I meant to write something about this months ago, but it got buried in the "Blog Posts that Time Forgot" pile. The Scottish Police Federation's stand was by far the best at Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference in Aberdeen in March. ... Continue reading →

Posted by caronlindsay on Caron's Musings

One of the most frequent arguments against a more liberal drugs policy is that liberalisation would 'send a message' that drugs – even hard drugs like heroin and cocaine – were not harmful. This, so the argument goes, would lead ... Continue reading →

Posted by acidandamnesty on underthewesternfreeway

 

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on Bar Hill

[IMG: ScarierThanHalloween - climate change poster] Find out more and back the campaign here.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Proper post later, but I wanted to make a tiny observation here about the stupidity of my own mental health: I've spent more time socialising this past week than in maybe the six months before that. I went to see a double-bill of horror films with several of my friends, went to the wedding of [...]

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!
Fri 31st
19:42

UKIP and my mistake

I made a mistake the other day. I woke up and heard that a poll had given UKIP greater than 20% support. I started to think about the consequence of UKIP gaining a significant number of MPs. My conclusion - my mistake - was that we'd have an referendum on leaving the EU - which a "better together" campaign would probably win, and then everything will go back to normal, and support for UKIP would subside. Now, I'd just woken up. And within ten seconds of thinking this I realised my error. UKIP are no longer a single issue party ...

Posted by AVSL on A Very Social Liberal
Fri 31st
18:15

Medicalise Drug Users

Britain has a long history of criminalising drug use. The war on drugs is a well documented failure. It has created a huge criminal community where the profits are so huge that violence to maintain them takes place. A new Home Office report comparing the UK's approach to drug misuse with that of 13 other countries concluded that drug use was influenced by factors "more complex and nuanced than legislation and enforcement alone". It then explains that Portugal where drug users are treated as a health problem has seen a considerable improvement in drug user health. Portugal has taken this ...

Posted by James Barber on James BarberJames Barber

Note from Chris White 1. Meeting with Hightown Praetorian I had a meeting with the Chief Executive of Hightown Praetorian and explained to him that a two hour exhibition without any previous attempt to talk to stakeholders or councillors was hardly the way to proceed. He agreed to have a meeting with the Residents' Association committee [...]

Posted by chriswhite on Chris WhiteChris White

The happy one! The very happy one! The grumpy one! The evil one! Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Crafts, Despicable Me, Halloween, Minions, Pumpkins, The Minions

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

Today councils in Manchester have been told by George Osborne that they can have more powers if they have a Metro Mayor. In fact as Nick Clegg confirmed to me last week that is Osborne's policy and not that of ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?
YouGov

Labour have retained the post of Police and Crime Commissioner, following the resignation of Shaun Wright, with 50.02% of first preferences ahead of UKIP on 31.66% with a turnout of 14%. The Liberal Democrats did not stand a candidate. The campaign was dominated by the issue of the child sexual exploitation scandal in Rotherham, with UKIP accused of crassly exploiting the issue for their own political ends, and Labour accused of being responsible for the authorities that failed those children. Both accusations have merit, though in my book failing to protect 1600 children is worse than crass politicking. I'm not ...

Posted by Joe Otten on Liberal Democrat Voice

#466782283 / gettyimages.com As with other books in the Biteback series, especially Jeremy Browne's one on the Liberal Democrats, Nick Herbert's case for voting Conservative is not the 'official' line, containing strong traces of the author's own personal views. That both makes the book more interesting yet also not such a sure guide for a floating voter, unless you are in Nick Herbert's own constituency. [IMG: Why Vote Conservative - by Nick Herbert] He makes, for example, an eloquent case for why action is needed to tackle climate change both at home and abroad, rooting his interest in the rest ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The Armadillo Youth Venue and Cafe is holding its Christmas Fayre on Saturday 6 December. If you would be interested in having a stall at the event please contact Sophie Webber (Adminstration Apprentice) on 001454 869441 or email Sophie at sophie.webber@southglos.gov.uk

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

If you would like to join this free club at Yate International Academy on Fridays, please contact sport@southglos.gov.uk or call 01454 865821.

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

Five principal council by-elections were contested yesterday in England, Scotland and Wales. In Telford & Wrekin (UA), by-elections were held in Ironbridge Gorge and Newport West. The former contest resulted in a Labour hold although they saw a decrease of 8.9% in their vote from the ward's 2011 election, after UKIP had polled 18.5% despite not fielding [...]

Posted by Michael Powell on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

Stockport residents are being encouraged to play a part in the future of the Borough, by giving their opinions on a range of proposals to shape future services. The Council is currently consulting on proposals relating to Sure Start Centres; alley gating; and Regulatory and Enforcement Services. For further information about the consultations and to submit a response please click here The consultations close on 15th November 2014

Parents of two, there and four year olds in Stockport are being urged to protect their children from flu this winter. Children between the ages of 2 and 4 years on 1st September 2014 are eligible for a free nasal influenza vaccine provided by the Department of Health and administered by local GPs. Please click here for further information about the vaccine and a list of other 'at risk' groups who are eligible for a free vaccination.

Fri 31st
15:09

Age Analysis

Hot news! I have just had a reply from the indefatigable House of Lords Library team giving me the most recent breakdown of Peer's ages. There are just 2 under the age of 40 and 29 over the age of 90, though by my count 12 of the latter are amongst those who have "taken leave of absence" (out of a total of 48 from all age groups). The full analysis of the age groups is below. The average age, despite the recent introduction of several younger recruits to the Liberal Democrat benches, remains stubbornly over 70. The total population ...

Posted by Lord Tyler on Lords of the Blog » Lord Tyler

Pleased as I am to see a de-escalation of tensions in Jerusalem (and I thought that Judaism itself prohibited religious Jews from entering the Temple Mount until after the fulfillment of their prophecy that the Messiah has come?), I was also pleased to see a great speech by Lord (Monroe) Palmer in yesterday's House of Lords debate on the Middle East and North Africa. I have rarely seen a better Liberal Democrat re-statement of the pro-Israeli, pro-peace argument. You can watch the speech here and read it here; I was struck in particular by:Another fact that is completely overlooked is ...

Posted by Matthew Harris on Matthew Harris

Local voluntary organisations, community groups and Parish Councils have until Wednesday 26th November to apply for a range of grant funding from South Gloucestershire Council - Community Grants, New Homes Bonus (NHB) and Positive Activities Subsidy (PAS) grants. The final decisions on all three will be made by councillors at the area forum meeting in March. Community Groups are aimed at projects that benefit local people. Generally the grants are less than £3,000 but more can be awarded if the Forum thinks it is justified. New Homes Bonus funding is a grant which the council receives annually from central government, ...

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington
eUKhost

More work is due to start on the next stage of the Yate Spur cycle path next month. People living near the Kidney Hill junction are receiving letters telling them that work to widen the carriageway on the northern side of Westerleigh Road to accommodate a new refuge is expected to start on 17th November and last for four weeks. Temporary traffic lights will be used during the work and access to properties will be available at all times. Your Focus Team is still campaigning for the remaining length of the Yate Spur - the "Missing Link" - to be ...

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

[IMG: southeastern HS1 train leaving St Pancras (Photo by http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mattbuck)] Southeastern are running a special high speed service on Boxing Day, Friday 26 December 2014, for the Boxing Day sales at Ashford Designer Outlet, Westfield Stratford, St Pancras International and London. The services run between Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International and St Pancras International. The first train from Ashford departs at 07.43 towards St Pancras with services continuing every 30 minutes until the last train at 19.13. The first train from St Pancras departs at 08.40 towards Ashford with services continuing every 30 minutes until the last train at ...

Posted on Tim Prater

The work to raise the Wapley footbridge to make room for the overhead cables for electric trains is now under way. Network Rail's contractors have been clearing vegetation and test drilling to check out the ground conditions. A temporary footbridge will be provided while the main bridge is out of use. Unfortunately the temporary bridge won't be suitable for pushchairs or prams.

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

#72415050 / gettyimages.com Regular readers will know my scepticism about much of what passes for housing policies in current politics, based on four main concerns: The talking of building new homes at unprecedented levels* on the basis of policies that are only a relatively small tweak on the past, failing to match the scale required to push housebuilding off the graph. The failure to take private renting seriously, despite its growing role. The acceptance of the myth that private rents are soaring. The silence over falling average household size, which has added huge pressures to the demand for properties and ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

We've always had great fun at Hallowe'en in our house. We love the guisers (none of this new fangled Trick or Treat stuff, if you please). My husband loves carving the pumpkin even if he isn't as elaborate as some. My Facebook timeline has been full of everything from Pumpkin Daleks to the delicious irony of an actual Cinderella carriage. I have some very creative friends. The Teenager is spending Hallowe'en with her friends and will be headed out in vampire dress leaving us to greet the scores of little devils, ghouls, zombies, fairies, princesses, ghosts and animals who will ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

There are a range of bonfire night events going on around Calderdale this year Saturday 1st November – Elland recreation Ground, Hullen Edge Road. Gates at 5.30pm admission £5 for adults and £2.50 for children. Wednesday 5th November Moorlands Inn, Ogden will hold a firework night. Doors 6pm with Pie & Peas. Entry fee is £5 or £2.50 for under 12s. Wednesday 5th November – Casa Hotel and Restaurant, Brighouse. Will do a firework display. The night starts at 7pm and entrance fee is £5. Wednesday 5th November – The New Hobbit, Hob Lane, Halifax Bonfire lit at 6.30pm and ...

Posted by jamesbaker on Cllr James BakerCllr James Baker

[IMG: Herts fire brigade] Residents are once again urged to take extra care following the Fire Brigades Union announcement of another national walkout. The strike will start at 6pm on 31 October and last for 96 hours until 6pm on 4 November. During this period there will be fewer firefighters on duty across the country including Hertfordshire. Roy Wilsher, Director of Community Protection and Chief Fire Officer, said: "Our contingency arrangements have stood up well during previous strike action, however with fewer resources our ability to respond to incidents is reduced, therefore I urge the public to play their part ...

Posted by Nick Hollinghurst on Nick Hollinghurst

Mark Pack references an interesting and important legal ruling that may have implications for the Welsh Government and councils in Wales. He says that the Supreme Court has excoriated Labour-run Haringey Council for running a "misleading" consultation that falsely claimed cuts were being forced on it by the government, ignoring the other policy options open to the council: The reason? In the consultation, Haringey Council claimed that reductions in their council tax benefits for some people was being forced on them by changes in government policy, but failed to point out that there were in fact alternative policies available to ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

I had a visitor the other day – a resident who was her husband's carer. Neither was elderly and she was coping remarkably well. I am honestly not sure I could perform her role. I suspect many of us couldn't. She had no complaint to make but instead wanted me to understand - for the purposes of local and national policy - what caring looked like in terms of costs. The simple point is that the care she provides comes cheap. She does most of the work so the local authority delivers only respite care at some thousands a year. ...

Posted by Chris White on Liberal Democrat Voice

I have been tracking the progress of the building of this new road, on this blog site, for a while now having spent years campaigning for it with Thornton Parish residents in particular. It was one of the highlights of my 30 years as a local councillor when the Coalition Government gave the project the green light but the real credit, as I have said before, goes to the people and Parish Council of Thornton who resurrected the previously killed off project. My contribution was to raise the issue within Sefton Council and then as Council Leader to take it ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton FocusSefton Focus

Watch the new fun (yet educational) video from CGP Grey, this time making the case for electoral reform using STV: You can help support the Single Transferable Vote (STV) in the UK by joining Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform or backing LDER on Facebook here. Bonus extra

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

This video from the programmer and linguist Tom Scott points out something I'd never realised about twitter: Essentially, what it counts as a character is not necessarily a letter or a punctuation mark. Sometimes Unicode, the system which is used to standardise writing across programs and website, will encode particular common combinations of letters with a [...]

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

Well, not the last chance ever, but certainly the last chance to make a submission to the Smith Commission, which is looking into delivering more powers for Scotland in the wake of the independence referendum. My view is that it ... Continue reading →

Posted by caronlindsay on Caron's Musings

[IMG: US soldier in Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of US Department of Defense] For the generation of UK military and civilians that served in Afghanistan over the past 13 years, watching the extensive coverage of the final withdrawal from Helmand province comes with mixed feelings. As the Foreign Office's "man in" Helmand during 2010, even then it was obvious to me that the UK media had already made up its mind: the conclusion was we had failed. So, when I read the reports earlier this week that "a third" of Helmand's schools were still closed due to insecurity, it seemed churlish ...

Posted by Arthur Snell on Liberal Democrat Voice

Well, not the last chance ever, but certainly the last chance to make a submission to the Smith Commission, which is looking into delivering more powers for Scotland in the wake of the independence referendum. My view is that it was very clear that people wanted significantly more powers. I don't think that was predominantly why they voted No, but it was clearly indicated during the debate. The difficulty that the Commission has now is that the Labour Party, which has been dragging its feet on more powers anyway, now has no leader and no direction. Like the other parties, ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: 387 004 blog] Hertfordshire Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Stephen Giles-Medhurst (Central Watford and Oxhey), has lambasted the ruling Conservatives at County Hall for proposing bus cuts when just released council papers show the savings have already been made. On 16th July the County Council put forward a public consultation saying that "the county council is committed to saving at least £700k from the annual bus budget of £3.8m by April 2015". In order to achieve this the Conservatives proposed in the consultation to cease bus routes after 6.30pm and on Sundays, affecting as many as 809,000 trips a year. ...

Posted by Nick Hollinghurst on Nick Hollinghurst

The Westminster government has announced plans to use part of the NHS England Better Care Fund to improve care for the elderly and those with complex health needs. It is part of ongoing work to better join up health and social care in those areas where different organisations provide different elements of the care for [...]

Posted by Anders Hanson on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors
Fri 31st
10:05

Well, Fancy That!

The small committee to examine the Small Business Bill covering reform of the UK pub trade just so happened to have constituency representatives of the following breweries and pubcos among its number: Marston's Punch Taverns Cameron's St Austell Brain's The original chair was the late Jim Dobbin, whose Heywood & Middleton seat hosts JW Lees brewery. Take out Ministers ineligible to sit on the committee, and not a lot of breweries are left. By contrast, not a single one of the 212 MP supporters of pubco reform listed on the Fair Deal for your Local website were selected to be ...

Posted by Gareth on Gareth Epps

#91945943 / gettyimages.com The Supreme Court has excoriated Labour-run Haringey Council for running a "misleading" consultation that falsely claimed cuts were being forced on it by the government, ignoring the other policy options open to the council. As a press release from Haringey Liberal Democrats explains: Labour-run Haringey Council's controversial council tax consultation was slammed in a judgement issued by the Supreme Court... Haringey Council's policy was challenged by two single mums on council tax benefit on the basis the council did not consult local people properly. The Supreme Court found Haringey's consultation with 36,000 residents on the local Council ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Conservative home office minister James Brokenshire defended the Government's decision to withdraw support – along with all other EU member states – for future search-and-rescue operations for migrants in the Mediterranean. The BBC reports: James Brokenshire told MPs the change would "save lives rather than putting them in peril." About 3,000 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean so far this year. That is out of an estimated total of 150,000 to have made the trip by boat across to Europe. Mr Brokenshire said operations to rescue migrants encouraged more people to make the "perilous journey" across the Mediterranean in the ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention this week... The Conservative Party becomes a broad coalition again – or it dies | Conservative Home Here's Tim @montie on rebuilding a Tory coalition and disagreeing with Matthew Parris http://bit.ly/1xDaCUp The Tower of London poppies are fake, trite and inward-looking – a Ukip-style memorial | Art and design | The Guardian The hand-wringing lefty miserabilism of The Guardian is getting beyond parody http://bit.ly/135eeFA How much does an Oxbridge undergraduate really cost? | Nick Hillman | Education | The Guardian "How much does an Oxbridge u/grad cost?" Fair Q. I ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

via Facebook

Posted by Raging Reg on Raging Reg

[IMG: Inflation expecations] The state of the world economy is worrying economists. GDP growth is lacklustre in the developed world, which in turn poses problems for the developing world. That's bad enough, but the economist's nightmare of deflation – prices dropping rather than rising – now beckons around the world. And yet the prescriptions of most economists are shaped by a way of looking at the economy that belongs to the past. A paradigm shift is needed. Debt is at the heart of it, not GDP growth. For a clear, conventional analysis of the issue read this week's Economist. Here's ...

Posted by Matthew on thinking liberal

[IMG: Andrew George Outside St Just library] Andrew George, MP discusses impact of reduced opening hours with Friends of St Just Library co-chair, Kate Beckly Andrew George, MP and Baroness Kate Parminter meet the Friends of St Just library during a visit to St Just on Saturday 25 October. I wanted them to meet the group of enthusiastic supporters of our local library, especially as I knew that the Baroness was interested in literacy. Kate Parminter is an adviser to the 'Every Child a Reader' programme which tackles illiteracy in schools. I am committed to ensuring that St Just Town ...

Bedroom tax victims are the real losers of the EU referendum bill's death (tags: ) Norman Baker: 'Genie is out the bottle' on drug reform (tags: ) The Samaritans reaction to the horror on release of the Samaritans Radar app could have been better... (tags: ) I am looking forward to the coalition negotiations in May a _lot_ (tags: ) Ginfographic. A gin infographic putting 2014 stats in a visual format (tags: ) Deadline extended for Brighouse Has Talent applications (tags: ) UK government criticised over 'barbaric' plans to stop rescuing drowning African migrants (tags: ) Beards are GOOD for ...

At times it's hard to tell whether some in the Conservative Party think being known as the nasty party is a label to be shunned or a badge to be eagerly sought. Witness this tweet from the Conservative leader of Portsmouth City Council, Donna Jones: [IMG: Donna Jones tweet] It's an oh so cunning pun on Gerald Vernon-Jackson's middle name. A pun that is the result, Donna Jones has now claimed, of a typo. Given the lack of spaces around the word which might be signs of an auto-correct failure on a whole word, that's quite some typo.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Six months ago, Scotland had an actual farmer as an MEP. George Lyon's knowledge of farming and rural issues was a massive asset to Scotland's representation in Europe. Not that I'm bitter, well, maybe a bit, but his replacement, UKIP's David Coburn, who lives in London, has been telling the Huffington Post hat equal marriage supporters are 'Equality Nazis": Gay marriage supporters are "equality Nazis" who helped push through something that only matters to "some queen who wants to dress up in a bridal frock and dance up the aisle to the Village People", a Ukip MEP has said. In ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
Fri 31st
08:42

The Two Rogers

[IMG: 377661-131109-rev-godot2] There once were two gentlemen who shared the same first name: Roger. Despite their disparate upbringings, the two Rogers eventually became the best of friends. Roger Dorrell was the son of a shipping magnate, Dorian Dorrell, a man who was at one time the forty-seventh richest man in Great Britain. Roger One (as we'll sometimes but infrequently call him) was a difficult child, the type who would have caused his parents a great deal of headache had he not been shipped off to boarding school at the nearest opportunity. The boy grew up angry and resentful and hated ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

From the excellent Dundee Food Train service : "We have been successful in securing funding from the Dundee Partnership small grants and Reshaping care for Older People to pilot a befriending service in the West End of Dundee for six month. The project aims to offer short trips to older people over 65 to visit a supermarket in Dundee with support on a 1:1 basis with a volunteer. One of the outcomes from our annual survey of customers using our grocery delivery service was the desire to have an occasional visit to a supermarket. The intention being that these customers ...

You may remember that the Tory controlled city council held a "consultation" on banning cyclists from riding along Bridge Street in the city centre during Sundays, during July and August? A total of 200 responses were submitted from individuals and organisations. Of these 200 responses, 167 were against extending the restrictions and 22 in favour, with 11 people making [...]

Posted by Cllr Darren Fower on Cllr Darren Fower

Not so long ago I raised the question – Who are Lydiate Resident Group? This followed a rather odd submission to Sefton Council's Local Plan 2nd round of public consultation. My previous post is here:- Well it looks like things have moved on because I am told that the person who made the submission on behalf of this 'group' has now said that there is no such group and the opinions expressed were simply those of an individual. The detective work was done by a local environmental campaigner who put Sefton Planners under pressure to do something about what ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton FocusSefton Focus