I'm now 9 days away from finishing my month without sweet food and drink to raise money for Mind. Thanks to Tom, Sarah, Helen and Duncan who've donated already. If you would like to join them then please visit my page on Just Giving. Here are 5 things I've learned so far: 1. A tougher rule [...]

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

On a particularly busy day at this year's LibDem Conference, I asked questions to Danny Alexander, Tim Farron and our leader Nick Clegg. It's the question to Nick that means most to me, however. In his Q&A I asked him if he would fight to ensure that parliamentary time would be put aside to debate assisted dying. He, to his credit told me that he would, but that he wasn't yet convinced of the arguments in favour of the issue - that's a kind of honesty that I like. I care about assisted dying for a number of reasons. The ...

Posted by Sam Phripp on So Sam said...

The Liverpool Echo has some nice shots of tonight's sunset in the wake of former hurricane Gonzalo hitting us only yesterday. See link above.

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton FocusSefton Focus

Anglia Television did not much like Emmerdale Farm. It was the last of the old regional ITV companies to schedule the Yorkshire farming soap in a prime evening slot. The reason for this - ignoring a row over the Belmont transmitting station - was that Anglia had got there first with a rural soap opera, only to see it founder. BFI Screenonline explains: In the 1960s, independent television was dominated by the 'big four' regional companies: ATV, ABC, Granada and Associated Rediffusion. These four produced the majority of programmes for the ITV network, and so it was a surprise when ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

[IMG: Parliament square by Paul Walter] The name Donnachadh McCarthy means something to those of us of a certain age. Donnachadh was once a Liberal Democrat and he was proper Awkward Squad. I spent many hours arguing with him on Cix, which was where all online Liberal Democrats hung out back in the day. Quite often I agreed with him and even when I didn't, I realised that he was the sort of pain in the backside that every leader needs. Liberals have always been particularly bad at venerating their leaders. Willie Rennie described us, the day he became Scottish ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Münchausen syndrome is a psychological disorder wherein people feign illness to gain attention, sympathy or reassurance. It was named by the British endocrinologist and haematologist Richard Asher. And Richard Asher was the father of the actress Jane Asher - and also of the musician Peter Asher, who once left a comment on this blog. I think we have found our Trivial Fact of the Day.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

[IMG: House of Lords - Some rights reserved by UK Parliament] We have a new Liberal Democrat Parliamentarian tonight after a by-election win. It's a wee while since we could say that. But it's a very different type of by-election and one that raises more than a little disquiet. I have to say I find it pretty objectionable that you can get a seat in Parliament not through election by actual voters but because of the circumstances of your birth. The House of Lords Act of 1999 left 92 hereditary peers in place after the Labour government backed down from ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

I wrote my one and only letter to Private Eye when I was 17. They published it, and so I retired as a correspondent with a 100% success rate. It was about their coverage of John Smith's death. I'm pretty sure I was accusing them of tastelessness and am absolutely sure it's the kind of priggish letter only a teenager who reads Private Eye would send. Two decades letter I got an invitation to attend a Private Eye lunch. If I had a bucket list that would probably have been on it. So I went. I'm not really sure why ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

That's it. The Ludlow Arts Festival has gone – for 2015 at least. As the Ludlow Advertiser and Shropshire Star report, it is not commercially viable. Chris Davis, the festival organiser tells the newspapers that Ludlow Castle and Ludlow Arts Festival Ltd have decided that: "The scale of events they wish to stage are not [...]

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

Stockport Council is warning residents about a text message scam involving a loan that is not paid out. Earlier this month a Stockport resident received an unsolicited text message from a business purporting to be a loan company. The message stated: 'Dear Customer, the loan you applied for recently has been approved. The loan will be paid to you today. Please call (phone number) to receive the money into your bank'. The message was sent by a withheld number. The victim was persuaded to pay £100 via PayPoint e-voucher on the promise that £500 would be put into their account. ...

YouGov

#1319015 / gettyimages.com The cover of Liberal Democrat peer Tim Razzall's memoirs features a quote from Nick Robinson, saying "After a quarter of a century as a Lib Dem power broker, Tim Razzall knows where the bodies are buried". True, but as the first line of the book illustrates, the memoirs are not a guide to location of said corpses but rather mostly an account of Razzall's entertaining life outside politics, often featuring both the music and business worlds: "I met Frank Sinatra through Robert Maxwell. That's if you can be said to have met someone who was on a ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

[IMG: Kirsty Williams] Kirsty Williams seemed choked with the cold when she questioned First Minister Carwyn Jones yesterday but her fighting spirit was undiminished as she took him to task for what she called his government's aspiration towards mediocrity rather than excellence in the wake of the annual Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission report which said that poorer children in Wales were significantly less likely to obtain 5 GCSE's including Maths and English. Even at the age of 3, children in Wales were falling behind those in England and Scotland in terms of vocabulary. While children in England caught ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

 

Posted by Charlotte Henry on Charlotte Henry
Wed 22nd
16:27

#c2ctidyup

Big thanks to the volunteers who turned up to help with the Sustrans 20th birthday cleanup of the Consett-Sunderland railway path. Across 9.5 miles around Consett and Stanley there were nearly two hundred of us, though more modest numbers tackled the stretch from Villa Real to the Jolly Drovers. We were immediately depleted by an emergency call for the fire-fighters, but the team still included Tesco's community team, Sustrans staff and volunteers, Derwent Valley Partnership staff, police community support officers and neighbourhood wardens. [IMG: Volunteers for sustrans website 1] Work undertaken included litter picking, trimming back branches and brambles, removing ...

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple & Margaret Nealis

Liveblog of the ongoing shooting in Ottawa, Canada. Extraordinary, horrendous, scenes from the Canadian Parliament as gunfire is exchanged within the building. Video via Sky News and the Globe and Mail. https://skynews.grabyo.com/g/v/lC5Uf6exWBj

Posted by Charlotte Henry on Charlotte Henry

[IMG: libby on the wall3] The Liberal Democrats could be on the verge of a major change in the way in which we conduct our internal business. We have already decided to move to OMOV for Federal Conference, and that will result automatically in all members of the party being eligible to stand for the elected positions on our Federal Executive. We have also already decided to move to no less than 30% female representation for the elected seats on the FE, which will automatically weight the FE to at least 15% women (a token gesture by people who don't ...

Posted by Iain Donaldson on Liberal Democrat Voice

This is a quick round-up of the best new content for ALDC members, including: Electoral Commission Guidance for 2015 York By-Election victory leaflets Triple Lock Pensions Materials Posters as part of leaflets (Facebook Group discussion) ALDC Blog Electoral Commission 2015 Guidance Today's lead story is the publication of the EC's guidance for the 2015 local and general [...]

Posted by Craig Whittall on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

Following on from the depressing news that the NUS will condemn UKIP but not ISIS, there's been more nasty nonsense from the world of student politics. The Tab reports: A motion was proposed at the Goldsmiths Students' Assembly yesterday to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day and victims of genocide. Education officer Sarah El-alfy urged students to [...]

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

[IMG: Statue of Justice - The Old Bailey] A key message the Business Secretary Vince Cable has been keen to stress during his time in government is the need to tackle rogue directors: he's announced plans to produce "stronger deterrents" and "more robust sanctions" to quash 'dodgy directors'. Dr Cable's - and insolvency minister Jo Swinson's - policies on protecting creditors from rogue directors are certainly worth developing, but they are at risk of being undermined by policies being put forward by the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice has been seeking to tackle the costs of litigation, but ...

Posted by Giles Frampton on Liberal Democrat Voice

Nick Clegg has spoken today about how too much teacher time is taken up with box ticking and paperwork, which is pretty fair but he doesn't speak about just what is wrong with our education system but also about the mindset of far too many people. This is something that has been building inside of me for a long time and I have written about it several times in recent weeks and months. The crux of the issue is I disagree with what the primary function of schooling seems to be – exams. I would love to know a breakdown ...

Posted by neilmonnery on The Rambles of Neil Monnery
eUKhost
Wed 22nd
12:44

Station Link Road update

Just a quick update, based on a briefing I had from an officer this morning. I am grateful for the update. I think the council is trying to get the work done sensibly, but there is no doubt at all that there is going to be some major disruption over the next few months. PLEASE NOTE: This is just information about what is happening. It doesn't mean I think the link road is the best idea for solving the traffic problems in Wokingham. Work starts in Oxford Road 27th October. Now clarified, thanks to officer briefing this morning, that means ...

Posted by Prue Bray on Prue Bray

#499575021 / gettyimages.com Michael Crick, now possibly slightly older than in the photograph, has been speculating: Are the Conservatives about to come a huge cropper with David Cameron's extremely expensive primary election in Rochester? A couple of Britain's top election lawyers say the primary which the Conservatives are currently holding to pick their candidate for the Rochester and Strood by-election could open the by-election result to serious challenge in an election court. Notice the "could" in there which, if you're used to hearing lawyers give legal advice, you'll know signifies little than that they are still alive and breathing. Almost ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

As someone who has been renovating a house for the last few months, the news that Homebase is in trouble was the least surprising piece of news I've read this week. They really don't get internet shopping. I have a few suggestions to up their game: The whole idea of 'Click and Collect' is that [...]

Posted by Mira on Mira's Picture

I do a fair bit of fund-raising training for Local Parties and I know it's one of the things a lot of activists struggle with. Here are five tried and tested ways any Local Party can boost their fund-raising - and they are all things a range of Local Parties are already doing. Doing any [...]

Twelve days ago I emailed all of the then declared contenders to be the next Liberal Democrat President with questions (below) about their personal political philosophy and our shared Lib Dem values, to be published here. I received Daisy Cooper's answers this morning, and here they are now. Pithy - We believe and trust in the power and potential of every individual to be whoever or whatever they want to be. We want to tear down the barriers in your way and we want to give you the tools and knowledge you need. It's about freedom and we believe that ...

Posted by Alex Wilcock on Love and Liberty

[IMG: Clacton beach huts photo by Nick Page] I have a lifelong affinity with Clacton. It was the nearest seaside resort to my hometown of Sudbury, but more relevantly I was parliamentary candidate for the Harwich division, as it was then called, which included Clacton, in the General Election of 1970 (albeit for Labour - I saw the light three years later!) On the face of it one should want to forget all about the Clacton results as quickly as possible. But there are some bright spots, and some insights which may be worth sharing. For a start, our candidate, ...

Posted by Lord Andrew Phillips on Liberal Democrat Voice

Rifling through some old blog posts I came across these two great clips of political canvassing, taken from Dennis Potter's satire Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton which, like all great satires, comes with a large dollop of truth: Of course, grim canvassing experiences can be the trigger for fun, even if Liberal Democrat peer Tim Razzall recounts in his memoirs going a little far: After the first ten houses, all of whom had told me that they were Tory and disliked the Liberal council, I thought I would have some fun. For the next ten houses I said I ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Electoral Commission Guidance for the 2015 elections now been published and is available on their website. Notable amongst the changes of deadlines to integrate the two timetables is that deadline for the withdrawal of local elections nominations is now 4pm on Thursday 9th April. The same as the deadline for the submission of nominations. This has [...]

Wed 22nd
10:49

Rotherham and Liverpool

Liverpool Town Hall Yesterday Cllr Steve Radford and I decided not to take part in a meeting with Joe Anderson and Ged Fitzgerald about what happened in Rotherham in the last decade. For different reasons we overcame reservations that we ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

The Tories have clearly decided that they have to win the Rochester and Strood by-election, and are willing to throw everything they have at ensuring they get their victory. As happened with Newark, they've told all MPs they have to pay a number of visits to the constituency, and David Cameron may well go there for five campaign trips. (Another sign of my advancing age is that I can remember when Tony Blair's one visit to the 1997 Uxbridge by-election was regarded as a major change in protocol for a Prime Minister) Throwing the kitchen sink at trying to hold ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

[IMG: hannah thompson] Every time I read about what Hannah Thompson went through, the ordeal of not knowing when and where photos which she had intended only for private consumption would end up next after her former boyfriend abused her trust, it makes me want to cry. Partly in empathy, feeling for what she went through, partly in anger that anyone could do that to a former partner, partly in total admiration at the way she has calmly and reasonably campaigned for what happened to her to be made an offence. This week the House of Lords passed the amendment ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

A fascinating conversation the night before last has made me realise that, although I don't think I've got it wrong on the banks, I only had half the picture. I was aware that, compared with other businesses - and certainly compared to the salaries and bonuses they pay - the big banks are no longer profitable enough to carry out the basic jobs of providing banking services that they were originally designed to do. Love them or hate them, everyone seems to agree that banks need to end the pretence of free banking. It isn't real and it leads to ...

Posted by David Boyle on The Real Blog

It's great news that revenge porn is to be made a specific criminal offence in England and Wales. The roll of honour for that includes Tory MP Maria Miller and Liberal Democrat parliamentarians Julian Huppert, Olly Grender, Liz Barker, Sal ... Continue reading →

Posted by caronlindsay on Caron's Musings

In Peterborough, one of the side effects of the Tory controlled City Council's failure to reduce care usage, is the increase in wear and tear on the roads. In recent years, millions of pounds have been spent on road repairs, at a time when other essential services have been reduced or even cut. At the [...]

Posted by Cllr Darren Fower on Cllr Darren Fower

[IMG: con home cartoon] Here's my latest The Other Side column for ConservativeHome, published here yesterday. It was given the headline "British politics is more fragmented than ever" which is a more accurate reflection of what I said than my own click-bait version. My thanks as ever to the site's editors, Paul Goodman and Mark Wallace, for giving a Lib Dem space to provoke – constructively, I hope. It's not playing out according to the script. Rewind to the start of the Coalition, Conservative and Labour strategists were both agreed on two things. On only one of them have they ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

Cher tweets her solidarity for 'brave warriors' in Russia's gay community (tags: ) The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemns UKIP's new EP group (tags: ) Westminster Dog of the Year - I voted Paul Burstow and Indy I'd never make either of my two wear panniers with Focus Leaflets in, although Roxy does get pictured being walked by various Calderdale LDs every so often ;) (tags: ) Channel 4 FactCheck: the truth about immigration I'd question the use of "most" to mean "slightly more than half" in the first section, but other than that, this is very good. ...

[IMG: _78421805_78421804] UKIP was very recently on the verge of having its grouping in the European Parliament, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, essentially disbanded. The members of the group would have lost out on what amounts to around a million quid in funding as well as having allotted parliamentary time to make speeches on the floor of the parliament removed. This crisis was triggered by Latvian MEP Iveta Grigule departing from the grouping (rumour has it, because of Farage's pro-Putin remarks earlier this year), leaving it one MEP shy of the minimum requirement. But in steps Polish MEP ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

[IMG: British Influence] Liberal Democrat MP & European Business Advisor, Michael Moore has published a report calling for 'a new engagement' with the EU to give British businesses a stronger influence in Europe. 'Doing Business Across Europe: A New Engagement', makes a number of recommendations to support British businesses, improve the UK's relationship with the largest trading partner and lead the way in reforming the EU to increase trade and competitiveness. The report follows months of discussions with business leaders and senior experts from the UK and across Europe. Businesses support the UK's membership of the EU, but are calling ...

Posted by Nick Hollinghurst on Nick Hollinghurst

[IMG: Libby - Some rghts reserved by David Spender] A week today, Wednesday, 29th October, ballot papers will be sent to all c.44,000 Lib Dem members enabling us to vote for the next Party President in succession to Tim Farron, who's held the post for the past four years. Other than the party leader, the presidency is currently the only other post in the Lib Dems determined by a vote of all its members. Three candidates successfully secured nomination — click on their names to follow the links to their campaign websites: Sal Brinton Daisy Cooper Liz Lynne The ballot ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

#488985475 / gettyimages.com The BBC reports: UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been fined £200 by the Electoral Commission, while the Conservative Party has forfeited an "impermissible" £28,000 donation. Mr Farage's fine relates to the failure to declare donated office space worth £3,800 per year. The Electoral Commission said the breach dated back to 2001 but saw "no intent to hide the donations" and said the fine had been paid.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

In Channel 4's Political Slot this week, Lib Dem candidate for Mid Dorset and North Poole Vikki Slade finds out how the party's policy of free school meals for 4-7 year olds is having a huge impact locally. You can watch it here.

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice
Wed 22nd
08:45

Busy Tuesday

Yesterday morning, following a meeting with the Director of Housing to discuss options for council house rent levels for 2015/16, I took part in a 'walkabout' round the Logie area. The six-monthly walkabouts take place in a number of areas (Pentland and Blackness are other examples) and are a useful way to look at local issues and problems and ensure these are taken up and resolved. Here's some of issues picked up from yesterday's walkabout: Overgrown foliage across the pavement in Glenagnes Road to be trimmed Missing street sign in Glenagnes Street to be replaced Ownership of untidy ground in ...

The Liverpool Echo has an article – see link above – and have a look at their gallery of photos. I went down to the Marine lake at Crosby and it was wild indeed:- [IMG: Big sky and churned up Marine lane - Waterloo.] Big sky and churned up Marine Lake – Waterloo. This photo and some others from Marine Lake are amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton FocusSefton Focus
Wed 22nd
08:41

That Manifesto 'Leak'

Yesterday an image was leaked of Nick Clegg's; sorry, the Liberal Democrats' strategy chief Ryan Coetzee holding what appeared to be the front page of the first draft of the Party's manifesto. (It appeared via a scurrilous social media site that I will not dignify with a link) It has been generally assumed that such an experienced political operator would not have done this accidentally. The document has not gone anywhere near the Federal Policy Committee, which is good because it means that committee's stupid secrecy rules (which I have consistently challenged) do not apply. The 'front page' contains four ...

Posted by Gareth on Gareth Epps

Just to update residents on the transport issues around the proposed changes to hospital services in Greater Manchester. You may be aware from the media or from emails earlier in the year about the proposed changes to emergency services which are currently being consulted on by the NHS. The proposals would be that for the most 'severe' emergencies, there would only be 3, 4 or 5 hospitals that would be 'specialist hospitals' that would be able to deal with the most severe of emergencies (broadly emergencies that might require emergency surgery). None of the options being consulted on have either ...

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

As a Welsh politician I am the last person to defend Labour's management of the health service this side of the border. Hard-working and dedicated staff are being put under pressure by the under-resourcing of key services, waiting time targets are being missed and major services such as the Wales Ambulance Service Trust are under-performing. There is a clear case for an independent and over-arching inquiry into the way the Welsh NHS is being run. You only have to read the articles on Freedom Central here to get a picture of everything that is wrong and needs fixing with the ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

From the City Council: THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 : SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Scottish Water manhole repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Hawkhill (prohibit right turn into Brown Street), DundeeBrown Street (prohibit right turn into Hawkhill), Dundee This notice comes into effect on Thursday 23 October 2014 for one day. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles will be available via Hawkhill (northbound)/ Hunter Street roundabout / Hawkhill (southbound) and Hawkhill ...

I just wanted to update residents on some work I have been doing around bin collections in both Simister and the Baguley Crescent/Heywood Old Road areas in the last week. In Simister I understand that bins were not emptied on your new 'bin day' last week, but that the crews came the next day instead. I investigated this with Waste Management. Apparently this was the first time that this new 'route' which included Simister had been undertaken by crews and it wasn't manageable on that occasion. No doubt thought will have been put into getting this right for the future, ...

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

[IMG: Fireworks] News from Torbay: Former Torbay Conservative Councillor Eric Abercrombie and leading local Labour and Trade Union activist Paul Raybould have changed political allegiance. Paignton resident Eric Abercrombie was elected in 2000 and represented the Blatchcombe Ward for seven years. He will be contesting the Preston Ward for the Liberal Democrats next May alongside John and Linda Turner. Torquay resident Paul Raybould is secretary of the local Trades Union Council and was a Labour Party member for 25 years. He stood as a council candidate for Labour in the Ellacombe Ward in 2011 and hopes to be selected shortly ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Just to update people on the patch of land which is opposite St Mary's CoE Primary on Rectory Lane. As people will know this site is very often in a very messy state. as the picture below shows. At our request the Council has written to the site owners asking them to tidy up the plot. This was also done (with some success) about 18 months ago, but the situation has deteriorated again. I'll keep you informed on progress. [IMG: image1] With thanks to a helpful resident for this photo!

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

A new planning application has been received within Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 58027 Registration Date: 06/10/2014 Location: 367 Bury Old Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1QA Proposal: First floor extension at rear Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with this. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

Like most people – including apparently the makers of the atrocious looking new film Dracula: Untold – I'd thought it was a fact that Bram Stoker had modelled his vampiric villain on the notoriously cruel medieval Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler. IO9 suggests this is a myth. Apparently it arose because Stoker's notes of his [...]

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts
Wed 22nd
00:00

Spot the Difference 2

Spot the Difference: 08/10/14 21/10/14 Andrew

Posted by Andrew Brown on the widow's world