platform. It's small and but close examination shows 4 window openings windows but with them being partially blocked out/painted over:- [IMG: Windows on a community 2] Now look at the same set of 4 window openings which have had paintings inserted in them (by a local artist) as part of the work of Maghull Station Volunteers. The room is effectively out of use for railway purposes these ...
Tue 23rd
16:16
I remember going cruising sometime ago and the cabaret were Ant n Dec - unfortunately the ship hit a...
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A party conference fringe meeting provides the opportunity to think about myths and misconceptions in UK science and innovation policy thinking. This morning I took part in a roundtable discussion on science and innovation policy issues organised by the UK national academies (the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences) as part of the Labour Party Conference fringe. The attendees were an impressive mix of politicians, leading scientists and engineers, university leaders, representatives of learned societies, research charities and R&D intensive firms. The discussion was interesting and some really important points ...
[IMG: scot flag blog] After Scotland decided to remain in the UK, Liberal Democrats are now working for a stronger Scotland within the UK. This is an exciting time as now we can start delivering more powers to Scotland. Commenting on the results, Nick Clegg said: "I'm absolutely delighted the Scottish people have taken this momentous decision to safeguard our family of nations for future generations. "In a dangerous and uncertain world I have no doubt we are stronger, safer, and more prosperous together than we ever could be apart." The Liberal Democrats have campaigned for greater devolution for decades ...
Tue 23rd
15:18I have a friend - he brews his own beer. He likes nothing better in the morning than sparging his wo...
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Tue 23rd
14:53
Senior Liberal Democrats sign letter praising former FA inclusion adviser Edward Lord after his abru...
Earlier this month, Edward Lord, who until last Thursday sat on the FA's Inclusion Advisory Board, criticised the FA for not taking inclusion and diversity seriously enough. In an interview with the Telegraph on 3rd September, he said: The public and the rest of the sport industry are getting fed up with football's inability to tackle discrimination in the game. Most other governing bodies have really embraced the need for change, to make their sports more inclusive. It always seems as though football is lagging behind. The FA must take action when participants so flagrantly breach their rules against discrimination. ...
At the start of the new school year all infants at school in Cornwall (and throughout England) became eligible for free meals at lunchtime as a result of an intiative promoted by the Liberal Democrats. As well as the obvious benefits for local families, often struggling to put nutritious food on the table, one other benefit has been to create 76 new jobs for staff to cook and serve those meals. That's just within the Cornwall Council maintained schools. Academies and free schools are also required to provide free meals for infants and their staffing arrangements are a matter for ...
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David Cornock's BBC blog yesterday outlines some of the problems that Labour have created for themselves on the funding mechanism used to provide resources for the devolved Parliaments. Ed Miliband of course has signed up to the tripartite agreement to keep the Barnett formula in place because, as he told Andrew Marr yesterday: "All the party leaders have said that we think the Barnett formula has served us well and should continue because it is oriented towards need." Unlike the Liberal Democrats however, he has not signed up to a mechanism which will compensate Wales for the failure to reflect ...
As I said on Friday, one of the best sights of the Independence Referendum was seeing enthusiastic 16 and 17 year olds heading to vote. They were so engaged in the process and it seems so unfair to take it from them now. Votes at 16 has been our party policy for a long time. It was our Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore who, along with Nicola Sturgeon, made it happen for the Referendum. It may not be practical to implement before next May, but we should at least try to get legislation passed this Parliament if we ...
Today is Bisexual Visibility Day. I haven't had a chance to write something specially for it, but please see my post from last year – little has changed!
Tue 23rd
12:55
Paging Lib Dem conference reps: will you support this amendment to the equalities motion?
[IMG: Children using a computer] Aside from the emergency business motion about the Federal Executive's unconstitutional behaviour that I'm supporting and the amendment that attempts to sort out the mess with the OMOV proposals which I've put in to the Lib Dem conference in Glasgow, I've also put together a simple amendment to the excellent equalities motion, in order to strengthen its provisions regarding the digital world: F27 Expanding Opportunity, Unlocking Potential (Equalities Paper) – amendment Insert after line 70 and reletter accordingly: c) Conducting a review of anti-discrimination law and of existing laws, guidelines and standards on access to ...
The news that Tesco, formerly the Great Satan of anti-monopoly campaigners, have overstated their estimated profits by £250m is rather extraordinary - but only logical, given the way the politics of measurement is developing. They have succumbed to the spirit of the age, and the besetting sin of Westminster and Whitehall: the idea that figures will always represent reality. If you believe that, and unfortunately many of us do, it is but a short step to the obvious conclusion: if you change the figures, you can change reality. You can see why some public service managers and their voluntary sector ...
[IMG: Balls Miliband] I used to live in Manchester, a very long time ago. It was a very different city then, in the late 90's, post-IRA bombing, pre-Commonwealth Games/EU funding makeover. Piccadilly Rail Station used to be possibly the worst place in all of Britain; now, you'd happily spend an hour there waiting for your train while munching biscotti in Costa. It was very rare at the time to hear anything other than northern accents. You'd come across the odd Geordie or Scoucer but that was as exotic as it tended to get. I had come to the city rather ...
A local county councillor is helping St Albans Cricket Club relay the cricket square in Clarence Park this autumn. County Councillor Chris White (St Albans Central) has allocated £1,000 from his locality budget to the club. St Albans Cricket Club has expanded rapidly in recent years, now having four Saturday adult teams, two Sunday teams and a ladies team in training. There are also 14 junior teams, containing around 300 girls and boys. All these teams need wickets to play on. The square has not been relayed in living memory – the best estimate is 100 years. The existing surface ...
Tue 23rd
11:51Salmond's bizarre public dig at critical commentator Torrance shows Scotland had a lucky escape
A couple of weeks ago, Alex Salmond picked a fight with the BBC's Nick Robinson. Cue a mob descending on the BBC's shiny new Pacific Quay HQ in Glasgow demanding that the journalist be sacked. In fact, much as it pains me to admit it, Robinson was actually in the right on that occasion. Salmond hadn't answered a question he'd asked. He'd spent several minutes giving a rambling answer about the first part of his question before lambasting the BBC for publishing a story that the Royal Bank of Scotland would move its HQ from Scotland in the event of ...
It is very pleasant to take a morning stroll when you're in a new place. It helps with orientation, blows away the cobwebs, and allows you to get a feel for the place. So, whilst Ros is off on a dolphin safari - the waters around Gibraltar are full of them - I've gone for a walk around the market... in La Linea de la Concepción (don't worry, I have my passport!). Here, a Valladares can go relatively unnoticed, which is nice, and on a sunny day as this one is, it is nice to just potter around, drink coffee ...
Things aren't going well for the Westminster political machine. Their short-term, focus-group and opinion poll led campaigning has missed or ignored the changing mood of voters. Things were bad enough with the rise of Ukip; they got a lot worse with the Yes-surge among former Labour supporters in Scotland. At this week's Labour conference the party is desperately trying to get the political agenda back to familiar territory. It is failing, and in doing so it is losing the political initiative. In this unfamiliar political territory I want to indulge in a bit a bit of political fantasy. But ask ...
If you have an idea requiring a small amount of money and would improve our area, here's how. The Forest Hill Assembly fund was launched last Tuesday 16 September, follow the link for more information and to download an application form ult.aspx
As a Jack I owe my life and heritage to Scotland. I totally understood why so many Scots voted yes, but the thought of losing Scotland also filled me with dread. However, whichever side of the debate you sat, I hope we can all agree that the positive outcomes for all of us have been the revitalising of politics in Scotland and the reopening of the question of how as a United Kingdom we should constitute ourselves. We saw graphically the power of having a say in something that really matters. No, the electorate are not apathetic, they are disillusioned ...
A once in a generation chance for democracy (tags: ) Emma Watson's speech on Gender equality is awesome (tags: ) Why aren't the British middle-classes staging a revolution? The TORYGRAPH issues a call to arms (tags: ) Another Lib Dem calls for Yorkshire devolution (tags: ) The English devolution battleground (tags: ) 'I lost a job because of my tattoos' (tags: ) "And people say Moffat can't write women!" (tags: ) 'F*ck it, I quit': TV reporter Charlo Greene quits live on air in spectacular fashion (tags: ) Doomtown playlist on Spotify. Only 10% Hayseed Dixie, which at 6.5 hours ...
I returned from Africa just in time to attend a condolences event in Knightsbridge with the family of Dr Jamal Nasir, former Minister of Justice and Acting Foreign Minister of Jordan, who has died, aged 92. I had been due to join him in Amman this autumn, to launch the Arabic edition of his autobiography Under [...]
This concept of an Immigration Premium was developed after watching Nick Clegg struggle to counter Nigel Farage on the subject of immigration in the European election debates. The UKIP leader is correctly able to state that we have an open door policy to European Immigration and hundreds of thousands of people arrive year after year, putting immense strains on housing, education, healthcare and other infrastructure elements. The Immigration Premium turns this problem on its head. New immigrants (identifiable by NI number) have high levels of employment and through sheer weight of numbers make a major contribution to the exchequer both ...
[IMG: NIck Clegg on a beach. Photo courtesy of Liberal Democrats - some rights reserved Not even Nick Clegg can rescue the procedural problems with the OMOV proposals. They need to be sent back for further work. The package of constitutional and standing order amendments tabled for Glasgow Conference by the Federal Executive to introduce one-member one-vote (OMOV) to the party's federal committee elections (rather than just election by conference reps) and also to allow any party member to come to conference and vote are worthy in intent but deeply flawed in practice. The proposed changes are incomplete, introduced ...
Yesterday, I was interviewed by both Wave 102 News and Radio Tay News about the proposed recognition of the Royal Arch. You can hear the Radio Tay interview by clicking 'play' below :
Tue 23rd
08:44What Labour & land owners/developers have planned for Sefton's East Parishes – Green Belt ...
My 5 previous recent postings on this subject have ranged across the East Parishes communities of Sefton and outlined the huge development plans that Labour-run Sefton Council and land owners/developers have in store for us. [IMG: Here I am looking at Green Belt & high grade agricultural land off Lambshear Lane in Lydiate which Labour-run Sefton Council is threatening to allow building upon.] Here I am looking at Green Belt & high grade agricultural land off Lambshear Lane in Lydiate which Labour-run Sefton Council is threatening to allow building upon. Of course not all the proposals will go forward or ...
Last night's City Council committees had a fairly light agenda, but a rather astonishing thing happened! At City Development Committee, there was an agenda item seeking approval to consult the public on new Conservation Area Appraisal documents. I have a particular interest in this as there are a number of Conservation Areas in the West End and in one in particular - Logie - many residents tell me they feel the Conservation Area brings some disadvantages and I am very keen to see changes to the scheme actually benefit local residents. The astonishing bit was that committee was being asked ...
[IMG: Screen-Shot-2013-09-18-at-12.16.19] As if as a rejoinder to my post yesterday about the declining importance of political parties, there's been a surge in membership for the pro-independence parties in Scotland since the referendum. The SNP are on course to become the third largest party in the UK in terms of members and according to one comment I saw the Scottish Greens have doubled their membership since Thursday. As I said, the general trend in membership in UK parties is downward, and previous large surges (Labour when Blair became leader, the Tories when Cameron became leader) have been minor upward bubbles ...
Famously, Labour has spent the bankers bonus tax so many times it ended up becoming a running joke (here are a good few spending commitments from this) Today, Ed is announcing he will raise a 'mansion tax' to pay for NHS spending. Now I know what an eclectic bunch readers of this blog are so you may like this and you may not, but anyone remember when Ed was using this tax rise to pay for a new 10p starting rate of income tax? Is the 10p starting rate still a commitment and if so is this another one that ...
[IMG: cs sovereign] There's a whole glorious mine of nerdy information on submarine cables available. I am a mild nerd in this area, due to my interest in my home county of Cornwall, where many submarine cables come ashore. Steven Heaton's site is a wonderful source of information on this subject. He recently linked to the Kingfisher bulletins which fortnightly report hazards to fishing, including exposed subsea cables. There's a whole archive going back three years! I don't think I'll look through all of that archive.... Another superb resource on this subject is the Flickr photostream of Global Marine Photos ...
