I did promise one more go at Psalm 122, and whilst Purcell was all well and good, Edwardian England required something a bit bolder, a bit more splendid. And Hubert Parry was just the man to produce it... You may recognise a few of the flourishes that appear in his perhaps more famous work, the setting of William Blake's "Jerusalem". I suppose that, in a properly diverse world, it will never be sung at Federal Conference again, which to the mind of someone who looks back with some nostalgia at the old Liberal Party, is a pity, as it does ...
#85004151 / gettyimages.com Rock's greatest guitarist photographed at the Saville theatre, London, a couple of years before I performed there.
During the last Labour government they demanded that councils make their social council housing decent on the one hand, but then refused to support council who tried doing it. They insisted council relinquish control to housing association and Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMO). Lambeth created an ALMO called Lambeth Living in 2008. It has been a disaster. Southwark under the Lib Dems resisted this. in 2010 the coalition government reversed that disastrous national policy. It has made councils fully accountable for their housing finance and given large sums to help make council housing decent. Things have changed so much for ...
Why is this embarrassing: this in danger of being embarrasing (sorry about the advert): and this sublime?
Four years ago, for reasons best known to itself, the Yorkshire Post quoted me as an authority on the way Halloween has supplanted Bonfire Night as a British folk festival. Two years before that, I had written in my much-mourned (by me) New Statesman column Calder's Comfort Farm: I've got no time for Trick or Treat. It's just demanding money with menaces and, in the South of England at least, a recent import from America. Worse, paranoid modern parents insist on accompanying their children, trailing behind them with big soppy grins. A Penny for the Guy was more my style: ...
You may or may not have heard that come 2016, there will be an ALL OUT election for city councillors in Peterborough? During 2014, the Electoral Commission have been undertaking a "consultation" to see what interested parties have to say. I would add that, out of ALL the political parties in Peterborough, the Peterborough Liberal [...]
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 395th 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 (-, 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. The Day Private Eye invited me to lunch ...
[IMG: Stephen Tall on the BBC] Careful what you tweet; you might end up in the press: There ought to be a dictionary of apparently innocent phrases that have a special meaning on Twitter. Mark Pack, a Lib Dem blogger yesterday accused Stephen Tall, a fellow Lib Dem, of writing a "thought-provoking argument ... about heading for the centre ground of politics". Stephen Tall thought this was using "thought-provoking" in its special Twitter sense: "I disagree in too many ways to fit in one tweet." [John Rentoul, The Independent] Well, Stephen was right about the "too many ways to fit ...
The more time I spend with him (Carswell), the more bewildered I am. Why on earth did he join Ukip? Well, he says, he could hardly have moved over to Clegg's lot. "If the Liberal Democrats hadn't made 20 years of errors, yes. But they have made it very clear that they're not liberal and that they're on the side of the elites, not the people." If Gladstone was such a hero, why didn't he stand as an independent one-man Liberal party candidate? He laughs. "Well I toyed with the idea... Interview with Douglas Carswell, The Guardian, 19th October 2014 ...
So after yesterday spectacular loss against Rochdale, the Club are 3rd from bottom of Division 1 and let's face it struggling. Is YTFC punching above it's weight? Yes probably... What is worrying is that the attendance yesterday was 3,601. Which ... Continue reading →
Sun 26th
17:43
Russell Brand wants to be Mayor of London. If he's prepared to grow up, the Liberal Democrats might ...
Amusing news from the Guardian today suggests that Russell Brand has privately commented that he'd like to stand for the London Mayoral election 2016. This has been greeted as satire by many who remember him encouraging young people not to vote and his poorly-thought out (but sincere) comments on a political revolution that went viral. If, in time, it is confirmed that he really does have ambitions to represent London, we should consider ourselves lucky. He might seem like an irritation to many political activists, and he seems not to understand the work that many put into changing their communities ...
#94827149 / gettyimages.com The BBC reports: Ditching the European Arrest Warrant would make the UK the "best place" in the EU for rapists, murderers and child molesters to flee to, a former immigration minister has warned. Conservative Damian Green said the call by some of his backbench party colleagues to leave the agreement was "really dangerous". The presence of Liberal Democrats in government has been central to stopping Tory MPs forcing their party's leadership to drop the European Arrest Warrant and former Lib Dem MEP Sarah Ludford played a major role in pushing for sensible reforms to improve it. As ...
[IMG: members forum wordle] LibDemVoice has two parallel sites. The first is our public blog, the thing you're reading now. The second is our private members' forum, which only current Lib Dem members can access. If you're a member and want to chat with fellow party members about any issue that's on your mind, then why not sign up? In addition, you'll be included in our regular surveys' of party members' views. Here's some of the most active discussions this past 7 days: Baker signs off on new home entry law; Dark internal mutterings; Lord Freud – was what he ...
The crowds are still gathering at the Ottawa war memorial this morning to pay their respects to Corporal Nathan Cirillo, who was shot by extremist gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau on Wednesday. The Parliament is reopening to visitors tomorrow when I have a day of meetings there, but as can be seen from the picture of the changing of the guard above and the memorial below, people have been laying flowers for days and continue to applaud soldiers guarding the monument. I walked around the Parliament building this morning and was a bit surprised that I could do so quite freely. Although ...
Protestors at Walton Hall Park Over the past few months I have been ruminating on three things: 1. The outburst of political debate and discussion caused by the Scottish Referendum. It really excited people to be taking part in a ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Sal Brinton] If you have half an hour today, make sure you listen to the Week in Westminster, available here on iPlayer. In it, Tom Brake debates the merits of fixed term Parliaments. The Tory argument against them seems to be more based in self interest and "we are sick fed up of the coalition and these pesky Liberal Democrats" than anything that actually matters. Sal Brinton is also on talking about revenge porn which was made illegal in moves driven by Liberal Democrats including Sal, Olly Grender, Jonathan Marks and Liz Barker. Presenter Helen Lewis had initially said ...
To London on Wednesday for a social occasion, as the Parliamentary Party in the Lords, newly buttressed by its new members, was invited with significant others, spouses, grandchildren etc. to 10 Downing Street by someone described as the Deputy Prime Minister but who I tend to think of as 'that nice young man who was so impressive when I was his Returning Officer in 1997'. I don't come into London so much these days - ghastly place, crowded with expensive beer, where you can only get decent cheese at Borough Market (and have you seen the prices?) and where people ...
Stavanger, a city of no more than 125,000 souls, is the oil capital of Norway and thus one of the most affluent places in Europe, the gleaming modern office blocks that belie its millennial heritage sharing its striking geographical location with wooden houses and spacious villas with gardens that predate the oil boom. But like [...]
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 15,700 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Confused Britain (60 comments) by Scott Stables Linda Jack drops out of race for party president (58 comments) by Mary Reid Is this the front page of the next Lib Dem manifesto? (88 comments) by Stephen Tall 10 years on from the Orange Book, what should authentic liberalism look like? (78 comments) by Stephen Tall "Duraàntezmania: that has legs" and other compliments for Miriam (74 comments) by The Voice Opinion: the utter and total failure of ...
The Scottish Labour Party has been thrown into turmoil by the sudden resignation of its leader, Johann Lamont. Her decision effectively sets Labour's Holyrood and Westminster camps in open warfare against each other. Lamont threw in the towel after discovering ... Continue reading →
Jack Bruce, bass player and lead singer with Cream, died yesterday. This is one of Cream's most famous songs. Because it dates from the era when great rock bands did not look down their noses at the singles chart, it made the top 30 in 1968.
[IMG: ***BESTPIX*** Labour Launches Scottish Independence Referendum Campaign] As the Scottish Labour Party breaks from tradition to form the circular firing squad before the election and find itself without a leader, speculation has begun on who could replace Johann Lamont as the holder of one of British politics most coveted poisoned chalices. I don't pretend to be an expert on Scottish politics, so I'm not going to comment on the potential of all the candidates but one name that's been floated has caught my attention: Gordon Brown. At least one MP is pressing the former Prime Minister to stand, and ...
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 31% 34% 7% 19% 4% -3% 15-16/10 Online ComRes 29% 35% 10% 15% 4% -6% 26-28/9 Phone ICM 31% 35% 11% 14% 4% -4% 10-12/10 Phone Ashcroft 28% 31% 7% 18% 8% -3% 17-19/10 Phone Ashcroft 31% 34% 8% 18% 4% -3% 8-9/10 Online MORI 30% 33% 8% 16% 5% -3% 11-14/10 ...
Sun 26th
12:54
It's the Liberal Democrat Blogosphere Wedding of the Year - congratulations to Richard and Alex
I had planned to be in Stockport this afternoon. A bit of a health scare for my poor husband means that I can't make it but my heart is there with my friends Alex Wilcock and Richard Flowers. It's twenty years today since they first got together and they are celebrating by getting married. It's the Wedding of the Year for the Liberal Democrat Blogosphere Both have been star Liberal Democrat bloggers for some time. Richard won our Blog of the Year in 2010 for his Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, Elephant. Alex is constantly challenging us to be ...
House guests last night - Fiki (white) and Khulu (black_
Following Johann Lamont's resignation, which served to underline the self-created difficulties in which Scottish Labour finds itself, there has been much talk regarding her successor. The Mirror has reported that Jim Murphy is the frontrunner. The Spectator disagrees, stating that Anas Sarwar is the favourite to succeed Lamont. Gordon Brown has been touted by many as a potential Scottish leader. What is quite obvious about those being touted is, while they undoubtedly possess leadership ability, their potential appointments would also create significant further problems for Labour and would be ignoring the reasons behind the party's current problems. As Caron Lindsay ...
Congratulations to Blyth Spartans for their 4-3 win at Leek Town in the final qualifying round of the FA Cup . First round proper draw on Monday ( BBC2 , 7 pm )
[IMG: sundaypaps] Here's my pick of today's Sunday papers. Please add your favourite stories in the comments. First up, an article in the Independent reports criticism of Nick Clegg's failure to put a woman in the Cabinet from Alice Thomas (citing her article on here) and from Presidential candidate Daisy Cooper. Hannah Summers reports in the Sunday Times (£) on the casting for a new drama about the formation of the Coalition. Doctor Who and Sherlock writer Mark Gatiss, who also plays the shadowy Mycoft Holmes in the latter, has been cast as Peter Mandelson. Writer James Graham is interviewed ...
The Department for Education are trying to talk away the story about the NAHT producing guidelines as to when term time absence should be allowed. Earlier this year I wrote to the Department suggesting this as way towards a solution. However, the department refused this as a proposal. The Minister as I understand it is now signing off on the guidelines. Hence it is a clear U-turn on the
A report on the This is Money website, claims residents in Peterborough, along with areas like Newcastle-upon-Tyne and east London, "...have the highest levels of personal debt of anyone in the country..." The report states that people living in areas like Hampton, Yaxley and Whittlesey, have the highest level of personal debt per head at [...]
Well, you thought we were all about constitutions and Focus leaflets, didn't you? Well, the Mirror reports that, apparently, Liberal Democrat supporters have the most adventurous sex lives of all political supporters. This all comes from a book to be published next week called Sex, lies and the ballot box: 50 things you need to know about British elections by Philip Cowley and Robert Ford. That'll be winging its way to my Kindle on Tuesday. I'll let you know what I think of it in due course. I'm sorry if this is too delicate a subject for this time in ...
[IMG: Drinking coffee] Got a bit of time ahead of you today? Then here's three longer reads I've recently written that you might want to take a look at: The Liberal Democrat approach to campaigning: the history and debunking some myths: a history of bar charts, the rise of Chris Rennard and how the Lib Dems reworked Britain's electoral system Liberal Landslide – the 1906 election: with rather more similarities to modern elections than you might expect The forgotten liberal hero: Earl Grey: want a Prime Minister who ran a successful coalition and introduced major political reform? Grey's your man. ...
As I mentioned earlier this month, I have, over a considerable period, pressed the City Council to provide a second School Crossing patroller in Lawton Road at the Harris Academy decant site, given the very large footfall (1000+ pupils) in the morning, lunchtime and at the end of the school day. I have raised this at the Harris Academy Project Board and was given assurances that steps were being taken to recruit additional school crossing patrollers. I have now been advised by the City Council's Head of Education (Secondary and Additional Support Needs) as follows : "As far as I ...
When we've put the clocks back to Proper Time at 2am can we please just leave them there? (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Despite having no religion I do find churches interesting and Ormskirk Parish Church is a rare one indeed being one of only three in England to have both a tower and a steeple. Wikipedia has a history of the church for reference – see link above. [IMG: rsz_lucky_church_-_a_tower_and_steeple] Just down the road from the church, on the appropriately named Church Street, West Lancs Borough Council has had some 'look alike' bollards and seats made which replicate the tower and steeple. [IMG: rsz_ormskirks_unique_bollards] A nice piece of local authority complementary street scene works. The photos above (click on them to ...
The Council's just announced that they want to hear from residents on their views on polling facilities in Peterborough to "...ensure the venues are suitable for voters." Deadline for YOUR comments is Friday 14 November, so as usual not a great deal of time from the Tory controlled city council! They Council claim they are doing [...]
A public exhibition will take place at: St Gregory's School, on Monday 3rd November Midday to 8:00 pm. From the organisers, "this is a chance to talk to the project team" and put forward suggestions. We have always opposed this development, but with that part of the planning process finished we will be working to ensure it built to highest standards. The planning inspector in his report placed a
Sun 26th
08:45The Independent View: Time for the Lib Dems to capitalise on their cities' opportunity
[IMG: ldv centre for cities fringe - oct 2014] There has been a flurry of interest in cities and the economic regeneration of the North from all sides of the political spectrum over the past few months, so it was not surprising to see them feature strongly during party conference season. Over the three weeks, we created a platform for each of the parties to debate and explore how their parties could turn the rhetoric into reality, and win the hearts and minds of Britain's cities at the 2015 Election. It was fascinating to see representatives of Labour, the Conservatives ...
Thursday evening last saw Maghull Town Council run its annual Civic Awards night and a good time was had by all. The evening started off with Maghull's Mayor, Joan Deegan, presenting Woodlands Hospice with a cheque for £6,000 from her fund raising activities. This year the winners of the Civic Award were husband and wife team Anne and John Hill who do a great deal for Maghull in Bloom. I have known this dynamic pair for a number of years so was delighted to both nominate them for the award and to hear that my fellow councillors had supported the ...
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design is holding its latest open days tomorrow and Tuesday - 27th and 28th October. These are an excellent way for people to see DJCAD before applying. Everyone is welcome to attend including school students, college students, parents, teachers and careers advisers. The visit days will include scheduled talks, tours of DJCAD and the chance to speak to staff and students. You can find out more here - see also video below :
Sun 26th
08:01
Please come to the free firework display on Gallows Bank, Ludlow on Monday night (27 October)
For the last few years, we have had a fabulous display of fireworks on Gallows Bank. It's a great community event, funded by local organisations and donors. It only happens because a lot of people volunteer their time. This year, the display kicks off at 7 pm. I suggest you arrive early to get a [...]
The trailer for Avengers II is one of many signs that the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe may be taking a turn for the gloomy. Is that a wise decision? So we got to see the teaser trailer for the Avengers: Age of Ultron earlier that we were expecting – Hail Hydra! – and my overwhelming [...]
I've kept this spoiler free. If you're watching in the States please don't spoiler me as the UK is several weeks behind. The very fact that Agents of Shield is back for a second season is remarkable. For most of its initial run it was resolutely mediocre. As a result, both audiences and critics had largely [...]
