( answers under the cut ) All answers are presented unedited, as entered by the candidate (mainly due to time). You can find links to other candidates' entries here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
( answers under the cut ) All answers are presented unedited, as entered by the candidate (mainly due to time). You can find links to other candidates' entries here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Sun 2nd
23:29
Andrew Chamberlain, from Kilwinning in Ayrshire (although moving to London); standing for FPC
( answers under the cut ) All answers are presented unedited, as entered by the candidate (mainly due to time). You can find links to other candidates' entries here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
( answers under the cut ) All answers are presented unedited, as entered by the candidate (mainly due to time). You can find links to other candidates' entries here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
( answers under the cut ) All answers are presented unedited, as entered by the candidate (mainly due to time). You can find links to other candidates' entries here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: newquay war memorial_tonemapped] A moody shot taken on Friday. Here are all the (half decent) shots I took in Cornwall over the last few days on Flickr. I've updated my header with one of them, a shot of Bude harbour. Here's another moody one, this time of the view from the end of Bude breakwater: [IMG: bude view_tonemapped]
Screened in 1969, Civilisation - Kenneth Clark's history of Western art, architecture and philosophy - was a landmark in television. One programme in the series contained an excerpt from Hamlet, filmed at Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire. It featured, as Hamlet and Horatio respectively, two stage actors who were to be household names two decades later thanks to television: Ian Richardson and Patrick Stewart. Even so, I am inclined to judge that the scene is stolen by the whoreson gravedigger Ronald Lacey.
[IMG: Blog] On Twitter the other day my attention was drawn to the revised version of Patrick Dunleavy's thoughts on the matter of academic blogging. For the small number of you who perhaps may not be familiar with Professor Dunleavy he is not only one of the UK's best known political scientists but also one of the prime movers behind the London School of Economics' suite of hugely influential blogs on policy, social science and impact. Professor Dunleavy takes the view that: in research terms blogging is quite simply, one of the most important things that an academic should be ...
Two of my fellow members of the increasingly influential Market Harborough school of blogging have recently changed the names of their blogs: Wartime Housewife is now Biff Raven-HillGo litel blog, go... is now The Crimson RamblerBoth are members of My Favourite Blogs XI and have duly been renamed in the sidebar.
When a young person dies it is common to say that "they were taken too early." Stuart McCready may no longer have been young but the wretched news of his passing nonetheless still comes far too early. Stuart's time as a Liberal Democrat Councillor roughly coincided with my own. We both joined Oxford City [...]
Two Ludlow historic monuments remain on Heritage at Risk Register maintained by English Heritage, the town walls and the Buttercross. Ludlow's Buttercross The Buttercross is described as: "Repair scheme in progress... Functionally redundant buildings with new use agreed but not yet implemented." The building is in the lowest risk category (F on a scale of [...]
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 396th 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 (26 October-1 November, 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. Why it's unacceptable to say Africans ...
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 30% 30% 9% 19% 4% 0% 24-26/10 Phone ICM 31% 35% 11% 14% 4% -4% 10-12/10 Phone Ashcroft 31% 31% 7% 18% 5% 0% 24-26/10 Phone Ashcroft 31% 34% 8% 18% 4% -3% 8-9/10 Online MORI 30% 33% 8% 16% 5% -3% 11-14/10 ...
Sun 2nd
16:55
The best satire of media and politics that you've probably never watched: A Face in the Crowd
[IMG: A face in the crowd screenshot - Andy Griffith on stage. Image courtesy of Given how much politics and the media have changed since the late 1950s, a satire from back then might be expected to be of artistic merit but unlikely to have much resonance today. Yet the satirical bite of A Face in the Crowd is still highly applicable today, from the way media titans try to influence politics right down to a throwaway comment about dodgy product placement that could easily apply to Twitter. [IMG: A face in the crowd - DVD cover] Not only ...
We have received this from the council It has been almost 2 months already since the 2G astro opened at Odd Down Playing Fields, so we thought it would be useful to update you on the progress at the site, as well as passing on a few messages. New Pavilion The construction of the new pavilion has seen the framework for the roof and the initial timber go on. We are expecting the
[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... On making LDV more inclusive (100 comments) by Caron Lindsay Paddy Ashdown on Bosnia and Herzegovina (7 comments) by The Voice Botswana elections: Liberal Democrats help sister party and "calm revolutionary of our time" (99 comments) by Caron Lindsay Why I'm spitting furious about Johann Lamont's resignation (71 comments) by Caron Lindsay Carswell: Free Liberal. How it might have been (50 comments) by David Faggiani Half of current Green supporters voted Lib Dem in 2010 (78 ...
[IMG: Cancel PCC Election Petition] Cancel PCC Election Petition Cancel Police and Crime Commissioner elections petition update is that 320 have signed and the petition has risen to page 23 out of 286 pages of e-petitions on the Government website. When my goal is to get 100,000 signatures, to trigger a debate in Parliament, that may sound like poor progress BUT e-petitions are difficult to get moving. However, if I can get it to page 10 I believe it will get more casual viewings and signatures and will take off! To get to page 10, I need about 1,200 signatures ...
We have received this from First - each single will be £2.20 From 2 November bus users will be able to buy day, week, month, year and 10 journey tickets for travel in the Bath Outer Zone. This has the potential to cut the cost of travel for many. The new tickets will offer unlimited travel in Bath city centre and for travel on First buses within approximately 12 miles of Bath Bus Station.
[IMG: CowLaneVergesideCar Parking] Six years ago, Hertfordshire County Councillor for Tring, Nick Hollinghurst arranged for a stretch of off-road car parking to be laid to ease the situation for the several thriving clubs that use the Tring Community Sports Trust's facilities in Cow Lane, Tring. Now that county councillors have been given responsibility for part of the county's highways budget, he, like every other county councillor, has access to £90,000 a year for improvement works. This year part of the sum is being spent to extend the first stretch of tarmac hard-standing to provide further all-weather off-road parking. He hopes ...
Through the eyes of the Western media what appears to be a black-and-white situation has developed in the Middle East: the wicked self-styled Islamic State (ISIS) versus the rest, including the international coalition of which Britain is part. But of course the reality is nowhere near as clear-cut as that, and some of ISIS's enemies [...]
As far as I am aware, these are the meetings for BTC for November 6th November Finance Committee 11th November Planning & Development Committee (*) 20th November Full Council 25th November Events Committee (*) Depends on volume of business, please check with council to check In addition there may be training sessions and meetings of working groups, but these are not ordinarily open to the public.
[IMG: sundaypaps] Here's a few stories that have grabbed my eye from today's press. What do you think and what stories have interested you? Let us know in the comments. First of all, we're just 48 hours away from the US Midterms, a set of elections in which the Republicans are expected to do well. In reality, it's a set of elections a bit like the Euros were for us, that are not the Democrats' strongest sets, even on a good day. The Observer follows Obama for 24 hours on the campaign trail and majors on his weaknesses. There's an ...
#143110534 / gettyimages.com Newly published figures for the 2014 European elections show that: A total of 51,790 postal votes arrived too late to be counted in this year's European Parliament elections. The votes – about 1% of the five million postal votes in May's election – were received after the polls closed. 1% is a low figure but it is also just over a doubling of the figure from the 2012 Police and Crime Commission elections.* If this growth becomes a trend, late postal votes will become rather a serious problem rather swiftly. * I don't have figures for 2013. ...
Though their relationship disintegrated in the process, Richard and Linda Thompson recorded a series of highly regarded albums through the 1970s and early 1980s. Perhaps those albums are better regarded today than they were at the time, as they did not trouble the album charts at the time. I can remember the single I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight being played on Radio 1, but it was not a hit. This song from the 1975 album Hokey Pokey is about Richard Thompson's embracing of Sufism, a form of Islamic mysticism.
I came across this report the other week, which has some questionable areas and feels a little car biased, but does at least admit to some very serious impacts on our society as a result of over reliance upon the car? READ: CARLESS CITIES: Could our cities adapt to become carless in the next twenty years? [...]
My ballot paper arrived yesterday (although the household's former Party President hasn't had hers yet...), accompanied by three manifestos all quite different in message and pitch. So, what to do with it? Well, perhaps I ought to consider the role of the Party President first, if my decision is to be an informed one. And, having witnessed the Presidency up close for two years, and seen some of the issues that arise, I perhaps flatter myself that, on this particular subject, I am more informed than some, perhaps most. So, what did I learn? Firstly, the job of Party President ...
"With only six months to go the key battle of the election does not seem to have started. In fact due to the fog of war ... it is not even clear that the protagonists have identified where the battlefield is." Alun Wyburn-Powell on the parties' puzzling strategies. Positive Liberty rediscovers the lost political tradition of radical liberalism. We urban moderns have an unrealistic view of death, argues Craig Bowron in the Washington Post. "Until the 1960s almost all television was live and unrecorded so, while film and theatre reviewers addressed a potential audience, TV critics reheated last night's viewing ...
[IMG: Libby - Some rghts reserved by David Spender] Last night, emails from all 3 candidates for party president were sent to party members. Ballot papers have started arriving on the doorsteps of the party's 44,000 members. Members have the choice of either sending their ballot paper back in the reply paid envelope provided or voting online. You can't do both, obviously. Checks are in place to ensure that people only vote once. Here are the emails in full with links to the candidates' websites: Sal Brinton Dear Fellow Liberal Democrats, We as a Party will be making a very ...
It's a busy week for Lynne Featherstone. Last Tuesday, she won Pink News's Ally of the Year award as the Minister responsible for setting the same sex marriage process in motion. She's responsible for a great deal of happiness. She said of her win: I'd like to thank Pink News for giving me this award, and everyone who was at the event for the reception they gave me - it's so heart-warming. Bringing about this positive social change is one of the greatest achievements of our generation, and I'm so thankful to all the organisations, politicians, civil servants and people ...
The above is snipped from today's Telegraph website, reporting the superficiality of Britain's politicians, those we would hope would and could articulate and represent our beliefs and values in a professional manner. Of course few if any of us are surprised that politicians are apparently supporting feminism by wearing T shirts "This is what a feminist looks like" ironically produced in some third world sweatshop by poorly paid women. An example of just how shallow politicians actually are, they live in a world they purport to be in touch with, they're more at home taking part in PR stunts, than ...
The weather was beautiful yesterday and it was very moving to be amongst the throngs of people who turned up to look at the poppies. The walk from Aldgate was well signposted and if anything the closure of Tower Hill station probably helped the flow of people shuffling around the installation. [IMG: Poppies at the Tower, 01-11-2014] [IMG: Poppies at the Tower, 01-11-2014] [IMG: Poppies at the Tower, 01-11-2014]
Every tonne of waste tipped at Sort It! Centres by people who don't live here or commercial traders costs the council £100 to process. That's something the council can't afford with the increasing pressure on finances. Unauthorised use can also create delays for genuine residents using the site. To try to stop unauthorised use, SITA are stepping up residency checks at the site. From 1st October, you may be asked for proof of residency - one or more official documents that together prove who you are (photographic ID) and that you live in South Gloucestershire. Suitable documents include driver's license, ...
Note the first line on the sign being held by Nick Clegg in this photograph from 2007. [IMG: Nick Clegg in Sheffield. Photo courtesy of the Liberal Democrats; some rights reserved -
Tring Together, or to give it its full title: 'Tring enjoying life Together' is a charitable organisation that has dedicated itself to making life better and more enjoyable for the residents, businesses and associations of Tring and the surrounding villages. Its remit is to plan and organise successful events and activities for associations, the business community and for Tring's residents and its visitors. Find them on www.tringtogether.org.uk [IMG: tring business] One of their innovations is the Tring Together online Business Directory, a quick and easy way to find the local organisation you're looking for. It lists 900 businesses in and ...
Ticket machines: Minister faces calls for an inquiry after machine overcharging investigation The problem here is that the entire fate structure is far too complex. Were it simpler, people would spot straight away if they were being overcharged. (tags: ) Evidence-based reform is a gateway substance to common sense (tags: ) A reminder from January: "only UKIP will dare to cut the NHS & pensions" (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
GOTV, that final part of an election campaign where you make sure that all your supporters actually get themselves to the polls, is vital. Elections can be won or lost by the effectiveness of your GOTV operation. It's all about giving them a reason to get down the polling station. It could be out of a genuine desire to see your fantastic candidate elected. It could be because you really don't want to let the other one in. Everyone will be familiar with the "It's a two horse race, every vote will count" and the breathless "it's too close to ...
In August, I reported that the council had, following my request on behalf of residents, provided a central refuge island and drop kerbs to help folk get across the road in the area around the Glamis Road/Drive/Blackness Road roundabout. See photo - right. This was provided north of the roundabout and I have since had requests from residents for similar provision on the south part of Glamis Road - south of the roundabout - again a busy stretch of road. I therefore raised this with Dundee City Council. The City Council's Network Management Team's Team Leader has since advised me ...
The Conservative Party does not like it when the government sticks their noses into people's business. Unless they are the wrong kind of people doing the business, of course. It seems that in the right set of circumstances, noses are most welcome in Tory circles. I say this off the back of Theresa May's outline of the Extremism Disruption Orders communicated at Tory conference becoming part of the Conservative Party manifesto, something George Osbourne has confirmed. The idea of the policy is to both widen the definition of what is considered extremist as well as enhancing the Law's powers to ...
The link above to pictures, taken by the National Police Air Service, of Liverpool is well worth a look at.
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above. I have covered the Stanley Dock issue on this blog site not so long ago:-
With thanks to Mark Pack
