I'm actually sick with exhaustion today, so you just get links. Proper posting resumes tomorrow. Aim high, even if you fall short Philip of Macedon's body has been discovered Chris Ware's daughter reviews a Tiny Tim album (with fan art by Ware of Tim) Jazz Hands Serious Business on why online voting in general elections [...]
The Guardian's Owen Jones certainly thinks so. Writing today, he describes how "two rootless, soulless parties have cleared the way for UKIP." It's a piece worth reading, and Jones does write well. But his conclusions are simplistic, hampered by his inability to escape from the culture of blaming others for the rise of UKIP. His observations are particualrly dangerous because they contain a grain of truth. He begins by suggesting that "UKIP talks of breaking the 'political cartel' while peddling policies the entire political elite agree on, quibbling only on scale and detail: tax cuts for the rich, privatisation, slash-and-burn ...
#90747427 / gettyimages.com Somers Town milk and fish depot, which stood alongside St Pancras Station, is now the site of the British Library.
Although I was born and grew up in Manchester, having had rather an unhappy childhood I was only too pleased to see the back of the place when I went off to university and later never even thought of moving back to the city. But I've been pleased this weekend to reconnect with Manchester, partly [...]
It seems we can welcome a new recruit to the civil libertarian cause. Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival today, the former Conservative cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said: "I think you should all be very careful with a generation of politicians who play fast and loose with the ancient liberties of this country, which our forefathers fought for."The time of greatest shame in my Parliamentary career was when Parliament discussed whether people could be detained for 90 days. "The idea that in Britain you can lock somebody up for 90 days without charging them is absolutely extraordinary."I remember not long ...
UKIP MEP Roger Helmer has today called for "privacy" after being photographed entering a massage parlour. The parliamentarian, who has claimed that extending marriage to same-sex couples "undermines" and demeans it, was reported as having visited the massage parlour by The Sun. Several other newspapers have since published the story. Helmer has not denied that he has used the services at Victoria House - whose motto is "driving men wild since 1999" - but insists that "it's not something I'm terribly keen for anyone to get any mileage out of. MEPs are entitled to a private life. I work extremely ...
Sun 12th
19:18
Thanks to all the fabby chaps and chapettes who came to the 50th birthday bash last night. Could any...
via Facebook
I have now had the third response from a Presidential candidate to the questions I asked just before we went to Glasgow. As with other candidates, I reprint Daisy's answers below, and in full. "Daisy Cooper has made a high-impact start, but has yet to say anything of real substance. Hers is a dilemma of avoiding PR-speak." I've set out the substance of my plans in a series of blogs, and in my view, more than any of the other candidates. I've set out concrete ideas on how we can re-assert our commitment to local government in its own right; ...
The Fair Votes referendum might have been lost but it appears that voting reform could be making a comeback as one of the red lines before Lib Dems can sign up to another coalition. The [...]
Pick a side. pic.twitter.com/Jl1CpC7mt3 — James Graham (@jamesgraham) October 10, 2014
The contest to replace Tim Farron as Lib Dem party president enters the final straight on Wednesday when the official starting gun is fired. I'm backing Sal Brinton as the best candidate for the role [...]
Here are the latest national voting intention figures from each of the main pollsters. To put the numbers into longer context, take a look at my database of polling figures going back to 1945, which is updated quarterly. Con Lab LibDem UKIP Green Con lead Fieldwork Method ComRes 29% 35% 7% 19% 4% -6% 24-26/9 Online ComRes 29% 35% 10% 15% 4% -6% 26-28/9 Phone ICM 33% 35% 10% 9% -2% 12-14/9 Phone Ashcroft 32% 30% 7% 17% 7% 2% 3-5/10 Phone Ashcroft 31% 34% 8% 18% 4% -3% 8-9/10 Online MORI 34% 33% 7% 15% 6% 1% 6-9/9 Phone ...
Labour has a long and miserable record pandering to anti-immigration sentiment, both in government and opposition, from Neil Kinnock's failure to challenge Margaret Thatcher's "swamped" rhetoric to their bi-annual asylum and immigration laws under Tony [...]
(Linda Jack was the final candidate to respond to the questions I posed in my earlier Presidential post, and here are her answers in full after the cut. You can, of course, ask any questions about her answers in the comments.) Why you, and not the other three? What do you believe in and what would you do differently from the others? I believe I am the only one with a track record of not only being prepared to challenge the leadership but also to have consistently been at the heart of the battles we have had internally, be that ...
Increasingly politicians and press from the right have been decrying the European Court of Human Rights. November 1950 European Convention on Human Rights was agreed. But their is little point of a convention without the teeth of a court to uphold it. So the attacks on the court are really attacks on the convention. The convention was designed to ensure the atrocities of the previous 20 years could never start again for signatory countries. It was also meant to hold back communism. It has been wildly successful at both of those objectives so far. The convention articles, summarised below, are ...
[IMG: GLasgow clegg q&a] OK. I'll admit it. I try to do something at conference every year which I can then show to my friends on BBC Parliament. My octogenarian parents in Cornwall are usually tickled pink to see me, even if no one else is. This year, I seized upon the opportunity of the Nick Clegg Q&A. I missed the deadline for the question submissions, but a couple of questions were being taken for each subject from the floor. So I just had to think of a question on the relevant topics. The first topic was energy/climate change and ...
The once mighty denomination may disappear from the UK. Despite being a Methodist myself that doesn't really bother me. Obsolescence A small but important step in the evolution of the internet recently passed into history. Microsoft has announced that MSN Messenger (or Windows Live Messenger as it was inexplicably rebranded in 2005) will be closed down. [...]
#81207479 / gettyimages.com The level of support for candidates in a Parliamentary by-election the weekend before polling day is only a modest guide to the likely final result: that's the lesson the Liberal Democrats repeatedly demonstrated during the party's by-election winning heyday. Whether tracked through public data such as opinion polls or private data such as canvass returns the picture was often the same: a huge swing in the last few days. Which is why talk now about the opinion polls in Heywood and Middleton were "wrong" to show a large Labour lead, when in fact Labour came so close ...
With help from a local resident, we have getting the council to cut back these hedges that are taking over the path.
We have asked for the timetable at Ambleside Road to be replaced following its refurbishment.
Some good news from The Jake Thackray Website: The DVD of the BBC series Jake Thackray and Songs is now available to buy online via Amazon. Jake Thackray and Songs, broadcast in 1981, captures him at the height of his powers; it paints an intimate portrait of Jake as a live artist, playing to audiences in the small venues where he felt most comfortable. This DVD features all of his performances from the series: thirty of his greatest songs, along with his inimitable between-songs chat and storytelling. Also included are previously unreleased performances by three outstanding guest artists: Ralph McTell, ...
[IMG: Ed Miliband at Labour conference. Photo courtesy of - some rights reserved] Our best weapon in the battle ahead will be the real hope offered by Labour's plan for our country's future http://t.co/mMNNNCJZJc — Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) October 11, 2014 Perhaps it's a cunning new strategy to show authenticity by using language that is so weighted down with political insider jargon and cliche that it clearly hasn't been anywhere near a focus group, pollster or strategy adviser?
Pleasurama the name given to the vacant site on Ramsgate front which has plagued pages of local media since the dawn of time, is back in the news, this weeks gazette has a good half page devoted to the subject, on the table is an offer of cash from Cardy? Construction who have worked with SPF ventures who've failed to complete their original deal. Elsewhere on the gazettes letter page, labour's councillor Rick Everett appears riled up, since councillor Ian Driver and Bob Bayford raised the issue of not being given an opportunity to study confidential legal advice on this ...
I have just been watching Marr on BBC1 and there appears to me to be a theme developing. In the paper review, Trevor Phillips said the rise of UKIP was really about voters´ perception that "Westminster politicians" were not listening to their constituents. He also suggested immigration is not the real issue for many British people but fear of change. He claims that rapid change is unsettling for people and a party that represents the past like UKIP is understandably popular. I guess a progressive, forward thinking and radical party like ours might be unpopular for the same reason. Next ...
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 22,400 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... The big difference between what Olly Grender said and what the Mirror said she said (24 comments) by Caron Lindsay UKIP breakthrough, Labour scrape through (224) by The Voice Nick Clegg's speech: 5 initial thoughts from me - and reaction from members and pundits (78) by Stephen Tall EXCLUSIVE: Lib Dem Party Presidency - first members' poll results are here (28) by Stephen Tall Hung Parliament: what Lib Dem members think will happen... and what you ...
You can now put out food and drinks cartons (Tetrapaks) and small electrical items in your green box and a wider range of mixed plastics in your plastic bottle bag. As well as bottles, you can include things like yoghurt pots, margarine tubs and meat trays (but not black ones). Recycling services for flats will be improved. Bring banks at the Sort It Centres and those operated by charities will continue as well. This will help the environment and avoid spiraling landfill costs. Check your bin hanger to see which weeks your recycling should go out If you didn't get ...
[IMG: excel-centre1] The day of reckoning for Yes to AV was upon us. We faced it with weary resignation, made even more jaded by the fact we were all hung-over to the gills. For those of us who didn't need to be on the ground, May 5th 2011 was mostly a pretty calm day. At around five PM, Paul, Patrick and I got into a black cab and asked to be taken to the Excel Centre for the final count. Right before we had set out on this trip to the gallows, Paul had received some terrible political news already. ...
Today's Independent reports on a legal opinion, submitted to the Home Office, which concludes that the use of surveillance drones by the British government is probably illegal. The paper explains that several government departments and police forces have increasingly used remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), however the legal guidance warns it is "probably unlawful" for security services to "retain or use surveillance data" captured by drones under current laws: The release of the legal guidance comes as an influential House of Lords prepares to quiz government officials on drone use on Monday. The House of Lords EU Sub-Committee will question ...
Folks. Sometimes I wonder why I am involved and interested in politics. My political views are well known and the term, 'bleeding heart liberal' has been thrown at me more than once. I looked up the definition of the term, 'a person of left-wing or liberal views (i.e. of helping the poor, siding with the oppressed) who is deemed to be excessively soft-hearted' and I don't think it is really justified in my case. I am not excessively soft hearted, I like to think that I have a good heart and firmly believe that our place as human beings is ...
Earlier this year, I mentioned that residents had highlighted to me a road safety concern at the south exit from Pinegrove that exits onto Shepherd's Loan. The part of Shepherd's Loan that the slip road exists onto is the one-way only (northwards) at the north end of Shepherd's Loan, but there was no 'one-way only' sign on exit. Vehicles had been noted by residents exiting south onto Shepherd's Loan in error. At the time of my last update, I reported that the Pinegrove factors (Graham & Sibbald) had kindly agreed to a site visit with City Council officers to see ...
This chart from the BBC demonstrates clearly the problem with Ebola and the solution. Ebola is, of course, a threat to everyone in the world. However, the chart demonstrates how Nigeria has kept tight control of infection whereas Liberia has been particularly bad at controlling infection (starting in 3rd place, but racing into 1st place). It is important that we recognise that it is
Ever since Morrisons took over their Maghull store from the former Somerfield there has been talk of the store needing to be enlarged. It is clearly far too small. [IMG: rsz_img_2881] At one point a complicated but positive plan was put together involving the NHS who own the adjoining Health Centre, London and Cambridge Properties who own the land on which Morrisons sits (together with the other shops on the southern side of Westway) and the associated car park. The plan also included land that Sefton Council owned and in fact still owns. The land in question being that of ...
A few days ago Mike Taylor emailed me, asking what, if any, Grant Morrison stories could be read without knowing more about a fictional universe — he'd been reading Seven Soldiers, and found it difficult going, as he doesn't have the decades of experience with a fictional universe that most modern superhero comics require (and [...]
Bricket Road will be closed during half term week. This is so that Affinity can make a mains water connection. The road will be closed from Sunday 26th October for one week.
The Mail on Sunday have published a new survey into, amongst other things, who people would like to see leading a coalition government. The article is relentlessly pro-UKIP, but includes a result similar to one already seen with Ashcroft polling in Cambridge if you look closely at the numbers: Liberal Democrats are popular as a coalition choice. The raw numbers published by the Mail on Sunday list the combinations as Cameron/Farage 26%, Cameron/Clegg 23%, Miliband/Clegg 20%, Miliband/Farage 14%. (17% don't knows) Converting them into ratings for individuals, we get: [IMG: Mail on Sunday survey results] Cameron: 49% Clegg: 43% Farage: ...
George Peter Sams George Peter Sams was born at 10:22 am on the 10th October 2014 at St Thomas' hospital, London. He has had the most amazing support from the medical staff there and is currently under care in the Intensive care ward. For those of you who don't know my son (my third child) has Pulmonary Atresia, a rare heart defect that ultimately leaves half of his heart, the half that pumps de-oxygenated blood to the lungs to bring back vital Oxygen for the rest of the body, non functioning. We had the option to terminate early on but... ...
